#need a couple of rewatched tbh to process it lol

[seraphont]

So. That finale. That sure was something. What are your thoughts friend?

I’m honestly still processing it lol

The animation was bloody lovely, the team did a stellar job with it. The boarding on the fight scenes were delicious as usual. The compositing/lighting was so gorgeous. Wasn’t a fan of the pacing, I didn’t find there was room to breath.

I have many thoughts on how a lot of character arcs for some of the cast were sidelined and played for gags rather than tying them up for the finale.

Overall a visually stunning episode, still big love for murder drones. not sure about making my au canon-compliant with ep 8 tho, but we’ll see, I wanna rewatch it first

[autisticempathydaemon]

your match up game looks so fun ‼️‼️‼️‼️ i wanna try it out hehe (rambling ahead)

1. beast of blood by malice mizer :3 i honestly don't have a reason other than it being chaotic enough that it fills up empty noise in my brain lol

2. 5w6 !!

3. ohh i LOVE youtube essays/analyses whether i'm fully listening or have em as background noise, i love horror youtube deep dives, particularly about analog/digital horror series and that one creepypasta iceberg hehe

4. i don't think i've ever had one ? to be honest i don't think i ever thought abt it until i saw it in like . cartoons n shit , never rlly knew about the concept of imaginary friends as a kid 😭

5. recently i use redacted sleep aid audios but most of the time i just . stay awake until my brain shuts down 🤞

6. honestly? i never thought abt this . but the first thing that came into my mind was veronica (idk either!!) though if i genuinely wanted to change my name i'd want it to be gender neutral, and tbh i doubt i'd have any important meaning behind it i'd just pick whatevr sounds nice

7. guy's sleep audio !!!! i joke about wanting guy angst a lot but to be real . this audio of his is so vulnerable .. like before that we only saw him being a goof and stuff yaknow . . idk that one forreals hit different 4 me

8. as much as i love every character, i do not understand why gavin is the most popular😭 don't get me wrong , love him, maybe it's because i haven't listened to the fl series but i do not get the hype💔

9. i don't know all the words per se but i would have to say mean girls . . as problematic as that movie is now its iconic and i love it and i need to rewatch it BAD .

10. damien tbh . haven't gotten to his other audios but i think i would want 2 be besties w him i relate 2 him a good amount (he also seems like the type id be intimidated into doing well in school for)

11. to be real i wld not be able to ramble if im tired LOL i think i'd be more quiet bcz i have a hard time sleeping to begin with

12. tbh just a soda (coca cola bcz i am basic) i go to convenience stores n stuff after school so im only there to pick up something quick before i go home so im in and im out 🔥🔥

13. the 2007 sweeney todd soundtrack 🤞 i cannawt find the movie ANYWHERE and its nostalgic to me so listening to the songs is the closest i'll get to scratch the itch in my brain

14. fnaf tbh EHWHEHW i've been into fnaf ever since i was a kid and it's stuck with me because it's what got me into horror n stuff  🫶

15. i'm a saggitarius, my mbti is INTP, i love horror and fashion, despite wearing a lot of darker alt fashion, my favorite color is pink (my phone case is decorated to the gods its very ridiculous) i like doing my own nails (funnily enough in bright colors) , i think i relate to honey the most in terms of personality, and i like to analyze most of the media im into!!

So part of my thought process is based on your personality types, the Troubleshooter and the Logician. However, I have to admit a bigger part of my reasoning is I think Asher would love your fashion sense and would contrast you so cutely.

Like, on a deep, core level, your personality types give me the impression of someone who’s thoughtful and analytical and capable of solving problems. Those are good traits for a beta’s mate, especially when Asher can have more social, impulsive tendencies. On a funsies level, I imagine Asher dresses like your typical So Cal dude, kinda surfer chic, and he loves your style and what an odd pair you make. Like, on all levels but especially physical, you are the embodiment of the black cat/golden retriever couple.

Asher loves everything about you, so many things about you he finds it hard to pick a favorite. He loves the contrast between your dark clothes and your bright nails, loves asking you to paint his while you’re at it so y’all can match. He loves watching FNAF theories with you, because he was definitely a FNAF teenager. He even loves watching scary movies with you though he’s terrible with them. (Asher’s the type that loves the adrenaline rush while it’s playing but regrets it once it’s time to lock up the house.)

Song:

In the car, I just can't wait/ To pick you up on our very first date/ Is it cool if I hold your hand?/ Is it wrong if I think it's lame to dance?/ Do you like my stupid hair?/ Would you guess that I didn't know what to wear?/ I'm just scared of what you think/ You make me nervous so I really can't eat/ Let's go/ Don't wait/ This night's almost over

Given we canonically know Asher to be a FOB fanboy, it’s hardly a leap to assume he’s a Blink fan, especially this song. I think this particular track is not only fun and nostalgic to him but captures his energy and vibes, how he felt when he first fell in love with you. It’s also catchy as hell, so you know he’s singing this at you full-volume all the time.

Runner-ups:

Anytime someone says they’re a horror fan, I’ve got to put Guy in their big three; one of my top headcanons is that he writes some gripping horror and loves it as a genre. (I also think he loves FNAF lore and finds it so fun, though he was not impressed by the movie.) I also love Lasko for you because I think he admires your bold, authentic fashion choices and finds them inspirational.

Read this post and send me an ask if you’d like a match-up of your own! 💌

[sothischickshe]

When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

Ahhhhh, with a lot of complaints & whining?? 🤪

No but to be more srs (and also hi! And ty! ❤️❤️❤️), i'm not sure i can say a huge amount on complex narratives (my preferences tend to run shorter and less plotty, even if ive somehow ended up with a 140k draft bleugh) but here's some stuff ive gleaned, maybe some of this is more aspirational tho lol

so for outlines, i think the key point is to sUmMaRiSe -- and i don't think it really matters HOW you do it, there's lots of different methods, whatever works for you. i think the first summary i did for Shattering mightve been entirely in emojis for a tumblr ask game? which was fun and sparked pretty much everything when i came back to it, ymmv tho lol. i tend to be a list of scenes on paper guy, with a summary of what's happening in each. i'd now say, instead of half spacing that, maybe leave some gaps so you can easily insert scenes if you want, ha. depending on the story, ive also more ~mindmapped the progress instead of scene listing, so for example if it relies a lot on contrasting parallels, a bunch of arrows covering progress or whatever iconography works might be helpful. i'd also now say, figure out your shorthand early ha: ive dutifully written out notes, then looked over them and been like uh youve used 'R' here to refer to rio rhea AND ruby you realise.... or 'park scene' to refer to 3 different scenes...whoops! i personally tend to write and plot and whatnot in chronological order, so keeping track of outlines isn't nec too difficult (unless you decide to go adding a bunch of stuff in bleugh) for characters, well you tend to get those for free in fanfiction woop. at least for the major characters, you then probs don't need to keep too much track of them/create character sheets or whatever? for more minor canon characters, if they're a pov or just majorish character in my fic, ive tended to rewatch and make notes, to try and figure out how to tie their disparate bits of (often pragmatic-to-the-plot) characterisation together, and make them feel realistic. with original characters in fic, i think it depends how big a part they play. i think in a first draft more is more if you want -- get a load of details down abt these randos if you want, and you can always scrape it off the page later if it doesn't fit, if that's your way of figuring them out. or you can do it more intentionally as a separate exercise e.g., write your original character a monologue where they explain themself. but i think the most important thing re any characters is to Make Decisions abt them, even if that stuff is never directly on the page, it will make them feel consistent (espec if they're not a/the pov char) -- WHY are they doing whatever they're doing, WHAT are they like, DO they know xyz or not (or when do they find out) etc etc etc, otherwise characters can just feel like they're wandering in and out as if in a dream to do random shit, and thus like props.

Development... well i guess this is taking the summarised outline(s) and untangling them into real story? idk how to describe a lot of this process tbh cos so much of this is mental, but scribbling on a few pages with lots of arrows is likely to help i feel! and a lot of scribblings in the margins for ever and ever! then maybe some [bracketed commands] in an eventual typed draft, and some paper notes to take back to it.

re timelines, again if you write/plan in chronological order, this might be easier. and i think it's very contextual, if you're writing something with a v tight timeline of say a couple of days, it might be very important to make sure everything fits and it's clear when stuff is happening, whereas with something longer maybe you can be loser. this isn't something i'd nec make a huge amount of notes abt otherwise, but i do think it's important to consider -- it's probs something i'd find more in the first draft and expand in the edits. for example, Shattering starts in summer so there's a lot abt it being warm and sunny, and eventually the weather gets colder/trees get starker blah blah blah. i def think this is a good thing to pay attention to in the edit, is it clear that things are happening on different days, or are days seeming to go on for a billion hours etc. it's funny when you go back and watch tv shows or films sometimes and that stuff doesn't quite seem to make sense! of course this can be done well, to imply something off with the pov character/their sense of time disintegrating but i think it has to be done with intent.

all of that said, i don't think there's a 'right' or 'best' way to keep track of such stuff, whatever works! and that all sounds rather plan-y, which i tend to prefer espec for longer/complexer stuff, but that doesn't mean p(l)antsing approaches won't work, if you're willing stuff can alllllways be sorted in the edit.

Ficus pun!

[ddarker-dreams]

Hi!! <3 I just wanted to tell you that I love reading updates from you, whether it’s a story or a little blurb or just idk like anything lol, you seem like such a cool person; I’m not into writing myself but I love reading and I find you to be v inspiring to me :) I really love reading your stories, (mostly here from Genshin tbh) but also your other posts where you talk abt things you like, or your thought process for your stories is so cool bc I can feel how passionate you are abt the things you love and i always find it really endearing lol !! BTW I don’t mean for this to come off creepy or disrespectful so if it is pls lmk, I’m v sorry if it is

ALSO I’m so sorry for the long ask, but I wanted to tell you that I started watching hxh specifically to read HWR!! I just finished the York new arc, I’m slow at watching shows but I can’t wait!!! May I ask what part of the series you’d recommend watching to before reading HWR? I’m still planning on finishing it, I might even read the manga afterwards as well

Ngl there’s more I wanna tell you but I feel like this ask is already so long, but I hope you have a great day/night <3

this ask OMG... i am laying in a puddle of my own tears... there is nothing creepy about it at all, reading it made my day!!!! thank you so very much 😭 if there's anything i love to do, it's prattling on about my passions. it helps me detangle the word soup that floats around in my brain at all hours of the day. thank you for reading my various ramblings and thoughts!! i'm excited to do a 'director's commentary' type deal for some of my stories since i'll be able to ramble at length. maybe i'll even post pictures from my story journal to accompany it ?? my handwriting isn't the best but it is legible. 😔

YOU STARTED HXH TO READ HWR ????????????????????? my soul just left my body 💖💖 AAA??? i hope that you've been enjoying the experience so far!!! i think i've rewatched the yorknew arc around 15 times (no this is not an exaggeration). it's my favorite. if you just finished it, you should be in position to read HWR!! the original story takes place four years before the main events of hxh. there are a couple of concepts mentioned that you don't see until later on in the series (namely, the zodiacs), but it's more like. world building stuff. you don't need to be super familiar with that for the story to make sense.

pls thank you so much for this ask, i want to print it out and put it on my desk . thank you thank you. <333333333333333

[akirameta84]

thinking about it, was there anything stopping kusuo from re-petrifying akechi over and over until he figured things out?

sorry for spelling mistakes haha. if its not major I'm too lazy to reread and catch em all(™)

it never says he has a limit on this ability like that, so if he had been extremely determined to not let akechi find out, he could've kept trying different future outcomes over and over

but would a person petrified experience hunger and thirst while in that state? if so, this would only be possible a day or two without serious negative effects. but from what we've seen, im fairly certain everything about the individual is frozen like that, so I doubt so

of course there was people and noticing akechi's disappearance, and akechi himself nothing the missed time. but if he got the timeline right, then akechi would've never been even entered the room in this instance, as seen by the failed timeline where hes closer with his friends group. thus its a moot point, and making the idea of keeping him frozen longer plausible

considering how the other two espers came to know about his powers, it really makes you wonder why he gave in so easily. kusuo had almost told aiura because he believed its be inevitable, but when he realized his aura was too large to be seen up close, he forfeited, only having to confess in order to save chiyo's life.

toritsuka had found out completely on his own, and by the time he approached saiki, there would have been too many memories to erase them all with his memory alteration, as its stated he can do a minute at a time.

and, interestingly, in the manga there's a whole day between saiki receiving toritsukas letter and him arriving, while in the anime its the same day. saiki is even able to complete his psychometry on the letter. it actually makes more sense in the anime, though, as surely he'd have noticed his glove was missing before a whole day had passed?

anyways, point stands that family is the only people kusuo has completely willingly told about his powers were family members. and yet he gave in so easily to akechi.

something that's striking me as odd is when akechi revealed himself to be someone from kusuo's past, and someone who suspected him of having powers...he did nothing.

as seen on aren's first day, he could've easily had akechi transfer out or just make him stop attending.

sure it might've been suspicious, but a combo of forcing him to transfer out and some memory alteration making him forget kusuo was at PK, that he attended PK, or that he was transferred out strangely, any may have possibly worked.

or better yet, petrify and perform the time leap stunts much earlier, before akechi had such concrete evidence. akechi likely would've responded readily to an invitation over to kusuo's house, and he could've attempted to deal with the problem then.

sure its possible he didn't think about that, but with how covered everyone of kusuo's bases have been throughout the series, I heavily heavily doubt it. and besides, I think there's more to it.

one thing kusuo mentions being happy to have fixed at the end of akechi's time travel arc is erasing the fact his younger self told akechi about his powers.

he regrets this truly as a teenager, but his younger self was a lot more complacent about telling him, up until akechi spilled the secret himself in order to hope for kusuo's protection, but even kusuo acknowledges its normal for people to reach out to those who they know can help

he smiles like this after his confused face fades, and tells akechi about his powers. his younger self didn't have much of a reason to keep his powers from someone he viewed as a friend, and even showed MUCH less emotional repression imo.

but there was one striking reason.

look at how the smile on his face fades each time he recalls what his mother said. he actively wanted to show them his powers, not just akechi either.

his older self acknowledges that akechi felt like a friend to him, which is kusuo speak for he felt they were pretty close friends, considering that the main cast is still mostly classmate or aquintence level at the end of the series according to him.

considering how easily kusuo gives in to telling akechi after his admittedly extensive process trying to prevent this outcome...I'd say, honestly, kusuo still feels the same way about akechi.

he certainly tolerates akechi referring to him by his first name, and even though aiura does as well, im not convinced she'd listen if he even told her off. (tbh, his whole friend group has issues with listening to him, and his mom forcing him on outings isn't helping. but thats a rant for another time)

the day akechi invites himself over, its done merely to hang out, and kusuo is slightly surprised by this.

of course, even akechi has to cheat his way into staying, but kusuo is like that to everyone.

kusuo isn't used to people coming over just to hang out, as whenever the rest of his friends bug him, they need something most of the time. and when the two of them get into betting on the horse races over cake, as frustrated as kusuo gets, id say he enjoys himself. one of the last panels says as much

I hit the image limit, but near the end of chapter 266 his eyes have the sparkle effect they do when he's actually feeling emotions. its so sweet. and during the end of the showdown arc, kusuo repeats to kuusuke the the same phrase akechi said to him after taking the power remover. "I can still be your playmate"

overall, coupled with how easily kusuo gave in to telling about his powers, without even a single death threat to keep akechi silent...yeah, he definitely thinks of akechi as a good, maybe even close friend. even if he doesn't believe or admit it to himself, its true.

thank you for reading i got this in my mind after rewatching the time travel arc, hence the random anime images instead of panels which I can grab more easily as examples lol

[plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows]

reposting a plotbunny from a couple months ago bc i need it in my Things To Write pile:

AU where breakdown defects - not really out of choice but because the autobots for some reason interrupt airachnid in the process of taking him apart. optimus decides to bring him back to the base and try to save his life. (it involves a jumpstart process where breakdown's spark fades to the point of not being able to power his frame at all, which naturally would lead to spark death except the autobots have optimus, whose spark is strong enough that he can comfortably keep everything running for as long as it takes to stabilise breakdown and bring his spark back up to level.) this is mostly successful - breakdown survives, but he'd been so thoroughly dismembered that recovery will be a very long process. which gives him and bulkhead (and wheeljack too) some time to sit down and mull over their shared past in the wreckers. :v im a sucker for ex-wrecker breakdown lol haven't decided if i want to go the 'breakdown and knock out are bonded and knock out knows he's alive' route, which leads nicely into knock out defecting as well, orrrr if its more juicy to have knock out have no idea what's happened to breakdown (could be shippy or non-shippy tbh) and team up with dreadwing to go all roaring rampage of revenge on airachnid. actually no i think option 2 is juicier, lets call open season on the spooder XD meanwhile optimus lowkey adopts breakdown, bc it comes out that breaky is closer in age to bee and smokescreen and dadimus gonna dad. this pisses breakdown off when he realises, bc there's nothing abt the last few months that he's been ok with and thinking he's being seen as a kid just ruffles his feathers big time. he ends up getting along best with ratchet, ironically, because ratchet is a persnickety grump and breakdown knows how to deal with at least 50% of that. also fowler, bc he recognises his voice from the orion pax rescue and that's startling enough to get a laugh out of him. also miko is LOVING having bulk's Rival in the house, she wants to make friends with him and give him the full vegeta experience lmao. she gets him hooked on slash monkey and shonen anime, and she always has an idea of how to deal with the boredom of being essentially housebound. i need to rewatch the Relevant episodes of tfp to wrap my head around the bulkdown dynamic again buuuut tentatively i think bulkhead comes around first bc he's always struck me as a relatively mellow, flexible sort of person, whereas breakdown seems... slightly less so? XD The breakdown in my head that came along with this bunny is angry over a lot of things and i think it would be harder for him to let go of old dynamics when he's got so much else going on in his head.

[jadedahlia]

Why does Netflix use dubtitles as the default instead of the actual subtitles for media in other languages. :( It’s annoying if you’re watching all the episodes at once because I learned when rewatching the first couple seasons of Inuyasha on there that you have to set the subtitle preferences to CC after each episode, otherwise it reverts back to the dubtitles.

Anyway I may need to rewatch Squid Game at some point apparently (though idk if I can emotionally handle episode 6 again tbh lol), because apparently there’s pretty significant differences in the script. It also might help to use the CC anyway because I have audio processing issues, which made it actually harder to understand some of the parts where the dialogue was all in English because there were no words on the screen.

[oh-lali-lali-lali-lalipop]

@mysteriousdbzgt: Hi oh-lali-lali-lali-lalipop! Thank you for your ask. First of all, thanks for asking this question here on my personal (and also for the follow over on t&bftw, welcome aboard! :D) I think you can probably tell from here, that I’m a huge supporter of them becoming romantically involved lol I don’t shy about that here, but I like to present a more neutral stance over on my news dedicated blog, to not influence others of my personal opinions. With regards to the new season, as much as I would be supportive of it, I unfortunately highly doubt that they would become “official” in S2 or anything in the future, but will remain extremely dedicated and attentive to one another, regardless of their constant bickering. The creators of the show are more than aware of the popularity of the “couple”, being constantly popular at doujinshi events and the continuous amounts of merchandise that they bring out, which regularly focuses on the main duo rather than all of the Heroes all the time. The fandom is primarily dominated by women, when originally the show was supposed to target men and “salarymen”, but attracted a completely different demographic that they hadn’t anticipated. I can only think that’s mainly because of the appeal of K&B. Also not helped by some of the staff’s, let’s just say, “unfiltered” thoughts when they discuss about K & B in older interviews, centering around “love” and other similar notions. I think they still want to keep this series aimed towards a male demographic, even if the results don’t line up as they expect. But highly ironically, it’s what makes the show successful, so I doubt they would want to change how they portray Kotetsu and Barnaby’s relationship. Personally I would be absolutely over the moon if they did become “official”, because they’re just perfect for one another (hehe) and it could just break so many standard conventions/boundaries on how media portrays same-sex relationships, if done appropriately, and not be labelled with any genre tags like “BL”, “yaoi” or anything similar, and still simply just be a “drama”, “superhero” tale, with the two main males eventually getting together but not make a big song and dance about it. If we want to normalise LGBT relationships within our media and what we consume, then we need to drop these tags and portray them in a healthy manner, which I think the show does well between them both. I believe that the staff have the talent to pull it off, they just need to be cautious on how they do it. Like you said, how FE is presented in the show which such great self confidence about themselves and who they are, really shows that they can write this. Also T&B’s spiritual successor show, Double Decker (who had a lot of the same staff) tackles some LGBT themes pretty well, so they could absolutely do it. But yeah, I don’t think they’ll become “official” unfortunately. But if anything, I anticipate that KxB will most likely be working even closer together in S2, so they’ll be more in tune with one another, and possibly open up even more to each other than they did before. Hopefully they’ll be over the huge feuds and split apart phase, which The Rising focused on (they’ll still bicker all the time, but that’s just how they are), so we can see just how far their relationship has come and changed for the better. Anyway this is probably way too long (sorry), but always interested to hear your thoughts too! :)  

Heya! Before I start I just wanna say thank you so much for taking the time to give me such a thorough reply, it is incredibly well thought out and written! I also want to say I am so freaking sorry you had to type out my monstrosity of a name (seriously didn’t think about that when making the joke lol). Oh, and I’m equally sorry for the formatting of the reply... really had no clue how to go about it, so I just defaulted to going about it the roleplayer way haha. Anyways, for starters, I think I should say that I actually agree with you a lot. You see, logically I think it feels highly unlikely they’d make them “official” in the new season. I’m not sure if I feel like it’s unlikely because I, someone who’s in the LGBTQ community, am a pessimist (aka, I’m negative regardless of proof) who is use to companies not delivering on it/assume companies won’t deliver on it.... or if I’m genuinely, but unconsciously, picking up on Sunrise’s stance of “not gonna happen”. Despite all that I still feel stupidly hopeful about it (y’know, heart louder than the mind and all that jazz)... and I guess for the sake of the discussion I’ll break down why! lol So, I got into the fandom.... around the time of The Rising, I think, so anywhere from 2014 to 2015. I instantly fell in love with it all, but I did end up falling out of the loop for awhile (being a teenager and all that). Recently (recently being that I finished S1 on Friday, watched The Rising on Sunday, and now I’m here lol) I got back into it and.... wow, a lot of it is the same, and.... at the same time it felt like I had so much more to process. It’s still as amazing as ever, if not even more so, and just like with everything else I love with my entire being I started to analyze it and read into it (maybe a little bit too much so lol).  In all honesty, KxB seriously stood out even more so than it did last time for me (I don’t know if it’s because I’m now accepting of my sexuality or what) and while it’s not actually the best part of the series to me (God, Barnaby’s arc means so much to me what with me struggling with cPTSD, but that story is best left on my RP blog) I do have to admit that the pairing is... incredibly meaningful, and beautiful. Moving for me, really.  I guess the following observations, and hopeful thinking that came after it, could be deduced to me just wearing shipper goggles, but considering my habit of over analyzing and breaking things down... I do try to make predictions and opinions logically, and with that in mind it’s why I’m so stuck on the “hopeful thinking”, since a tiny bit of logical thinking is fueling it. Tiger & Bunny is about human relationships, really. For a show focusing on NEXTs... it’s really about humanity, corruption, society, relationships... and KxB all along the first season is written as an undertone, like a slow burn (which is entirely fitting, and seriously makes any relationship better), which fits because the first season is, in actuality, not focused on that (the plot being bigger than we can see and all that). In the end, having rewatched it, I also noticed how, really, the undertone is written in such a way that.... it feels like Barnaby is the one with the “crush” (or is the first one to realize it) which... kinda fits with the old statements from the crew. Kotetsu the forever oblivious one who hasn’t had an epiphany yet (although if I’m being honest, The Rising seems to have this “side-plot” feeling of Kotetsu having the epiphany when he realizes what he’s lost, which is what I meant by the flow of the series somewhat feels like it’s building towards it)...  .... There’s also the whole “leaving it to interpretation thing” they said back then. Which, I have to agree with some other people that it feels like it’s just a way of saying “it’s romantic but we don’t want to take that risk”.... and that was back around 2011. It’ll have been decade since then when S2 is released, and, while a decade is just a decade, a lot has changed on a societal basis since then. Even during this decade long gap Sunrise has become more bold with their representation, whether it be Double Decker! or The Rising.... almost like they’re testing the waters...  and what better way to champion representation than to make two main characters the representation? This franchise is... so human in it’s story, and the meaning doing such a thing would have for so many people... in a way, I think out ways some of the risks. I feel like the build up is there, the want is there (tbh seeing posts on tumblr of people talking about how they hope they’ll get a kiss in S2 or something “official” like that also fueled this)... it just depends on whether they’ll feel afraid or not. Which is, really, why I asked for your opinion. You do such good work at trying to bridge the gap between the Japanese fandom/Sunrise and the English speaking community (which, btw, you are amazing at, I can’t thank you enough for the work you do), and I knew you’d be more informed on Sunrise’s attitude and statements, as well as the general opinions and depositions of the Japanese fans. In the end, I can “read into” things all I want, but it won’t matter if you can’t understand the one who pulls the strings... and because of that I wanted to know your opinion.  I’m so so sorry this got so long!! I’m really horrible at summarizing myself, so this turned into a major ramble.... I’m gonna wrap it up now before this turns into a novel haha. Again, thank you so much for responding to my question and for being open to discussing it, it means so much! I truly respect your opinion, since it helps me clear my own thoughts, as well as gives me a dose of reality so I don’t get my hopes up too much... I guess in the end though, a part of me is going to continue to think that they just might have the heart to do it, irregardless lol. I look forwards to seeing what you have to say about what I’ve written here!

[butterflydm]

The Untamed Rewatch (ep 1)

 Series Overview | Index | Next Episode

Oh, yes, I was very correct about this all hitting me a lot harder after I’d seen the whole show. I am also watching it on viki.com this time and the subtitled translations are already a lot better than the ones on the tencent youtube channel. They flow much more naturally as lines of dialogue (there’s a new set of translated videos popping up, too, that I might check out on my… third viewing… that will probably happen after this one… I really like this story y’all).

Things that stood out to me on this viewing (note: I am going to be spoiling the rest of the story as well when talking about things, including the twists):

Okay, so in the drama, when Wei WuXian is brought back to life, it seems like he definitely does look like himself again from the start —he specifically questions Mo XuanYu’s cousin to see if the Mo family would recognize him and learns that they haven’t seen him without mask or heavy makeup since he left home for a while at thirteen. What I infer from the conversations is that their looks were similar enough that when Mo XuanYu called Wei WuXian’s spirit into his body and the magic reshaped it, his general shape didn’t change enough to be noticeable, plus the family didn’t really look at him much in any case. And Wei WuXian worries that the “Lans of Gusu” might know enough about how he looks to recognize him, even if they aren’t “him”. I mean, obviously the doylist/meta reason is that they hired Xiao Zhan for a reason and they’re gonna have him play the part, but yeah, thinking about it is interesting.

Wei WuXian playing wangxian on the piece of grass: fucked me up so much more now. This show does such an excellent job with this entire romance. The whole way they set up Wei WuXian both wanting and not wanting to see Lan WangJi again is a lovely representation of their push-pull dynamic in the drama as a whole.

Which brings me to how much I love that song. The wangxian love theme is absolutely beautiful, enough that even when they play it like ten times in one of the later episodes, I’m still like “aaaah, so pretty! <3”. The first time we hear it is when Wei Ying has the flashback to Lan Zhan in his Gusu robes when he’s talking to Lan SiZhui and it’s so subtle there but it starts building up the mood of their romance, piece by piece. And WWX is so overcome by the memory that he literally sinks down and sits on his heels.

I also really love Lan Zhan’s theme song, as well. Lan Zhan’s introduction is… a lot. I love that we don’t see his face until it’s WWX seeing his face again, too. And he’s just this floating ethereal being and WWX stares for a long while, transfixed… and then makes fun of the way he’s dressed, with a fond smile. There’s such a good job there of putting in a sense of familiarity and history with how Wei Ying reacts to seeing Lan Zhan again.

The set-up of the sixteen years ago, seeing that moment, and then when we come back to it 30+ episodes later as we see both that there was so much we didn’t know but also that the show didn’t at all ‘cheat’ about the emotions of the scene — the backstory information we get complicates the picture of that day that we start with but doesn’t undermine it.

Wei WuXian also comes back in a much better emotional place? Given the way resentful energy is presented in the drama as a corrupting force, I wonder if part of that is attributable to getting a ‘new start’ in Mo XuanYu’s body — his own original body had been put through so much physical trauma in addition to the emotional trauma. The removal of his golden core. Being thrown down into the burial mounds. Then years of resentful energy being held inside his body and built up over time. Even just getting a chance to wipe that out and start again in a body that hasn’t been through that trauma might be helpful. This fey, trickster Wei WuXian is reminiscent of how we meet him in the flashback.

Though, in the drama (as I understand it, his death happens differently in the novel), another element might be that we did see him reach a moment of peace right before he died — he saved Lan Zhan’s life. He was already able to break out of the stranglehold of his grief and pain long enough to do that before he died, so his mind already started the healing process (but then he died, so it was short-circuited — sort of? Wei Ying does make it clear he was aware of being dead and he even knows how long he’s been dead without anyone telling him). I’m not sure how much of that applies to the novel’s version of WWX, but that’s what I got out of the drama’s version.

I really love Wei Ying’s casual displays of power. Snapping his fingers to freeze Mo XuanYu’s cousin in place… it just comes so naturally to him. He just has this very spontaneous-feel to when he uses magic (is it still called cultivation in this context?) that makes it just part of who he is and it’s very charming.

We see the hints of Nie HuaiSang’s hand behind everything — he paid the storyteller to talk about the YiLing Patriarch for three solid days, probably to influence the timing of Mo XuanYu’s ritual. He makes sure he stays there to see the initial results through — which he does again in the final act of the story. I have much genuine love for Nie HuaiSang tbh. He gets his revenge thoroughly but doesn’t go incredibly overboard the way most of the revenge-based characters do in the series (though he is ruthless about it). He knows his own strengths and weaknesses — he’s not a fighter, but he knows where he can find one. He doesn’t have overweening ambition beyond what he can handle. If his big brother had never been murdered, I get the sense he would have happily stayed a decorative baby brother all his life.

The Lan juniors are the cutest lil beans in creation. I love the contrast between them, because we see that Lan SiZhui is much more polite and formal than Lan JingYi, but he’s also incredibly compassionate and his heart is very much present on his face at all times. He’s respectful but openly kind. The moments when his memory is getting tickled by the way Wei Ying is behaving is also… it means so much after having seeing the drama all the way through once. And I love Lan JingYi for many reasons, but also because I think his (tbh kind of straight-up bratty) attitude implies that the Cloud Recesses have calmed the fuck down a bit about their strictness in the past decade-plus. And he finds Wei Ying’s dramatics amusing for the most part, which is cute.

Lan SiZhui recognizing wangxian — I suspect he’s remembering Wei Ying playing it rather than it being a post-death memory of LWJ playing it, since Lan JingYi doesn’t remember it at all. And because if Lan WangJi played it for anyone after Wei Ying died, then I’m not sure he would have been so certain from the start that the person playing it had to be Wei Ying. Meanwhile, Wei Ying isn’t aware of the full emotional importance of the song to Lan Zhan, and he seems to play it a couple of times as a soothing action (self-soothing here, and then to calm down Wen Ning’s corpse in episode 2)? Likely because it reminds him of being cared for by someone (in this case, of course, Lan Zhan). Wei Ying keeps precious hold of things like this and is very sentimental from what we see, and it makes sense that he associates this song with affection in the same way that he associates lotus root and sparerib soup with affection.

I am… honestly not at all surprised that people (even apart from the Lans) are using all the cool shit that Wei WuXian created even while most of the cultivation world still condemns him. That was the way they behaved when he was alive, too. They wanted his cool shit but judged him for making it.

Wei WuXian standing up for Lan SiZhui and the rest of the juniors when Madame Mo is yelling at them: he’s such a natural defender, tbh (which, of course, ends up being a big part of why he and Jiang Cheng end up at odds because WWX doesn’t limit his caretaking nature to his family but extends it to literally anyone who needs it no matter the cost). He’s nurturing in a careless/teasing way at times but he’s also very protective. And that impulse to jump in to help other people is such a big moral thing that he shares with Lan Zhan.

Okay, so, thoughts on grief as presented in the drama: Lan WangJi is well-known and beloved by the young Lan disciples. His reputation is back to being spotless, because it’s been over a decade since he did anything wrong. so, I don’t think he was publicly still grieving, though I will note that the Lan junior disciples seem relatively open to the idea that the YiLing Patriarch was probably not the worst person ever and it wouldn’t suck if he really weren’t dead after all, kind of reminiscent of MianMian’s daughter talking about how the YiLing Patriarch only goes after bad people (Lan JingYi honestly sounds hilariously excited about the idea that the YiLing Patriarch might still be alive, tbh - what have you been telling these children, Lan Zhan? lol).

So while I don’t get the impression LWJ spent most of those years openly pining, I’m sure the subject of WWX has come up, as he’s still a popular monster-in-the-night for a lot of people, and LWJ probably did defend his memory, in his own quiet but solid way. But I also get the impression overall that LWJ put his deep grief for Wei Ying in the same box as his deep grief over his mother, and he did his duty.

Then, he realizes Wei Ying might be alive and everything changes. I love that they both instinctively think of each other by their given names, too. Even when Wei Ying isn’t sure whether or not he wants to see Lan Zhan, that’s still how he thinks of him first — as Lan Zhan. And Lan Zhan just stares at the sword while it’s giving off those black smoke trails, transfixed, and when he first wonders if Wei Ying is alive and there, it’s just... Peak Romance, y’all. Peak Romance.

It does crack me up that the second Wei Ying gets the chance, he dresses himself in his own colors of black & red and doesn’t stick with Mo XuanYu’s colors. The only effort he puts into his ‘undercover’ disguise is the mask. He deserves a “I don’t think you even tried at all” star tbh.

Series Overview | Index | Next Episode

[visenyatargaryn]

i was tagged by @dreadwollf​, thank you, dear! <33

rules: pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions, don’t cheat. tag 10 (or however many) people.

Black Sails

Outlander

The Witcher

Game of Thrones

Haven

who is your favorite character in 2? Outlander: ooh that’s a hard one, I really don’t know? I love both Jamie and Claire so perhaps one of them? lol

who is your least favorite character in 1? Black Sails: Woodes Rogers... he can just die for all I care

what is your favorite episode of 4? Game of Thrones: Before the entire show went to hell, I really liked And Now His Watch Is Ended (3x04), mainly because of the sack of astapor scene lmao

what is your favorite season of 5? Haven: I haven’t watched this in AGES... but I think my favorite was season 2 or season 3???

who is your favorite couple in 3? The Witcher: Geralt and Yen hands down... the only I truely care about tbh

who is your favorite couple in 2? Outlander: Jamie and Claire obviously... I love them so damn much!!

what is your favorite episode of 1? Black Sails: the entire show?? all the episodes in this show is a masterpiece and it’s so hard to decide!! but it’s probably a tie between 2x05 and 4x10 

what is your favorite episode of 5? Haven: oof... I really need to do a rewatch for this show since I can’t remember much from it alskjfskjfks but I’ll have to go for the groundhog day episode lol 

what is your favorite season of 2? Outlander: I’m not caught up with it, but I really liked season 2

how long have you watched 1? Black Sails: I watched it since it first came out, which was... six years ago, but it ended three ago 😭😭

how did you become interested in 3? The Witcher: well, I loved the games beforehand and I heard they were making a show, so that got me super excited and I’m still in the process of reading the books so yeah...

who is your favorite actor in 4? Game of Thrones: Emilia Clarke, because she’s so sweet and cherishes her fans... and didn’t deserve that.

which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5? Black Sails... there’s nothing that will ever compare to that show. Absolutely nothing!

which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3? Black sails again, since it has more episodes than The Witcher does currently lol

if you could be anyone from 4, who would you be? Game of Thrones: Daenerys obviously... I mean who wouldn’t want to be the mother of dragons?!??!

would a crossover between 3 and 4 work? Game of Thrones & Haven: Umm... probably not?

pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple? Black Sails: Hmm... this is kind of hard since everyone has good chemistry with other characters? I’m going to go with Flint and Vane perhaps? I don’t know?

overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5? The Witcher vs Haven: Okay, I really, really love fantasy but Haven definitely has such an intriguing concept, and it’s just so captivating... so I’m going to go with Haven on this one!

which has the better theme music, 2 or 4? Outlander & Game of Thrones: HOW DARE YOU make me choose between both musical geniuses, Bear McCreary and Ramin Djawadi?!?! HOW DARE YOU! I love Ramin for giving us an almost entire soundtrack full of Daenerys bops, but I’m going to go with McCreary because you can literally feel the emotion in his music and the depth behind it? With songs like Faith, Dance of the Druids... and don’t get me started on the main theme...as well as among others of course lol

tagging: @daenerys-targaryen​, @lady-eleanor-vane​, @margeaery​, @aryastrks​ & anyone else who’d like to participate!

[tb5-heavenward]

You've said a few times you don't like the direction Virgil has been taken in in the later seasons, would you mind elaborating? I've not seen a TAG in a while and need refreshers lol

Oh, boy. Okay! As a caveat, I have only ever ranted about this in private conversations with friends, and of course this is only my personal opinion and anyone who doesn’t agree is free to ignore it. Actually, I endorse that. If you disagree, I don’t really wanna hear it. I’m not really interested in an argument and will probably ignore any Discourse I get on the subject. This is just my opinion, because I’ve been asked.

(Coincidentally, I’m also in the process of rewatching TAG as a series with my daughter, who is finally old enough to take an active interest in the show itself. Unrelatedly, Virgil is her favourite.)

here is a cut because long post + opinions

I think as an initial premise I’d tend to suggest that S1 Virgil is something of a different animal from S3 Virgil. I’ll also freely admit to vastly preferring S1/S2 to the way S3 has gone so far. S1 as a whole feels like it has much more heart to it and feels sort of more sincere to me. S2 is where the animation first begins to smooth out, the show’s visuals really hit their stride and they start to really get a handle on their pacing. There are episodes in S2 that are just shockingly, perfectly balanced as far as the stories that get told. S3 so far has been…ehh. I got opinions.

That’s another kettle of fish, though.

So, Virgil. Virgil as a character is notable because (in my opinion) he’s at his best when he’s acting as a foil for his brothers. In S1 he was most frequently seen in support of Scott or Gordon, providing backup in both a literal and a narrative sense. He’s a moderating influence on both of them, a voice of reason. He’s also just so incredibly, intensely supportive. Like, to point to a couple specific instances, I tend to reference Slingshot and Tunnels of Time, which are both occasions where he explicitly tells Scott and John “Trust Alan and Gordon, they can handle themselves.” And! just so many more instances of “nice job” and “good shot” and just general support and compassion and concern for his brothers. He’s also always the one to voice concerns about his brothers’ safety, he gets visibly distressed when they’re in danger. He’s super concerned for Gordon in Under Pressure and for Scott in Touch and Go. If I had to sum S1 Virgil up in one word, it would be supportive. It should go without saying, I fucking love S1 Virgil. That’s the version of his character I cleave to and aspire to write. He’s a very good guy and I’m extremely fond of him.

Contrast that with S3: there’ve been multiple occasions where he’s just…been kind of a dick? It seems like they ramped up the snarkiness of his character, except I don’t think he’s actually that much more snarky than he was previously—but there’s just none of the earlier kindness to balance him back out. They left that out, or dialed it way the hell back. That emotional core of him is gone. Like, I think it might be that the writers are leaning into the trope of brotherly teasing, but that existed in S1/S2 as well, and it just felt different. Lately the tone of it feels like it’s crossed a line. It’s all small stuff, it’s all pretty minor, but there are just things he says and does that come across as kind of bossy and self-important and mean. There’s a moment in a Season 3 ep (spoilers, btw and an @ for @drdone, she knows why) where he pretends to be suffocating to scare Alan and that’s just—really mean? Like really kind of a cruel thing to do to your baby brother, especially when in the same episode they had a conversation about fear of dying the way their father had. didn’t like that! kinda thought it was pretty shitty, tbh!

Once again, this is all my personal opinion and should be taken with a grain of salt. It’s kind of a hard change to articulate completely, and I’ve only felt like S3’s episodes were worth watching once so far (with a couple exceptions), so I might be misremembering. Maybe things will change later in the season, whenever that drops. I guess we’ll see.

There’s one more thing that I guess I’ll touch on, and it’s even more personal an opinion: S2:E18 (Granmda Turismo) marked the point at which I stopped liking Virgil. There’s a hard line there for me, because I am fundamentally a petty creature.

And it’s not necessarily because of anything that he did or any particular change in his character, (though I do think that S2 had the beginnings of the changes that I’ve mentioned above). But I’ve made no secret of my utter rejection of Virgil as the second eldest, I won’t ever consider it part of my canon. To be blunt, I think it’s godawful and I hate it, but again, that’s a personal opinion and I’m aware that there are people who disagree. I think it’s really a shame that they decided to settle the question, I think it would’ve been far better left ambiguous as a kind of running/inside joke about the fact that their age order was never confirmed. That’s the sort of cheeky meta I adore, and it would be a sign of a smarter and cleverer and more self-aware show than the show I think we’re watching.

Which is fine, that’s just whatever. I write him as the middle child and always, always will. For me that was the sort of core of his character, exactly in the middle of the rest of his brothers, and equally able to support all of them. Able to relate to John as well as he could relate to Gordon, still old enough to act as a moderating influence on Scott.

To get specific re: the age order, specifically with regard to Virgil and Gordon as a partnership, it really changes the tenor of that dynamic. It’s no longer two siblings who have been naturally close since childhood because they’re next to each other in age and who form a natural partnership because of that. It’s also no longer two siblings who are close in age mutually razzing each other, and instead it’s an older sibling picking on a younger sibling. That’s a different thing.

Anyway, I have rambled a lot about this! 

tl;dr: I stan S1 Virgil, don’t @ me.