#not only will we get the horrors we probably will get the wlw not fully shown in game and left in lore

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

Bungie will create a wlw couple and go “Everyone attached to them yet? Good, good… roll in the horrors and unbearable grief! At least one of them cannot make it out of this situation! GO, GO, GO!”

[mil-liminal]

What would be your favorite queer horror media?

Oh Boy So i think this question is just asking what type of media i enjoy and to answer that I will say Movies, though i'll admit it is hard for me to sit down and consume any kind of media, i have to be in a right mindset for it.

HOWEVER since we are here, I also think its asking what my FAVORITE thing is, and honestly I want to answer this one with a huge wonderful list of amazing things for you to consume, i feel like there could be and should be so much more, which..i guess with Mil-Liminal is kinda what im trying to do, but lets get into some things that might fall under the genre that i enjoy.

Of course the Welcome to Nightvale podcast, was probably my first big experience with queer media in the spooky or weird genre, and also one of the first i experienced with wholesome queer rep instead of just bury your gays tropes all over the place.

Wildelife, Lies Within and Black Water (right here on tumblr) all have queer rep and are comics i personally enjoy!

Heres some movies i think could fit the question, I'm picking my personal faves, and trying to pick some that might not be AS well known as any old rotten tomatoes list ya know?

first off, She Creature, which is pretty old, but who doesn't like scary mermaids and wlw relationships? its a strange movie and i haven't watched it in ages but worth a visit for a fun spooky perspective.

There might be some who will fight me on this, but Let The Right One In. I understand as a nonbinary person that there are themes that are problematic in the film, but i also understand this was one of the first time i saw someone just a little bit like me on screen in a horror film. so im counting it. (also i should clarify that i mean the 2008 version, not the American remake.)

The Hunger. Listen, its got Bowie in it as a vampire. 'nuff said.

All Cheerleaders must Die. Its just fun ok? I love camp and i love gay camp.

Im going to add ParaNorman because it is SUCH a good movie, and its almost the only time ive seen a cartoon go there without making it a bad joke.

the Fear Street trilogy is fun. fight me.

Bride of Frankenstein(1939)! The Haunting(1963)! Fright Night(1985)!

And finally, ok so I personally am not a big reader, but i consulted one of my best pals who is a librarian (as well as the editor for Seemingly Dark and Mil-Liminal!) @lesbrarians, and here is what they had to say!

'The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling (sci-fi horror)

The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay (afaik Tremblay isn't queer himself, but I still love his stuff and this one was great) White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi (gothic horror, v much in the vein of Shirley Jackson)

Sodom Road Exit by Amber Dawn (supernatural thriller plus family drama)

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass (obvs every one of these has some kind of tw attached to it bc cmon, it's horror, but massive tw here for school shootings, it's heavy af and you gotta be in the right frame of mind for it obvs, but it's fantastic)

Alice Isn't Dead by Joseph Fink (set in the world of WtNV!)

Wilder Girls by Rory Powers (body horror galore)

The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez (bisexual vampires)

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant (mermaids but make it horror)

Honorary mentions to Jawbone by Monica Ojeda and Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo (only because I haven't read them yet haha, they sound dope) Oh, and Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand, haven't read it yet myself either but I've heard nothing but good things! CARMEN MARIA MACHADO Her Body and Other Parties! The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion and The Barrow Will Send What May by Margaret Killjoy -- trans punk anarchists facing down demons!' -quoted from discord lmao

ANNNND there you have it. You probably werent expecting all that but horror IS my thing after all, and i thought it would be fun to give a in depth fully fledged reply. Now tell me Readers, Listeners and Watchers, do you have any recs for me?

-Caro

[bloodstained-ballgowns]

Things I Loved About Black Widow (2021).

*Spoilers*

Yes it’s been almost two weeks since release. Yes I’ve seen it almost three times now. Yes, all my thoughts are still a jumble. Somewhat ordering them for this post will be difficult.

Honestly, the entire first 53 minutes of this movie is perfect to me. Everything about it. The dialogue, the action, the way it’s able to convey so much without words, how it’s just Natasha, Yelena and Mason, everything is just *chef’s kiss*. (This isn’t to say the remaining 1hr 21mins is bad, it’s just not as perfect as the first act imo)

I have a thing for scores and god bless Lorne Balfe he really understood the assignment on this one. If you haven’t already, take a few minutes to listen to his composition, specifically ‘Natasha’s Lullaby’. I love when you can hear a story in music and I think this score does that really effectively.

Nat speaking Russian! Nat speaking Russian! The way she reverts back to it in the opening scene when she’s scared! I wish we’d gotten more of it honestly, especially in the family dinner scene, even something as simple as ‘pass the salt’.

Also, her Russian accent in the Budapest flashback! It was quiet but definitely there, and it showed that her American one was something she had to train herself back into once she defected, which I appreciated.

“I stashed that like five years ago” Is this a canon hint that Nat hoards her food? Maybe?! I’ll take what I can get to satisfy my headcanons thanks.

Natasha and Yelena’s fight sequence in the apartment is the best fight scene in the movie. No arguments.

So much of my inner monolgue while watching was just ‘imsogayimsogayimsogay”. That much leather and that many piercings??! The BRAIDS?? This movie is for the wlws.

Mason you absolute icon I love how much you care about Natasha I love that you’re sleeping everywhere because same. (You deserved better than to be a Taskmaster misdirect). Please turn up in more MCU properties as Yelena’s contact or something.

“But you’re not a mouse, Melina. You were just born in a cage, but that’s not your fault.” THIS LINE!!!

AND THIS ONE. “You took my childhood, you took my choices and tried to break me. But you’re never gonna do that to anybody ever again.” The emphasis on choice vs children, how it’s always been about bodily autonomy instead of the romanticised horror of sterilisation that Whedon went with. 

“I never let myself be alone long enough to think about it.” I GASPED.

HONOURABLE MENTION: “You didn’t work in the shadows, you hid in the dark,” (or something). There’s something really satisfying about that line. 

Everything about this film is so inherently female, I love it when things don’t reek of testosterone.

I’ve heard some critics say this movie felt really ‘isolated’ and ‘disconnected’ from the rest of the MCU because of the time jump and how many new characters there were and I have to hard disagree there. The appearance of Secretary Ross, name-dropping Tony Stark, and the continued references to the Avengers were not only realistic but also really cemented this oneshot in-universe for me. 

*cue me flapping my hands and opening another draft because every separate point is eliciting another two paragraphs of analysis that I absolutely cannot include on this post or it will never end*. Man I love this movie. See the read-more because this is getting longgg.

Similarly, how it actually carries through on a lot of previous set up, mostly from Avengers 1, like with ‘Dreykov’s daughter’ and “thank you for your co-operation”. I got very nervous when they announced they were going to tackle Budapest because a) I didn’t think anything they came up with would ever live up to the hype people gave that line so it would only end in disappointment and b) I’ve never particularly cared, to be honest. (it was a throwaway line in Avengers 1 that was repeated for nostalgia in Endgame in a context that now makes no sense, forgive me for being indifferent) but I actually loved how it tied everything together.

The way it reclaims her from every male creator that’s handled her (fuck the Russos and M&M) while simultaneously keeping the best of what they managed to foster (again, Avengers 1 is a heavy influence, and rightly so, but it gives a fat middle finger to AOU, also rightly so).

How competent Nat was shown to be without being unbeatable. She fully got her ass handed to her a couple of times, and yes, it’s very unrealistic that she was able to go through two car accidents, fall off that bridge, out of that window and then out of the sky without being seriously injured, but we finally got to see the physical manifestations of some of that pain! She was holding her ribs when she got out of the water, the bruises on her back, the dislocated shoulder, and the blood splatters were actual splatters when she broke her nose rather than delicate dabs.

This might be an unpopular one, because I know this was what a lot of people were expecting more of, but I was glad Natasha’s youth in the Red Room was confined to the opening credits. The aftermath of that training and Natasha as a product of it has always been more fascinating to me than the actual event.

As an older sister myself, the dynamic between Natasha and Yelena really struck home for me. Yelena’s pride in Nat and need for approval and validation from Natasha in conflict with realising Nat’s flaws, wrestling with her disappointment, seeing how human Nat is, were perfectly portrayed by Florence Pugh. I could completely relate to Nat, who, despite trying to convince herself otherwise, couldn’t fight her fierce protective instinct and specific brand of unconditional love that only an older sister will ever feel. 

A diverse set of Widows!

I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of comics references in this movie. The frame where she jumped through the fire from the Waid/Samnee run, the pheromonal lock.

Now I have my problems with Scarlett Johansson, but I came out of this movie with a lot of respect and a little bit of pride in her. It’s clear that she put her everything into this movie, both as an actor and executive producer. She obviously cares immensely about Nat and how she’s portrayed, and it’s clear from interviews that the things she loves and finds fascinating about Nat are the same as the fans. (I also feel a little bit sorry for the way she’s getting brushed over in the coverage in favour of a new and shiny Florence Pugh, so this is me expressing some ScarJo-as-Natasha appreciation).

A big question I had going in was, ‘Natasha’s always reflecting the people around her, but what’s she like when she’s alone, and has only her own mind for company?’ and this movie really answered that for me. Seeing her out of her suit and wearing clothes that were for her, not for a cover or a mission, seeing her drink beer and eat ice cream and let her hair dry while watching a Bond film she’s obviously seen many times before, it was all perfect. The scenes in the caravan were a huge step for humanising women in action movies. 

I’ll probably be adding to this post a lot because this movie will not leave my mind and new things are occurring to me at the most random points. 

See my ‘Things I...didn’t like as much about Black Widow’ post here.

[starkey]

[Spoilers for The Haunting of Bly Manor!]

I know everyone is super loving Bly Manor cause ~80′s gays~!!! but some stuff about it sat really bad for me so I’m gonna try to verbalise it. Obviously if you loved it and aren't vibing with a critical analysis I'm not offended if you don't read lol. Also I’m not trying to say that there’s anything wrong with liking it! I just...didn’t, and I want to think about why, for a sec. (Sorry this got a bit long)

I think part of my problem is that I count Hill House as one of my favourite shows ever and I had ridiculously high hopes for Bly Manor, which probably couldn't ever have been fully realised. And there was actually a lot about it that I liked, especially at the begining. I thought the kids were great, and I loved the core group of Mrs Grose, Owen, Dani and Jamie. I liked the fact that the Henry Wingrave element was expanded upon, and I liked the complexity of Rebecca and Peter, and the room it gave them to be fully realised human beings. I quite enjoyed that they kept to the Hill House ghost mythology - that ghosts are lost in time but fixed in place, and that they jump from memory to memory, and haunt the people that they care about without knowing. But there were lots of things I wasn't so keen on...

Until the last episode my issues were mainly that it felt a bit...lazy? I can't stress it enough but the british accents were really really bad. Old!Jamie’s accent was deeply unbelievable and jarring, as was Henry Wingrave's, and although Peter’s accent was passable (I assume because the actor is English and not American like the others) it still didn’t match his mothers, or his ‘background’ - i.e. it sounded like a private school Edinburgh accent, not a Glasgow kid dragged up through poverty in the scheme - and yes there is a significant difference in those accents. I appreciate there’s a degree of privilege at play here - I’m used to the BBC producing high quality television where these details aren’t messed about with, and the production of Bly Manor was thoroughly American, but to put it in perspective, it would be like... if a character had a deep south dirt-poor Louisiana upbringing and spoke like somebody from a private school in Virginia. Other details also felt off - Rebecca’s costumes all seemed weirdly 2020-adjacent, none of the fashion or ancillary details seemed to match the UK in the 80s (which has a distinct feel), and the house that Peter returned to on his ‘memory bumps’ looked much more like an LA condo than a Scottish council house. Really, they should have just set it in America, because it felt more American than British, and they clearly didn't have any British people involved in the production.

I really didn't enjoy the narrative framing device of 'someone telling a story to a group of people at a party'. It makes sense in the Turn of the Screw, because the narrator is reading from a document written at the time of the events, so the narration becomes a first person one where the degree of detail is logically accounted for. In this take, the story alternated from being one which made sense - us just watching the characters move around normally - to one in which 'Jamie' (who’d apparently had a complete personality transplant that had turned her from a feisty northern lesbian into a coy, mysterious victorian englishwoman with a severe accent problem) adopted a falsely old-fashioned manner and told the wedding guests a ten hour long story about a haunted house.  And somehow neither Flora nor Miles recognised any part of this story in the least, in spite of what must have been overwhelming similarities? It was very jarring.  

I also kept waiting for a twist on a level with Hill House, but never got one. The big twist about Mrs Grose was, I thought, obvious from almost the first episode. I mean the woman didn’t eat or drink anything and spent most of her time confused about where she was, I thought it was fairly clear that she was a ghost. And yeah, I suppose because I’ve read the book I was never in any doubt that Peter was already dead. The ghosts in the background were much less spooky than in Hill House. They stood around in broad daylight while the characters talked and joked and it kind of felt like the ghosts had wandered in by accident and felt too awkward to leave. I really liked how spooky Hill House was - even apart from the jump scares I thought the psychological elements and the open discussion of death and grief was really affecting. I didn’t feel that at all in Bly Manor, and by the time we found out the details of Mrs Grose’s death, I’d already come to terms with it.  But all of this would have been fine, if it hadn’t been for the last episode.

I really really didn’t enjoy the bury your gays ending. And I’m not even usually against this in principle! I think in a dark/horror context, where there’s implied to be an ever-present threat of character death, it’s unreasonable to expect that no characters will die or experience tragedy - and in cases where there’s abundant LGBT rep some of those characters will by necessity not be cis/straight. So I don’t have a problem with gay characters meeting tragic or dark ends, as a general rule, particularly when it serves a narrative purpose and isn’t gratuitous. My problem here was in the manner and necessity of that death.

There were ways in which Dani could have died in this story that I would have felt were narratively meaningful and cathartic, but the manner in which she did die failed to hit those beats for me. This is a story in which two women in the 80's fall in love and are doomed by the world around them (we're already in Meryl Streep 'groundbreaking' territory here, in terms of metaphor). They know death is coming for them, that it will likely destroy them both, that they won't have an opportunity to grow old together, that eventually one day it will catch them and everything will be over - they're on borrowed time, and they spend a lot of that time looking over their shoulders waiting for shit to break bad. In the end, they're destroyed by a force in Dani's body/mind that she can't fight, that she can't win against, and the spectre of which haunts her through the years. Like... the obvious parallel here is mental health, and suicide - they even go out of their way to feature that classic heartsink moment with the overflowing bath. And to me, any story that has a message of 'no matter how strong you are, no matter how much love you have and give, or how beautiful the life you've built is, eventually the dark forces in your mind will Get You and it'll probably be before you make it to middle age' is... really shitty. The other echo that struck me was the HIV/AIDS crisis - obviously wlw were relatively spared from this, in comparison to mlm, but it still carries a cultural legacy of pain and trauma, and I really didn't need this show to grind down on that for me.

And the thing is... in the original story, the governess doesn't even die! Miles does, so maybe there's an argument here that Dani sacrificed herself in exchange for Miles's life in this retelling, but I'm still struck by this element of, like... they added this in! They chose to do this! Only one character dies in the course of this show (with Mrs Grose dying before the show starts) and it's the gay woman?? Why?? What did it show?? Why was it necessary?

Not to mention, the 'epilogue' scene paints Jamie as being very lonely and isolated. I'm not sure why the children didn't recognise ANY elements of this story from their past - even assuming they forgot the ghostly elements of their childhood, they should be able to see the similarities in the characters, but the scene also seems to imply that Jamie really isn't very close to Miles and Flora, and that she doesn't even really get to have a relationship with them as adults, in spite of losing everything to protect them, and not having any family of her own.

Almost everybody else gets a happy ending, but Jamie ends the night of the epilogue standing alone at a table, with the love of her life dead in a cursed lake, doomed to spend eternity watching over a crumbling house, and idk to me? that kind of sucked.

[rnegitsune]

Ok so I thought I'd put together some horror stories from my time as a babymetal fan bc of how drastic the shift in the fandom has been the past year or so. For context I got into babymetal in like june of 2014 (all 3 girls were still underage at the time, I was 22; when I first got into them I thought I would be considered an older fan lmao the naivete, the innocence of new fan me wow I know now I'm not at all in the older half of the fandom esp considering I was born the same decade as su and moa), and I made this blog in I think may of 2015.

I've had people say I should compile men being gross into a post and I just couldn't do that out of fear for my own mental health but this will be pretty close. These are all my experiences with this fandom over the years; I'm definitely missing some but what I do remember should do well to cover most of how this fandom used to be vs now. It's gonna be a lot and tw for men being gross about minors.

Back in my first year or so of this blog I on multiple occasions got dms from men asking to be friends. At the time my bio only said my name and my pronouns. I've always been cautious of dms so I'd ask their age and every single one was considerably older than me. I wouldn't usually answer after that bc no thanks but they would generally try to continue convos til I blocked. The only one I still had was this one

After I put my age in my bio, which was 23 at the time, I never got a dm like that again; take from that what you will. But if you're young please be wary of this hell fandom even now. And if you're an older fan and esp an older male fan reading this, don't dm people trying to be friends. I was over 18 and it still creeped me out to no end.

One of my real first men in this fandom are disgusting moments was a blog back in like 2015 or 2016 who I had some contact with due to common interests; he was a huge yui stan and made bm content. He was like 28 or 29 at the time and I eventually noticed he would tag idols, mostly kpop girls, by their body parts (legs, butt, etc) which is disgusting enough as it is but then I saw him do the same for literal minors, like tzuyu from twice. I messaged him asking what the hell he was doing objectifying women but also actual children and he blocked me lmao. He later unblocked me to let me know that's just how he tagged things and it was my fault he had anxiety and then he blocked me again.

Back before the tumblr purge this fandom was repulsive to a degree I cannot even begin to describe. Someone would reblog something from me, I'd go to their blog and it would be underage jpop idols and japanese p*rn all the way down. I even stumbled upon a man editing underage su into p*rn gifs. Obviously no proof of that but I did go find my initial reaction to it

The number of times I'd get a follow from someone then go to their blog and it would be as mentioned above or their bio would be the most misogynistic trash I'd ever read was staggering. I genuinely considered giving up and deleting this blog so many times bc i felt oberwhelmed and outnumbered by these gross old dudes; and so the fact that this fandom has evolved into a bunch of chaotic wlw?? Amazing, I could cry.

Fun phenomenon of women running bm blogs was men sending messages asking if we liked babymetal. No joke. I think this happened to me two or three times but I spoke w other female creators at the time and it had happened to them as well. My entire blog is babymetal, and yet???

He said the weird guy idk bc he sent some random ass messages vaguely insulting me and when I responded coldly, he acted confused so I said you're some guy idk, hence the above message starting as such. Also that pic and the one up above that has my current pfp bc I just took those screenshots. Like I said I typically blocked weird dms but I guess these passed me by so I still had the messages.

Most people know the sub reddit is the worst and don't need me to tell you but it's a hellscape and I highly recommend avoiding it. A short list of things I've had to see as a result of going there: men discussing at length kano and momoko's appearances and how they look in costume vs in normal clothes. Men discussing at length the hope that the girls would marry men who aren't Japanese, a thread that was from when all 3 girls were underage. They aren't gonna marry you dude they're really not.

The insulting of billie Eilish, a 17 year old at the time, was horrible too. Su and moa got to meet her, something they were extremely excited for, and they posted a pic; the comments were disgusting as you can imagine. The yui rumors were terrible too, fatshaming, slutshaming etc all based on nothing. Some man saying the rumors about yui leaving bc, no joke this was a real rumor, she "got too fat" couldn't be true bc "look at saya." Saya being a barely 18 yo back up dancer who covered the third spot after yui left but before the avengers. Not to mention the upskirt shots from when they were minors, the constant editing of their faces onto explicit photoshoots etc. I remember being a new fan looking for a su pic on google and being horrified at the fact that one of the top suggested results after her name was “bikini;” she was 16 at the time. Also, the uptick in massively creepy posts and messages sent to bm blogs as each girl, but esp moa and yui, approached 18 was disgusting.

Now for some personal nonsense. A big reason why I haven't touched my youtube channel in months is bc I got tired of dealing with the men of this fandom. I poke fun at metal and get told I deserve to die. I say ped*philes and creepy men are gross and get a swarm of middle aged men cursing at me. Had a guy cry about how men are shamed for liking bm and then he turned around and said some gross shit about wlw. Had a guy call me racist for liking a band he also likes (and despite him having no way of knowing my own race) and tell me the babymetal fandom doesn't need my kpop feminist bullshit, which is honestly a great description and I thought about putting it in my yt about lmao. Had a middle aged man unironically say he'd never seen a man be creepy towards bm but fans su and moa's ages calling them hot was creepy. The disillusionment....the level of unawareness is astounding. If you want to see screenshots of some of these comments they are fairly recent in my don't mind me tag; I don't want to see them anymore tho bc they're infuriating so I'm not going to look at them to post here.

Essentially I haven't looked at my channel since may bc men are exhausting and rude and refuse to examine the fandoms they're a part of no matter what. They're told by a woman of the fandom that she's had bad experiences personally and they all start crying about how it's either a lie bc they haven't seen it or unimportant. I did stop reading comments in may and I will never read another one again probably as a result of this shit. Trash men being trash are not worth my time and I refuse to give them anymore of it. I do plan on making more videos tho and let my ~feminist kpop bullshit~ live in their minds rent free.

I will also continue to make fun of metal and the creepy men in this fandom bc it's important and I'm a spiteful asshole who likes disrupting these dudes perfect bubble of a fandom. It genuinely brings me so much joy seeing all the new fans recently (which sidenote if you got into them recently I am kinda curious as to how you found them; I've gotten tons of new followers and considering how inactive they are rn I'm curious). People sending messages about how they finally feel like they belong or that they have a safe space....like I don't even know what to say and I never feel like my responses fully convey how genuinely wonderful that is and how thrilled I am that this is where we're at now and I have had at least some part in it. As this post shows, my experiences have been negative for the most part so the shift recently is such a relief I cannot even begin to explain my gratitude.

So to anyone who read all of this and hasn't disintegrated from the male bullshit, thank you. Keep being yourself and fighting for your place in this fandom, esp if you're a young woman; keep making fun of the creeps and keep making wlw memes!! Babymetal's music is in such a huge way meant for girls and to see more and more finding their way to this previously hellish beyond belief fandom is incredible.

[just-the-mage]

Review-Love Death + Robots (Pt 1. Episodes 1-4)

So here we are again.  You, dear readers, and I, a mostly defunct tumblr page.  I was thinking...I’ve written a few reviews on here before, and I’ve rather enjoyed myself to be honest.  So until RP starts up again for me, I’m going to grab some popcorn and start reviewing some of the media I’ve been indulging in during this exceptionally fun pandemic we’ve all been saddled with (and are becoming increasingly more and more used to as time goes on).  Here we go! 

Spoilers incoming! I don’t like to discuss a show without going through it entirely-no stone unturned.  You have been warned! 

Love Death + Robots is a compilation series-each episode is self-contained content, based on what I have experienced thus far.  The content varies wildly from cute and sweet to surreal, to horrific.  For right now I’m going to stick with the first four episodes since they are fresh in my mind.  

Episode 1: Three Robots

Three robots shows a short adventure shared by, you guessed it-Three robots exploring the crumbling remains of human society.  It comes across as three tourists making their way through an area that they are completely unfamiliar with, attempting to define and understand elements of the environment as humans once did.  Their analysis and attempts to understand not only human culture, but also basic human biology, were entertaining to say the least.  Each robot has flair, character, and a their own take on humans and humanity.  Over the course of the episode, the fall of mankind is referenced a few times, being initially explained as a mass extinction due to environmental disasters (global warming is probably a factor-one of the buildings has an entire ship sticking out of it).  However, the twist ending throws that whole theory into question once the cat that has been accompanying the robots for the last leg of their journey reveals itself as capable of speech.  And, interestingly enough...being in possession of opposable thumbs.  It was certainly unexpected, and a bit odd-the cat (and its many, many brethren) manage to finish out the episode by convincing the robots that if the robots do not pet them, the cats may explode.  I will say that the ending, though it was rather silly and fitting with the tone, felt like an out of place twist intended mostly to give a bit of closure to a story that had no real need to have an ending.  It felt a little out-of-left field, at least to me.

This first episode, I think, is one that I could recommend to a much more general audience than almost all of the other content of the show.  It’s whimsical and cute, despite inhabiting such a grim setting (and grim it is-post apocalyptic is not taken lightly here.  There are plenty of corpses, some skeletal and some not quite so much.  At least one of them appears to have died by suicide).  I found it to be a nice addition and a good introduction to ease people into the tone of the show.  Definitely give this one a watch, even if the ending sort of comes from nowhere. 

Episode 2: Beyond the Aquila Rift

This episode was definitely a change of pace from the first.  It begins as a high science fiction story starring a hunky, middle aged man and his two crewmates, making some sort of cargo run (?) through a wormhole of some kind, but promptly finding themselves in a completely different place from what they expected.  Hunky space captain wakes up first, finding that he is greeted by an old friend (read: lover) of his, who explains that there was a navigation error that led them off course-way off course.  They’re in a completely different area than they expected.  The ship’s navigator wakes as well, swearing that there couldn’t have been an error in her calculations, but seems ill and is placed back in her future tech cryopod to rest.  Space captain man then bangs it out with his ex-lover (Greta) in a scene that was almost definitely written by a man, and she reveals to him that she lied, and that him and his crew are actually hundreds of light-years further off course than they had thought they were, basically dashing any hopes that he could have of returning to his old life.  The two then wake the navigator again, who immediately starts ranting that ‘Greta’ isn’t who she says she is.  At this point, enough clues have been given that the captain catches up with the audience (it was all a simulation the whole time), and he confronts Greta, demanding that she reveal herself as she truly is.  She does, after some prodding-and the captain finds himself in an infested husk of a ship, aged and haggard, obviously dying of starvation.  Greta reveals herself as a lovely spider-beast, and the captain wakes up from his pod again-back in his comfortable illusion once more.  

I love the premise of this one.  Crazy aliens and shit like this is a huge draw for me-sci-fi horror is probably my favorite subgenre of horror when it’s done well.  I would count this episode as doing it pretty well.  They don’t go into much techno-babble, which I think is a pitfall for some sci-fi stories.  The writers are well aware that we aren’t spending too long in this world, so we don’t need to know much about the rules under which it operates outside of ‘computer mistake your ship fly here.’  The twist ending didn’t end up being too much of a twist-in my opinion there were too many clues given throughout the episode to make it that much of a surprise that things weren’t as they seemed.  The odds of this man meeting his ex-lover in the infinitesimal reaches of space just by chance were a bit too impossible to make it believable-and the navigator was far too convinced that her work couldn’t be incorrect.  In the end, it was an expected twist, but still pretty jarring.  Execution is pretty good overall though-and the sex scene is pretty decent as well, even if its strictly a dude-fantasy thing.  Also, call me a sucker for cool looking beasties, but I adore the design on spider-Greta.  That’s a lady right there for you.  

Episode 3: Ice Age

The only live action episode I’ve seen so far-this one gives an *entirely* different tone than the majority of the other episodes in the series.  Topher Grace and Mary Elizabeth Winstead happen upon a lost civilization that exists entirely within their refrigerator.  They watch in awe as it develops incredibly quickly-hundreds of years passing within the civilization in roughly an hour or so of real time.  What starts in the morning as a town in the viking ages eventually develops into a modern society, almost destroys itself with nukes, and then rebuilds from the ashes into a fully futuristic society that quickly ascends beyond physical form, appearing to disperse itself into the cosmos, no longer bound by such petty rules as the laws of physics.  A disappointed Topher asks if they’ll return-to which he receives a sad ‘no’ from his partner.  It seems all is lost, and the couple go to bed for the night-only to find that the cycle has restarted overnight, and they probably won’t be able to keep any frozen chicken in the freezer for quite some time.

This one is probably one of my favorites of the series so far.  It’s fairly well acted, but the real beauty of the episode is getting to watch the mini-civilization develop itself in a glorious time lapse-the work that must’ve gone into it must have been monumental, to be honest.  The final product certainly felt that way, in any case.  What I also found fascinating was a specific scene in which the protagonists were abandoned in place of some of the tiny denizens of the lost civilization-which made me realize exactly how slow the ‘normal sized people’s’ actions must have looked to the diminutive people of this rapidly developing society.  Reminiscent of the earth’s motion in relation to our own perception-and reinforcing the concept that to an individual, perception is everything. 

Episode 4:  Sonnie’s Edge 

This episode opens with three people transporting mysterious cargo into a heavily guarded complex, quickly encountering and interacting with a ‘bigwig’ of sorts with a beautiful woman on his arm.  Through context clues the audience is easily able to discover that the three (pictured above) are here for a fight-and that their cargo is their fighter, a living creature of obviously immense proportion.  The bigwig asks the team to throw the fight, and they refuse, even after he offers a large amount of money.  (It’s worth mentioning that during this scene, ‘Sonnie’, the leader and controller of the beast fighter, shares an EXTREMELY homosexual gaze with the bigwig’s beautiful lady friend.  Don’t think I didn’t notice the setup, because I definitely noticed the payoff, even though it was rudely interrupted).  Sonnie and her teammates enter the ring, setting up as it appears that she will be piloting her fighter in some way.  Her opponent is also introduced, though he is hardly important in the story-imagine a cake of beef with a big sticker on him that says ‘mysogyny’ in bold print.  What follows is one of the most brutal fight scenes I’ve seen in animation (this is just my personal opinion though).  These creatures fucking tear each other to shreds, with Sonnie’s beast only just barely emerging as the victor, tearing the opposing fighter’s head clean from its body.  The bigwig is obviously angry, as is Sonnie’s opponent, and Sonnie and her team retires to a hotel room of sorts, with the exception of Sonnie-who slips away into the room that houses her fighter, promptly encountering the beauty from earlier! (Payoff time)..and it gets gay.  Fast.  I love me some wlw content, and there’s some nice tension here, right up until the beauty stabs Sonnie through the head.  Rude.  The bigwig reveals himself, which was a bit of a surprise-the part of me that hadn’t seen much of this show yet was hoping for a fluffy little happy ending.  It wasn’t to be though..after the beauty crushes Sonnie’s skull, the two promptly realize that ‘Sonnie’ wasn’t Sonnie at all-just some biotech.  The *real* Sonnie...was the fighter, the whole time.  Who promptly makes short work of both the beauty and the bigwig, (implied), in what I can only describe as the most satisfying moment in the series that I’ve seen thus far.  

This was easily my favorite episode of the show, and has continued to be, and I assume will continue to be my favorite through the rest of the series.  It’s not just because of the lesbian rep (my people!), or the misogynists getting fucking destroyed, but the strength of the reveal, the choreography of the fight scene, and the *power* of the protagonist.  I love her.  I love her sooo much.  We are seamlessly introduced into the world, shown a woman who has been beaten, scarred, faced sexual abuse, and she remade herself into a being of pure power.  She fought back, and *look how she fights back*.  I cannot describe just how much of a cheer-worthy moment it was to watch the smug smile be summarily wiped from the face of the bigwig.  I *love* seeing a villain who has full confidence in their victory suddenly realize that they don’t have the upper hand anymore...and that they are, in fact, absolutely screwed.  This was one of those wonderful, wonderful moments, and I can think of nobody more deserving than this villain of being torn to shreds.  This was an A+ episode for sure-100% recommend this one for anyone who can handle a bit of gore.  

Thank you so much for reading!  This is only part 1...more to come!        

[skylights422]

@ace-and-aro-wlw-positivity created a Q&A for aspec authors/writers, and as an aspec author, I am excited to participate and answer as many of their questions as I can. Under a cut since it became really outrageously long.

1. What was your inspiration for your character(s)? Are they modeled on yourself, a person that you know, or a character that’s already been established?

Typically I’d say my characters are a mix of general inspiration from other stories/characters and then bits and pieces taken from myself. I try not to make any of them like a clone of myself or another character, try to mix it up, possibly with mixed success but that is the goal.

2. How much, if any, has your character(s) changed since they were first created? What caused this change?

Oh wow, okay I have characters I still use from grade school and middle school, and those characters have changed/grown a lot. Most notoriously (to me) though are my two fellas Euphranor and Kadri. I created them while daydreaming in middle school while watching those science videos in class about how I could make a more parody-like version of said videos, Kadri being the energetic and comically sadistic teacher and Euphranor being the constantly irritated and foul-tempered student. The core of their designs and personalities haven’t totally changed (Euph is still a hot-head and Kadri still likes to troll him), but they’ve become far more nuanced as characters as their story become more involved and serious. They’ve also become softer characters, with Euph having a Heart of Gold and Kadri being a bit morally grey but generally compassionate and friendly. I think the cause of this change and others comes from a mix of things, for one I simply got older and what I wanted out my characters changed a bit. But also I think it’s because I spent so much time with those characters in my head that I couldn’t help but develop them more fully, which in turn made me want to give them a good story. Also, everyone is definitely more queer now then how they started, largely because I became more aware and comfortable with my own queer identity and spent more time in queer spaces (though with Euph I actually just realized he had to be gay because I every het relationship I envisioned for him fell totally flat and yet imagining him as having crushes on guys just seemed to work better/make more sense, and that was an earlier decision).

4. Do you intend on publishing your story one day? Why, or why not?

I definitely do! I have many, many stories I want to publish, as books or comics or tv shows or films. I’ve always wanted to publish some of writing since it’s one of my main passions and have always taken inspiration from the stories I consumed. I just love writing and would want to be able to do it as my main career, the key will just be figuring out how to focus on one project long enough to finish it. xD

5. Surprise fact! Give a random fact about your character(s), whether it’s their favorite color, food, or even song!

Euphranor loves to sing! He hums to calm himself down and even full on sings to vent his feelings sometimes. Kadri loves literature and video games, and blackberry pie is his favorite food.

6. Admit it, you have a folder on your computer of the various types of picrews you’ve created for your character(s). Would you mind posting a few (or five)?

*VIBRATES* MY TIME HAS COME. I absolutely have way too many picrews of my fellas so I won’t post them all, just two each for the core four of my main novel project. First, Euphranor:

(yes he is a Hufflepuff)

Kadri:

(also since I dragged the Hogwarts houses into this Kadri is Ravenclaw)

Ena:

(I put her in Gryffindor)

And finally, Fiera:

(Right now I have her in Slytherin. She could also be in Ravenclaw though)

7. Time to get serious for a bit. There’s been heavy debate on having non-human characters identify as ace, aro, non-binary, etc., but never actual humans. As someone who’s aspec, how would you explain to someone who’s allo why this can be and is seen as hurtful?

I mean, as a sci-fi fan I definitely love if the non-human characters are queer coded, but it’s definitely important to include human representation as well, and I think there are a few simple reasons for that. One is that queer people are, in fact, humans, and therefore our stories deserve to be told as they are in reality as well as how they could be in fiction. The other is only writing us as inhuman implies you consider our identities as fictitious or too strange for a human to have, and queer people already have to deal with other forms of erasure and invalidation in real life. (Also, not everyone is a fan of sci-fi/fantasy, and they should still be able to read stories where they can see themselves)

8. It’s a sad reality that many stories in mainstream media don’t have characters that are aspec, not to mention without resorting to harmful stereotypes. Besides there being nothing wrong with IDing as aspec, why did you choose to have your character ID as such? What would you tell other authors who’re interested in writing characters that are aspec, but are afraid of offending the community?

I have a huge list of aspec characters, which definitely started happening more once I was aware of my own asexuality (and later, aromanticism), since I realized that I could make my own aro and ace characters and then just went wild with it lol. It’s also easier for me to write since I can actually draw from personal experience somewhat for it. Beyond representation having aro and ace characters also allows you to explore more facets of human emotions/the human experience, so that’s always fun.

As for how I would advise allies looking to write a-spec characters, my main advice would be to remember that we are an incredibly diverse group of people, and so while no one a-spec character will resonate with every a-spec reader, an a-spec character written in good faith will definitely speak to some of us. Write them as an character first, and when it comes to things like how their attraction does or doesn’t work and what they want out of relationships, figure out what works best for them. Really, if you’re concerned your character would be offensive in some way you can always make a post asking about it, many of us are happy to offer constructive advice and appreciate that someone is wanting to put in the effort to write about our experiences. Reading or listening to anecdotes from an array of a-spec people is also a good way of getting ideas of how to portray us, and there are various resources for that (the tags, AUREA collects anecdotes from arospec individuals, and probably more than I can think of offhand)

9. If you’re comfortable with sharing, what is your characters’ identity? Do they use any microlabels? Does theirs reflect your own?

Unsurprisingly I have many characters who are aroace (Fiera is one of them), and Ena is bisexual and gray-aromantic. Kadri was originally supposed to just be bi/pan but has become increasingly aspec, will they end up gray-aro as well as grey-ace? Will they end up as a pan oriented aroace? I don’t know yet, but they sure are a pan a-spec. My most recent project has exclusively aro-spec protagonists, Valentine is aroace, Cedar is demiromantic, Raelene is cupioromantic, and then Clematis and Hadyn are presently just Aro and might stay that way. My aroace characters are often styled after my own aroace experiences, while other a-spec characters aren’t as much.

11. Why do you think that not just representation is important, but GOOD representation? Can you offer any examples?

Well, I think there are a few ways to make ‘good rep’. There is the ‘this character helps bring awareness/educate about the community’ and then there’s ‘this character just resonates with certain a-spec people a lot’, and the main reason I think it’s important is because rep should be for the people they’re representing. So if rep hurts the community or totally fails to be relatable to anyone who’s actually a-spec, then it missed the whole point and is doing just as much to leave the community feeling left in the dust as no rep. Of course things do get complicated when the community is divided on whether the rep is good or not, which I imagine will be a common occurrence, and many examples of rep probably fall into the grey area between Good and Bad, but generally people should aim to tell stories that will help more than hinder the people you are telling your story about. (Although I also think that the long term end goal is to get to the point where there is enough representation that it doesn’t matter if some of it is ‘bad’ or not, since I feel like that is the true state of normalization, but that is sadly not yet the case)

12. What’s the genre of your most recent story? Do you always write in this genre? If so, what other works do you have? If not, why did you pick it?

My most recent story (with Valentine) is fantasy, inspired by shoujo style anime series like Cardcaptor Sakura, while Euph’s story is more dystopian urban fantasy? His exact genre has shifted around a lot and will probably continue to do so. In general, most of my works are fantasy in some way or another. A few are more sci-fi or horror based, but definitely the majority are fantasy whether that be magical girl type stories, urban fantasy, superheroes, or dark fantasy.

14. What’s a brief biography of your character? Is their history, personality, and/or looks similar to your own?

I’m going to go with Fiera here. The short version of her backstory is that she and her older brother were born to neglectful parents, and while their grandmother was attentive emotionally she also lived far away. Her brother discovered magic, long thought forgotten, but killed himself shortly after, leaving Fiera alone and confused. She then made a point to dedicate herself to studying the theory and history of magic in the hope that she may someday understand why her brother would take his own life so suddenly like that. She has a down to earth personality and is very observant, and has a great deal of ambition and focus for tasks. She naturally has a more lighthearted and curious personality, but has become more somber since the death of her brother. While she always struggled with sustaining personal relationships, it’s only recently she started using her power of observation to be more manipulative and always keep a cool, pleasant demeanor. She has a love for fashion and sewing, as well as an interest in chemistry.

She isn’t really based on me at all backstory or appearance wise, and only slightly takes after me personality wise. Our main similarity is that we both can be quietly observant and don’t tend to get outwardly angry very often, and that we are both aroace. But I am nowhere near as focused as her, am terrible at lies/manipulation, and have different interests. I’m also way more prone to energetic rants and blunt statements than she is.

15. What are the themes of your story? Is it a lighthearted adventure, or are we talking deep, ocean-sized levels of angst? Why, or why not, did you choose them?

The tone of Euph’s story is kind of all over the place due to how often I’ve tweaked it, but there are certainly oceans of angst for all the protagonists. There’s just also decided remnants of the wacky humor from when the story was predominantly a comedy, and a lot more scenes of the characters just relaxing or goofing off than might be typical in a high tension drama adventure. My story with Valentine is generally much more lighthearted, though there will be some deeper moments for character development (and also because I want it to have a slightly gothic vibe, just Because)

16. How long have you been writing? Has your style changed from when you first began to now? What are some tips you’d give to those who’re interested in writing a story of their own, be it professionally or as a hobby?

I’ve been writing in some capacity just about as long as I can remember, and so my style has definitely taken various shifts depending on how old I was and what I was taking as my main inspiration at the time. Sometimes I went for more sarcastic and whimsical narration regardless of the events happening of the story, sometimes I went for a more quick modern-ish style, sometimes I would focus more or less on descriptions or dialogue. I don’t really know where I’m at right now though.

What I would advise to anyone wanting to sit down and write is to be patient and kind with yourself. Nine times out of ten what sounds epic in your head will come out at first as clunky and all over the place. But that is pretty much the whole purpose of first drafts; the clunky first draft crawls so the second draft may walk so the third draft may walk a little faster so the final draft may run. The other thing I would advise is to absolutely experiment, and see what works best for you. There is every kind of writing advice out there imaginable, much of it contradictory, so really you just have to mess around with styles and perspective and dialogue and see what happens, which stuff you liked and which stuff you didn’t.

17. What’s your process for writing? Do you plan your story out first, write whatever you want then edit later, or both? How might this help others?

My writing process is pretty much a mishmash of writing whatever comes to me, then planning, then writing, then using a bunch of character building exercises to have fun but make no progress in the plot, then neglect the project for months, then write some more or maybe plan. I don’t know how much this would help others, though I have found when I set goals with deadlines and some external pressure (nanowrimo, reward system implanted by friends, etc) I am far more productive, so perhaps that is something others could try if they struggle with staying on track?

18. Your book’s become quite popular, easily reaching the New York Times Bookseller list, and now, you’ve been picked to lead a writing workshop. It goes swimmingly, and afterward, someone comes and tells you that your book not only inspired them to write a story of their own, but also helped them discover and accept their identity. What’s your reaction?

Mostly I would just be flabbergasted, but also extremely pleased and honored to have been able to provide any kind of help or assistance to my readers.And I would feel very happy for the person, since that sort of inspiration is great to come by.

19. Are there any published stories out there that feature aspec characters that you also read? Do you have any suggestions?

Unfortunately not that I can think of! I am peripherally aware of some ace characters, but they aren’t in stories I personally consume. I hope to find more though!

20. Just for fun, write down a paragraph of your most recent writing. It can be an action-packed scene, some witty dialogue, or a colorful description that you really enjoyed. (Be sure to properly tag any possible triggers!)

Well, my most recent finished work would be the clunky first draft of my novel. So, here’s a silly conversation that entertained me to write:

Once they had bought the food, they went back to the park to eat. 

“You know, Fiera, I have come to a realization.” Kadri said.

“Oh? What’s that?” Fiera asked.

“Store snacks are not as filling as restaurant food, nor as refined, but they are decidedly addictive.” he said, munching on Twizzlers.

“Yep. That’s what makes them store snacks. Plus, I couldn’t get any really nice stuff. I’m not made of money.” Fiera explained.

“Which brings me to my next question, how exactly are you financing our meals? You don’t seem to work a job of any kind.” Kadri said. Fiera was almost surprised that he knew about jobs, but decided not to ask about it. 

“You’re right, I don’t. But my parents leave me about sixty bucks a week so that they can do what they want without me starving to death in their absence. After yesterday and just now, I’m down to like eight bucks, and the next payment comes in three days, so after this stash goes it's dollar store snacks only.” Fiera explained.

“I see. Fascinating. And these drinks you bought us, why are they vitamin drinks?” Kadri said,looking over a vitamin water curiously.

“Because we definitely aren’t going to get any vitamins from chips and candy.”  Fiera said simply.

“There is logic to that, I suppose.” he said. There was silence for a few moments.

“Um… Kadri?” Fiera said after a while.

“Yes, Fiera?” Kadri said.

“You know you can’t eat a whole bag of Twizzlers in one go, right?”  Fiera said.

“I don’t see why not. If it is not going to give me the nutrients I need, it may as well provide me with the maximum level of pleasure it is capable of.” Kadri said.

“Yeah, but you’ll get sick. And we have limited supplies.” Fiera countered. Kadri looked at the bag of Twizzlers in alarm.

“These are poisonous in large doses!?” he exclaimed.

“What? No, not poisonous, they just make you sick because they’re candy. All candy does that if you keep eating it.” Fiera said.

“Commoners lead dangerous lives, it would seem. I shall never forget this betrayal.” He said to the bag of Twizzlers, putting it down and taking the vitamin water instead. 

[seaalgae]

Update... 2!!!

Sword again, featuring DREAMS and ADVENTURES and A SMALL AMOUNT OF SOCIOPOLITICAL COMMENTARY i mean what no not really

Starts with HOP an MIA having apparently BONDED with their starters, which Lee APPROVES of. He offers to judge their first battle as Rivals:tm:

It's gonna be tacklespam let's be real

Vs Wooloo

(unlimited tackle works)

Vs Grookey

(We Ember now)

(yes hop i already knew about type advantages)

It's an easy win, and can't *not* be one

And now Hop wants to do the GYM CHALLENGE, proving that he is a JOCK. I do not yet know Mia's alignment but she's probably LESS SPORTY. They go to Route 2 to get POKEDEXES.

It's the earlygame there is not a whole lot I can talk about. But now I can finally SAVE

Also the Wooloo broke through the GATE to MEET ITS DESTINY, so of course we had to save it to keep our share of the plot as it is. Also Hop wants to BE A HERO and Mia IS JUST THERE FOR THE RIDE

(for all the fear the wilds are level 2)

There's An Awoo and we all rush off to check, because of course we are. HOP runs off into the mist like a true horror protag. We follow him. AND THEN WE SPOT A PUPPY AND PET IT. THE END

we pet it with our attacks, but none of its attacks work at all, ever, and the fog keeps happening, and eventually we WIPE and wake up outside the woods. Leon finds us, proving perhaps that he is NOT pants with DIRECTIONS. Yet another lie.

Also he saved the Wooloo, because this is his game and we're just spectating.

Anyway it's time to TALK TO MOM and SET OUT ON AN ADVENTURE

"Remember that Scorbunny will battle to the end for you" mom no

Anyway on route 1 there's a sleeping Wooloo line and I'm 100% not waking them.

AND IT'S CATCH TIME

First catch: Lump (female Blipbug, quirky, level 4)

Anyway the lab is in town and OH MY GOD MAGNOLIA HAS A CORGI

Enter SONIA, the character that 90% of wlw are into, except LEON forgot to drink his daily Respect Women Juice today so he just roasts her. Except she was LEON'S RIVAL and thus can probably kick all sorts of ass on her own. Spoilers: she parallels HOP

The PHONE is forcibly converted into the ROTOMDEX FROM GEN 7. Somehow they've started to MASS PRODUCE ROTOM, probably through BREEDING. Instead of ecological collapse it just means EVERYONE HAS ROTOM, and when they get released they go on to DEVASTATE THE LOCAL ENVIRONMENT. I am forced to speculate that this was the catalyst for Galar banning any and all potentially invasive species, and now the royals have switched over fully to ROTOM REMOVAL. Instead of foxes or something i guess?

my hand hurts so I'm stopping for now byeee

cont'd from last night

Okay so I apparently left off at the lab? And on stepping outside A RANDOM STRANGER gives us a POTION, which is ACTUALLY A BIT SKETCHY. He then tells you to TALK TO EVERYONE, which is some kind of INTROVERT NIGHTMARE, so we will be NOT doing that.

insert POKEMON CENTER TUTORIAL

...insert SKIPPING THE POKEMON CENTER TUTORIAL, because both Mia and Hop are USELESS TEENS, which means they KNOW HOW THE WORLD WORKS ALL TOO WELL. They have DEPRESSION.

Now for the important part: CLOTHES SHOPPING. Mia's look is now that of a LAZY STUDENT, namely, jeans, hoodie, hat

Hop then meets us at the edge of town to discuss the GYM CHALLENGE, which is the ONLY WAY to socially rise in Galar's HELLISH POST-CAPITALIST MONARCHY. He tells you that both of you should get ENDORSEMENTS in order to be rivals, and that means going to ROUTE 2 to be endorsed by PROFESSOR MAGNOLIA

Hop wisely decides to BUILD HIS TEAM, which leads to LEON coming out of nowhere in order to offer a CATCHING TUTORIAL, because he's looking out for his brother under a guise of obfuscating stupidity. I am hereby imagining that the two TEASE ONE ANOTHER about THINGS

Our catch? Stanley (male zigzagoon, careful, level 6)

I fucking love galaran zigzagoon, but now it's grind time

It's also HARDCORE CONTROLLER DRIFT TIME, which I'm interpreting as Mia having an EXTREMELY SHORT ATTENTION SPAN

Also we get our first TRAINER BATTLE partway through; a youngster with a SKWOVET. We fight it with STANLEY until he needs to switch, then KICKS takes over. All in all, a good time.

The same happens with a SECOND TRAINER, who has CHEWTLE, and is dispatched in much the same way.

Third trainer has a blipbug and gets embered. Quite thrilling.

Now we have the FIRST HINTS OF THE PLOT, where LEON is asking MAGNOLIA about DYNAMAX SCIENCE. MAGNOLIA says that her daughter will probably finish her work, which is OMINOUS. She INVITES YOU IN for TEA AND SCIENCE. Leon proves his HIMBO NATURE by relating everything back to BATTLES, and Hop asks Magnolia to consider convincing Leon to endorse them, despite the fact that he's LITERALLY RIGHT THERE. Leon reveals that he'd planned to do that anyway and asks the two to BATTLE to show that they're good enough.

The battle happens at SUNSET, which is RAD.

VS HOP: Stanley vs Wooloo: Leer/tackle -> tackle/growl, tackle/tackle, tackle KO

Stanley vs Grookey (switch to Kicks)/branch poke, ember (burn)/branch poke, ember KO

Kicks vs Rookidee Quick attack/peck, Quick attack KO

Battle WON

Hop handles the win MATURELY, and then LEON gives them both an ENDORSEMENT (though Leon notes that HOP has a habit of getting stuck on the aesthetiques). The two are ready to be RIVALS.

AND THEN a meteor happens and they both get WISHING STARS, which can be made into DYNAMAX BANDS. The timing is FORTUITOUS. SONIA appears, congratulates them, and then makes CURRY, and the party goes to bed, happy, full, and filled with purpose

Thus ends the first arc of this anime.

[nebulawriter]

Annhilation

This is as close to a Changeling: The Lost movie as we’re ever going to get, isn’t is?

Overview: Smart movie, I probably want to watch it exactly once more to try and figure out some details, but it’s definitely more of a think-y movie than a sit-down-and-enjoy-stuff movie. But it IS imaginitive, visually stunning, thematically cohesive, and...a little horrifying. Like. More horrifying than I am traditionally comfortable with. 

Note: this review turned more film analysis-ish than even I intended, so I apologize to those on mobile.

Like, as much of a sci-fi nerd as I am, sci fi horror stuff is almost always too much for me. I just can’t handle the gore and jump scares. Because of this, I don’t have INCREDIBLE experience with this kinda genre stuff, so I don’t have a good measuring stick to judge this as well. 

In fact, I MIGHT have not seen this one all together if it weren’t for a) the all-lady cast, b) Tessa Thompson c) the weird shiny fantasy look to everything and d) I have moviepass now and it doesn’t cost me any extra to go to it. 

I think I should do brief summary in case you’re reading this without seeing it for some reason, but uh, SPOILERS. Lena is a former soldier turned biology professor whose husband stayed in the military and went MIA (arguably KIA) about a year ago. And she’s not over it. Then, *GASP* he comes home, but he’s super out of it and sick, and he and she are both immediately captured by weird agents. There, a psychologist named Ventress shows her the Shimmer, a place off the coast that’s changing weird stuff, and no matter what they send in, nothing comes out. Except Lena’s husband Kane. She meets a team of cool lady scientists who are going in, and signs up, hoping to find a cure for her husband. They go in, there’s weird mind-fuckery, there is constant debate over if this is really happening or if they’re going insane, Lena finds clues left by her husband, 2 people get eaten by a bear, one person....turns into a tree I think? And finally they reach the lighthouse, the center of the incidents. Dr, Ventress explodes?ish? and then theres a LOOOOOT of mindfuckery, and I think I get like....60% of it? but, in the end, the lighthouse gets burned down and the shimmering stops. Kinda. 

So! Annhilation. I’m going to go broad and whittle down for the review, going from themes into characters and plot. Annhilation is about one particular concept really that, like all good sci-fi, is over-exaggerated into the fantastical. Today’s concept is Self-Destruction. Specifically this gets focused onto cancer and suicide, and both of these themes are sot of....mutated together, not unlike the creatures in this film. I know it wasn’t but I really hope the shark-crocodile was in the pitch for this movie, like “It’s a think piece movie with a mutant shark crocodile. Money please.”

See, there’s a weird thing about Self-destruction, mirrored in this film, of, is it outside forces, or was it internal, something inside you? And that is the question this movie continues to pose, is the cause internal, or external? 

Now lets look at the characters. The team, minus Lena, was chosen because they all had issues in their lives, and so were not going to be too terrible to lose in the likely event they died going into the shimmer, just like all the previous teams were chosen (this is important)

We’ll go in death-order, starting with Cass, and....kinda Anya. Cass clearly lost a daughter to Leukimia. There’s a story in here that I don’t know if I just caught onto subtext, or missed the reveal, but I’m 70% sure her partner at the time was in fact Anya, (Anya’s canonically wlw, Cass mocks her for hitting on Lena, maybe a bit too passive aggressively, Anya was most distressed by Cass’s death) Now, Anya’s problem was drinking and drugs, likely taken up after their daughter’s death. Through that, Cass left her, and now they’re on this mission together, and likely going to die. So there we have, self destruction before now. Their daughter’s death: External, outside of their control. Anya’s drinking, though, is her choice, how she chose to handle it: Internal. Cass leaving Anya, leaving them both completely alone: Internal. Kind of. 

Cass’s fear she talked about with Lena, getting her to choose to come out first when Lena and Ventress sense trouble. Internal, her choice, almost, but a reasonable one. The bear eating her, obviously External. 

Then, Anya becomes a villain of the piece, blaming Lena for Cass’s death. Internal choice, she suspects Lena, going through her things. External, she finds out Lena HAS been lying about her connection to the soldier Kane, and could very well have gone insane and been the one to kill Cass. Internal choice: She ties up her teammates, trying to determine if they’re crazy, but now we have an interesting pickle, don’t we. Are they crazy, or is SHE crazy for tying them up. 

In my opinion, neither, while they’re all under enormous amounts of stress, and their bodies are LITERALLY changing, it doesn’t seem to be having a direct influence on their sanity. there is logic in Anya’s actions, and Lena’s and everyone’s. but it just...clashes in traumatic ways. 

Finally, Anya hears Cass’ voice. External. She goes to chase it. Internal. It’s actually a horrifying bear monster that eats her. External. 

Moving onto Josie. In a team full of scientists, she’s the nerd, which is sweet, but she’s also overly shy and doesn’t much speak up. Cass informs Lena, and us, that she has self-harm scars on her arms. This is pretty clear-cut (pun not intended I swear) self-destruction. But Cass also states, she wasn’t trying to kill herself. She was trying to live. 

We’re never given a reason for Josie’s self-harm, but...and here’s where it gets a bit personal....as someone who’s struggled with self-harm in the cutting sense, I get it. It’s not about wanting to die. It’s trying to find something to live for. 

Josie throughout the film doesn’t feel like she has that, which is why she’s chosen for the assignment. 

Her fate is the....least clear, though its heavily implied she turns into one of the plant people, a statue. In this sense, she gets to live. She chooses this fate, in some ways, choosing to become part of the shimmering world rather than die in it like Cass and Anya. I think. There’s also her decision to save Lena by killing the weird demon bear, an internal choice, which I’m guessing plays into that, but. thats a bit more detailed for me. 

Now, Dr. Ventress. Ventress is the psychologist who’s been sending people into the shimmer, choosing people who fit the profile of nothing to lose, choosing them, and sending each and every one of them to die. Internal choice, causing extreme guilt. Then, she gets cancer. Sort of an external force. Kinda. Cancer is a weird disease, really. It’s not something attacking you, going in, ripping out your guts and destroying you. No, it’s...it’s you. Its your body, just....making more of itself, doing it’s job to keep you living, but it works overtime, taking over the REST of your body, until it destroys itself. Its a scary condition Hollywood LOVES to use, because it is TERRIFYING and REAL to the general public. Almost everyone knows someone whose had some type of cancer. For me, my mother had Thyroid cancer, and to this day, I am at risk of that from having genes with her, not to mention having ovarian cysts that could turn into cancer if I don’t monitor it and control it. You wanna know how they confirm and monitor your ovarian cysts? Its Not. Pleasant. Everyone has seen the way Cancer destroys lives, and if I were to put money on it, I’d guess one or multiple of the creators of this movie has seen it too. 

Anyway, VENTRESS. She’s going to die no matter what, so she decides to lead this exposition and find the cause of all this craziness thats been killing the people she chooses. Internal choice. She pushes onward, no matter the deaths of her comrades until she reaches the lighthouse.

And then. Weird. Fucking. Shit. Happens. She...finds the source of all this...ish. An alien comet. Kind of. And she says it’s....inside her...the annhilation. AND THEN SHE FUCKING EXPLODES. AND IMPLODES. Sort of both? A light comes out of her and she like...is made into this fiery ball of changing cells and. I don’t. What the fuck. 

*ahem* whatever the fuck that was, I think a combination of implosion and explosion kinda ties back to internal vs external cause pretty decently. 

Now, Kane and Lena. At the beginning, we’re shown that they had a wonderful marriage, full of smiles and happiness. But....later through flashbacks we’re shown...not necessarily so great. Kane is gone a lot on assignment. This leads Lena to having an affair. Kane finds out and gets assigned to the shimmer assignment. So is it Lena’s fault Kane went? Kane’s fault for Lena’s affair? In the end, neither of them, of course, are fully capable of the other’s actions, but, there’s a contributing factor. Internal choices combined with External forces. 

We only see clips of Kane’s mission, film he left behind. In the first film, what I think happens because I couldn’t watch all of it, was him cutting open one of his teammates, right in the stomach. Once it’s open, we see....something....moving inside the man. Anya’s convinced it’s a trick of the light, and that Kane went insane. While it’s true that he never explains himself, like I said, beyond stress we don’t see much indication that these people are “crazy” or hallucinating or anything. The man being cut doesn’t scream, he knows what’s going to happen. Kane and the other living soldier are Concerned. More likely, they were getting footage of what was moving in him as data, data that later teams could hopefully find. 

Now as for what the thing WAS??? I’m not sure. Partially because I was COVERING MY EYES CAUSE A GUY WAS BEING CUT OPEN but partially because I think it could be one of 2 things: 1, a snake that had got inside him (external) or 2, his LITERAL ORGANS coming to life (internal)

Lena makes similar observations. She samples her own blood, seeing that it’s being mutated. She convinces Anya and Josie to keep pushing ahead, both for logical reasons, and somewhat tricking them, because she still hasn’t found what she wants: answers about what happened to her husband. And oh she gets them. Back to the trippy finale. 

See, she finds a tape of Kane blowing himself up. On this tape he shows far more signs of mental instability, but that makes sense as its then shown that the man behind the camera? Also Kane. A duplicate of him, specifically. The duplicate’s existence seems to cause Kane’s distress, causing him to doubt himself. External force. But he blows up the grenade. Internal choice. Here we come to the suicide aspect. Was it really too much to handle? He professed his love to Lena in the end, so did her affair influence his choice? It certainly caused the duplicate to come to her. 

Finally, Lena gets a duplicate made of herself, after Ventress explode/implodes. It mimics her...imperfectly. She attacks it, it attacks her. Not to mention she passes out several times in the fight, so we, the audience, lose track of her. whenever it 

And in the CLEAREST METAPHOR FOR SELF DESTRUCTION I’ve ever seen Lena (?) EXPLODES HER DUPLICATE. Like???? do I need to explain that one???

Okay now onto the murky ending. Kane is suddenly better! but he says...he doesn’t think he’s Kane, preeetty much confirming he’s the alien created duplicate. And Lena....Lena doesn’t say if she’s the duplicate or the real one. I don’t think she knows. And while the change in her eyes would indicate, no, she’s the duplicate....I’m less sure. Is she Lena, affected and changed by the alien? Or the alien, affected and changed by Lena? Does it matter?

Oh but we’re not done yet. Now, for the last character, who I’m dubbing “Annhilation.” It’s the alien, the cause, the sci-fi part of this film. The alien is....cancer, on the land, almost directly. The comet hits the lighthouse. External force. But....

As “Lena” Says at the end, it....it doesn’t destroy, not really. It changes. It changes what was already there. It mimics, imperfectly. The WORLD is self-destructing itself, the comet is just....the catylyst. like Cancer. It’s your own cells that are actually being destructive.

In the end, Loxam smiles after Lena finishes telling her story. “So, it was aliens.” as if that answers everything. 

And...yes? but it wasn’t....trying to kill. It...started something in the world and killed itself. “What did it want” Loxam asked. Self-Destruction is not that simple. Like, it changed things but...all the destruction, REAL destruction, was either self-inflicted (Kane) or inflicted from the beasts in the world (the bear and crocodile)

Self harm....in any of it’s forms.....is strange. It goes against out biological functions, but....it also goes with them. It doesn’t make logical sense, it never has. But there’s only one way to get through it, if at all possible. It’s how Kane, fake or not, got back. And How Lena got back. 

The others, all of them, had nothing to live for. They were WILLING to be possibly killed on this mission, thats why they were chosen. Lena, though, Lena had a goal. She wanted to get out, She wanted to save her husband. She had something to live for.

I do have a negative thing about this showing of self harm, or....i don’t know, maybe a thing I’m not clear on. All throughout, destruction is...made beautiful. sorta. Bodies are arranged in patterns, plants grow out the sides of crumbled buildings and...i don’t know....how I feel about that.....I just. I don’t know. 

ANYWAY in conclusion, very well done movie, if a bit confusing at times, Glad one of the poc didn’t die first, though was sad the lesbians also died. though. They kinda all died. so. at least we got the representation at all? 

So yeah. Sorry for the book report, but I hope it was mildly entertaining?

[cookinguptales]

Wonder Woman (2017)

So I went to a prescreening of Wonder Woman last night and I had some thoughts. For the tl;dr types, I’ll just say that it’s a really, really fantastic superhero movie and one that I think we desperately need right now. It’s a little rough in spots, but I really think it’s one of the best superhero films I’ve seen in years. Perhaps ever.

That said, it’s a pretty emotionally grueling one to get through; the ultimate message is one of hope, but you sure go through some shit to get there. If the goal is some mindless fun, take that into account before you choose this film. Also, though this film is relatively progressive on issues such as race, sex, and sexuality, it was really pretty appalling re: disability. I’ll get into my reasons for saying that at the very end of this review, but I will warn you that I cannot talk about that without reference to Extreme Spoilers. So they’ll go under a spoiler heading a the end.

Quite long -- it’s really an extensive review and a mini-essay about ableism in the film -- so here’s a cut.

I will start this review out by saying I have never been the biggest fan of Wonder Woman. I don’t mean to say I didn’t like her. More that I just never felt a strong connection with her, as much as I wanted to. So I’m coming at this from the POV of someone who was familiar with Diana’s story but who wasn’t a megafan and as someone who wasn’t necessarily expecting to be blown away. That said, I totally was. I wasn’t expecting this to be a movie for me, specifically, but damn it all if it wasn’t the kind of message I needed right now.

To get the necessary out of the way, Diana is absolutely spectacular in this movie. Gal Gadot plays a Diana who is strong, fierce, and kind, with a raw intelligence that’s only tempered by her confusion towards humankind’s seemingly incomprehensible customs and cruelties. She’s beautiful as she learns and breathtaking as she fights and readers, I am now gay as hell for Wonder Woman. (I mean, I can’t say that she’ll make you gay, but if you, like me, are a wlw, this movie will be a treat.) Like, Wonder Woman is honestly a pretty difficult kind of character to pull off if you don’t believe in her intrinsically, but the creators of this movie clearly did. She is a woman who is unapologetically strong, unapologetically kind, and never demonized for her hope. She never, ever veered into corny. She said unbelievable things simply and with conviction and damn it, you believed her. More than any other superhero I’ve come into contact with (and I’ve come into contact with a lot), this Wonder Woman is here to give you strength.

So setting aside that I probably would’ve happily watched a movie that was just Wonder Woman being Wonder Woman for two hours, the plot of this movie was actually very strong. It’s going to get a lot of comparisons to Captain America: TFA, which I think is pretty inevitable, especially considering certain plot developments late in the film, but I sort of feel like WW wanted to do many of the same things CA did but in every aspect decided to go harder. It’s a war film, but it’s also a film about Diana learning about all of the tiny casual cruelties that accompany being human, and her trying to get her head around the sheer senselessness of that while retaining her hope. As opposed to CA:TFA and her first comic book appearances, this is a World War I movie -- chosen, I suspect, because it was a particularly senseless war that used particularly gruesome tactics. There is no one true enemy in WWI, a fact which Diana is forced to learn the hard way. It is, as Steve Trevor puts it, “messy”.

At any rate, the movie opens up in a very different world -- that of the Amazons. Despite having a very limited amount of time in which to do so, the film devises a society that provokes a sort of wistfulness in the watcher. Themyscira, for all its faults, is a beautiful society set in a paradise. Diana’s eventual choice to leave is inevitable, but watchers can keenly feel exactly what she is giving up when she does so. After being raised as the only child on an island full of wise and loving female warriors, only hearing of the world of Mankind through bedtime stories, Diana’s idyllic peace is shattered when Steve Trevor crash lands on the beach and brings WWI with him. He tells her of unspeakable bloodshed in a war that never ends, and she becomes convinced that this is the work of Ares, the god of war and the Amazons’ sworn enemy. So, of course, she defies orders and accompanies Steve to the human world to try and make things right. From there, she’s buffeted in a constant storm of politics, culture shock, and cruelty as she tries to make sense of a war that is much more than just fighting.

As Diana makes her way through Europe, she comes to realize that the human world was far more complicated than she’d initially thought; this wasn’t just a question of helping good Americans and British soldiers defeat the bad Germans. She encounters victims of sexism and racism and learns that bad blood absolutely permeates the human world. She initially attributes this to Ares’ influence, but is forced to confront the fact that things are perhaps much more complicated than that -- and that no nation in this war has clean hands.

In the end, WW becomes less of a war movie and more a question of human worthiness as a whole. Wonder Woman comes to humanity as a savior and a judge -- she sees all the beauties of our world, but is repulsed by the banality of our evil. In a world that for many of us feels increasingly bleak, marred by the constant cruelties and idiocies of those with power, her message that hope remains is so welcome. Does it really matter if anyone “deserves” to be saved? Or is it just the act of saving that’s so necessary to what we are?

The heart of the movie probably comes from the relationship between Diana and Steve Trevor, which fans of the comics likely won’t be surprised to hear. But Steve never defines Diana; he is her guide to the human world, but she doesn’t always like him. The two of them have fundamentally different ideas about war, peace, and the nature of the two. Diana wants to power her way through injustice through sheer force of will, while Steve is very willing to use more pragmatic and underhanded tactics to achieve victories for the greater good. Truthfully, both have some points to make, and both of them make each other better. It’s a romance (though, as fans realize early into the movie, one that cannot possibly have made it to the present day, 100 years later) but it’s also a meeting of two well-meaning minds. The relationship between them is refreshingly egalitarian -- and when Diana sees something she wants, she takes it. (Hell yeah, sex positivity.) In other words, Steve’s a good guy and a damn pretty face, but not a single character in this movie lets him forget that Diana’s the protagonist. lol

I’ve seen Wonder Woman described as “lighter” than the other DC movies, which to me seems bewildering. There are moments of levity in the film, and it definitely got a lot of laughs from our audience. And its ultimate message is one of hope. But good lord, the devastation you wade through to get there. WW takes a largely unflinching look at the horrors of war, and I think it’s only the fact that most of the nastiest violence takes place offscreen that saved this movie from getting an R. Diana sees dead men, women, and children. She sees the wounded. She gets a look at the horrors of PTSD. She realizes that for many, war means no longer having the choice about whether to get your hands dirty. Her cast of characters, from Etta Candy to Steve Trevor to the little band of misfits that Trevor picks up to help them with their goals, is lovable. But all of them have seen horrors just like she has, and many of them weren’t endeared to the world even before it went up in flames. It can, at times, be a very, very hard movie to watch.

All that said, I found the movie to be profoundly moving and something that I dearly needed in these trying times. I came out thinking, somewhat bewildered, that it was probably simultaneously the darkest and most hopeful superhero movie I’d ever seen. Because really, Wonder Woman is the story of a goddess coming to visit our world and seeing every last bit of evil we have to bestow upon each other -- and loving us anyway. She sees how casually cruel, how absolutely awful we can be, and still has faith that we will make things right in the end. And she’ll help us do it. She will just tirelessly fight to make sure we don’t entirely lose our way. And god, do we need it.

I would 100% recommend Wonder Woman (if you’re in the right frame of mind to watch it) and I really, really think this is a movie you should be supporting. This movie proves that excellent female-led action/superhero movies can exist, and it’d be great if we could all make sure the studios know that. It’s progressive in a lot of ways, though it certainly stumbles occasionally, and I think that’s also something to support with your wallet.

BUT. WITH ALL THAT IN MIND. Holy shit, that movie had problems with disability, and I wouldn’t feel wholly honest without delving into that a little bit. But I cannot fully talk about it without some spoilers, so like!! Proceed at your own risk.

SPOILERS!

So here’s the thing. One thing that’s very frustrating in period films is the total lack of the PWD (people with disabilities) who existed at the time. Like damn, they had horrific wars, polio, plagues, and very poor medical technology! You better believe there were PWD walking (or rolling) around, populating society back then. But I’ve come to terms with the fact that most Hollywood movies aren’t going to depict that. This isn’t about that. But it’s a concept that worsens what I’m about to say.

The fact of the matter is that there are really only two big characters with a visible physical disability in Wonder Woman, and they’re both fucking monsters. Wonder Woman doesn’t show that only bad people are wounded, but the people who Diana sees being carted off the battlefield with limbs missing and eyes gone dead are never named and never spoken of again. They are the Unnamed Wounded, and they’re as good as dead. Just victims to feel bad about. Which wouldn’t necessarily bother me -- except again, the only characters we actually see living while disabled are absolutely fucking EVIL.

The first character is Doctor Maru, the poisons expert working for the German military. Now, Maru is based on Doctor Poison, which is a character with a bit of an iffy background in comics; she was originally a WWII-era Japanese villain, and -- I mean, god, you see where I’m going with this. She was reimagined as a white villain in the New 52, which was mimicked in the movie. But instead of using race as a signifier for evil, Wonder Woman now uses disability. Maru has extensive facial scarring that is never explained (and is not present in the comics) but was likely a result of her experimentation. She wears a sort of facial prosthetic to disguise this, and it doesn’t really seem to have much of a point other than making her “creepy”. Later in the film, her evil personality (she is shown to be one of the few characters that takes actual sadistic pleasure in torturing and killing people) is linked explicitly with her facial scarring. Another character forcibly rips off her prosthetic (nooooo), exposing her scarring to a horrified Diana (nooooo) and says to “just look at her”, that’s she’s a perfect example of how rotten and corrupted humanity really is. (NOOOOO.) And Diana doesn’t join up with that person, but she doesn’t disagree with this characterization of Maru, either. She loves humanity despite people like Maru, and that’s made exceptionally clear in this scene. And the fact that, in this pivotal scene, Maru’s villainy is explicitly linked to her facial scarring (her disabled outside is a reflection of her distorted inside) without anyone questioning that statement... God, do I even have to go into why that’s fucked up?

The other character -- AND MAJOR SPOILERS HERE -- is Sir Patrick Morgan, who is the mild-mannered member of the cabinet who helps Diana and her cadre from afar. Oh yeah, also he’s actually Ares, the god bent on destroying literally all of humanity. Ares seems to lose the cane and the limp when he’s in full-on god mode, which seems to mean that the disabled persona was just an affectation -- in other words, the only other disabled character in this movie was just faking their disability (nooo) in order to seem weak and unassuming (nooooooo) but is actually a tricksy bastard fooling everyone (jfc no) and HE IS ALSO GENOCIDAL. Ares isn’t actually a bad character, but jfc. Those tropes to lean on! Why!

Like if there’s one message to take from this movie re: disabled people, it’s “don’t trust them”. And as much as I think this movie isn’t child-appropriate anyway, jfc, what a message to throw into a movie. Not only were the period-appropriate disabled people virtually erased, they were replaced with absolute monsters whose disabilities were either explicitly linked with their shitty personalities or sneaky villains whose heel-face-turns rest on notions of disabled duplicity and weakness. (If you’ve never been accused of faking your disability for accommodations or assistance, you... are a very lucky PWD.)

Wonder Woman takes such pains to be progressive on so many levels that it only seems to make this portrayal of PWD sting even more. It truly feels like we have been framed as the last acceptable target, and that we again have been relegated to the outskirts of social justice rhetoric. And so though I loved 90% of the film, I really do have to offer this caveat: jesus fucking christ, WW, do better with disabled people.

[blue-slates]

Just a few Mass Effect Andromeda thoughts. Also a bit of a rant cos my words always escape me. TLDR; MEA had problems in almost all areas, but in the end - towards the end - I enjoyed it.

Aaaand I finished MEA, and y’know what? I enjoyed it, in the end. Like I’m glad I didn’t pay full price for it, but I am glad I got it. But a part of em feels like I enjoyed it despite it, not because it was especially great. There were good moments - great ones even - and things that surprised me, but the troubled development showed in a lot of places, and especially for the first half (but really all through the game) there were instances that I felt like the devs didn’t care.

I’m usually very forgiving about story quality, and my suspension of disbelief is pretty strong - I’m always of the mind, if it’s fun or interesting, I can let it slide - but as a person who finds it easier to point out the flaws in anything (>_>;;) there were a few moments that struck me as not making sense an being plain bad. Alec’s death being brushed off pretty much as soon as it happened, Alec somehow having biotics despite being WAY too old, your sibling being put into a coma before you even see them outside of the character creator. The weird - can I call it sexism? Gender stereotyping? whatever - personality things going on with the Ryder twins (because men don’t have emotions or cry or anything and women are more emotional and brainy). Cora’s entire arc?? just felt so ????, Gil’s “storyline” is a horrific mess, the secrets of the Angara, kett and remnant felt like a rehash of the OT. The amount of bullshit and horror that a 22 year old kid had to go through, and the game treats it like business as usual. Why does peebee proposition you no matter what?? Weren’t my responses and choices towards my squaddies supposed to have some effect? I pushed her off and never flirted with her? Why?? (I know why btw >:I)

But, as with any bioware game really, I enjoyed the character moments, as scarce as they felt sometimes. I enjoyed that characters talked to each other more, and the banter in the nomad was a great choice. And frankly I got this game for Jaal’s romance with BroRyder. Those were my favourite bits and ultimately what was getting me through the game, and when I think I really started to more fully enjoy the game. Shallow? Eh, maybe. I can say with full confidence I wouldn’t have bought this game at all if not for patch 1.08 But I’ll give MEA that win, with a few caveats. I don’t fully feel like the Tempest is the family the game tried to sell - there were certainly times where I felt the characters didn’t understand who Ryder actually was and what they needed, perhaps because I often felt like I was fighting the game to actually roleplay and have Ryder be an actual human being who developed during the story (he didn’t, I just ended up making him flat in a different direction out of frustration. SO many times I was pulled out of the experience by what came out of his mouth.)

MEA’s biggest failing was, I feel, the emotional weight of the story it wanted to tell. There’s something  stagnant about the tone; there are horrible and sad things that happen before and during the game that weren’t fully explored because MEA wanted to keep the tone light. There’s no way to actually portrayed Ryder as being vulnerable by all the things they’ve gone through, nothing that allows them to process things, no moments of uncertainty, or really any failures. Sacrifices, yeah, but when we have to succeed at so many things otherwise the story suffers, nothing feels earned. A hopeful story needs hardships - fully realised and explored hardships - for a happy ending to have weight.

And, because beating dead horses is but, but goddamn it’s important to me, I’m not going to forget the marketing, the queer baiting, the fact the before a patch, Gil and Reyes (2 NPCs, one on the tempest who has a shoehorned baby plot that DOES NOT belong that gives more focus to a side character (a double side character, because lets admit it Gil’s a side character. He’s defs treated like one. If Suvi and Vetra are his girls, why don’t we see them actually interact? Delete Jill and replace her with people who actually care about him!) and one off planet who you have to side with (by letting him assassinate someone) to get the full conclusion of his romance) were my only options as a gay man playing a gay male Ryder (also again. No way for Peebee to just not hit on you?? I have to ignore her for 50+ hours until I lock in someone else??? Is gaydar not a thing in Mass Effect, not an omnitool app or???) I’m glad that wlw got more visibility in main and minor characters (but lets not forget why that happened, Mass Effect ) but I’m still freaking mad that gay dudes get one codex entry, a bury your gays trope, Gil’s baby disaster (And goddamn I condemned Gil to a horrible fate and I’ll never forgive that “you obviously love Jill” dialogue choice. That specifically can seriously fuck right off) and Reyes, who’s dashing rogue persona is... unfortunate (to put it lightly). This game was bad to gay men, and I’ll never fully forgive that.

Just, this game has been so hard to love, or even like, but I feel like I got there despite everything that happened with this game, maybe simply because I wanted to. I at least feel like I didn’t waste my time playing it in the end. So yeah, this was probably not at all coherent, but these are my thoughts.

[atlasira]

hi i'm quite new to the lovelink/romance club games, which stories would u recommend pkaying first? is it anything similiar to choices/lovestruck?

hi!!! and yay! i’m glad you’re interested in the games!!

my response is under the cut bc i had a lot to say lol

okay so:

LOVELINK is probably the one that’s most different from Choices and Lovestruck.

it’s very similar to sites like tinder or etc. where it’s a texting and match based app. it focuses more heavily on romance, BUT the matches (the people you pair with that interest you) do have their own unique storylines.

fair warning tho: the gem options are insanely expensive. the highest i’ve seen for a gem choice in a conversation was like 320 gems, just for that one choice. regardless, the matches’ stories are interesting so i still recommend it, but warily lol. (also important to note that you are not the main character in the stories. your match is, you essentially are just their love interest who may get involved from time to time)

and also before i recommend you matches, another thing to know is that there’s a counterpart system. basically, each match has a counterpart/mirror, that has the exact same storyline, absolutely no changes in dialogue at all, except they just look different. it’s just so in case you find one match unattractive but are still interested in their story, you can just match with their counterpart and still be good.

there’s a trick tho bc if you match with someone and then realize you’d rather be with their counterpart, there is literally no going back. you can’t swap matches. so be careful with who you match with. fortunately the Lovelink subreddit got together and made a list of each match’s counterpart so we can know who’s the mirror of who.

some matches i recommend:

Austin Russo/Damien Jones (m)

Captain Muffin (a cat - just a fun cute storyline)

Vitoria Voznesensky/Sage Foster (f)

Hugo Hornsby/Marco Botazzi (m)(minor spoiler but in Marco’s profile picture, he’s the guy on the right and in Hugo’s pfp, he’s the guy on the left. im ONLY spoiling this super tiny thing bc i’ve seen several people that matched with them get upset bc they thought Hugo/Marco was the other guy and didn’t find their actual appearances attractive. i do tho! lol i love Hugo’s dimples)

Kayla Summers/Jasmin Medina (f)

Jamie Grant/Seth Evans (m)

Emmalyn Roberts/Angel Reed (f)

Keanu Hale/Blake Bailey (m)

ROMANCE CLUB out of the two is my preferred app. tbh it’s probably my favorite interactive games app overall.

it’s similar to Choices, even moreso than both Lovelink and Lovestruck are. you customize your mc, you’re the main character in each story, and unlike the different paths in Lovestruck, it’s also similar to Choices where your LIs are all part of one story, rather than each getting their own.

the diamond options are reasonable and what’s even greater is that, for the most part, they really are just for extra stuff!!! what i mean is, unlike some stories in Choices (cough endless summer cough) where you might need diamond choices to fully understand things, that’s absolutely NOT the case with RC. the free options make sure to never leave you in the dark. there’s several times where i’ve come across a plot point where my mc needed smthg explained and the diamond option was just if i wanted extra details and interesting art, but i was also given a free option that just went “sum it up for me/just tell me the important bits” and was still able to understand things just fine! and this absolutely applies to clothes too. it’s funny bc some of the free clothing options even look better than the diamond ones sometimes.

wait i can already tell i’m about to start rambling on how good RC is and i wanna stay somewhat neutral in this response lol. but just to quickly point out the pros and cons: RC is very plot focused. meaning, while the LIs are nice and good, for the most part, the writers put lots of emphasis on the storyline that’s going on, which is great bc it gets you really hooked into the books. a con tho is that their older/first stories are really uh..... hit or miss. the more recent ones are incredible, but the ones from way back when, when the app was first starting out are. well. let’s just say those tend to be my diamond mines lmao.

some personal favorite books i recommend are:

Rage of the Titans (modern day greek mythology story)

Shadows of Saintfour (supernatural horror)(and RC does horror really well, meaning the shit is actually genuinely scary, so like be prepared lol)

Love From Outer Space (sci fi, aliens come to earth)

Heaven’s Secret (afterlife angels & demons plot)

Dracula: A Love Story (dracula book thats... super fuckijg mysterious. there’s a lot going on but just know it’s supernatural/modern day/historical fiction with many other elements in there as well)**

Path of the Valkyrie (viking/norse mythology)****

On Thin Ice (ummm former ice skater/psychological... fiction? it’s hard to tell bc this is a VERY new story that RC just published but it’s really interesting so far)

Legend of the Willow (supernatural historical fiction)****

**** — for the books marked with this, i haven’t played them myself, but i’ve heard very good things. i specifically can’t play POTV bc i have *rachnophobia and one of the monsters freaks me out too bad. but if you can get through it then i really do recommend it.

** — D:ALS is amazing and is probably even my top favorite on RC. however, i personally think the LIs definitely have a hierarchy thing going on. it sometimes feels like the order of importance/focus for romance is the vampire character -> your human guy friend -> then your human wlw friend as dead last. and like, listen, i know Dracula’s name is in the title, so him getting the focus does make sense, but..... okay it’s kinda like a Liam in TRR situation (specifically not TRH that’s another can of worms). where the story and everything is happening because of Liam, so it feels like the story would make the most sense romancing him, but you can just ignore it and romance other people. it’s kinda like that. but don’t worry, unlike TRR there’s no default romance where youll have to like reject Dracula or anything. just that his romance is the most fleshed out.

and this is what i have to say about those apps!! i really do recommend them (especially Romance Club) and idk when you’re gonna start playing, but RC is having a Free Event right now that will expire in a day or so where every single diamond option in every single book is free! so that’s very cool and is a great chance for new players! regardless, i do recommend both apps and hope you have a fun time playing! :)