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[starstruckbyacomet]

The Journalists (Part 1): Katey from But Why Tho

The Journalist who Takes No Bullshit from Other Journalists Paid Writers

(Part 2) (Part 3)

Katey Stoetzel wrote a review about episode 8x06 "Confessions":

So far, this article is my favorite 9-1-1 review. I feel like Katey was reading my mind while she was writing this piece. Things which she mentioned in it, among others:

"...the election results play into the strong reactions surrounding this breakup."

"...this explanation leans on biphobic stereotypes, such as bisexual people not knowing what they want, or needing to sleep around with a lot of people to know what they want."

"After referring to Buck exclusively by his first name, Evan, Tommy immediately distances himself from his intimate connection with Buck. And that feels pretty definitive."

"...thanks to Lou Ferrigno Jr’s performance in 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 6, who layers so many nuances to Tommy in this scene that it would be a disgrace to not follow up on this character,..."

"...if we don’t then all the show has done is leave a gay man lost, heartbroken, and alone with seemingly no plans to resolve it."

Rarely, I found a piece of writing where almost every word was resonated with me. I could rave on and on about this review (I've told you that it was my favorite). However, it's better if you read it by yourself, if you haven't done it yet.

*********

Katey also interviewed Lou Ferrigno Jr. about the break up storyline.

For Tevan fans, this interview is like an oasis in the desert. First of all, it is the only interview with Lou after the break up, which is not saddled with Buddie questions 🙄. Secondly, Katey brought up Tevan fans' reaction to the discussion. Something which has been omitted by the paid writers who were pandering to toxic Buddie fans. The interview makes us feel seen. Probably, this is how we'd feel if we had a thoughtful queer story on TV, in which queer characters were not put aside, sad, alone, brokenhearted, or dead 😔.

*********

Initially, I thought I might be biased towards Katey, just because she also liked Tevan. Thus, I decided to read her review about episode 8x08 "Wannabes":

Oh boy, did she deliver! Every complaint about the episode which I've read on Tumblr is included in her review. And it's not just about Tevan:

"...[This episode] features a lot of Brad... is an odd choice, considering main characters like Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Chimney (Kenneth Choi) have barely gotten to do anything this first half of the season. Eddie (Ryan Guzman), too, feels underutilized...."

"Brad gets regulated to chores (why is he getting more screen time at the 118 than anyone else again?)...."

"And there’s still the Shannon of it all. The fallout from the Hitchcock-inspired soap drama of 9-1-1 Season 7 hasn’t adequately addressed Eddie’s grief."

"...this part of the episode [how the suicidal man was saved] rings really hollow for a bit centered around suicide."

"...Episode 8 doesn’t have a mid-season vibe to it... besides Eddie potentially moving, there’s nothing juicy enough to send us off on a five-month hiatus. Bobby and Athena’s house situation hasn’t been discussed since Episode 4. Hen (Aisha Hinds) and Karen (Tracie Thoms) haven’t been around since 9-1-1 Season 8 Episode 5. While they got a lot of focus during the Ortiz storyline, Hen hasn’t had much to do in recent episodes."

"...Buck’s obvious want to call Tommy feels like he has unresolved issues with how things ended (we do, too.) However, the implication in interviews that it’s over between Buck and Tommy is CONFUSING... having Buck taking no action in the wake of this breakup so far, especially heading into hiatus, is a little frustrating."

I'm not the only one who resonates with Katey's review. At this point, I'm almost certain that Katey has been lurking on Tumblr, reading our rants one by one 😂. The mention of "Hitchcock-inspired soap", "the Shannon of it all", and "why is he [Brad] getting more screen time at the 118 than anyone else again?" made me laugh. Her articles show that this woman got brain, and a sharp tongue. I'm sure Katey could match firefighter pilot Thomas Kinard in a duel of words, and probably even won over him.

*********

@earthquakebi also praised another body of work from Katey: a Season 8A deep dive by Jose Cordova & Katey Stoetzel on Between TV podcast:

*********

However, Katey's bravest and most impressive article that I've read so far is a rather old one (recommended by @nqueso-emergency). It's not a review on any episodes of the show. It is about its fandom, and the press around it. The article was published on April 25. 2024, only 21 days after Buck's bisexual revelation first aired on April 4, 2024:

In this article, Katey criticized the paid writers who had been questioning "whether or not Buddie... is on the table", although it had "no basis in what’s happening on screen." She also pointed out that what those paid writers had been doing "creates a vicious cycle of misinterpretations, baiting, toxic fandom habits, and deciding that there’s only one way to interpret something." and "ridiculous expectations and assumptions all just centered around CLICKS and ENGAGEMENT."

It is interesting that she put the blame on the paid writers for FANNING TOXIC BEHAVIORS among fandom.

Katey didn't name names, but she inserted links to several articles and one video, while pointing out the baseless fandom pandering aspects on those bodies of work. And she certainly didn't mince her words 😂.

Her article is closed by a contemplative paragraph about journalism in the entertainment world:

"There’s a duty one has when sitting down for an interview with a cast, and that’s TO INQUIRE about the show that they have worked hard to bring us. And they definitely SHOULDN'T BE USED as an opportunity TO VALIDATE A FANDOM SHIP. That road just leads to disappointment, and an unfair insistence that if anyone disagrees, then they’re wrong. That’s not what fandom should be about. And it’s certainly not what entertainment journalism is about." 

[edgy-ella]

IDW SONIC READERS, PLEASE READ THIS!!!!

I am begging you. On my hands and knees. Begging. More so than anything else I’ve asked of this fandom.

Please please buy the Fang miniseries when it comes out

Don’t just read it. Buy it. I will admit that I’m very guilty of reading through a lot of IDW Sonic through…less than legal means, and I know I’m not alone in that regard. But I think it’s really important that for this miniseries in particular, you actually go out and buy the damn thing. Show your support with your dollar.

Really think about it for a second—they gave Fang his own miniseries. Fang! An underutilized, underrated fan favorite for sure, but hardly a mainstay of the series. I’m sure that this was at least somewhat prompted by Superstars, where Fang is a major antagonist…but Bean and Bark weren’t in that game, and it already received its own online promo comic prior to the game’s release (notably, with Fang as the star).

Classic Sonic stories have also exclusively been relegated to one-shots in IDW, not a full on miniseries like what Fang is getting. Basically all of the IDW Sonic miniseries we’ve gotten so far have been plot relevant side stories to the main IDW comic that focus on side characters with little to no involvement from Sonic himself. Tangle and Whisper, Bad Guys, Impostor Syndrome…the only odd man out besides this Fang miniseries is Scrapnik Island.

Really think about it for a second. FANG is getting his own focus comic BEFORE KNUCKLES.

And that’s why it’s so important that we buy it.

I think Sega is using this comic to test the waters to see if people like Fang and want to see him in more future projects—be it comics, games, or even cartoons. But there’s more to it than just that.

See, Superstars hasn’t been doing that great. I know I said in an earlier post that people seemed to like it, but I retract that statement. It was damned by faint praise at launch, and now most of the discussion I’ve seen surrounding the game revolves around its flaws (chief among them being the middling OST and that the Steam version stealth installs an Epic Games service along with the game). No sales numbers have been projected as of writing, but it’s definitely been beaten out by Mario Wonder and Spider-Man 2.

So, Classic Sonic games aren’t doing too hot right now (I’m sure that many modern fans are jumping for joy at the prospect). But the classic characters are.

People really like the extended classic Sonic cast, just as much as they love the extended modern cast. From my experience, the two fan favorites are Mighty and Fang. Fang stands out to me in particular for a couple reasons: people were really upset that Sega specifically said no to Fang, Bark and Bean coming back after Ian snuck in a reference to them in IDW Sonic #3 (using their old team name from Archie, the Hooligans), and the fanmade 16-bit remake of Triple Trouble, Fang’s debut game, received private praise from many members of Sega and Sonic Team. People like Fang and the media he’s in, and Sega is starting to take notice. That’s why we’re getting this miniseries.

That’s why it’s so important that the miniseries sells well. If the big boys at Sega and Sonic Team see Superstars’ iffy reception but see Fang’s comic sell above expectations, then Sega will want to continue to use Fang (and potentially other “classic” Sonic characters as well) in more narrative driven projects. That means modern Sonic.

“But Sega won’t let any classic Sonic character into a modern Sonic project!” I hear you thinking. And to that I say, so? Sega changes its mind all the time. Remember that whole two worlds nonsense? That was thrown out with in Tailstube. Characters debuting in Boom and the comics were previously barred from the mainline games, but they’ve broken that “rule” in both Speed Battle and Frontiers. Hell, they’ve even been talked out of some of their sillier comic mandates, like characters not being able to wear different clothing.

For all their flaws, Sega does listen, and money speaks louder than anything. If this miniseries fails, Sega will just assume that people aren’t hot on Fang or the extended classic cast anymore and throw them back in the bar. But if the comic sells well, then Sega might take it as a sign that, hey, people like this character (and his two lackeys), we should put him in projects that fans are more interested in. Mighty and Ray probably wouldn’t be too far behind, especially given Mania’s success. Whether that means comics or games, modern or classic, who knows. What’s important is that it sends the right message to Sega, and they will listen to their consumers. That means us. If we don’t support this miniseries now, we might have to wait another thirty years for another chance.

[fantastic-nonsense]

I have a fun [citation needed] hypothetical for you. Say you have been granted the authority to make FIVE editorial directives for DC comics that will be followed for at least the next five years. What are you demanding?

No company events.

No major events with ten thousand tie-in comics.

No big crossover events.

No big gimmick events.

No event comics.

Okay, I kid, but only slightly. I'm actually going cheat slightly and give you five plus an extra one that needs a bit more explanation:

No company-wide crossover events or gimmick events that derail major ongoing stories in individual books shall be made. If an event comic is published, any tie-ins will be published separately from the character's ongoing/mini (for reference: like the Blackest Night tie-in specials).

Institute a lore consistency team within the Archives department. Mandate that every single creative team MUST read and utilize a character/story bible before writing any scripts. The scripts will be looked over by a member of the lore team as well as the book editor before being approved for publication.

The Young Justice generation is finally allowed to grow up and, where necessary, get new hero names. In particular, Tim Drake finally gets to age and stop being Robin. He picks 'Blackbird' as his new name, gets a cool new red-and-black costume, and stars in a rebooted Young Justice book alongside his friends.

Barbara Gordon has to formally retire from the Batgirl role and become Oracle full time again. This is handled in a way that is respectful of her character and her disability. Cassandra Cain will be Batgirl full-time again while Stephanie Brown goes back to Spoiler; Cass gets a Batgirl solo ongoing while Steph would join a rebooted Gotham Knights team book that includes her, Kate, Helena, Luke Fox, and Jean-Paul Valley.

Wonder Woman's established lore is acknowledged, respected, and re-emphasized. Diana is a clay baby again, Cassie is Zeus's daughter again, The Return of Donna Troy is acknowledged as the definitive explanation of Donna's multiple-choice backstory (while the fire origin stays the definitive origin), Artemis gets her original origin back, etc. Full acceptance of the Rucka Rebirth retcon to reset Diana's origins and childhood back to the post-Crisis status quo. No references to the Zeus origin or the New 52 Amazons are allowed to be made except in context of Rucka's "it was a lie" explanation.

In priority order, those editorial mandates probably fall out to be something like 2>1>5>3 and 4 in a tie; 3 and 4 are kinda interchangable since they collectively would fix a wide swath of what's wrong with the Bat books right now.

My "extra" mandate would be that writers must utilize existing characters where possible for their stories. No new "major" heroes are to be introduced unless a writer can prove that a book needs a new character to fill an identified gap. Prioritization should go to a) characters who used to be used on a regular basis in a given book but have not been seen in 10+ years and b) characters introduced within the past 5-7 years.

I'd want this one for two reasons: one, there's a ton of pre-existing characters who used to be staple or regularly recurring characters who have failed to get regular appearances since 2011, for a variety of reasons. Forcing writers to use them instead of creating new characters would allow DC to rebuild some continuity, bring back old favorites, and provide closure to lingering storylines that were cut short or never followed up on. Two, there's a hell of a lot of new characters have been introduced and discarded without actually building them out properly the last few years. I would honestly only put this one in place for around 3 years...long enough to force DC to actually flesh out the underutilized newbies and provide some closure and new beginnings for some old favorites.

[sapphiresaphics]

Here’s some ACTUAL criticisms I have for Arcane.

1. I think they should’ve explained the way magic works in this universe. It’s very confusing for Hextech to supposedly be this big important thing when you can just wear runes that have magic infused within them or can see what the Black Rose can do. I personally find magic in stories works best when there are rules we understand. I get that the Wild rune and the concept of the Arcane is meant to be unknowable Eldridge horror kinda stuff, but if your show is called Arcane i would expect there to be more clarification on what the Arcane actually is. Additionally some clarification of what the anomaly/Wild rune was would’ve been more helpful.

2. Jinx’s first on screen psychotic episode is framed confusingly. Upon rewatches it’s very clear that’s not Vi, but I’ve seen far too many people not understand that it was a hallucination and are confused by how Vi ends up in prison. I don’t really know how to fix it, but it’s one of those things that could’ve been made clearer so there was no confusion after the initial fake-out.

3. We should’ve seen more of Skye and Loris. I feel like both characters were severely underutilized. I get they were introduced to be killed off, but if you’re going to fridge them we should get to know them better first. Heck, we didn’t even get Loris’s name until 8 episodes after he was introduced.

4. The structure of certain plot lines in season 2 should’ve been streamlines. And I don’t mean things like getting rid of the Black Rose subplot or something. I’m talking more about when we cut back to plot points. Mel’s is the most egregious because she goes missing in episode 3, doesn’t show up again until episode 5 after a time skip (but not for her?), and then disappears again and doesn’t show up until episode 8. I think restructuring it so that we cut back to her in the prison earlier so we know she’s alive, then cut back to her still in the prison in a later episode, then finish up with her figuring out her magic powers and heading back to Piltover would’ve made things much more coherent. There’s too much space between her scenes and time passes so much between them that it feels like her scenes are out of order or stretched out WAY longer than it should be.

[worldseer]

Who are your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from JJK? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Thanks.....

I admit, most of my favorite characters from JJK I somewhat thirst over but I'll try to keep those thoughts out of why I love them (because I do have some genuine reason besides thirst for liking them). 1. Toji Fushiguro

First and foremost, I like his calm attitude yet snarky way of talking. Also he's just a badass. We all all saw him kick ass any time he came on screen. His physique and strength is something to envy ngl (which I had big muscles too). And yes, not the best dad but I KNOW this man was the best fucking husband he could be. 2. Kento Nanami

HE DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER! It's obvious he cares a lot about people, especially young sorcerers. I like to believe that while he hates how Jujutsu Society operates, he tries to make the small changes necessary to make it better (aka not having child soldiers die and get traumatized like he did). Plus I fully agree that both aspects of life (living as a sorcerer or working a normal job) sucks too.

3. Ryomen Sukuna

HOLD ON HOLD ON HOLD ON BEFORE YOU ALL STAB ME TO DEATH CEASAR STYLE- He's genuinely an interesting antagonist to me. He has layers, I think that's apparent. He's cocky, but for good reason. And there have been moments where I near shat my pants watching him (we all saw that Jogo vs. Sukuna fight and those jumpscares he did. Also both VAs did amazing cackles). His true form from the Heian Era is also so cool to look at as well, and I think may inspire me to be more creative with my own character designs in the future.

4. Suguru Geto

HOLD ON, HOLD ON- Once again, I love a layered antagonist and HOLY SHIT HE HAS LAYERS! Like- ok- I get what his goal is. I get what he wants. And frankly, if my lover best friend died, came back to life, and close friend I was meant to protect died as well, yeah I'd be kinda fucked up so see people celebrating and not batting an eye. Yes, running a cult and committing literal genocide are. . . choices. But in the end, his goal is to protect sorcerers (a group constantly being used and controlled by the majority of non-sorcerers) and that makes some sense.

5. Toge Inumaki

I personally think he's a bit underrated, and underutilized. Sure, I know he's not loaded with Cursed Energy but like- that technique he has can be overpowered as hell. Also, I like how he insists on using ingredient names to convey how he feels when he could just- avoid commands? Like he can obviously use nouns. As long as there's a proper subject, then verbs won't use the cursed speech technique (Don't flame me if I'm wrong, I haven't read through too much of the manga). He's cute, I love his vibes, and he is my son. As for moments in the series, they're more small than most expect: 1. Whenever Mahito gets his ass beat - Self explanatory. Yes I'm still fucking mad about what happened to Nobara and Nanami.

2. When Yuji met Toge in the streets of Shibuya - SALMON! But fr, I love the small moments that show friendship between sorcerers that otherwise don't meet up much. And Toge just being there, chilling with a megaphone to help people is funny to me.

3. The last conversation between Megumi and Toji - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! PAIN! BUT ALSO YOU CAN SEE HOW HAPPY TOJI IS FOR HIS SON! I'M GONE. DEAD.

4. THAT Nanami scene - MAPPA served us good as did Kenjiro Tsuda. "The number and locations of your allies," anything for you, love. Let's go to Malaysia and sit on a beach. I giggle every time.

5. The phone conversation Suguru and Satoru have - The expressions and conversation kill me everytime. They're 'close friends' your honor.

[ghostinthegallery]

I can't believe The Silence and the Storm is over a year old! The first anniversary was May 27th (yes I missed my own fic's birthday in my defense I was traveling and forgot how time works).

I'm trying to compose my thoughts because this sure feels like a time a blog post would be fitting. However, my engrams are scrambled because...wow do I have too many feelings.

As some background, I've been a writer for a long time. And I've written 3-5 books (depends on how you count "completing" a book but it's 5 full drafts, 3 of which were heavily edited). I wanted to be a trade published writer (still do) and for a while I was feeling good about my chances! I got lucky and received some wonderful professional mentorship (and met one of my best friends during that program!). I took that guidance to query agents (a necessary step for access to most big/medium US publishers). I knew it would be hard and take time but...4 years later all I have to show are a few requests, hundreds of rejections, and one agent who asked me to rewrite my entire book only to reject me anyway (me, bitter? No not at all nooooo).

I'm a creative person and sharing my work feels like sharing a part of myself. Something that is not easy for me to do. After a while I just assumed I was missing something necessary. My work didn't resonate, but I didn't know how to fix it. I’d never reach anyone in the way I so desperately craved, and it was my fault for not being good enough. I felt broken.

During one of many major depressive episodes my spouse bought me a copy of The Infinite and the Divine. That book has changed my life. I was never much of a fanfic writer before. Either I thought the original work was too good and I didn't think I had anything to add or it was too bad so why would I bother with it when I could just go read/watch something better? 40k inspired me though. The ideas are incredible but underutilized enough that I felt like I had something to add.

So I started writing necron fic because why not? There wasn’t enough for me to read, and I needed more robot stories. Maybe I could rediscover my love of the craft, make some friends, make some robots kiss. Distract my mind from the horrors. So I posted a little OC fic and actually got some nice comments. Hey! Positive reinforcement! Hadn't had that in a while.

Emboldened, I continued in the most normal way possible. Going from a 7 chapter OC story to a giant civil war epic including every named necron character I could find with 6 (then 7...then 9) POVs. It was the type of grand space opera I've always wanted to write but never did because I didn’t think I had the skill and it's harder to sell. Luckily AO3 is free. Ain't no playing to the market there!

Now, a 40k necron civil war space opera is...niche. So I wasn't expecting much. I would have been happy with some kudos, some comments. Fan art felt like a pipe dream, but what are writers if not dreamers? The main goal was to enjoy myself. It was low pressure fun, I love the characters, what could go wrong?

Nothing, but I was wholely unprepared for things to go as right as they did. Y’all have been amazing. So many great comments and ideas exchanged, gorgeous art, fun asks, a lot of screaming (it’s fine probably don’t worry). I’ve never had such a strong outpouring of support for my work. It feels incredible. But also sometimes confusing. I’ve trained myself so well to handle rejection that I kind of forgot how to handle acceptance. Especially for something so personal. This is a weird story about undead space robots, there’s a lot of politics, sometimes the robots have sex. It’s got out there head canons, and 99% of the tyranid parts are pulled out of my ass because nobody knows how the space bugs work okay. My weirdness being embraced on this scale is one of the greatest feelings of my life. But it’s also new, and way out of my comfort zone. I’m being seen and adjusting to that.

Still, writing in this space has been one of the most consistently joyful things in my life for…well, over a year now! It’s changed how I view my art. I actually can create stories that touch people and make them feel things. I can take risks and have them pay off. I know not everyone will love this, but some people really seem to love it. That is mind blowing to me.

It’s making me reassess a lot about how I approach my art. Writing and other. I still plan to pursue publication. I want to get paid for my work, but this is making me consider alternate paths that might fit my style (and psyche) better. I don’t know what the future holds, but if you’d told me a year and a half ago that a big part of it would hinge on an AO3 gay robot skeleton space opera…I would have thought you were nuts, but also hoped you were right because that sounds rad as hell.

So in conclusion, thank you all so much for reading <3

[miss-mishka]

Just binged S2 of Squid Game & it did not miss a beat from S1. There only being 7 episodes, the cliffhanger & having to wait for S3 sucks, but there are so many reasons why this show is one of Netflix's best. My only complaint other than the cliffhanger is how underutilized Lee Jin-wook was. I'm hoping for more of him in S3, but that mf cliffhanger, man. If that's all he gets, it's a near criminal waste of his talent.

The increased use of Lee Byung-hun almost balances my disappointment at how little Lee Jin-wook played into most episodes. Byung-hun is such an incredible actor & he was fantastic this season. Been a huge fan since I Saw The Devil & he is so incredibly expressive. Just the way he, as Player 001, looked at Player 456 in episode 2x07 was flawless. When Gi-hun lays out his plan & Young-il says "So, what you're saying is, sacrifice a few for the good of the rest," his eyes say it all. Like mf that's what we do! The whole justification of those behind the games is let some of this "trash" take itself out & Gi-hun is doing the same thing - letting some die in favor of others, but he feels from a more justified position. Then when the bodies start dropping around them & they do nothing per Gi-hun's plan the look Young-il shoots at him screams This is why I picked their side. People die regardless. One person decides to sacrifice another. Dog eat dog. Everyone always clawing for their scraps. He's no better or worse than anyone there. Nothing's going to change human nature. Why shouldn't he run the games? I love that this character is played by such an incredible actor because it keeps the character so dynamic. In S1 where he was revealed as In-ho & shot his own brother? I loved that twist! I'm about 75% sure he'll ultimately be brought down, but whatever they do with his character will be epic just because of the talent behind The Front Man/In-ho/Young-il & any other names they give him in the series. Have I said that I love Lee Byung-hun yet? Because I love him.

So, Netflix, any chance "Squid Game Season 3 will debut in 2025" means next week? And can we get an episode count in the double digits? I feel like we still have a lot to resolve. I am really really really really REALLY hoping that the creators bring it all home in the end. I loved this season & the first, so please don't ruin it for me because this has the potential to be one of my all-time favorite shows.

[watermelonsloth]

Hi.... If you don't mind me asking, can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series/games/etc) and your top 10 favorite characters from any media ? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this questions before......

Hello to you as well. I don’t mind people asking me questions and I haven’t answered this before. This is long so read more under the cut.

I prefer the number 7, so I’m gonna do my top 7 favorite pieces of media. Don’t let the numbers fool you, these are in no particular order. Also, be warned, I don’t know how much sense what I say will make to anyone who has watched/read these.

1 - Naruto/Shippuden (only those two and specifically the manga) - I have thought about, analyzed, and talked about this series too much to lie to you and say it isn’t one of my favorite series of all time. Even with all of its flaws, it holds a place near and dear to my heart. It has some of my favorite character work I’ve ever seen even with its imperfections, the first 27 volumes of Naruto are still some of my favorite written books/manga, Kakashi vs Obito is my favorite fight in any piece of media (quite frankly, the Naruto anime has ruined fights scenes for me), and this series is what inspired me to get into media analysis in the first place.

2 - Fullmetal Alchemist/Brotherhood - This is my legally obligated mentioning of Fullmetal Alchemist and the Brotherhood anime adaptation. Excellent character work (+actually good female characters), beautiful art, some of my favorite foreshadowing/slow burn ever, and commentary on the hubris of man and strength in collectivism while criticizing both the military and the institution of religion. Chef’s kiss! This is a great example of someone knowing what story they wanted to tell and fucking telling it. The biggest problem I have with the series is that every time I want to rewatch it, I feel the need to watch all of it at once and that’s just a lot of anime for me to devote my full attention to in one sitting.

3 - Madoka Magica (I can only vouch for PMMM, I haven't watched the other stuff) - Fun fact: this is the first piece of media to make me cry. Something about Sayaka’s story just… got to me. I really like this because it’s an example of a deconstruction done right. Of the few other deconstructions I’ve seen, they tend to be too shallow to even really feel like deconstructions or too dark. Madoka Magica hits that sweet spot of going to those deep and dark places while still maintaining a sense of hope.

4 - Across the Spiderverse - Since I’ve recently slipped into quite the superhero phase, all inclusions are superhero related moving forward. So I remember going into the theater to watch this completely blind. I had heard of Into the Spiderverse and had heard nothing but positive reviews, but I also wasn’t big into superheroes or Spider-Man so I never watched it for myself. I don’t think I made it through the first ten minutes of atsv before thinking “Goddamn it, now I have to watch the first movie.” Between the two, I had to pick atsv because, while I did like itsv, I had some problems with it. Namely, I thought that it underutilized a chunk of its cast (Spidernoir, Spiderham, Peni, and the villains felt wasted) and I thought they could’ve done more with the interdimensional travel idea. Atsv made these pretty much complete nonissues. The only character I felt like could’ve used a bit more attention was Spiderbyte, that was the only issue I had with it besides the movie ending before I was done watching it. Other than that, I don’t know what else I can say about this movie that hasn’t been said a million times before. The art is disgustingly, dream-crushingly good and if the writing doesn’t match that level of skill, it gets damn close.

5 - My Adventures With Superman - My Adventures With Superman has my favorite adaptation of Superman hands down. Yeah, I like my Clark Kent with a little more self-confidence, but for a Superman who’s just starting out and the story they wanted to tell, it works. As I’ve said before, I don’t care for him being used as a racial allegory but I do like them exploring his sense of identity. The series automatically gets points for two very underrated but important parts of writing: the main couple is actually one I can root for and it doesn’t waste the audience’s time. What I mean by not wasting the audience’s time is that they don’t draw out the Clark is Superman reveal or the will-they-won’t-they between Clark and Lois unnecessarily. It also has the first villains I genuinely want to strangle in a while (looking at you Amanda “The Audacity” Waller and Lex “Make Earth Great Again” Luthor). I can’t wait to see what they do with Superboy in season 3.

6 - The Batman (2022) - To continue the train of DC characters finally getting good adaptations: the Battinson movie. The set design, the cinematography, the action, the pacing of the mystery (it’s a long watch but it’s worth it), Alfred helping solve the mystery, Batman, Jim Gordon, the dynamic between Batman and Jim Gordon, Riddler, Catwoman actually mattering and having a good dynamic/romance with Batman, the balancing of multiple Gotham rogues, the humor that I didn’t expect it to have (especially from the Penguin). This Batman needs a Robin yesterday. This movie is probably my favorite movie on the list. I want to put emphasis on the set design/how Gotham looks. I recently started watch Gotham (the tv show) and I was so disappointed that Gotham didn’t look any different from a standard east coast city. But this Gotham looks like Gotham. This Gotham looks like a place you’d only live in if the rent was 25¢ a month or you couldn’t afford to move out. This Gotham looks like a city that would have some guy dressed as bat beating up criminals.

7 - Deadpool 3: Deadpool and Wolverine - I was weighing between including this or the live action One Piece and just decided to pick the one I had more to say about. This is the first movie to genuinely and consistently make me laugh in a while. The plot’s kind of meh; it’s a fun allegory for the Fox X-Men series but it wasn’t especially investing and the villains were entertaining but nothing to write home about. What truly makes this movie worth the watch is Deadpool, Wolverine, and their dynamic and development with one another. The development both of their characters got actually caught me off guard since, once again, this is a movie I went in mostly blind to. All I really knew about the Deadpool films were the humor and in my experience, comedies (especially dark comedies) tend to be afraid of getting too serious. But this movie actually balanced the comedy with the serious moments of development without either feeling too jarring or forced.

Talking about my favorite characters will be a lot quicker because I don’t actually have consistent favorite characters. My favorite characters change all the time because I have a love-hate relationship with many of my all time favorites and they shift depending on what I’ve been watching/reading/thinking about most recently. It doesn’t help that the qualifications for being on my list of favorites are: I’m not actively frustrated with their character writing and I find them entertaining.

If I had to say what my top 10, in no particular order, are right now, I’d list: Pein from Naruto, Sasori from Naruto, Joker from the animated Under the Red Hood movie, Kimihiro Watanuki from xxxHolic, Sam Wilson from The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, MaoMao from The Apothecary Diaries, Wade Wilson from the two Deadpool movies I’ve seen (the first and third), Robin from Teen Titans (the animated show), Katherine Howard from Six, and Hobie Brown from Across the Spiderverse.

[jaimebluesq]

let's get retro: Seaquest!

Favorite character:

Least Favorite character:

a random thought:

An unpopular opinion:

most badass character:

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):

Thank you for the ask! :D

Favourite character: Tim O'Neill (What can I say, I love Ted Raimi lol)

Least Favourite character: Wendy Smith (aka season 2 doctor) - she replaced the AMAZING Kristin Westphalen (played by the gorgeous and elegant Stephanie Beacham) and they were shoes she couldn't fill properly no matter how the showrunners tried

Random thought: Why were we not more into the whole monsterfucking thing back then? Honestly, with Darwin being pretty much sentient (and would very likely pass the Jack Harkness test) and all the other weird stuff of the deep sea, it would have been a hotbed for monsterfucking fics. Like just imagine if the current fandoms got ahold of seaQuest...

An unpopular opinion: While I understand the appeal of Lucas as a character - and yes, I too was at the age to crush on a boy my age back then - I feel the fandom didn't spend as much time on the rest of the characters, who all deserved so much better not just in the show but in fandom treatment as well.

Most Badass Character: Damn this is hard, everyone's pretty badass in their own way, tbh. But if we're talking someone I would want with me on a mission to kick ass and take names, it would have to be a tie between James Brody and Katie Hitchcock.

character I feel the writers screwed up: If we're not counting how season 3 screwed up EVERYBODY... Dagwood. He had so much potential as a character that was underutilized.

[dedalvs]

Not a question but I just got around to watching Elemental and I when I saw yours and Jessie Sams' (not sure if she has a tumblr) posts on Instagram about Firese my first thought was "wait Elemental has an actual conlang, why?", my second thought was "oh this is a really cool conlang" though I was still confused as to how it would fit into the movie and was worried it would barely be in the movie. After watching the movie I thought it was really cool how it behaves like most any other heritage language in the dialogue of the movie and I definitely understand why a conlang was created for that (and I'm glad it was such a cool one, tone is highly underutilized in conlangs and as a speaker of language with lexical tone I make sure to include it in many of my conlangs) and my only complaint is that I would've liked the characters to be referred to in their Firese names more in the movie but I totally get why that didn't happen.

We both would've loved that, too, because we had fun coming up with their Ts'íts'àsh names, but on the whole, Jessie and I were very pleased with how the language was used in the movie—and with the movie in general. Glad you liked it! <3

[witchofthesouls]

Ayoooooo, Primeval Anon here, to respond to your response (don't worry too much about how long you took to answer, it was worth the wait)!

Omfg, you had me hooked in when you mentioned Bloodborne-influenced lore. I love the hell out of Bloodborne, and just in general From Software's Dark Fantasy settings. And I love that premise. It definitely fits in with the Quintessons clearly aquatically-influenced nature.

I also enjoy the idea of the Primes balancing each other out with their different natures. As well as the idea that the Quintessons kinda... cannibalized him... fucking gnarly lol.

Just imagine, post-occupation, there's these series skirmishes, perhaps even smaller-scale wars, between the og Prime worshipping groups and the the emerging sects of Quintesson-influenced cultists. Something like

Priest from Kaon: For it is said that in his wisdom, Megatronus- Priest from [SETTLEMENT NAME REDACTED]: You mean Mortilus? Priest from Kaon: :| *The settlement of [NAME REDACTED] was procedurally, systematically decimated in their war with the Kaonites*

Now, I don't know about other continuities they've featured in, like Aligned, but in G1 they definitely had some sort of caste system. Only ranking I can immediately think of are the "Judges", which would be the ones people generally think of when it comes to the Quintessons, there were a few other variants if I'm remembering it right. There was a video that I saw that talked about this, I'll have to go and re-watch it.

Anyways yeah, maybe the castes are made up of different sub-species within the Quintessons genus? And then under them come the Sharkticons and Allicons (Those weird croc-like dudes who nab Kup and Hotrod after they end up on Quintessa). Maybe they were at one point Cybertronian Wilders who were abducted by the Quintessons during the occupation and, through a mix of selective breeding and genetic modification, were able to turn them in their own obedient, self-replenishing army, that whenever the Quintessons aren't enacting some campaign of destruction or conquest, just kinda vibe in the oceans of Quintessa alongside the local fauna of the planet.

Y'know... now that I think about it, since the Quintessons would clearly inherit Quintus' unhinged daydreamer work ethic, do you think they'd also fuck with the wildlife of their homeworld, perhaps even the planet itself??? Gods, I hate how the Quintessons are so underdeveloped because they exist in the same universe as the Transformers.

Yeah, I'm really disappointed how the Quintessons as a whole are really underutilized as characters and background lore.

I mean, the shit is right there!

Me, if given the chance to sit down with a new Transformers team to talk about leveraging the connection between Cybertron, Earth, and Quintessa with supernatural elements:

Personally, I'm more of the "Quintessons fucked with their own planet" camp. Don't get me wrong, the Quintessons had established a massive empire to command resources, including bodies, but the Allicons and Sharkticons seem to be directly from Quintessa. Both fit the aquatic theme going on. Plus, sharks are natural predators of cephalopods and attack injured or sick whales (another predator of squids). While alligators don't usually eat cephalopods, they are an apex predator that does go on land and will eat just about anything. Soooo, easy clean up as well as population control on campaign?

I totally believe it's within character for the highest castes of Quintessons to be cyborgs/techno-organic instead of full mechanoid because of certain kinds of resistances and the way they control their fully mechanical populations. And they would totally be in genetic modification, selective breeding, and terraforming as a whole because 1) absolute control, 2) meshes Quintus' own special interests with the Quintessons' military and economic might, and 3) sustainability, what's that!?

The last point is the kicker because it's what really cements their own origins via Quintus Prime. That particular Prime truly believed that life should flourish at all costs. The problem? Environments can only support so much before nature sets up its own checks and balances, or the entire thing ends up collapsing.

Well, Quintus bypassed nature's complex and fragile systems and would have shown his organic creations how to overcome their own limitations: biological, physical, and environmental. He's like the guy that would successfully crossbreed potato and kudzu because the resulting crop would feed millions upon millions... at the astronomical cost of arable land, soil health, decline of biodiversity, and property management due to accumulated damages.

Quintus doesn't worry about that because it's part of the process! He's collecting data for future reference and starts working on fertilizers to support the crossbreeds immense nutritional demands, animal husbandry so herbivores can chomp down on the remains, and construction materials/architectural designs resistant to plant growth damage.

Quintus, you crazy scientist of a dreamer, that's not the fucking point!

So yeah, because Quintus didn't have his siblings to kick his ass about sustainable measures (because everything from medicinal to food to construction had to come some somewhere), Quintessa got overharvested or destroyed. Because of the immense deprivation, Quintessons went colonial on their planetary neighbors. Because they succeeded with their neighbors and never thought to change their way of life because of yummy resources, they went on campaign into distant systems where they cut their teeth against mechanical species and subjugated them.

And because the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie pattern would take way too long to get to my point: the Quintessons literally built their way to conquered Cybertron, fuck that planet and its indigenous people and fauna over in the spectacular fashion they did to Quintessa, got kicked off as their empire almost collapsed, but literally had a direct hand to the civil war between Autobots and Decepticons that lead to the final stand off on Earth.

(Funny enough, the civil war was on a scale so massive that it encompassed galaxies and disrupted the current rendition of the Quintesson Pan Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere. They literally built the greatest threats to their own empires. Who would have thought?!)

Religious tensions after the Quintessons been kicked off would have been an interesting direction to explore. Even life during the occupation as the Thirteen would have been symbols of rebellion versus the Quintessons' rabid methods to obfuscate their own origins as well as tactics to break the cultural roots and ties of new subjugated planets.

Because old names become illegal, new epitaphs or names are given to undermine the regime and eventually become the new cultural practice. Then, there's the cultural blend between the natives and the colonial powers as well as the generations purposely raised in a certain cultural mindset. Since the Quintessons took control of the Well, it's a safe bet that they also took control of the institutional pillars of the society: religion, science, and law.

Primes are still titanic figures on post-occupation Cybertron, so perhaps Quintessons had only limited success in destroying mythic tales and religious traditions. Because the newer generations took on the Quintessons' distaste towards beasts and untouched nature as well as kept Quintessons' way of social hierarchy that they knew.

Quintessons emphasized function as Cybertronians (and other mechanoids) are machines compared to them. All machines have certain functions, no? Some machines are meant for certain roles, no? Machines are only capable as much as programmed, but Quintessons are far more advanced because they overcame their limitations with their own creative endeavors!

Quintessons basically treated Cybertronians as living appliances, gadgets, and animals. To them, a Cybertronian was a more fun and dynamic Siri or Alexa than a real person. Sure, a Quint could bond and form an emotional attachment, but it's still not truly 'alive.' And they codified that into their own laws.

Basically, Quintessons would have been okay with Prima and his Guiding Hand. They would have propped up his specific actions on how civilization should be (cement more tensions between city-states and Wilder tribes and unregulated environmental policies), switch up or change key mythology (Prima and Megatronus being split-spark twins that rule together into Prima being the sole Sun and Megatronus becoming a late brother that became the Great Evil that became jealous of the Sun and destroyed Life.), and straight up destroyed or damaged historic and culturally significant items and practices that deem it otherwise (the Well of Allsparks; removing the golden horns of fully-trained doctors that pay tribute to Liege Maximo's ties to medicine; the removal of various sigils of specific Primes and associated groupings, Onyx's Mask removed from stages as it functioned as Comedy and Tragedy masks).

[nagannach]

Why So Many People Are Wrong About Book (And Taco Too)

(an in-depth analysis of/appreciation post for one of the most overlooked, underutilized, and misunderstood characters in BFB)

This is an essay about my favorite BFB character, how she was horribly mistreated by the writers, how and why the community is wrong about her, and how she could've been improved.

Book's writing in BFB is often seen as one of the lowest points of the show, and for good reason. She is consistently presented as an irrational, aggressive jerk who hates Taco for absolutely no reason and doesn't care about her teammates. Emphasis on the word "presented", because this simply isn't who Book is – she is a far more interesting character than what a first glance would suggest.

The main problems stem from the way the storyline is structured. Bleh's story arc is often called the Taco-Book arc, but this is a misnomer because it implies that the two characters shared equal roles. In reality, Taco dominated the storyline, and Book's side of the story was never even considered, let alone taken seriously. This style of writing was detrimental to the quality of the show, and it prevented jacknjellify from fully realizing Book's potential as a character.

Book was treated incredibly unfairly, both by her teammates in-universe and by the writers out-of-universe. Throughout the course of the show, jacknjellify consistently failed to consider Book's perspective in her feud with Taco, and her thoughts and feelings are routinely ignored, resulting in her appearing to be a far different character than she actually is.

(Quick heads up: I'm going to be talking about Taco a lot in this essay. I wanted to mention her as infrequently as possible, but given the way Book's character is written, it's impossible to talk about her without talking about Taco as well.)

A common complaints about the way Book was written is that her personality in BFB is not representative of how she acted in previous seasons. However, a close analysis of her early appearances reveals that this isn't quite the case.

Book was never a particularly stable person, and this behavior can be seen even in her competitive debut. She can be very quick to anger, as Lollipop and Fries found out in BFDIA 1, as well as Firey, Tennis Ball, and Gelatin in BFDIA 4. Book often has trouble expressing her emotions in a healthy way, which is one of the two traits that would be her downfall in BFB. Additionally, she showed signs of abandonment issues very early on – she jumped at the opportunity to join Pencil's alliance in BFDIA 3, and she was quick to accept her position as an alternate, despite being less than pleased with not being a full member.

Despite her occasional outbursts, Book was not a mean character by any stretch of the imagination. When Coiny and Pin attempted to steal Teardrop from Team No-Name, Book was the only person to try and stop them. However, this scene also reveals another core part of her personality – one that is essential to understanding Book as a character, as it is her other main flaw. When Coiny stood his ground after Book told him to stop, she backed down without a fight.

Although she is more than willing to stand up for other people when they need help, Book is entirely incapable of standing up for herself when she needs help. Making people mad is her worst nightmare. When faced with conflict, her first instinct is to placate the opposing party, even if she knows that what they're doing is wrong. This is a trait she carries throughout the show – it can be seen in BFDIA 5c and 5e, as well as IDFB 1 and BFB 1. While she seems to be far less of a pushover when leaving the alliance at the start of BFB, this is negated by the fact that she immediately asks Ice Cube to back her up. Keep this in mind - this will come back later.

To summarize, Book has a very short temper and can be tipped off at the slightest provocation, but she also has a heart of gold and a genuine concern for the people around her. She has a strong sense of justice, but her inability to defend herself often prevents her from making meaningful change in the world around her. It's important to note this because despite the way her character is presented in BFB, and despite the fact that she may seem like an entirely different person, her personality never actually changes.

To understand Book's attitude toward Bleh, it's important to first understand her attitude toward Freesmart.

The alliance was never a particularly healthy environment for Book, not even in BFDIA. Pencil was visibly stressed out by the team at multiple points and often took her anger out on her teammates, while Match was simply cruel and careless. Neither of them showed any regard for the lives of their teammates or competitors – both refused to rescue the remaining No-Namers in BFDIA 5c, Match killed Ice Cube without a hint of remorse at the end of the same episode, Pencil directly caused her teammates to die tens of thousands of times in BFDIA 5d, and she drop-kicked Rocky to his death in BFDIA 5e. Book was rarely given time to react to their actions, and when she was, she was usually shut down.

Book may have been a member of Freesmart, but she never felt like a part of the alliance. Not helping her situation was the fact that she was never a "full" member of the team – she was an alternate, a back-up friend. She was excluded from Match's dance party in BFDIA 5a, and she was kicked out of the Clubhouse again in BFDIA 6's deleted scenes (while the incident may not be canon, the sentiment certainly is). She seemed like an outsider for much of the time Freesmart spent together – Bubble and Ice Cube had more time to bond with Pencil, Match, and each other, and while Ruby was always one of Book's close friends, the fact that she was a full member and Book wasn't also gave her more time with the rest of the alliance, not to mention that she had far more in common with Bubble.

IDFB only had one episode, and Book only had a few lines of dialogue, but those lines shed a lot of light on her position in Freesmart. It's implied that Book had a part in Firey's punishment (i.e. locking him in a cage hanging off the Yoyle Needy), but it's also implied that it was against her will. The way she brings up Match afterwards suggests that rescuing Match from the LOL was her top priority and that the main reason she agreed to punish Firey was because she didn't wanted to anger Pencil. (I'm probably reading between the lines a lot here, and there may be many different interpretations of this, but this is a really interesting exchange that doesn't get brought up a lot and deserves at least some recognition. Same for the rest of IDFB – Pencil's comment about Match, for instance, is also ignored, which is a shame because it suggested some kind of schism between the two that never came to fruition. Or maybe Pencil knew something about the LOL that Book didn't.)

In short, Book's tenure at Freesmart saw her being consistently ignored and shut down by Pencil and Match, and she was never particularly close to her other teammates. As a result, Book joined Bleh in search of a healthier environment, but the team would turn out to be even worse for her.

Book's very first interaction with Taco was watching her lead Ice Cube to her death and showing zero sympathy for her pain. Taco's hubris led to her killing six of her team members – including Book and herself – and would've resulted in her team being put up for elimination if Lightning remembered that he could fly. This is the only time Taco would interact with Book for two and a half years.

This incident goes completely unmentioned for the rest of the series, and it sets the tone for what's to come. Taco is the embodiment of all of the worst traits of Freesmart with none of the redeeming qualities. She doesn't care about how her teammates feel, she is brutal to her fellow competitors, she ditches challenges whenever possible, she backstabs her friends for personal gain, she is bossy, she is arrogant, and she has a complete lack of self-awareness. She is a horrible person who's going to do a lot of horrible things, most of them aren't going to come back to bite her in any meaningful way, and she's never going to learn from (or even acknowledge) her mistakes. Everything she does is going to be brushed aside to deny Book validation for her feelings.

Something that's often forgotten about BFB 3 – and that isn't mentioned until TPOT 2 – is that Book wasn't aware that Taco died in BFB 1; Book herself died before Taco did. From her perspective, it made far more sense for the jawbreaker to be on the swing as dead weight put on the swing by Four and nothing more. (Dora and Saw were aware that Taco was dead, but given that Dora can't communicate with the rest of her team and Saw has a habit of concealing vital information from Book as shown in BFB 13, it's safe to assume that Book never got the memo.)

When Book came to the conclusion that Taco abandoned her, she was visibly hurt by the realization. She felt like she failed Taco in some way – the first thing she does is blame herself for Taco abandoning the team. Unfortunately, in a pattern that will repeat itself many times over the course of the show, her reaction was dwarfed by Taco, who dominated the episode. (Also, isn't it funny how Taco showed zero remorse when she led Book to her death in BFB 1, but now that she wants her help, she's suddenly pleading for her?)

And then Taco gets out of the jawbreaker. The same reckless, headstrong Taco who led almost all her teammates to their deaths despite their protests was supposedly trapped for three weeks, yet she got out under her own power with minimal effort. She didn't even make an attempt to escape the jawbreaker during that period – she didn't try licking, she didn't try rolling around to get someone's attention, and she didn't try using brute force. If iance was able to lick their way into a jawbreaker fast enough to earn second place, Taco was more than capable of licking her way out of one over the course of three weeks. She could've done anything to get out of the jawbreaker faster, but she just... didn't. Her absence left her team lacking manpower (not to mention a pretty big weight to negotiate), which could've also led to her team being put up for elimination if it wasn't for Team Ice Cube! screwing up. The only possible explanation I have for her behavior is that Taco never actually cared about giving her teammates company – she only cared about whether her teammates were on her side or not.

Another fact that's important to bring up is that Taco being in the jawbreaker in the first place is a direct consequence of her actions in BFB 1. At the end of that episode, nine contestants were dead, and in order for the jawbreaker challenge to be done, seven contestants would have to be dead. Taco was responsible for six of those deaths, including her own. Had she spared just one of her teammates, after one of the eight dead contestants was revived, there would've been seven contestants in jawbreakers, enough for each of the seven safe teams, which means that nobody would've been left behind. This wasn't a stroke of bad luck – this, along with everything bad that ever happened to her, was her own fault, and she could've avoided it if she'd tried to be better.

All things considered, Book's reaction is relatively subdued. Taco killed her and four of her teammates, neglected her for a good three weeks, and showed zero signs of remorse, and all she got for it was a declaration of her anger. However, the show acts as if Taco being in the jawbreaker somehow exonerates her from her misdeeds in and of itself.

Come BFB 4, Book is still visibly hurt by Taco's actions, and Taco, after two whole weeks, has not apologized for either killing her or being gone for weeks. Instead, she completely dismisses Book's feelings and acts like she did nothing wrong. If she really cared about how her teammates felt, she would've tried to comfort them or make it up to them or at the very least explain what happened to her, but she never said a word to any of her teammates until her personality was completely rewritten in BFB 15. Since her team is upset with her because of something she did, the onus is on her to resolve it, but she never even tries.

A common theme throughout the show is that Taco is treated as if she never has to explain herself. She doesn't have to apologize for killing her teammates and bossing them around in BFB 1 (despite that fact that Pencil and Leafy were eliminated for doing far less and despite BEEP being allowed to hold a grudge against Leafy for the same amount of time that everyone on Bleh but Book held a grudge against Taco), she doesn't have to explain where she was in BFB 3, she doesn't have to tell her team her plans in BFB 6, and she's allowed to not interact with them at all until BFB 15. Her teammates' feelings aren't even considered – Taco's perspective is the only one that's shown, and it's the only one that matters. According to the writers, if someone feels hurt by what Taco does, they're simply wrong. No explanation given, no explanation needed. I can't bring myself to call Taco a Mary Sue, but a lot of the defining characteristics are present.

There might be other ways to explain Taco's absence from her team in BFB 2 that don't involve her not caring about them (although all the explanations that come to mind are very contrived), but the point is that Book isn't allowed to have an argument. The way the scene is supposed to be interpreted is “wow I can't believe it Book is such a drama queen Taco was stuck in the jawbreaker ong ong” without even considering what Book actually thinks about the situation beyond what Taco sees.

This is the biggest problem with Bleh's story arc: Book is never taken seriously. Her feelings don't matter. She isn't allowed to have her side of the story heard as anything other than “Taco abandoned us”. She isn't allowed to defend herself, and nobody is allowed to defend her. She isn't allowed to feel hurt when Taco kills Ice Cube in front of her (and then kills her moments later). She isn't allowed to feel betrayed when Taco reappears after three weeks of unnecessary and unexplained absence. She isn't allowed to feel bitter after months of radio silence from Taco, and she isn't allowed to not forgive her even as she continues to show how little she cares about her. When her feelings aren't ignored, they're always turned against her. Book isn't just being portrayed as if she's in the wrong because of her feelings – her feelings themselves are wrong. She is routinely ignored and mocked by the people around her, and they're allowed to do that because the writers are doing the exact same thing. This is true of everyone Taco hurt over the course of the competition, but it's especially true of Book, whom Taco hurt the most.

BFB 6 is a perfect example of just how biased the narrative is toward Taco. Her team is still bitter about her abandoning and neglecting them, but instead of doing anything to set things right, Taco chooses to abandon them again. Even if Taco was actually in the jawbreaker against her will, the actions she takes after her team accused her of abandonment show what an awful person she is. Whether her plan ends up working or not is irrelevant. Her teammates (especially Book) were hurt by what she did, but Taco doesn't care. She doesn't understand that she hurt them, and she isn't sorry for anything.

Despite that, the episode doesn't even mention how Book might feel and instead focuses entirely on Taco and her antics on Earth. This is going to be a pretty long diatribe, and you can skip this if you want, but this needs to be said. So many factors had to fall into place here that it's ridiculous that Taco's plan didn't end up backfiring. 43 contestants were present on Earth, 34 of which had an unobstructed view of the Moon. In order for Taco's plan to have worked, none of those 34 contestants could've looked at the Moon (and a full moon, at that!) over the course of an hour. Even if they did all know where the Twinkle was, all it would've taken was a momentary lapse in attention – a lapse that could've just as easily came from Taco herself on her hour-long journey. If the Twinkle was being passed between the Earth and Moon, it wouldn't help much – judging from BFB 7, the Lunarians would be more coordinated than the Earthlings, so the Twinkle probably wouldn't spend much time on the Moon. The possibility that Taco could've gotten the Twinkle from someone on Earth also isn't considered. Assuming a direct line of sight to the competition grounds and that Taco would be looking dead ahead (why wouldn't she?), the Twinkle would've transferred to her the moment the Earthlings came over her horizon – which, assuming that the objects are human sized and the Earth is Earth-sized, would've happened as far out as 6.2 miles, or 10 kilometers (even further if a flyer got the Twinkle). Even if she did make it to the competition grounds without contracting the Twinkle, she'd have to open her eyes to seek out a target, risking infection from both the Earth and Moon. Then there's the possibility of Taco mistakenly infecting herself by accidentally looking at Bell. Furthermore, there's no guarantee that Taco would've even made it back to the competition grounds – she didn't even know where she was when she landed on Earth, let alone where the grounds were relative to her. Not only that, but in order for Taco's plan to even have a chance of working, Golf Ball would've had to land on the near side of the Moon, which, because the Earth (and therefore the Twinkle) would've been easily visible, would be a monumental blunder for someone of her acumen. How often do you get to see the Earth from outer space? From just about every possible standpoint, this plan might be the worst call she could've made, but because this is Taco, it went off without a hitch. In the eyes of the writers, Taco is incapable of making bad decisions.

I'm skipping most of the episodes from BFB 5 to BFB 9, but it's important to discuss them because people tend to forget about how Book was characterized here.

When Taco isn't on screen with her, Book is actually presented as her true character. She is the same kind, thoughtful, caring person she was in BFDIA. She was visibly worried about X in BFB 5 and 9, and she can be seen comforting Saw about her fume issues in BFB 8. Again, she isn't a “mean” character by any stretch of the imagination, and she never was.

Another thing that deserves mention is Book's relationship with Dora. The first episode seemed to promise a relationship between the two given Book's desire to learn about how Dora communicates. She genuinely saw something in Dora that nobody else did. However, that would be the last time they'd interact – their relationship would only be brought up twice, and one of those times was after Dora was eliminated. Book was snubbed of yet another opportunity to actually show off her true character, and Dora was snubbed of her only opportunity for character development.

BFB 10 is arguably the biggest missed opportunity in the story arc.

After neglecting her team yet again, Taco approaches Bell and tries to strike a conversation with her. Bell, just like Book, is clearly upset by what Taco did in BFB 6 (and she has every right to be – it's pretty clear that the only reason Taco is apologizing to her is because she wants to talk to her, not because she actually cares about her), and she refuses to trust Taco and accept her "apology". Meanwhile, Lollipop sees all of this – not caring about how Bell feels, she immediately takes Taco's side, since all she sees is someone who won a challenge for her.

Ignoring everything that happens after it, this is probably one of the best scenes in the show. After months of running away from the consequences of her actions and hurting people without an iota of concern for them, Taco is finally forced to confront her mistakes. Unlike the situation with her teammates, she can't pretend she isn't hurting anyone and act like nothing's wrong – unlike Book, Bell isn't pulling any punches. Just like Match in the next episode, she has to deal with not being forgiven immediately so she can actually learn from her mistakes. She broke their trust, and now she has to put in the work to regain it. Taco's expression after the exchange even suggests that she's aware that she did something wrong (even if it would later be disproven).

However, notably absent from this scene is Book.

Many of Book's teammates (namely Lollipop, Teardrop, possibly Gaty and Dora, and, of course, Taco) care deeply about victory regardless of whether they have to hurt people to achieve it. Pencil and Match also acted like that very often (and, at this point, still are), which is something Book hated about Freesmart. She has, in the past, been willing to protect her opponents from harm even if it means giving up ground in a challenge. Bell was visibly hurt by Taco's actions, everyone else on Book's team flipped to Taco's side because of this incident, and Book has always stood up for those who have nobody to defend themselves, which is why Teardrop is on the team.

Why couldn't Book have defended Bell? Nobody else was there for her, and Book was presumably standing within earshot of her and Taco, so why couldn't she help her? There could've been some genuine conflict in the team. Taco could've been held accountable for her actions. She could've actually learned from her mistakes and grown into a somewhat decent person. Instead, nothing comes of this, and Bell, much like Book, is portrayed as being in the wrong for not wanting to forgive Taco (despite the fact that Taco has done nothing to deserve being forgiven by either of them – as Bell said, “sorry” isn't enough, let alone an insincere one, and she hasn't even given that to Book).

By BFB 11, jacknjellify has completely given up on Book.

At this point, they're no longer treating her like a character; they're treating her like a punching bag. She exists solely so other characters (read: Lollipop) can make fun of her and get away with it. Her feelings and perspective somehow matter less than they did in the previous episodes. The fact that Taco never shows up in the episode and never even volunteered to do the challenge is ignored. She learned absolutely nothing from her exchange with Bell, and she's back to doing what she's always done.

BFB 12 somehow gets worse for Book. The only reason she's given a speaking role here is so Lollipop can mock and degrade her. Lollipop doesn't even say anything useful – she doesn't provide a shred of evidence to back up her claim that Taco saved them in BFB 6. (Also, isn't it funny how Taco single-handedly almost losing the challenge in BFB 1 and being the first to be found out in BFB 12 both go unmentioned, but her actions in BFB 6 are front and center? Taco's one saving grace is supposed to be that she's good at challenges, but not even that is true.)

If Book's teammates think she's wrong, what they should be doing is understanding her perspective, acknowledging her feelings, and explaining their arguments, but they never do any of that. Understanding how someone else feels is hard, and it's much easier to silence them and pretend they have nothing to say. They are so confident that Book is wrong that they don't feel the need to hear her side of the story. Book's arguments aren't given a modicum of attention because her purpose is to be wrong. Her feelings and perspective being dismissed here is not an accident – it's the point of her character. (The fact that Taco – and the rest of the team – completely ignored Book's outburst also show just how little they care about her.)

And yet, despite how much the writers rail on Book, despite the fact that the sole point of her character is to be laughed at, her claim that Taco abandoned them in the challenge isn't as outlandish as it's presented. After all, it's awfully convenient that the person who has never spoken to her teammates since BFB 1 and has avoided them every chance she got just so happened to be the impostor, isn't it? Four never explained how they chose whose bodies would be swapped. It's entirely possible that Taco volunteered to be swapped when nobody was looking, and given how she'd acted up to that point, it's hard to argue that she wouldn't have jumped at the opportunity. It may be a bit of a farfetched argument, but it's an argument nonetheless, and it would've provided an insight into Book's thought process – two things that she has been denied for the entirety of the season.

There's also the fact that Taco killed Bottle for no reason and didn't show any signs of remorse. Once again, this is quickly brushed aside – if Book found out about it, she would've had every reason to go ballistic. She has several very legitimate reasons to be mad at Taco – the show just pretends she doesn't. Taco's style of gameplay hurts people every single time, and it always ends up with her team being worse off than if she did nothing at all, sometimes on the brink of elimination (and the one time her plans helped her team was so unbelievably contrived that it's not even funny). I swear I've seen this situation before, just... elsewhere. Can't think of where, though.

BFB 13 is where the Book-bashing gets turned up to 11.

First, Book, with Lollipop in tow, finds out that not only has Taco been actively avoiding the team, but she isn't even trying to patch things up with them, instead opting to pester Barf Bag while she's hanging out with Spongy. (Remember: Since Taco is the aggressor in this situation, she should be the one apologizing to Book, not the other way around.) This is pretty convincing evidence in Book's favor, but Lollipop completely ignores her. She outright refuses to acknowledge her perspective. At this point, Book is clearly desperate to get people to start taking her seriously, so Lollipop dismissing her is only exacerbating the problem.

And then Saw comes back. This is the first time anyone has seen Saw in over a year. She didn't even consider telling Book where she was, and Lollipop and Taco didn't either. Book was left completely in the dark, and to further compound her issues, Saw has an unbelievably flimsy excuse. She really couldn't have gotten off her scent cleanse any sooner than she did? Why did she have to leave the competition grounds to go on her scent cleanse in the first place? Her scent cleanse did almost nothing at all!

And yet, when Book rightfully vents her frustration toward Saw, everyone on her team completely ignores her. They don't even make an attempt to take her argument seriously. The only way they could've been more direct about not caring about her is if they said it directly to her face.

It's honestly impressive how the writers were able to take a situation that objectively shows Book in the right and her team in the wrong and somehow turn it against Book. Even if she was wrong about Taco, her teammates still treated her like garbage – far worse than they ever treated Taco (granted, that's not saying much; all things considered, Taco was treated exceptionally well) – and she's still letting it happen.

However, she isn't letting it happen for any longer.

Book has been kicked to the curb for the entire season. Taco has killed her, killed her best friend, abandoned her, and avoided her for over a year – and she is yet to show a shred of remorse. She was neglected and mocked by her old team, but her new team turned out to be even worse. Whenever she shows any kind of frustration, she's immediately labeled the villain. Nobody, not one person, has ever shown any sympathy for her. Nobody has even entertained the idea that her side of the story is worth listening to. Heck, nobody has even acknowledged her feelings. If she wants the basic respect and dignity she's been denied since 2012, her team desperately needs changes – changes that clearly won't come from within.

She's been given the short end of the stick since her debut, and she's had enough. Enough of being silenced. Enough of sacrificing herself so other people can be happy. Enough of waiting for her situation to improve. Enough of waiting for her team to start listening to her. Enough of waiting for someone to stand up for her. For the first time in her life, Book stood up for herself.

Well, she tried to. Book still hadn't gotten around the whole “depends on external validation” thing. When she finally started speaking her mind, she never vented about how she felt; she talked about how she and Ice Cube felt. Everything Book had done up to that point was with the implicit assumption that at least one person felt her pain or would at least listen to her. She's projecting her pain onto Ice Cube so she can convince herself that she has a modicum of support. In reality, Ice Cube understands how Book feels as poorly as the rest of the team, but if Book learned about this, it would break her. She still needs Ice Cube to be on her side. This also explains why she's focused her efforts on convincing her teammates that she's right instead of actually standing up to Taco.

Book needs Ice Cube's support in order to make any lasting change in her team, but despite the fact that she's had a front row seat to Book's neglect and mockery, and despite how close they've been and everything Book's done for her, Ice Cube betrays Book when she needs her the most.

All of Book's teammates are absolutely atrocious friends, but Ice Cube goes above and beyond here. Book has always been there to support Ice Cube. She has consistently protected her and given her a shoulder to cry on, and up to this point, she has asked for almost nothing in return. And yet, the second that Book needs her help, in a situation where it's crystal clear that Book is in the right, Ice Cube immediately backstabs her. She doesn't get a chance to explain herself. She doesn't get a chance to talk about how she feels. Ice Cube just takes off, and it's all presented as Book's fault.

And if that wasn't bad enough, what happens the next time Book appears is – and this isn't a hyperbole – the worst scene in the entire series.

One of my favorite scenes in BFB is when Bubble confronted Match in BFB 11.

iance's story arc had admittedly been rather mediocre up to that point, and for many of the same reasons that I don't like the Bleh arc (namely, Match's motivations are never shown until the last moment). However, the way Bubble confronted Match was the perfect way the writers could've capped it off.

Despite how much Match hurt her, Bubble still respects her. She (somewhat) calmly explains exactly why Match was misguided. She makes it abundantly clear that she still sees her as a friend. She understands how she feels and why she did what she did. She doesn't needlessly berate her; she merely vents her frustrations in a stern but understanding manner. Most importantly, she allows Match to explain her perspective and how she felt.

Gaty does none of that with Book. What she does instead can only be described as emotional abuse.

She has zero respect for Book. She doesn't care about how she feels. Book never gets the chance to explain herself, and she barely gets the chance to explain how she feels – and when she does, Gaty rolls right over her. She, just like Lollipop in BFB 12, doesn't actually provide any evidence for her claims, instead opting for an argumetum ad populum (which is odd, because if everyone but Book – whom nobody cares about – believes that Taco didn't abandon them, how can they still be shunning Taco? Pick one, Gaty). She intentionally provokes a reaction from Book to “prove” how “irrational” she is (which is actual gaslighting). This isn't about trying to help Book or the team or even trying to defend Taco – this is about power. The only thing Gaty wants is to silence Book and put her back in her place.

All of that is happening while Taco is sitting hundreds of feet from the rest of her team, not even trying to interact with them. Gaty is trying to convince Book that Taco didn't abandon them after Taco just abandoned them. Gaty even pulled Book over while she was trying to convince her, so she would've known that had she listened to her for five seconds! Which of these two is supposed to be the irrational one, again?

Even if Book was wrong here, this would still be the worst scene in the entire series by a wide margin. It wouldn't have changed the fact that Gaty still abused her. Even though Bleh is in a crisis, the proper response is not to vilify their allies. Ironically, it wasn't Taco who was vilified by Book – it was Book who was vilified by Bleh.

This episode should've been the turning point in the arc. This should've been the part of the story where Book finally had her voice heard. This should've been the point where her fortunes finally started to improve as her team started to realize how awfully they'd been treating her. Instead, Book was bullied and manipulated into submission, she was blamed for everything that happened to the team, she was completely drained of what precious little willpower wasn't beaten out of her before this point, and her teammates remained blissfully ignorant of her plight.

Soon after the worst scene in the series comes BFB's second-worst scene. If BFB 13 showed how little the writers care about Book, BFB 14 showed how little they understand her. Just about everything regarding the way she is depicted is wrong.

Despite the fact that Book is (for once) the focal point in this scene, her perspective on Taco is still never heard. The only thing she says about how she felt is her bitterness toward Freesmart, but that's it. Nothing about how her teammates treated her like garbage, nothing about how Taco was never there for her ever, nothing about how hurt she felt, nothing about her alienation from her team, nothing about her struggle to be seen and heard. Even when she finally becomes the focus of the story, her voice and her feelings still doesn't matter.

Book blaming herself for everything wrong with the team is entirely within character (see BFB 3 and TPOT 4), but it's also entirely wrong. Her team was the way it was because her teammates shunned her and refused to take her seriously, and she had too little self-confidence to press on in the face of adversity. She absolutely did not “make the team worse for everyone in it” – they made the team worse for her.

But the worst part of the scene is the final exchange between Book and Pin, because not only is it all wrong, but it's the polar opposite of the truth. First off, Book never hurt anyone, especially not Taco. Her teammates hurt her – they were the ones who wouldn't listen to a word she said, and they were the ones who drove her to further and further desperation just to be taken seriously. Book never forced anyone to do what she wanted – whenever anyone objected to something she wanted, she almost always gave in to their demands no matter how absurd they were, which is one of her primary character flaws. She always sacrificed her happiness and her desires to not anger the people around her (making her teammates mad at her is what she “did wrong”), so the line about Book only caring about making her teammates happy with her is completely unfounded.

Above all else, Book's teammates had more freedom than anyone on any other team. She let Taco lead her team to their deaths and did absolutely nothing to stop her. She let Taco abandon her team multiple times and took no action against her. She let Saw abandon her for over a year and stopped trying to take against her when Ice Cube said no. She let Ice Cube backstab and abandon her and did absolutely nothing. When she finally stood up for herself, she had to ask for Ice Cube's approval before she could make any changes. Bleh's biggest problem was that nobody was there to stop its members from hurting each other or their opponents. Book tried her best to fill that role, but her passiveness, spinelessness, and tendency to avoid conflict rendered it impossible for her to do anything meaningful. She is a paper tiger – although she may appear menacing, she had zero actual power, and her teammates were free to do what they wanted under her “leadership”. What little power she did have came directly from Ice Cube. If freedom is the ability to do as one wishes, then by holding herself to an impossible task, the only person on Bleh who lacked it was Book.

What makes this even more infuriating is the fact that not only does none of Pin's advice apply to Book, all of it applies to Taco. She never made a genuine attempt to reconnect with the people she hurt, she only did what she wanted instead of what her teammates wanted, she only wanted to make people happy with her instead of trying to make them happy, and in the only challenge she participated in with her teammates, she demanded that they follow her orders. She wasn't the sole cause of the turmoil within the team (that was down to everyone shunning Book), but she started it and did nothing but fan the flames. She had the power and the willpower to stop it before it even started, but she never wanted to.

Again, even if Book was wrong about Taco abandoning them in BFB 3, most of what was said in this episode is still incorrect. It wouldn't change the fact that Taco still hurt Book and didn't care about how she felt (and, in fact, kept hurting her). It wouldn't change the fact that Bleh silenced her at every opportunity. It wouldn't change the fact that no one bothered to listen to her side of the story. It wouldn't change the fact that nobody ever made a single valid argument in Taco's favor to her. Book may have been at the center of Bleh's collapse, but none of it was her fault. She was trying her best, and her teammates were doing their worst. Recognizing that the whole group is at fault is hard. It was easier for Bleh to blame everything on one person, it was even easier to blame the one everyone refused to listen to because she was “irrational” and “hysterical”, and it was easier still to blame the one who would sooner blow her brains out than make someone feel bad. What was she going to do about it, anyways? She has no power, she has no willpower, and she has no support.

Overall, the sheer amount of information that was ignored and flat-out made up suggests that this scene was written out of obligation and not because the writers cared about Book.

I don't know where else to put this, but one of the main reasons why I'm writing this is that the way Book is treated seems to have a lot of ableist undertones. I know (think) this is completely unintentional, but there are still some very unfortunate implications here.

I'm not the first person to suggest this, but throughout the course of the show, Book has shown several signs of borderline personality disorder. She has difficulty controlling her emotions (understatement of the year), she has a favorite person (Ice Cube), she has serious abandonment issues, she may or may not engage in impulsive and self-destructive behavior (BFB 7 shows that she might have an eating disorder), and her relationships are turbulent at best.

However, Book's character is never treated with the same carefulness that characters like her should be. She is never portrayed in a sympathetic light, and she's never allowed to have reasons for how she feels. The mere idea that Taco (or anyone, for that matter) may have hurt her just a little bit is laughed off. Whenever she expresses any kind of “extreme” emotion, it's immediately brushed off as hysteria, even when her reaction is completely appropriate for the situation (see BFB 3 and BFB 6 with Taco, BFB 11 with Lollipop, and BFB 13 with Saw, Lollipop, Gaty, and Ice Cube). In fact, given the fact that she hasn't shown any signs of trauma or mental illness since BFB 13, it honestly feels like the writers are denying that Book ever had emotions.

There's also the fact that she's portrayed as an inherently hurtful person because of her outbursts. The show seems to act as if they're the sole reason her way the team is, which is absolutely untrue. She's not acting out because she doesn't care about how her teammates feel or because she wants to hurt them – she's acting out because nobody is taking her seriously. She isn't yelling – she's projecting. Her complaints are falling on deaf ears, so her only option is to scream louder and louder in the vain hope that someone will finally start listening to her. Nobody did, and nobody will.

In the end, Book never truly got any closure.

Her team never apologized to her for treating her like garbage (and they probably never will), Taco never apologized to her for everything she did to her (and she probably never will), everyone on her team still hates her for something she never actually did, and her new team is paying little attention to her. She's gotten almost zero focus in TPOT, and given the new direction the series has taken (and how many votes she got in TPOT 5), it's incredibly unlikely that Book will get any real development in the future. At this point, the only way her character can be salvaged is in the incredibly unlikely scenario that she realizes that she did nothing wrong to Bleh.

The only person who's gotten any form of retribution for the way they treated Book was Ice Cube. As a direct consequence of her betrayal, Ice Cube landed on The s!, a team which has consistently treated her horribly and likely killed her thousands of times. This never would've happened to her had she stood up for her friend in need and stayed with Book.

In BFB 15 and 16, jacknjellify found a way to slap Book in the face one last time before she and Taco parted ways. After more than two and a half years of ignoring Book and pretending she doesn't exist, Taco, without any formal character development, suddenly acts like she cares about leaving her behind. Taco had never come close to caring about abandoning anyone for over two years, yet when they finally talk (conveniently right after something happens that makes Taco think she might be able to get Book back on her side), she acts like she's always cared. The writers acted like she never hurt anyone, and as such, she never had to redeem herself. Despite never apologizing to them, despite showing no signs of remorse throughout the entire season, Taco was immediately forgiven by Bleh for what she did (not only that, but they apologized to her!). She didn't earn back the trust of her peers – it was handed back to her on a silver platter.

Despite everything Book went through, so many people brush her off as “the person who did a bad thing” without really understanding or even acknowledging how she actually felt. She was never a bully or a jerk, she was never irrational, she was never stupid, and she never imposed her will onto any of her teammates. She was just depicted that way so the writers could pretend that she was the villain and Taco was the hero.

Book in BFB has always been the character that nobody is willing to defend, which is a shame because she's not at all the character the community thinks she is. BFB never showed her point of view, only Taco's. Book was degraded, ignored, and mocked for years, and nobody cared because nobody paid any attention to her. She never had a character arc - she was haphazardly stapled onto Taco's arc as Taco hogged all of the attention. The show likes to act as if she ignored her teammates and denied them freedom, but in reality, she was the one who needed to be freed – from herself and from her teammates. The only thing she ever wanted from her team was a voice, and she never got it.

The community seems to view the Bleh arc as Taco's uphill battle to receive the respect she deserves from a team who tried to put her down at every step of the way and laughed at every misfortune. This is mostly true. The only thing wrong with it is that it isn't a description of Taco. It's a description of Book.

Book deserves better. Book deserves so much better.

tl;dr Taco did abandon Book. So did the writers.

book is the best BFB character, she has done nothing wrong ever in her life, and if you disagree you're wrong (this is only mostly a joke)

[jgnico]

One thing that bothers me about jujutsu is that the author doesn't know how to develop some characters. 1 Shoko Ieri is an interesting character but I find her apathetic without a cold and superficial personality. 2 itadori yuji doesn't seem to be a protagonist he seems more like a tool than the protagonist of the work. 3 nobara had no development dry and emotionless death. and many other characters. There were only 2 characters that really had development, which was gojo and geto, for me, they were the only ones that had it. Why do you think the author did this, is it because he didn't want to develop the characters that's why he killed many important characters? I would appreciate it if you respond.

Tell me you got into jjk for satosugu without telling me you got into jjk for satosugu.

I... I don't even know where to start with this, to be honest. I will agree to the point that Gege has a problem with underutilizing and underdeveloping some of his characters, especially the women, but I think that's all I can agree with here.

1. Shoko is a great character. She has a more monotone personality, especially compared to others within the series, but I wouldn't call her cold or superficial by any means. She has friends that she cares about and a fun relationship with Utahime, but I'm not gonna find fault in her not being as enthusiastic as other characters, esp when she's continuously lost loved ones as the series has progressed.

2. It seems to me that you read the panels where Yuuuji called himself a cog and took that as the end all be all of his character. I actually find Yuuji incredibly loveable and complex for a protagonist, especially as an MC. He's a breath of fresh air, and his mentality toward the trope of "save everyone" is refreshing and realistic. He knows he can't, but he tries to save the people he can. He cares deeply about people, especially his friends. He's new to Jujutsu, but what he lacks in initial knowledge he makes up for by meshing almost seemlessly with everyone he's paired up with. He's not the smartest character, but he learns quickly and has some good ingenuity when it comes to fights. He has a positive, outgoing personality that's balanced out by moments of intense emotional and mental upheaval. Yuuji has grown and changed a lot as the story has progressed and he will continue to.

That being said, every character is a tool of the story, and given that we're brought into the wold of Jujutsu through him and are going through the story with him (same as with other characters) I don't see how him, a character within the story, being a tool used for storytelling is the negative point you think it is. Every character is a tool of the story. It's no fault of the character that you just don't find him as effective or useful as others do.

3. This point honestly makes me think you're trolling, I'm not gonna lie. Nobara had insane amounts of development during her time within the story. To name a few: She learns the value of relying on her teammates and prioritizing her life on her first mission with Yuuji. She makes the mistake of not bringing enough nails (her primary weapon) on her second mission and brings a surplus to every mission afterward. She shows a spectacular amount of foward thinking when it comes to fighting that we see demonstrated both in the Goodwill and Shibuya arcs. She's willing to sacrifice her health for the sake of winning a fight. She's one of the few characters (and one of three students) to land a black flash and touch the core of cursed energy. She's also one of the very, very few characters that can innately damage the soul.

Nobara has great growth throughout her time in the story, and she has the potential to do better if (when, imo) she returns to it. But let's move on to the other point of her dearh being "dry and emotionless" because I simply don't understand how you came away with that opinion. She's one of the main trio, she gave Yuuji hope when he was close to breaking and dealt lasting damage to Mahito in Shibuya, she has a touching backstory and relationship with her childhood best friend, and even still, has an impact on Yuuji and his approach toward letting new people into his life. Yuuji wasn't afraid of letting Higurum into his life and somehow replacing Nanami, he was afraid of letting Hana in and emotionally replacing Nobara. She's the first person that he asks about when he meets back up with Megumi post-Shibuya.

I think your opinion toward Nobara stems from the fact that you just don't connect with her the way others do, but just because you don't notice or care about her impact in the story (much less the impact her death had on Yuuji, who you don't even consider a protagonist) doesn't mean that she's not a well-written, interesting, and enjoyable character.

Gojo and Geto are good characters. Their dynamic is interesting, and their combined and individual stories are emotionally impactful. Even their techniques are cool, in my opinion. But, they're not the only characters that you can say that for. In fact, I wouldn't even put either of them in my personal top five. If you do, that's you, but it's a little wild to say that they're the only ones with good development in the story because that simply isn't true.

Lastly, like I said at the beginning of this answer, I do think that Gege has an issue with how he handles some characters. Does that include all, or even most of them? No, I think he's doing fine. Are their some big ones that he could've written better? Absolutely, but I challenge you to find any series where the author uses every one of their characters as best as they possibly could. Everyone is going to have a favorite character that they want to see shine, just because they don't, that doesn't always make it the author's fault.

I don't think fumbling this aspect of the story is intentional, and I'd even argue thats it's fitting in some cases. We're not going to get the full story of everyone we're introduced to, especially ones outside the main cast. Sometimes a character is simply there to move the plot along or introduce/reintroduce an aspect of the story, and that's fine. I think that people often forget that the story is ongoing and has time to touch on things that they feel have been overlooked. I also think that a lot of people don't want to consider that Gege has a plan for the story that we aren't privy to, nor are we going to like everything that he does.

As for why he kills a lot of important characters? Most likely to reinforce the idea that the world in which the story takes place isn't fair. No one has plot armor. It'd be a boring story if they did, and it would rob us of a lot of emotional investment because the tension wouldn't be nearly as high if we weren't worried for the safety of the characters that we love. If you're not invested in certain characters, maybe you won't feel that way, but that isn't a universal experience.

At the end of the day, I'd say Jujutsu Kaisen is a good story with a lot of really good characters (some of my favorite characters ever, even) but not everyone will agree with that statement. If a significant portion of the story or characters just aren't doing it for you, you might fall into the latter, and it seems that way if Gojo and Geto are the only highlights you've found to be worth investing your interest in.

(Since you sent me two of the exact same ask, consider this a part one. See ya in a minute.)

[nono-bunny]

I have somehow never heard this before, but I thought it was interesting so I figured I'd share... I am currently reading the Obey Me! manga- which is a lot of fun, btw- and the MC has a name there! Which was news to me, because I never heard anyone refer to them by that! Zephyr is such a cool gender neutral choice, and it's how they're referred to in the manga, and it rocks!

I am a fan of and play some other games with a mostly nameless protagonist, but there the names they're given in the manga or anime that actually do tend to stick amongst the fandom and they usually start getting referred to by those rather than as MC. The Persona franchise for insance has multiple canon-ish names for the MCs, but most fans would know you're talking about the P5 protagonist anyway when you mention Akira or Ren (or, alternatively, Akiren)- it's easier to refer to them by a name when you have multiple games and multiple protagonists, and in general the different games have protagonists that tend to be perceived as having unique personalities even though you can choose their dialogue by virtue of them being silent protagonists (p3 has the emo one, p4 has the manwhore, p5 has the sassy one, no one talks about p1 and p2)

On the other hand, there's Love Live All Stars (rip), where you're entirely unseen like in Obey Me!, but the anime created a player proxy character named Yu Takaski as a result of a fan poll, which is a name that's essentially just various wordplays on this character being us, the player. She has a voice actress who became relatively active in the franchise alongside her character, and at this point she's arguably a different character than the one you play in the game, and she's generally quite loved anyway (which wasn't a guaranteed thing with the LL fandom, they're very possessive of the idols as might sadly be expected)

Zephyr definitely tends more towards the skeptical options you get in the game which is. Kind of the opposite of how I play, and they're stuck in the body of a sheep which is obviously NOT the case for the regular MC, but regardless of that they're actually so great! Like. They don't feel like I'm seeing my MC, but rather an MC, which is actually really refreshing and surprisingly fun, and its very funny to see that type of MC going through the story while also BEING A SHEEP, and like. While I don't necessarily feel represented by Zephyr, I'd also be 100% down for the fandom to start referring to MC as Zephyr, or just like.... Talk about them at all, because istg I never see them mentioned anywhere ever and it's a shame, actually, because the manga is really fun! I feel like Zephyr can and should exist and have a distinct personality like in Persona, and maybe also be a way for us to feature in a potential season 3 of the anime... And that WOULDN'T take away from them only being one version of the MC, similarly to how things shook out with LL! Idk I just. Felt like it's a shame how underutilized Zephyr is amongst the fandom and the franchise in general, justice for Zephyr ig lol

Also! I very much recommend reading the manga, it's so funny and a lot of fun! Also for my fellow Mammon fans (aka, everyone- is there even anyone who doesn't like him even if he's not their fave??) we get to see a lot of Mammon butt which is. Surprising but not unwelcome lol

[theboarsbride]

"A Court of Thorns and Roses" Reading Update I

Page 101 - 24%

So, some major notes so far:

-I refuse to believe SJM knows how to write poor people. I refuse to believe that Feyre's family has been poor for a decade. How tf can the sisters be so dainty and act so oblivious and bitchy about work for survival after NEARLY 10 YEARS OF ECONOMIC DESTITUTION???????Just their mentalities, how they react to being poor, how they treat their belongings, how they treat their food, how they handle their money, etc. doesn't really line up.

-I can't stand SJM's writing style. SO MANY MF EM DASHES HOLY FUCK AND THEYRE IN PLACES WHERE THEY'RE UNNECESSARY. And also she reuses the same sentence structure, and it bothers meeeeee. (ex.- i was going to the bathroom, which was white and clean and shining. Then, I went to school, a place that was dull and bland and boring.) Like jfc. I wholeheartedly believe the conspiracy that no one actually edits SJM's book because good LORD.

- Feyre is dumb and deserves death. Like the instance with the Pooka. She suddenly sees her crippled father on Tamlin's land in Prythian in the middle of the night??? Given the wary hostility and aggression and distrust she's been displaying towards everyone and everything so far in Prythian, why isn't she doing the same in this instance???? She's said herself she is wary of faerie tricks, and acknowledged that not even whole, able-bodied humans are able to survive in Prythian without the help of a faerie, so why would she think her DISABLED FATHER, who is helpless in the mortal realm, be any different??? And why would she CARE that her father has come for her??? Did she not hope that her family starves without her, so that they realize she's important to them and she holds them in such an embittered contempt?????

- I LOVE Lucien <3 I like this fox-boy, he is funny and actually treats Feyre like the murderer she is (because yes, she's a murderer, and takes PRIDE in having killed a faerie. Which Feyre has some nerve being hostile to faeries who have been nothing but courteous and gracious with her, and thinking THEY are in the wrong when she was the one that MURDERED their friend).

- why couldn't Tamlin remain more like his beast form, making this more of a BATB retelling? I literally imagine him looking like Legolas but JACKED. This is where my ire of 'BATB but the beast is just a hot guy that growls or has behavioral problems' first began. It's such a shallow version of the story and completely misses the point. And the fact that this is also a retelling of The Ballad of Tam-Lin, a Scottish folktale, and does really nothing that's an homage to the story aside from Tamlin's name, the fact he shape-shifts (albeit BARELY), and there's (poorly written) fae really irks me.

-for once I want SJM to actually describe paintings rather than describing what the painting is of. I don't believe for one minute that SJM did more research into art, style, etc. because for the life of me I couldn't tell you what Feyre's art style is, nor do I really care because her having painting as a hobby is so pointless and has no effect on her character whatsoever.

- SJM is lazy as fuck with her world building. ex.- Lucien saying capital 'h' Hell, as in Christian Hell, when humans are agnostic/atheist with a sparse number of fae-worshiping cults (and were once implied to have had a polytheistic religion) and fae worship the Cauldron and other faerie deities so like.....why not use a few extra braincells to create her own version of Hell rather than using lazy cultural shorthand that, by the logic of this book's world, doesn't work????; underutilizing fae lore so now they're either underdeveloped spectral entities or LOTR elves... BORINGGGG!! GIVE US ACTUAL FAE IN LITERATURE AGAIN!!!! (*applauds Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries and Krystal Sutherland's House of Hollow*)

These are my major thoughts for the first quarter of the book.... See y'all again at 50%!

[tobias-carrick-appreciation-week]

Tobias Carrick Appreciation Week

EVENT MASTERLIST

Dr. Tobias Carrick here! Thanks for checking out my event. I'm used to being checked out, but this is a whole new way. It's long overdue if you ask me! But you know what they say, good things come to those who wait, and there are a whole lot of good things planned, and I can't wait to see what you come up with.

I'm gonna let the event's mod @jerzwriter take over from here. If you've got any questions, just talk to her... she'll take care of you! 😉

Welcome to Tobias Carrick Appreciation Week!

Tobias's character was woefully underutilized in Open Heart, but their loss is our gain. Why? Because it left us with an intriguing character that we can largely make our own. This week - take the time to share YOUR VERSION of Tobias and how he fits in your OH world.

All types of fanwork, old and new, will be accepted for this event. So send us your fics, headcanons, artwork, edits, moodboards, you name it! If it's Tobias related, it can be shared.

Day 1 - Saturday, April 1 - Where did this guy come from? Info & Templates for Day 1 We know little about his background. Tell us where he grew up. What about his family, life before Hopkins, and how it made him who he is today.

Day 2 - Sunday, April 2 - The Hopkins Years and Beyond Info & Templates for Day 2 Here's your chance to flesh out canon. Tell us about the rise & fall of his friendship with Ethan. What was the story of their mutual crush? What kind of student was he? What was his rep? And what happened to him during the years between Hopkins and when we met him again in Book 2? Day 2 can be anything from these years.

Day 3 - Monday, April 3 - OH Book 2 What did you like/dislike about Tobias in Book 2? What did canon miss? What was up with June? What did he think of MC, and vice versa? What are your HCs about this time?

Day 4 - Tuesday, April 4 - OH Book 3 How did that job offer come about? What was his motivation, and did it change? How did you see his relationship with Ethan change? Was he friends (or more) with your MC in your HC? What did canon miss?

Day 5 - Wednesday, April 5 - After Hours: Romance / Personal Life Info & Templates for Day 5 What did Tobias do when he was off the clock? Did he have friends he hung out with regularly? See his family? Did he date? Hobbies? This category is broad - use your imagination! 😏

Day 6 - Thursday, April 6 - Doctor Tobias Carrick What kind of doctor was he? Was he respected? Published? Did he teach? What made him tick? Contrast how he mentored interns/residents with Ethan's style.

Day 7 - Friday, April 7 - All About the Future Where do you see Tobias when the series ends? In the near and distant future. How did his career progress? Did he settle down? How'd that work out for him? Any part of his future.

Day 8 - WAIT! That's over a week! Yep, but Tobias can be a rule-breaker, and so is this event! Saturday, April 8 - Masterlists and ANYTHING GOES If you have a Tobias Carrick Masterlist, share it with us! Also, share anything related to Dr. Carrick or his world.

Sunday, April 9th Event Masterlist will be posted

Rules and Guidelines:

Please tag @tobias-carrick-appreciation-week on your post or reblog for your work to be included.

Make sure your work has a rating, and if it is NSFW or Mature, please make sure it is labeled as so.

Please use a :readmore: / page break to avoid excessively long posts. If a post is deemed to be too long, a new post with a link to the post submitted may be used in replacement of a reblog.

Tobias is an ambiguous character, so interpretations may vary. Works that aren't gushing adorations of Tobias will be included, but since this is an appreciation week, anything overtly negative will not be included.

I'm tagging those who have followed the event so far (and a few who may be interested) below. THANKS FOR CHECKING US OUT! :)

Tags: @alj4890 @songsaboutgirls @liaromancewriter @annoyingmillenialnewbie @hopelessromantic1352 @differenttyphoonwerewolf @trappedinfanfiction @jamespotterthefirst @lucy-268 @coffeeheartaddict2 @icecoffee90 @choicesficwriterscreations @choicesmonthlychallenge