#lots of my favorite little details from the fan translation didn't make it into the official one but it's been okay overall!

[sillysillyfunny]

i knew this line wouldn't be the same but rip forever missed. thank you simeon for giving me the chance to play the ace attorney

[desultory-novice]

Hi hi! I'm going to answer a couple of different video based asks all in one post because they all follow a similar theme~!

EDIT EDIT: I realized that no one could actually access the links because I took screenshots and added links to the video following each ask!

[VIDEO]

Oh yes! It was one of the first videos I watched when I decided to be brave and finally join the fandom! I remember really liking it, though I don't remember the video contents itself well...!

:cues up for a rewatch:

Heh! Heehee! It's still quite a lot of fun! Years later, I can notice clearly now that this video relies very strongly on what I understand is a controversial/outdated interpretation of Void lore based on the EN translation which is...well, it's the Star Allies English Translation... (As for the details of WHAT it got wrong, o~hhh, I'm not going to get into the Void stuff ~ You'll have to go to other Kirblrs for that! I'm too busy with fixating on my personal blorbos! XD ) However! The end bit about who Kirby is and what Kirby represents? That part of the video remains golden and is something I am 100% in agreement with!

Edit: I realize now you said "videos" and if they're the ones I'm thinking of, then I think I did watch the whole series back then and enjoyed it very much! Sorry for not giving my modern day thoughts on them individually. I didn't want to make you wait too long on this!

[VIDEO]

AH! I just saw this one a few months ago and YES! Yes yes yes! Ohhh, yessss! I agree! It's funny to watch this one back to back with Designing For's video about how the early games were kind of empty fluff compared to the lore-heavy Kumazaki era when Star Warper highlights one of my FAVORITE things that's been gone for so long!!

...I would be SO happy if they focused more on this kind of "natural" world building and character exploration. I suppose, if I have one criticism of Kumazaki, it's that he maybe TOO MUCH of a writer? It's okay to focus where he specializes in, and he's really good at it, but I hope that Star Allies "micro cutscenes" mean we might get them back in a new title, rather than a "last nod" to Kirby history...

This reminds me, I never did anything with this (got swept under by RL) but I came away from this video thinking that I would LOVE to make a series of cutscene animations for the games that don't have them! Just imagine what silly things Kirby or the rest of the characters are getting up to before handing the action back to you!

(Gosh... I don't think I have the experience necessary for this but... with all these collabs, I wonder if anyone would be interested in forming up a collab to make cutscenes for the games that don't have them? I don't know if there's that many animators in the fandom, maybe splash images would be enough? ...Interesting thought?)

But one last enthusiastic yes! As an outspoken fan of, "Show us the daily life of the people in Dream Land PLEASE" this video speaks to me. And I'm glad others feel this way!

[VIDEO]

I KNEW THIS WOULD BE THE CAKE SCENE! I LOVE THE CAKE SCENE! Honestly, I don't know anyone who doesn't just burst into kittens when faced with the cake scene...! It's so cute...! vvv

Speaking of the 25th Anniversary Concert, I have to share my other favorite moment and unfortunately I can't find the full video to refresh my memory (...pulled down for copyright, maybe?) but there was one silly moment when they asked Kirby how old he was, like HIM not the series, and he's like "...I'm 25! ^o^" and of course, it's silly and ridiculous and everyone laughed and for those fans who see Kirby as a very young child, it is just the picture of a child being silly and saying whatever but...as someone who always saw Kirby as growing up with me, I beamed a little with pride? XD

And I think that's the way it should be, maybe? The things Kirby says can be as interpretable as Kirby themselves! ...Reminds me of another quote from Kumazaki that he didn't want Kirby speaking (in Japanese) in the globally streamed 30th Anniversary concert as they did in the 25th because he wanted everyone across the globe to "understand Kirby equally." That if he talked in just one language, a limited number of people would understand him, and everyone should be able to see themselves in Kirby!

It was a very sweet gesture - even though I myself missed hearing Kirby talk in Japanese! Ahh well, at least I'm surrendering my bilingual priviledge card for a good reason! XD

[VIDEO]

OH! Ni~ce find, Anon!

I've seen the fan animation of the phone skit and one more but I was wondering where I might find the rest...! Thank you, video anon!

These are soo~ooo cute! And you're so right! Kawata-san's Kirby really is perfect! I say that feeling the same way about Oomoto-san's Kirby too though...! They're all perfect! This kind of voice (and short skit style) would be perfect for a series of official shorts imo! The kind of ones that occasionally get released on Twitter and the like. (Not that I don't already love the animations made by Courtesy!)

And ahhhh, it's so nice to hear Kirby speak full sentences too~ I really, really enjoy this interpretation of Kirby! I can't believe it's from as far back as 1994! Amazing! Truly amazing!

-

Thank you, anon(s) for the fun video links! And I hope everyone has fun watching them too if you're not familiar with everything listed here! If you ask me, everything here is worth a listen!

[drchenquill]

Writerly Questionnaire~

Thank you @sableglass , @the-golden-comet , @paeliae-occasionally , @leahnardo-da-veggie and @the-letterbox-archives for the tag!

About Me

When did you first start writing?

Only two years ago. I used to only fantasized about scenarios, dream stories, never feeling confident enough to put it to paper, but then I did and I fell in love with it.

Are the genres/themes you enjoy reading different from the ones you write?

Absolutely not! Romance and fantasy, those are my go to genres in reading and writing. I'm also okay with adventure, but romance has to be part of it. What can I do, I love romance~

Is there an author (or just a fellow writer!) you want to emulate, or one to whom you’re often compared?

Not that I'm aware of. If yes, not on purpose.

Can you tell me a little about your writing space(s)? (Room, coffee shop, desk, etc.)

Everywhere. I don't really have a writing space, just a little corner with my laptop, because I can literally write anywhere. Sometimes I get a sudden urge to write something down, so I grab my phone, fight autocorrect (I write in German, but my phone's keyboard is also in English, so sometimes it thinks I'm writing in English and messes everything up), and write it down.

What’s your most effective way to muster up some muse?

Listening to music. Everything works better with music. I come up with scenes, or even develop an OCs character through a song that I connect with them. It really helps.

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about?

I don't think so…to be honest, I like to be very vague about the places my stories take place because I don't want people to recognize things. Wait, let me explain! When I read a story where the place isn't described in detail, it makes it easier for me to immerse myself. Sounds weird, I know, but I feel restricted if you describe every nook and cranny, and that's why I give very vague descriptions.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all?

As established before, I'm a huge romance fan, so I have a lot of recurring romantic themes. And no, they do not surprise me at all, because they are very much welcome~

My Characters

Would you please tell me about your current favorite character? (Current WIP, past WIP, never used, etc.)

Oooof, okay. I love all my OCs, but if I had to choose between the ones I'm writing right now, it would have to be Daisy. She's from my WIP "Daisy" and is the sweetest, softest, purest OC I've ever written. She is a joy to write because my other OCs are either very traumatized (Leon) or the worst human being to walk the earth (Azul). Daisy is like a breath of fresh air, a break from strong, witty characters.

Which of your characters do you think you’d be friends with in real life?

Without a doubt, Sophie from "Memories of the Future". She would be a joy to be around. She's extremely extroverted and I'm painfully introverted. She would do all the talking and social interactions, but would never leave me behind. She is friendly and easy to get along with. I describe her as a "Sonnenkind". Literally translated "a child of the sun". It means she has a sunny disposition.

Which of your characters would you dislike the most if you met them?

Azul. To put it in simple words: he is a bitch and will most probably make me cry.

Tell me about the process of coming up with of one, all, or any of your characters.

It's a pretty simple process. There's not a lot of thinking behind it. They are the most natural thing that comes to me (easier than the plot hehe). The only one I really put a lot of effort into is Azul. I created him while I was playing a game (The Arcana: A Mystic Romance), but developed him outside of it after I finished the game. He was never meant to be what he is now (an asshole) because when he came to life, I didn't even think about writing at all. For some reason he stayed with me and I just used him whenever I daydreamed or made little scenes in my head while listening to music.

Do you notice any recurring themes/traits among your characters?

Oh yes, yes I do. Tall, scary but actually soft. Witty, never seems to be serious, but is the most serious when necessary. Petite but headstrong… I could go on and on.

How do you picture them? (As real people you imagined, as models/actors who exist in real life, as imaginary artwork, as artwork you made or commissioned, anime style, etc.)

I'm very particular about what my characters look like. I have Pinterest boards for some of them filled with faces that could potentially look like them, but I mostly go for real people.

My Writing

What’s your reason for writing?

Because I like doing it~ It's as simple as that!

Is there a specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers?

I love any kind of comment, but I love it when a reader agrees or even disagrees with a choice a character has made, because that means they are invested in the story, that means they are experiencing the story.

How do you want to be thought of by those who read your work? (For example: as a literary genius, or as a writer who “gets” the human condition; as a talented worldbuilder, as a role model, etc.)

Nothing much, to be honest. Just as a girl that writes compelling stories~

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I think the romantic aspect is what comes out the best. I like writing it a lot, so maybe that's why I feel like it's a strenght.

What have you been frequently told your greatest writing strength is by others?

I've been told that I write good plots, that my ideas are interesting.

How do you feel about your own writing? (Answer in whatever way you interpret this question.)

I really like it. I like how it grew, how it developed through these two years and I like how it keeps developing.

If you were the last person on earth and knew your writing would never be read by another human, would you still write?

Dark question, okay. I would be very lonely, but I would still write. I love writing, and I love reading what I write, so I would still do it until my last breath.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? If it’s a mix of the two, which holds the most influence?

I think it's a subconscious mix. I do write purely what I enjoy, but I think I get influenced without wanting to.

~~~~

Loved these questions! Tagging with no pressure @finickyfelix , @frostedlemonwriter , @leahnardo-da-veggie , @leitereads , @theink-stainedfolk and open tag

[nellie-elizabeth]

tagged by @awildwickedslip, thank you!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

103.

2. What’s your total AO3 wordcount?

1,825,148

3. What fandoms do you write for?

magicians and roswell, new mexico primarily! Also wrote a good omens fic recently but that might be a one and done for now.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

tales from a bookshop (good omens post season 2, fairly sure I'll never write anything this popular ever again because holy shit)

Lover's Touch - Queliot fic!

Promises - Queliot fic!

Maybe This Time - Queliot fic!

Fragments - Queliot fic!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do! I didn't used to in my earlier fandom days but now I'm pretty consistent about it.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I once wrote a major character death fic for Queer as Folk where Justin died. Not really my style anymore. Back in my ff.net days I also wrote Merthur major character death fic, I'm just remembering.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I always try and do happily ever afters! A lot of my stories end with a sense of "and then they continue on their adventures, and life isn't always simple or easy", so in terms of the most pure, joyful ending? I guess I'll go living proof, which is the end of my episode series for Roswell, NM, which is just a "now they're married and happy forever" fic.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have before, but not as a rule. Once got called an abuse apologist & incest support (oh the horror /s) for exploring the canonical close friendship (not even a romantic relationship!) between two dudes from Shadowhunters lmao. And there's a troll in the Roswell fandom who writes hilarious and idiotic unhinged rants and I've been hit by her before, but she's got a scatter-shot approach and attacks a lot of people, so, at least I know it's nothing personal.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yep! What is meant by "what kind" here? lol. I'm pretty vanilla. Mostly m/m, but I usually don't pass over the chance for m/m/f. I actually recently wrote my very first m/f full-on sex scene ever for a little Magicians snippet, Kady/Penny lol.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No, I don't wrote crossovers in the sense that characters from various worlds don't meet each other in my fics. HOWEVER, two of my favorite things I've ever written have been Magicians AUs that crossed over the characters from that show with the full plot from other films. One is The Old Guard (A Comet Pulled From Orbit), and one is When Harry Met Sally (When Quentin Met Eliot).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah, a few times! Used to happen a lot back with old ff.net stuff, and I recently had my good omens fic translated.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

I'm co-writing a series right now! First time I've ever done it and it's a blast.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

uhhhhh don't make me choose? lmao. In terms of fandom engagement and longevity I guess Queliot at this point. But in terms of... the ships that made me discover and appreciate and explore fandom in the first place? Kirk/Spock and Brian/Justin. Classics.

16. What are your writing strengths?

dialogue and tone setting, I think?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

plot details (I get bored and distracted mapping things out)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

tbh I usually wince when I see it in fic? I'm not a fan. It always feels a little silly. Maybe very very sparingly if there's like a singular phrase or term of endearment or something but I'd rather just indicate that someone is speaking another language rather than write it out. I feel like it can often be tokenizing if you just have one character who's bilingual and you give them little one-liners in a different language. Idk. If the author is bilingual and doing a thing, then that's awesome. But I can usually tell when someone's just using google translate for stuff lol.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Gilmore Girls!

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

I'm gonna cheat and name one each for my two big fandoms. Also idk if these are my favorites but they're two I really love that aren't my most popular:

Regrets, or the Absence Thereof (Magicians)

all the roads that lead you there (Roswell)

tagging @portraitofemmy @spiders-hth-is-an-outlier @orchardsinsnow @r-dtoblack and YOU if you're reading this and want to play!

[potofstewie]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

omg I thought you were saying that I was like a five star meal or smthn and I was about to use a smack ton of rizz on you until i remembered that post i reblogged...can i still rizz you up? bb you the only star in my sky and I make wishes to you er' night ;)

Since you used five stars imma correspond with five sections bc I have A LOT to talk about!

BONUS STAR/FACT: Morning Person is my very first writing piece and I have thought about doing a picture based series but I decided against it due to my source being Pintrest and how hard it is to find the proper credits to the work and I didn't feel comfy with the thought of dedicating so many fics to creditless art. If I do decide to try again with Picture Fics, I'm gonna find art with proper credits first and use those exclusively.

⭐️1: When it comes to writing, I usually write like a 1-3 sentence rough draft of the fic I want to write. It's usually something like "X and reader meet at place. They talk about something deep. Head over to place. Smut." Then the next 2-3 days I spend creating multiple scenarios in my head that would fit into my story or what could be very important details to add such as how to describe the subtle actions the character or reader would do or a train of thought that the character might have that could add some depth to them. And then I begin the long winded process of writing. I never really write down what goes on in my head unless I deem it really important. Basically, 90% of the fic is in my head, 5% is in vague sentences and 5% is actually written down.

⭐️2: In "Der Engel Miener Träume", my favorite paragraph is the one where I describe reader's voice. I took a lot of inspiration from you, @gingerspicelattemix and @wanderingfaee. The way how you three describe stuff within your works is really inspiring and I feel like a student learning from their mentors. You three describe aspects within your writing the same way an art connoisseur talks about the Mona Lisa or works by Van Gogh. I honestly hope I can reach you guys' level of descriptive talent one day.

⭐️3: This is TMI but irdc, in the little drabble I wrote about Shinjuro, I actually used my own experience for that lmao. Minus the dirty talk and setting, the whole pressing down on reader's back and making it difficult for her to breath all came from my memory. I still think about it sometimes lmao.

⭐️4: For my Sanemi Fic "Guilt", I constantly regret putting a warning up for Kyojuro. I feel like by me doing that, I took away what could've been an excellent reveal or immediate emotional investment for my fellow Kyojuro fans that in a way can translate to real life guilt for the readers. I also feel like I could've done more for the last big paragraph but oh well.

⭐️5: In my most recent fic, Imagining, I wanted to use a scenario where Kyojuro thinks about having sex with reader and I describe the position. Basically I wanted to portray them doing missionary but instead of it being the traditional way, Kyojuro is like lowered way down and his head is in the crook of her neck and he's holding himself up by the forearms caging her head while reader's legs aren't wrapped around his waist and are instead jerking in the air while he's going really hard and fast due to how "lost in the sauce" he is. But I ultimately decided to scrap it because I think that scenario/position can be better utilized in a future fic.

[down-the-yaoi-hole]

Review: Suzuki Tsuta's Barbarities

Barbarities by Suzuki Tsuta (originally published 2016-2020, English translations released 2019-22--yaoi manga eras are IMPORTANT to me, ok?) is a fun, action-packed historical romance about a fancy boy, former-royal-turned-bodyguard (Viscount Adam Canning) falling in love with the righteous and surprise! super pretty judge/politician (Judicial Lord Montague, aka 'Joel') he's been hired to protect from assassination attempts! This is a porn WITH plot--the writing is definitely the centerpiece, as an elaborate political drama plays out in the backdrop of Joel and Adam's love story. I loved the playful frenemies dynamic between the effeminate, beautiful top and an older, somewhat surly bottom. I read the first 3 volumes earlier this year and then had to wait months for the final volume to come out on fan sites, but dang it was worth the wait--volume 4 was splendidly explicit!

Where to read: a. google 'read barbarities free' like a CRIMINAL or b. purchase yourself some print comics from Seven Seas Entertainment, my new favorite publishing house since they also publish MXTX's books! I'm waiting until they have all 4 but then I'm buying the set, heheh.

I really enjoyed this manga--would probably give it an 8 or 9 out of 10--but first I wanted to share some content warnings and bad jokes with which I took issue. While there is (miraculously) not a r4pe in this story between our two main characters, there's a scene in which the top attacks the bottom in a kind of 'see, I could do it but I don't want to' fuckin weirdo move that felt pretty disingenuous with the rest of the story, wherein Adam chases Joel around like a lovesick puppy. The other thing I'll flag is a tasteless prison-r4pe joke--I think?? There were a lot of jokes made about Adam being imprisoned at this super tough island prison, and making all the other prisoners either bend to his femme-boy-bad-assery or fall in love with him or... implies that he r4ped the other prisoners? I could not tell, and would be interested to hear what other folks thought of this 'joke'. Maybe we can give the author the benefit of the doubt and assume he was just beating up the other prisoners, but my queer little eyeballs sensed innuendo and I didn't like it. It just feels like this comic was so close to completely escaping the SA trope in yaoi (a very ~complex issue~ since sometimes I want emotional realism but also CNC is a VALID fantasy) but ultimately fell just short of the mark. In short, content warning for mentions of / implied sexual assault.

That said, all the other parts of this story are absolutely FANTASTIC, so let's get into why I loved this manga so much. ❤️

Art: I mean look at this shit, it's absolutely beautiful. Tsuta-sensei knows what the hell she is doing and I was so pleased to see such a talented artist tackle such a complicated setting! She added little post-script comics at the end of each book (there are 4 volumes in total) about just how time-consuming and exhausting it was to illustrate all the frilly clothes and fancy sets, but dang I am so grateful she did, this manga is gorgeous. I don't think I've ever read another period piece comic with this level of detail, and I've always loved how she draws her men. They have feminine, pointy faces with touches of a sharp jaw or facial hair, and her droopy little sad-eyed boys delight me.

2. Story: Thicc ass storytelling here--mentioned this up top, but it's a fantastic 'porn with plot.' The political dealings get a bit intense at times, but don't let that deter you from getting to the juicy bits. Aside from our main couple, we get 2 side narratives: one is about a prince from a neighboring country, and his servant/former slave (yikes) who have some really fun 'bro time' whenever the prince gets drunk, which of course gradually progresses to falling in love. Side story 2 is about the boy-king (he's like, 8) of the country in which the story is set falling in love with princey's younger brother when he come to visit. They're both like, 8, and it's very chibi and cute and whatever. Not really my thing, but cute.

3. Characters: Hot AND hilarious, Joel and Adam are so much fun to watch. Y’all know I love a femme boy, and there are TWO excellent ones in this manga and I am here for the femme for femme energy. You can't tell from the cover art, but Joel is actually dressed in a disguise with a barrister's wig, fake beard, and glasses for like 60% of the story and it is SO funny, it's like watching Oliver Cromwell star in a boys love manga. The author makes his garments, like Joel's robe, very ~pretty~ and he blushes hilariously under his big ole wig, I absolutely LOVED it. Adam is tall with long blonde hair and such a pretty face that I would absolutely break my no-blondes rule for him. His demeanor is highly effete, which I love for the top/leading man half of the duo, it’s quite unusual to see the seme (manga slang for ‘top’ for my darling n00b readers) actually acting like a gay man. Far too often the top is a straight men who swaps teams for one beautifully feminine man, but in this case we have an out and proud bi/pansexual ch

Playboy noble Adam has heard of the talented judge who rose from being a commoner to a trusted confidant in the king's court, and he genuinely wants to work for this principled man as his loyal bodyguard. When he discovers the man's 'nephew' Joel is actually Lord Montague without his wig on, Adam falls in love with this hot slice of rational philosophy and decides to pursue Joel until he consents to be his lover.

Excellent comedic bickering in this enemies-to-friends-to-lovers dynamic really makes this one of my highest-rated BL manga of all time.

4. Horniness - hehe yeah we gots it let’s get this post FLAGGED y’all

This is definitely more about the plot than the porn but fear not lovelies, there are some great sex scenes. I’d say the sex between the visiting prince and his attendant is the hottest, while the climactic smash between our two leads is much more tender and sweet. I like both! But my favorite is definitely when the visiting prince ‘rewards his servant’ (read: himself) by letting him c*m inside. Stellar. A+. We love an angry bottom boy who resents the fact that he loves when his boyfriend fills his ass. 💖

Final verdict: if you like a well written slow build to some tasty, realistic & emotional sex scenes, this is the story for you! If you’re just trying to JO I’d say skip to Volume 2, Chapter 16 hehe 😏

[demonstars]

Rain anon if you don't mind

I went and read the monologue you mentioned. Genuinely love the writing there. Honestly it's low-key so c!dream coded, with the stuff he was saying to Tommy in the prison

And do not worry, Dream is such a fun villain and it's gonna be fun seeing different interpretations of him. I'm gonna be honest I never really analyzed him much just cause I was way more focused on tommy and Wilbur. (I have some hot takes on him that will anger the masses kekw)

I wish so hard that dream has built his character up a little earlier cause like man is he interesting. Especially the way they used the very beginnings of the smp, at a time before cannon was even a thought in the wind to show more of an evolution than we really thought

And ok, I'm actually in love with so many of the monologues they said during the SMP. Wilbur by far and away having my favorites during the pogtopia era. But Dream's during the disc finale. It hit me in all the right ways. Like, he nailed the tone and the inflections and the way he was so cocky and like djdjsnwn.

And also that's one where I love to bring in the meta

Cause like, great verbiage aside. That monologue was low-key the first time it was obvious the cc's were listening to the fans

So many fan interpretations were canonized there. Tommy's power and how his attachments dictated the tides of the server, dreams obsession with control and so many other things. As a fan who had been more than knee deep into the lore at the time, hearing it was amazing because it felt like dream was acknowledging us and actively encouraging us

And not to bash them because I love all the cc's so much. But aside from a few of them, they weren't really storytellers. I could go into the meta of mcyt and how they as a generation influenced the next wave of mcyt but the current wave of mcyt does what they lacked and that is making epics out of nothing (and yes there's a new gen of mcyt don't open that can of worms unless you're feeling brave)

The dsmp people had a few captains and definitely a lot of creativity but in the best way possible it was a give and take relationship where the creators would do something random and the fans would then build on it and then the cc's would see that and smoothly incorporate that.

And I'm not saying we wrote the characters, cause we didn't. But they did these broad strokes and we helped them fill in the finer details. That's just how improv works, a team effort from everyone involved.

So much of the smp was accidental and I don't think they thought of the lore the same we we did and I have no doubt that that monologue is the manifestation of that

(also yes, when there was no more lore I went down the path of then choosing to analyze the fandom itself and oh man oh man. Sorry I am like, 8 levels of insane for block men and block game)

🌧️

cdreamie my most beloved crazypants guy the way you can see him spiral into his doom is so fucking awesome. To me. and the decision of ccDream not to stream to not steal views being translated into nobody knowing his intentions ughhhhh sorry i can talk ages about him o(-( my boy

i wish i knew where the monologues are transcribed bcs i know they are and sometimes i'd just like to reread them for the fun of it, like one would a book . i think they could be kinda charming at the beginning when they really didn't know well the improv thing and would just say shit and then reporpuse said stuff with a deeper meaning it was AWESOME

i wanna know your hot takes about cCrimeboys. in a different turn of events i didn't care for them much post doomsday, idk, i felt sad but that's about it. i would always see people waxing poetry about them and like i love that for them !! just not my thing

Cause like, great verbiage aside. That monologue was low-key the first time it was obvious the cc's were listening to the fans

YES this is something i clearly remember, that wink to the audience in a way that said — we see what you're doing, we like it, keep going, and that translated into so many iconic moments; i guess that's like the main consequence of being so closely interwined with their fandom (idk i think it was a bit of a interesting decision in general terms and i don't know if i liked how it ended up making some people feel like entilted to an ending they wanted, you know? it's a complex issue. it was cool and then it wasn't).

and yeah i get you, mcyt has been a fascination of mine for a while, kinda the reason i'm studing anthropology! digital anthropology offers many windows in this age where older academia/just normal older folks don't know how to navigate the internet and their subcategories, not the way content creators are forced to learn. it's p interesting!!

[fourseasonsfigs]

Convince People with Virtue

This was the very first set of fan figures I bought, and one of my all time favorites. Here we have episode 1 Tianchuang Zhou Zishu in all his (existentially tired and OVER it) murderous glory and Valley Master Wen in his (not-at-ALL-over-it) murderous glory.

Fair warning, this is going to be a long post on account of how much I love these characters and these figs!

The details on this set are spectacular. The robes, the poses, the hair, the accessories. So good! Zishu's vambraces, the silver decorative badges on his cloak and of course THE EVIL RED EYELINER.

I love Zishu's guan and hair tie combo here, and also am absurdly charmed that we have WKX's hand resting behind his back in his standard pose.

You can see a little more detail here where they actually molded and painted ZZH's hidden arm and hand, and a little more of the pleating on the Tianchuang robes.

The weapons are removable! Baiyi is looking nicely detailed, and the bloody-edged fan is miniature deadly perfection. I thoroughly enjoy WKX's smirk that's been hiding behind the fan!

Just when you thought it couldn't get better, it DOES.

That's right! Assassin gear!

Here we have the conical Tianchuang hat and Zishu's assassination face mask. The hat is actually angled so it fits perfectly over his irregular shaped guan.

Hahahaha he's so CUTE, dressed to kill! 😍

My Zishu's sword hand is right up against his face, so unfortunately I couldn't slip the mask between his face and arm. I tried but couldn't quite get my fumbly fingers to angle his face mask over Baiyi in a way that didn't immediately knock the mask off and disclose his identity.

The additional weight of the hat does make Zhou Shouling tip over, which is an insult to his martial skills but perhaps is explainable by the 6 nails cramping his style at the time of this particular scene. I'd definitely need to stick his feet solidly with museum putty if he was going to keep wearing this outfit.

In retrospect I really should have bought two pairs of these, and had one set with ZZS in Tianchuang's finest tailoring and WKX with his fan, and one of just them without any of the accessories.

Here's the card box inserts:

I obviously love the other's weapon at their feet.

The title of these figures comes from one of ZZS's great lines in episode 30 (and is equally of course applicable to WXK in his role as Valley Master). Zhehan's mocking delivery here was so perfect:

你不会以为我创建天窗靠的是以德服人吧

Nǐ bù huì yǐwéi wǒ chuàngjiàn tiānchuāng kào de shì yǐ dé fú rén ba

You wouldn't think that I created Tianchuang by convincing people with virtue?

That's Google Translate for you. Viki's subtitles translate this line a lot more respectably as, You can’t possibly think I commanded the Window of Heaven by relying on my integrity to win others over, did you?

Material: PVC

Fig Count: 16

Diorama Count: 2

Rating: Deadly disasters (and we love them anyway)!

[link back to Master Fig Index for more posts]

[truessences]

Characters that the fandoms love but for me are "meh" or disliked

This is probably gonna be controversial but that's okay lol, we don't all have to like the same characters. This is obviously my opinion and some of these have been years, my mind isn't going to change lol I'm not going to tag any of these characters but just the shows lol.

Oh yeah… spoilers for these shows: Once Upon a Time, Stranger Things, Pretty Little Liars, Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries.

Killian Jones aka Captain Hook (Once Upon a Time)- MEH

I remember rewatching this show a long time ago and I haven't since the last season aired but I was meh on him even then. He was another white man added to the show that everyone was like "Oh he's so hot" and I was like meh lol, he's a good looking man but he doesn't do anything for me personally. I also liked Emma with many other people than Hook. I was officially done with him when he killed Merlin while was the dark one, I loved Merlin and I was very upset by this. Not to mention, how he was saved from the Underworld, with actions he did himself, and Robin Hood died! I was so pissed. It's been a long time so I'm sure there are plenty of details missing but I remember instances because I know I didn't care for him. Sure, I'm glad Emma loved him and all but he just wasn't my bag.

Castiel (Supernatural)- Strong DISLIKE

Honestly, a lot of this is because of the fans. I know people are like "just ignore them" and I normally would but I feel like a lot of stuff that happened in Supernatural that I felt was out of character or out of left field happened because of the loud fans. Supernatural is always ALWAYS going to be about Sam and Dean, everyone else are supporting characters and that includes Castiel to me. The way this fandom would treat any other character, especially women, especially if they or Dean showed any interest in each other, in favor for Castiel just really irked me. I didn't mind him in the beginning, and he had a really awesome intro. I liked that he basically learned about humanity and empathy from being out in the world and being with Sam and Dean. I didn't mind the bond he had with Dean because I thought it was necessary for Dean to have a best friend that wasn't Sam since we all know their relationship is very complicated, beautiful and toxic at the same time. But in S6 and S7, I was getting annoyed with Castiel, I don't think he's always as funny as people try to make him out to be and I was really getting sick of him trying to be God. I was actually quite pleased when I thought he sacrificed himself in S7 and then we were introduced to Benny... I was like "oh great" but because Castiel was a fan favorite, he came back. I'm not sure if that was always the plan or what but I was irritated. Don't even get me started on D*stiel. Long story short, I don't like it, I could get into that in an entirely different post but I don't think I will. Jensen Ackles who played Dean has stated many times that Dean was not in love with Cas and he did not return any feelings that Cas might have and that Dean was straight and the way the fans treated this man and his family was wild to me. How would anyone but this man who's been playing this character for 15 years of his life know? He was directing episodes, I'm sure he had a lot of input.

Lastly, I plan to rewatch at some point but I was not really feeling that last few plots with Castiel and Jack, it just didn't work to me. But we'll see if that changes, not my dislike of Cas. Not to mention, while I felt bad that Cas "confessed" and then disappeared... though I low-key laughed at the absurdity, it meant nothing to me. Also, D*stiel is not canon because Dean never said anything back, regardless of what any translations said, he does not return any "romantic" love. Also, Cas didn't say he was in love with Dean, just that he loved him, so if a fan who had no idea of the internet fandom was watching, they'd probably just think Cas was just saying that he loved him as a brother/best friend as we've been shown their relationship was like.

In the end, I felt Cas overstayed his welcome and honestly, he was always just meh to me but the fans really made me dislike him. People are worried that the Duffer Bros might listen to the loud fans and change their plans in S5... I hope they don't because I saw that happen in Supernatural. Just because there are SOME fans who are loud does not mean they speak for everyone.

Steve Harrington (Stranger Things)-Meh

Hear me out lol, I know he's everyone's favorite... I don't hate Steve or dislike him, I just don't like him as much as everyone else does. I think he's fine but I do think they focus on him way too much. I was actually expecting him to die in S4 when he gave that little speech too Nancy because that's usually the speech a person gives before they sacrifice themselves. I like his friendship with Robin and Dustin. I think it's very sweet. I'd like to see him bond with the other kids if I'm honest. But I'm not interested in them trying to bring him and Nancy back together romantically and it's not because I dislike her, I like her fine. I just don't care about them as a couple. I also don't find him hot at all lol. Just not my bag lol. He's fine but I'm just meh on him.

Billy Hargrove (Stranger Things)- Strong dislike

No one will make me like this man. I think Dacre is a good looking man but he's also like... too pretty... and also not my bag lol since I see people praise his looks a lot. But also, Billy was abusive and racist and the fact that people love to tell me (a black woman who has seen and experienced racism) and others that he wasn't... towards a black character is wild to me. Billy was racist towards Lucas. His speech to Max was racist. Not to mention, he was abusive. Yes, he was also a victim of abuse but that does not give you the leeway to be abusive in return. I will never go for that shit. If he was a victim and handled it differently, then I'd feel more empathy. Thank you for your sacrifice and thank you for saving El but nah lol.

Aria Montgomery & Ezra Fitz (PLL)- Dislike (Aria) and Hate (Ezra)

I dislike both of them lol and I hate them together. I will never be behind a minor and an adult relationship, especially not a teacher and student. I was never on board, this was never cute and the fact that they tried to get me to root for this couple? AND they got married at the end??? WILD. I feel like I liked the idea of Jason DiLaurentis and Aria together but I think that was short lived. And the fact that they tried to make it seem like her dad was in the wrong for not liking this relationship... wild lol.

Elena Gilbert (The Vampire Diaries)- Started out as meh and ended up in dislike

I'm not sure if people still like her as they did in the past or if people are becoming hip to how awful she became. In the first few seasons, she was annoying but I was alright with her. I even didn't mind her chemistry with Damon... but I never shipped them. When she became a vampire, I started to hate her. I already was always mad at how Bonnie was treated in favor of Elena and it didn't help that Elena was so fucking selfish lol. When she became a vampire, she was unbearable and once her and Damon got together, I no longer liked them. I liked the idea more than the couple. Even when she was gone she still loomed over the show... just ugh.

This might be a little controversial but eh what can you do lol. This is what I got right now lol and it's very easy for the fans to make other people dislike a character so stop telling people to ignore it... if you're involved in the fandom and on the internet, you can't ignore it. You can block and block but it'll still be there.

Everyone is free to like and dislike whatever and whoever they want, but remember you are not the only person who exists in the fandom and you can share your thoughts and analysis all you want, but attacking people, calling them names for whatever reason because they don't like your fave character or fave ship... lol like stop.

Anyways, you can share your thoughts but my mind has been unchanged on these characters for ages.

[azurewoods]

bnha 304‼️

(so, in summary, I think Todoroki Shoto is the other vestige on OFA. yep, here we go again)

Deku stans, how are we feeling? finally we got to see our favorite boy and, not less important, the two mysterious vestiges (it was just one panel but still. Progress).

This time we got a more detailed appearance of the vestiges, this could be useful to the theories going around about their identifies.

Now, I'm sure we all agree that one of them is an older version of Bakugou since they both have the same hair, same body build and proportions, not to mention his equipment on his wrists that could be an upgraded version of his grenades.

But in this post I'm going to talk about the second vestige. The most popular theory is that Kirishima is the other vestige, mostly because of the hair and the equipment he's wearing.

The hair itself wasn't really similar but, again, they're presumably an older version in case they are deku's classmates and clearly when you get older you change a lot, including hairstyle. It really isn't enough proof but since the only panels we had of them were literal silhouettes, everything was possible. I even believed it myself, until today.

When I started reading the unofficial translation of the chapter, the moment I saw them, I took a good look at them. Definitely is a more detailed version of them, their hair, clothes, heights.

And that's what make me realize that the second vestige is no other than Todoroki Shoto.

Why? you may ask. Well, let's compare Kirishima with the vestige first.

The most solid proof of being Kirishima was the equipment he wears on his shoulders. But if you take a look at the new panels you can see they're not similar, not even remotely close to an upgraded version.

You can see that Kirishima has his arms far from his body in a "resting instance" since his equipment takes a lot of space between his armpits and his torso that could be seen as an 'uncomfortable position'. It also makes him look buff, if that makes sense lol, but the vestige in the panel doesn't look awkward or very buff.

There's also that mask he uses that covers the back of his head, ears and neck. The fact the he has his chest uncovered, uses black pants and boots. The vestige uses a kind of headband and doesn't use any of the last thing I mentioned. But, again, equipment changes.

There's also the sleeves, the vestige doesn't wear them but it could be an upgrade since he does have short black sleeves.

Now there's just little detail that doesn't convince me at all. The hair. From the silhouette we could see the similarities if Kirishima wore his hair in a ponytail but in the panel of chp 304...

It just looks so soft. And not just that, the type of hair and its form is really different from Kirishima's. He [the vestige] has hair that looks smooth and straight. It seems it's white or light hair.

Meanwhile, Kirishima's hair is red, that looks hard and spiky. And there's the fact that he probably wouldn't change his hairstyle precisely of the reason why he decided to have it that way in the first place. It was a change of image, a new person, new choices and was inspired from his favorite hero Crimson Riot. His characteristic red and spiky hair is something Kirishima would probably not change in a long time.

It is totally razonable since his hero name is very similar to the pro hero, it's fan boy behavior lmao. And that includes Deku since his hero costume has bunny ears resembling All Might's; and Bakugou since, you know, his recently announced hero name Great explosion murder god Dinamight (self explanatory lmfaoo)

Now, it's time to show you why I think is Shoto.

First, his hero costume. He has a belt with first aid equipment, those things over his shoulders and that things in his wrists (sorry, when it comes to describe things my english knowledge is non existent). Meanwhile, the vestige also has a similar costume (in terms of a base and color), has a belt that has pockets attached, that thing around his shoulders that are not massive, they're like mini pockets or decoration that doesn't look heavy and, finally, both have equipment on their wrists.

He has physical similarities in terms of body shape and height. He doesn't look buff but he sure looks well shaped.

And there's the hair. Shoto's hair is straight but not that straight on the ends, it is also long and smooth. But it is red and white and the vestiges is not, it seems to be white or a bright color, such as blonde or similar. However, I think it's not that crazy if Todoroki changed his hair color or something. The only reasonable explanation I can come up with is that Shoto didn't want to have Endeavor's hair color.

But, if you paid attention, they only show us the right side of the vestige. There's a possibility that his other side is still red and it's hiding it with his scar. I know the ponytail should be half red half white but who knows, maybe Shoto styles it with the purpose of hiding the red side on the ponytail.

Finally, on the other hand, we can make a guess of the vestiges heights but is not accurate because of the perspective the panel was drawn and stuff. So, Todoroki's height is 1.76 cm (5,9ft I guess?) and Kirishima's 1.70cm (5,6ft). Bakugou's height is 1.72cm (5,7ft), assuming Bakugou is one of the vestiges.

Bakugo is probably going to be tall (I mean, he arleady is), maybe grow a little above average.

Todoroki is tall and still has a lot to grow, and taking into account that Endeavor is big as f!ck, he js probably going to be taller. But if he "grew up all he could" then he's going to be like Bakugou above avererage height, or a bit taller

For Kirishima, I think he's going to be average. We don't know his parents to help but he seems to be average. I think he might get tall but not that much.

So, it seems that the mystery vestige is taller than "vestige Bakugou". Yeah, he's hunched but it looks that, even if he straightens back, he's still shorter. I can't really tell because the room looks a bit tilted. But having said that, the heights matches more with Todoroki.

There's just so many similarities, I am genuinely convinced Shoto can be the other vestige and it makes sense if we talk about their relationship with Deku and OFA.

I mean, the main reason Bakugou was so rapidly accepted as the vestige, besides the physical similarities, it was of his relationship with Deku (he has history with him, he cares for Deku's wellbeing, he's atoning and most part of the war arc he spend the whole time at his side trying to protect him from Shigaraki/AFO), and his knowledge about OFA, how he thinks of it as a curse more than a blessing based of the repercussions it had on Deku and it's past users.

And Todoroki has been impacted in a positive way by Deku. He learned that his fire is his, to be open to friendship with his classmates, one of his first friends in a long time and, with others of the class, be motivated and do his because of Deku. Not just because is him, but for his action in the past that unchained a lot of good times. And now that OFA has been mention to Shoto and other heroes present in Deku and Shigaraki's fight, he's probably going to be involved in some aspect. If that's the case, they must have turned into vestiges a lot after or maybe it happened between the time skip between the Endeavor agency arc and the war arc (who knows, maybe something happens in the third bnha movie).

[p.s: just noticed that " vestige bakugou's" gauntlets look veeery similar to the ones bakugou is wearing in 'the three musketeers' illustration]

[snowwhitelass]

Why A Discovery of Witches star Steven Cree asked Outlander costar Sam Heughan for advice

By Maureen Lee Lenker

January 08, 2021

When it comes to bringing a beloved book series to life on television, Steven Cree knows a thing or two.

The actor, who is about to embody fan-favorite character Gallowglass on the second season of A Discovery of Witches, has spent the last several years playing the lovable Ian Murray, Sr. on Starz's Outlander. And this time, he was prepared for all that bringing to life a popular series of novels entails.

"When I got Ian Murray in Outlander, I wasn't on social media at that point," he tells EW. "Even though I was aware of Outlander being a hugely successful book series, I didn't know anything about the huge fan base. It wasn't actually until I was on Outlander that I realized how big the whole thing was, whereas with this, it was an entirely different scenario from the start. When I had the audition and I googled to find out a little bit about the TV show, whenever you google Gallowglass and A Discovery of Witches, it became very quickly apparent that Gallowglass is indeed an extremely beloved character."

"Ian is nice and warm and fuzzy; Gallowglass is a lot more dynamic than that," he adds. "He's a bachelor as well. He's a bit of a rock-and-roll vampire for his time so he's an entirely different proposition from Ian. I did read the book, and I absolutely loved the character of Gallowglass every bit as much as the fans. Whilst I know that there may well be some people out there who will never agree with my casting of Gallowglass, I hope the majority of people are happy with how he's portrayed and what I bring to him."

There is one man who would know what Cree is going through, embarking on playing this beloved fictional character who many fans have declared their literary crush. That would be his Outlander costar Sam Heughan. Cree didn't ask Heughan for any advice about the perceived pressure that comes with stepping into a role of this nature, but he did ask him for help with something a bit more weighty.

"Gallowglass is described as being a particularly physical, and muscular character, so I've been spending a lot of time in the gym over the last 18 months," he explains. "So, I was asking Sam Heughan some fitness tips."

As a lover of fantasy novels for most of his life, Cree was enthusiastic about diving into the world of A Discovery of Witches and his character in particular. "He's a very complex character, and there's a lot about Gallowglass that's unknown," he reflects. "He has a slightly mysterious quality to him; he's been alive for already a few 100 years by the point we meet him. Even though he's described as a soldier of fortune, you don't exactly know his history or his past. When it comes to the crunch, he's a really fearsome warrior that the Claremont family calls upon. He's almost a slightly bombastic character, full of one-liners and quick to make a joke. [But] there's a slight sadness around him as well."

How does an actor tap into such a mysterious figure with a shadowy backstory? Well, it helps when the author who created him is also an executive producer. Deborah Harkness, who wrote the A Discovery of Witches series, was often on-hand to give Cree advice. In a move reminiscent of Alan Rickman's experiences playing Professor Snape in the Harry Potter franchise, Harkness even provided Cree with secret details.

"She gave me a very long and very detailed backstory of Gallowglass' life," he notes. "Which you wouldn't necessarily see any of that on the screen, but from an acting point of view, the more you can learn about a character, the easier it is for me to bring that palette to the character. Debs told me some things in absolute confidence, which I haven't shared with anyone else at all. It's good to have some secrets about your character, to create that inner life."

Harkness also helped Cree feel a certain level of confidence in the role. In the novel, Gallowglass is described as a former Viking, and his warrior spirit had led fans to dream-cast the likes of Charlie Hunnam and Heughan himself in the role. But Cree never got anything but absolute support from the character's creator.

"I was hugely encouraged by how positive Debs was in my casting of Gallowglass because I had come across a lot of suggestions on the internet," he muses. "When the person who's actually created that character has been so vocal about how much she thinks I am her version of Gallowglass, it gave me almost unspoken permission [and] made me feel really good about filling his boots, literally and figuratively."

Cree was immediately enchanted by the sexy, romantic implications of playing a vampire, noting he's a longtime fan of things like Interview With a Vampire and the Twilight series. He reveled in getting to bring that ancient mystery and superhuman strength to life (though he shares a mournful regret with his costar James Purefoy that he didn't get to bite anyone). But to him, the key to Gallowglass was that view of him as a rock-and-roll vampire.

That translated into his prep in his trailer before shooting scenes. "The one thing that I did use quite often when I was in my trailer, and I was putting on my costume and I wanted to get into the headspace for Gallowglass, I would very often play 'Nothing Else Matters' by Metallica," he quips. "I could imagine Gallowglass being really into Metallica."

A bit different from the music of the 1590s...

A Discovery of Witches season 2 premieres on Sundance Now, Shudder, and AMC+ on Jan 9.

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

BFCD Reviews by Nesha: Grace Monroe & The Infinity Train on HBO Max

Disclaimer: Post includes spoilers and also, this viewer does not deem Infinity Train as a children's show and my views are not subjected to the idea that this is a children's show, but I do regard the characters as children.  

I’m not a psychiatrist. I haven’t taken a psychology class in many years. My work with children has been primarily trauma centered children, and I haven’t worked with typical children for a decade, so most of my opinions are from my personal life experience, my work experience, my children’s rights advocacy and activism, and the guidelines from my childcare specialist work for children in the system in the state of Texas. I don’t have a lot of information these days on typical children and I don’t know the culture of children all over the country or world, but I basically know a little something about traumatized children.

And as always, be nice, because I can be mean too (and will). 😉

Special thanks to @i-am-a-passenger for listening to me and being a SOUND sounding board for my thoughts through this experience that was season 3 of Infinity Train.

To be honest, I thought that it was extremely brave of the creators to go the route that they did with the story line. Not everybody can be saved is a take that we don’t see nearly enough, and whenever we do, usually a POC, oftentimes a Black girl is on the losing end of the tale. That didn’t happen here and despite some problems with some of the way that things played out in front of us, it was STILL a monumental moment for many fans and Grace’s redemption arc was valid and reasonable, so I loved it and I live for it. Now, I’m gonna give my review of the season and what I noticed about the characters...

First off, I think that the writing of this season was phenomenal. The style of the way the story was told impressed me from start to finish. There were moments that I didn’t expect, but I understood from a writing standpoint and for the characters presented. I’m not a professional writer, but it’s been a passion since I was 7 years old, so I have some experience with passion for writing and stories and a great narrative is my WEAKNESS, and I do believe that Infinity Train provides great narratives. 

This season has been my favorite thus far. I would have appreciated it for the story content, even if they had switched the characters’ arcs or went in a different direction with the redemption arc, but the fact that I was able to see an example of a Black girl being able to BE HUMAN, at my age - 38 - is still such new content that I was honestly overwhelmed by the simple fact that the creators decided that this Black girl was worthy of not only redemption, but the attention to detail and consideration was enough for me to love this season.   

The girl in question: 18 year old Grace Monroe, whose been on this train for something like 7 years.

It’s rare to see a dark skinned, brown skinned, Black girl with natural hair be shown in anything but stereotypes and/or plot devices for other characters. This character has a story of her own. A beautifully written and fully realized story of a child who got confused, made bad decisions, did terrible things, learned the truth, and sought to change.

Whenever we first meet Grace and Simon, she’s announced as the leader of the Apex, and Simon is announced as her second in command and given the credentials from her, “I trust him with my life.” Something that is later a bittersweet thought as he becomes the biggest threat of her life since she got onto this train. They’re clearly very close and only seem to disagree on how they respond to negativity.

One of my favorite things about Grace was that she was given layers. One of my LEAST favorite things about Grace was that she was given unfair head canons by the fandom extremely early on (all of which nobody ever proved but remained diligently devoted to believing). 

In this season, when the two are taken out of their comfort zone and traveling with outsiders, Grace and Simon are faced with lives that they haven’t thought about previously and wind up choosing very separate paths. Honestly, these paths they went on made perfect sense to me. I see both of them as traumatized children without any guidance and while one of them is very careless and reckless (Grace), the other is deliberate about what he does and has goals and plans. 

The biggest influence, I think, was their interactions with denizens prior to forming the Apex. Grace admittedly never got to know any while Simon was betrayed by one whenever she left him behind to potentially die. Simon carried this rage inside of him while Grace had nothing but apathy to guide her attitude of the denizens. Grace needed attention and she was able to get that from Simon and the Apex, so she made a life built on what that gave her.

While Grace tends to seem to try to sweeten the issue or charm people. Simon is more short with others and a bit rude. They handle things much differently, though they have created a lifestyle together and formatted a society of children that they lead.

All too frequently, if a character looks like Grace, she is there as fodder for whoever her (usually white) counterparts are. But Grace has a unique situation in which she shares center stage with her white male counterpart and we watch them develop together from two peas in a pod to mortal enemies. It is a sad separation, but one that felt necessary for the direction of the story. But here’s why Grace matters so much, despite the fact that she and Simon built a child army and killed we don’t even know how many denizens:

Grace changed for the better. When both of them met and got to know a denizen, she began to change. She didn’t understand it at first and took some time to admit to herself that she was even changing. She thought that something was wrong with her because her number was going down and that wasn’t supposed to be how it was. What she thought was that it made her look weak and she didn’t want Simon or the Apex to see her that way.

And saying that Grace changed for the better is sort of shaky, too. Because Grace wasn’t a bad person to begin with. She was a child who got on the wrong track. Going from being extremely alone to having one friend to having hundreds or however many Apex kids of followers changed her for the worse, but she was a good kid at her core. She was lonely in the real world and she acted out, then wound up on this train, had a life changing event by having to see “The Conductor” and translate what happened to her as someone saving her, and she went on to help save others, or so she thought, to some degree. 

Whenever she saved Simon, she had literally no reason to, other than she saw a kid in trouble and she knew she could help.She had just as little life skills and social skills as this kid in front of her, but... he was crying and she reached out to try to make him feel better, reminding him that even though life on the train was hard, he was alright now. Then, another life changing thing happened - Simon noticed that her number was higher and asked her how she got it so high. She knew just as much as him, and said that she was really good at life on the train, and the way she took that ghom out - she wasn’t completely wrong, but them being children and having only time and their limited views started a cult.

What I found interesting about this memory was the fact that Simon was telling Grace’s story for her. She tagged her charm onto it, but Simon (the writer of their laws and apparently a trilogy that not even Grace, who likes to read things wanted to read while they were besties) is telling the story to the kids. Probably embellishing, and Grace loves to be noticed, so she keeps this up until they’ve formatted an entire belief system. It was basically just I presumed whenever I questioned the reputation this fandom gave Grace as a manipulator who filled Simon’s head with hatred for denizens and Apex theology.It confirmed that people were wrong about her, which unfortunately didn’t make them change their minds, but they ain’t gotta. Grace lived and Simon died and that’s how this turns out sometimes.

I was able to at least acknowledge that his death was atrocious and it’s very unfortunate that he didn’t change for the better. He wanted control. He wanted power. He wanted to reign. Those things were more important to him than believing anything that went against his ideals. They were more important than Grace and his relationship with her. Meanwhile, Grace, up until even after he was gone cared about him. She defended herself whenever he attacked her, but she tried not to hurt him. She even tried to talk to him and he once again refused to listen. She saved his life AGAIN, and he still tried to kill her. Despite it all, when he was gone, she cried. Her friend was gone. Another life had been taken, and life meant something else to her now. 

Even paper birds mattered now, and thanks to that difference inside of her, she didn’t die. But, I expected her to. Not even because it would’ve made sense or helped the story in any way, but because that’s how it usually goes for characters like her, characters who LOOK like her. The fact that it didn’t brought tears to my eyes. This season was amazing. This ending was amazing. This character was amazing. I’m so pleased with it and it was more than I expected, because instead of setting expectations, I let them tell me the story. They did an excellent job.

I've been asking people since she first appeared in season 2 why they thought that Simon was some helpless and she was this dominating figure that bossed him into this lifestyle and mostly it came back to her higher number. i didn't think we were being shown that, so I've been suspicious every time someone has suggested that Grace got Simon started in this or taught him this and now that it's been debunked, I'm even more irritated with the suggestion that her redemption doesn't make sense or wasn't right. 

The thing about Simon was that he seemed fine. He seemed innocent, at times. He seemed like someone to sympathize with... What a lot of his fan base doesn't seem to realize is that is the case with every abuser. That is the case with many killers. Bad backgrounds and hard times coming up don't make for an excuse. Just because I GET his personality, doesn't mean he deserves respect or consideration. But then, we have Grace, on this other end who can't even get the recognition she earned through her decision making when she literally had the same childhood as him whenever they got there. Idk. Shit feels suspicious to me to not acknowledge Grace's redemption as well written. And the idea that Simon was doing these things for or because of Grace was proven as untrue, so there should have been a shift in her favor and there wasn't and my god that's some top shelf bullshit to me...

People frequently speak of Grace's manipulating Simon, possibly because they haven't had to try to use what you have to smooth someone over. The fact that Grace has been consoling Simon since they were children (THEY WERE CHILDREN), Because I see "Simon is a child" everyday, and always speak of his trauma, like Grace had none and like she's not the same age or near it. But, that's another thing that gets done to Black girls - they're aged up in people's prejudiced minds and expected to be more accountable than their peers. This GIRL has been repeatedly blamed for the issues of her friend.

And her "betrayal?" A lie she told to preserve life.

Simon proceeds to use her tape against her, leave her trapped inside of it (knowing it was dangerous, because the cat told him), sow lies about her in the Apex, pressure children that she knew to kill her, literally tried to beat her up and murder her, and kicks her as hard as he can after she saved his life AGAIN... He still gets more grace than Grace from the audience. I don't think people see Grace's humanity. People even assumed that her number was higher because she killed so many denizens... Like literally every wrong move doesn't affect numbers. And when faced with the story, which gives us a vulnerable Grace with flaws but also compassion, she's still been sidelined by fans of the show and nobody has given me any good reason as to why, so you already know, like we been knew. 😒

People have even tried to downgrade Simon's toxicity towards her because she led the Apex (and these people pretty much had similar things to say as people who didn't believe that my ex sexually abused me because of some examples of me being strong while arguing with him)...

THIS was triggering as fuck, but I've barely seen a PEEP about it. I'm going to presume that problematic takes of Grace are from a place of discrimination and dehumanization against another Black girl character like fandoms usually do.

But that just makes her matter more.

Good job, Grace. I knew there was good in you all along, and I didn't have to make up anything about you in my brain. ♥️♥️♥️

*Grace mourning a man that just tried to destroy her multiple times for telling a lie to keep him from killing a small child...

SPEAKING OF... The man double kicked her off that damn train in front of the kids AFTER they all saw her rescue him. Them kids might be messed up because of the Apex, but you can't tell me that Simon ain't further fuck them up with his reign. At least we know Grace was always nice to them. I'm glad they'll have each other to figure it all out.

[kimmyyang]

My views on ‘The Untamed 陈情令’

I never thought I would write a review on a drama although I have watched a lot of dramas of different genres for about 15/16 years. There is something about ‘The Untamed’ that made me want to write a review or at least write out my feelings. I’m not going to write too deep and get into all the details. But I guess this could be a way for me to get out of this trap or try to get it off my chest. 

I’m not a fan of the original novel (well, not yet) as I don’t like reading so I haven’t read it yet. However, I have decided to read it as I have finished the drama and couldn’t get over it no matter how much I want to escape from it. 

Trust me, I don’t usually get THIS attached to a drama or any characters, I mean yeah, the casts are handsome and all, but I stayed for the plot and the characters, not just the good looks of those actors. Especially if it’s 50 episodes long, I wouldn’t stay for someone’s visuals like I ain’t got time for that – I can just watch the cuts of that actor lol. I’m quite picky because I have seen A LOT of dramas, if I watch 2 episodes and it bores me then bye and I don't like long dramas. But after the 50 episodes, I felt so empty like I wanted more??? I know that's normal since I have experienced that before but this time was slightly different.

I personally think everyone portrayed their characters very well, despite most of them are young actors/ actresses. I usually skip or play supporting characters’ parts in 1.5 speed if they’re not as interesting as the main characters. But they kept me riveted throughout the entire drama, I didn’t skip one bit. Most characters hit me at some point during the drama, and I loved it (while shedding buckets of tears haha). 

Apart from WWX and LWJ, my FAVORITE character is Jiang Yan Li - notice how I capitalized the word and it's in bold, that’s how much I loved her. She’s the best shijie/ sister that anyone could ask for. I feel like she’s WWX’s half mother, she takes care of him. She is a gentle and polite woman. She isn’t powerful in the Cultivation World (she mainly just focused on cooking tbh lol it's cute tho) but she doesn’t hesitate to protect WWX. She stood up for him even in front of her future mother-in-law, she trusted him until the end even when everyone went against him, and when her parents got killed, she didn’t blame him (it wasn’t his fault anyway) and eventually sacrificed her life for him. Her death was just so tragic like I was bawling my eyes out, she didn’t deserve it, she really didn’t. She was just a simple girl that wanted the best for her family. But she is the last straw that broke the camel’s back aka WWX, if she didn’t die for him, he probably wouldn’t get out of control. It was so cruel to WWX but I kind of understand why the author did it. 

I also enjoyed the cinematography, scenery and OST, all of it was so astounding. Even the name of the locations were beautiful like 云深不知处 – it sounds so poetic. I loved how each sect had their own colors which reflected their characteristics in the Cultivation World. The characters also had their own OST, my favorite ones are Wen Ning’s & Jiang Yan Li’s songs – it still hurts when I listen to them, and I nearly cried few times (yes, I have a soft spot for Wen Ning, too.) I want to add that Jiang Yan Li & Jin Zi Xuan's song hurts a lot as well, the lyrics are like a fucking knife stabbing me in the chest. I thought I was strong enough to watch the MV, but I couldn't control my tears gdi. You know when you're cutting onions and tears just streaming down your face, that's what happened to me - except there were no onions.  *I was a fan of the singer when I was younger so watching him singing the song on the stage also took me back to the old days ah~ This song gave me double feels lol ;~; 

A part of me regrets that I didn’t watch it last year but a part of me is thankful that I finally got to watch it this year. It was already a hot topic before it even aired in China, so of course I have heard about it and I know briefly what it is based on. But I didn’t want to jump on the bandwagon and be like I’m a huge fan of the drama just because it’s popular (it’s hard to explain but I’m quite stubborn sometimes lol). Many said that you wouldn’t understand the story or the little details in the drama if you haven’t read the novel (I watched the animation before the drama, so I know a bit of the story). I don’t like reading anyway so I didn’t bother with it. Also, the genre of the novel isn’t something that I would read so that’s another reason why I left it. I’m not against any type of love, I just feel a bit iffy about reading it, which is kind of stupid now that I think about it lol. Another reason is that I don’t like depressing dramas, I used to watch a lot of those in my younger days, most of the plots are quite cliche. Although 'The Untamed' is sad, there were sweet, happy moments and it has a happy ending, so I loved it.

A lot of people didn’t like the ending, but I think it was a good ending. I mean they can’t really do much as they have to pass the censorship. My interpretation of the ending is that LWJ went to sort out everything in the Cultivation World so that he could be with (or protect) WWX later. He found WWX (maybe a few years) later and called WWX’s name. In that scene, WWX’s black outfit is different to when they parted, so it can’t be LWJ came back to WWX right after they went separate ways – that would very irresponsible to do since he is the Chief Cultivator. It’s an open-ended ending, so it’s up to the audience’s imagination, you can interpret it however you like. The camera didn’t show LWJ at the end so it could also be WWX imagined that LWJ called his name. But I believe that they got together, you can just tell just by looking at WWX’s facial expressions. It isn’t that difficult to figure it out, the novel has a happy ending so yeah. I also read it somewhere that when LWJ went to meet up with WWX, he also changed his outfit but apparently that part didn't pass the censorship (wtf?) so maybe that's why they didn't show LWJ at the end. 

I guess the good thing is that I can’t get all the related merch, if I watched it last year, I would definitely ask one of my relatives to buy and send everything over for me lmao goodbye my money. But I would buy the physical novel when I get the chance. If a drama left a big impact on me, I would buy the novel (if it has one of course).

I think I need a long cool-off period after this drama, I don’t want to watch anything else except their bts, interviews (even supporting actors’ interviews, I usually don’t watch those), crack videos lol, variety shows, fan meeting – basically everything that I can find, I don't think I have watched everything though. When I watched a cut of the cast saying goodbye to their characters on the fan meeting, I cried again (ffs just get over it). It’s definitely one of the best dramas I’ve ever watched and would definitely recommend to those who likes Chinese dramas. Not that anyone cares, but I would rate it 9/10 (if shijie was alive, I would give another 0.5 lol). I don’t know how good the subtitles are, but I did see some odd bits here and there (I watched it without the English subtitles). Sometimes it’s really hard to translate Chinese especially when it’s a xianxia drama – making it even more difficult. Anyway, if I get to finish reading the novel, I might write my views on the novel if I can be bothered lol – I’m a very lazy person XD

I kind of want to write another post just about WWX and LWJ, and how good Xiao Zhan & Yibo’s acting skills were. Basically, complimenting them for 2 pages haha. Ngl, I did fell for Xiao Zhan. I might watch it again just to focus on them a bit more. From the interviews I have seen, Xiao Zhan seems like a very humble, kind, genuine person – you can just tell from his eyes. He’s definitely a treasure boy (硬翻'宝���男孩'). I don’t think I need to say much about Yibo, he’s super talented, I was already a fan of UNIQ when they were active. The character really suited Yibo and he did a great job portraying LWJ.

Anyway, it’s time for me to say goodbye to 'The Untamed', I don’t know how long I will feel attached to this drama but hopefully there’s another masterpiece that could help me to get over it.

忘羡一曲远，曲终人不散。

[the-hetchia-universe]

So i found i miciti disney of phantom blot!

And i wanted to share the translated version of the interview ! ( and i like he has some kinda story behind the interview. The extras will be on a reblog post.)

"If I didn't have a heart of gold..."

Meeting within the walls of the prison with the one who likes to call himself a villain unique in style, intelligence and personality. A true emperor of crime, if it were not for the too much sensitivity that makes him hate violence and has prevented him on various occasions to get rid of the enemy Mickey, for now.

When it was decided to dedicate a volume - and a coin - to The Phantom blot, it was prudently placed towards the end of the series, in the belief that sooner or later the person concerned would be available for the ritual interview.

The reasoning did not make a wrinkle: more than six months would have been enough for him to try to pull off one of his famous shots, which would have been followed by the probable (not to say inevitable) arrest, and so it would have been easy to meet him in the cooler.

And instead, time has passed and no news of the lantitante Phantom blot has been heard.

That he had decided to take a long vacation or, even worse, to retire permanently from...business?

The only hope of not being forced to write with blank pages was placed in the major expert of the black character and his nemesis for sixty years, and that is Mickey. Who immediately reassured us. "No, Phantom Blot doesn't know what the holidays are," he said convinced.

"And as for the idea of retiring, I don't think it ever even crossed his twisted mind. He's not the type to sit on his hands, and even if he was, he'd never retire before he took me off the streets. He swore it to me... and he's not the type to break his word."

But then how did you explain him not talking about himself for so long? 

"He's on a break," sentenced Mickey. "he's preparing a big score... and I know which one too!"

At the Mousetown Research Center, very advanced studies were underway on a device to make people invisible. Very secret studies, of course, but not for Phantom Blot, as revealed by an ingenious electronic bug system discovered by chance at the Center.

There was no doubt that he was the one who planted them.

"Invisibility has always been his dream," Mickey said.

"And with that device, he'd have one that's perfectly good, not the handcrafted one that gives him his black cloak in the night."

the bug hadn't been removed, so as not to put the Phantom blot on the forewarning so that we could catch him red-handed at the appropriate time. Which, unfortunately, wouldn't be for a few months at the earliest. And to hasten the time was not even talked about it: even if it had been possible, an interview would hardly have been a sufficient reason to speed up the work.

I was already resigned to having to give up the interview when I had a dazzling idea. What if he just pretended to finish the job? A nice, exclusive benefit performance by Blot and his bugs and...

"And he'll bite for sure, because he doesn't know that we know that he knows!" exclaimed Mickey.

"Besides, if he has to act sooner than expected, he won't have the time to get his plans right, and it'll be easier to neutralize him. And there is another advantage: even if he gets away with it, he will have nothing to steal. But he won't get away with it..."

Mickey was a good man (not that it took long: all the precedents were in his favor) and so here I am, in Mousetown prison, visiting the blackest black character in the Disney world.

Who receives me in his usual cell. I'd like to describe him, but how do you tell something you can't see? The room, in fact, is in total darkness...

Interviewing an invisible subject is not the best, but taking notes in the dark is impossible...can't you turn on a light?

PB: Yes, but then you'll miss the right dark atmosphere.

Patience, I'll work on my imagination.

PB: I hope you've had enough. Anyway, I'm keeping the cloak and hood. Without them, I wouldn't be me anymore. Even the warden lets me wear them when I'm in jail. He has respect for my personality...

Me too, I assure you. You've always been my favorite negative character. The best villain. And don't get me wrong, when I say "bad"...

PB: There's no need to add anything else. I get it. On the other hand, how could you define me differently? Well, maybe instead of "bad," you could use the term "evil." I think it suits me better and is more exclusive. I'm the only one who's evil, and the comic book pages are full of villains.

And no one remotely has my class. Not to mention style, intelligence and personality.

Modesty, on the other hand, is quite common among you criminals...

PB: If you think you're funny, you're very wrong. I'm not immodest, I'm just telling it like it is. I'm not the kind of guy who's special, I'm not the kind of guy you're looking for.

That's what Floyd Gottfredson thought, too... 

PB: He's designed me. You ever wonder why I made myself look so much like Walt Disney?

As a joke, if I'm not mistaken.

PB: Pff! That's the official version. The truth is, he wanted to pay tribute to a great man by making him play a great character. And who could you find better than me? Walt and I have a lot in common.

Certainly not a criminal record.

PB: Obviously not. But we're both geniuses.

With very different results, though. His career has been a little bit better than yours. Speaking of which, can you explain the long hole between your first compo, in 1939, and your return to action, in 1955? Sixteen years is a long time: what have you been doing in all that time?

PB: If you had that imagination you boasted about earlier, you wouldn't ask me such a question. It's obvious I've been in prison. Serving my long sentence and figuring out how to get revenge on the man who put me away. You should have known better. And if you're really a fan of mine, you should know that I almost succeeded. I had a diabolical plan, a revenge so subtle that only I could have imagined it. Nothing crude, no direct violence. Mickey sabotaged himself with his own hands! I hope you publish the story of my return to the scene, so that readers will also appreciate my genius.

It's the first of this volume, a real classic. You really missed nothing because you're getting rid of your enemy. In this regard, can you explain me why, even though you had several times - and since your first encounter - the possibility to eliminate Mickey directly, you never did it?

PB: Because I'm too sensitive. I hate violence and I could never get my hands dirty. I wish I could. It would be so easy to just get the rat out of the way! But instead I'm forced to make deadly contraptions or studying very complicated subjects. Imagine that once, in order to get rid of my hated enemy, I managed to erase it from the mind of every inhabitant of Mousetown. Of course, as you can gather from my presence here, it didn't help. Do you know what that crude Pete once said to me, who I often share a cell with? That without my good heart, I'd be the emperor of crime! I hate to do this, but I have to agree with him.

Yeah, if it hadn't been Mickey in his way... He's blacked you out plenty of times!

PB: Yeah ! That's some low-rent humor. Why don't you also say that it's...stained my career? I don't mind anyway, because I'm tenacious, me. I'll never give up. I know what I'm worth, and I know the day will come when I can get rid of Mickey once and for all. That is, if luck doesn't keep on helping him, of course. That nosy little chap's always got a dose to envy even Gladstone.

You're not saying that to console yourself? The way you're putting it, it sounds like Mickey doesn't deserve any credit for putting you in jail. I'll grant you that sometimes he got away with it because your sensitivity prevented you from giving him the coup de grâce, but to say that he beats you regularly just because he's lucky, seems too much.

PB: Is that what you think? Then let us examine this latest supposed success of the brilliant detective, the genius of investigators, the terror of criminals. Tsk! I was preparing a perfect score, according to a schedule studied in detail... and what happens? That those scientists realize much earlier than expected the invention that I was so interested in, thus forcing me into a hasty action that led to my arrest. Mickey was there waiting for me, but if I'd had time to make a proper plan, I'd have done it under his nose, always snooping around. Grrr! And you're telling me he's not lucky?

Well, yeah, maybe a little. I'll grant you that it's not his fault, but the case, if the microplashes you had installed at the Research Center were discovered. But he was the one who figured out you planted them and had the idea to leave them where they were so you wouldn't get suspicious. And the fact that the invention was ready before its time is not a stroke of luck, but simply... false news.

PB: What?! You made that up. I don't believe it!

And it hurts, because I know what I'm talking about. I'm the one who gave him the idea. I went to consult him to find a way to interview you... Hey! Why did you get up? You don't want to...

PB: ...hurt you? No! I hate violence, you know that. I just want to hug you to show my appreciation! You are living proof that Mickey beats me just because he is lucky. But do you realize? I ended up in jail because of an interview!

That we can continue...

PB: Ah no! Even if I'm not angry with you, I don't talk to my worst enemy's allies. It's a matter of principle... that brings us to the end. So I'd be grateful if you'd leave. And on your way out, turn off the light!

[redwineconversation]

Manon Eluère OL Night Systems Interview

@OL Comms Dept: it's still Pumpkin Spice Latte season.

This is 100 percent a fan pandering interview made for meeee because it's a good and proper chat about Lyon's psychology and what makes this team work. As I've so often said, I don't need to know what your favorite food is; I do, however, want to know what makes your eyes look the way they do.

Disclaimer: I know I said I was lukewarm at best about translating the OL Night Systems interviews but psychology is cool!! Especially the psychology of this team!! I know I am geeking out about this but this interview gives you cool insights about a team that is really interesting and complex once you get to know them.

MANON ELUERE INTERVIEW

Journalist: Good evening, and thank you for being here. It's Thursday night and everything is good. We're going to be talking to Manon [Eluère] shortly. I'm very, very happy to have her, because if we're being honest, I don't really understand her job. But at the same time, I totally get it. That might seem a little strange, but you'll see, it actually makes sense.

[Manon Eluère enters]

Journalist: Manon, welcome. I'm delighted to have you here. Thank you for having taken the time. I'm really happy to have you here, because as I was just saying, I totally get what you are doing, but at the same time, it's a novel concept. If I were to ask you honestly - even for your introduction, we were wondering what we were supposed to write - and I have something in mind, but explain your job to me.

Eluère: Okay, it's always a little complicated. In the office, we often have people coming by, and the staff is like, when it's my turn to be introduced, they're like [Eluère gestures vaguely] "Manon, we're not totally sure what she does, she'll explain it to you." On the whole, in fine print on my contract, it's written "in charge of research on diversity, inclusiveness and team cohesion". So in short I'm responsible for team cohesion. Even if it doesn't mean anything, I can go into detail.

Journalist: So anyway, I asked you to shoot me a text about that so I could prepare for the show. And you said: "I am in charge of research into diversity, inclusiveness and team cohesion for the teams; staff member of the women's professional team; responsible for cohesion for the [Lyon] academy for the academy teams, and doctoral candidate in psychology in sports, anticipated graduation December [2023]."

Eluère: [laughs] Yeah, something like that.

Journalist: So it could seem a little, what's the word, pompous. Do you get what I am saying?

Eluère: Yeah, I guess. But it's more that like you said, it didn't really exist before, it's all new. So there's a lot of ways to describe my job. And I still have my studies, my PhD, I hope to get that soon. So define my role, I guess I'm wearing several hats. And I like that, it's super cool. But if we want to sum it up, really, I'm in charge of [team] cohesion. But I actually like to say it doesn't make a lot of sense, it doesn't mean anything, because I don't - I don't have any power over the actual cohesion of the team. Do you get what I am saying?

Journalist: Indirectly, though, yes.

Eluère: Of course.

Journalist: We're going to look at some film, if you don't mind, to put things in context.

[VIDEO SEGMENT OF PRESEASON ACTIVITIES IN PORTLAND]

Journalist: We're back in the studio. Could you explain to us the purpose of the game, and how it would build a cohesion that was still developing?

Eluère: Okay. So that's something we had set in place during preseason. It's super important to work on [team] cohesion during that time. Then the idea is to build on it throughout the season. But work on it in a totally different manner. There, the main objective we set ourselves was the players are coming back from the Euros, they're tired, we have to launch a new dynamic for the new season, there are new playing coming into the group. So the idea was that everyone could find their place [within the team] little by little, take the time to get to know one another so that each one knows their place within the team, who the leaders are, etc. And really - often, you see, with all the hats I wear, you could think I was just an entertainer - I put together little games etc that can be a little dumb, but there's always a point behind it. Here the point was really, primarily, reinforce the cohesion within the group and knowledge of one another.

Journalist: Do you think that's going to be the story of modern sports?

Eluère: Meaning?

Journalist: Meaning that in each high level team, there will be someone like you, maybe three, four, five within the next decade?

Eluère: Well I think already the mental aspect, that's going to become more and more important. Here at OL, even before a player arrives, there's already a mental health therapist [that works with the player]. That's already huge. It doesn't exist in every club. They work a lot with each individual player. They have sessions, etc. They work on a lot of things. Because the mental aspect plays a huge part on your performance. And for the group, it's important - well for me anyway, it's my job so I am obviously going to defend it - it kind of depends on the coach's vision, I think. For example, Sonia [Bompastor], she's part of the coaches who are convinced that the group will lead you to performing well. At the same time, you can have those teams where there's a collection of incredible players but there's nothing to show for it at the end.

Journalist: But on the other hand, there are other examples - I'm thinking of Zidane who said that - we're talking about the majestic Real Madrid [Zidane played for Real Madrid between 2001 - 2006 and coached 2016 - 2021] - he said the men didn't even talk to each other in the locker room, as such, no cohesion. But for 90, 95 minutes, there was magic on the field. Do you think those are examples - actually, no. Do you think those are the exceptions to the rule?

Eluère: No, he's totally right. In reality, there are different types of cohesion. There's the "operational cohesion", which happens on the field, and you have "social cohesion". So depending on the team - well often the two are connected, there's a correlation. So it's better to work on the cohesion off the field because it will allow you to be better, to have more solidarity on the field. There are some teams where that's not necessary. But on the other hand according to studies, there is a notable difference between men and women. Potentially with women, with women's teams, there's a greater need to feel a real connection with your teammates to perform. But that's a generality, maybe it will depend on the team. But -

Journalist: [cutting her off] Do you think that's because women's football is in its infancy on the international stage? And what I mean by that is you were explaining that men don't need as much - I was going to say romanticism, that's maybe not the right word but you know what I mean. Whereas women need a little more. By that I mean, is it not because this sport on the women's side is so new, and maybe they will become less [emotionally] "sensitive" the more it evolves?

Eluère: Well, you see I hope not for them. Because men don't need it "less". Keep in mind I am talking the cohesion off the field. You see it, there are a lot of teams that really need to work on their cohesion on the field. Cohesion, it's the solidarity, staying together during difficult times. It's important for each team to have the highest amount of [team] cohesion as possible from the beginning of the season, and throughout the season, because that's what will allow you to absorb the [emotional impact of] injuries, the defeats, the challenges. And when I say that I hope the women don't become like the men, who maybe need it a little less, who are less open to those sorts of things, it's that for the men, it doesn't exist as much in general at the clubs. Neither for women's clubs for that matter. But I think it's by being receptive to those sorts of things that you can progress as a team.

Journalist: We all know that a team who gets along well is generally - and I do mean generally - also a winning team, a team who wins consecutive games, etc. Isn't cohesion easier to build or maintain? The real difficulty is when you have successive losses, bad performances, tension in the locker room. That just happens in a group no matter what. In moments like that, do the fun games that we just saw, does your method of cohesion and work ethic change fundamentally or do the fundamentals stay the same?

Eluère: Yeah, it's super interesting what you are saying. Really, the fundamentals stay the same. That's where in my job there's the aspect that we see on video, the interactive aspect, games, etc. But behind that there's my research cap which comes into play. And I put in place a monitoring of how the group is functioning.

[cross-talk]

Eluère: I analyze, I compile data throughout the season on how the group is functioning in terms of cohesion, in terms of leadership as well. I can pull out different charts showing the interrelations of the group and know who the leaders are, are they working together, are they apart on things, are there players in the background. So that, on top of the activities, because we have those charts, I can report back to the staff and based on that they can put some things in place, intervene to maintain the cohesion. And after that, the primary objective, it's to maintain a high level of cohesion. And that's what we will allow us to get through the turbulent times, as they say. And in the cohesion I include the leadership aspect. When I say "Responsible for the group" doesn't mean anything, it's that I have no influence. It's the leaders who will have a central role.

Journalist: Yeah, but that's because you understood such or such a person could pull the group towards the top. [CROSS-TALK] And for that I congratulate you, because you are responsible in the traditional sense of the term.

Eluère: It's not modesty, because I find that it's important, in my job, for people to understand that it's not me who acts directly. Everyone has to feel invested in the "cohesion mission". And the players have to understand that cohesion starts with each of them individually. So yeah, it's going to come from them. That's what I meant. In terms of analysis, I only intervene in terms of games, etc. It's more social cohesion. It's the coach who will intervene with the leaders.

Journalist: Manon, you were talking about it a moment ago, and it's so important in sports at the highest level, you were talking about leadership. You've said it five or six times since the beginning of the show. Not to sound like you but I find that very interesting. Do we become a leader or are we already a leader?

Eluère: Good question. There's a little bit of both. You're a leader at the core. There are leaders that emerge in a group. And once again you can't say from one day to the next "I'm a leader." You're only a leader if you are considered a leader by others. That's why it's so important to have the psychology sessions with the players. And then of course when you have several leadership qualities, there are general qualities which stand out.

Journalist: What's a leadership quality for you?

Eluère: Well, first of all a leader is someone who has influence over the group.

[CROSS TALK]

Eluère: It doesn't matter the type of influence. You have negative leaders, you have positive leaders. And you have several types of leaders. You have leaders who talk, who motive. You have leaders who don't talk. Christiane Endler - she talks on the field, etc - but when she came into the team last year, we don't know her [personally], she's a new player. Christiane, from the first sessions, she stands out as a leader even though she isn't an extrovert in the locker room. But just from her competence, everyone knows her career path, she excludes a certain energy, a certain aura. So there's all sorts of ways to express your leadership.

[VIDEO SEGMENT WHEN THE LYON PLAYERS FIND OUT ABOUT AMEL MAJRI'S PREGNANCY]

Journalist: It's really hard to come back from that, because it brings tears to my eyes each time. Tell us a little about that.

Eluère: Well, if you want the context, one time Sonia [Bompastor] came to see me, "Manon I need to see you." And I was like "oh no, what's going on?" She had a very somber look on her face. And she told me, "just between us, Amel [Majri] is okay" - well actually she didn't say it was Amel, she whispered "we have a player who is pregnant." And I whispered back "you think so? Who is it?" And she told me it was Amel. She said she talked about it with Amel, and she [Amel] wanted to find an original way to tell the group because she wasn't sure how to tell them. And for me it was a way - cohesion is that too, you know. We're clearly in the off the field cohesion domain. But it's important - Sonia often says that we spend more time together than we do with our own families. It's important we're together in those moments, etc. And sharing emotions is an enormous part of cohesion. And I love that sort of stuff - first it was an honor to be a part of something like that. I had a ton of ideas, I was calling Amel, "what do you think about this or that?" Amel, you know, she's pretty discrete, if you proposed a firework show she wouldn't have been thrilled. So we put all that together. Griedge [M'Bock] and Delphine [Cascarino] knew about it. And there you go.

Journalist: You said earlier we're all a little leader or not at all. You evolve or you don't, you manage to take up space and draw people in. Do you think you can do your job without being an empath?

Eluère: An empath?

Journalist: Empathetic.

Eluère: Ah, empathetic. Good question. I think it's important. Well, this job, it's a new thing. What I like about my job is that I can use all the qualities I think are important. And yeah, when I watch that clip [of the Lyon players finding out about the pregnancy], it brings tears to my eyes. I'm empathetic in that sense. I'm creative as well. It helps me on a daily basis. It helps me with coming up with ideas for different activities. And to make sense in terms of the atmosphere in the group. I try to draw from what I hear in the office from the staff, to propose - I'm thinking of the motivational videos we came up with at the end of the season. I'm able to propose something - well I was working a lot with Timothee a lot on that - I was able to propose something because I was drawing from what I was hearing and come up with something that I think they [the players] need to hear. And for the players, same thing. I try to keep my finger on the pulse, not propose something that would be too boring, or something too extravagant, because they're top level athletes at the end of the day. I can't consider them as children, I'm not a kids entertainer. That's what I think being empathetic means.

[OUTSIDE QUESTION]: Good evening, Manon. I just have a quick question. There's something that intrigues me. There's been some controversy about [female] players taking off their shirts during a goal celebration. I wanted to know, in your opinion, would it shock you if the female [Lyon] players celebrated by taking off their shirt like the men do? Me personally I wouldn't be shocked, I don't see why it would shock anybody. Just wanted your opinion on that.

Eluère: Okay. No, I like it, we can have a debate on feminism. No, for me, I don't find it shocking.

Journalist: What's feminist about it? I don't get it.

Eluère: In the sense - no, yes, it's a question on feminism. In society I mean. Feminism isn't a swear word. It's feminism in that he's right, why shouldn't female players be able to take their shirts off. But it's funny that they're asking that question, because it doesn't have anything to do with cohesion. But in my job I also work on the diversity aspect, and in diversity you have the whole spectrum of discrimination: racism, homophobia, and obviously sexism. So if there's a law that says "no, women aren't allowed to take their shirt off, but men yes" then that's sexist. But no need to get radical about it.

Journalist: As you see your job evolve, as you explained, it's pretty new, it didn't exist 50 years ago. How do you think - if we have you back on the show in five years, do you think there would have been any major revelations?

Eluère: Yeah, I think so. We haven't talked about it as much, but the analysis part, the research part - even this year compared to last year, the sector has grown, I have a sector at the academy as well where I am working with other staff members, other teams. And I feel like the coaches find it interesting, it's good for them to have new data. So if we see each other in ten years, I hope I will have come up with innovations, have new types of data to propose. After, I was joking with Sonia [Bompastor], in the actual physical aspect of cohesion that I put forward, I said to her "Sonia, my job, it has a certain lifespan. In two years I would have gathered all the data, I won't have any new ideas in terms of creativity." And that's what I meant, if I want to offer them new things, I would constantly have to reinvent myself in 10 years, if I am with the same team I mean.

Journalist: But you have, we can see it.

Eluère: Well I also am not sure I would stay 10 years with the same team. I think it would be better for them after a while to have someone new.

Journalist: Have you ever to deal with any real difficulties with the [Lyon] group? I'm not asking for any specifics. But a situation that you struggled with, because there's tension etc between two very different personalities?

Eluère: There's two things to address there. If there is a real problem within the group... Well, the strength of the group at the moment is the inter-leadership. You have real leaders who work with each other and interact with the entire group. And that creates the link between the younger players and the older - sorry, more experienced players, the link between the foreign players and the French players. So there's a lot of things, like conflict, that's not up to me to resolve.

Journalist: Yeah but your job is cohesion.

Eluère: Yeah, of course. But once again, all I can do, with the staff, is favor the conditions which will allow us to develop and maintain cohesion. Now, I'm not a mediator. If tomorrow there's a conflict with explodes within the group, it's almost more up to Sonia [Bompastor] and the staff to handle it, not me. But often I think when there is a little friction that develops, it's the leaders, and we're lucky to have real leaders in the locker room, it's the leaders who will handle it. But overall, generally speaking, in terms of cohesion it's a little bit more complicated. Let's say we're winning less.

Journalist: And that can happen.

Eluère: Yeah, it can happen. For example, I'm thinking of last season, mid-season, where we lose in the Coupe de France, there are a ton of injured players, etc.

Journalist: That's a low point for the players.

Eluère: It's a low point, obviously. And obviously it impacts the group's energy and a little bit the cohesion as well. But that's why it's so important to have worked on team cohesion during the preseason. We had a really high level of solidarity which meant that even though it wasn't a fun stretch of time, we managed to get through it without hitting too many bumps, because we stuck together, we were clear in our ambitions, we were clear in who we were as a team, what our identity is, where we're going. So we don't get stuck into too many individual attitudes of "oh we're losing, it's all over like last season." That's a risk.

Journalist: That was almost going to be my last question but I have two more. Can you tell if a team lacks cohesion just by watching them on television?

Eluère: Yeah, I think it's pretty obvious. I'm not going to - to say what the tensions are. But yeah I can tell in this or that team that it's complicated. There are teams where you can see no players are taking the lead on the field. Or there are teams where - so you have several types of leaders on a team. There's an official, formal leader. That's the one you give the captain armband to. Even if there isn't just that one player, it's really good for the leadership to be spread out, a team works better that way. There's one team where you see a player has the captain armband but has neither in the communication -

Journalist: [interrupting] We often say that a ship can't have two captains.

Eluère: Yeah, that's interesting. I would actually say that's false. In reality, you certainly have one leader who will stand out a little more than the others, who is the captain, let's say the fully recognized captain. But your captain will never get anywhere if they don't delegate. In this team, you have Wendie [Renard], Wendie's leadership qualities are so impressive. She takes charge on the field, she has the captain armband. She's the captain.

Journalist: She has the physique for it as well.

Eluère: Yeah, she has everything. What's incredible in this [Lyon] team is that there are several leaders with great qualities. There's Ada [Hegerberg], Christiane [Endler], Griedge [M'Bock]. There's a lot of others. Those are players with real leadership qualities. What's incredible - well, incredible, it's great that it functions like that, but we work on it as well - they work together, they're never in competition with each other. They also have the intelligence to know they are working for the team, not for themselves. So you have Wendie [Renard], sure, she's the captain, she's obviously the one who has the most leadership, but it doesn't bother her at all to have other players have leadership qualities, who are acting on other levels, you see.

Journalist: No, I get it. This time this is my last question. You said it earlier, and I thought that was brave of your part, you said in the absolute that you wouldn't want to stay too long with the same group because you will eventually run out of things to say. Did I sum that up right?

Eluère: Yeah.

Journalist: Is your ambition for the future to be able to say "tomorrow I will be able to coach 25 guys?"

Eluère: Coach?

Journalist: Not coach, sorry.

Eluère: The men? I don't know. It would be an interesting challenge, but a real challenge. Here what allows me to have a lot of room to maneuver with the group is that I'm a woman, they're women, so I can easily go into the locker room, it's easy to talk to them.

Journalist: And you think that can be an obstacle?

Eluère: It can be an obstacle, yeah. A first obstacle but I am sure it's possible to overcome. But there will be an additional step to overcome in terms of credibility. Because already in my job, on a daily basis, you have to work for your credibility. People on the outside just see the social cohesion, the activities. But there's a lot behind the scenes which are more serious, I put my glasses on, I'm working at my computer, etc. But I think with the men it would be even more complicated. They would already have to be open to it. But I think there's a lot of things there, and I would be totally willing to take on the challenge.

Journalist: Thank you so much for coming tonight. I know I asked you a lot of questions.

Eluère: Of course, thank you for having me.

[realmofstupid]

Hehe, universal translators are always a fun interpretations. It's my mom's headcanon too, btw!

Op, I agree with you on the complicated canon of TOS. I think we progressed when making shows with better tech and better looks. I'm glad we could leave a lot of the shitty things from the 60s behind.

My complaint starts when the writers take the themes of TOS and make them worse, instead of better.

You know... a little bit of continuity doesn't hurt. As much as TOS is outdated, you wouldn't be surprised, as a fan, with how many of it's themes still carry into our present day. Besides, sometimes people miss the familiarity. You can't deny a large part of SNW is banking on nostalgia points, so why change the very same things they marketed that they would bring back?

I mean, why directly reference episodes from the original show at the center of your writing if you're actually gonna completely disregard them? That's not small canon details being lost to time, it was a deliberate decision to completely rewrite something over. And it gets confusing when a show is setting up the one it's also rewriting entirely.

There were a lot of changes since TOS into the 90s shows, but it still feels like the same universe, and the same timeline. The movies, specially, helped in the transition from the old shows to the new. The stories, the episodes, still worked to send a message accurate to their times.

Imagine how much difference there's been from TOS to DS9? DS9 strongly criticizes the colonization themes present in every other trek show, (specially on TOS, just try to watch it nowdays. I agree with you the thing is full of controversies that didn't age well). It sees the problems in it's past installations, and works to call them out, and make them better.

But it still remained consistent enough that Sisko can go back in time and play with tribbles, and it's perfectly believable. There's even a joke about Worf reacting to the first Klingon redesign.

That's not the way it was handled in Strange New Worlds. It was done very differently, to the point it upset people. And not just the ultra tos-purist fans, just... star trek fans, in general.

The Arena does get worse in retrospect after Star Trek SNW canon retconned everything about them. To make the Gorn into evil xenomorph aliens that are plain murderkillers with no nuance to them at all defeats the themes of that episode - that Kirk and the Gorn should've reached for diplomacy and talk in the first place, instead of battling. How can that even be an option for the characters if the other side wants to eat you?

And Amok Time was also everyone's favorite episode from TOS, but in the context of Strange New Worlds, it also gets worse. If T'Pring could've, all this time, ended her bond with Spock, then why did she want to kill him in ritual combat? They weren't even supposed to know each other - and the retcon that they did makes the loekey themes of T'Pring being a woman using the only system she can to get a divorce in a sexist society disappear. (Plus it makes a lot of scenes seem creepy in retrospect).

Just because the original show was episodic, doesn't mean the added canon of snw doesn't add a new context, a new spin to it. And in these cases, that context made them worse. If people complain about that, it's not a case of TOS being THE SACRED TEXTS!!! It's, as you said, people also being miffed that they managed to take themes and episodes from the 60s and make them worse in context, instead of better.

I mean, at least I'm pissed about that. Aren't you? Not even a little bit?

Klingons get a redesign every once in a while. That Worf meta scene made fun of it. Klingons getting a redesign isn't the bad part. But you can't deny the new context they chose in star trek discovery was worse, and more racist, than even the ones they had in tng.

We're star trek fans. If we're good ones we're gonna look for the depth in what we watch - instead of just focus on the surface level details and continuity. And sometimes, even with that in mind, we will find it lacking. It's not a bad thing to criticize it in these cases.

TLDR: you're right, TOS isn't sacred, but the themes that defined this franchise from the start should be respected, we should not make them worse than they were in the 60s, we should make them better.

But also, aside from depth discussions, how can these two canons even correlate? There's been so many major inconsistencies... I have trouble seeing how they still connect. There's a lot of lose ends. My favored wstsonian explanation was that it was another universe, another timeline. But idk if that works, then, if it's all primeverse. It feels like TOS is being rebooted through SNW, and isn't canon anymore.

TOS in Beloved Retrospect

A GREAT Show that is absolutely canon! But I’m Taking the Rose Colored Glasses Off

Listen, it’s no secret that I absolutely ADORE Star Trek: The Original Series. It’s easily in my tied top 3 with SNW and DS9.

But you know what?

I am so, incredibly SICK of people treating it like a sacred document whenever literally any show that’s set before it does almost any plot point that’s even tangentially related to it.

Let’s take off the holy pedestal for just, two seconds please I am BEGGING you.

Star Trek TOS is an episodic show from the 1960s and the showrunners (including Roddenberry!) had NO IDEA, at all, was going to spawn an absolutely massive, beautiful scifi universe that’s practically a genre unto itself.

Even when they made a second series they tried to get away from TOS with the century time jump! Some creators going so far as to want it to never have existed at all, at least briefly, like, uh, Gene Roddenberry.

I can safely say I and many others are VERY glad TOS never got decanonized, but some facts still remain.

As a result of time, The Original Series is very much limited by when it was made. Such as!

In it’s cultural attitudes to minorities and women, see: the POC and female characters not getting any major plot lines until after TOS.

Literally one of the first things that got disregarded by pretty much all other Star Treks that take place before and after is that women can’t become captains (like wtf was that about?? Oh wait, it was the 60s 🙄). It was literally like, the peak of sexism, and cloaking devices existing before the Romulans showed up that get decanonized the first chance they had (it’s literally been happening since Enterprise and people freak out about invisible ships, every time).

In the fact that because it was exclusively, extremely episodic, every episode was the first time anybody ever saw anything because they had to introduce it to the audience without confusing them and making them turn off the TV or change channels.

Do you know how many times I, a Zillenial who grew up with a mix of episodic/serialized shows, had to suspend my disbelief because if this show was any less episodic the main characters would’ve learned their lesson already from a previous episode or would still be processing the trauma of a previous episode? So many! Watsonian explanations galore!

It was TOS movies that changed the Klingon character design with no explanation. Every time there’s an evil double of Kirk or he gets possessed the crew reacts like it’s never happened to anybody before! Kirk convinces a computer to kill itself like eight times and every time it’s like “oh wow look how smart Kirk is getting a computer to commit die”. Kirk loses his brother, his sister-in-law AND his love interest within the span of two episodes and is totally fine afterward! And you know what? I’m ok with that because I have a brain cell and recognize the show was created before serialized television got even a bit popular!

Third of all technology! Listen I hate all that touchscreen chrome color pallete stuff too! I’m also not, never have been, and never will be a technobabble guy! I’m so happy that the Enterprise is still colorful and has buttons and stuff! But ultimately, TOS was a 1960s conception of 250 years of progress, and it came up a little, even VERY short at times (so do all the other Star Treks, you can’t predict progress with 100% accuracy).

So if the tech is better than say, not much more fancy than a submarine in space, I’m willing to give it a pass. Star Trek has been making up and then immediately forgetting/disregarding some completely world altering technobabble from a single episode or movie since the beginning! The tech is a means of storytelling, and it’s clearly not a limitation because people are always changing or ignoring it! It’s only pure vomitous rancid evil when “NuTrek” does it right?

If you take all three of those HUGE things into account, TOS has, by far, the most tissue paper thin delicate canon of all of Star Trek. Quite frankly I would MUCH rather enjoy exploring the 2200s without walking on incredibly fragile eggshells regarding technobabble details or certain alien encounters.

It’s not like Federation ships have cloaking devices in the 2260s or that the SNW crew is out here fighting off Romulan boarding parties or sipping Meridor with the ruler of the Gorn Hegemony. They’re toeing the line to explore familar concepts in a new format (like serialized short form TV) and like, that’s fine! For crying out loud the Ferengi popped up in an Enterprise episode and most people tend to regard that as funny without ripping their hair out!

Have there been some changes to canon I’m a bit lukewarm about (see, the Gorn being as xenomorph-adjacent and unsympathetic as they were in All Those Who Wander) sure, yes, absolutely! Do I think it obliterates the canon of TOS, in which the Gorn only show up in a single episode with very little and vague lore around them? No!

The Doylist explanation, even if it hurts, is that a lot of meta aspects of TOS are falling out of favor or otherwise obsolete. NOT the stories or the characters for certain, but other fundamental building blocks are frozen in the context they were created in. Trying to adhere to them would severely limit any writer trying to explore that era of Starfleet’s history. So the writers are going to adapt to the spirit if not the precise letter of TOS’s canon.

The Watsonian explanations are numerous, but my favorite interpretation (which you don’t have to like, but maybe it’ll help) is that TOS is still fundementally canon, but the elements that make it inconsistent with other treks or with modern expectations for representation and technology are the result of a “universal translator” sending the truth about our future being translated into a way 1960s audiences could understand. Which is ultimately, kind of what Roddenberry’s desires were in the first place, to show us a better future within the confines of what was then modern TV.