#no s3 spoilers in the tags I haven't had time to watch it :(

[enigmaticvariation]

yellowjackets fans who don't fuck with taivan are the weakest links. you all will see two skinny feminine white girls stand next to each other and wax poetic about how much they mean to each other and their beautiful homoerotic longing but the moment there's a canonical lesbian relationship between a black woman and her butch girlfriend suddenly you don't give a fuck. "Oh, but tai cheated on her wife.." THEY EAT PEOPLE!!! THEY'RE ALL MURDERERS!!!! WHY ARE WE POLICING THEIR MORALS SIT DOWN AND ENJOY THE TOXICITY LIKE THE REST OF US!!!

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hey, can you tell me more about how Lestat's turning was? The show gave us glimpses of it with 1x06 and 2x08, but I haven't gotten there yet and I'm curious. I know it was one of the most traumatic ones, if not he very worst. You don't need to tell me everything. because I'm assuming that must be long. but I'm okay with lengthy answers and spoilers, so it's up to you. Thanks. :)

Hey!

(so I decided to not post the book quotes in here after all, I do think they impact most when read in the story.)

Lestat's turning is abduction (from his bed where he is sleeping with Nicolas), being held captive, and being turned against his will. It is written as rape with forced orgasm. In the book it happens within a day or two, but the show has expanded the time frame to a week already, so they are planning to make it... worse.

Lestat fights Magnus every step of the way, literally, vocally and mentally. He says 'no' when asked, even when on the threshold of death. He does not want to become a monster. Magnus feeds on him, repeatedly, throws him into a cell with the ones he has "discarded" before. "Makes" him love him, by sending spells and visions, tortures and physically hurts him.

It is horrific. And I do think it will be worse on the show.

Rolin Jones is on record on the season 1 podcast, saying Lestat had the most traumatic entrance to it all:

“If I had to line them up and say who had the most traumatic entrance into this world as a vampire, it's Lestat. You have no idea the baggage that he is carrying into North America. We are playing with point of view and stick with Lestat. He's got a lot of pain, folks.”

And he's right.

We have had only hints, and ... given what the book gives us? And given what the show does, namely dial the darkness up to 11?

It's going to be horrific to watch.

I was prompted a while back to write about it, and the result is a fic where I tried to exorcise my own fears wrt what will be part of s3... if you want to read it, it's "Monstrous are what monsters be", but do consider the tags, please.

[biolizardboils]

so heads up! im popping a LOT of Prime Season 3 posts into the queue--they'll start coming out one week from now, on January 22nd! if you can see this post and haven't watched it yet, here's some tags to block: #prime spoilers, #sonic prime spoilers, #sonic prime s3 spoilers, #sonic prime season 3 spoilers.

got all that? great! here's my final unorganized little rambles about the show:

shoutout to Rusty Rose's Birdie, who only appears in the very first and very last eps for some reason 😭 her speech about it not being her power source came outta nowhere too, but i loved the message behind it

when everyone arrives at the Grim, just before the ep ends, Nine starts breathing heavily and it. instantly reminded me of Movie!Tails when the bar was calling them freaks. fuck. its a nice reminder of where Nine's coming from

speaking of Nine his poses getting more unhinged over time!! hell yeah

i love that the final fight(s) felt like a kid smashing 3 different Lego sets together, real Robot Pirate Island shit

i laughed a little too hard when the Grim's dome started closing in cus Nine's citadel-thing already reminded me of a thing that happened in Fortnite once, but hell naw they had to add The Storm too sdfghj

METAL BIG DESTROYED ME LJKHGFDV im SO glad i wasnt spoiled about it!!! a while in i started finding it creepy instead of funny, which is an added bonus

i was spoiled about the Advance flashback and its clashing sprites though. the utter whiplash of seeing that without warning mightve made me choke on my hot cheeto puffs. someone's already remade it btw, check it out

i fistpumped at the small reprise of "me beauty" gfhjk ill miss you so much Dread

we're four years into the 2020's and Sonic has nearly died an agonizingly slow death 3 times in 3 different continuities! and dare i say it was delicious every time >:)

unless Word of God says otherwise I'm gonna assume that the giant shadow at the end was The Return Of Metal Big lpoihgfds

So... Twitter, huh? My spoiler filters there had some leaks, and I saw some discussion out of context that... actually made me kinda scared to finish the show. But then I did, and had fun with it just like the other two seasons, and I remembered that Twitter gets high-strung about things that don't matter so much, and that giving it sway over how much I enjoy things is silly lol.

Yes, I think the last season could've been paced differently so it wasn't 5 episodes of the same Final Boss Fight. Yes, I think the writing switches jarringly between gearing for a young new audience and for a seasoned old one. Yes, I think the 2D flashbacks look and move worse than what fans constantly make for free. Yes, I think the final episode doesn't do nearly as much housekeeping as it should (does the Shatterverse still exist or not??). Yes, I think declaring the show is canon to the games or whatever they said probably wasn't the best idea. And yes, I think Black Rose should've had a shoulder-parrot!Birdie to match the other Amys. All valid critiques! All sensible things to think when you've been around the Sonic bush!

But I swear to god, people on Twitter act like these things spoil the whole package. Where's the nuance? Why does every opinion there become an absolute worth tearing others down for? Is it the character limit? I bet it's the character limit.

There's so much I love about this show that were infeasible for the Sonic brand just 3-4 years ago. Externalizing the characters' facets to explore them in-depth. Said exploration spanning multiple episodes instead of being one-and-done. The sheer amount of genuine Sonadow food (and I don't actively do shipping, so me adding it here should hold a lot of weight). The snappy, playful, yet blistering fight scenes that, dare I say, feel like a successful TV-budget Spider-Verse. It was all so much fun!

But I guess stuff like Green Hill being the gang's "home" is a big deal-breaker?? Like?? I thought that was silly too, but not worth ratio'ing people with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse over? Get well soon, I guess??

Rambling over, shout-out to the entire country of Canada for giving me the most fun I've had with a Sonic show since X! I'm gonna go figure out how to address all this as The End lol

[munchboxart]

Yayy I watched Sonic Prime season 3, spoilers below for my thoughts

I think it was fun, though there were some pacing issues to be honest. Dread suddenly joining in the fight when he was sitting Shinji style the ep before. Shadow just sitting in a trench for like 4 episodes, I know they gave an explanation why, though I guess I can't say much since I don't think he could've done much anyways if he was free. And I think the battle kind of went on a little long and kept repeating the same point too much but whatever, it's fun!

I don't think we got a linear Sonic show in like, forever. Or maybe at all because all of the shows I watched (Sonic X, Sonic Boom) was partly/mostly episodic, though for Sonic Xs case it moved to being serial (I don't know if I liked it though since the story seemed convoluted/forgettable, but I haven't watched it in years).

It's kind of a nice change having a simple storyline rather than Sonic doing some fuck ass thing for the 20th time. If S3 is the last season then that's fine, though if it goes into Season 4 where they defeat the Eggmans then sure??? I guess because they'll still look for the gem and repeat the whole thing etc etc.

I do have 1 concern from this though, and that's the change in Sonic's team dynamic for future Sonic things. I think they're trying to make Rouge part of Sonic's team thing, which is a little strange. I shrugged it off since I figured it was a one time thing though they did it for Sonic Dream Team last year (I did not play it, I am busy I have like 3 zines up my ass right now and comms). I think that's a little weird, because Rouge's main team is with team Dark, that's been like... Their thing since the beginning (kind of). And rouge doesn't really tag along unless there's something in it for her or if it's the end of the world etc etc. Although, I'm guessing they just wanna try something new, I don't know if it hurts it too much but I'm down I guess.

Regardless, I think this is a great new beginning for future Sonic shows if they make any more! Although the bar is already in hell so we don't really have an option LOL but I think this is one of the better ones we could've gotten and I had fun with watching it

[mari--lace]

Fic Writer 20 Questions

Thank you for tagging me @h1myname1sv!

1.) How many works do you have on ao3?

104 (it's not all fics, a few are fanvids. I do have a lot more fics in Italian not posted on Ao3, though.)

2.) What’s your ao3 word count?

137,912

3.) What fandoms do you write for?

A lot, I'm very multifandom! My current obsession is Daredevil and it led me to write on many other marvel characters (Natasha and Clint, Peter), an historical fandom of mine is Detective Conan and I might write something for it soon—if I manage.

4.) What are your top five fics by kudos?

What am I looking at, Matt? A short piece I wrote for fun right after watching 1x08 of She-Hulk; I was hyped and so was half the fandom.

A marvelous october collects the stories I wrote for last year's writober (mixed up with flufftober prompts). It's mostly Daredevil and it has a few chapters I'm pretty happy with, but I branched a little with other marvel characters (Kate, Clint, Kamala, Peter, Layla).

Ideas live forever (let your voice be heard) I'm really happy this story is so high here. It's a one-shot for Barbie [spoilers ahead]. After the ending, it follows Barbara adapting to the changes brought by her new life and coming to terms with things that didn't change—namely, her lack of attraction to anyone. AroAce Barbie for the win!

Three times Daredevil isn't a lawyer plus one short and fun 3+1 fic with Matt being sassy as Daredevil and Frank deducing something about his lawyer. (Secret identity who? Matt doesn't know her)

Not my friend (who are you?) I wrote this one for the dde promptfest, it was fun! It's about Brett reaching some conclusions of his own during S3 about his favorite (?) vigilante.

5.) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I usually do! Don't often know how to answer so maybe it's just a 💜, but I appreciate the people who comment and I try to let them know.

6.) What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

That's a tough one. I'm all for angst, but I need happy endings. (Or, well, hopeful ones.) The angstiend ending (and fic) I've ever written was my OC's reaction to her best friend's death, I'm pretty sure (it doesn't exist on Ao3).

7.) What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Now that's hard for the opposite reason, lol. I'll go with The joys and concerns of teaching magic bc it's more than slice of life/fluff for the sake of it, there is some trouble/action before the happy ending.

8.) Do you get hate on fics?

I don't think that's happened recently, no. I got hate for my ship back when I started, in 2013 in the Italian fandom, and it was awful, but I'm not 15 anymore and I think I'd react in a very different way now (I'd ignore them and keep writing whatever I want).

9.) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Nope. I don't believe I'm capable of it LOL <- same prev!

10.) Do you write cross overs? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I've written a couple in the past. Craziest probably was Detective Conan/Yu-gi-oh!

11.) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know.

12.) Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don't think so.

13.) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Yes, I have, and it was super-fun!

14.) What’s your all time favourite ship?

Heeeh. I'm a multishipper girl, and often I'm perfectly happy with my favorite ships being platonic as well as romantic, so... I don't know. One of my oldest OTPs is Shinichi/Shiho from Detective Conan, I'll go with them.

15.) What’s a WIP you’d like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

My original fantasy novel. I haven't touched it in 3 years and right now it feels pretty impossible, but I do hope to get to plot and write it properly one day.

16.) What are your writing strengths?

Introspection, I think. And conveying emotions to the reader.

16.) What are your writing weaknesses?

Action scenes make me cry and descriptions are a work in progress ;_;

17.) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Absolutely, if it makes sense for the fic! Playing with languages is fun.

18.) First fandom you wrote for?

Naruto!

19.) Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

This question is so mean. They're my children! Okay, I do have favorites—plural. If I reeeally have to choose, probably What's in a soul? I'm really happy with how it came out, in Italian and English both.

No pressure tags: @usaigi @ceterisparibus116 @auofgoldandfantasies @folkloristico

[avastrasposts]

Thanks for the tag @pedrit0-pascalit0 Excellent song choice!

Last song: I found you, Alabama Shakes

Last show: I guess S3 of The Mandalorian but I also watched Friends yesterday, it's the best background show for house chores like folding endless piles of laundry

Last movie: The Massive Weight of Unbearable Talent, watched it with a friend a few days ago who hadn't seen it but is a big Pedro fan.

Currently watching: Succession, currently on S3 trying to avoid spoilers

Currently reading: My own fic? I've been writing so much lately I haven't had time to read, but I have a stack of books waiting for the summer holidays.

Current obsession: Apart from Pedro Pascal?

No pressure tags @i-own-loki @roundroald @serafinadraconis @violetmina @deadpoetress @cutesyscreenname

tag 9 people you want to know better

tagged by my sweet honeybun @thyme-in-a-bubble

last song: vore- sleep token

last show: criminal minds (can't believe i didn't watch this sooner)

last movie: ready or not (13/10 recommend)

currently watching: criminal minds & the hunger games series (back on my dysatopian bullshit)

currently reading: the ballad of songbirds & snakes- suzanne collins (pls send me book recs! i need more things to read!)

current obsession: weightlifting. i never thought i would be that person, but i've been going to the gym lately trying to get some sarah connor arms/shoulders, and seeing actual results is pretty fucking cool. i literally don't give a shit about anything else other than having buff arms.

no pressure tags: @albatrossandivys @andromedaa-tonks @saintmurd0ck @grippingbeskar @itwasthereaminuteago @shadesofsteve @spoodermain @yarrystyleeza @pleasurebuttonwrites

[feralnumberfive]

Since pre-production for TUA S4 has begun or is about to start, I would like to make a PSA that this blog will be SPOILER FREE for S4. I will be spoiler free up until S4 actually starts, then that's when I will begin posting and tagging spoilers as I watch the season. I think a big reason why S3 was disappointing to me is because we, as the fandom, had many cool ideas and theories about S3 pieced together from spoilers and personally I found S3 to just end up not that great. Granted that's my own fault for expecting more from S3 *cough cough* to be fair many people did too and it was "advertised" (or lack of) that way too *cough cough* so I've decided for the final season of TUA to just wait until S4 comes out and be surprised instead of expecting and being disappointed (well I still might end up disappointed).

Sure this upcoming season could still disappoint me again, but not knowing about it will be kind of fun and it'll probably be fun for you guys to watch me freak out over stuff most of you already know by the time the teasers/posters and actual season come out lol. So with that being said, in the past I've had a few people ask me about spoilers/news for S3 so if you would still like spoilers/updates then I could point you to other people in the fandom who will still post just about every single update for S4 so you won't miss anything! Or y'know you could browse the #tua spoilers or #tua s4 spoilers tags. Also if you haven't already you should check out tua_updates on Instagram and Twitter, she posts every single bit about TUA and filming updates she can find

Lastly, TAG YOUR DAMN SPOILERS PEOPLE

[chicoriii]

Season 4, Episode 4 - Mr Pigeon 72

I have no idea where to start. This episode has some good things and some extremely stupid.

Marinette isn't still completely fine, but I prefer when she deals with it through being hyperactive than being a whining crybaby.

I know people don't agree with me, but personally I don't buy the whole revealing identity to Alya. It's not a problem with Alya herself, I would say the same about every single character who is not named Alix Kubdel at this point of the story. I haven't written anything in my post about Gang of Secrets, because I thought it would be undone in some way at the start of the next episode. The creators did nothing to explain why revealing identity of Ladybug to anyone was super dangerous and would result in a catastrophe in seasons 1-3 and the first two episodes of S4, but it's magically fine in episode 3. Only Alix made sense to me, as she will be the rabbit Miraculous holder, so she is destined to discover identities of everyone sooner or later and Marinette is aware of that. While it's not necessary to learn identity of anyone to other temporary Miraculous wielders, including Alya. Also that reveal hasn't been foreshadowed in season 3, while the show usually does it, especially if it's about something as important as that! More, in late S3, it's been shown that Alya still can't resist to not talking about Marinette's love life with Nino, despite she asked her to not do it. Now the girl, who is overly excited about superhero stuff, has no problems with even accidental revealing anything to Nino or someone else. She's even "stealing" Bunnix line that she's great at keeping secrets (sorry but you, the creators, haven't shown us that she's indeed is before!). This is why I think that reveal hasn't been planned before they started writing season 4.

But okay, I can deal with it, even if I don't buy it, but things these happened in Mr. Pigeon 72 are even more inconsistent with previous seasons. I have been worried about it, so it doesn't surprised me. For some reason Guardian related-things that have been kept in a secret before from everyone minus current Guardian and the future Guardian, are now fine being done in front of Kwamis (remember, they haven't been allowed to learn about making potions before!) and a civilian who is just a temporal Miraculous holder, not someone who is supposed to be trained to be a new Guardian. You can say - new Guardian, new rules, but why? Marinette has been portrayed as someone who respect authorities, she has never questioned any Fu's rules. It wasn't even said in the episode that she's going to change the rules. I hate that the writers don't even bother to explain us what's going on. Probably they don't bother about consistency, they think the audience is going to be too excited about Alya knowing Ladybug's identity and helping Marinette to question anything about it? How Alya could be allowed to learn the Guardian secrets? She is just best friend of the protagonist, she is not one of the main characters to get that special treatment. I makes zero sense to me. Especially since Su-Han will be introduced in episode 6 and he should help Marinette with understanding the Grimoire, Alya isn't necessary here for any other reason than fanservice.

In my opinion the way how they discovering how to make charms that protects from akumasitation was the most stupid thing that happened this season and one of the most in the whole show. Marinette who is the new Guardiand and portrayed as someone extreme intelligent and creative couldn't find the solution for days, but Alya with zero training magically discovered it in a few hours at worst. And when she told her the solution in not even very clear way, Ladybug did it immediately with no effort. That was so anticlimactic. At least the animation was fine, but other aspects of it was just a big disappointment, and I was looking forward for it. Thank goodness it's just the beginning of the season, I hope later important events of the season will be better written and portrayed.

Also I find it absurd that Rena Rough is walking with a page from the Grimoire like it's just an ordinary book and she's talking about it in front of a random civilian, like things that are written there are nothing special. She or Ladybug are not careful about Miraculous lore anymore. Not to mention that they are giving hints that Rena is very close to Ladybug in public, suspiciously close. And now with them being too careless, that's not hard to suspect that Rena Rouge is someone very close to Ladybug, maybe even as a civilian. Shadow Moth knows Rena Rouge's identity, and it's easy to him to learn who is Alya Cesaire's best friend if he doesn't know it yet, after all his son is in the class with her. Marinette has always been super careful and serious about her duties before, why that sudden change with zero explanation? It's just very out of character to her in my opinion.

I didn't like the akuma battle either, it's now the worst fight of the season in my opinion. It was so short and felt very lazy. I only liked that Plagg got some action and interaction with Ladybug (though it should be suspicious for her that he managed to reach to her that fast). He should be aware now that Alya knows Ladybug's identity but he acts like nothing happened. Not a word about it being unfair towards his kid or something, weird.

Thankfully the rest of the episode is generally more or less fun to me. It was nice to see Marinette and Kagami interacting again. I loved Kagami in the episode, although it was a bit weird to me that she isn't seemed to be affected by her breaking up with Adrien. Like her crush was very shallow, so she managed to recover herself from it very quickly. While it's been shown that Luka is hurt, despite Lukanette always seemed to be much more shallow than Adrigami in my opinion. But maybe it's because she's so down to earth, so being less emotional makes sense for her character. I liked how her attitude was opposite to Marinette's hyperactive: "No, I don't want to be in a relationship with Adrien again, he disappointed me, just let me live!!!". And she's another character who said that Marinette and Adrien are made for each other. I'm not surprised that Kagami sees it now when she tried to be with him and that didn't work. She's observant, sees more than many other characters. It seems she's an Adrienette shipper now. It's also good that her issue with Adrien wasn't resolved that easily and too fast. They need more time, but I'm sure they will be friends again.

So, we've gotten shirtless Adrien. I remember seeing a tweet of Thomas in which he answered to a question if there will be a beach episode and he said we will get something similar. I wonder if he meant this episode. Oh, they just remembered that Adrien is supposed to be allergic to feathers. It seems Adrien has allergic reactions only when it's somewhat related to the plot. When it's not, he's completely fine.

The reference to the famous Umbrella Scene™ out of nowhere in a random episode? It probably means something. I can see "reverse crush" supporters interpreting it as a proof to their theory, especially since this time Adrien did something clumsy and Marinette is laughing because of it (actually both of them). Or maybe because it's the first episode of season 4 with Marinette and Adrien interactions, they decided to be that much gracious for Adrienette fans, to compensate lack of it in the first three episodes. Oh wow, Marinette managed to propose spending more time together to Adrien without stuttering. Probably because she has done it spontaneously. Marinette is the most nervous when she's planning and thinking what could go wrong too much. This time she had no time to it, so it went more smoothly. It's like they building development of their relationship, but it didn't seem in Guiltrip (that's episode 11 chronologically) that something changed.

Seeing screenshot above, you can easily imagine how great friends they could be, being very comfortable around each other and laughing together, if not Marinette's anxiety. We need Adrienette development so much to get more moments like this.

Oh and I just realized that it's also one of the veeeeery few episodes with no real Ladynoir at all (the only other one I remember is Style Queen). So if there was no Adrienette it would be an episode without interactions of two main characters at all (although we almost got Ladrien). It could be another reason why this episode is that nice for Adrien and Marinette ship.

After seeing overly excited Marinette dancing in the rain, I can't believe she can manage completely give up on Adrien. It doesn't look like this at all.

Also we've seen three photos of Adrien wearing THAT scarf. It could not mean nothing different that foreshadowing that he's going to discover the truth about it somewhere this season. But I have no idea what Ladybug's mask with shining eyes could mean.

I don't know what to think about the episode. Despite absurd Guardian-related things, I still liked it much more than Gang of Secrets, but I have no idea if I generally enjoyed it more than other episodes of this season or not. At least it's an episode without stupid drama, which is amazing.

---------

I'm currently less active on social media, because my internet connection is very unstable, it often works very slowly to the point I'm not patient enough to visit Tumblr. Also I block spoiler tags again, because I don't want to see spoilers from the episodes those are going to be released very soon, as I feel that they reveal too much to me once more. We're currently in a marathon of the new episodes and since watching them is the more more enjoyable, the less I know about them, I decided to try avoid spoilers as much as I can. The only bad thing is that I can't be read discussions about the new episodes, reblog them and adding something from me until Optigami will be aired.

[commodorecliche]

About operation Kuron... Then what about Chekhov's Gun? Because the show addressed it perfectly with Matt, giving scenes with Pidge that gave all the information we needed for the foreshadowing. It would seem too out of place to mention it right in the start of the episode, when we haven't seen Shiro in a long time, and just abandon it. :/

I absolutely do not think it's been abandoned. I just think they didn't originally plan for this season to be broken up. The original plan was likely to tease the idea of Kuron, have the season play out as a whole (all 13 eps), then have the Kuron plot come into play in the following season. But because they had to break it up, it feels disjointed, like they forgot about it. Because it FEELS like we had an entire season that skipped over it, even though S3 & S4 were meant to be one unit. But the Chekhov's Gun of explicitly teasing it in S3, along with Shiro's odd behavior, mannerisms, and appearance in S3 & S4, as well as the foreshadowing in S4 when Matt said that brains "can't be hacked", that's all stuff that's going to absolutely have to come back around and come into play. I need to go back and watch S3 & S4 back to back to see if it feels more cohesive when it's viewed as a single entity. (on mobile, will tag tomorrow #vld #spoilers )