#love the amnesia trope forcing some communication between the two of them

[peachblossomdrama]

The amount of physical affection from these two this episode is insane

They obviously missed each other so much

[deathsweetblossoms]

7 for the ask 💙🌙🍂

I really had to stop and meditate on this one for a second because I’ve read some romances recently that made me realize how much my tastes have changed over the years.

What kind of common romance tropes do you enjoy and what kind do you dislike?

Friends to Lovers — I hesitate to list this as a favorite anymore because it can so easily go off the rails. Friends to Lovers almost always includes Other Man/Other Woman tropes while the aforementioned Friends figure out their feelings for each other which I’m not necessarily a fan of. Sometimes it can get a little too melodramatic, but other times it really worked for me like in People We Meet on Vacation or Love & Other Words. Similarly, there’s an absolutely gorgeous Katniss/Peeta modern AU fanfic called Love Is… that contains just the right amount of angst, coupled with a beautiful, tender, emotional friendship between Everlark and really highlights the strengths of the trope for me.

Pen pals/Epistolary — perhaps it’s just the inherent romance of epistolary communication or the fact that I’ve had so many long distance relationships, but man do I love pen pals or any form of love letters. Some of my favorite pen pal romances have been Divine Rivals, The Flatshare, Hana Khan Carries On, and The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society. Honorable mention to the love letters in Red, White, & Royal Blue and these fanfics: Fauxmance, a Dramione fanfic that consists of a majority of text-versations but the banter is incredible, and The Snowflake Effect, which is also Dramione.

Forced proximity/innocent cohabitation — I don’t even know WHY but if I consider a good chunk of my favorite ships (Elorcan & Feysand, for instance), some manner of “oh damn now we have to team up” happens. Then they fall hard and I eat it up every time?? I have no explanation, I’m sorry.

Rejected by former lovers/family — I only recently realized that I go nuts over characters who follow this journey to finding their ride or die true love, who chooses them over and over again. Notable examples are Jacks of OUABH and Cardan from TFOTA.

Sworn off romance — another recently realized favorite, but I do really love it when one or both characters have given up/sworn off/aren’t particularly interested in romance and then they find their person. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries has this in spades.

Everyone can see it — I think this is more of a subcategory but I go absolutely feral when everyone can see that two characters are in love with each other while those said characters are in denial. It’s ALWAYS a fun time. It ALWAYS makes me lose my shit. Give me ALL the “everyone can see it” storylines.

As for things I don’t enjoy… it’s tricky to say because I can be talked into almost anything. For instance, I never thought I’d like an amnesia story, and then I read mightbewriting’s Wait and Hope and my entire life was changed. (But I’m not sure I would enjoy that in a contemporary romance book). Similarly, I’ve never been a fan of one night stand, surprise pregnancy storylines but Out on a Limb was one of my coziest reads of the year. I can say I don’t like any manner of cheating or unrequited love. I’ve also never been particularly keen on billionaire romance, love triangle, “you’ve changed” (where the story revolves around a couple on the rocks but they work it out).

Phew!! This turned into .. an essay 🫣 Wow! I really like talking about stories, apparenrly 😂

Thank you!!! 🫶🏼🫶🏼

[celila-reblogs]

Fic Tropes Game!

The lovely Pie​ tagged me for this game -- and since she followed the rules and only tagged one (1) person - me - I now feel obligated to actually do this thing ;D Thank you for tagging me @potteresque-ire :*

Rules: Copy/paste and bold your fic preferences because why not, gotta choose one (near impossible, but go with your first gut instinct), and tag someone because, again, why not.

slow burn or love at first sight

(oh, gimme hundreds of thousands of words of build-up, thank you very much!)

fake dating or secret dating

(I mean in both something is going on that the rest doesn’t know about, but i find secret relationships just so much more interesting <3)

enemies to lovers or best friends to lovers

oh no there’s only one bed or long-distance with correspondence

(I love getting to know the characters in-depth, and reading their letters or text messages or chats - and again all the pining - is very relatable ;D)

hurt/comfort or amnesia

fantasy au or modern au

(I don’t really know what to answer here ... I’m reading fic a lot in three fandoms: Harry Potter, Merlin, and Voltron (VLD) (a tiny bit of Yuri on Ice) -- all of them have magical/fantasy elements? while I absolutely adore well-writen modern Merlin AUs where prince meets student or they’re just two students at uni, or co-workers or in the military, I also love it when canon gets re-written. And my favourite “modern” Merlin/Arthur AUs are: 1) they’re both in special ops and magic exists; 2) they’re both students and Merlin has magic and keeps saving Arthur; so it’s a compromise ;D HP plays in the 90s up to now and could go into the future depending on how old the characters are that you’re writing about, but that’s all quite modern to me already -- maybe they mean technology-wise? While I do love a well-written texting fic (see above), I enjoy it much more when the author dives into magical theory and comes up with the most amazing ideas (and not everything is just solved with muggle technology ;)) and I don’t think I’ve ever read a non-magical HP fic? Unlike Merlin fics, where non-magical AUs are quite normal, but I do prefer the ones with magic <3)

mutual pining or domestic bliss

(Yes! Give me enough pine to shame Ikea!!) <-- that’s what Pie wrote and I just have to keep it ;D it’s so funny and so true! <3

smut or fluff

oof, what a question.. I probably have to go with smut. I love fluff, but you can only read so much fluff without a story getting boring (if there is no tension ... or climax of any kind haha). and smut - whether explicit or not - can give you a lot of build-up and tension, interesting situations and definitely diverse outcomes, from declarations of love (there’s your fluff) to spectacular fall-outs, especially when I think of our favourite boys and their inability to communicate ;D) 

canon compliant (missing scenes) or fix-it fic

(that one is much easier to answer for me [and it’s the first one where I choose a different answer than Pie ;D]. In VLD I want to disregard all of the last season, but especially the epilogue - completely - season 8 just doesn’t exist. in HP, I love 8th year fics or anything where the boys don’t marry Ginny and Astoria respectively right after school - which again can be viewed as disregarding the epilogue. In Merlin, I either read magical modern AUs anyway, or the fics in canon-era that I do enjoy disregard episode 5-13 completely and definitely ignore the epilogue/last 5 minutes of the series. So all my fics can be regarded as fix-it fics, and especially in Merlin & VLD that is a very common tag).  

alternate universe or future fic

(definitely the future fic -- though it all depends on your definition of “alternate universe”, i love cross-overs ;D there are some between my favourite fandoms, like Merlin going to Hogwarts during the lightening era, or the VLD characters also going to Hogwarts. It’s so much fun. but those are exceptions in the vast landscape of fics. if you define “AU” as not canon-compliant, I guess everything could be viewed as an AU as soon as I disregard epilogues? But if we just don’t count epilogues, I love reading stories where the characters are a bit older, have found their place in life, or have tried things and failed and are now figuring things out or are at least realizing, that failing is part of life, but it’s much less stressful with the right partner <3).

one-shot or multi-chapter

(weird question.. If the definition of “one-shot” is still that it’s a fic that has been written in one sitting (let’s disregard editing), then i’d definitely go for multi-chapter. because i love longer fics. that said, i don’t have any problem at all with a 50k fic that is only 1 chapter. but I wouldn’t use the number of chapters to define whether a fic is a “one-shot” or not, so there’s that ;))

kid fic or roadtrip fic

(definitely the kid fic!! aaah, so cute ;D)

reincarnation or character death

(oof, I don’t like reading MCD >_< and reincarnation would imply that one or both of the characters also died at some point .. and in Merlin fics that would just mean that canon happened and Merlin has been waiting for 1000 years for Arthur to show up again... and aaah no, thank you, I read a few fics like this and they’re just too heart-breaking ugh. so yeah, no, both not for me ;D)

arranged marriage or accidental marriage

(if i’m forced to choose, maybe accidental bonds that can be reversed, like magical accidents or something like this? but in general, it’s not something i gravitate towards. I’d much rather read a soulmate AU <3)

high school romance or middle-aged romance

(see above, I love when characters have had time to learn from their mistakes in the past, I love seeing how many different ideas authors can have for the same characters and their decisions in life. so yes, let them grow up a bit ;))

time travel or isolated together

(Time travel is … difficult to get right. I’m picky about it.) <-- what Pie said

neighbours or roommates

(what question is this? OMG THEY WERE ROOMMATES!!! ;D)

sci-fi au or magic au

(I guess that is for fandoms that are in neither of those categories? like Sherlock or Yuri on ice? since HP and Merlin fall into the magical category and VLD is sci-fi and I do love crossovers, I guess I have to say: Both?! Both is good! ;))

bodyswap or genderbend

angst or crack

(well written crack is so much fun, but the problem is the well-written part. there is much more well-written angst, so i have to go with this ;))

apocalyptic or mundane

(definitely mundane here. apocalyptic just stresses me too much after a while, same goes for dystopian or any mix thereof. I don’t mind angst with a happy ending (note the happy ending ;)) - throw everything you have at the main characters, but don’t just let them barely survive and then have a bleak or no future.. that’s just ... na, thank you. i read fic to escape my worries, not to have even more ;))

~~~ I’m tagging the fab four ;D @sassy-cissa @erin-riwen @lettersbyelise @maesterchill  if you’d like to play, just know that you don’t have to write anything, you can just bold your choice and move on ;D and if anyone else wants to play, please tag me in your answer <3 

[otome-reviews]

SLBP: “Falling for You, Always and Forever” Event Nobunaga+Masamune+Yukimura Review [SPOILERS]

Okay, friends. Take the most dramatic kdrama you know. Shorten it and change its setting to feudal Japan. Congratulations, you’ve created SLBP’s latest event in a nutshell. Seriously though, between all the angsty forced separations and second lead syndrome, I don’t really know how else to describe this event...!

“It’s too dangerous for us to be seen in Kyoto right now.” “...Says the one who marched right into the city screaming for me.” “...Want me to kill you first?” ​

Nobunaga’s route is one heck of an emotional roller coaster. Long story short, Buddhist monks have been levying road tolls and such in the area, threatening N’s power. N invites some monks over to his castle to negotiate, but it’s all a front to provoke them into a fight before cutting them down. Among the casualties: a Yahiko lookalike who N had wanted to spare. MC’s naturally kind of traumatized. Nobunaga doesn’t want MC to have to witness the other atrocities he must commit in the name of unification (tl;dr monastary burning), so he tells MC to “go home to Kyoto,” and escorts her personally. MC and Nobunaga proceed to have the most drawn-out and angsty parting sequence ever, featuring, among other things, a meddling Hideyoshi, MC writing down all of N’s favorite recipes Ignis style, and N bowing to MC’s mom (!!) (“I am only losing her because I am not worthy of her”). But after a brief separation, Nobunaga realizes that he can’t live without MC, and they kiss dramatically in the rain like Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling in that one movie before reaffirming their love for one another again. Aww.

So I actually really enjoyed Nobunaga’s portrayal here, probably because he kept his more psycopathic rapey tendencies on the down-low without getting out of character. For all the horrible things he had to do in this route, he was surprisingly romantic with MC. Also, MC was a total snarky blast, and really kept up with N (maybe SLBP and IkeSen’s writers temporarily swapped?).

Personal enjoyment: 8/10. If only MS Nobunaga were more like this one.

“Given the chance to do everything again...I still fell in love with you.” ​

Masamune’s route features AMNESIA. One of my favorite kdrama tropes! TL;DR, after getting attacked while out in town with MC, Masamune forgets everything involving MC, for plot reasons. McDreamy Doctor Douzan, a famous doctor who happens to be in town, warns his retainers against forcing M’s memories back prematurely. So MC’s forced to resume her page duties, while watching Masamune revert to his former cold and shitty self. Some highlights during his period of amnesia include:

Masamune yelling at MC when she walks in on him sans eyepatch. And then getting upset because MC’s upset. And then apologizing cutely the following day after being instructed by Kojuro.

(After hearing some mean gossip) “Do not let fools bother you.” Lord Kojuro's brows furrow as he gently brushes my hair back in place. “He's right, doll. The words of people like that don't deserve to be heard by your ears.” (Shigezane) <3 <3 <3

Kojuro and Shigezane unsubtly ditching M and MC in town so that the awkward turtle couple can hang out together.

M turning down an offer of engagement to his uncle’s family, for reasons he cannot fathom. And then informing MC, “because [he] wanted to.”

M defending MC against attacking ninjas again, before Kojuro and Shigezane also step in to save the day!

In the end, we learn that Masamune’s marriage-minded uncle was behind all the attacks, that were targeted towards MC. M gets all his memories back, and he and MC proceed to share the cutest scene ever on the cliffs overlooking the town (“I want to make sure that I bury all your sad memories in glad ones”)!

So I thought this route was unequivocally amazing, esp. because none of the angsty happenings were M’s fault, but can we please discuss how unfairly sexy the Oshu triumvirate is?! Masamune, Kojuro, Shigezane... all of them really shined in this route. <3

Personal enjoyment: 10/10. 

“MC. Release me from our vows.”

A tale of two idiots: Yukimura’s route features a stiff competition between MC and Y to decide who can be the worse communicator. The night Y’s put in charge of an important military expedition, MC gets hit by a needle out of nowhere. But instead of panicking to everyone around her like a normal person, she keeps silent, for some bizarre and stupid reason. News flash: it was poison. Surprise! The culprit? Kotarou, a krazy ninja who’s determined to take out MC to demoralize Yuki (not that Y needs any more demoralization, since his army gets wrecked by Nobunaga and his guns...). At some point, the dude fights Y and MC on the rooftop before dramatically flinging her off the rooftop. Fearing for MC’s safety (I think...?), Yuki pushes MC away, telling her to go back to Kyoto. MC agrees, because she thinks she’s a burden to him. They angst. A lot. And then they part, for all of about half an hour before Kotarou attacks MC again, and Y arrives to save the day.

This may have been Yuki’s route in name, but in reality, it was Saizo’s route. Homeboy was the one who ID’d the poison. And the one who hunted down the cure. And caught MC in his strong, sexy, muscular arms after the whole rooftop thing. And discovered that MC was still in danger. And Yukimura? Yeah, he just flailed around like a useless angsty chicken, for the most part. I mean, there were cute moments, such as when MC and Y holding hands like middle schoolers at the start of the route. But the highlight was probably Saizo calling Yuki out on his shyness despite having banged MC countless times (“What, been away from her so long you got your virginity back, dear?”).

Personal enjoyment: 3/10. It’s not a 1, because Saizo’s super sexy here. And the plot, for all its wtf-ness, was fairly coherent.

TL;DR Masamune > Nobunaga >>> Yukimura, imho!

[thisweekingundamwing]

August 5 - August 12 Weekly Round-up!

Hello lovely GW fans!

It’s everyone’s favorite day of the week - the day of the week where you get all kinds of Gundam Wing creations linked in one super awesome post.

Don’t forget to show these amazing creators some love for all their creativity and hard work!

OH! Also, please tag us in anything GW related that you think other fans will enjoy. We do search AO3 for fics but anything specific to tumblr can get lost in the tags (or somehow tumblr eats it and it’s lost to the void).

Have a wonderful week and enjoy!

- Mod Maeve

Fanfiction:

Just as a quick side note, be sure to read the warnings listed on AO3 before reading because I may have missed some!

@amberlyinviolet​ - Knife in Hand, Chapter 21 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/6068848/chapters/26407083 

Chapter Summary: The Russian honeymoon continues. I'm gonna be honest with you guys: the next four chapters are roughly 75% smut and these two idiots working out their relationship issues. Which I think we all agree is very important! But the plot is still there, and once the honeymoon is over, whooooo boy. There's gonna be a whole lot of action, of a very different kind. 

Paring: 2x3. 

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage.

@anaranesindanarie - Happy Birthday 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11757804 

Summary: Birthday Fic! Happy Birthday!!

@claraxbarton​

Ready for You 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11763066/chapters/26516211 

Summary: A chance meeting ten years after the war leads Duo and Trowa down an unexpected path. Birthday fic for Kangofu-CB. 

Pairings: 2x3.

The Road Not Taken

 http://archiveofourown.org/works/11743851/chapters/26464809 

Summary: What happens when a gay man answers the classified ad of a straight man?A mild-roast love story.Originally written and posted in 2014 on ff.net. Rewrite (more like a polish) in progress. 

Pairings: 2x3, 1x5, 3x1, 3x4, 6x2. 

@chronicwhimsy - Saudade, Chapter 6 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11352189/chapters/26539068 

Series Summary: Duo and Trowa travel through Europe with the circus during the summer after the Barton uprising. Mentions of underage sex and drinking, unhealthy coping mechanisms. 

Pairings:  3x4, 2+3 bromance. 

Warnings: Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Mentions of Underage Sex, Underage Drinking.

ConsSunshine58 - Broken Memories, Chapter 5 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11545908/chapters/26434542 

Chapter Summary:  Truckin' along. More Yuy-Maxwell Family Feels for sure. Another chapter or two before they get home--this one is longer, but chapter 6 will be short. A bit of medical squick in the first part of this chapter, be warned! I'm trying to stay as true to real life as possible, so that means some uncomfortable stuff, but it's almost over! Hang in there, Duo! 

Pairings: 1x2 and 3x4. 

Warnings: Hand Jobs, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Memory Loss.

DarkBluePhoenix - Neon Genesis Evangelion: Legacy – Gundam Invasion

http://archiveofourown.org/works/10464375  

Summary: A Mobile Suit Gundam Wing and Mobile Fighter G Gundam CrossoverIt’s a Gundam! *RANDOM EXPLOSION!* The cast of Gundam Wing meet our young heroes and befriend them in this tale of how those who understand, those who fight, those who doubt, and those who pass by, can claim victory against the forces of evil reborn. Mission Accepted. All systems go! Gundams… Evangelions… Launching!

Diana_Lua - Acordando 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11730744 

Summary:  "Eu posso ver claramente agora, eu posso ver as regras do mundo. As funções da vida. O dever dos fortes. Não existe segredo nisso. Não existe segredo algum quando você está acordando.Nós estamos pegamos fogo, então, deixe queimar…" 

Karen - Alliance in Blood

http://www.mwotw.com/moon/aib13.html

A three to five fic series about Duo and his adventures with the supernatural because of his relationship with a werewolf. Supernatural AU. 

Pairing: 5x2, 3x4. 

Warnings: Violence. R/NC-17.   

@kangofu-cb - Mission: Redacted, Chapter 14, (Mod note: THE FINAL CHAPTER!!!!! ) 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/10872516/chapters/26495907 

Series Summary: Post-war, Une has been selected to direct the new Preventers Organization. Unfortunately, following government directives of disarmament and pacifism, criminal enterprises have sprung up, escalating crime and violence. Searching for a solution, she brainstorms a team of off-the-books operatives tasked with protecting the peace at all costs.Meanwhile, the pilots are all dealing with peace and the scars of war in their own ways, not all of them healthy... 

Pairings: 2x5, background 3x4 and RxD.

@ladyjstruth-blog - Hard Line, Chapter 5 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/10901946/chapters/26430144 

Series Summary:  It's been nine years after the Eurussian Incident and the Earth Sphere Unified Nation continues to experience peace through communication and cooperation. Quatre Raberba Winner, while finishing his doctoral thesis in engineering at MIT in Boston, reconnects with his friend and ex-boyfriend, Trowa Barton. A romantic flame is rekindled while an old enemy plots his revenge. 

Pairings: 3x4, 2xH, 1xR. 

luvsanime02 - Maneuvers, Chapter 6,  

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11385195/chapters/26430177 

Series Summary: Heero and Relena are ready to start up their business. Their first client? Dorothy Catalonia.This is the sixth story in Navigation, a fem!Heero series.

@miss-m-muses - Life of the Party 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11781054 

Summary: Zechs is always the life of the party among the Sanc elite as he represents the acceptable face of OZ. Yet he hides a secret, as he always has. 

Pairing: 6x2. 

Warnings: Angst, Sexual Content, OZ won AU.

@morbidbirdy - Worth the Fight 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11761563 

Summary: Wufei wakes up after an accident to find the least likely person sitting in his hospital room. He realizes he's made a mistake and that some thing are worth fighting for. 

Pairing: 5xOriginal Male Character.

@nekoflashficcing

Eye for an eye 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11782431 

Summary: The TRC!GW AU I've just recently realized I've wanted to write but nobody asked for. A snippet where Trowa snaps and fights Duo for his magic. 

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence and Body Horror.

Boyband

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11767917 

Summary:  “Rock band turned idol boy band” trope AU. 

panther3751 - Heavy 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11751480

Summary: the things we carry with us, outside and after battle. 

Pairing: Zechs Merquise & Lucrezia Noin. 

Warning: PTSD.

Strawberrywaltz - The Forgotten, Chapter 2  

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11686344/chapters/26307213 

Summary: The entire universe thinks that Quatre Winner is dead, but when Heero starts having strange black outs he begins to realize the rumors of Quatre's death might not be true. 

Pairings:  4x1, 4xOriginal Male Character(s), Past 3x4. 

Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Temporary Character Death, Temporary Amnesia, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Post-Series, Slow Burn.

@the-indomitable-bhg ( Sanyukumiko (BHG) ) - Uh Oh, ZERO 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11783634/chapters/26571666 

Summary: After losing something important to Heero, Duo enlists the help of Wufei, Trowa and Quatre to get it back before the Wing pilot notices.

@the-indomitable-bhg and @morbidbirdy 

End of Line, Chapter 15 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/10833834/chapters/26486106 

Series Summary: The Grid, the legendary Tron System, has always intrigued Duo Maxwell. After years of dreaming and months of tireless work, he finally receives the final part he needs to unlock the door to the digital frontier. A blast of a digitizing laser later he finds himself in the world of his dreams. However, soon that dream becomes a nightmare as he comes to realize that his existence in this new world is both a danger to him and to the programs who reside there. With the help of Security Program Trowa and a mysteriously damaged and glitchy program named Heero, he embarks on a journey through The Grid to seek help from a mysterious entity known as the Gatekeeper. Will he be able to get out of the Tron System, or will the organizations who are hunting him manage to derez him first? 

Pairing: 3x1, 3x4.

Something About Us, Chapter 19, 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/11333262/chapters/26486007, 

Series Summary: Five Years after Operation Meteor the fragile peace between Earth and the colonies is once again threatened when a beloved prominent political figure is assassinated. The former Gundam pilots come together again for a new mission, which forces unexplored feelings to arise between Heero and Trowa. 

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Slash, Post-Endless Waltz, Post-Canon, Action & Romance, Missions, Mobile Suits, Preventers (Gundam Wing) 

Pairing: 3x1.

Fanart: 

@avaantares - Paper Currency Graphic Design

http://avaantares.tumblr.com/post/163907249353/oh-man-flashback-to-that-time-in-one-of-my

@beccaboo8810 - In-progress custom Preventer’s Patch (04) sketch 

https://beccaboo8810.tumblr.com/post/163873265405/progress-it-all-needs-cleaned-up-big-time-and-the

@chronicwhimsy - Duo Maxwell Sketch 

http://chronicwhimsy.tumblr.com/post/164074303142/my-boy

@detectivesinc - Monet in space 

http://detectivesinc.tumblr.com/post/163988822139/monet-in-space

@endlesschaosart - Trowa Barton in The Fall in-progress pic 

https://endlesschaosart.tumblr.com/post/164038120251/still-in-progress-but-i-have-to-go-to-bed-now

@gundam-wing-crossovers - GW/Cardcaptor Sakura crossover sketch

https://gundam-wing-crossovers.tumblr.com/post/163842169564/what-did-you-do-today-i-drew-terrorists-into-a

Cosplay: 

@manabingu - Metrocon 2017 cosplay pictures 

http://manabingu.tumblr.com/post/163934284351/metrocon-2017-cosplay-highlights 

http://manabingu.tumblr.com/post/163968226111/got-to-meet-some-old-and-new-friends-at-metrocon

Calendar Events:

End of Summer Tropes Block Party by @gwblockparty

Posting September 1st - 4th

A fanworks celebration of all things tropey and cliche!

Gundam Wing Eve War Event by @gw-evewar

(Saturday) December 23, 2017 - (Sunday) December 24, 2017

Open Science Fiction Themed Event

event will be observing Universal Coordinated Time (UTC)

Submissions: Fanfiction, Meta essays, Personal Headcanon, Fan Art

Rules: All works must feature a science fiction theme. Alternate Universes, and cross-over fiction are welcome. There are no limits to characters, pairings, audience rating, time frame or universe.

To participate please check @gw-evewar for participation information. 

[anmousewrites]

Gundam Wing Rewatch Part 2

So unlike last time where I watched half the series and then tried to remember everything, this time I took notes the whole way through. That means some of this has a ‘live-blog’ feel to it, and I’ll sum up my feelings at the end.

1) What is up with Duo hitting the self destruct and not... self destructing. 2) See, now you’re back to being Zechs. I guess he defaults to Zechs when he isn’t sure of himself, because it is a facade that is comforting to him (added later: yeah, he definitely uses that side of him as a crutch) 3) Praise the Lord for Releena Peacecraft and Lucretzia Noin Re: creating defenses for the sanc kingdom. Actually praise the lord for them anyways. 4) Heero oscillates between being very communicative and exceptionally taciturn.  I don’t think he does it at will. The lying, however, I think he’s completely aware of although he might not know how to stop it. Get this boy a therapist please. 5) Quatre makes an interesting distinction between people meant to fight and people meant to lead 6) Treize stop being charming. Just stop. 6b) You too, Zechs

So Epyon showed Treize he was gonna die, which explains why he wasn’t really worried about Heero shooting him. I guess if Epyon shows the same thing to Heero, Treize will feel a little better about having to cut out of the party early. Kind of sad to think about though. Also, wise when giving a suit to Heero Yuy to take the self det offline. Very wise.

That answers a question I have had since childhood. Why does Epyon not have any ranged weapons? Because it was designed to fight mobile dolls, who have shields that render anything but the beam canon useless. Maaaakes sense. WHO THOUGHT THE ZERO SYSTEM WAS A GOOD IDEA? Like just... Everyone who touches it goes crazy. Yes, Heero, Quatre and Zechs all manage to make it work, but GATDANG that stuff is no bueno.

Amnesiac Trowa breaks my fucking heart. I don’t blame Catherine for having him call her sister, because she basically is, so it does make things a little easier to explain. Every time he shows up I similarly feel wildly protective so good job. Also A+ for a female character who likes to show up without wearing much and is never treated less by the narrative for it.

Hilde never really gets to the same level of greatness as the other female characters, but that’s kind of fair. The cast of GW is huge. She’s not bad, she’s just a little bland.

Also, weirdly, playing against type, Heero’s ongoing deep philosophical understanding of human nature and politics and Quatre’s ability to seamlessly slide through a battlefield leaving blood in his wake. There’s a lot less stereotyping going on than I remember. LOL @ Romefeller constantly trying to play catch-up to Treize’s charisma The fight against the invasion force at the Sanc Kingdom actually has me emotionally invested? Also Epyon is a Problem Child (TM). MAGUANAC COOOOOOORPS. Kay I love them idgaf they’re just SO GOOD. The Sanc Kingdom takeover must have been one of the most costly things they’ve attempted? Like the amount of troops they go through is bonkers.

Dorothy, you’re a wad. “You should definitely take up arms to defend your ideals of pacifism.” Releena ain’t falling for that. She’d rather dissolve her country and save the lives than betray her morality.

EPISODE 36 MARKS THE FIRST TIME RHYTHM EMOTION IS PLAYED IIRC AND IT’S GREAT. Ngl they play it a few times when things get real and it still hypes me up.

Heero and Zechs are two people who spend way more time fighting each other than they should. Why, guys.

“They should leave the fighting to me. I’m the only one who should have to suffer.” DUO JEEZ. “As they say, evil attracts evil.” Fucking get this boy to a therapist.

Lol @ Sandrock’s first fight in space where everyone else is really worried about the gundam but it is actually the least well equipped for space atm so really they should be worrying about the other guys

Man, I like Treize, okay? Like I think his idea is dumb (he’s not the only one with it though sideeyes Code Geass but like... He trades Releena spots for a bunch of reasons. One, she was going to be successful and that’s an issue. But also because he knows that if things go well, somebody’s going to have to die, and when he is talking to a comatose Une at her bedside (btw UNE’S BACK, kinda) it’s just... it’s sad. YAAAAY Everyone is finally in the same spot for once. I guess that’s how you know we’re getting near the end. Functional Amnesiac Trowa is a lot easier to watch, and Duo and Heero reuniting is a great time.  It reminds you how likeable they all are.

Amnesia cure via Zero System WELL THAT WORKS Also p surprised that Releena didn’t vidcall Milliardo with ‘what the fuck are you doing’

The politics/philosophy in GW really varies in quality. Sometimes they have some Important Shit to say, and other times it’s like... what does that even MEAN THOUGH. After a completely nonsensical conversation with Releena where half of what was said was pretty dumb (except her call-out. Burn.) they then manage to salvage it with something profound. Milliardo asks Quinze if he thinks that he’s weak for what he just saw with his sister. Quinze replies that no, in Milliardo wasn’t capable of trying to protect people, he wouldn’t be leader. That’s a very fair point I think.

Quatre begging not to go under the Zero system again sounds like he’s asking someone not to torture him... which it basically is. But him basically deciding to risk his sanity to help the team is very Quatre of him, and it also gives us Team Leader Quatre which is a bit of a subversion of his character archetype and I love it.

What are the rules to Space Empathy TM? No one know.

Okay sometimes this show really nails the badass elements. “There are no survivors.” Is an example. I laughed, but wow

Heero insinuating that Milliardo and Treize’s war is based on personal things (which is true, in a roundabout way) is kind of hilarious. His conversation with Releena is cute, too. His unfailing motivation in turn motivates her, and she’s shown time and time again how hilariously good she is at influencing people. They have very different roles, but they’re complimentary.

Hilde... redeems herself a little. It was nice to see her go out and DO a thing. Also, gimme my Une. Why she still asleep. Her boyfriend is gonna die in space. Where is my Une.

Screaming a little. I don’t remember how the series ends or how Treize dies. This is gonna be rough.

There’s Une. Suddenly, and like a boss. Hello. And then... does Une know? Like does she KNOW? It sounds like she does. It LOOKS like she does.

Okay so... the Dorothy and Quatre fight. He’s got her beat, talent-wise, and is absolutely not buying into the bullshit she’s spouting. Duo calling the scientists ‘the gods of plague’ is VERY fitting and I love his overdramatic ass so much. Dorothy is a cheap jerk... and she somehow discovered Treize’s plan. I reluctantly give her credit. She’s an interesting character but I really don’t like her much.

And Quatre, after being STABBED, still joins back in the fight.

I’m not sure why Zechs is till fighting in the end unless it’s to chase death. I mean, that’s probably it, and Heero isn’t buying it. Also Treize’s death was a lot harder to watch than I remember. Zechs is definitely trying to die in space, but we’ve all seen Endless Waltz. It doesn’t stick.

Heero shouting that he will survive, after how much he degrades himself and says he isn’t worth anything, is a great end. And the mirror with the birthday card vs her party invitation is also pretty great. It doesn’t tell us a lot about what happens to everyone else, but I guess that’s what Endless Waltz is for.

Okay so, end summary...

Gundam Wing is some good shit. I don’t know if it would hold up without the nostalgia factor and I have no way to tell, but I enjoyed myself. It has a few faults. It’s 22 years old and showing it’s age, it has some overused tropes in it, stuff like that. But the characters are just as interesting as I remember, the plot is better than I gave it credit for, and the music is fuckin’ on point. I genuinely had a great time re-watching it, and am proud to list it as one of the few shows I’ve seen cover to cover. They set up and examine character archetypes, they discuss some very interesting things about what peace means, and what people are worth, and they show us a very interesting, textured world full of very interesting people.

I’m gonna watch Endless Waltz again tomorrow and I’ll probably do a write up for that too.

10/10, do not regret my life as a fan

[clubofinfo]

Expert: Alternativism has given alternative media something to think about in America. The new regime in Washington DC has activated a veritable tsunami of grieving voices spitting hatred at their ‘populist’ billionaire President as he commences to re-shuffle his deck of cards. The new boss-man tweets his own superlatives in the small hours of the night revealing his indifference to the superlative-ridden cant of his predecessors. The ‘new broom’ possesses its own brand of cant which is currently being fed into an alternative lexicon…and it sure has lots of snap, crackle and pop. But what is it recycling? The election of the new broom is something that sticks in the craw of a vast swathe of peeved losers traumatised by the effects of defeat in one helluva contest. Thinking the election stolen by an imposter with yellow hair and small hands was too much for the ‘adorable’ class. The methods used by the alleged fraudster to separate them from their privileges were unforgivable. A political parvenu who had the audacity to vocalise his thoughts about America wasting its treasure in the Middle East had come amongst them. On closer examination, the superlative-ridden cant of the new ‘lot’ is strangely similar to the superlative-ridden cant of the old ‘lot’. Over time, the American two-party system had morphed into a binary cancer of sorts, pursuing progress through military conquest while sharing the same disciplines that control the public’s support for Empire building. Becoming ever more bellicose and pumped-up with greed and power, the so-called American democratic spirit died an ignominious death when the war-machine set about consigning country after country to a dystopian hell. The American democratic spirit was apparently disposable like everything else! The hollow men and women who ghoulishly occupied the institutions that curated disciplines that allowed money, militarism and media, unregulated licence to plunder the globe for profit, brought dystopia, not democracy, to millions of innocent people across the world. The millions of little brown bodies destroyed or maimed happened to be in the way, their resources were needed to afford more penthouses for blowhards back home! But ever since technology became the morphology de jure defining the relationship between public versus private space, the public (human kind) has been relegated to a passive role in a system that has become the property of the corporate world. Disciplines that control programmes conducted by the Pentagon, Wall Street, and now the media, are as self-serving as were those used by medieval oligarchies in their time. History teaches us that discipline…the sine qua non of leadership… when imposed from ‘above’ can soon morph into authoritarian rule when the public blindly follow the drift of suspect leadership. The corporate world has made us beholden to its planners, its consumer culture expropriating the innate artistry that makes individuality interesting. To merely passively consume, we expose ourselves to the danger of becoming intellectually obese and in possession of a false sense of heterogeneity. After being duped into believing that we would all be happy in the role of the mesmerised consumer, the technologists set about manufacturing ever newer forms of negative escapist therapies to bypass character development. By virtue of the packaged responses that are part of the modus vivendi of information technology, the sliced-bread aspect of designer-psychology is slowly coming into view. War has a different meaning to the people in the rust belt compared to the meaning it has in the beltway…the former who have been relegated to the role of hands-on automatons employed to do the heavy lifting, have become aware of their entrapment. The Wall Street heist and the Iraq war were digested very differently within these two settings. As capitalism produces ever more wares that stultify people’s ability to participate in any creative sense, the human spirit begins to rebel against the odium associated with pseudo realities that are propped up by lies. When the human spirit is denied oxygen it begins to wilt like the caged canary in the coal mine. Capitalism is not a country (it acknowledges no borders), rather, it is a system programmed to dishonour social contracts in its pursuit of profit, telling those that follow its programmes that they will be better served if they follow their lead.  Everything goes, regime change, planned colonies in space, attacking defenceless people in foreign places, sequestering the wealth of nations, are all equally pursued for gain and the spoils are there to put more $’s in your pocket. The superlative-ridden cant of the American narrative is well understood in most parts of the world to mean ‘we come, we take your resources and we leave chaos behind us wherever we go’…we welcome you to be part of our enterprise if you abnegate love for justice and other forms of crap! Mucus bile is erupting from the intestinal parts of the American body politic after the surprising success the ‘new broom’ had in the recent presidential elections. There is no health system available on earth that can assist in relieving the painful rancour that devours the ‘old brooms’ now consigned to the anonymity of the historic closet. Nobody outside of America can understand the rage that possesses ‘America the Beautiful’ at this time, or the nature of its crisis…except to observe that the ‘new broom’ is dismantling much of the stuff the ‘old broom’ had put in place…which indicates that ends will remain the same, though means will undergo significant change. Eye-brows are raised in the world at large at the extent to which venom and spite has come into the national arena as a result of a defeat that has left America polarised. De facto fascism that took the form of dismantling other people’s countries had come to be accepted as America’s raison d’etre. Scant disapproval from the community at large allowed a succession of vainglorious leaders to take the country down the path of Empire building. With the election of the ‘new broom’, the crunch came when established alliances within the Anglo-USA-Zion ‘dealerium’ were subjected to a defrosting process designed to reduce the pace of continuous warfare…the dark $$$’s of the armament industry were not so much an issue as the fact that the arrangement was benefiting too few people. The binary pantomime of the two-party system has morphed into a state of irreconcilable spleen as the system splutters under the weight of its own malfeasance. The ‘deep state’ was recently challenged by the ‘deplorables’ who, upon waking from a deep-sleep, hightailed it to the voting booth to effect a collision between matter ($) and anti-matter. The sleeping giant of the rust belt…along with its many cousins consigned to misery in a dystopian system…surprisingly found their voices at the ballot box to become the countervailing force…the counterpunch…challenging the risk-takers running amok in a deregulated ‘America the Beautiful’, now open for mafia style business deals @postcodewallstreet.com Subsequently, the media seemed to draw information from a trove of quixotic tropes that purported to show the public the perilous situation America found itself in as a consequence of having elected the wrong ‘new broom’. ‘Reds-under-the-bed’, foremost in facilitating the sweep-to-victory of the ‘new broom’ had the most success because of its wow-factor. It pitted our set of spies (hackers) against their set of spies in a Hollywood take-all sort of way while keeping the tap running for the diehards to cry foul. 19/20 century Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalyst was frequently mined for his perspectives pertaining to Judea-Christian mythology in the hope of capturing some innate pattern that might throw light on the-brute-within the new ‘new broom’…like he was an exception to an American rule of goodness that didn’t exist. Thoughts regarding the impending arrival of fascism were circulated like meteorological forecasts warning the public that the ‘new broom’ and his consorts were there to filch your democracy by stealth. Eulogies to ‘America the Beautiful’ kept apace of the cortege as the mourners went around in circles refusing to exit the stage. As time went by, it became obvious that the ‘old-brooms’ were crying crocodile tears for having been denied the opportunity to ride the ‘gravy train’ yet again. Their amnesia included forgetting that the sleeping giant of the rust belt…et al… was a force to be contended with. Having become the mesmerised minions of the Wall Street set, their fall from grace was doubly painful when they realised that they had no longer the ear of the sleeping giant on the one hand, nor access to their former paymasters on the other hand. Psychoanalysis may not have much traction in the rust belt, but perspectives from that quarter were likely to perceive the putsch-minded democrats as sore losers. The ‘sleeping giant’ of American politics must surely be the voice of those not included in the binge banquet of unregulated finance currently sundering the body politic. Awareness of alternatives came into view after the recent elections in America, suggesting that the purview of a social democratic matrix may exist in the voices struggling to escape the phlegm of neoconservative policies in places ignored till now. If the phoenix is to rise, it is likely to take to the skies from the rust belt rather than academia…a subject which of itself implies the need for more new brooming…and when on attaining a sufficiently elevated position in the sky, this bird of hope might…just might…as America’s first conscionable organ of truthful reportage become an eye-in-the-sky satellite transmitting reality back to base…inform its own people of the staggering amount of raw sewage that ‘America the Beautiful’ has deposited in so many parts of the world… isn’t any alternative to spouting the superlatives that mask the gibberish of propaganda long overdue? If the eye-in-the-sky Phoenix relayed the birth defects related to the use of depleted uranium in Iraq by its own military…now plaguing the citizens of Fallujah…to the American public, it would be a real history lesson. If it could show the extent of the deaths and maiming of children in Pakistan and Afghanistan as a result of drone warfare over there, or the plight of the ordinary people of Libya rendered destitute as a consequence of America’s intervention in their hapless country…then historic truth might very well have its moment in the sun! If the Phoenix relayed the truth about America’s military bases and why they are where they are, its citizens might come to understand that their country has a long history of de facto fascism. America needs to face up to the fact that its days of unmitigated mercenary adventurism are over. Its record abroad; Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, to name but a few of the countries it has destroyed, attest to the fact that behind its facade of superlatives there lurks the perennial blowhard doing it for Uncle Sam. If you needed to know how bad the mess is that America has made in the many countries it has interfered in, you’d have to see it for yourself…historians give polished interpretations that fail to reveal the grime behind the façade of the narrative. If the ‘old broom’ swept us into nihilism with the aid of a corrupt media, blowhard military and  bastard economy, the allegations now leveled against the man with the yellow hair and small hands are a bit rich. Capitalism spawns capitalists who forever lure the ‘folk’ into what can only be described as the ‘trap of superlativism’. Clearly this is the path we will follow until the penny drops and Main Street takes charge of the whole-deal. http://clubof.info/

[kitsunesbooks]

Everything Wrong with Resident Evil 7

SPOILER WARNING: IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED RESIDENT EVIL 7 TO COMPLETION, DO NOT READ THIS ARTICLE

When you really look at it, it is kind of surprising that Resident Evil 7 built up as much hype as it. did. Probably the only thing that generated the hype was the rather fantastic demo that basically took inspiration from the even better PT. The hype is also kind of understandable when you take into account that Resident Evil 7 is meant to reboot the franchise. Given the absolutely campy garbage fest that was Resident Evil 6, I can see why a reboot was necessary. However, the game STILL suffers from some really poor writing. The game opens incredibly strong but after awhile it falls flat. And there are some glaring issues in the game’s story that I want to talk about. In this article I hope to explain everything wrong with Resident Evil 7.

So, to get it out of the way, the game has some positives in its writing. For one, the Bakers are a lovable bunch of bat-shit crazy lunatics. Each member of the family is, for the most part, fleshed out and has a great personality that definitely helps to add the suspense of the game. The problem lies in the fact the chaser mechanic is abandoned half way through the game in favor of scripted jump-scares and a homage to the SAW franchise. It is ridiculous to me that you would throw away such a key part of the gameplay, especially when the alternative to the Bakers is the Molded, who are bland, boring, and not scary. The Molded straight up look like those horrible CGI abominations from the 1995 film version of the Langoliers. They aren’t scary at all, especially when they are problem easily solved by one round of buckshot to the face. It makes no sense that a game, which is clearly inspired by games like Outlast and Amnesia, would remove such a key mechanic. Part of what made Jack Baker scary was the fact he simply could not be killed. No matter how many times you tried, he would not die. All you could do was slow him down. That way the arsenal that you build up doesn’t feel too empowering. Personally I feel like the old Silent Hill games handled gunplay really well by making the use of firearms feel like a choice you had to make. You could easily dispatch enemies in that game with firearms but resources were scarce which forced you to rely on a slew of improvised melee weapons to conserve ammo. In Resident Evil 7 it feels like ammo is not nearly as scarce as it could be and the game on a whole seems to resonate more with the fourth installment as opposed to the originals like Capcom intended. This emphasis on action also makes the boss fights less of a struggle from what I’ve seen. Almost every boss can be solved by just shooting the weak spot. While it's passable for the first “real” fight with Jack, using the same formula again and again make the bosses forgettable.

This of course brings me to some of the glaring issues with the writing. While I love the Bakers, the gameplay, as well as the writing, does not capitalize on them. The first big issue with this is of course, Zoe. Zoe is the Baker that I honestly remove from the main three baddies. One, because she is meant to be your guiding force in the game. She is your Atlas in Resident Evil 7, without the plot twist. But, Zoe is far too enigmatic for her own good. For the first half of the game she is completely unseen, she is only heard. She speaks to you through telephones throughout the house that conveniently ring whenever the player completes a thing. How!? How does she know when to call!? Where is she calling from!? The answer: nobody knows. But, that is only the first problem with Zoe. The biggest crime committed by this character is the absolute bullshit moral choice that kicks off the climax of the game. First I need to give some context. So most of the game is spent getting parts to synthesize an antidote for Ethan’s (the player character’s) wife. When you finally rescue Mia (the wife), and Zoe, Zoe makes two antidotes. Then Jack shows up again and he has transformed into a massive Molded monstrosity in that typical campy Resident Evil style. Once Jack is dispatched, Zoe flat out tells you to use an antidote on him, because otherwise he is just gonna get right back up. And no, that is not an option, you have no friggin choice. So now that you have only one antidote, Ethan has to choose between Mia, his wife and the person who he came to the damn Baker estate to rescue, or Zoe, who has done nothing but run her damn mouth throughout half the game. And of course, as if we were watching the Walking Dead, Zoe gets all overly dramatic if you pick Mia. HOW IS THIS CHOICE DIFFICULT!? What’s worse is that choosing Zoe changes barely anything about the third act of the game. You still find the ship that Mia was working on at the beginning of the game. You still play as Mia for a bit. The only difference is that Zoe dies immediately after you make your choice to save her and you end up having to kill Mia as opposed to her sacrificing herself.

Thus we come to the big bad of the game. Eveline. The cause of everything in the game’s plot. Eveline had the potential to be a damn interesting villain, despite her incredibly tropey character. I was actually really intrigued by her when she first appeared. I have a thing for psychic children as villains. It is just a trope I find fun and enjoyable. Eveline was a great embodiment of that trope, but they messed it up so hard. While the ship level does an amazing job of explaining all of Mia’s backstory and her involvement with Eveline. The game comes completely full circle and gives as nice wrap up in that area. But the problem is it doesn’t, it doesn’t end there. Eveline still needs to be dealt with. Honestly the ship should have been the last part of the game. I would have loved to have seen Eveline become the Wesker of the new universe of Resident Evil games. Instead we got one of the most half assed plot twists I have seen in recent years. So throughout the game there is an elderly woman in a wheelchair that appears throughout the Baker estate. That silent old woman, is Eveline. Yes, the little girl that you see throughout the game is all grown up now. Somewhere I swear I can hear Shyamalan laughing maniacally. I was beyond enraged by this. It was the biggest cop out I have seen in a long time and it completely erased any intrigue that I had in Eveline’s character. It was like presenting me with a cheesecake, letting me have a few bites, and then taking it away and lighting it on fire. Eveline had so much potential as a series villain and a breath of fresh air for the franchise, and the threw it away. Judging by the ending of the game and the sudden appearance of Umbrella, it is not going to surprise me if we just get Wesker part two.

Overall, Resident Evil 7 isn’t a bad game by any means. Gameplay wise the game works, but it isn’t a masterpiece and it shows that the franchise still has a long way to go before it is able to recover from Resident Evil 6. The story has a lot of continuity errors that show a lack of communication between the writers of the main story and those responsible for the lore. For instance, the mention of Lucas not being a killer as said by the now cured Jack, despite evidence stating otherwise. Not to mention that entire vision quest bullshit that happens to Ethan where he is able to talk to Jack and Zoe and get some more exposition on Eveline, not that we needed it. Honestly the story has more issues than I can care to mention. But the game is still decent enough and it is still receiving DLC support so there is more story bits that could be fixed in the extra content. No disrespect if you enjoy the game, but I was not impressed by Resident Evil’s story. Despite the flaws, I believe that this game was a step in the right direction. Hopefully Resident Evil 8 will be better, because let’s be honest, they are gonna make another one. I hope you liked this article. There will be plenty more in the future.