#my mom is with all her flaws such an incredible and interesting woman

[dagasinfilo]

every time i read something about autism i am presented with the recalling of a memory that places my mother so solidly and definitely on the spectrum its insane

[poetry-protest-pornography]

Okay, let's talk about Ming, and how some people are talking about him like he's an irredeemable monster. (It's okay that you don't know anyone who was emotionally neglected and you have a decent relationship with your parents, but it's not okay to pretend your experience is universal and everyone else is garbage)

I know some of you remember my loud defense of Ray from Only Friends, and here I am again, to fight for the loveability of the character who doesn't know what to do with all their big feelings.

Ming's family, from what we see, is not a warm, loving place for him to learn emotional intelligence.

May is pretty great, but there is only so much an older sibling can do when your parents are physically or emotionally unavailable.

Ming's mom had only been seen trying to control Ming's life, marry him off to a woman, and insisting he is incapable of being on his own. Not exactly mom of the year.

Ming is clearly incredibly lonely, and so, so sad.

He likes Tong, but mostly after his sister and Tong are already involved -- because it's safe to transfer feelings you don't understand to someone that those feelings cannot go anywhere with. When he starts to feel too much for Tong, he leaves the country, because he can't process those feelings, and he doesn't want to hurt his sister with his crush on her boyfriend.

He comes home, and he sees Joe first. His likeness to Tong is obviously what pulls Ming in, but it is very quickly apparent that Ming is genuinely interested in Joe, but he has no fucking Idea what to do with that interest.

And when Joe clearly likes him back? It gets worse. He lashes out and then feels bad, but mostly doesn't apologize, he just moves on, because apologies require reflection on what you've done wrong, and Ming doesn't know how to do that! We see him struggle with it multiple times!

He does not know how to deal with being wanted. With the expectation of care that comes with that. Because, ironically, Tong and May are the best example of a relationship he has to look at, and he had to tell Tong to go take care of May when she was sick.

His crush on Tong remains so deeply a part of his identity, even as it obviously fades, and it clouds everything because Tong uses Ming's affection for him against him! And Ming doesn't see that! He doesn't see Tong's flaws until after Joe's accident, and even then, I don't know that he acknowledges Tong's actions as cruelty and manipulation, or if he ignores that all under his own guilt and grief over losing Joe.

And this brings us back to Ming and Joe.

Ming didn't have a crush on Joe. He sort of accidentally fell into a situationship, but then became intensely possessive and obsessed with Joe. We see him be so unbelievably soft with Joe, in moments where he's allowing himself to be, to stumble through having feelings and carrying for other people. But there is so much holding on tight that Ming can't seem to turn off.

He holds on to Joe --both of them!-- so tightly. He sees threats to his claim on Joe everywhere, and he can't confront that idea, so he doubles down on being possessive, and he looks cuckoo-bananas.

But it really just reads to me like he doesn't know what to do with feelings! I know people --especially ND people, who needed a little extra help to learn how to person -- who had emotionally neglectful parents and didn't understand healthy attachment until years of therapy and some determined friends got involved.

I don't have the greatest track record for "healthy attachment", and lean towards codependent in a lot of my relationships.

Some of the people I love the most are "hold on tight even when it's not good, because if I let go you'll leave" people.

They are absolutely deserving of someone who loves them. They deserve a happy ending and middle, too. They deserve the chance to learn and grow and become better versions of themselves.

(and they deserve people to love and cheer for them even when they're being assholes and throwing tantrums and hurting people because they are still learning how not to do that)

AND THIS DOESN'T EVEN TOUCH ON HOW JOE ALSO MISSED A LOT OF EMOTIONAL LESSONS, BUT IT MADE HIM UNHINGED IN A TOTALLY DIFFERENT WAY THAN MING!

Idek if this is coherent, or everything that I wanted to say, but here it is, my treatise on why Ming is my baby, actually, and why I will defend him until he is either better or actively worse.

ETA: what Ming has done is obviously not okay, reasons are not excuses, but I do think he deserves a chance to learn. and to tell Joe he loves him.

[randomfoggytiger]

Dear Tiger, I have always recommended your blog to many people who are interested in the X-Files. My recommendation goes something like this: “Brilliant analysis, well-founded opinions, without unnecessary judgments about the actors' private lives. But beware! The blog is very fond of David and can't be impartial. It's not hostile, but, even unconsciously, it minimizes Scully's importance and Gillian's talent, to the detriment of Mulder and Duchovny. Imagine the blog as if it were a proud mother talking about a beloved child, extolling (and greatly exaggerating) their qualities, and ignoring their flaws. In conclusion, if you allow for this fierce protection of David, it's one of the best - if not the best - blog about the X-Files.” When I read his analysis of the questions posed by Anon, I couldn't help but smile and remember this recommendation of mine. Duchovny is lucky to have such loyal and positive fans, who get to see the best version of him, always. An excellent 2025 to you Tiger, I'll always keep coming back and recommending your blog.🥰🥰 PS: On this particular topic, I think about 85% of your analysis is correct - but there's about 15% that I disagree with, I think it's more of a speculation/interpretation favorable to Duchovny, than exactly the reality.

I was reading this feeling all fuzzy before I got to the "impossible to be impartial" bit. XDDDD

Ah, well. Do I come across as partial? o.o Hm, I can tone down my language in future if needed-- don't mean to come across as if I hero worship (or mentally coddle) DD. His personal life isn't intertwined with mine, for one; and he's also a man who behaved selfishly, made terrible mistakes, and didn't learn gratitude until AA. He's probably still selfish because all humans are; but he's also made personal changes, has grown a lot, and continues to prove-- via his work and actions and interests and mindset-- that he isn't regressing. I give him the charitability I hand to any other person I deem 'good' and 'doing their best'. Ultimately, I just get super happy for others who are trying and are succeeding or are on the path to their own version of success. :DDDDDD

I will say, you do raise a point I've been mulling over: I don't talk about Gillian as much as I do David solely because I haven't found a blog that gives me all her work/projects/interviews/etc. up front. Though I will stipulate that I don't see the sense in taking his side over hers-- there aren't sides in their relationship to me. And I'm fond of her, too! :))))))) She did incredible work on The X-Files, and incredible work afterwards. And she powered through the 90s as a divorced, single mom with mental health struggles, which is worthy of an award. Again, I simply have less easy access to her work. I do heavily disagree that I minimize GA's importance and talent, unconsciously or not: she's part of a team; and she carried the show on her back in David's absence. That more than wins her a medal of honor. Moreover, Scully is irrefutably a woman so forward-moving and inspiring in her own right that the Scully Effect was created in her honor. (She also inspired me to take better care of my nails. Her manicures are spectacular.) You can't have the show without her.

Now that I've got my comments out of the way, thank you so, so much for dropping in to let me know your thoughts! Your words were (and are) so kind; and the knowledge that you spread my work to others, and that they might enjoy it, too, is... it's wonderful. And if you have to buffer my blog ahead of time however you need, go ahead. As long as others know what they're getting into, I suppose. XDDDD It really does mean the world. We all have days where we wonder if we're just shouting into a void; and some days the void is wider and darker than others. But knowing that you and others think my meta is worthwhile... it puts a lot into perspective. And being described how you've described me is.. thank you. So, you know what? I'll wear "loyal and positive fan" with pride, even if you punch on "Impartial"-- it's how you honestly see me; and I'm not at all offended about that. Now that I've thought about it, I'm downright amused.

Lastly, disagreement is always welcome! If you want to share, I'd be curious to know what the particulars are-- it keeps me on my toes by forcing me to double check my own opinions. >:DDDDD

I'll definitely be rereading this ask in future when the void gets bothersome. Thank you, thank you!

[blackbatcass]

I really really wanna know more about Donna Troyyy, so far I love her so much but I don't wanna be the type of person who claims they love a character then can't name 5 things about them. I wanna do her justice and really understand her character and purpose. I also don't wanna read something that completely mischaracterizes her because I'm aware that there's a LOT of that these days. I was hoping you could give me some recommendations to read after my tests?

Thank you so much if you do, and have a wonderful day! <3

I think I can help with that! Luckily donna's characterization is pretty solid & consistent in any comic up to around 2006. i would be wary of more modern interpretations of her but for most of her older appearances you don't really have to worry about bad writing.

The number 1 rec for donna is always New Teen Titans, that's where pretty much the majority of her appearances and character development take place in the 80s and 90s. The whole series is very long though so if you want more specific recommendations that focus on her I would definitely read ntt vol 1 #38, vol 2 #7-9, #18-21, #47, and #50-55. Issues 18-21 especially are probably my number one rec for donna if you're interested in seeing her flaws and struggles; those four issues took place when the titans were kind of falling apart, donna had to step up and call the shots, and it's a really neat insight into her character that i don't think gets quite as much attention as arcs like her origin stories. You'll probably honestly get a good feel for her if you pick any couple of arcs from NTT and read them through.

Wonder Woman (1987) #126-136 is a very important arc that reiterates donna's borderline horror dimension-bending origin weirdness. Titans '99 is a must-read for her, and jumping off that the Return of Donna Troy miniseries is like... Thee donna comic of all time so i would definitely recommend that. In between ntt and titans 99 she was in things like green lantern and darkstars but honestly the biggest things for her character you have to know from that time are that she and terry got divorced, she was dating kyle rayner, terry tried to take custody away from her, and terry & robbie died in a car accident.

There are way more detailed and comprehensive rec lists you can find in my donna tag if you're interested- I left out arcs like total chaos which are narratively very important for her but i don't think are quite as good a showcase for her as a character- but I think if you just want to get a feel for her character these are a good place to start. if you want like a primer on some of her major character traits i can definitely provide that lol:

donna is an incredibly emotionally intelligent and kind person who is a very good listener and always ready to help, which is why she's pretty much the #1 trusted person every single titan goes to when they need to vent. unfortunately being the appointed Fixer of All Problems Mom Friend when you're like barely an adult gets pretty overwhelming and is a very unfair weight to put a person; you can see this start to grate on her in titans 99 especially. something I like about donna is how open and honest she is with people about her struggles. most characters in the superhero genre would rather die than admit they need help and will never ever talk about their problems without being forced to, but donna isn't like that. if you ask her what's wrong she's going to be honest and tell you what's bothering her. she struggles a LOT with trying to appear 'perfect' in everyone else's eyes, and is really motivated by seeming to have it all together even when she doesn't. this is fueled a lot by her not being born an amazon and not knowing where she came from; the fact that for a lot of ntt she doesn't know her own history really gets under her skin. donna's identity issues are a HUGE part of her character especially later on as retcons and reboots get folded into her story. her past doesn't make sense. she has like nine competing backstories. she's one of the only people to remember the world pre-crisis on infinite earths and has literally been been forced out of existence and remade through pure memories, not to mention all the times dark angel forced her to live different lives until she reached rock bottom as a punishment for diana lol. in one origin she literally is not a real person and was just a mirror twin of diana. the main tagline associated with her is 'who is donna troy?' lol. which i think is fascinating and a very fucked up existence.

Anyway! I can talk about my girl all day. I hope this was at least a little bit helpful!

[misguidedasgardian]

I'm so disappointed with this show, I hated what they've been doing since atrocious b&c portrayal in e1, but this last episode (the leak) made me sick. Seriously, I don't understand how they managed to fumble this story so badly. And Aemond. He was one of the most popular characters after s1 with a good backstory and they should have just continued with it. The fact that even many TB fans liked him or found him interesting confirms this. But apparently Condal hated him so much and wanted to ruin him. He had so little screentime, they abandoned his character development and just decided to make him a one dimensional villain. However, I still understand him and won't bash him because I really dislike when the authors (and the narrative itself) are forcing me to hate a certain character. Also, I feel the same like with Daenerys after s8e4, he is basically all alone now, his mother betrayed him and revealed his war plans to the enemy, his sister tells him he'll die... It's just horrible. I hate those writers and what they did to the characters I loved.

Aemond was the only one I like of TG, I'm team black till the end so yeah I can confirm this! (don't get me wrong, I think all the ACTORS are incredible and are doing amazing, its the characters I don't like)

I said it recently, and I will say it again, I was team Mom's boy Aemond, I loved the relationship they had, specially when portrayed in S1E9, when he comforts her, and placed himself at her disposal... the way he held her... I was like damn Alicent, you might have showed disgusting favoritism, but at least, after everything and the horrible marriage with that walking corpse AT LEAST she has Aemond to show for it, despite all his flaws I thought he was going to be like a rabid dog in service of his family, because that is all he cares about... after the neglect from Viserys and his favoritism for Rhaenyra, he was going to be like... alright then... my FULL siblings and my mom, that's all I got... and that was burst into flames, for what?

He turned into a true villain, and not even a good one... like I get it, you want to be King, but at last, since Aegon didn't, they could have come to some sort of arrangement, right? do something better than what they did, I know they have a few minutes with each, but... dude..

he was such an interesting character... and they blew it up, i thought he at least was going to have... something... that was sacred to him, Helaena or his mother AT LEAST.... something! but he not even caring that his BABY NEPHEW lost his head because of him? it's insane, we all love a good villain with something... sacred to him, right??

And Aemond is only one of the many victims of this bananadnesss

And I don't like what they did with Rhaenyra either, I was so much more into that spoiled, darkish, tortured by her stepmother woman fromt he books, and she is too good, I think the writters got scared because of Dany, thought we wouldn't become Rhaenyra's apologists (they were wrong) hehehe

Anyways... LONG LIVE FANFICTION! we will keep them alive! as the show is assasinatings all of their characters! jejeje

[gachagon]

Read your Caitlyn post and yeah, it's infuriating to me how she's treated by the fandom. She did lots of fucked up things... in a show where almost everyone has. honestly on the grey scale of the show she's.. still mostly on the lighter shade of it among the leads (or really Id say she's pretty in the middle) but people treat her like she's irredemable, overexaggerate her actions (using the Grey was bad, but no she did not fucking drop a gas bomb on all of Zaun, there's literally nothing in the show to back this up and you see this repeated ALL the time) and just generally act like because she's rich her trauma is less valid and she should just get over herself like it's nothing after getting kidnapped tortured and watching her mom get killed (which they also minimize as not such a big deal).

Meanwhile the fandom tries to write away Viktor and Jayces flaws, which... are largely the things that make them interesting in the first place, tries to paint Silco as a class based revolutionary he hadn't been since basically his backstory. God even when people talk about how he flooded the lanes with Shimmer I don't see it brought up how he was making everyone dependent ON HIM, the guy who controlled production and distribution.

And I mean fucking hell to go beyond Caitlyn, Vi is probably alongside Ekko the most morally upright character on the show but I see so many people just tearing at her for... joining the Enforcers to try and prevent a war like that makes her worse than the actual villains.

The way this fandom treats the female cast really just grinds my gears because all of the talking points are repackaged misogyny that's all tied up in a neat faux progressive present box. Caitlyn and Vi are the only openly queer women in the show with any real purpose to the plot and story and they're also both the most hated because they made the egregious mistake of having characters flaws and being imperfect.

Jinx is boiled down entirely to her mental illness and people can only attribute the only other relationship she had with another female character as "motherly" instead of sisterly which is so clearly the bond those two have (this is about Isha btw) People misconstrue all of the scenes with her abusive father figure as "sexual" because they are sexualizing her in their own minds and cannot see abuse beyond that kind of dynamic, AND people excuse the abuse she went through because the man who did it is a charming villain who monologues sometimes and also he was "nice" to her in some scenes so I guess that makes him a GREAT dad despite the whole grooming and abuse thing.

Mel is a black woman with a complex family history who literally cares about her legacy as a Medarda and who had a whole arc dedicated to finding her place in Zaun and being accepted for her strengths by her mother, but everyone in this fandom seems to think she "had no arc at all" and was just pushed to the side or rushed or that her ending sucked because she didn't get a boyfriend in the end. So to fix this they just decide to ignore all of the glorious development she got as a character and person and revolve her character around not just one man, but two at the same time. And now when you search for content about her no one ever talks about her actual character and personality, they just talk about her in relation to the guys (one of which didn't even really like her like that) And she still isn't even really a person in any of the godawful ship content they make of her with those two men they've turned her into one of those incredibly boring, stilted "She's the REAL brains of the bunch" type of woman who's perfect and never does any wrong ever.

Everyone just sexualizes Sevika and Ambessa because they're hot older women and that's about it.

I mean this fandom tries so hard to paint itself as this "progressive safe space" but every post about any woman in this fandom is some incredibly misogynistic bullshit. And it's gotten to the point where now everyone is just gladly repeating old misogynistic talking points about every single woman in this show with no introspection at all. When you point out the bigotry of their statements or how they treat the female cast its always just "B-but I DON'T dislike or treat the characters that way because their women at all! It's because of blank!" I also feel like people do this because they themselves are women or are queer and therefore they believe they could NEVER say ANYTHING wrong about a woman ever! but they do all the time because this happens anytime there is a TV show that is popular that has women in it who are morally grey.

[sofipitch]

1, 2, 6, 8!

1. Faves of the year:

Metal from Heaven by August Clarke: Group of lesbians who normally rob trains now have to pretend to be a part of the aristocracy. Also being a radium girl gives you radium powers. This one is dark and gritty and definitely self-indulgent. It also has "weird prose" of which I am an enjoyer but milage may vary

She Who Became the Sun and He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker Chan: Incredibly character driven story, like you can read the backcover premises but that likely won't be what sticks. Every character is so desperate to prove themselves, and vary if they are just desperate or full of self loathing. If you like a character driven story choose this

Bloom by Delilah Dawson: Hannibal but lesbians and cottagecore aesthetics as the glue trap instead of whatever it is in that show. What gets me is a mom wrote this for her daughter. Pulpy and fun, food descriptions that made me go home and bake bread

Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson: Multiverse has been beaten to death in the movie world but this one manages to be fresh and interesting, mostly concerned with the idea of nature vs nurture, what makes us who we are, etc. In this universe multiverse travel is possible but only if the version of you in that universe is dead. So what does it say about you if you are dead in most of them?

2. Flops of the year:

I collected all of Nightmare magazine's Women/Queers/POC Destroy Horror special editions and finally read my last one, Women Destroy Horror. I think if you are making a point that women deserve a seat at the genre writing table, maybe put forward some better stories. (This does not apply to the Joyce Carole Oates story which was up there for most disgusting thing I've read this year, she can stay). Every essay I can't even call analysis, it basically just lists things, again maybe have something interesting to say other than "lists of famous female horror authors" and "list of famous female horror protags"

Virtue by Marquis de Sade: I found this at a used bookstore and wanted to see what the hype was around this guy, worst book of his to choose like nothing happens, not even anything really all that scandalous. Dangerous Liaisons but bad

6. Dead Dove Do Not Eat: Fluids by May Leitz, this is the best extreme horror I've read, that genre is often poorly written and known for revealing a lot about it's authors by what characters they most often brutalize. But this one is truly refreshing, about the abusive relationships that can form when you've been isolated to made to feel unlovable. But I read this at the same time as a friend and this was too much for her, she also didn't like that one of narrators are straight up unlikeable, so enter with caution

8: Blorbo of the year: I think Esek from These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs would do numbers, evil woman with a systematic brutality and glee at the suffering of others. She is truly fun and you know the author had fun. You get these glimpses of some insecurity or something beneath the mask, but I think it does a good job of showing that but not wanting to use it as a way to make her palatable to the audience, only used to make her real. If you like her it will be due to moral corruption. This book is by no means perfect, but it does have interesting characters. I both get and don't get why it doesn't have a huge fandom, I think its flaws can be found in other popular media too (think Dune)

[romani-ranch]

I’ve kept quiet on this for too long, I need to break my silence.

Untagged spoilers for all of death note ahead because I don’t want the death note fans to find me.

Death note is one of the worst fucking anime I’ve ever seen in my life and the fact that it has the following it does is insane to me. What am I missing? Light and L’s cat and mouse game and gotchas are only interaction like 50% of the time, and the other 50% of the quirky overanalysis just feels like Rick and Morty levels of the show pretending to be smart because it couldn’t think of anything actually intelligent to do. The Yotsuba arc fucking sucks. I genuinely lost so much interest in the show for the duration of that arc, and the big payoff at the end with light getting the death note back did 100% not feel worth the amount of time that was spent dicking around with rich assholes.

Light is insufferable as a character, which isn’t a problem, because he’s a villain, and an incredibly flawed one, which is completely fine. What I’m not fine with is that the show doesn’t seem to acknowledge many of his flaws as flaws. He treats every woman he interacts with like garbage. Either they’re just a pawn in a greater scheme, or someone who’s so pitifully stupid that they’re below him in every way, someone not even worth considering a threat, barely even a person. Which, again, is fine. I don’t think characters having flaws makes them unlikeable, especially villains. But, the show never ever ever acknowledges Light’s misogyny as a negative trait. He is never punished for underestimating or using women, no woman ever gets one over on him. In fact, I think the only person that hates women more than Light, is the author.

Please refer to every single female character in the show with speaking lines in more than one episode. Naomi, Light’s sister, Light’s mom, Misa, Kiyomi, Wedy, Rem. Every single woman in this show, by the end of this show, has met some godawful fate, and is either dead in a horrific way, or traumatized permanently. Conversely, while a lot of men die in this show, often in gruesome ways, there are plenty of male characters that get off Scott free. Near and the SPK, the entire Kira task force, with the obvious exception of the dead ones. I think there’s enough men in this show with okay endings that this criticism is earned.

In general, I found the final arc very unsatisfying as a whole. Mello and Near just showing the fuck up really was not cool. I didn’t care for either of them at all really. At least with L, he had an established dynamic with light built up over the entire series. Some new cunt showing up and trying to be him is just. Less cool? Misa bowing out of the story to go be Light’s tradwife while he cheats on her is an especially low point in this show as well.

Am I being mean and petty for the sake of being mean and petty? I mean, yeah for like, sure. I’m kind of being a dick but like. What is the appeal of this show? As a detective show, the mindgames and tricks and gotchas are very often, genuinely less interesting than your average Columbo episode, despite taking nearly twice as long to set up. As a drama, the show’s misogyny issues really hold it back, as do the more questionable and off the wall story beats. As a yaoi show, which I know it is to a large part of its audience, look, I like toxic romance. I actually enjoy incredibly unhealthy couples when written well, and I don’t mind reaching for my pairings. There’s nothing here. Like. Yeah, they have their moments, and I understand why people make L and Light fuck but like. Come the fuck on. This pairing is white bread with nothing on it they’re not even that cool. I don’t like men, so maybe I can’t talk here but like. They’re not even that hot??? The fuck are you people on about?

Every sensible person I know dropped the show after L died and honestly, I wish I had done the same. I just. I don’t get it. How the fuck does this show come so highly rated? How did you make a detective thriller unironically worse than Danganronpa? Answer quickly.

[eusuntgratie]

8, 12, 16, 23 👀👀💚

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

i have some...complicated feelings about buck and chris's relationship and how that's portrayed/talked about especially in how it reflects on eddie. i say shit like THATS HIS DAD and THEYVE BEEN COPARENTING FOR YEARS because they HAVE and i think in a lot of ways buck loves chris like he's his and chris CLEARLY sees buck as a parental figure and eddie REPEATEDLY and PURPOSEFULLY puts buck in that role and is comfortable with him in that role.

where i get the ick is when that's pushed into this idea that chris needs buck, that eddie needs buck, in order for their family to be complete. and i don't know that i can articulate this well bc eddie does need buck, and chris needs buck too. but i also think it is so so important to recognize that eddie is a great father (despite a rough start) and that they were (and would continue to be) just fine without him.

i've even struggled with how i've written this relationship in fic, because it can be a tough line to toe.

i suspect that fandom subconciously leans in to this idea that buck can swoop in and save eddie and chris in large part because buck is white and eddie isn't. and i know that i'm icked by it more because of that.

and this is probably related, but i don't think chris would ever start calling buck anything but buck. the idea that a kid needs to call someone dad/mom/whatever for them to be "important" is bullshit. my best friend and i's kids call us by our first names but they also refer to us as their 'other mom'. i've always called my stepdad by the nickname everyone else calls him. buck has been in chris's life a long time; i don't think he's gonna start calling him something different if they finally get together and/or get married.

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

taylor and shannon and lucy on 911. fandom loves to hate any woman that's even vaguely connected to one of the boys. i like taylor because she's interesting, and i appreciate seeing a woman who puts herself and her career first. we see men do that all the time. i don't hate taylor for being selfish. i don't want her with buck, but i think their relationship was SO interesting and was important for buck figuring out what he wants.

i LOVE shannon and i have loved shannon from the beginning. people love to hate her and say she's a terrible mother for abandoning her child. but she was a young woman in an impossible position who had NO help from her partner for YEARS. she tried to do what she thought was best for her son, her mother, and herself. eddie wouldn't GIVE her that space so she TOOK it. and good for her, honestly. did it hurt chris that she left? absolutely. would people judge a father as harshly for doing EXACTLY the same thing? absolutely not. shannon loved her kid, she tried to do her best, but she was pushed well past her breaking point (which eddie is largely to blame for - yes i can love my blorbos and admit they have flaws GASP) and everyone had to deal with the fallout.

lucy is hot and badass and interesting and if you watch her kiss with buck and think anything other than 'fuck, that's hot' then we will simply never agree and i'm not going to argue with you. get off her ass, she's incredible and i want her back.

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

miscommunication based pining. i can do it for a little bit, but my nightmare is a 100k+ fic rated t tagged slow burn and mutual pining. JUST OPEN YOUR DAMN MOUTH! AAAAAAHHHHHH!! i can do SOME pining bc yearning can be really delicious but when the whole reason 2 people are pining for seven billion words is because nobody will just TALK it makes me insane.

23. ship you've unwillingly come around to

oooh this is tricky bc i am a multishipper to my CORE i want everybody fuckin everybody and falling in love all over the place give it to meeeeee. i feel like the only ship i've ever really been AGAINST is thorki, and that's largely bc of people arguing that it doesn't "count" as incest bc loki was adopted, which pisses me the fuck off. the actual ship i don't really have beef with and i'm sure i would read a fic if someone sent it to me and it was good. idk. it takes a lot for me to be like, ew, absolutely not.

(obligatory disclaimer that you're allowed to like shit i don't like. i'm not telling you your opinion sucks, i'm telling you what i think <3)

fandom violence asks <3

[jojosbussyadventure]

My opinions on Jotaro

Disclaimer: This includes critique of Jotaro Kujo! Some of these takes are nuclear level unpopular. I don’t hate Jotaro, but some aspects of his character and the way fandom treats him drive me up the fucking wall. Sometimes media lands with people differently and people have different opinions.

1. Hates women. He is probably overstimulated in some of the scenes he yells at women, but if you look, he never reacts that way when his teammates in SDC are loud. He specifically states that he hates loud women. The first time we see him yelling at a group of girls in the anime, he’s actually walking away while they’re distracted bickering behind him. If it were just about being overstimulated and not some vitriol towards women, he could’ve kept walking and left the stimulus instead of turning around to yell at them imo.

At first I was like ok he’s 17 maybe he’ll be better when he’s an adult. Then in DiU he yells at a group of teenage girls who are fawning over Josuke.

Like he’s an adult here yelling at teenagers because…he’s specifically annoyed when women are noisy. Even if that weren’t gross, it’s on him to develop some coping skills at this point.

I dont like how a lot of ppl in fandom seem to think this is funny or just write it off. It’s ok to acknowledge a characters shitty behavior and still like them.

And THEN

In that same part we see him being incredibly kind and caring to Josuke and Koichi. Which shows he’s grown a lot and has the capacity to be compassionate and respectful. But…that just doesn’t extend to women? Which to me is a huge huge bummer :/

The only woman we actually see him being nice to (like having kind interactions with) is Jolyne, his daughter.

2. Fatherhood. Jotaro is not an ideal dad and I love that tbh. I think it’s good writing.

But he left his daughter to protect her!

Ok well that didn’t work and she still got the abandonment trauma anyway, so now what?And why is it always “I leave my weak wife and daughter to protect them” and not “I train my wife and daughter so we can all protect each other”? Why is it assumed that women wouldn’t be able to handle that? It’s misogyny that it’s never considered as a possibility imo, and is a problem with the writing not just Jotaro.

For fucks sake a dog, rat, baby, bird, and money were all able to handle having a stand but Jotaro’s mom wasn’t?

The fact is he (we’re assuming) chose to have a kid and then abandoned her. It’s not ideal parenting.

But I actually love how he’s written as a dad! I think it’s realistic that he would struggle to have a good relationship with his wife and daughter. He had an absent father, is extremely traumatized, struggles communicating, and apparently has a not great relationship to women in general.

His divorce and estrangement from his daughter are realistic consequences to some of his flaws.

3. But he’s modeled after Clint Eastwood!

Yea that guy kinda sucks irl

-Things I like about Jotaro

1. Autistic coded. He thinks that his emotions show on his face, which is…dear. They do Not. Niche interests. Sensory issues. Cool autistic vibe

2. He’s very smart and that makes it fun to watch his fights.

3. Corny sometimes

4. Kind to his nephew and his friends. Like genuinely. Learns how to express compassion (as opposed to holding it inside and calling his mom a bitch)

5. Eventually came around and repaired his relationship with Jolyne, and expressed that he cares.

6. Strongk . I❤️start platinum.

- neutral -

I think he’s OP and that some of his powers are asspulls. However, I usually don’t mind this because I want them to win lmao! Also I’m amused by some other asspulls in Jojos, so I can’t draw the line here.

Conclusion:

I kinda like him. wish he would be kind to women. Until then, I kinda want him to get jumped.

[beifong-brainrot]

Honestly the idea of Suyin discouraging contact between her kids and Lin and trying to isolate her is interesting.

Though I do prefer the interpretation based in canon where Su does try to assimilate Lin into the perfect family she's created.

Suyin: And the woman apparently trying to abduct you is your aunt Lin.

Opal : Really? I've always wanted to meet you. My mom has told so many stories about you.

Lin: I'm sure she has.

Suyin told her kids stories about Lin. Sure they must've been incredibly curated but they seemed to position Lin in a positive light.

Opal : I'm sorry being here has been so hard for you. When you showed up, I was so excited to get to know you. I heard so many great things about you from mom and Grandma Toph. So, I guess I was kind of sad you didn't want to know me.

Su, for all her flaws isn't some machiavellian villain. Her actions aren't outright malicious and she's clearly messed up by her upbringing, similarly to Lin.

What Su has done to cope with her childhood is building a family and community. She surrounded herself with people who rely on her and cannot leave her. She fixed her strained relationship with her mother. She built a perfect family. One she probably always wanted since she was a lonely child who didn't get enough affection from her rather cold family members.

She wants Lin as a part of this perfect family.

Korra : It sounds like you've created the perfect life here.

Suyin : Almost. I've always wanted Lin to be a part of it, but I gave up hope long ago of her ever coming around.

In fact she's so invested in her family that she will sweep very natural hurt under the rug to keep that family together. She tried to disregard Lin's very rational anger towards her. And then she does the same by allowing Kuvira and Baatar back into the fold, despite her children's visible discomfort at this.

But Suyin is, as you said very astutely, a control freak. She'd does want control of her family, to some extent. Her children seem very reliant on her, particularly the youngest three. Opal spreads her wings a little after joining the Air Temples. But the twins are practically Su's trained puppies and ugh the angst potential there ok shutting up about my blorbos

Lin wouldn't allow herself to be controlled like that though adn i think that would cause a lot of friction. Which I'm here for. I think that might be where Su starts discouraging her kids from contacting Lin if that were to ever happen but in all truth I don't really see that happening? Su wants Lin as part of her family and i can see her being very insistent on trying to push Lin into that mold.

I also do like to think that Lin would see her niblings being hurt in a similar way she was and would try to intervene? Like for all her gruffness she's a big softie at heart. And i think she really cares for them. I really liked all her scenes with Opal. Lins so fucking awkward and trying to be gentle after she snaped at Opal its adorable.

I'd love to see Lin call out Su i need it actually.

You know what upsets me but also like I get it lol

In the comic About the Beifongs

This is all you see of Lin.

That’s it. Back of her head and her shoulder.

In one hand it would have been nice to actually see her work it out with Toph and Su but in the other

Lin’s like “this bitch is Your Problem. You handle it.”

[princesssmars]

gossip girl reboot 2x07 spoilers below !

i feel so bad for monet yall. she was upgraded to main character for maybe 3 episodes and now shes being treated like dirt. everyone of the main cast has had a or multiple love interest(s), and all shes gotten is a queerbaiter ?? seriously ??

and DONT even get me started on her mom. i liked the notion of monet getting her cutthroatness from her mom, and i was excited to see them as a mother daughter duo with flaws of course. but camille just...replacing monet with zoya is cruel, and even crueller when she criticizes monets actions when girl YOU are the parent, YOU are what shes influenced by !!!

luna is still barely a side character who we know nothing about and just gives the others advice. not much else to say really.

dont even get me started on julien and audrey. i went from disliking julien and liking audrey to way the opposite in a WEEK 😭 audrey is making no sense to me. first she wants to reconnect with her dad and his mistress, gets mad when julien calls them out and says maybe they really are in love and seemed to believe julianna (the mistress idk her name) when she said they didnt cheat, gets mad when gg posts a most likely fake email that julien sent to her dad saying she saw them, then gets even more mad when julien tries to talk to the girl to get the truth and gets manipulated. this is on audrey to me because i would not trust the man and woman who so thoroughly broke my mother down like we saw kiki at the start of season 1.

i hope georgina and kate both go to jail im so sick of seeing them yall i stg.

obies storyline is still so....fucking boring and hes do disconnected from the group the contrast to his scenes is so jarring. and i saw him trying to flirt with julien like PLEASE dont try her after you got mad at HER because she exposed ur lil girlfriend was a brother fucker.

aki is just kinda there. but i like him much more this season so he can just be there and im cool <3

max is trying to win the approval of audreys cheatin ass dad who is judging him and. oh the irony.

still heavily dislike zoya i wish i didnt but oooo lets just say you can tell shes a fifteen year old girl (incredibly annoying).

i wrote this 33 mins into the 57 min episode so i might rant more if something pisses me off. im gonna write more monet fics since the writers wanna do her dirty. bye.

[thealexchen]

Highlights of the Katy and Erika Q&A

Link to the Q&A! https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1161022793 

- Erika’s first audition with a scene partner was with Han Soto (Gabe)! Neither of them had gotten their parts yet, but Han still called “I’ll see you on set!” over his shoulder as he was leaving. Erika also said that he was a wonderful mentor figure and also someone who gave her a lot of shit, like an older brother would.

- THEY ANSWERED MY QUESTION!!! 😭 I had asked, "Since you were working on this game for several years, how do you think your performance or skills as an actor changed over time as you got to know your character better?"

Erika explained that in an early callback, she had to act out Gabe’s death scene and got into the moment by imagining that her little brother Evan had died. Later on she realized that it wasn’t healthy or sustainable to go to such dark places mentally over and over: “It's great to bring your lived experience in but not at the at the level of sacrificing your own health.” She later referred to the Lucid Body Technique invented by a dancer named Fay Simpson that she learned while on an acting retreat in Creed, CO (”Fun fact, Creed is actually a small mining town that was saved by theater!”). Instead of calling up traumatic memories, Erika focused on where that emotion “lives” in her body, accessed them safely, and was able to bring herself back to the present moment. Katy also mentioned she studied the technique in college. All super interesting stuff!

- Han pulled so many pranks on set that Webb (performance director) and Corwin (mocap producer) forced him to limit it to “one prank per day... on Erika.” He managed to jumpscare her every time and when she tried to get him back, “He didn’t even blink. I was like ‘What the fuck is going on?”

- Alex evolved a lot over the course of writing the game. Apparently the first iteration of Alex was a lot more like Chloe-- very bitter, brittle and with a lot of repressed anger-- but that got softened as they developed Alex’s power and as Erika brought more of herself to the performance.

- Apparently Gabe’s death scene was fun to film because when Gabe got knocked off the cliff, Erika got pulled in a sled to simulate Alex being pulled toward the edge while tied to Gabe. So they did a million takes of that and Erika just got to sit in a sled. Meanwhile Katy was at a butterfly garden down the street.

- Another fun scene (apparently) was when Alex fell down the mineshaft at the end of chapter 4 and the beginning of chapter 5, as Erika describes: “They basically rigged me up to a swing, like a sex swing-- not a sex swing. I mean, I walked in and I think that was my first question. I was like ‘Is that a sex swing? What are we filming today? I didn’t get these scripts.’” Cue the chat going insane.

What actually happened was she hung onto a board and two pulleys dropped on either side of her so she fell onto a crash pad. Apparently Webb practiced before and “really bruised the shit out of his ribs.”

- The “The crowd is really picking up on my energy. Haaaaa we love you Alex! Haaaaa Steph sucks!” line during the foosball game was entirely improvised by Erika, just having fun on set. Erika also admits she’s very chatty and just enjoyed getting to know her castmates so that they were already all friends when they acted together.

- Webb sent Han and Erika on a day trip to Idaho Springs early in production to bond and of course Han suggested they go gambling (Erika added, “Which of course is something that Gabe would do! Like ‘Let’s go do something sinful.”) They also played with Han’s drone. Katy went to see one of Erika’s plays in Colorado!

- When asked about what Erika would do if she had Alex’s powers: “I think it would be a cool power too because there’s so much covering that happens with all of us in social settings and professional settings. And being able to have insight into what’s really going on would probably create the need to be a much a kinder, generous, forgiving person, which are things that I’m always working on. I don’t think you could not become that.”

- Erika on Asian representation in True Colors: "[Alex is] not the best friend, she's not the tiger mom, she's her own fully realized, three dimensional person with flaws and goals and dreams and things she wished she could do over again. And I think that, for me, as somebody who grew up not seeing people who looked like me in movies-- and that's why Lucy Liu was such a fucking huge deal-- but the fact that D9 didn't do it in a tropey way was incredible. I know how important that Alex is a woman of color. She doesn't fit the mold of typical video game female bodies either, which I think is amazing."

- Erika lowkey hated the mocap suits. She couldn’t understand why Katy didn’t mind them and said “Katy. Katy. Katy.” “No it was so comfy it was like I was in my jammies!” “I remember you said that and I was like ‘What the fuck is wrong with you?! This is not comfortable!’”

- Erika’s advice to aspiring creatives: “Don’t let the fear of being bad at something stop you.”

- E: “I feel like I've been talking a lot" K: “This is your interview!" E: “Yeah I know but your voice is better.” K: “What?! MA’AM. MA’AM??”

- When Erika and Katy talk about teleportation as a superpower: “Or like when you wake up in the middle of the night and you have to pee, like ‘Should I just pee my pants? Or should I walk to the-- it’s just so far.”

- When Erika mentioned she grew up with a Golden Retriever the chat went “RYAN THE GOLDEN RETRIEVER”

- Erika’s closing remarks: I cannot wait for y’all to play the DLC because Wavelengths is gonna be the shit. And I’m gonna tell you why! Because it’s all about Steph! Which means it’s all about Katy! It’s gonna be so fucking good you guys. It’s gonna be beautiful. It’s gonna be funny. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to live in Haven Springs even more. You’ll want to marry Katy Bentz. What more could you ask for?? K: Could you be my hype woman forever please?

[thebetterluthor]

Henry and Regina

I’m almost finished with this show, and while I already know that apparently the cast will change quite a lot in season 7, I doubt any other character dynamic will surpass this one, for me anyway.

The concept of flawed parent has been taken to the extreme here, given that Regina is an actual fairy-tale villain, but if we put that aside for a moment, Regina is actually a very good example of a dysfunctional mother, but a mother that clearly loves her child.

The show does a good job of showing us how much Regina wanted Henry. Obviously in the backstory, where she tries so hard to become attuned to Henry’s needs as a baby, to the point where she created a potion to literally bottled up her own fears of him eventually bringing the woman destined to ruin her life in town, in order to keep him as her son and love him as he deserved and needed.

Regina was a clear example of the overprotective, over-involved and probably emotionally withdrawn parent. Henry was clearly well taken care of (beyond the obvious being well fed, well clothed, well mannered). He was allowed to pursue various interests freely, he was well socialized, and his personality resembles Regina’s in many ways. For one thing, he has her tenacity to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals (hello child who went to a whole other city by himself at the age of 11 to find your birth mother). 

More importantly though, Henry clearly felt incredibly safe in his relationship with his mother, which is insane to think about! He thought his mom was the Evil Queen, and yet he wasn’t afraid to run away to a different city to find a complete stranger. He never worried that she might give up on him, stop caring, or hurt him in any way beyond grounding him!

Beyond the crazy fairy-tale stuff, Regina’s mistake with Henry was her trying to control him out of fear of him finding out the truth and leaving her (like getting him a therapist who would make him think the way she wanted him to think. Yeeesh). Unlike her mother Cora, who was trying to control Regina for her own personal gain, Regina tries to control Henry because she’s afraid he will stop loving her. And the more Henry uncovers the truth, the more desperate she becomes, the more mistakes she makes. It’s not by chance that she starts winning Henry back when she stops trying to control him. It was heartbreaking, for me anyway, that she not only allowed him to choose to live with Emma, she got to the point where she created a whole other life for him with Emma, so he could be happy.

And Henry on his end, he really loves Regina. He’s angry at her for sure, but he loves her, and his love for her never fails. Even when Regina is at her worst he keeps believing she will find her way back to him, that’s how strong their bond is.

Anyway, all I’m saying is that this mother and son duo makes me mushy. Regina admitting she has issues she needs to work on, to her 11 year old son, will never not bring tears to my eyes. If only we were all so lucky, to land a parent who’d own up to their flaws. 

[sparklyicecube]

Hi!! I’m not a Donna expert but I would love to give my opinion on this! I also love the Titans so eeee!

Firstly: Donna is the kind of person who looks like she has her life together because she is very good at giving comfort to other people and putting things in perspective. She is labelled as the “mom friend” and yeah that’s not something I love for her because being a mom friend is tiring but I would argue that she is the mom of the Titans, especially when there were younger Titans running around (like when Bart (Impulse) and Damage (Grant) wason the team!) Now this doesn’t mean that is all she is, in Titans 1999 she is actually has an outburst about how she isn’t everyone’s therapist and they should go to someone else and Kory (Starfire) lets her rant instead!

Secondly: Donna has had two marriages and two (and a half?) kids. Donna’s first husband Terry Long is universally disliked by fans because she married him when they were still teen titans and he was university-professor-with-an-ex-wife-and-daughter. I also dislike Terry because he had a tendency to not finish his projects and started getting a habit of relying on Donna too much to help him get on track and started blaming her when he didn’t finish something. And the worst thing is why he divorced her - he basically thought that she was too busy and wasn’t spending enough time with their son. Superhero stuff. I’m not so much mad as I am terrified because he knew her secret id and came over to the tower and he explicitly said he was fine with it beforehand, and then, he just!!! Imagine your husband who you thought loved you despite your flaws starts disliking you for those flaws. Even worse: he got a restraining order so Donna lost custody of Robbie (their son) and couldn’t see him because apparently she was a trouble magnet and Robbie will get hurt but the FIRST Robbie chapter has Robbie getting kidnapped not because of Donna but because he’s the son of a god and is powerful. His future self came. It’s like people coming after Damian because he’s a good assassin and the heir to the demon’s head and not just because “Batman cares about him” or some shit.

I would personally not erase Terry and Robbie (they died in a car accident because TERRY wasn’t following safe driving rules on a dark highway maybe there was some magical stuff but it wasn’t Donna’s fault but isn’t not Terry’s fault). Terry though is interesting to me because Wonder Woman is not scared of man, she has not been hurt by them and has been empowered by women until the age of like 21, but Donna came into the world of man at least by Teen Titan age and got very hurt by men. I actually have super short fic where they all die in the car accident and Robbie and Jenny (Terry’s daughter from his first marriage whom I absolutely love and absolutely loves Donna and lives with her mom I can elaborate on her later) gets brought back to life by Coeus (a titan of myth).

On the note of Coeus, Donna had a second husband but uh…

Thirdly: Donna’s backstory is so incredibly convoluted which is canonised and unique amongst superheroes. Basically:

- Baby Donna is a soul.

- Baby Donna soul gets brought to “New Kronos” to live with and get trained by the titans of myth to basically get trained to be a new god (titans are basically like older, powerful yet cast out gods, like the old government that still has massive influence)

- Donna gets her memory wiped and sent to earth where stuff happens consistently from teen titans all the way til now

- Donna dies, and when she dies the titans of myth pluck her back to new Cronus and make her into a titan (god) and brainwash/gaslight/amnesiac her into not remembering her time on earth

That is where she is married to Coeus (who is sort of like her dad it is 100% ew) who is super creepy to her but also helps her lock up the rest of the titans in greek mythology hell and goes to said hell to guard them and not bother her. Donna is a multiversal key, because her origins vary on every earth from abandoned at birth, Diana’s soul twin, etcetc and whatever multiversal key is she is that.

ANYWAYS Donna has been hurt by men, not even just mortals.

In my fic, Coeus, in a bid to win some love from his wife (again ew), bring Robbie and Jenny back from the dead just because he though it’ll make her feel better, and it does! And Donna is overjoyed to see both of them so… do with that what you will.

Robbie Troy things! I have many personal headcannons about him but I think he’s going to be a very divine and powerful baby. He has these blank eyes sometimes that makes him look like some sort of deity and he floats using star powers~ Robbie is likely to have very moon-based motifs because Donna is probably the titan goddess of the moon right now but she and Robbie also have a lot of star motifs and night sky in general.

Other things about Donna I generally enjoy!

- She is very feminine! Loves wearing shorts, having her long hair down, putting her hair up, etc but that doesn’t detract from how much she can kick your ass. She is one of the strongest Titans and is very physically strong and I love that for her.

- People find it hard to lie to her because while Diana has the lasso of truth, Donna has a similar power just… a little diluted and inside of her instead of in an object. So she can really play therapist.

- Donna is great with kids! She’s amazing with Lian Harper (read Titans 1999 I’m begging you) and she was a great mom to Robbie and she was sooo amazing with Jenny!

- Donna’s morals! She is always trying to protect the weak from the strong and never condones genocide or killing. She is a moral pillar of the Titans along with Roy and Wally (relative to Barry) and Dick (Garth is pretty lax on his morals ngl)

- Donna has had relationships with Kyle Rayner and Roy Harper (Kyle was serious, Roy was casual, both were very sweet)

- At some other point Donna died and Wally resurrected her from his memories and she had memory problems and identity issues to the moon and back so that might be a thing you want to include

- Donna is besties and specifically sisters with Kory! I love their relationship because it’s so pure and platonic (and I could get behind that ship but it is so pure platonically) and they always have each others back! Donna reins her back on her murderous tendencies like Dick and they have the bestest girlhood relationship ever

- And I can’t not include her relationship with Dick. They are soulmates. Besties. The Wonder Twins. He gave her away at his wedding, Donna snapped him out of it when he was going crazy as batman. She listens to him, he’s there for her. These two are close, and nothing will change that. They knew each other when they were babies and they know each other now, even when some people (and Donna sometimes) get annoyed with Dick, Donna hasn’t gotten into the same irrational hissy fights with him.

Anyways I love Donna Troy and her kids and the Titans ask me questions bye

Titan experts - specifically for titan dynamics and Garth and Donna - help!

I’m writing a story about Duck Grayson raising Mar’i Grayson and I want to heavily feature the Titans. I’m trying to gather info on them and it’s been hard to really grasp their characters.

[margielatabiboots]

pll original sin thoughts

okay so i'm a pll girl forever and i just binged all of the episodes of original sin and here are my thoughts:

faran is everything. she's serving spencer hastings realness, she's giving everything i needed and more and i love her dynamic with noa

tabby's boss is either a great red herring or somehow involved in the drama. i feel like he could be angela's sibling, since it was mentioned that he's the same age as ari aster (36) either way he sucks and i want to know his deal

this twin swap (maybe??) has my head spinning.. as much as i want her to actually be kelly and for kelly to actually have been the sinister twin all along, i feel like the writers could be pulling an alison/courtney swap but at this point it feels way too obvious.

bro WHAT is the deal with mouse??? i know people are saying she's secretly 30 something or she was kidnapped herself, and i'm leaning more towards the second option. if anything, i think maybe she is older but she was maybe kidnapped for period of time and her moms are making her live at the pace it should be at if she wasn't kidnapped if that makes sense.

tabby. my love. i would do anything for that woman. she's wonderful and incredible. at first i was like aw her and chip are so cute but the more i thought about it and after the scene where they were filming the movie and he acted weird, i think he knows a lot more than we think. i'm not ready to say that he's definitely on the A-team or that he was the one who SAed tabby, but he definitely knows a lot more than we think he does.

there's something missing about imogen's past i just know it. idk why i feel that way, but it just feels like there's something that we don't know (unrelated to her pregnancy), and i think that learning the truth behind her death is going to clear up some stuff but as always create more questions

i feel really strongly that this isn't just a single A, this is a team, and i'm curious to learn more about the Y2K survivors club, i feel like that is going to be important and they might have something to do with the bigger picture

none of the male love interests are giving anything... i need a haleb shower scene moment or a spoby scrabble motel moment because right now ash is the only love interest i'm vibing with.

so far, i really like this show and i feel like all of the girls are so interesting characters, they're flawed and that makes them so much more intriguing. i really wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as i do (lets be real though its pll). one thing i really want is to make sure that there is an overarching mystery, maybe this season we find out that imogen's mom was murdered by A but i want them to keep us hanging on. i miss the torture of waiting LITERAL YEARS to know the answers (except they better be more flushed out than season 7 of PLL because i still lose sleep over that)