#no one knows the characters better than the writers/showrunner

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

why are people so against oliver and ryan talking about buddie, don't we want this, don't we want buddie to be canon? i'm sorry are we rooting for buck to end up with tommy or something, like I don't understand why so many people are saying stop asking them about buddie?

If we want Buddie then shouldn't we be asking buddie questions? I mean I'm so sorry but I'm just very confused, shouldn't we be happy that buddie is getting this much press and love? Why are we against it?

Okay, this is going to be a long one.

There are a few reasons why people are concerned about publications teasing Buddie happening and using the ship name and asking Oliver and Ryan about the ship. I'll try to be as concise as possible.

I would like to note, I'm not going to answer a bunch of questions about this. Other people have answered similar questions plenty of times, if you take a bit to look around 911blr. I'm sure @catdadeddie has gone into this a few times.

However, I understand that we are getting a lot of new fans this season, and so I want to try and explain comprehensively for those who haven't been around. I hope this covers everything.

Whenever a ship is between two people of the same gender as opposed to two people of the opposite gender (I know, I know, but we can't get into the gender spectrum right now just play along with me), everyone involved has to be very, very careful when it comes to talking about that ship ahead of said ship going canon.

It is very easy to slip into something called "queerbaiting." I'm assuming that you and most people online and in fandom by now have heard of this term but just in case: queerbaiting is when a show acts like a queer ship might happen in marketing and promotion in order to draw in a queer audience.

Historically, this was done by having a main character played by a woman have a romantic thing with another woman (flirting, even kissing!) who was a guest star, hinting at the main character's bisexuality/queerness, only for that guest star to never come back and for the show to act like it had never happened. This was done during something called, IIRC, "sweeps week" which was basically an important week for TV viewer ratings in the 90s. It was a way to boost your numbers by drawing in queer viewers with the promise of actual queer rep that then wasn't realized. It's a marketing tactic.

Nowadays the nature of queerbaiting has changed a bit. It's an overused term that frankly people love to (mis)use whenever a ship of theirs doesn't go canon and a show dares to do things like having two people (like say Ryan and Oliver) who play the two halves of the ship do an interview together (whether you ship Buddie or not, they are close friends, and it makes sense that they'd do a few interviews together - that is not queerbaiting). A good example of real queerbaiting is Rizzoli & Isles which, among other things, took out billboards and magazine spreads showing the characters (two women) in suggestively sexual and romantic positions and with slogans hinting that the two had more than just friendship together, then never, ever delivered on it and in fact laughed at the idea of the characters being gay for each other.

(I WAS THERE, GANDALF!!!)

Because of this unfortunate treatment of queer audiences and the (historic) dearth of actual queer characters and queer ships going canon (it's getting better but still), networks, showrunners, and so on have to be very careful when, say, they want to make a queer ship canon.

Look at how ABC handled Chenford, a popular ship in their show The Rookie. Chenford was not a planned ship - the fans adored the chemistry between the two characters (Lucy Chen and Tim Bradford), the writers liked the idea and decided to lean into it, ABC gave the go-ahead, and the ship officially got together and went canon last season. ABC heavily promoted Chenford and the ship and made a lot of jokes about it in the last couple of seasons leading into the ship going canon, using the ship heavily in their marketing.

ABC cannot necessarily do that with Buddie, because even if Buddie is going canon, until that happens, they could get accused of queerbaiting. There's a much bigger minefield to navigate because of this historic misuse of queer audiences and queer characters.

So whenever journalists and publications use a popular non-canonical queer ship name for clicks and fandom interest, if that ship doesn't immediately go canon or if the network/showrunner/etc doesn't say "yeah they're totally gonna kiss! with tongue!" people accuse the show of queerbaiting. This is unfair to the show for two reasons: one, the network is not going to bother sending "shut the fuck up" letters to every single damn publication out there for using a ship name in their headline and talking about a ship - they'll be accused of homophobia and it draws even MORE attention to the issue re: the Barbra Streisand effect (look it up); and two, the people involved in the show are NOT going to spoil the anticipation and surprise by admitting ANY ship is going to go canon before it does.

This is simple marketing - the movie trailer doesn't (or shouldn't, anyway) show you the ending of the movie or everything that happens in it. TV shows want you to tune in every week and speculate and guess. They're not gonna spoil a ship ahead of time.

This means that when journalists and articles pull this shit, they're putting the showrunner, the writers, the actors doing interviews, and the network in a bad situation that they can't really do anything about. Not without causing more mess.

So that's reason number one why a lot of us are annoyed: by yelling about Buddie, these articles and journalists are setting the cast and crew we love up to get yelled at for queerbaiting if Buddie doesn't immediately happen, and there's nothing the cast and crew can do about it, and it's all so the journalists and articles can use us, the fandom, for clicks. So we're also kinda getting used here, and it doesn't feel great.

The second reason we're annoyed about Buddie questions is that it's being asked of the actors who, nine times out of ten, have ZERO CONTROL OVER THE STORYLINES.

Now, there are exceptions. Jennifer Love Hewitt, who plays Maddie, has pushed back on a couple storylines that were given to her and has therefore had a strong hand in shaping Maddie's character. One infamous (in a positive way) example is that Maddie and Eddie were supposed to be an endgame couple. JLH, however, immediately loved the character of Chimney and clicked with Chim's actor Kenneth Choi, so she asked if Maddie could get with Chim instead, feeling he'd be a better fit for her character. And lo, both the beautiful ship Madney and the insanity that is Buddie shipping was born because Buck ended up stepping into that co-parenting-Chris role that Maddie obviously would've originally filled.

However, it should be noted that JLH was an established star before coming onto 9-1-1, and her husband is friends with Tim the showrunner. I would argue that the only other two actors who have any power on their storylines are Peter and Angela, the latter because she can do whatever she wants forever, and the former because (like Angela) he is an executive producer on the show.

It's not that actors never ever get to have a say ever, but the writers, showrunner, and network have much more power. They create the storylines, they make the decisions. Not actors. So when the actors are repeatedly asked about a ship, they're put in an awkward position where they might not even know the full storyline for their character that season and now they need to answer in a way that doesn't reveal any information they do know, but also doesn't insult shippers or dash their hopes. This is a double minefield for queer ships because, again: historic insults to queer fans and characters, nobody wants to be offensive.

The third reason is that this fandom has, historically, treated Tim, Oliver, and others like absolute dogshit over Buddie not going canon. Oliver's left Twitter and taken big social media breaks because of how he was yelled at online. It's not cool, guys. Vent all you want but directing it at the cast and crew isn't okay and maybe if it was just you talking sternly that would be fine (maybe) but when it's dozens of people? It's bullying. Full stop.

Every single time Buddie has not gone canon instantly, the actors and others have gotten verbally abused on social media. Every time the actors have been asked about Buddie and not said "ohmygod yes I want it to happen so bad" (they are not allowed to say this because it might create false hope because again: historical queerbaiting) they've gotten yelled at. We are tired of the actors getting yelled at over something over which they have no control.

The fourth reason is that Oliver, especially, has gotten asked about Buddie a LOT. A lot. The poor man is very tired. He's been cornered about Buddie and asked about it aggressively by certain journalists (one journalist, Max Gao, actually tried to corner Gavin who plays Chris over Buddie - this was a few years ago so Gavin was even younger than he is now and I personally think that is an incredibly unfairly loaded question to give to a child).

If I may dive into speculation for a moment, given how the actors have been SO gleeful about the move to ABC, the fact that they've admitted ABC is letting them do storylines and little moments that FOX wouldn't, and a few other things I won't get into here because this damn thing is long enough already... I suspect FOX would not let Buddie happen. If this is the case, then actors being asked about Buddie is even more loaded because they are being asked questions about it and they can't say "yeah we want to but the network won't let us." THEY WILL GET FIRED FOR THIS.

But, whether or not my speculation is true, the fact remains that when you are repeatedly, over and over, aggressively asked if this fan ship is going to happen or not, you get tired. There's only so many times that someone can give a diplomatic answer before you just want to snap "stop fucking asking me!" Journalists love to take advantage of fandom and social media chatter to get attention for their articles so asking over and over again about Buddie isn't because they genuinely care or think it'll happen, it's to get shippers reading their article, and so bombarding the actors and writers with this question when they've already kinda said their peace a lot about it is frustrating. Just! Leave them alone!

And AGAIN: if this was a M/F ship there could maybe be room for teasing the will-they-won't-they but because of historically bad treatment of queer characters and fans, THEY CANNOT DO THAT. So the only option open to them is to KEEP THEIR MOUTHS SHUT. And keeping one's mouth shut and threading that diplomatic needle for years is EXHAUSTING.

We do want Buddie to be canon, nonny, and in my opinion we are going to get it. All this recent PR supports that, (again: in my opinion).

However, we have seen Oliver get bombarded with what he thinks about Buddie until the cows come home, and he deserves a break. There's nothing new he can say, there's nothing new he's allowed to say. We have seen other parts of the fandom scream that we're being queerbaited because Buddie didn't instantly go canon, without any consideration for the fact that a) queerbaiting is a marketing tactic and b) there might be other factors at play preventing it going canon. We have seen journalists take advantage of us, the shippers, in order to get attention, and we have seen them create an awkward and embarrassing atmosphere in interviews by repeatedly asking about the ship. We have seen shippers make us look bad by hounding the cast and crew on social media about Buddie, treating every woman actress who plays a Buck/Eddie love interest like shit (yes, I know about Edy, but she could be a saint and parts of the fandom would still go onto Instagram to call her names), and generally being absolute pills that would tempt any showrunner, actor, or writer to say "y'know what fuck 'em let's not make Buddie canon I'm not rewarding this shitty behavior."

"If we want Buddie then shouldn't we be asking Buddie questions?" No. Not like journalists and fans have been. It's something to bring up - in my opinion - sparingly and with an awareness of how queer storylines and ships and fandom have been mocked, ignored, baited, and so on over the years. They don't ask about Buddie because they give a shit. They ask because they want our clicks for their ad revenue and they want our retweets and likes and comments. And it's certainly not something to bombard the actors with on social media and bitch at them if it doesn't happen. It just makes the rest of fandom look bad and makes us look like children.

Additionally: These are not new questions! They're not only asking these questions now that it looks like Buddie will go canon, with serious hope and consideration based on the marketing and storylines. They've been asking this since season fucking two, when Buddie was clearly not planned, just to get fangirl (gn) clicks. They wanted to get attention and teehee over how Oliver/Ryan/whoever reacted to people thinking Buck and Eddie should touch dicks. 'Kay?

We know the pattern. So when every piece of media is screaming BUDDIE!!! we are not seeing it as "OMG could we go canon?" We see it as another round of being taken advantage of for article attention, another round of parts of the fandom being bullies and yelling about being baited, and another round of the actors being backed into uncomfortable corners.

That's why we're concerned, worried, and annoyed.

*collapses* I hope this covered everything and explained it all.

[writergeekrhw]

25 THINGS I’VE LEARNED IN 25 YEARS IN TV WRITING

Well, it’s actually been 30 years now, but here’s a spew I did 5 years ago on the bird app to commemorate my 25 years as a TV writer. 

I’ve edited it a bit for clarity. Hopefully some of you will find it useful.

1. In TV writing (and writing in general) there is only one unbreakable rule: Thou shalt not be boring.

2. Write characters people want to hang out with for an hour or so once a week for years to come. Even if they're bad people, make them interesting, engaging bad people.

3. If your lead is a bad person, make them funny and/or sexy. Direct most of their bad behavior toward other bad people or themselves. Make them well motivated. Maintain rooting interest.

4. What makes a character special should be intertwined with what makes them struggle. Perfect people are boring.

5. Characters should complement/conflict with each other. No two characters should serve the same purpose/have the same backstory/have the same voice.

6. Cast the best actor, adjust the character to suit.

7. Give your leads the best lines/moments. No one is tuning in to watch the funny guest star. Like Garry Marshall said back on HAPPY DAYS, “I’m paying Henry Winkler $25,000 an episode. Give the Fonz the jokes.”

8. Your characters, good & bad, should reflect the reality of our wonderful, diverse world. White male shouldn’t be the default.

9. Avoid stereotypes. Stereotypes are boring.

10. If all your POV characters know some secret, the audience should know it too.

11. If your show hinges on a big mystery, know more or less what the truth is from the beginning. You can change it later if you need to, but write to a specific.

12. If your story doesn’t test your characters mentally, physically, psychologically, emotionally, or spiritually, you don’t have a story.

13. You can start by figuring out the Beginning, the Middle, or the End, but you don’t have an episode until you have all three.

14. Big suspenseful act outs (the last moments before the commercials) aren’t just a gimmick. They’re a good way to structure an hour of entertainment to make sure the audience is invested and your pacing is solid.

15. Every scene should be a consequence of the previous scene or a refutation of it.

16. A scene also needs a Beginning, Middle, and End. The end should propel the characters and/or audience into the next scene.

17. Every scene is a negotiation/confrontation between two or more characters who want different things or have different ideas on how to solve the same problem.

18. A good action scene is still a character scene. With punching. (This applies to sex scenes too, but you know, with sex.)

19. A crap page is better than a blank one.

20. It’s easier to cut than to add.

21. Good things rarely happen in the Writers Room after dinner. Go home, get some rest, write pages at home if you have to, start fresh in the morning.  Writers who have a life outside the writing room are better writers. Beware the showrunner who doesn't want to go home to their family. That said…

22. Script by day one of Pre-Production. No matter what.

23. You’re a writer first. Almost nothing happening on set or in post is more important than the writing. Delegate when possible.

24. Make an extra effort to surround yourself with writers who are different from you (background, race, gender, orientation, etc). Listen to their perspectives, especially on experiences alien to you.

25. And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make. In TV writing and life in general. 

PART TWO HERE:

https://at.tumblr.com/writergeekrhw/25-things-in-25-years-part-2-25-things-ive/okjzwofyiq6i

[barblaz-arts]

HELLOOO!! Im in LOVE with all your Chaggie (and Wenclair obv-) art!! I was wondering if youd be up to share your thoughts on the other hazbin characters? Simply cuz Im very curious and youve been a favourite content creator of mine for a while whose opinions and takes on different things i value A LOT! So id love to hear your thoughts on the rest of the main cast(and more if youre up to it hahha)!

@phantoswordsman15

The main cast huh

Hmmmmm I dont particularly hate them, but I have some opinions that people might not like and I'm aware there's a lot of uh sensitive people in this fandom, so I never said them unprompted

But since you asked!

Alastor

Let's start with the infamous Alastor. I think he's a very entertaining character! His horde of simps annoy tf outta me when they're being misogynistic and homophobic towards Chaggie and Vaggie, but I quite liked him when I make myself forget certain parts of the fandom. He's funny and conniving and intriguing. The fact that he apparently sold his soul is super interesting to me. I'm on board with the people theorizing that he sold his soul to Lilith. I bet he's cozying up with Charlie so that he can use it to break his contract somehow. Feel like he also used the deal with (presumably) Lilith so that he could be strong enough to be the overlord he became.

With that being said, I'm really surprised with the direction they took with him. You'd think that with him being a favorite of the showrunner and the fandom, he would probably be portrayed as the coolest mf in hell. But I really like that it isn't really the case within the show. Certain denizens dont even know him and older overlords like Zestial seems to scare him and Carmilla just dgaf about him. Hell, Alastor's loss to Adam was a lil embarrassing ngl. Like. I know he's one of the oldest human souls and that's why he's powerful but... It's Adam.

Something about him that I noticed is that he seems to be more bark than bite. In particular in his duet with Lucifer, initially Lucifer had the upper hand because he's objectively more powerful, humiliating Alastor with his angel magic, but what Alastor used to his advantage was his words and charisma, as can be expected of a radio host. He's always taunting his enemies, but does it actually make him stronger than them? He "won" that duet with Vox but Valentino said Alastor only"almost beat" him when they had an actual fight. He ruffled Lucifer's feathers but at the end of the day Lucifer is still leagues more powerful than him. He talked big when he was fighting Adam but he almost died and had a breakdown over it.

He's really a lot less "cool" than I expected the show would have him be portrayed as. Kinda pathetic honestly, how he's so insecure and angry whenever he isn't the strongest guy in the room. And i actually really like that! He reminds me a lot of Rumplestilstkin from Once Upon a Time.

Something I kinda hesitate to say tho is... I dont want him redeemed. I dont want him to actually care about the hotel crew and change his ways. I like him as the fucked up man he is and really want to see how fucked up he can be, just so that if he ends up being the huge antagonist, his downfall would be all the more satisfying. Like yunno that moment when Light/Kira was finally defeated? I wanna feel that again.

Angel Dust

I love him! We found his dialogue a lil annoying at first in ep 1 but the writers did a lot better in ep 2. He's a neat guy. His character gives interesting implications for me as to what makes a person a sinner in this show. While you have people like Alastor who obviously ended up where they did because a cannibal murderer, I get the feeling Angel ended up in hell because he was abusing his own body, which is a sad thing to think. If I remember right from my own catholic upbringing, abusing the body is considered a sin because your body is a temple. To think that Angel could be in hell for poisoning himself, not for harming others, is just sad man. I look forward to seeing more of his journey.

I'm not touching on how his SA was tackled btw. While I'm a victim of sexual assault myself, what i experienced was far from what Angel does on a REGULAR basis,so I don't feel like i have any personal or professional right to say anything about it. Not every victim's case is universal anyways. All I can say is, his line about purposefully damaging himself so he could be broken enough to no longer be Valentino's "favorite toy" hit me harder than I ever expected this show to.

Husk

Confession: I... I dont feel all that attached to Husk at all, I am so sorry Husk stans 😭

Okok that feels so mean to say I'm so sorry. I actually hesitated to say anything because I dont want to hurt people's feelings. But since you guys are asking and I dont like not being genuine, I'm telling the truth.

A lot of my feelings about Husk is heavily affected by the fandom anyways to be perfectly fair. Why? Because a lot of criticisms against Vaggie is easily applicable to Husk, maybe even more so, and yet I dont see even the same level of hate towards him that Vaggie received because his chemistry with Angel is so much better than Chaggie... Apparently...

I just dont see Husk as a character outside of being a plot device for Angel's development yunno? I get it, he isn't a main character like the main 4 are(Charlie, Vaggie, Alastor, and Angel), i just find it hard to well and truly like him because of the fandom's double standards. When we found out someone was gonna die in the finale, my brother and I actually thought it was gonna be him because he doesn't have a big enough role to play in the plot to be a HUGE loss, but has a significant enough connection to a main character to have an EFFECT. He very much just felt like the love interest for Angel and nothing else. Which isnt necessarily a bad thing, but is frustrating when i see sooo many people label Vaggie as such(when she isnt!) and hate her SO MUCH for it.

I wanna see more of him tho I really do. Like the man used to be an overlord. He said he wanted to find someone who could relate to "the gruesome ways in which he's damaged" but what does that even mean? Yes i know about the castration but aside from that what suffering is Alastor putting him thru when all he has to do is be a bartender rn? There must be more and I wanna see it and finally feel for him.

Nifty

I love her a lot. That's it. The character ever. Her gremlin energy reminded me so much of Peridot, it's great. Kimiko Glenn did a fantastic job as the comic relief character and I hope she gets her own song next season. Her basically being everyone's little sister was kinda adorable even tho she's probably the scariest person in that hotel next to Alastor. I hope she gets to stab Valentino next. Just kill that MOTHerfucker

[brigdh]

Okay. My thoughts on the Our Flag Means Death finale. Obviously I'm not very happy with the ending, though I'm also not as upset as some people are. I would say I'm discontent. Unsatisfied. Too aware of how it could have been improved, and a bit bitter that we didn't get a better version, but I also don't hate what we did get.

I know a lot of meta has attributed the problems to a shorter season, and absolutely I would have loved to get 10 episodes instead. I would have loved 22 episodes! Why don't we do that anymore? But I don't think the 8 episode length was the ultimate problem. A) The showrunner and writers knew they had only 8 episodes, so they needed to choose a story that fit into that length, but even more importantly, B) my problem is not that they had too much story for too little time, but actually that they had plenty of time and chose to fill it with too little story.

As I've sat with it over the last few days and thought more about the season's arc, it feels to me like we got eight episodes of filler. Filler episodes can be great! Filler episodes can have some of the funniest lines, the greatest scenes, the most intriguing ideas. But filler episodes do not progress character arcs or major themes, and that's exactly the problem this season had.

The only characters who got arcs this season are Izzy, and to a lesser and more rushed extent, Lucius. Which sure is a choice.

Ed and Stede and their relationship did not meaningfully change from S1. (Okay, yes, they had sex, they said I Love You – but these are external changes, not internal. They don't represent character growth. Stede realized he loved Ed and was telling everyone back in 1x10. Ed clearly would have slept with him in S1 if they'd had a little more time.) Ed and Stede in 2x08 are not different from who they are in 2x01. If Ed had asked Stede to be innkeepers in 2x01, does anyone think Stede wouldn't have immediately agreed? One of the big moments in 2x08 is Ed reading a letter that Stede wrote in 2x01! Stede's exact words from the very beginning of the season! What better way to underline that none of the subsequent seven episodes had important growth or changes?

Another one of 2x08's big shippy moments is Ed and Stede running to each other across a beach – deliberately paralleling the dream Stede had in 2x01. What are we supposed to take from this parallel? My original thought was that we're supposed to see how different the real version is from the dream, but there's honestly not many differences. Neither one has a beard, now? The dream mocked how Stede knew they needed to have a conversation about their relationship that he wanted to avoid, but they don't have a conversation in the "real" version either. They exchange about two sentences (which includes Ed's I Love You, yes, which is a big deal but still isn't a conversation) and then they charge right back into the fight, without discussing anything like Ed abruptly dumping Stede to go be a fisherman, Stede killing Ned Low when Ed asked him not to, their differences of opinion on being pirates, if having sex was a mistake or if that's only a thing Ed said because he was panicking, etc etc. They have just as many issues to address as they did in the dream, but just like the dream they act like everything is magically okay without talking about it!

So I think we're meant to take the beach-run parallels as "here's what Stede's been wanting, and after waiting for so long he finally gets it". Which is fine, a very sweet take-away for a finale. But it underlines what I'm saying is the problem of the season: Stede has just been waiting for eight episodes for his dream to come true. Not changing. Not growing. Not doing anything to bring the dream about, other than trying to get himself and Ed into the same physical location. Just... waiting.

This is an extra surprising development, because the show was really good at giving Ed and Stede character arcs in S1! Ed and Stede in 1x10 are significantly different than they were in their first introductions. Also, just to preempt some criticism, by 'progressing' I do not mean 'wrap up literally every loose end and make a firm final ending' – S1's finale is an excellent example of both moving the characters forward and leaving a ton of room for future stories. I wasn't expecting for 2x08 to show us a Stede and Ed who were perfectly on the same page and would never again have a problem. I was expecting them to be somewhat different than they were in 2x01, and I just don't see that.

Instead of arcs, we got little pieces of single-episode growth here and there that never added up to an overall whole. The season brought up a ton of potential arcs for Ed – violence, piracy, guilt, suicide, daddy issues, self-loathing, apologies, redemption, his tendency to idealize escaping into a different life – but didn't do anything with any of these options. Stede had nothing resembling a season arc at all.

Stede works to improve as a captain! Stede kills someone and has regrets! Stede confronts Ed's dark side! <- All potential arcs, but none of which lasted for more than an episode or had consequences. We don't even know what the ending means for Stede: does he want to be an innkeeper because he failed as a pirate in 2x07? Because piracy was always just a displaced search for love, and now that he has love, he doesn't need piracy? What does the crew of the Revenge leaving mean to him? Stede's understanding of their new arrangement literally happens off-screen and we're left to fumble at guesses for its significance to him as an individual.

Ed and Stede's last big conversation in the season is their break-up fight in 2x07, which is a shocking way to send off your main couple in a rom-com. Yes, there's the I Love You on the beach (again: two sentences) and the brief 'let's try to be innkeepers' conversation at the very end, but that's it for them in 2x08, except for their inclusion in some brief large group conversations about their fighting skills and the plan for escaping the British. How can you end your rom-com with the main couple exchanging only a paragraph's worth of dialogue in the finale? None of the stuff was brought up in the fishing fight in 2x07 is ever addressed at all!

Again, I don't think this is solely a matter of time crunch. Instead of using the eight episodes to progress the two main characters, we got a bunch of filler episodes that used the time in amusing side tangents instead of forward progress. I don't think that's the inevitable result of having to work with eight episodes.

Look, I can come up with a better Ed/Stede relationship arc without needing more episodes, and despite only thinking about this for a couple days and not having an entire writing room to work with:

(Note: this only addresses the Ed/Stede relationship. It doesn't fix Stede completely lacking an independent character arc and Ed having about ten thousand of them, none of which went anywhere.)

In 2x05 to 2x07, I would make Ed's motivations in their relationship very clearly that he's pushing Stede away so he doesn't get hurt again. Basically play up Ed's comment about "I was all in" in 2x04, and make him determined not to get 'all in' this time around. This aligns the "let's take it slow" conversation in 2x05, the "sex was a mistake" in 2x06, and Ed running away to be a fisherman in 2x07 into a single arc. He wants Stede, but he's afraid of what that wanting will do to him. He's trying to find a way to have a relationship without making himself vulnerable. He keeps pushing off commitment and openness.

Then, in 2x08, I'd make it more explicit that Ed thinks/fears Stede is dead when he sees the pirate ships burning. I think it's subtext in the episode as-is, but give him a line or two to make it really clear. Ed and Stede still see each other on the beach, have their dramatic run to each other, and Ed says, "I love you". Now this moment is Ed acknowledging his love, exactly what he's been avoiding for the last three episodes.

Near the end of the episode, Ed and Stede have a conversation where Ed says something like, "I didn't want to get hurt again, I was afraid of the risk of falling in love and you leaving again, but thinking you were dead made me realize that never loving you would be worse" (but better written, ha, this is a tumblr post that's already too long). (Also possibly you could tie in Izzy's death here to underline both Ed and Stede not wanting to lose another person they care about, if we must have that plot point for some reason.) We actually get to see Ed asking Stede to come be innkeepers with him, paralleling asking him to run away to China (and paralleling NOT asking Stede to a fisherman), Stede voices some of his worries (paralleling him keeping them inside in 1x09, but also giving him a chance to explain what piracy and love mean to him and why he'd give up one for the other), but ultimately they agree that they at least want to try.

This both puts them into a much clearer place for a happy ending, has clear growth from S1 and the beginning of this season, but also leaves open a ton of room for S3, because welp, it turns out trying to have a relationship entails all sorts of problems! Especially with these two. It also would make me feel like they'd at least addressed some of the issues between them.

Right now I feel like S3 will have to spend at least the first few episodes running through exactly the same "don't talk – break up – get back together dramatically" arc that Stede and Ed have already done twice but have never discussed and never learned from. I liked it, but I don't need to see it yet again. That will – ironically – feel like yet more wasted time, more episodes that are just churning through beats without moving the characters forward. I wanted them to have new, different fights in S3, but now I don't even feel like they've made enough progress to have a fresh set of problems.

[sytokun]

To anyone thinking or saying Dillon Goo is unworthy of acquiring RWBY, not because of anything realistic like finances or the size of his studio, but because he's "just an animator", or just a rando from the internet who cannot write or run RWBY:

Thanks for perpetuating the piece of shit mindset that every soul-sucking corporation and braindead consumer has: that animators have no value or are just there to push buttons and make pixels move for the real creatives.

Animators are artists and creators. They have to work with numerous departments to make things work: They have to know what the writer/director wants, and tell them if it's even possible to put to screen; they have to work with artists and character designers to tell if they can commit that art into moving parts. And for an animated show, they're kind of... I dunno, the entire backbone of its production.

Anyone stupid enough to claim that, by their logic, should claim that Miles and Kerry were "just writers" and don't have the right nor the intelligence to have any opinions on RWBY's animation, character designs or music. That's how I know you have zero fucking idea how any actual media is produced, because in your head, these positions all just exist as separate little boxes in your brain so it's simple enough for you to grasp.

It was "just an animator" who made RWBY in the first place, dumbass. A "rando" making animations on the internet that Rooster Teeth took a chance on, and now he's responsible for their best-selling IP. By comparison, Dillon is starting at a way better starting position than Monty was, with a successful YouTube channel, public support from multiple current and ex-CRWBY like J Grelle (Tyrian's VA), Kim Newman (former animator who animated Sun's gunchucks in V5) and Jessica Nigri (Cinder's VA), and multiple collaborations with big companies like Hoyoverse.

If anything, I'd expect an animator like Dillon to know and care enough about his staff to not give them near-irreparable spinal damage. Gee, I wonder why Newman would think he'd be a better employer to work with? Dillon would know how an animation project is run and budgeted. Him being an animator is a benefit, for god's sake.

Monty had character design sketches but needed help from professional artists to fully design them. He knew bits of the plot but needed help fleshing it out. Do you have enough brain cells to rub together to know that's precisely what Dillon can do, too? Fuckin', I dunno, hire people? For his studio??

I'd rather have an animator run RWBY because RWBY is an animated series and he would know precisely 1) what complements the medium best and 2) the precise limits of what can or cannot work within his budget. By your ass-backwards logic, I would rather get EC Myers to run RWBY's production over Dillon just because he's a writer and has been employed with RT longer.

That's another moronic argument: "He's only been employed by RT for 1 Volume". Man, I don't care if he's been there for zero Volumes, his work clearly shows a greater understanding of RWBY's aesthetic, mainstream appeal and style than its own showrunners have for the past 7 years. Or is seniority in a defunct company responsible for a steadily unprofitable IP suddenly a positive in this business deal?

I need you to be aware that RWBY as an IP is a joke outside of the bubble of its fandom, and I am telling you bluntly as a fan. Nobody takes it seriously and the ones that do only praise it for either its action choreography or its character designs, one of which is guaranteed with Dillon's studio. Diehard fans may love RWBY, warts and all, but all that love and support clearly wasn't enough to keep it alive, because its reputation was already cemented from its own mismanagement.

What you do is you get the right person for the job. And Dillon ticks a lot of boxes for it. If you think he's unable to acquire RWBY because he's not a big corpo or cannot meet Warner's asking price, that's 100% fair. If you think he's unable to create something on the scale of Volume 9, that's also 100% fair, but only if you're attached to the idea that you'd rather have Volume 10 or more of the same RWBY that was operating at a loss than any RWBY at all. Or if you'd rather see a season of 14 episodes 15 minutes long where 60-70% of it is made up of exposition, talking head scenes and increasingly overambitious world expanding, over shorter episodes with amazing RWBY action sequences with a story that never bites off more than it can chew.

But if you think Dillon is unqualified or worse, unworthy or undeserving (what a weirdo thing to say about a person, like owning RWBY is like inheriting the fucking throne of Gondor), all because he's "just an animator" or because he was smart enough to see RT for the meat-grinder hellhole it was and left to find success on his own, you're full of shit.

And if you disapprove of him because of his association with Shane, go find a restroom because your unsightly hateboner is showing. It's been almost ten years since the letter and you all have been holding this unfettered rage clenched between your buttcheeks longer than Shane's ever been with Rooster Teeth.

And for what? Pointing out Rooster Teeth is a fucked place to work at? Whoops, that was true and now it's six feet under for every scandal and worker abuse case they brought on themselves. For stealing and cannibalising their creators' IPs? Whoops, that's fucking true as well.

[pearwaldorf]

I have been trying to write this on and off for a while. I figure the second anniversary of the show is as fine an occasion as any to shove it out into the world. It is not everything I want to say about it, but I think the important bits are there.

It is a human impulse to be seen. To be told, through art, you are not alone. It is universal, but of special importance to people who are not well-represented in media (i.e. everybody who isn’t cis, white, able-bodied, skinny, and conventionally attractive).   

This show speaks to me as a queer person who figured things out later than most of my peers. (Not quite as late as Ed and Stede but not terribly far off either.) It’s not super common to see queer media address this, and I didn’t realize how much I needed that reassurance until I got it. That it’s okay to find these things any time in your life. To be told “A queer is never late, they’re always fashionably on-time.” 

They’re not my first canon queer ship. But they are the first ones where I knew it was true from the get-go. Multiple people assured me this was the case. And yet, I still didn’t believe it until I saw it with my own two eyes. This experience is not unusual for fans around my age.  

After I finished up season one, I laid in bed and cried. It’s not something I thought would affect me so much, but it feels like a weight I’d carried so long I didn’t realize it wasn’t supposed to be part of me is gone.

One of the reasons people unfamiliar with the fandom seem to think it’s absolutely crazy (which some of it is, to be fair, but every fandom has that) is the way fans of the show get extremely super intense about it. It took me a few weeks to realize this is a trauma response. I’m not even sure “trauma” is the right word. It doesn’t interfere with my day to day function, but it lasted for years. Decades. So it was definitely something that fucked me up. And in the way you can only start to see something as you’re moving past it, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get my head around this. (I don’t know if I have anything to say about it yet. Maybe I need more time to sit with it.)

I know this sounds contrary, but I’m really glad David Jenkins does not come from fandom. Sometimes it’s good to know where a line is, and others it’s better to not know there’s a line at all. And this is, sad to say, remarkable to somebody who has had to deal with this for so long. With so many writers and showrunners aware of the line, and getting right up next to it, but never crossing it.

Imagine doing a show with a queer romance and not understanding why this was received with such emotion and fervor, because it’s just two people in love right? What blissful ignorance that this needed to be explained to him! And then he listened to people’s experiences with queerbaiting, and went “Oh my god you thought I was going to do WHAT?” And then you go “Huh. That is really fucked up.” 

The problem with being told something enough, even though you know it’s wrong, is you start to believe it regardless. All the excuses and hedging. It’s so very difficult to do they tell us, when we hear from queer creators how they had fight tooth and nail to make it as gay as it already was. 

And then comes Jenks, just yeeting it out there: majority queer and (not and/or. and) POC cast, an openly non-binary person playing an openly non-binary character. The ability to not have to make one queer (and/or) POC character speak for everybody, so you can inject a tiny bit of nuance into the conversation. The way you can tell more kinds of stories, like the one where the smol angry internalized homophobe comes into his own with the support of a queer community, even though he was a giant fucking asshole to them before.

So many people were like “You can just DO that? It’s really that easy?” And wasn’t that a fucking Situation, to have that curtain pulled aside. What next? Majority POC casts with stories about POC written by POC? Absolute madness. (Please please watch The Brothers Sun on Netflix. It’s so fucking good.) 

And people will scoff and say “Of course a cishet(?) white man would be able to get this pushed through.” But do they usually? The thing I don’t think people understand about allies is they use their privilege to wedge the door open. You still have to do the work to get through, but at least you have a place to start. And it really fucking matters.

The press keeps trying to tell me The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin is the OFMD substitute we need while we float in the gravy basket. I’m sure it’s a perfectly fine show, but I don’t know who has watched OFMD and decided the itch we needed scratched was anachronistic historical comedy.

I want stories written by people that reflect their lived experiences, with actors and crew committed to bringing that to life. And I would like streamers and studios to commit to giving them a chance, and marketing them properly so people know they exist. 

You can keep people satisficed with scraps for only so long. At some point, somebody is going to give them a whole seven course dinner and people will wonder why they’ve been putting up with starving this entire time.

[bm-blog01]

Rumours and Speculations: Is this an explanation for Part 1 of Season 3? WARNING: SPOILERS

After the rumours and leaks earlier week, is the fandom right about why the production has taken the route with Kate and Anthony they have?

*spoilers from this week's leaks are below. DON'T read if you don't know them and don't want to be spoiled.

Last week a comprehensive review of episode 1 of the third season went up on Reddit, in this review the user mentioned that Kate and Anthony decide to leave London to continue their honeymoon, leaving Violet and Benedict in charge. Many are upset about this (rightly so) for a variety of reasons, but some suggested at the time it was a production decision in order to not have Kate and Anthony overshadow Polin. This view is one of many that were promoted as to why the production made the decision they did, but how accurate is it?

This comment below from Reddit, not from a Kanthony fan for the record, expresses a similar view.

Of particular note is that this user clearly states that Kate and Anthony take things to the country so they don't outshine the new leads.

I find this a very interesting comment, specifically in the choice of word outshine. The implication is that if Kate and Anthony were to be in each of the Part 1 episodes (even for 5 minutes) then they have the potential to overshadow the leads and take attention away from them.

IF this is the reason that the writers/showrunner have made the decision to send Kate and Anthony away, then it provides the suggestion that perhaps the showrunner is not confident that the new leads are able to hold their own if the previous leads are still in the show.

This view presented by the Reddit user is actually very disrespectful to Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton, and if it is the reasoning by the production for Kate and Anthony not being in the majority of Part 1 it also shows a level of disrespect from them towards the leads as well.

A further thing to note, if this is the reasoning by the production, it may have backfired on them in a major way. If the idea was to lure Kate and Anthony fans in to watch through promotion, then have Kate and Anthony leave to give everyone the chance to get attached to Polin's story, then it has failed as Kate and Anthony fans are saying they will not watch since they will only be in one episode.

So what would have been better for the production, remove the couple that you think may outshine the leads, or keep them in with a disassociated (but quality) storyline? I would suggest the latter as that would ensure returning viewers, the former risks many not returning to watch at all - which many are threatening at the moment.

Finally, it is important to note that Penelope and Colin have been in Bridgerton since episode 1, viewers know them and have already formed their opinions, so there is less risk that Kate and Anthony will outshine them than if they were introducing a brand new character as the lead to the viewers.

[hello-nichya-here]

Azula's mommy issues how it does (and doesn't) affect her personality and theoretical redemption

Ah, Ursa and how she ties into a possible Azula redemption. I recommend you get a snack and some water, because this answer is gonna be a long one XD

Before we even get to the dynamic between these two characters and how it informed Azula's actions, let's remember THE main thing that is responsible for Azula being the way she is: Indoctrination.

Her nation had been waging war against the rest of the world for 100 hundred years. Azula is 14. For 86 years her family had been telling everyone, including themselves, that the war was just, it was for the good of the world and of the Fire Nation, it was "sharing their glory", it was just them taking over land that was rightfully theirs because of "divine right to rule" (something Azula herself says to Lu Fang when she's taking over Ba Sing Se).

We see children cheering for a puppet version of Fire Lord Ozai in a festival, as he defeats an "evil" Earth Kingdom general. We are explicitly shown that Fire Nation schools lie about things like the Air Nomads, a pacifist culture, having an ARMY that Sozin's men attacked, framing it more as a mutual conflict between equals in which the Fire Nation won, instead of a sudden attack against an entire group of people that were just minding their business.

We see IROH write a letter about how he hopes his family can see Ba Sing Se IF THEY DON'T HAVE TO BURN IT TO THE GROUND to conquer it - and not only do Zuko and Azula both laugh, URSA is also laughing.

Azula was raised to believe her nation had every right to do all the attrocities it commited. And just like Zuko, she is still a teenager, not an adult like her dad, uncle or mom - and while they had less excuse than the Fire Siblings for not knowing any better since they were already grown, they do still have more excuse than Azulon and especially Sozin, since they were ALSO raised to believe that stuff was perfectly normal.

Even if Ursa had been a perfect mom, Azula would likely still be a villain, though maybe less bitter and insecure over feeling unworthy of love (but that would not disappear completely, since Ozai was still an abusive dad that very clearly expected perfection from his children at all times, which is way too much pressure to put on anyone, let alone on two kids. And since she was his favorite, she'd obviously try to copy him, so she wouldn't end up like Zuko, so her more cruel, ruthless side would also be very present).

HOWEVER, that does not change the fact that Ursa's flawed parenting had a deep impact on her daughter.

For starters, even the creators/showrunners and writers of the show have said Zuko is her favorite child - and a parent playing favorites is NEVER good, even if they don't downright abuse the one they don't like as much. And for a kid that is in an abusive home, seeing her brother be treated as completely worthless because he is not the favorite, it isn't that hard to understand how Azula concluded that, if her mom didn't like her as much as she liked Zuko, it's because she didn't like her AT ALL. Add in Ursa's concern over Ozai's influence over Azula and how it's shaping her personality, plus the fact that she said "What's wrong with that child?" WITH AZULA IN THE ROOM, and we have the source of her belief her mom didn't just dislike her, but also saw her as monster.

Because yeah, let's not forget Azula had TWO parents. Two parents that clearly wanted very different things from their children. Ursa was cool with all the imperialism stuff, but she was horrified at the thought of the family being at war with itself, fighting for the crown. She was a bad guy, but she had standards. Meanwhile Ozai was clearly on team "stab everyone in the back to get what you want, then rule by fear." Once her mom was out of the picture, Azula naturally felt like her dad had essentially proven his method was better, since he ended up getting everything he wanted (though Azula does question that in the finale, when she imagines Ursa of all people trying to make her see trying to use fear to force people into supporting/loving her would only further isolate her, showing some part of her DID internalize a point of view that did not align with Ozai's).

But even before Ursa was forced to disappear from her daughter's life, she was already failing to connect with her, but not solely because of Ozai. Think about it. We see lots of scenes of Ursa spending time just with Zuko, and some of her with both of her kids - but never do we get even a single scene just between her and Azula.

When Zuko immitates Azula's bad behavior (because he thought it was cool and funny) and throws bread (not a rock like the fandom insists, BREAD) at the turtleducks, Ursa is visibly shocked and distressed, but she EXPLAINS to Zuko why what he did was wrong (it hurt the baby turtleduck, and thus made the mother mad) in a VERY light-hearted way that he clearly remembers fondly. When Azula says things about Azulon being likely to die soon or Iroh being pathetic, Ursa is shocked and distressed - and either just says "Azula, we don't speak like that" or a very angry "Young lady, not another word" but without ever trying to explain to her why what she did was wrong.

Meanwhile, ZUKO actually says things like "How would you like it if Lu Ten wanted dad to die?" or explaining that Iroh gave up on conquering Ba Sing Se out of grief for his only child. Those two scenes were the CLOSEST Azula got to having someone actually try to explain things to her in a way she could understand - but obviously she's not gonna take her brother as seriously as she would an adult, and Zuko has his own stuff to deal with so he can't step up and be a replacement parent to her like Iroh was to him (and considering how young he was at the time, expecting him to do so would be unreasonable - hell, he likely didn't even notice just how badly Azula needed help until she had her breakdown).

Things get worse if we take the comics as canon (which I don't, but I know a lot of people do). On that version of the story, Ursa goes from "Making effort, but screwed up along the way" to "Neglectful/abusive piece of shit that should have her kids taken away."

Comics!Ursa's idea fo "quality time with her kids" involves talking solely to Zuko and ignoring Azula, instead of interacting with both of them. She doesn't encourage them to spend time with each other like she did in the show. When she is banished, she visits both her kids - but only wakes Zuko up. He gets a sweet farewell so he always gets to remember that, no matter what happened, his mom loved him and did not want to leave him. Azula doesn't get a single word, and is left to believe her mom didn't even bother with her.

Worse of all, Ursa CHOOSES TO FORGET HER OWN KIDS. After she had explicitly said she does not believe they are truly safe living with Ozai. After she explicitly said to Zuko "Never forget who you are." Not to mention, she writes a letter with the fake claim that Zuko is actually NOT Ozai's kid - because she knows he will read it and get mad. She risked putting her son in danger just to piss off her husband. That's what she did to the kid she LIKED. How low would she go if the kid in danger was the kid she didn't care for? Oh, wait the comics answer that too. She never bothered asking ANYTHING about what had happened to her all those years (nor to the kid with a scar on his face, mind you), showed more empathy towards her when she COULDN'T remember who she was (and even then it was just a "If I really am your mom, I'm sorry I didn't love you enough." That's it. That's all Azula gets), and she doesn't do ANYTHING about Azula running away. No asking Zuko or someone else to find her, no crying about losing her again, no indication that she is worried about her safety even though she is all alone and mentally unstable.

The comics really did Azula dirty, and I HATE Ursa in it. It reached the point of "I don't want these two to make up, I want Azula to give a whole speech about how much her mom sucks, just like Zuko did with Ozai" because that's what she deserves. Show!Ursa made mistakes, Comics!Ursa IS a mistake. The sympathy for Azula despite her bad actions grows significantly on that version of the story, because how the fuck can we speak her to not be so mad at the world after all that?

But at last, we need to make an important distinction clear here: It doesn't matter if we are talking about the comics or the show, if we like or dislike Azula, if we do or don't want her to be redeemed, the simple fact still is that she WAS screwed over her entire life, her troubled relationship with her mom had a deep and longlasting impact on her mental health, and there was no way in hell she would have EVER been an innocent little angel that is 100% against everything her evil father does. It's just impossible considering her backstory.

And there is a very clear double-standard in how people talk about the idea of a redeemed Azula VS the reality of a redeemed Zuko. Both start with the premise of "This bad guy has understandable, sympathetic reasons to do bad things, since they were indoctrinated from birth and had a terrible family life", both include the character having to see how their actions are hurting them AND others (including those they care about, Zuko's "victim" being Iroh, while Azula's are Mai and Ty Lee. Plus, they've both hurt each other in some ways, some more deliberate than others), and both culminate with the character turning their life around, confronting those who wronged them, and finding a support system for themselves.

Yet one is treated as revolutionary despite not being the first redemption arc ever (nor the only redemption arc in the story itself), nor being perfectly written (because perfect writting doesn't exist), while the other is labelled as lazy, out of character, or "making excuses" for bad people just because they had a tough life (like Azula is an actual person). There is no thematic or moral difference between redeeming Zuko and redeeming Azula, especially in a show that says "EVERYONE has the potential for great good and great evil" and ends with Zuko telling his abuser he hopes he'll also have a change of heart someday, even if he is not sticking around to witness or actively try to make it happen.

Redeeming Azula is no different than redeeming Zuko. It's perfectly fine to want to just one of these things instead of both, but it is NOT a superior choice in anyway, and it's very hypocritical of the same fandom that criticizes the idea of a redeemed Azula because "mommy issues isn't a good enough reson" when they can't stop praising the redemption arc that has "the villain had daddy issues" as it's core premisse. Personal preference is one thing. Being a dick about it is another.

[mirageofadesert]

Give me more morally gray characters ...

Let me interrupt my regular program for a brief rant about Downton Abbey and Thomas Barrow… well, not really regular as I've been too busy to watch anything with subtitles for the past few weeks. Instead, I passively binged on Downton Abbey while working.

I love morally gray characters, be it Tantai Jin from TTEOTM or Spike from Buffy. One of my favorite characters is Thomas Barrow from Downton Abbey. (Spoiler Alert, TW // suicide, homophobia, conversion therapy)

Thomas is everything I need in a character ... unhinged, angsty and gay.

I loved him from the first rude line to the last. He starts out as a delightful troublemaker with a cruel streak born of fear, hurt and the desire to be respected, fit in and belong. He is, as Baxter understands so well, his own worst enemy, having perfected self-sabotage over the years.

A supporting character for most of the show, the footman-turned-butler's story is usually prioritized over his character development - meaning the writers know where they want him to end up each season, even if it contradicts previous characterizations. This leaves the audience with a character who can be hard to follow at times.

The writing really got on my nerves at times. From conveniently forgetting his medical training when they want him to despair during his job hunt, to pulling any kind of cunning out of him when they want him to appear changed (and depressed), Thomas is always what the showrunners need him to be, but not necessary what would make sense for his character. I'm still annoyed that they made him go through medical torture in the form of conversion therapy and a suicide attempt, and then glossed over these traumatic incidents in favor of boring other storylines. Or how they portrayed his war injury as an act of cowardice rather than desperation.

What I love about him is that he was still a coherent character who remained a morally gray character (the last film aside, because they sort of forgot to give him any of his character traits back). Thomas would still lash out when he was angry or hurt, would still manipulate others for his own gain, and would still feel wronged by the world. Once the world has brought him to his knees, he understands that he has only himself to blame, and he tries to do better - which has its ups and downs. The Thomas we see in the final and in the films still wants to belong, is still a desperate romantic, but he is also so incredibly insecure in a rather endearing way.

Younger Thomas was rather stiff but dignified, trying to appear immaculate, trying to hide the fact that he felt he was anything but. Once the mask comes off, he goes from being a reluctant cat to being full of nervous puppy energy. As a neurodivergent person who has recently struggled with not being able to masks well, I can relate a little too much to this version of Thomas.

Most characters, that start out as villains, either change completely (like Tantai Jin), their behavior will be excused (like Mo Ran or Spike) or they sacrifice themselves for the greater good to redeem themselves (like Spike). Thomas stays more on less morally gray. We understand the reasons better, why he would lash out at others, and we can feel sorry for him. He had a harder life than most, but that still does not undo the harm he has done to others.

All in all, the last film was a bit of a disappointment for me, mainly because a lot of the characters felt a bit off. I had to watch the film twice to get behind the romance with Guy Dexter. What Guy meets is Thomas desire to be respected as a person, to be seen as worthwhile, to escape the life as decorative wallpaper and to finally have a romantic relationship with someone that is rather enthusiastic about him. A lot of their relationships seems to have developed off-screen, based on Guy knowing who Carson was during his proposal and understanding how uncertain Thomas still feels about his role in the household. I wish them well - but not at the expense of Thomas being excluded from the rumoured 3rd film. I hope it takes place in the USA and we get to see him again!

I really wish we would see more morally gray characters like this, even through a quick look into the fandom of Downton Abbey shows me, that not everybody can handle it.

[canonicallyobserving911]

My thoughts on how bad season 7 ended up being can be summed up in one sentence and it's based on a quote I heard from a former employment director. He used to tell us all the time, "When you fail to plan, you plan to fail!" And I think that's what happened to season 7 of 9-1-1 since they were still writing while the main cast was filming the remaining episodes.

After TM's most recent interview, in which he admitted he doesn't plan seasons out beforehand, I felt justified in my analysis but the question is has it always been like this? IMO, the answer is NO! And that's because it wasn't like this for seasons 2 and 3. They were planned out and the continuity was there which made everything better than the mess that was season 7.

Honestly, I don't understand how anyone can run a multi-million-dollar business or a TV Show (I do get it because some people aren't organized but usually, they don't stay in a leadership role for long) and be as unorganized as the showrunners have been for the last few seasons of 9-1-1. It literally costs between 9 and 10 million dollars per episode to produce it but nothing they've been doing lately has lived up to those high costs. Please understand this is not about the cast, crew or the directors because they don't have control over the scripts. They have a WRITING TEAM which means TM didn't have to spend 40 straight hours while he was lying in a hospital bed writing the first 3 episodes. He chose to do that and since the writers returned to work in October of 2023, what were they doing that whole time because they were already promoting the cruise ship disaster at the end of November?

An example of how ridiculous it is for TM to not have a plan can be equated to a construction company. People who build homes and buildings have to plan in advance before they start or else it'll end badly. They can't just start building a home or a business without a blueprint because if they do, the bathtub could end up in the kitchen and the garage might not have a driveway. Builders have to order supplies and materials like drywall, tools, windows, appliances etc., far in advance so they'll have the things they need when they get to a particular step in the building process. Therefore, how can anyone handling multiple storylines for the main cast of a popular TV show like 9-1-1 go into a season without an overall plan? They shouldn't and if they continue down that path, IMO upcoming seasons will end up being even worse.

It doesn't make any sense at all to me and hopefully, season 8 won't be a repeat of seasons 5, 6 and 7.

House M.D. is one of my favorite shows of all time because Gregory House was a brilliant doctor and even though he was a complete jerk sometimes, I liked it because the creators and the showrunners knew when it was time to end it. After 8 seasons, they decided to call it quits so they could go out on top. Any good show worth it's weight knows when they're running out of good stories and they know when to end it. It happened with the Sopranos too. They ended it after season 6 because Tony Soprano had already done the things he needed to do in therapy and his families (personal and mob) were personified. They couldn't take the show anywhere else, so they ended it.

Please understand, if you've never seen a TV show stay on and keep airing episodes past its prime (Grey's Anatomy and Law & Order SVU are two examples but there are others) you have no idea what it could be like. Viewers end up hate watching them and hopefully that won't happen with 9-1-1 but if they don't do something soon, like let the characters grow professionally and show them moving on from their previous mistakes and pasts (looking at the "Vertigo" storyline because Eddie should be allowed to move on from Shannon since it's been six years) it could end up being their fate too.

Even though I've never watched Grey's, I have watched SVU and for the past few days, I've been rewatching season 14 when Rafael Barba (my favorite A.D.A.) arrived on the show and I instantly noticed a stark difference between it and the most recent seasons. It's so good and its way better than the trash they're producing right now. Olivia Benson is the SVU captain but they've been centering all the episodes around her character (like season 6 was all about Buck) but it's time for her to be promoted to chief so Detective Joe Velasco and Detective Terry Bruno can be in charge of SVU. They're the future of the show but if they keep sidelining them, who knows if they'll get a 27th season. It's so boring now and I wish they'd bring Barba back but I digress.

I don't watch a lot of TV because most of it is reality, news and game shows (I don't like those but for those who do, no shade) but I do watch 9-1-1 and I'd hate to leave it in the dust like I did CSI and Chicago P.D. but I will once it's no longer entertaining.

I still haven't decided if I'll watch season 8 (I'm 95% sure I'll treat it like I did season 5, watch the episodes weeks after they air, so I won't get pissed off or I won't watch them at all like I did 5x7 since Eddie wasn't in it) but I refuse to sit through another season like the cluster "F" that season 7 was. I don't want to see another doppelgänger or anymore LIs that are used to delay CANON Buddie.

I needed to get this out of my mind and write it so I can move on.

It's ok to have an opposing opinion but if you do, post it on your own blog and don't reblog this because if you do, I will block you.

[thestupidhelmet]

I’ve honestly never seen a fandom like this that insists they know the characters better than the creator of it. I’m thinking lots of thoughts

Truthfully, sometimes fans do. Or the actors do. Creators don't always put character first but plot or a punchline or whatever they think will make more money. The characters are then manipulated to act contrary to their established personalities or undergo what's called character drift.

As a novelist and short story author, whose education focus was creative writing and the study of literature, I learned about character consistency among the other elements that create a story and what's called its fictional dream by John Gardener (author and teacher of writing fiction). To quote him:

"If you're writing fiction then anything can happen -- so long as you earn it by making your world believable. Your readers will stop reading if you bore them or break their suspension of disbelief."

The T7S writers broke the show's fictional dream many times by manipulating characters to act against their established development (for plot and punchline). They even knew they were doing so in one particular instance and acknowledged it in the episode itself via dialogue (very meta of them, but the acknowledgement doesn't change the fact they didn't do enough to maintain the audience's sense of disbelief).

Major character shifts must be prepared for, grounded in the writing significantly, to make it a believable shift. It doesn't even need much, but it needs to make sense for the character. A good example of this is in the T7S episode where Red openly and serenely says, "I love you," to Eric. The whole storyline has Eric (among other characters) confused about Red's totally inexplicable change, a confusion the audience shares.

Later, the show reveals Red had been drugged at the dentist for a procedure and that the drugs hadn't worn off (substantiation of the momentary character shift) when he tells Eric he loves him.

A good example of a major character shift breaking the fictional dream and the audience's suspension of disbelief is Hyde drunkenly marrying a stranger during the two weeks he spends with her in Vegas. This change happens after Hyde spends almost a full season succumbing to then fighting against his marriage fears (from his traumatic childhood) to commit fully to the only girl he's ever been in love with for three years.

Struggling for a year to commit fully to a future with the girl he loves but able to commit fully to a future with someone he doesn't know longer than two weeks and doesn't love -- these are two different characters.

(It would have taken half a season to substantiate the change, another half a season to explore the change, another half a season for Hyde to understand his reasoning for the change and confront it, and another half a season for him and Jackie to reconcile. This storyline would have needed two seasons to make character-sense.)

This change goes completely against Hyde's long-established nature and development -- without any foundation underlying it. The writing doesn't substantiate the change. The season 8 showrunners expected the show's fans to accept the change without question. Their expectations were not met.

They broke the fictional dream to serve their own interests rather than the characters. If they didn't like T7S's seven years of development, they never should've taken the job. Instead, they warped the characters to their (the S8 showrunners') will until the characters were unrecognizable as themselves.

A show's audience is no different than the reader of a book. If a novel establishes that it's protagonist is a compassionate person, then readers expect that compassion to be consistent. It can be tested, pushed to the limit, even break -- but the choices must stem organically from the character, not the author's whim.

On Star Trek: The Original Series, although Leonard Nimoy did not create Spock in the character's most basic form, he did create much of what makes Spock who he is (as did one particular director in one early episode). Nimoy, the actor, imbued Spock with his own life experiences.

From the Vulcan neck pinch (logical, nonviolent Vulcans would have a logical, nonviolent way to subdue an assailant, he reasoned, rather than what the script called for: lots of physical fighting) to the famous Vulcan salute, to Spock's experience of being part of two worlds and feeling alien in both, all Nimoy.

Whenever a script veered from what Nimoy, the actor, believed was in Spock's character to do, he sent memos to whoever ran the show during whichever season, stated his concerns, explained them, then offered an alternative and in-character idea. Because he had the pull (no Star Trek without Nimoy, who was the show's biggest draw), his suggestions were always taken seriously and implemented.

And they were right. He did not create Spock, yet he knew Spock better than any of the writers did. Better than the man who created him.

And, yes, sometimes book readers or a show's audience know the characters better than the writers.

Gregg Mettler, the T7S writer brought onto T9S as a creator did not do his due diligence when creating the future of the T7S characters. By his own admission, the extent of his research was Wikipedia. He didn't rewatch the show. Quite frankly, he could have read the essays and metas myself and other fans have written to get a better handle (and understanding) of the T7S characters than he did from Wikipedia.

A portion of a show's audience often does understand and respect the characters better than their official writers. They put the characters first rather than creating buzz for the show, catering to network or actor or their own whims, or focusing on the show making money through stunt casting, etc.

While we can't affect what's put on screen, we have the freedom to discuss and debate what we see as character drift or character inconsistencies. To write fanfic that's more true to the characters than the show is.

I hold TV shows to the same standard of storytelling as I do novels. Unfortunately, the TV business does not. The all mighty dollar is what matters first, second, and third to many people in the industry. Not creative authenticity, originality, or consistency. I'm always pleased (and pleasantly surprised) when I watch a show where the characters are put first. These shows exist, but they're rare.

[infinitestalia]

What route do you think the showrunners will take season 2

Lol a bit late to respond now, but pretty much everything that has happened in terms of the bastardisation of Alicent's character. I said last season if she continued to bootlick Rhaenyra after B&C, she could go kick rocks. And somehow they've done worse than that. Doesn't give a fuck that her grandson was beheaded, doesn't care that Helaena's life is destroyed because of Rhaenyra, doesn't care that Aegon is a burned twig, doesn't care that all Aemond's villainy comes from being blinded in one eye by Rhaenyra's devil spawn. It's just boo hoo, I'm a bad mother, boo hoo, my bestie deserves better, boo hoo, I should be regent, hang on, let me drown myself after being the one to set everything in motion. Not exaggerating when I say one of the worst written characters of all time. I know S1E7 Alicent and that beautiful knife is rolling in her grave. This is the writers punishing her for daring to have one episode not hanging off Rhaenyra's ass.

I knew Aegon would be the most compelling character, despite these hack writers. I knew Team Black would continue to get pandered to. What I didn't see coming was them apparently axing Nettles for that boring ass Rhaena. Didn't see the complete idiot they've made out of Aemond- he has now been made the sole cause of almost every major Team Green downfall and don't be surprised when they make HIM responsible for Helaena jumping to further absolve saint Rhaenyra. But everything else is as bad as I expected.

[sweetaprilbutterfly]

I will not wait for the release of the finale (although not all, but I know from leaked what will happen) to pass judgment on House of the Dragon and it is DISAPPOINTING SHIT.

Even when there was the first season, I didn't expect anything from hotd, the 1st season was normal, there were interesting characters, but in general the plot is simpler than in GoT.

I read about Dance of the Dragons in Fire & Blood and treated the changes as normal, because the general plot was more or less close to the book. But with the release of the 2nd season, the book became less and less with each episode and the characters don't resemble themselves, not even like themselves in the 1st season.

Like what have they done to Alicent😭:

“The city is yours, Princess. But you will not hold it long. The rats play when the cat is gone, but my son Aemond will return with fire and blood” versus “When he’s gone, I will see to it that our guards throw down their arms and open the gates.”

Quote source X

Book Alicent would kill show Alicent for what she does in season 2. Alicent betrayed herself and her family for the "love" to Rhaenyra, this is so stupid and this is not Martin, but some kind of comedy or soap opera.

And I don't understand why Condal is so attached to the prophecy and why he so wants Rhaenyra to be Dany 2.0, when book Rhaenyra is better and more interesting than the show one and he will not change her fate, she will still die, although they will probably change how it will happen.

After the leaks, I'm no longer Team Green, I'm Team Aemond, even though the writers messed him up too, but I hate it when showrunners try to make someone "bad" on purpose to everyone hate. They could never make me hate you Aemond.

HBO needs to remove from the credits that it is based on the book by George R. R. Martin, and write that all this is the work of the mediocre Condal and has nothing to do with the books.

Condal and Hess and the other screenwriters should get a lot more hate than D&D. Condal & Co. are the worst showrunners in the world, to have a completely finished book material and to do what they did is just something incredibly terrible.

For all its faults, Game of Thrones was phenomenal and even seasons 5 and 7 (the worst GoT seasons in my opinion) are better than what Condal and Hess did in season 2.

The asoiaf fandom is so weird. After the final of GoT, the rating on imdb and other platforms collapsed, and here HotD already in the 2nd season abused the canon so much and the majority approves of it??? Yes, I'm one of those people for whom the finale of GoT is normal, but I still can't come to terms with the fact that Arya killed NK, it should have been JON and I don't agree with Jon ending, but in general the season is better than 5 & 7. So I hope all those who so unfairly condemned GoT will rightly condemn HotD and collapse the rating, and maybe the leaks will reduce the rating of the show.

The hotd cast are great, but I don't think I can watch season 3 after this shit, there's no hope of it getting any better.

Condal really wanted hotd to be like GoT, but it didn't work out, it's very far from the grandiose level of GoT, GoT was and will be the best no matter what.

[foxwitchaine]

Which is your most hated character in Miraculous Ladybug?

I wouldn't say hate so much as strongly dislike, as it takes a lot for me to outright loathe a fictional character. More often than not, I have better things to spend my energy on than hating a fictional character.

But if I were to answer that, five take the top spot:

1.) Lila Rossi

I know. Surprising, isn't it. Well, it's all fun and games until you actually meet one in real life. And it's frustrating as hell getting those with the wool over their eyes to listen until it's too late. I have to emphasize that it wasn't originally part of the plan to redeem her in the early drafts. It was thanks to Rafe that I even considered doing a Lila redemption.

Lila had a lot of potential in the early seasons. Of course, that was before she was turned into a one-dimensional villain with little in the way of making her interesting. It says something that I got the feeling the showrunners were trying to make her hateable without actually putting in the effort while reading the Chameleon transcripts. (I had to stop reading to settle my blood pressure)

All in all, Lila is just a symptom of a bigger underlying issue regarding the show's writing. I personally think she has a very nice design, but it looks better in 2D than 3D.

2.) Gabriel Agreste

He's a severely underwhelming main villain. At the start, he had potential. But as the series drags on, it's become painfully clear that the showrunners don't actually know how to make a compelling main villain. He was surprisingly much more intimidating and better-designed in the pilot PV.

Gabriel also lacks the charisma you would find with iconic main villains such as Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII, the rogues gallery in the first Powerpuff Girls, Batman's rogues gallery, and so on. I could make a whole post about how to write Gabriel better, but I don't feel like resurrecting a dead horse.

3.) Adrien Agreste

The poster boy for wasted potential. When Rafe and I first started watching Miraculous Ladybug, Season 2 hadn't been released yet. He was nice, if a bit bland. Could have used some flavorblasting in both design and personality (he's a fashion model, for crying out loud. Where's his fabulous wardrobe?)

And then all the red flags in Seasons 3-5 started popping up.

As it stands, he's nothing more than a plot device to humiliate poor Marinette. And a mouthpiece for the writers' very skewed morality. We weren't going to redeem him at first, but then it occurred to me a fantastic way to strike a devastating blow against Gabriel. I won't say anything more since they're spoilers.

4.) Alya Césaire

Ohhhh boy. Where do I even begin with this one? Disregarding the racism allegations towards the writers regarding her character, Alya is just an awful best friend, plain and simple. While it's true that she's a go-getter who isn't afraid to go for what she wants, that same trait has pretty much been solidified into a toxic trait courtesy of her refusal to question Lila later in the show. Even after Marinette broke down in front of her and confessed her secret identity in Gang of Secrets.

I will forever hate that episode just for how entitled everyone was about Marinette's secrets.

When Rafe and I were brainstorming who to use as our civilian antagonist to fill in for Lila, it was rather telling that Alya was among our first choices. It wasn't our intention for her to fall as hard as she did in The Wolves in the Woods, but honestly? It was inevitable.

5.) Caline Bustier

She's a non-authority figure who coddles the troublemakers in her class. I'm restraining myself at the moment because I've had teachers just like her in real life. Who look good on paper and are the sweetest people on the outside. But their inability to discipline a class regardless of behavior does a lot more damage in the long run than many would care to admit.

Bustier is a character who I could have grown to understand if the writers handled her better. The biggest brat of the school is the daughter of the city mayor. That right there is a beautiful setup for interesting conflict. We could have gotten a plot where we had a good, caring teacher trapped in a terrible situation by her superiors. Which is unfortunately something that can and does happen in real life. Instead, we got an airhead who can't for the life of her understand this simple thing called nuance.

I find it very telling the fandom prefers Mendeleiev over her.

Honorable Mentions:

Principal Damocles: Too much of a spineless noncharacter to really care about

Tom and Sabine: I try to understand the parents' side of things given parenting is far from an easy task

Bustier's class: A mixed bag here, since I don't think they're necessarily bad kids

Mayor Bourgeois: Again, another mixed bag here since he's another spineless "parent"

Zoé Lee: Too much of a blank slate to have an opinion on

Félix Fathom: What kind of a name is that?

Master Fu: He was done so dirty in his backstory

Chloé Bourgeois: Another with wasted potential

[swan2swan]

Let's talk about what happened with Brookenji.

And no, I don't mean the fallout in Chaos Theory. I mean what happened in the original show. At least, what I believe happened. This is--mind you--total Conspiracy Board style speculation based on little pieces of evidence collected and gathered throughout my years looking into behind-the-scenes stuff and following social media. It would really help if I could find one particularly tweet, but I think it was deleted either in anticipation of spoilers or just because he regularly deletes them.

But...here's the one responsible for that:

Xi.

Xi was the Original Ben, as you can see. Young and nervous. While Ben was...

Well. Ben. Big Ben. But obviously the jock character. The tall, smarmy, rich white guy.

You may be able to see where this is going, but I submit this evidence to you from my memory, and you'll just have to trust me:

One of the showrunners of Camp Cretaceous tweeted ages ago (Season 1-2, well before Season 4 and the Nonsense), tweeted about how there's a disappointing lack of Asian romantic leads in media.

And you know what? He's right. Very much so! Think of ten major tentpole movies from the past thirty years and pull a Japanese, Korean, Chinese, or Vietnamese romantic lead. No, no, no, not the women! The men. An Asian man.

"Oh, well, Shang Chi--" no. Don't get cute.

The fact is, it's just...not a thing that happens. And I think one of the goals with Camp Cretaceous was to change that. Just like they struck ground with Yaz and Sammy being an interracial wlw romance in a children's cartoon, they were gonna put an Asian dude in the romantic partner position.

By now, you obviously see where this is going...and what happened:

If Xi had remained the scared kid, he would have fallen from the train. He would have grown in the jungle and emerged as a wild child. He would have an mmensely different feel in Season 3 where he was breaking away from the group and determining to stay on the island...until the end, when he bonded with the group.

And that is when Brooklynn--or Jules, rather--would have suddenly taken interest in him. Xi and Jules, the wild kid and the rich girl. It would be cute!

But they changed things and took them in a different direction--possibly pretty close to the time the show started. Which meant that the whole first half of the show barely had any setup planned for Kenji and Brooklynn, as they were now known...and they didn't really want to go with Ben and Brooklynn. Especially with how strong the dynamics between Ben and Bumpy and Ben and Darius became.

But they still had to set up the Brookenji romance, and the plans for OG Ben and his Rich Dad to shatter the group dynamic suddenly had to adjust...and you know what? Throwing the romantic strain into it was a pretty good idea! Not bad! But...with the timing of his arrival, the writers only had one season left to them. So they had to jam it all into one season, because there was a little race-swapping done at the last minute that wound up being super-crucial to the endgame.

And personally?

As messy as Brookenji was, I think it was better for them not to remain rigidly focused Xi-Jules and turn it into Ben-Brooklynn. While it would have neatly paired off everyone for the final seasons--Ben and Brooklynn having their Rich Girl/Wild Child romance, Kenji and Darius having their Friends-to-Brothers arc as Kenji betrays the group for his dad (SEE HOW SMOOTHLY THAT WORKS, TOO?), and Yaz and Sammy...well, you know...I think I like what we got with Ben a lot more.

But you can see how the original plan of broad strokes would have been a lot smoother. Turned out that the characters evolved more than planned. And obviously they could have stuck with the Kenji/Darius focus being the main fallout of the group...but that also sort of leaves Brooklynn high and dry with regards to the plot. What's she got left? Though, also...looking back on those seasons...even her romance with Kenji didn't do much for her. Probably because it wasn't really supposed to be a thing. We don't know what the plans for Jules were in the original script, but when those got ditched (PRESUMABLY. THIS IS ALL ME SPECULATING!!!), they had to scramble with her. Maybe she was supposed to have more parental issues. I dunno.

But whatever the truth is, I do still maintain that Kenji was written to be a romantic guy with that in mind. Listening to Brooklynn's color preferences, feeling awkward, being protective...eck, he even kept that rizz through to the new series:

But the bottom line is that Kenji isn't Xi. He didn't have the growth that was planned for Xi, which would have tsngentially influenced Brooklynn/Jules's sudden interest in him.

This is also one of the consequences that comes with having shows compressed and rushed so much in the modern era. If we'd been getting filler episodes over the seasons, they might have been able to start building Kenji and Brooklynn up during the E750 arc, if not sooner.

NOTE: I'm not sure what the scripting and planning timetables were with this show. But from what I've gathered, the characters were swapped well after the conceptual stages. And they made it work! There's still a coherent story! I think the sloppiness just came because they had to hurriedly change tracks on some parts, and we noticed.

[a-girl-in-neverland]

Once again, im here to complain about the bridgerton subplots and changes

So spoiler for Season 3 ahead

I hated that they just cast Anthony and Kate aside. Do they really had to go RUNNING to India and couldnt wait for FRANCESCA'S WEDDING???? Hello??? Werent they the head of the family??

The intention with that is great and loving but is the showrunner allergic to having Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley in our screens for more than 3 minutes????

Like at that scene of the night before Polins wedding. Colin mentions that Kanthony has "come back"??? From where??? Did they run off again??

(Also i would really like to know who Edwina married and a bit of her love story)

The way in which the writers simply forgot about benedict's art/painting plot is atonishing. The build up of S1 to S2 was great, with the art school, but then in S3 is like that never happened?? Why didnt they explore more Benedict's lack of purpose or even his disappoinment with Anthony's actions?? Noooo, they just rather have him have sex with people all season long

(Before you come after me, im not critizing Benedicts sexuality, im just pissed that his character had barely nothing to do this season other than have sex, but i did enjoy a lot his scenes with eloise)

The Mondrichs plot was sooooo inconsequential and had nothing to do with any other one in the entire season. What was the point of keeping them?????

Somehow the writers in this show can make up irrelevant plots for lukewarm characters but cant come up with anything for the most beloved ones

And lastly about Michaela Stirling. So many people on twitter are fighting over this that is sickening. But lemme tell you this, all my life i had the pleasure (or better, the experience) to see many books i adore turn into movies/tv shows. Sometimes in adapting change is good, sometimes is necessary. But this change alters the whole story.

To be clear, i am NOT trying to be disrespectul, or homophobic or even mean about it. I dont mind the representation. In fact i think stories centered around LGBTQ+ leads, in this period of time, is a niche that could be much explored. Bridgerton could inspire people who belong in this community to write these stories, which is great.

However, the change of introducing Michaela completely transforms Francescas story. The second-love with the exploration of sexuality trope has great potential. But changing so greatly a story thats well known between the fans is risky to say at least.

Francescas book is not my favorite (by far actually) but it is for a lot of people, and a lot of readers have been enamoured with michael for the last 20 years, at least. So i understand if people get upset, because i would too if my favorite couple/story changed so much out of the blue

And honestly, i think this is one of the ways the show is trying to remain relevant. I AM NOT trying to say that TV should use LGBTQ+ love stories as clickbait. But be serious, the books were written as 8 straight love stories, in todays society people would be complaining if they followed if by the rule.

Anyway, Polin were wonderful. Nicola and Luke you are so so so loved, we couldnt have actors that loved their characters more

(And at this point i might be a Portia Featherington stan, she grew a lot on me)

If you read this far, i hope you have a great week and please dont come for my critics, they are not hate opinions, i just needed to rant <3