#netflix doesn't deserve this

[inkskinned]

today i love the red metal crane in her long neck arching her body over the boston skyline, which means i am okay for a moment. when i am unwell, everything is a little ugly. i always tell myself look for the beauty but when it is bad, i will look at birds and sunsets and little ducklings and feel absolutely nothing.

when my brother got his puppy, i was in a deep depression. what kind of monster isn't affected by a puppy. i was gentle and kind to her - i just didn't have an emotional reaction. she's five now and i feel like i spend all of our interactions apologizing to her - i don't know why. i just didn't feel anything. how embarrassing. i feel like if i admit that, i'll seem cruel and jaded. it comes in waves. like, two months ago when i went out into the world - it was like that. life behind a pane of stormglass. a firework could go off over your head - nothing. like dead skin, no reaction. not to ice cream or rainbows or baby chickens. life foggy and uninteresting.

i love goslings again. i love their little webbed feet splayed over grass. i love good food and live music and long walks. i like puppies. i feel like some kind of my soul has been starved - i keep staring at everything with wide eyes, trying to burrow the sensation into my stomach. it's real. beauty is real. when it's bad again, remember this. i stop and smell the flowers, feeling cliche in the moment. i like the white-to-red ombre of my neighbor's roses. i like colorcoding and yoga and cold drinks. i try to pass my hands over every moment, feeling like i'm squeezing joy out of every instant. remember this. for the love of god, it's real - just remember this.

[alltimefail]

As someone who lived in a home where it was not safe to be queer but their first love was their same-sex best friend, I really cannot emphasize the importance of characters like Charles Rowland enough. As someone who deals with shame from years of self-hate, repression, happy-masking, and being called a "Token ally" by even my queer friends while feeling wrong wrong wrong about it, and being the kind of person who just didn't "Look queer enough" or whatever the fuck arbitrary, exclusionist rhetoric people would casually hurl about, I just really can't believe we have a character like him.

He's complex and deeply scarred and I've never cared about a character like this before. I've never felt so "Seen." I can't wait to save this show because seeing him heal will be like a balm on my heart. His character arc is completely unique and handled with such care that it brings tears to my eyes.

That's all. I am just so deeply thankful for & emotional about Charles Rowland tonight.

[zaritarazi]

even more six of crows shitposts (4/?) from twitter dot com and also some foil rares

[thenationofzaun]

Arcane and Ideological Clashes

Tags by @coolseabird

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. One of season 1's themes I loved was the philosophical and ideological debate between Silco and Vander (and then Jinx and Vi). I adore the personal character-driven aspects too, but the thing is, they don't have to be mutually exclusive. Ideologies can be extremely personally informed/motivated, and in the case of these characters, they were. Every part of their worldviews were shaped by their circumstances, their lives, experiences, and relationships with other characters. For example, Silco surviving the murder attempt by Vander and how this very personal betrayal motivated him politically, to be unrelentingly extremist in his methods. Or Vander feeling personally guilty for all the deaths on the Day of Ash, leading to him forming a political deal with Grayson to subdue the undercity from ever stepping out of line "for their own good". Because when you live in these kinds of dire conditions, there really is no way to separate the personal from the political.

Though season 1 didn't explore these themes with the sisters as deeply as I would have liked, the crumbs were there! Especially for Jinx. Yeah, she's selfish and personally-motivated, but her actions are nonetheless political. When it comes to her political opinions, the first season itself only gave us crumbs ("We kicked the enforcers butts, imagine what the whole of the Lanes could do!" as a kid, and then later Silco tells her that the children of Zaun deserve more and she seems to listen pensively, but never comments on it). Every act of political violence by her in the first season was given a personal motivation (she wants Silco to think she's strong, she wants to confront Caitvi on the bridge, she wants to avenge Silco). But writers comments outside the show gave us more - one of them said online that while Jinx understands Vander, she disagrees with his worldview and aligns with Silco's views on fighting topside. So that confirmed that Jinx does have an ideology and it aligns with Silco's, even if she was mostly preoccupied with personal matters in S1.

Vi on the other hand was completely neglected by season 1. All of her thought process and political opinions post Act 1 were left entirely subtextual. Act 3 was the worst offender because it's there that she makes her most controversial decisions (betraying Jinx to the Council and attacking the Shimmer factory with enforcers). However, again there were crumbs that one could string together to form interpretations. In S1E2, Vander basically convinces her that rebellion against topside is futile as it would likely lead to the deaths of her loved ones. She then decides to give up her desire to fight them and turns herself in to the enforcers. What follows is 7-8 years of being beaten and abused and downtrodden by topsiders in prison. Yeah, I can definitely see how this experience would only confirm Vander's words, that Piltover's might is too much to overcome, not without heavy casualties on their side. That rebellion is futile and the best thing to do is to keep your head down and don't invoke their wrath.

However, it was a fellow undercity citizen who murdered Vander and took her sister. And when she returns years later, she finds that he is still in power, has significant influence and a large number of followers in the Lanes, and no one has overthrown him. One line that really stood out to me was one she said to the brothel madam Babette in S1E5 - "From the looks of it no one down here lifted a finger to stop Silco". How juicy is that! She feels resentful towards her fellow Zaunites for not avenging Vander and taking down Silco in her absence. She feels betrayed, abandoned, left behind by her own neighbours. Her sister changed under Silco, her home changed under Silco. And everyone moved on without her. Expanding on this could have been such a natural way to justify her class treason by joining the enforcers. She thinks Piltover is too strong for Zaunites to beat so there's no use rebelling against them anyway. So why not use their might against her Zaunite enemies? Zaunites themselves "won't lift a finger" to stop violent gang leaders so why not use topside's power to do it? "What loyalty should I have to my class, if the people from my class abandoned me like this?" I could even see how being wronged by Zaunites could hurt more than being wronged by Piltovians - she could see it as the latter owing her nothing while the Zaunites are supposed to be her family and neighbours, who owe her more.

Again, season 1 itself did jack shit to delve into these feelings nor her trauma from prison. But the crumbs were there. I happily used them to form my own interpretation to justify her bizarre decisions and was satisfied. But then season 2 rolls around. They had the blueprint and chose not to use any of this rich material. How do they justify her joining the enforcers? Do they explore any of the complex feelings of resentment Vi may have for her home and class? Nope, she joins after hearing how her crush talked her up to colleagues. How do they justify her fully turning on Jinx and disowning her sister? Do they explore Vi's loyalty to her foster father Vander, and her acceptance that Jinx chose to betray him and side with his murderer, then try to murder Ekko for years? Nope. In fact, she forgets about Ekko and never mentions him again lmao. Rather she seems to turn on Jinx because she attacked the Council??? That seems to be the turning point for Vi, the thing that makes Vi view Jinx as a monster. "She killed the tyrants who oppressed me all my life, how dare she😤" ???? It would make sense for Vi to view the attack as stupid and reckless, again just like Vander said - fighting topside only brings more wrath to the undercity. But they don't even do that. They never explore Vi's political opinions and how she agrees with Vander's "compliance for our own good" stance. They never touch on her time in prison and how it may have compounded Vander's views. Instead they make it so Vi seems to sympathize with the Councilors and condemns Jinx's bombing because of some generic "violence bad" moral.

It's so stupid too, because they completely forget about Grayson. That's more PRIME material to justify Vi's enforcer arc. If Vander, her mentor, allied with Grayson, Caitlyn's mentor, then why shouldn't she ally with Caitlyn? She could easily use the Vander-Grayson peace deal to make herself feel better about her class treason. "He allied with enforcers to keep the undercity in check for their own good. So will I. Putting on the uniform is just the next logical step. I will take out the gang leaders and Silcos that Zaunites are too weak to stand up to. My parents were wrong to fight against topside, rebellion is futile. Jinx is wrong to fight against topside and will only get more Zaunites killed in the resulting retaliation. They can call me a traitor but I'm doing this for their own good."

All the pieces are there. Instead they never bring up the Vander-Grayson deal. Caitlyn and Vi have never even spoken about either of them in their entire relationship lmfaooo. They don't even know that their beloved mentors knew each other. They never speak about anything of substance. The only crumbs of an ideological clash we get in season 2 is the argument in S2E5. But it's all from Jinx's side - "I wish I was just seeing things when you decided to throw in with the Piltie goons who murdered mom and dad." But then Vi replies with some lame insult, then they're having a cheap slapstick comedy fight, and Vi never reckons with this. She never expresses what she thinks of her parents dying fighting topside. Then the Piltover vs Zaun war is completely abandoned and the plot focuses on Warwick/Hexcore/Noxus. And we don't get any more explorations of the ideological/philosophical clash that the sisters represent. Is it worth it to rebel against an oppressor if you lose yourself and all your loved ones to violence, but at least those in the future reap the benefits of your fight? Is it worth it to comply for the safety of yourself and your loved ones, if your people will eventually suffer a slow death and never have a future? What are you willing to sacrifice for your revolution? How far will you go? They handled this theme beautifully with season 1 Silco, then said "alright that's enough" and dropped all effort when it came to season 2. And from the trailers of Act 3, it looks like Vi will be convincing Jinx to fucking help Piltover against Noxus. Which is just gross lmao.

[finleycannotdraw]

I just want to acknowledge how well-crafted dead boy detectives is, in terms of how each shot is framed and colored. it's such a visually satisfying show, and as an artist i am feral about at least one frame in every single scene. i could go on for paragraphs about the execution of this but i'll just grab a few frames for examples, because. it's so good. (not super crisp images, sorry about that. best i can do with taking screenshots directly from netflix.)

this is obviously nowhere close to all of the frames i'm obsessed with, but it goes to show how much thought was clearly put into blocking and coloring!!! each scene has a color scheme or a theme, and the characters are very often dressed in a complementary way. (Maren's dark outfit, when we see her in episode 5, looks very good with her yellow and maroon front porch, for example.) there's a lot of orange/blue contrast, or brown/green, and altogether every scene has shadow and highlight, and isn't afraid of either one. (respect.)

it's just so refreshing to have such a gorgeous show to enjoy. everyone who worked on the framing and lighting in this show knew very well what they were doing, and I hope we get a second season so they can keep doing it!!!

(if anyone wants me to go in depth about why i love any of these frames, let me know. because i WILL.)

EDIT: In-Depth Post! :)

[agirlking]

Does Damsel really... absolve the dragon for murdering dozens of women because they apparently deserved to die if they had a great great great great great grandfather who did a bad thing?

[ragnarssons]

there are "legit" press reviewers who are like "this is worse than the movie!" y'all are losing all credibility just for clicks.

like, there are things to say - yesss there are - but worse than the movie?? hell no. for starters, the characters are characters, and not props to move the story (like i know you can say "this is a low bar" but the point is not to set any bar, just to remind everyone how the movie was built - as in, exposition exposition exposition, like aang and katara share a convo like THREE TIMES MAX in the movie, yknow, a movie that heavily focuses on the gaang, of which katara and aang are two out of the 3 characters like tf)

[becky5203]

I don’t think you can say it’s unrealistic that all the debutantes are suddenly fawning over Colin at the start of the season after not paying him any attention for the past two years just because of his new look because that’s the exact same way Bridgerton fans treated Luke Newton.

[i-find-the-beauty-in-chaos]

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

the atla live action remake reminds me of spop, they're just changing everything from the original. at what point does it just turn into a completely different story? isn't it better to just start off with your own original series with original characters instead of trying to readapt a beloved classic?

[inkingthingsintotrees]

kaos is the culmination of the modern retellings that have absolutely decimated persephone as a character.

[edit: this information was incorrect, still no domain though]

it isn't even fall/winter in Crete and yet persephone is in the underworld. she's a part of a matched set now, hades needs his accompanying doll, her own role in the pantheon be damned.

[cookingyellow]

was realizing that-

the person i have identified with the most in media in a long time is a pink humanoid cat who is a talent agent in a workplace that doesn't appreciate her, can't maintain a healthy romantic relationship with anyone but immature men, and who constantly struggles with the reality that she is completely alone because she has failed to make any intimate relationships in her youth so now she is 40 and no one wishes her a happy birthday but her phone

-on my 2024 bingo card?? no no it wasn't

[teatitty]

God I completely forgot to write about my bookverse AU of Dandelion finding Ciri before Geralt does. There's two variants for how it can go since we know he wasn't there during the Pavetta situation in the books

First scenario: In a sort of "Sleeping Beauty being given to the fairies to avoid her fates" situation, Calanthe ends up giving a very young Ciri over to Oxenfurt where she can be hidden as a regular student and still raised with the same education required for a princess. Dandelion is made her main carer by the Oxenfurt faculty in an effort to make him a more responsible and respectable figure in the academy. What they don't expect is for Ciri to become enamoured with his stories about Geralt and thus join him when he decides to meet up with his friend again. Nobody wants to tell Calanthe that they lost her granddaughter

Second scenario: Fall of Cintra happens. Ciri knows she has to find Geralt. She has no idea where he is but does know all about the famed bard Dandelion, as she'd read his books and poetry growing up, and thus also knows of their close relation. Since he's an easier figure to track, she goes looking for him instead and simply turns up at one of his gigs where she is then presumed to be a secret illegitimate daughter and Dandelion is [dial up noises] over the whole thing. Whatever was left of his sanity has now been shredded

[lilisouless]

Range of Nina Zenik´s relationships

-Matthias Helvar: romantic partner

-Hanne Brum: Second love

-Inej Ghafa: Best friend and comfort person

-Jesper Fahey: Good friend, like a brother

-Kaz Brekker: Nemesis (so, actual brother)

-Zoya Nazyalensky: Stern mentor, big sister figure

-Genya Safin: also big sister figure but nicer

-Leoni & Adrik: co workers, pretty much her cool aunt and bitter uncle

-Nestor: Pretty minor character but close enought to her to steal a bottle and get drunk with her

-Kuwei: Not his friend properly, but cared about him enought to put her thought in not letting him die

No, this is not a passive agressive way to complain about the show, what are you saying?

[tieflingkisser]

everyone shut up for a minute i just found out they've cast laurence fishburne as regis in netflix witcher season 4

[quill-pen]

Ebenezer sending Bess flowers in the middle of the day with notes like, "Thinking of you", "For my greatest happiness", "You are the love of my life", "Because I love you", "These flowers pale in comparison--I send them to you for lessons on beauty", or "Just because".

And Bess just getting all blushy and bubbly and being tickled with butterflies for the rest of the day because she feels so romanced and appreciated and so, so in love. 😏She will most definitely be thanking Ebenezer for the flowers later.