#obviously the characters fluctuate so much because the writers are making shit up as they go

[majiburger]

gossip girl can probably be analyzed as a naturalist text because every single character on that show just runs with the first impulse they have and then pretends like none of their actions were preventable

[waywardsou2]

Oh this is fun! Imma tag my writer friends at the end because this is going to be so interesting!

Here we go!

14...wow that is a lot more than I thought (how many of those are unfinished tho lol)

I tired getting into real whump like going deep into it and actually formulating it well, which...I tried but it didn't last too long

Deadpool and Wolverine is where most of my interest was based for a while in terms of writing. But more recently it's become Arcane

Only 3, my writing goes through fluctuations depending on the hyper fixation so I haven't had much difference in fandoms recently

5. DeadClaws was a big one for me for a while but Jayvik has stolen my heart most recently

6. Bucky Barnes was a big one for me even though I never ended up writing much for him. And now recently Jayce and Viktor (obviously)

7. Yes, Arcane was a new one for me. I don't count Deadpool and Wolverine because that is technically Marvel

8. So far my fic You and Me and The Music I make which is almost finished has meant the most to me to write. It's been a hug comfort honestly

9. Again, You and Me and The Music I make has made me extremely happy, it's all fluff which is something I never do. It has been so uplifiting

10. Welp I have a habit of not finishing my works (so many WIPs collecting dust right now) but when I finished You and Me and The Music I make I know I'll feel so amazing about it

11. I feel like my Summer of Bad Batch prompt challenge works were the hardest mainly because the hyper fixation died half way through which made it difficult for me to continue, but I did get it done in the end

12. Probably my one-shot series, because it was just shit posts here and there of smut. So it wasn't anything that big

13. Shortest was: My post movie head canon one, mainly because it was two chapters and it was just very basic

Longest was: Was Lost but never gone which was one 5 chapters (incomplete) at 15k words already

14. None just my general playlist but when I started You and Me and the Music I make I made a playlist specifically for that ship with songs that were actually included in the fic

15. The Sun will Set on Another Day and I will Still Sit in my Cage, which is super fucking long but it felt right? Idk it was just stupid for me to try and figure out how to name this one I ended up going with a fallout boy song title (LMAO)

16. "Fuck you" "Do it yourself, coward" was pretty funny but I also like You and Me and The Music I make, just coz it's sorta romantic? And I'm a sucker for romance

17. Tbh none of my opening lines particularly stand out to me...I find it hard to write good eye catchers, I mainly focus on the body content but since I'm in love with You and Me and The Music I make I'll have to pick that one

Viktor tuned out the methodical tapping of his shoes and cane working in tandem across the polished floors, he was well adjusted to the sound by now. The day was at its end and his bones had begun to creak. The hallways felt cavernous in the black with him unable to see the expanse of the celling or the depth of the hall. It only stretched out into more darkness.

It think it's nice and descriptive, sets the tone

18. I haven't finished any of my workssss I don't really have one

Their presence was the only thing that brought the other peace.

That's all I've got really

19. ...I suck at writing dialogue...so this was a struggle

“Just hold onto me, I won’t let you fall, and if you need to stop we will. Just…try this for me?”

^^^ This was just really sweet, it was so caring and kind in context. Litteral tooth rotting fluff

20. I thought this was pretty funny but I'm not really a comedian

"I will slice your dick off if you don't stop" "Oh kinky" "Fuck you"

21. In Lost but never gone the characters kinda ended up writing themselves. It was very interesting, enjoyable, but definitely an experience

22. I sometimes write in a dedicated notebook if I don't have my laptop on me. But I only use word and them I post on AO3 afterwards

23. Just the brainstorming stage for all of my works, when the idea pops into my head and I realise I can write it

24. No? Do people do that lol

25. I don't really have anything in particular I do. I usually just stop writing and switch to art for a while (I don't always have a choice) and then come back to writing when I feel the inspo again. It's weird

26. Yeah I made some art, though it wasn't very good

27. I took part in 3, I only completed one all the way to the end and abandoned the other two. I also created my own but I haven't participated in that

28. My friend DM and Emrys for being my biggest inspiration and supporters, for giving me ideas and being my beta readers. I would also thank a few of my discord servers for entertaining my bullshit

29. I want to finish You and Me and The Music I make because I genuinely think that will be the only WIP I can finish lol

30. More Jayvik fics...pfft that's literally it. I love them so much I want to keep writing for them

As for my writing friends

@desired-misery @bunnwis @emrys-study @fionajames @kybercrystals94

A slightly revised version of last year's questions! Two ways to play: Reblog and have your followers send you numbers, or answer the whole list!

How many fics have you worked on since January?

What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year?

What piece of media inspired you the most? (This can be the fandom you wrote the most for, the one that spawned the most ideas, the one you thought about the most, etc.)

How many fandoms did you write for this year?

What ships captured your heart?

What characters captured your heart?

Did you write for any new fandoms or ships this year?

What fic meant the most to you to write?

What fic made you feel the happiest to work on?

What fic was the most satisfying to finish writing?

What fic was the most difficult to write?

What fic was the easiest to write?

What were your shortest and longest fics posted this year?

What were your go-to writing songs?

What was the hardest fic to title?

What's your favorite title of the year?

Share your favorite opening line

Share your favorite ending line

Share your favorite piece of dialogue

Share your funniest line

What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?

What writing programs did you use? Did you write by hand?

If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year?

Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic?

How did you recharge between fics?

Did you create fanworks other than fic?

How many events did you take part in? (bangs, exchanges, ship weeks, zines, prompt memes, they all count!)

If this were an awards show, who would you thank?

What's left on your to-do list for 2024?

What would you like to write next year?

[youabandonedthem]

Hi I just wanted to thank you for how you portray droog because I'm tired of people treating him like an angel or smth when he's canonly a psychopath and I love that about him have a great day

Yes thx that you like it. I think people think that he is the most mature or something just cus they think hes all sexy in his clean pressed suit when maybe hes the 2nd most immature/arbitrarily violent out of the crew next to slicket. and takes the easy way out at work and is not nearly as diligent as slick when it comes to benign tasks. which you would not think at first but it is true and says a LOT. his methods and appearance are just cleaner. which is what he wants you to see and base his personality on so really his guise works on a lot of people

You did not ask but there is this story that represents him plus slick and deuce (in jack/cd form but anywau it's still them) perfectly but its a little infuriating by nature because the author isnt even a midnight crew main and this is the only story they wrote involving them evne though they seem to be the only writer on that website to really truly know all of them as they exist in homestuck. There is a point to be said on that someone who focuses on the whole universe rather than being dedicated to their special wives would represent the characters more fiathfully due to this sort of detachment yet holding that duty to the fictional world to be accurate. And then on the other hand someone who only thinks about their favourites and calls them hateful words like squickily scungily could more likely bastardise these characters to no end due to meaningless projection or shove them into memes that dont even make sense with the character and all that and this is how you end up with os much meaningless 'content' clogging up the tags. (i say this when obviously i like slick...But objectivity is present) Like i don't really get how you can say you like a character this much or for instance say you're the biggest authority on their character when you bastardise them like so and barely ever say anything meaningful about them. and type surface level "analyses" that fluctuate between acting like you came up with facts that are just obvious canon and then points that came out of nowhere and make no sense ex. "guys it seems that the events of the game can influence the npcs' personalities" WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway I mean people will also simultaneously ignore stuff that is canon just because they might not like a piece of information or are adamant to see characters as one dimensional for some reason. or they go oh hussie gross XD it doesnt exist in my world and then they just say some things are not true. This is where the jenkins stare comes in . the lack of comprehending

I saw this meme image from 2016... the "do you take constructive criticism - It looks like shit - thats not constructive criticism" facebook post thing but they drew it with jack and dd and it's like.They would never say those things or talk like that. It was not even written in their typing styles and it had like a million billion notes. I dont get how so many people over the age of 15 can enjoy that really you dont like the characters you like some kind of removed representation of them that is no longer them. It is fun to make spinoffs of memes and enjoy that stuff but when it s actually out of character i dont really get it. Then i kind of made my own version that went nowhere...

But as well as that people are going to want to focus on whatever is nice or cute or hold up a characters evil traits in a showcased sort of way to the point if you talk about it there begins to be a requirement of 4 lines of bolded disclaimer NO I DO NOT ABUSE ANIMALS I DONT EAT PEOPLES PETS NO I DO NOT BEAT WOMEN AND I DID NOT THROW MY BABY DOWN THE STAIRS NO I DO NOT DO THIS IN REAL LIFE. THE THING WHAT I DREW THE CARTOON CHARACTER DOING. or it's voyeuristic in a spotify playlist mad scientist way because they think they are evil like whatever character. but not TOO EVIL becausethey dont kill animals that's BAD #doesthedogdiedotcom #animalLover. but actually this was all just a segue to how jack jacks it to dogs. umm...

[autisticcassandracain]

black manta, since you've been reading thru his appearances and i hvan'et seen much outside movie/tv

Oh!! Him!!! Yeah something you should know is that Black Manta doesn't have consistent characterization. Like he just doesn't. There's not a single consistent thing about him except that he's an Aquaman rogue. His backstory and personality constantly change. As such, I can't really say that there's a singular way to write him 'in character', so these are mostly opinions on how I'd, personally, write him/like to see him be written. Under the cut because I really couldn't shut up on point 3 specifically, so summary:

Autism

Vengeance(TM) but like, Human

His N52 Backstory is Simply Superior

He's a Manipulative Shithead and Brilliant Tactician

He Cares for Jackson

1. Autism

To my knowledge he's still DC's only prominent autistic character! And until they get off their ass and pick another one to hit with their autism beam, they better not forget the one piece of rep they have. No I don't give a shit that it was written in a terribly ableist way, there's a new continuity, fix it!!! Give the man autism or face my wrath!!!

2. Vengeance(TM) but like, Human

I won't lie, I do very much enjoy shithead "How's the wife and kids, Arthur?" completely irredeemably evil Black Manta a little, but he's just infinitely more interesting when he's actually, you know. Human. I think the N52 and onwards has done that better than ever before (even if, again, character and backstory still fluctuate a lot). I really like Higgins' take on him in Aquaman (vol. 8); I usually don't like 'cycle of vengeance' type stories (bc I think the concept's dumb), but in this case, I think it really works, because they go out of their way to show the ways in which Manta's character has broken down due to vengeance, to the point that he has completely lost sight of why he's even taking it, but also show a nuanced portrayal of how he got there. While obviously I'd also very much love a redemption arc for him (and honestly I'm not ruling it out with the way his solo has been setting his character up so far, though I'm not assuming they're gonna go there), I still think it's entirely possible to write him as a vengeance-driven villain while still being a human and sympathetic character. By extension,

3. His N52 Backstory is Simply Superior

It just is! It's not often that the N52, let alone anything Geoff Johns wrote in the N52, does something actively better than the preboot version, but like, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Death of a Prince is an iconic storyline and for good reason, but it was also written in the early 70's by people who were just beginning to experiment with darker storylines, and it really shows. The actual way Arthur Junior (who didn't even have a name other than Aquababy of all things for the majority of this storyline) died was kinda laughable, Manta had basically no motives other than 'is evil', and Arthur's quest for vengeance got routinely interrupted by a Villain of the Week. And while the influence of the arc has been undoubtedly enormous, I don't think it's all for the best. Mera has gotten repeatedly demonized because of this arc's influence (even though in the actual story she and Arthur made up), for example. Arthur's personal grudge and drive for vengeance against Manta as a result of the arc wasn't uncompelling, necessarily, but it was always doomed to go nowhere, since it's not like they could actually let him kill Manta (partly for hero morals, partly because he'd just come back), and it made writers heavily limited in how sympathetic they could make Manta himself.

By contrast, the backstory he was given in the N52, of watching Arthur kill his father in a misdirected fit of rage, works much better for Manta. I still don't feel like I've read enough of Arthur to fully grasp his character (though by now I've fully read Aquaman volume 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8, all of 7 except Bunn's run, and half of volume 5), but since Arthur has been predominantly portrayed as a very angry person, I think it's not really out of character, provided that it's a) before his career as Aquaman and b) something he immediately shapes up and learns from (which is where I think Geoff Johns really dropped the ball).

And it's just SO MUCH MORE COMPELLING for Black Manta. It gives him an actual concrete motive to go after Aquaman (rather then the weird wishy-washy stuff they tried before), and an inherently sympathetic one at that. And the fact that Manta's quest for vengeance is doomed to go nowhere actually adds to his character's story, since it's the nature of villains to fruitlessly struggle against the heroes, and it provides a very solid foundation for an actually good 'cycle of vengeance' story.

While I have mixed feelings on Abnett's writing of Manta in vol. 8 (since it really felt like it was trying hard to move him away from the motive/character vol. 7 had developed him into, which I think was shortsighted), I REALLY love one of the first scenes with him, where he and Aquaman face off and it becomes clear that neither can kill the other and forever put an end to their useless feud, but that only Aquaman is ultimately at peace because he has moved on from the earlier, more hateful version of himself, whereas Black Manta has clung to it. It's just!!! SO much more compelling than anything regarding Death of a Prince in preboot has ever been.

4. He's a Manipulative Shithead and Brilliant Tactician

Sure, Manta can hold his own pretty well in a fight, but what actually makes him dangerous are his plans. Manta is an very smart and cunning villain who, when some thought is actually put into his writing, pretty much always has a plan. He's also extremely charismatic man with a talent for manipulation, and he frequently uses this to his advantage to win followers. While I don't like the 'fake SJW' angle for him (it should really be obvious why I think the idea of a Black man specifically using ideals of racial and social justice to manipulate other Black people into supervillainy Has Some Problems), it reinforces what I'm talking about here: that Manta is a charismatic manipulator and brilliant tactician.

5. He Cares for Jackson

I DO NOT CARE this one is ENTIRELY subjective. I simply like it better when he's shown to have like, any affection for Jackson at all. I don't necessarily mind when it's overshadowed by his need for vengeance or something, but like, the way Manta's relationship was written in the Teen Titans series as a flat antagonistic one on Manta's end was really really boring. And also I just like it when he cares about his kid. Like don't get me wrong dude's not winning any Father of the Year awards any time soon regardless of how much he cares about Jackson, it just makes me soft whenever he shows affection for him. Manta's solo having the narration being a dying letter to Jackson >>> 'I don't care about you and I'm only using you to my advantage'

[whetstonefires]

Do you think the DC fandom maybe, Infantilizes Tim a little too much? Like for a rich kid character who's main trauma for a long time was a getting left home alone too much there's an oddly amount of meta abt how much how much his parents hurt him~ compared to, y'know the two poor characters who grew up with physically abusive dad's+druggie mom's, or the two that were raised assassin cult's, etc

…well, yeah, I do kind of think that? His whole schtick for so long was being too old for his age in ways that didn’t sacrifice his jokey, relatable teenager energies. It’s weird how little of that we see anymore, sometimes.

And then DC broke him and discarded him and he’s sort of awkwardly hanging around getting reimagined as more woobie with every fan generation. It is weird!

But tbh I do get it. And I think the reason his parents’ failure of him and his vulnerability get played up so much, and Jason and Steph’s sufferings (while used a lot for things like motivation and context) not dwelt on quite so much in the same lugubrious style, are kind of the same reason.

Which is that canon didn’t commit to it. Jason and Steph’s experiences with bad parenting were foregrounded and retconned more dramatically awful several times. (There’s some definite classism in how that was approached imo, and I’m never budging on being mad about DC retconning out Catherine being sick and then ignoring her forever in all Jason characterization because a drug death invalidates a person ig, great message during the opioid crisis guys.)

They engaged and coped with it–Steph (and Cass, our #1 canon batfam parental abuse victim) pretty directly, Jason a little less so because of the dubious and fluctuating canon status of most of the content more specific than ‘poverty, homelessness, theft, parental drugs and crime in there somewhere,’ so most of his parent issues have been focused on Bruce. He sure has dug into them tho. 😂 Rarely well or productively, thanks DC, but it’s explicitly part of his character, is my point.

Whereas upper-middle-class Tim was always treated by the narrative as fortunate and unharmed by his experiences with his parents. Even though they were clearly behaving badly in several ways, and Tim showed signs of being harmed by it.

Tim outside of immediate moments of frustration always was of the opinion he was Fine, and Very Fortunate Actually.

Therefore a huge chunk of the numerous everyone who’s got parent-related mental and emotional harm, but has struggled to have that validated and hasn’t responded with a lot of anger toward the parent, identifies with Tim. The only one who’s never really lashed out at his parents for fucking up with him. The one who still needs it explored, because canon ultimately didn’t.

[editing post to put in a readmore because lol it’s long, post otherwise unchanged]

(Dick obviously didn’t ever have any Issues with the Graysons, but he Angry Teenagered at Bruce so hard it changed Bruce’s characterization permanently, rip.)

The things Jason, Steph, and Cass have been through are dramatic, obvious, and fit stereotypes because that’s what they’re based on.

That’s important content to have, but because it’s right out there in your face even people who identify with it quite a lot are less likely to feel the need to work all the way through it again in fanworks. That part’s there. It’s text.

(Well actually Jason having been physically abused kind of wasn’t? I think? It was mostly assumed on the basis of stereotyping and Jason’s not caring about the man much even as he felt possessive of information about his death, which is valid. I don’t actually know what’s up with Willis now, Lobdell did some weird shit that lacked emotional resonance or staying power because he’s Lobdell and has no soul.

Cass’ wandering years are also ludicrously underdeveloped. But very very few comics fans or writers can personally relate to being amazing child warriors with no grasp of language living feral under bridges. That part of her life is consistently represented in terms of absences, in terms of its deviation from the norm and the deficits of normality it left her with, which is typical but unfortunate.) 

-

The interesting things to do with these characters are often informed by the bad stuff in their childhoods, but there’s relatively rarely that much more to say about the fact that those things were bad. They know they’re bad. They’ve had a lot of on-panel rage about it, as discussed above. Steph and Cass both beat the shit out of their dads.

Jason is, in fandom especially, a sort of Platonic ideal of a kid who’s mad about his bad childhood and really bad at figuring out where to point that rage.

(Damian is a whole other kettle of fish, because he’s been lumbered by so many detailed retcons coming so fast no two people can seem to construct compatible models of what his early childhood was like, and even more because he’s still ‘a child’ enough that he’s necessarily in a different stage of processing than someone who’s officially only a few years older than him at this point, but still functionally 8 and also 20 years older, and whose parents are no longer in the picture to continue screwing up.

Also there’s no question that if he brings up an abusive thing the League did, he will be validated by his current environment about his realization that it was in fact bad. There’s a lot of fic on that theme! But it doesn’t have the same tone precisely because it is usually understood that that support will be there if he wants it. Realizing that his previous context contained things that were wrong keeps being made the focus of his arc.)

The badness of Tim’s childhood, on the other hand, was mainly in subtext. Even when we were clearly meant to understand Jack was fucking up, like when he canceled plans with Tim at the last minute to go on a date with Tim’s stepmother, or that infamous time he came to apologize for not being a great parent and got mad Tim was distracted by a crisis on TV so he flew into a rage and took the TV and smashed it and was like ‘that’ll teach you,’ it wasn’t leaned into.

The story didn’t treat Jack as a minor villain to be overcome but like a sort of environmental hazard of childhood, like homework, to be endured and coped with. Tim said things like ‘it’s fine’ and ‘at least he left the computer.’

(And like. It’s not about having a TV and computer in his room. It’s about not letting a child have boundaries, pointedly not respecting a child’s possessions, creating an emotionally insecure environment, punishing minor infractions in proportion to their momentary impact on your own ego, physically lashing out at a proxy for the child…)

Rather like Tom King later didn’t understand about the punching from Bruce, whoever did that story (probably Dixon? I don’t care enough to check) did not understand how serious a case of bad parenting that scene was. That is most definitely textbook abusive behavior. (It’s a hell of a lot more common abusive behavior than being a lame supervillain or shooting you when you screw up, and a lot more specific than ‘was a thug, might have hit me, dead now.’)

And Tim was never allowed to be mad at his parents about it. It was fine. He needed to be ignored so he had the freedom to be Robin. He deserved his dad being mad at him because he was keeping secrets. He complained too much, although objectively he did not.

The universe punished him for ‘complaining,’ more than once. We cut straight from him shunting aside his disappointment that his postcard from his parents was just to say they weren’t coming home yet after all with ‘if it will stop all the fights they’ve been having lately it’s more than fine’ to them getting kidnapped.

He agreed not to come on the rescue mission. His mom never made it home, and his dad was in a coma for a while. And then ultimately Jack died as a result of Tim’s decision to be Robin, immediately after finally deciding to accept it.

So Tim walks around feeling a huge burden of responsibility for his parents’ deaths, and completely unable to process any hurt they did him as real or valid, especially in comparison with the far more blatant awfulness other people have been through, and canon is clearly never going to address it. Or even acknowledge it properly.

Let me repeat that because it’s kind of my main point:

People are fixated on getting Tim’s emotional abuse validated because that’s an incredibly important step in recovering from emotional abuse, and it’s one canon consistently denied him.

How ‘bad’ things are ‘in comparison to’ problems other people have is a bad and unhealthy way to engage with trauma. Okay? That’s just a really harmful framework to apply to pain.

It’s also a way that both Tim and people with experiences similar to Tim’s are encouraged to engage with their own experiences, compounding the existing problems.

So. Not a form of relatable DC was ever actually aiming for when they tried so hard (and pretty effectively) to make him a relatable character as Robin, but an enduring one for a lot of fans.

-

So Tim’s childhood is a natural target for fanworks in a different way than the traumas that have been made explicit and taken seriously by the text. And then a lot of that got compounded by the way the introduction of Damian as Robin was handled, and the lack of resolution that got. And his current status as not quite having a place in the family anymore.

So between the level of projection encouraged by that context and how relatively difficult to access Tim’s Robin run has become ten years after the fact, this has led to a lot of fanworks on these themes that are based mostly on other fanworks, and stray further and further from the original content.

So at this point there’s an entire wing of Tim’s fandom wherein this side of him has expanded enormously, and he primarily exists to suffer, frequently in ways that 1) escalate to a point that is inarguably ‘valid’ and hard to dismiss and 2) set him up to rebound from it in whatever way the writer finds emotionally satisfying or useful–being ultimately cared for and reassured by people who value him (the most infantilizing option but like, popular for obvious reasons), or unveiling his brilliant scheme that was causing him to pretend to be passive in the face of mistreatment, or turning around and using his genius ninja skills to wrest power back from his abusers, or just laying down some sick burns about being treated fairly.

But not that many of the last one, because that’s mostly done with other batfam members.

Tim’s become a vehicle for a lot of vicarious coping that Steph and Jason just aren’t appropriate for, because they get angry and they get even. And those are stories that exist already, so there’s less scope for telling your own.

And because Jason’s reaction pattern is ultimately so masculine (i’ll make them all sorry! with my guns! blam blam!) while Tim’s is pretty gender-neutral, the demographics of fanfic mean that the bulk of the people using Tim vicariously in this manner are female-aligned, which has over time feminized this archetype of him a lot. Sometimes in ways I find really uncomfortable, like there’s a lot of forced pregnancy stuff which activates my panic buttons. x.x

But, ultimately, it’s fandom. People are going to do what they’re going to do, DC in their perpetual fail has hung Tim out to dry in narrative terms, and I’d rather the people who are using Tim for victimization narratives over the people who can’t dismiss or discredit him fast enough now that his position has been filled. 🤷‍♀️ What we gonna do? Fave’s in an awkward spot. DC hates us. This is the life in this comic book pit. XD

-

Also if you’re the same anon who left me a callout about op of that weird Steph post in my inbox, or if you aren’t @ that person, 1) I refuse to get involved so I’m not answering that ask 2) those aren’t even particularly dramatic fandom crimes? That’s pretty normal? That’s just…Caring Too Much About Ships And Disagreeing With Me.

Do I also feel those opinions are kinda bad? Yeah. But I disagree with everyone about something. Chill.

[soulmatesinanimpala]

My thoughts on the SPN series finale

K.

First off let me preface this by saying I devoted YEARS and years of my life, I poured every ounce of my love and devotion, every shred of my inspiration and every fibre of my being into this show, many years ago. I wasn’t just a “fan.” I have this show tattooed on my body for a reason. It literally changed my life. It saved me. These two brothers, road tripping across America hunting down creepy things that go bump in the night. And their love for one another. The amount of love I have/had for this show is boundless. I carry it with me every day and I will for the rest of my life. It is a part of who I am. I’ve never connected with another show quite the same way as I did with Supernatural, and I know I never will again. The universe aligned to produce magic that day that I decided to watch the pilot. For me, it was never “just a show.” It was something tangible, like a life I was getting to live outside of my own. It was quite literally everything to me.

But, somewhere along the way, with the loss of the original creator Eric Kripke, and different writing teams coming and going, the show lost itself, and it turned into something unrecognizable. It turned into a mockery of itself, a joke. With writing so bad it was physically PAINFUL for me to watch. I held on for years, hoping it would eventually pick back up, or by some miracle I would start to see the original show I fell in love with come back. But it never did. So I stopped watching about four seasons ago, after a long, long journey with the show.

I see so many people torn up about the finale and shit-talking the writers when in reality, for me, the show actually died LONG AGO. The fact that so many are only angry with the writers NOW is what I truly find astounding.

I’ve had to sit back and listen to “fans” bitch and moan about how their fantasy ships aren’t being respected in canon, and it INFURIATED me. So many have lost sight about what the show is actually about, and the writers just play into their delusions. Everybody always talks about the SPN fandom being such a respectful, caring fandom and it couldn’t be further from the truth. The fandom ruined the show. It’s literally the worst fandom I’ve ever been a part of and ever will be a part of. So many so-called “fans” want their fantasies to be a reality that it POISONED the show and swallowed it up it until it became this dark, soulless entity. A shell, if you will, of what it once was. It could not be farther away from the show I originally fell in love with, back when the fandom was pretty much just growing. It was this tight-knit community, and I was so proud to be part of it. The fandom was older, wiser, and had respect for the writers and the characters. That fandom that I once held dear is LONG, long gone.

ALL THIS TO SAY. Was I satisfied with the ending? Honestly? Sure.

I already gave up on the show LONG AGO, so this ending isn’t as significant to me as others are making it out to be. I’m seeing memes going around about the rusty nail thing and honestly, while it is true that it’s drastically anti-climactic, I think that’s kind of what I ... didn’t mind about it..? Yes, there was a blatant disregard for 15 years of character development and everything he’d been through to just go and do something extremely CHEAP and insulting like that. But it honestly didn’t even surprise me, with this writing team. They’ve been pulling shit like this for YEARS and no one seemed to care, so. Why all of a sudden do people care about SPN’s shit writing?

The plot of the last, what- ten seasons? has been this crazy over-arching end of the world heaven/hell apocalypse bullshit, which got so tiring after a while that nothing the characters did even mattered anymore. Someone dies? Oh don’t worry, they’re going to come right back unscathed next episode! You sacrifice yourself! and YOU sacrifice yourself! That it was just one redundant mess. Like SPN just became this too-big ocean filled to the brim with trash. So.... honestly? Dean Winchester going out ON A HUNT with Sammy, wasn’t so bad to me. If they wanted him to die, there was really nothing else they had left to do? He’d already sacrificed himself for the planet MANY TIMES lol. Dean’s died so many fucking times like I can’t even count. So who cares that this is his final death? It’s kind of appropriate, if you think about it. Death doesn’t mean as much to the Winchesters as it does to you and me. Sam knew he wasn’t saying goodbye to him forever. Were there a hell of a lot more ways he could have gone out that would have been more respectful? Obviously. But that’s Dabb for you.

I guess the fact that Sam knew he was going to see Dean as soon as he died almost made it OKAY for him to live out his life. (I’m just grasping at straws here because I really hate that Sam lived out an entire life with wife and kid without Dean like it makes me feel like puking lol)

The writing was obviously garbage, but I wasn’t expecting anything different than the drab, heartless, half-assed surface-level writing of the past several years. So, GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES, I’m honestly not that mad at it. I’m just kind of shrugging tbh.

Sam got to live out the life he always wanted, and when he finally did die, he returned to Dean. Now the brothers can be together with their loved ones for eternity. That doesn’t sound too bad to me? The show has ALWAYS been about SAM AND DEAN. To end with the two of them is the way it SHOULD be.

Would I have written it differently? Well, I would have written the past TEN seasons differently, so. To me, this was just... fine. I liked the nods to the return to the pilot. That hit me RIGHT in the feels. From Bobby at the Roadhouse, to the original licence plate on the Impala, to some of the lines that were exchanged. Those little nuggets were just lovely, and being a strictly OG-series fan, l felt appreciated in some small way. I also liked how time barely passed for Dean, but a whole lifetime passed for Sam. Him driving the car to Carry on My Wayward Son as Sam lived out his life was as well done as it could be, and them finally reuniting on the bridge where it all began was symbolic AF and I really liked that. So, in conclusion. I’m not mad. (Well, I’m not MADDER than I already was lmao). And for me to not be madder than I already was, is a feat. So I’ll take what I can get. Because if it would have ended with the brothers not being together, I think I would have had to drop everything to fly to California just to flip the writers’ table over and give them a piece of my mind.

Jared and Jensen gave not only that finale but this entire series their all, and regardless of how you feel about the finale, the least we can do is give them our respect. These two actors carried the series for all 15 seasons, baring their souls on screen for us all to watch. And that is a beautiful thing, that even after all these years and all these fluctuating emotions I had about the show, I can still shed tears for the Winchesters and their tragic but beautiful story.

[tessatechaitea]

The Ray #1

In 1994, I had no idea who Christopher Priest and Howard Porter were so I have no idea why I purchased this comic book.

Although (continuing the thought from the caption which is just me saying, "Fuck the format! I can do what I want!") I was in my early 20s in 1994 so I was probably into that edgy fascination with freaks and body deformity. I hadn't seen Tod Browning's Freaks yet but I'm sure I would have jumped at the chance if I'd known about it. It's the only reason I can figure why I bought a comic book about a character I knew nothing about. Because it looks like he's a hero with a deformed baby leg. I probably picked it up off the shelf and yelled, "Fuckin' A, dude! Look at this ganky bastich!" It was 1994 so obviously I was emulating Lobo in my every day life. Some of you might be thinking, "Ugh! You're so gross and problematic!" But I'm just being honest! I was a young man, masking like crazy in order to hide my vulnerabilities so I wouldn't be crushed by social interactions and existential threats to my psyche. I had to act tough to survive the crazy streets of Santa Clara, California! Back then, Silicon Valley wasn't like it is now! In 1994, hulking techno-nerds were roaming the streets with razor sharp circuit boards looking to cut the genitals off of anybody who criticized the Neo-Geo CD home gaming console. If you looked at them funny, they'd challenge you to a game of Cyberball and you'd better hope you won because they were also obsessed with Mortal Combat and if you lost, the last thing you'd hear would be a bunch of techno-nerds screaming "Finish him!" before you found yourself upside down gagging on the filthy water of an unflushed public toilet. The early nineties were some rough years! Especially when you were into heavy metal! People think grunge and rap killed metal but think about what people thought was "rock and roll" during the early 90s: Warrant's "Cherry Pie" and Extreme's "More Than Words." I mean, Feetal's Gizz! Metal was dead long before grunge and rap came by to fill its grave. Anyway, you could totally be into freaks in the early 90s because the Internet didn't exist so your opinions weren't reaching anybody outside your small circle of friends. All the other people of the world who didn't know you at all didn't have a way to tell you you were a piece of shit because of one single thing that comprised the myriad facts of who you were. Fuck you, Internet! No, no! I'm sorry! Don't be mad at me, Internet! I can't live without you! Also, maybe I just bought this comic book because the cover was shiny and embossed and growing up in Santa Clara was so boring that it made this comic book looked exciting. The issue begins with The Ray battling Brimstone. Remember him from Legends?

Brimstone is as big as Godzilla and he's already killed hundreds of people, judging by the apartment buildings he's smashed.

I don't know who The Ray is or where he's from. What part of the United States of America uses slang like "gaffle," "put my serve on," "zoom this buster," "bone out," "feebs," and "rot." Is this just Christopher Priest trying to mimic youth speak? I would expect this kind of thing from an aging comic book writer like current Neal Adams but Priest was in his early thirties when he wrote this. Maybe The Ray is from another Earth and Priest's theory was that slang words would obviously differ between Earths. But not so much that you couldn't get the gist of what he's saying. Except for "gaffle." I don't know what the fuck he wants to do to Brimstone when he says he's going to gaffle him. I know what I would mean by it but that doesn't seem appropriate in this situation.

Oh wait. The Ray was just writing fan-fiction about himself.

So the Brimstone fight didn't really happen. Or it did happen but The Ray is using it as fodder to write comic books about himself. So he's like Clark Kent writing articles about Superman? At least writing comic book stories about your own adventures isn't unethical. Fucking Clark Kent. What kind of a journalist uses his soap box to simply promote himself? No wait. Journalists fucking suck. I despise journalists for the same reason I despise police officers. If you're just letting your profession go to shit because a bunch of people are abusing their positions of power and not actually doing the public service they're supposed to be doing, you're just as bad as the worst apple in the barrel. There's a reason that whole apple/barrel thing is still a saying even though nobody really associates apples with barrels anymore. Maybe The Ray isn't writing comic books although it seems like the super edgy postmodern take a writer in the 90s would think was fucking mind blowing. We got Kyle Rayner, comic book artist, as the new Green Lantern. Why shouldn't we also get a comic book writer in there as well? Or The Ray might just be writing stories for his college paper which would mean he's just as unethical and terrible as Clark Kent, I suppose. But in an amateurish way. The Ray (whose name is Ray Terrill so it was lucky he got light-based powers) stops trying to write and decides to tell the readers about the last few days. He's a young guy who works at a fast food chicken joint and has just leased his first apartment. It's a piece of shit with some garbage and/or artistic sculpture in the middle of the room but he doesn't have any credit or money so he's stuck with it. I bet there are corpses under the floor boards as well as other things too boring to mention (but which I'll mention anyway) like rats and cockroaches and dried semen stains.

This is Ray's narration of the place which I read after I wrote the previous paragraph. Was I writing comics and named Christopher Priest in 1994?

The Ray spends all day handing out flyers to Clucky Chicken while standing right outside Clucky Chicken. Is that what flyers are for? To remind people about the thing they can totally see right in front of them? I guess they could be coupons. While he's handing out flyers, his super cool cousin Hank stops by to gaffle some swang all up in through him.

This must be Earth-15 where they say things like "Yo trip dat frum, golderboots!" and "Swank on into my PQs, Flub Daddy!"

The Ray is disappointed that he's a man now because responsibility sucks. Kids can't stand curfews and rules but man is it sweet to be able to come and go as you please (within curfew, of course!) while doing whatever the fuck you want and not worrying about money for food or rent. The Ray can't even fuck his girlfriend because she saw him in the chicken suit and is all, "Oh, um, I just came by to say I can't come by! Bye!" The Ray can travel at the speed of light anywhere he wants while carrying other people. That makes sense because comic books. He takes his cousin Hank Fonzerelli to see a volcano shaped like a hand in Hawaii only to discover that it's another Brimstone. It's activated by a henchman of Darkseid while The Ray and Hank are checking out a surf competition or a luau. It's at this point when The Ray gets back to the beginning of the story where he was failing to stop Brimstone from destroying a city. As he picks the story back up, Superboy arrives to save the day. Not the boring Superboy who used to be Superman and learned a terrible secret about himself on his sixteenth birthday about an extra candle. The new Superboy who arrived on the scene after Superman died. He might also be boring but I wouldn't know having never read any comic books about him. The new Superboy is an arrogant dick and The Ray hates him. That's probably why The Ray winds up killing him. Or he thinks he killed him. Everybody reading the comic book probably thought The Ray killed him too (because we were all dumb-dumbs who actually believed DC Comics had killed Superman off for good. Why wouldn't they?! He was a big boring boy scout whose powers kept fluctuating because editors and writers thought the problem with writing Superman stories was that he was too powerful. But the real problem with writing Superman stories was that those same writers and editors were unimaginative assholes who didn't actually understand Superman. Why else would Superman have died from a fist fight?! Seriously, Dan Jurgens. What were you thinking?! Superman should never have been killed because he encountered something more powerful that could just beat the shit out of him. Superman should have been killed because of a philosophical or ethical dilemma where he realized the only way to save the world was to allow himself to die. He should have been Jesus but instead he was just Apollo Creed. Who I think was a metaphor for John the Baptist? The issue ends with the narrator letting the readers know that Superboy isn't actually dead and why would the idiots think he'd be killed in The Ray when he was currently starring in his own popular monthly comic book? Stupid dumb comic book readers! But the narrator also mentions that The Ray is out of power (I didn't know he had to recharge) and Brimstone is kind of mad. Then he's all, "If we were you," (I don't think a proper editor in 1994 would have allowed a writer to use the plural pronoun "we" as a non-specific gender singular pronoun so now I'm picturing the narrator as a small group of old people), "We'd be back here in 30 days!" And I guess 22 year old me agreed with them because I purchased Issue #2. The Ray #1 Rating: C. C is average, right? I didn't find anything I particularly loved about this issue but I also didn't find anything I absolutely hated. Except for Superboy but I think I was supposed to hate him so that's a positive critique. I probably purchased the next issue because I wanted to find out what happens to Hank Fonzerelli. What a cool dude! The letters pages don't have any letters but it does have a story by Brian Augustyn about how Christopher Priest changed his name from Jim Owsley. It also explains that Priest's idea for The Ray was to have a teenager suddenly have to deal with god-like powers while still being a teenager. I think before this that was called "Spider-man". Except for the god-like powers! Those were more spider-like powers.

[mrsspidermanmaryjanewatsonparker]

“While they're depicted as happy and in love, there are a lot of details that don't make sense.”

Oh boy I can’t wait to hear this from the pinnacle of comic book journalism that is Screenrant....

20 EVERYTHING ABOUT "ONE MORE DAY"

 Okay fair enough

 19 THEY HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON

 Sense of humour. Study different forms of science. Science and acting are both about making sense of life. Troubled childhoods. Living double lives. Living with guilt over relegating on responsibilities which hurt your family. Immense inner strength. Oh and btw having shit in common isn’t the be all and end all of romantic relationships so shut up.

 “It's possible for two people to love each other and not have much in common. ”

 That’s what I said.

 “At some point, however, a couple needs to have something to build a relationship on.”

 And they did see above and add in being one another’s friends, confidants and support group.

 “Peter Parker and Mary Jane couldn't be further apart from each other in almost every single way. He's a science geek with a weird sense of humor and no social skills.”

 Also heroic, also gult ridden, also responsible, also inner strength, also working class, also lost a parent, also lived a double life....like MJ.

 “Meanwhile, MJ is an aspiring model/actress, except for when she's a super successful model/actress.”

 Everyone knows model/actress = a personality right.

 “In recent years, she's shown a more entrepreneurial side, but that still involved opening a nightclub, the sort of place where Peter doesn't fit in at all. They say opposites attract, but there comes a point where that just becomes nonsensical.”

 Yes there is but that point is well beyond the ways in which Peter and MJ are opposite to one another because their traits often balance one another out.

 18 THEY GOT TOGETHER WAY TOO SOON AFTER GWEN'S DEMISE

 They got together almost 2 years after Gwen died shut up.

 “Time in comic books is a funny thing. The Marvel Universe has a sliding timescale, meaning that it's hard to peg down when stories took place in relation to each other. The time that passes in the real world means nothing. That being said, Peter and MJ started dating way too soon after Gwen Stacy's demise.”

 Canonically its still 2 years so shut up.

 “She lost her life in Amazing Spider-Man #121 (1973) by Gerry Conway and Gil Kane. By the end of the next issue, the seeds were being planted for them to get together. They didn't immediately start dating, but Peter seemed to get over his "one, true love" suspiciously fast”

 2 years isn’t too fast and she wasn’t his one true love. Nobody has a one true love.

 17 SHE FLIP-FLOPS ON PETE'S LIFE AS SPIDER-MAN

This list is about stuff that doesn’t make sense. Anybody dating a superhero is probably going to flip flop over their own or their loved ones’ lives being potentially endangered by super powered serial killers.

 “Look, dating a superhero must be hard. Nobody can blame someone for not wanting to deal with it, or trying to convince a loved one not to risk their life. Also, it can make having a social life impossible. It's understandably frustrating, but at some point, enough is enough.

It seems like Mary Jane can't make up her mind about Peter's life as Spider-Man.”

 Obviously she can because she chose to date him, chose to marry him and stayed with him all the time sans stories where she was written as OOC.

 She both likes it and dislikes it which makes her compelling and its realistic too. She doesn’t HAVE to make up her mind definitively and every day stay on track with liking or hating it because people flip flop over shit all the time.

 Shit Spider-Man himself flip flops about BEING SPIDER-MAN!

 “Sometimes she's fully supportive, while other times she wants him to quit. ”

Gee its almost like something as dangerous as a superhero’s life would have lots of factors that impact how you feel depending upon what side of the bed you got up from.

 Also she never wanted him to quit outside of when she was OOC. She only once wanted him to remain retired when she was heavily pregnant.

 “Considering that she knew Peter was Spider-Man before she even met him, it's time for her to figure out her feelings and make a decision. ”

 a)                  She did, hence they married

b)                  She doesn’t need to make a decision YOU the individual reader want her to but realistically the character for her own sake doesn’t have to

 “They both know he's not going to give up being a hero, so it's time to be grown ups.”

 16 THEIR ENGAGEMENT WAS SUPER QUICK

In the history of mankind there have been quicker engagements.

Shit STAN LEE got married super quick, he married his wife Joan of 60 something years literally the day she got divorced.

“In Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 (1987) by David Michelinie, Jim Shooter, and Paul Ryan, Peter Parker married Mary Jane. Behind the scenes, this occurred because Stan Lee wanted Spider-Man to get married in the newspaper comic strip that he was writing at the time. Marvel liked the idea, and decided to have them get married in the comics as well.

The problem was that they were broken up at the time. So, the writers had to quickly bring her back, rekindle the romance, have Peter propose, and then get married.”

 This is total fucking bullshit.

Mary Jane had been a mainstay in the titles for over 4 years before the wedding, being the most recurring character sans Spider-Man himself.

Moreover broken up isn’t strictly accurate, Peter and Mj years prior to their wedding had been effectively dating whilst being in denial about it to one another or publicly.

Their romance and love was always there they just weren’t being honest about it until Peter proposed.

Yeah the proposal-wedding was a few issues, but the romantic tension and relationship had been years in the making.

“Anyone that's ever planned a real wedding knows how unrealistic this whole timeline was.”

Yeah unless you were having a quick wedding at city hall with a small ceremony and there was a time skip before and during the final part of the story where they tie the knot.

15 DO THEY HAVE A BABY OR NOT?

“The second Clone Saga that ran during the mid '90s had one of the most confusing endings ever written. Basically, the writers needed to finish Ben Reilly's storyline while also tying up all of Peter's loose ends to make it possible for Peter to become Spider-Man again. One of these plot threads was the fact that Mary Jane was pregnant.

The editors felt that Spider-Man being a dad would age him, so they suggested that Mary Jane not have the baby, after all. However, it was also heavily implied at the time that Norman Osborn had the baby taken away. This storyline was teased for a few years, before ultimately being forgotten about.”

This list is about things that do not make sense. This list is not about things that are merely unresolved.

14 WHY DOES PETER STILL USE THE BLACK SUIT?

“In Amazing Spider-Man #299 (1988) by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane, Venom made his frightening first appearance. Mary Jane thought she saw Peter wearing his black costume, until a mouth formed and turned into a horrific smile. Venom didn't hurt Mary Jane, but the experience was still pretty traumatic for her.

After Spidey defeated the villain, Mary Jane asked him to stop wearing the black costume. This made sense, and Peter happily obliged. Except, he keeps bringing the costume back from time to time.”

 Yeah and it’s justified each time.

He brought it back in the 1990s during McFarlane’s run because he needed something stealthy and he discussed this with MJ.

He brought part of it back in the Clone Saga because he had nothing else to wear but it wasn’t the whole suit.

He brought it back during the Mackie run with Larsen because again he had nothing else to wear and MJ was presumed dead at the time anyway.

He wore it again in Back in Black at a time where he wasn’t wearing it in front of MJ and wanted to send a message to criminals that he was now going to be a more violent and scary fucker (it worked).

He wore it again in Brand New Day when he was impersonating Venom and he and MJ were broken up.

He wore it again in ASM #800 when he needed the power boost from the symbiote to beat Red Goblin.

And all this aside, MJ got over her fear of Venom anyway.

So rather than making no sense each individual instance actually did add up.

“Sometimes there's a specific reason, other times he just seems to feel like wearing it. He knows it scares his wife, but apparently Peter likes the way it looks too much to care.”

Not true as I just explained. Peter himself doesn’t even LIKE the suit anymore.

13 HOW SUCCESSFUL IS HER CAREER?

“Not everyone is a fan of Peter and Mary Jane's relationship. While many fans love her, some feel that it's weird for Peter Parker to be married to a supermodel. That can be a valid complaint, but the problem is that Mary Jane has had one of the most inconsistent careers ever.

She's constantly moving between being a struggling model, a highly sought after model, a soap opera actress, and even giving up on show business completely multiple times. It's understandable for careers to have ups and downs, but it seems like the writers can't even decide if she's famous or not.”

Because a model and actresses career and fame can’t fluctuate right?

 12 THEY'VE BOTH DEALT WITH TOO MANY STALKERS

WTF is too many exactly when one of you is a famous-semi-famous actress and model and the other is a superhero?

Like shit dude, there are people, a lot of them women, who aren’t famous and can have stalkers.

“In the late '90s, Marvel's first attempt to undo Spider-Man's marriage resulted in Mary Jane getting on a plane which then exploded mid-flight.”

Technically that was not their first attempt.

“For the next year or so, everyone believed she had passed away. Instead, she had been snatched away by a deranged stalker, who caused the explosion so that no one would look for her.

Before that, Mary Jane had to deal with Jonathan Ceaser, who attempted to take her away several times in the early '90s.”

 OP misspelled ‘once’ as ‘several times’.

 “Even Peter had to deal with his ex girlfriend, Felicia Hardy, dating Flash Thompson just so she could be near him during that same time period. ”

That isn’t a stalker.

“People really need to give these two their privacy.”

 Again...not a thing that doesn’t make sense which is the point of the article.

 11 THEY BREAK UP CONSTANTLY

constantly

Dictionary result for constantly

/ˈkɒnst(ə)ntli/

adverb

1.    continuously over a period of time; always.

 Hmmmmmm...doesn’t seem to add up with breaking up:

 For the first time in the late 1970s.

Again in Spider-Man vs. Wolverine.

Trial separating (which isn’t a proper break up) in 2001.

Seperating for real in OMD/OMIT

Breaking up again in Superior when it wasn’t even the real Spider-Man. And no her dumping him again twice doesn’t count.

 Gee, four break ups across 40+ years = constantly apparently.

 “Comic books can't just rely on action, they also need to have drama. One of the most common places writers create drama is in the hero's relationships. It's probably very hard to date a superhero, and it's understandable that not everyone would want to sign up for that ride. At some point, however, enough is enough.”

 I’m not saying I’m innocent of lazily repeating the same words and phrases over and over again, but I also don’t get paid to write for a big website.

 Also, wtf does enough’s enough even mean?

They broke up a few times, one due to genuine issues, once because of a misunderstanding, once because MJ wasn’t well and Peter was OOC (which doesn’t count) and every other time also because they were both OOC.

 “It's hard to feel bad for them when Peter and Mary Jane break up, because they do it all the time. He's always focusing on saving people, she's constantly moving to another part of the country to work on her career. When Mephisto forced them to break-up, he could've just waited a few months and gotten the same result.”

Again all the time and constantly does not = 4 times across 40 years.

Also that wasn’t Mephisto’s endgame but whatever.

10 HOW DID SHE NOT NOTICE OTTO'S MIND IN PETER'S BODY

Hey look, the secod legitimate point on this list. The answer was because bad writing.

9 HOW DO THEY AFFORD THEIR APARTMENTS?

“A common complaint across various forms of fiction is that characters always seem to be able to afford apartments that they shouldn't be able to. For Spider-Man and Mary Jane, however, it's pretty bad. Of course, there are times when Mary Jane's career is going very well, which explains how they can afford a nice apartment.

For the most part, however, Peter is a struggling photographer and she's a struggling model. Somehow, they are consistently able to afford apartments with giant skylights. ”

 If this happens across most fiction in ways which aren’t more egregious than anything else (because Joey and Chandler’s apartment is egregious given their jobs) then it’s not worth mentioning on this list.

“Seriously, Tony Stark would struggle to afford some of the places they've lived in over the years.”

He really wouldn’t.

8 PETER WAS SUPER SHALLOW ABOUT MEETING HER

First off he wasn’t super shallow, he was as shallow as you would expect any teenager to be in that situation.

Also, a teenager being shallow. Thats certainly something that doesn’t make sense and belongs on a list entirely about shit that makes no sense.

“In the early stories, Peter could be kind of shallow. Granted, he was a teenager, but he always just seemed interested in dating the prettiest girls. ”

Ugh...no he didn’t. He asked out 3 young women who were all relatively attractive but none of whom were like compared to Hollywood starlets of the era. There was something of an implication that Betty Brant, his high school love, was not as attractive as the more glamorous Liz Allan whom he typically rebuffed in favour of Betty.

Also if we’re playing the ‘its super shallow to just date the hottest people you can’ then Peter and MJ were no worse than one another at those ages.

“Considering that he was always getting bullied and picked on, he should've been more understanding.”

a)        Being bullied and picked on isn’t innately going to make you more understanding of anybody

b)        Understanding of who? Who was he being inconsiderate towards exactly? He asked out two girls he was attracted to, attraction being an involuntary thing in the first place. He presumed his elderly not hip aunt who described MJ as being a good house wife was going to pick someone unattractive or boring, especially considering that if she was going to be set up with him she probably couldn’t get a date with anyone else. Meaning in his teenage head she must be unattractive

“Then, when he found out that she was beautiful, he was suddenly interested. ”

 My God how dare characters as teens be shallow and flawed. It makes no seeeeeeense!

 “It turns out, Peter's type was "any girl that looks good, regardless of her interests or personality."”

 That’s true which is why he quickly began to turn away from MJ because he found her shallow and preferred Gwen who was seemingly not shallow...

 7 WHY DID SHE NEED TO BE SET UP WITH PETER IN THE FIRST PLACE?

...huh?

 “Every comic book fan knows the story of how Peter and MJ met. A recurring plot line in early Spider-Man stories was Aunt May constantly trying to set Peter up with her friend's niece. The two didn't actually meet until The Amazing Spider-Man #43 (1966) by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, when Peter opened the door and she said the iconic phrase "face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot!"”

 Wow...the degree of incompetence in this paragraph is truly impressive.

 First of all it was ASM #42 not #43...how do you fuck that up. More importantly it was with Lee and Romita Senior not Lee and Ditko. SERIOUSLY how do you fuck that up.

 “What's weird about this, however, is that Mary Jane was a beautiful and outgoing girl. Peter was busy being Spider-Man, and was considered a nerd by his peers, so it's understandable that he'd need help getting dates. Mary Jane, on the other hand, should have been doing just fine.”

 Lets ignore how this was explained in Parallel Lives a story which has a major plot point referenced by the article more than once.

...why is this presumption Mj NEEDED to be set up. Maybe she just agreed as a favour to her aunt.

6 HOW DID SHE KNOW TO SAY THE JACKPOT LINE?

Because she knew she was sexy and could tell by his reaction he didn’t realize that and was taken aback by it.

“Ok, this might seem like a nitpick,”

Why let that bother you now.

 “The famous scene where Peter and Mary Jane first meet plays out like this: Peter answers the door, and Mary Jane is standing and delivers the famous line. It's a memorable moment, but it also doesn't make any sense.

Mary Jane never met Peter before this.”

Not formally no, but yes she had and knew what he looked like.

“How did she know she was a "jackpot" for him? Maybe she wasn't his type?”

His reaction spelled it out for her.

“For all she knew, he could have answered the door and been very disappointed. Also, maybe he wouldn't care what she looked like? It was a pretty arrogant thing to say, looking back, and she's lucky it didn't backfire.”

 *rolls eyes* oh fuck off.

5 THE REASON SHE CALLS HIM TIGER MAKES NO SENSE

“For years, everyone focused on the "jackpot" part of Mary Jane's famous introduction, but apparently, Peter was focused on a different part. Apparently, he never understood why she called him "tiger," especially because the nickname stuck. In all honesty, it's a good question. Especially during those early years, Peter Parker was anything but a "tiger."

In the original Clone Saga that ran during 1975, Peter actually asked Mary Jane for the reason. It turns out, it's because he's not a tiger and she's just playfully teasing him. That's fine, except why did she say it the first time she met him? How did she know he wasn't a "tiger?"”

a)           Because she called everyone that

b)           Because Aunt May and Aunt Anna probably told her about him

 4 THEY DON'T EVEN TRY TO HIDE KNOWING EACH OTHER

Yeah they do.

 “Peter's never been great at keeping a secret identity.”

Yeah that is why hardly anyone knew it before Civil War...

 “His entire scheme is that he takes pictures of himself fighting crime as Spider-Man, and then pretends that he's just Spidey's photographer. He's basically telling everyone that he's connected to the wall-crawler in some way.”

Yet it worked so obviously he is good at hiding it.

 “Even worse, whenever Spider-Man runs into Mary Jane, they often blatantly talk to each other in public. They always forget to pretend that Mary Jane isn't supposed to know Spider-Man. ”

He talks to lots of people in public and MJ has the easy cover story of knowing/dating Spider-Man’s friend Peter Parker.

“That, or they go way over the top and really awkwardly state that they don't know each other.”

No they don’t.

“At some point, someone's going to notice Spidey flirting with Peter Parker's wife and put two and two together.”

Yet they never have so...

 3 HOW DID SHE FIGURE OUT HIS SECRET ID?

“As previously stated, Peter is kind of terrible at keeping a secret identity. ”

As previously stated no he isn’t

“Often times, Peter doesn't even get caught as Spider-Man, people just end up figuring it out.”

Again a lie from the author who didn’t even know Romita Senior isn’t Steve Ditko.

“For example, after dating Peter during the '70s and the '80s, Mary Jane broke up with him, moved away, and then came back to New York. ”

Actually they broke up in the 70s and began dating after she returned in the 80s.

“When she returned, she revealed that she had figured out his secret.

While that made sense, later stories contradicted this. It was eventually revealed that she saw Peter leaving his house dressed as Spider-Man the night Uncle Ben died. So, she didn't figure it out. Obviously, this was a retcon, but the result is that Mary Jane lied to Peter. She didn't figure anything out!”

a)           Seeing Peter Parker enter an abandoned house and Spider-Man emerge would count as figuring out his identity

b)           She never actually told him directly she figured it out like she was a goddam detective

2 THEY BOTH KEEP HANGING AROUND THEIR EXES

As do most comic book characters...

“Both Peter and Mary Jane had healthy dating lives before marrying one another. There's nothing wrong with that. On the other hand, it's strange how they're both constantly hanging around their exes. ”

Or refreshingly healthy...

“Peter still brings Black Cat around constantly, and he and Betty Brant are still very close.”

He dated Betty as a friggin teenager and the author reaffirms he doesn’t understand what constantly means.

“Meanwhile, Mary Jane dated Harry Osborn while they were both in college, and the relationship did not end well for him. Now, years later, everyone is always hanging out together and that's a little strange. Hanging around with your exes typically leads to disaster, and based on how many ex-boyfriends and girlfriends are around, Peter's Spidey-sense should be tingling.”

Or again healthy and an affirmation of a deep bonded friendship that goes beyond personal baggage from when they were young and dumb.

1 GWEN WAS MEANT TO BE PETER'S TRUE LOVE, NOT MJ

Again, not something that doesn’t make sense. In fact it makes less sense for Gwen to be his true love since they were not a great match and true loves are fairy tale bullshit.

 “The end of Gwen Stacy is one of the most defining moments in comic book history. Up until that point, the hero saved the girl. Part of what made this story so memorable was that Gwen Stacy was always meant to be Peter's one true love.”

As far as Stan Lee was concerned yes but not everyone else.

Also OTLs are bullshit.

“Her demise rocked his world, and he's still affected by it, even to this day.

That's understandable, but it also strains Peter's relationship with MJ. She's always been understanding, but how many times can she come across him crying over Gwen's picture in the attic before it starts to effect her.”

He has literally never ever done this ever.

“She's constantly being reminded that she might be Peter's second choice.

Again with the misuse of constantly and no she isn’t because Peter has told and shown her she isn’t second best more than once.

And again, not a thing that doesn’t make sense however you slice it.

You what really doesn’t make sense.

This person being paid for this garbage.

[helly-watermelonsmellinfellon]

I Need Opinions

So I was reading an OC fic, that took place in a harem anime I watched a few months back. The anime has potential to be good, but the story was just effin weird and unrealistic. And the thing was, suddenly getting 13 brothers is a shock and pretty unrealistic, but the sudden addressing of everyone as ‘big brother’ or ‘little brother’ or claiming ‘we’re a family’ is the most unrealistic shit when you have never met any of your step-siblings. Or your step-mother.

But I digress.

Anyway, the OC is the main character’s older sister(20+ y/o). Simple enough. She claims that she has to protect her younger sister(17 y/o). Okay. Good. Their father was always traveling when they were young so she was the parent essentially. I get it. Thing is, the character becomes incredibly controlling as the story moves on. What seemed like sweet protection, quickly devolves into sociopathic tendencies.

If the younger sister talks to a boy, it’s not her fault. It’s the guy’s fault. And the OC will go so far as to threaten them and their livelihood. She reveals that she got children expelled for not playing with her sister at lunch, or for ignoring her sister when she spoke. She’s ruined people’s jobs because they yelled at her sister for acting like an idiot at the worst possible moment(like standing in the street). Basically, normal everyday shit, has her rearing up and acting like a petty bitch.

I thought the first incident of getting a bully in trouble after no one would help, was funny, but as the story progresses, she reveals more and more of her shady attitude. She treats the brothers distantly, which is understandable since they aren’t well known yet. But she also tricked herself into thinking all of them want her sister, so she sabotages their shit. She even got the one, who already has anxiety issues, hating himself to an almost suicidal extreme, that is affecting his performanceat school and has him avoiding his family. And that’s a problem.

Turns out half the brothers are interested in the OC(for whatever reason) but she’s too blind to see that and continues to treat them all like garbage. And when her sister asks nicely(she’s too naive and nice to speak up) that she be allowed to make her own decisions, she is shot down time and again. And yes, the brothers that like her do flirt too much, but taking her decisions away and constantly following her everywhere she can(including the single bathroom), begins to get out of hand. Such as when the sister just wants to go to a cafe with the youngest brother(10 y/o), and OC cancels her work shift so she can go too.

And then we come to the chapter that mirrors the episode where the one brother almost sexually assaults the main character but holds himself back at the last second from guilt. The writer does the scene as normal, with added drama from the sister. Not one note at the bottom of the chapter about how what he did was wrong and gross. 4 chapters later, another brother(as the anime had him do) shares a bath with the main character and kisses her. The writer goes on a warpath in their Author Note about how disgusting that was and how they were so unnerved by it when they saw it the first time. And how he was gross.

And I’m over here wondering where they have been and wtf is wrong with them. In 20 chapters, they’d written some pretty terrible shit done by their OC. Including the near rape of a sleeping girl. But sharing a bath, in a country that is notorious for shared bathing, is the worst effin thing.

I did not continue past chapter 20 because I just couldn’t. And when checking most recent reviews, I noticed some people were also beginning to get tired of the OC’s ever fluctuating attitude and her drastic actions.

Obviously, now the writer is angry at the readers for not kissing her ass, wants to kow why she’s getting less reviews and hits. The repetitiveness of the writing, plus the fact that the now 18 year old main character can make her own legal decisions, and is still being ordered/followed around by her older sister, is annoying everyone. And the writer does not see it. And I am tempted to say something, but it won’t be good in any capacity so I don’t know if I should bother.

Am I over-reacting? And should I say something or just leave it? It started out great, and fell off a bridge into a ravine real quick.

[the-desolated-quill]

Kill The Moon - Doctor Who blog (Is This The Worst Doctor Who Episode Ever?)

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet... then I envy you, you lucky bastard)

I... really... didn’t want to watch this one again. The first time I saw this back in 2014, it elicited a reaction out of me so violent that it would have made a Hell’s Angel blush. I HATED this episode with every fibre of my being and I’ve been dreading coming back to review this. I had to bribe myself with chocolate in order to get through it again and, even now as I’m typing this, I’m seething with rage. The very thought that my TV licence fee contributed to this pile of absolute garbage fucking disgusts me.

So... Kill The Moon.

Let’s start with the first immediate problem that jumps out. Courtney. What the fuck is she doing here? You could literally cut her out of the story entirely and it wouldn’t have made the slightest bit of difference. Actually no, I tell a lie. It would have made one difference. The episode would have been slightly less grating to watch. She’s so fucking annoying that I was hoping a gruesome death was on the cards for her. She’s constantly moaning about being bored or that she’s not special, which considering what an arrogant little bitch she’s been presented as over the course of this series, it probably wouldn’t hurt to have the Doctor take her down a peg or two. You certainly don’t want to encourage someone like that into believing they’re a special little snowflake because it’ll just reinforce their selfish behaviour, and I’m alarmed that that’s what her teacher Clara is trying to do. What the fuck?

So the TARDIS crew land on the Moon and meet three astronauts. One of them is played by Hermione Norris, who gives such a dull and lifeless performance that I’m almost impressed by it. The way she says her lines, she sounds as though she’s only just woken up. Mind you, if I was lumbered with a character this one dimensional, I wouldn’t put much energy into my performance neither. Also there are two other astronauts played by two other actors who do absolutely nothing. They’re all bland, boring characters and I’m sure they have names, but I can’t be arsed to remember them because that’s how fucking boring they are. I don’t give a single shit about any of them, partly because the writer Peter Harness has given me no reason to care about them, but mostly because I was too busy trying to make sense of Kill The Moon’s moronic morass of pseudoscience and dumbass non-logic.

So the Mexicans have made a lunar mining base on the Moon only to discover there are in fact no minerals on the Moon. At all. None whatsoever. Then once you’ve finished laughing at that stupidity, we’re then expected to believe that after years of technological innovation, everyone just stopped going into space. And apparently there’s no way to get to the mining base other than using an old space shuttle from a museum. So the Mexican company didn’t have any of its own ships it could send up in case something went wrong? None of the intermediate stages of spaceflight between a shuttle and a mining colony were available neither?

But wait! It gets worse!

The Moon is getting bigger. That’s bad. Tidal waves and floods and all that jazz. So what’s the solution? Nuke the fucker! Yeah! That will make everything better! Except doing so could potentially send chunks of radioactive Moon rock at the Earth and cause an apocalypse (assuming the rocks don’t just form back into a sphere shaped mass again because that’s how gravity fucking works). Also the Moon acts as a counterweight to the Earth. So if the Moon disappeared, the Earth’s orbit around the Sun would become more erratic and the planet would wobble uncontrollably on its axis, causing the seasons to fluctuate wildly. So blowing up the Moon could actually make things worse. Whoops!

And why is the Moon getting bigger? (Are you ready for this? You’re going to love this one?) The Moon is an egg!

Well no, wait, actually that makes perfect sense. Because we all know when a chicken lays an egg, the egg gets bigger and heavier as it incubates. OH WAIT! NO IT DOESN’T! THE EGG GETS LIGHTER! SO HOW THE FUCK DOES THE MOON GAIN AN EXTRA 1.3 BILLION TONNES IN WEIGHT? WHERE DID ALL THAT EXTRA MASS COME FROM? THIS IS UTTER BOLLOCKS!

And it just gets even stupider when you take this baby creature into account. How does killing the creature solve the problem of the tidal waves? The reason the tidal waves are occurring is because of the increased mass of the Moon. If you kill the creature, that mass doesn’t magically go away. You’ve still got a dead creature orbiting the planet. The mass is still there. Even if you were to accept the possibility that the nukes would blow the creature to smithereens, it’s more likely that the bits of luna rock and alien guts would form back into a sphere under its own gravity, thus causing more problems for the Earth.

Now yes I know this is Doctor Who. It’s never exactly been scientifically accurate and if I were to go through all the bad science in Doctor Who stories, we’d be here all day. However in order to maintain our suspension of disbelief, the science doesn’t necessarily need to be accurate, but it does need to make sense under the show’s own internal logic. This... doesn’t! The science in Kill The Moon is so stupid and so nonsensical that it actually takes you completely out of the story. It’s hard to be scared of the alien spiders once you find out they’re prokaryotic (just... huh?!) and it’s hard to take the Doctor seriously when he’s spouting unscientific bullshit that is objectively wrong. And all the stuff I’ve been saying, this isn’t some obscure stuff that only a Stephen Hawking or an Albert Einstein would know. You can literally GOOGLE this crap! There’s simply no excuse for such shoddy science. So either Peter Harness is lazy as fuck and couldn’t be bothered to do basic research before putting pen to paper or he’s a complete and utter idiot. And that would be one thing if all that results in just a stupid story, but it’s another thing entirely when the writer brings that same laziness/stupidity to the table when tackling sensitive, real world issues.

As I watched Kill The Moon, with Clara and um... the spacewoman debating whether to kill the creature or not, the penny dropped with a horrible clang. Yes, Doctor Who is going to talk to us about abortion. Now of course this isn't the first time the show has tackled difficult subject matters and there’s no reason why a show whose audience is predominantly children shouldn’t be allowed to discuss and explore sensitive subjects. It all depends on how it’s done. Abortion is a tricky one because there are essentially two parts to the pro-choice/pro-life debate. The first is that of the woman’s autonomy, to which the answer should obviously be yes. A woman should absolutely have the right to decide what she does with her own body. The second part is where things get murky. The rights of the foetus. Namely, is abortion murder? That all depends when life officially begins, except nobody can agree when that is. Is it at the point of conception? During the first trimester? The second? When the embryo takes on a human shape? When the woman actually gives birth to the child? And that in turn raises a whole new set of questions. Let’s say that life officially begins during the second trimester. Does that mean the embryo still has rights during the first trimester just because it’s going to be alive? What about sperm and egg cells? Does that make condoms immoral just because those sperm could fertilise an egg and could create life? So what does this mean then? Are the pro-life group campaigning for the right to life or the right to potentially have life? Is ‘potentially’ too broad a definition and is it in fact restricting a woman’s autonomy? Which brings us to the ultimate question. Whose life is more important? The mother’s or the foetus’? What if giving birth to the baby harms or kills the mother? What if other factors prevent the mother from giving a baby the quality of care it deserves? Whose life takes precedent?

Now I’m not going to tell you my views on abortion because, frankly, they’re irrelevant to this. I’m merely demonstrating how complicated this debate truly is. These are questions with no clear right or wrong answer and there’s probably never going to be a clear, definitive answer. A lot of it really comes down to your own personal morality. So if you’re going to write a story about abortion... well... don’t. That would be my advice because you’re bound to piss somebody off no matter what you do. But if you still persist, you need to do your fucking homework before you start and make sure you handle the subject with tact and discretion.

With this in mind, how does Kill The Moon go about doing this?

The Doctor discovers the existence of the creature under the Moon’s surface and remarks upon how beautiful it is, to which Hermione Norris’ character responds by asking how do they kill it while a sinister music cue plays over the scene.

Wow. Subtle.

This is the reason behind my intense dislike towards this episode. Not only does it make the same mistake most New Who stories make by stripping the moral complexity out of morally complex situations and spoon-feeding the answer to the audience, it also becomes offensively dangerous when you factor the abortion metaphor into the equation. The episode takes a hardline pro-life stance, portraying the pro-choice side as irrational baby killers, even going so far as to have the Earth (or half of the Earth at any rate. The other half not visible to the Moon doesn’t get a say apparently) vote whether to kill the creature or not, and then have Clara go against their unanimous decision to kill it and stop the nukes for no reason other than babies are good. (I feel I should point out there was nothing to suggest the creature wouldn’t have swooped down and devoured humanity the moment it had hatched. The fact that it didn’t only shows how grotesquely lucky Clara was with her rash decision). There’s no effort to actually have an intelligent discussion about this. The decision is made right from the start with the irrational baby killers merely being an obstacle in the righteous pro-lifer’s path. Not only is it biased to an insulting degree, it’s also intellectually dishonest. If the only way you can support your argument is by demonising the other side, all it proves is that your argument doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

Oh, let’s talk about Clara because she really fucking pissed me off. I was amazed by the number of people who were angry over the Doctor’s decision to leave and not intervene in the decision because that was the only thing about the episode I actually liked. You may call bullshit considering the number of times the Doctor has interfered in human affairs, but as far as I’m concerned, he made the right choice here. He recognised how complex and difficult the decision was and he also recognised that it wasn’t his place to make that decision for them. Like he said, it’s not his home. It’s not his moon. It’s not his choice. Which is what makes Clara’s temper tantrum at the end all the more egregious. For starters it’s a bit rich her chastising the Doctor for leaving them when she was prepared to do the same thing less than 10 minutes before. Also what is she actually complaining about? That the Doctor paid her and the rest of the human race enough respect to make the choice for themselves? Doesn’t really make sense when you put it like that, does it? Clara basically comes across like a spoilt child, moaning and shrieking at the Doctor because he was no longer at her beck and call and she actually had to think and act for herself for a change. And rather than have the Doctor just tell her to grow the fuck up (or better yet, give her a sharp dropkick out of the TARDIS and find a companion who’s actually likeable and well developed), the episode clearly expects you to be on Clara’s side and tut-tut at the Doctor disapprovingly even though he hasn’t actually done anything wrong. Clara is basically upset because she had to think for herself, and that worries me.

Kill The Moon is not just bad. It isn’t even terrible. In fact I’d go as far to say that it’s one of the most despicable things I’ve ever come across. It’s not just because of the shit story or the bullshit scientific inaccuracies. It’s because of how cack handed and irresponsible Peter Harness is when it comes to the central theme. The very thought that this episode could give kids a skewed, biased and utterly warped view of abortion thanks to a writer who is either too stupid or too lazy to do proper research into the subject makes me sick to my fucking stomach. Also Steven Moffat can go fuck himself too. Oh yeah, I’m not letting him off the hook. He’s the showrunner. He’s the one who looked over this script and went ‘yep. I see nothing problematic about this whatsoever.’

This is the episode that made me stop watching Doctor Who. I felt so sickened and so insulted by what I had just watched that I actually flung up my hands and went ‘fuck it! I don’t want to watch this show anymore!’ It hurt to do it. I love Doctor Who, but I couldn’t continue to watch fucking morons like Moffat and Harness grind it into the dirt. So I left, vowing never to return until Moff-Face was shown the fucking door. And this Christmas, I’m finally going to get my wish.

Which leaves me in an interesting position going forward with my reviews. Beyond this episode, I legitimately have no idea what’s going to happen. I know a few tidbits of information from what I’ve seen on Tumblr. For instance, I know that Missy is the Master (that didn’t come as much of a surprise. I mean really, who the fuck else could she have been?), I know that the Doctor returns to Gallifrey at some point and I think Clara ends up dying at the end of Series 9 (couldn’t have happened to a more deserving companion as far as I’m concerned). Beyond that, I genuinely have no idea what’s in store for me from here. But at least I’ll be safe in the knowledge that no episode can possibly be as bad as Kill The fucking Moon.

[toonstarterz]

BECAUSE I’M NOT POPULAR, I’LL READ WATAMOTE: CHAPTER #123

Just when you thought we had too many characters in Tomoko’s new class, Nico Tanigawa goes ahead and adds another person to 3-5...at least for one day. Ever since that chapter when Tomoki first ran into his sister’s circle of friends, I was wondering if we would ever expand on that to the point where Tomoki might officially meet them (exchange introductions and whatnot). Suffice to say, that kind of development seems very possible after a chapter like this.

Chapter 123: Because I’m Not Popular, I’ll Invite My Brother to 3-5

As I recall, this isn’t the first time Tomoki has forgotten his lunch (refer to chapter 83). I suppose that for being a responsible soccer star, the mangaka wanted to give Tomoki more plausible flaws (besides being a perpetual scowler). I think something like being forgetful works here, because not only does it make Tomoki more relatable, it also highlights Tomoko’s more concerned, “older sister” side. It’s easy to forget that for all her shit-talking, Tomoko does look out for him. 

I wonder, did Tomoki really refer to her as a “chick”? It’s a minor grievance, but the difference does say quite a bit about Tomoki’s character. The term “chick” connotes a sense of misogyny for some people, but that doesn’t seem to be Tomoki at all, especially since in previous chapters he’d use words like “girl” instead. Hmm...

Honestly, as heartwarming as Yoshida’s smile is, I’d be lying if I said it kind of freaked me out a bit. I can’t recall any other time that Yoshida had a smile as big and as genuine as this, that for a second, I thought it might’ve been a different character. Perhaps it’s fact that a smile like this isn’t going to last very long, especially for someone who switches gears at the drop of a hat like Yoshida.

Funny enough, I love how Yoshida’s emotional state doesn’t really change the way she talks. In this case, she still has the nerve to call Tomoki a punk, which she’d probably still do if she were in a more sour mood. Basically, all of her dialogue here could be copy-and-pasted if Yoshida were feeling more confrontational.

I’ve been seeing people accuse Tomoki as being just as judgmental and rude as Tomoko is, but I don’t think that’s really being fair to the guy. We’ve all had moments where we would quietly make unfair judgments on people we just met, but most people have the decency to not be vocal about it until proven wrong or right. It’s different from Tomoko, whose filter seems to fluctuate between on and off at the worst times. Tomoki is only human, after all. 

So there’s going to be another field trip arc in the future, huh? Now I’m REALLY excited. I wonder what we can expect from it, given that the first field arc was Tomoko’s first major turning point. Will there be a big fight between Tomoko’s friends (Yuri vs Minami), or perhaps Ucchi will confess to Tomoko on the ferris wheel (not happening)? I’m sure Yoshida will have a huge role, though. Maybe she’ll have her dreams shattered and Tomoko will try to comfort her and fail spectacularly. 

If you thought being in a different class could stop Ucchi...

...you were so, so wrong. 

Ucchi being a stalker is nothing new at this point, but there are a few things pull apart from this seemingly simple gag. For one, it’s not just Ucchi’s action that makes for a laugh–it’s her demeanor, too. She goes into the classroom with a smile, and comes out with a smile. Obviously, the latter is her trying to keep face in front of her friends, but there isn’t a twinge of hesitation in her actions. She must really be going for her.

But the other, somewhat more depressing part of this joke is how Ucchi’s friends apparently didn’t even notice she was gone for three seconds in another room. We’ve had hints before that Ucchi was the outsider amongst her circle of friends, but did you notice how Ucchi effortlessly re-inserted herself into the conversation? It suggests that Ucchi’s done this several times before, and she’s gotten used to being excluded. Poor Emoji-girl just wants to be noticed. 

It’s not everyday that Nico Tanigawa gives us little tidbits to remind us that Tomoko is a girl, with all the issues that come along with it (for those who don’t know, women’s bathrooms often have long lines because they aren’t designed to fit the cumbersome routines women go through just to relieve themselves). Any time Tomoko’s gender is directly brought up, it’s usually in a sexual context, but this here is just an everyday issue about being a girl. I wonder if the artist had any input on this...

So I’m guessing that’s Emoji-girl 2.0′s shtick is that she’ll be doing all of these really impressive feats in the background, yet we won’t learn a single thing about her personality-wise. A gag character at its finest. 

Cute. 

It was only a matter of time before these two met each other.

Yuri sure has come a long way in regards to how she treats Tomoko. I doubt that if this was right after the field trip arc, she wouldn’t have bothered to confront someone rifling through Tomoko’s locker. Maybe she’d tell Tomoko later, since that’d be the passive choice, but that’s definitely not the case now. Ever since Yuri admitted that Tomoko is her friend, she’s noticeably been more considerate of her. 

And pray tell, Yuri, what did you expect Tomoko’s brother to be like? We’re you expecting someone just as crass, weird, and idiotic like the sister? That’d be a reasonable assumption if all you’re going on is Tomoko herself. But speaking as someone with a sister who is very much different from myself, siblings being polar opposites are a lot more common than you might think, Yuri. 

Wonder why Tomoko is particularly happy about her brother stopping by? I’d assume that she thinks her relationship with the popular Tomoki would make her look more popular by comparison, but popularity hasn’t been a goal of Tomoko’s as of late. Maybe she just wanted to freak out Komiyama...

Oh snap, she’s doing the sleeve grab! This is such a shoujo manga move, complete with the highlight and everything, that you cannot tell me that the mangaka doesn’t know the implications here. 

I think this the first time we’ve seen Yuri act without fully thinking things out first, and it’s kind of amazing that someone like Tomoko is actually encouraging her to be a little more bold, though not to a degree Yuri can handle yet. We’ve already seen just how far Yuri is stepping out of her comfort zone to maintain her friendships, but I suppose forcing a conversation is not quite her speed yet. Baby steps, Yuri.

I guess now is as good a time as any to address the elephant in the room that is the YurixTomoki ship. Do I think it could work? In all honestly, I think it could. We really don’t know anything about Tomoki’s taste in girls, if he has any. But if the less than pleasant reactions he’s had to Tomoko, Komiyama, and Yoshida are anything to go by, he probably wouldn’t want someone vulgar, creepy, or challenging respectively. Likewise, we don’t know anything about Yuri’s taste in guys, if one exists. But I think it’s a safe bet that she wouldn’t want to deal with someone aggressively outgoing. That being the case, my only argument for them is that Tomoki and Yuri would likely be a very easygoing relationship if the ship were to start sailing.

Comedy-wise, I think the possibilities for Komiyama and Akari’s despair, and Tomoko being the awkward third wheel are endless. 

It’s always funny to see how easily Komiyama can go from being the sensible one to being the dunderhead when the circumstances are just right. Most of the time, she’s the straight woman to Tomoko’s idiocy, but whenever baseball or especially Tomoki are concerned, she ends up being more of a fool than Tomoko. I’m not even annoyed that she insulted the best girl, since it’s obvious Komiyama is just thinking on impulse, and her words are only that of a jealous lust-filled admirer who needs to deny the possibility that Tomoki could be interested in any other girl besides her. You can be such a lovable bitch at times, Komiyama.

Komiyama sure is channeling her inner Tomoko, isn’t she?

I see the writers took the time to capture Yuri letting go of Tomoki’s sleeve. We have no clue whether Yuri knows what’s going on between Komiyama and Tomoki, despite Komiyama being an open book. It’s probably just a throwaway action, but I’d like to think that Yuri is aware of how it must look for a girl to cling onto another guy, and wanted to avoid looking like she had a relationship with Tomoki lest Komiyama get the wrong idea.

And yes, Tomoko’s friends truly are “the crazies” now, huh? To think that group used to be a population of one, aka. Tomoko. 

One thing that’s been on my mind is what Tomoki actually thinks about Komiyama? We already know he views her as some kind of “pure pervert”, but it’s still up in the air whether he finds her truly repulsive or not. He likely has some inkling that Komiyama has a crush on him (he ain’t no oblivious MC), but probably doesn’t intend to reciprocate those feelings any time soon. At this point, he’s probably deliberately avoiding her just to keep from being sexually harassed again. But now that he’s been confronted, he’s got to throw her a boner.

Good gracious, this woman needs help.  

I’m noticing some confusion at this line, and while I myself can’t adequately explain the inner workings of the female body, I think the important thing to understand is what this reaction means about Komiyama.

Whether or not Komiyama’s period actually happened is not what matters here. The overall impression is that Komiyama had such an immense reaction to Tomoki that it literally sent her sex drive on overload. One interpretation is that her hormones raged so bad that it jump-started her period. But what I personally think happened is that Komiyama had a “climax” and is using a period as a coverup. Either way, Komiyama truly is the most depraved girl in this manga.  

The only girl that could outdo Yuri in the tsukommi department.  

Now I’m curious as to how Komiyama and Itou met. Even better, how exactly did Itou see past all of Komiyama’s grossness to eventually become her friend? I’d imagine that the circumstances mirror Tomoko and Yuri’s relationship in some way.

And this is why relativity matters, folks. Even for us readers, Tomoko at the start of the series always seemed to be the abnormal one, but that was only because for a while, she was the only character we really got to see, which made everyone else look hyper-normal in comparison. So yes, Tomoki, your older sister actually is pretty normal...relatively speaking.

You know, I was worried that Tomoki, being the sole recurring male of this manga, would get sidelined in favor of all the new female characters. But thankfully, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Tomoki’s role in this story was initially that of an observer, a audience surrogate who could join us in reacting to Tomoko’s antics. But even that couldn’t last, so I guess the mangaka has been trying to find some way to characterize him even further. For now, it seems that Tomoki may soon find himself being more involved in Tomoko’s social circle. Just don’t steal your sister’s harem now.

So what do you suppose Tomoki’s role we be from this point on? Will he be characterized beyond having a desirable dick? Will a hidden dorky side bubble up to the surface? Or will his heart grow three sizes someday? But even if he stays in the background, I’ll always have certain fondness for the guy. Why?

Cuz he has not once, ever raised the siscon flag.

[hajiiwa]

tagged by @aizawashoutah, @shitabukenjirou, and @foxyena !! thank u guys so much~

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

hajime = haji, iwaizumi = iwa, haji + iwa = hajiiwa~ i love my mans but not many people understand my username 

(the rest will go under the cut!)

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos)

huh, well

FMK technically has the most hits and kudos (something i am a little disgruntled about, seeing as it was not a fic i worked very hard on), only fools has the most comments, kaminari is a schemer has the most bookmarks, and of fountains and flowers has the most subscriptions so idk what to tell you. i wish ofaf had more recognition bcos i’ve worked hard on it rip

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

it’s kuroo!! and i just chose it bc i Love him and it was an icon i made that i sorta liked so

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

yes and i love them all!! seeing names that consistently pop up in my kudos/comments section really warms my heart <33 i’ve made good friends that way tbh

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

uhh there are many that i like to go back and read, mainly by my fav authors that i’m subscribed to

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

bookmarked: 53 subscribed: honestly, i... don’t really subscribe to works? i’m subscribed to 8 authors tho

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

oooh, probably... medieval aus or domestic magic aus? and slice of life

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

Subscriptions: 80 (rip, i didn’t know if u meant user subs or work subs so i combined and it’s still a tiny number) Bookmarked: 203

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

umm... i don’t think so? 

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

finishing current projects before taking on new ones, avoiding burnout, the usual

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

well i’ll go based on haikyuu since those works take up the majority-- iwaoi is set firmly in first place based on number of works followed by bokuroo, both of which are fairly popular so i’d say that i lean more toward the bigger ships but i also have works for kurooiwa, iwaaka, tengoshi, etc

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

22! that number fluctuates a ton because i’m very impulsive and if a fic doesn’t receive the recognition i feel it deserves/i no longer like it/etc i take it down

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

that i have yet to publish? too many.

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

i normally keep them in my head, unless i think they’ll turn into something bigger and then i’ll jot them down!

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

not yeeet~ @frenchibi have plans to tho. i have tried to co-author in the past but it mever worked out

16. How did you discover AO3?

when i graduated from using wattpad,, fun fact, there is so much smut on there that i legitimately thought ao3 was just used to write porn. i was both horrified and confused

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

lol

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

no...? this question assumes that i would be Popular (honestly do fanfic writers even have “fandom names” for their readers?? im)

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

not really, no. i stated writing fanfics when i was really young on my own, unprompted, and i’ve met other authors through that medium that have helped me?

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

interact with other writers! i know it seems daunting, but leave comments, go to spaces where you will find other writers, participate in events-- there are few feelings more satisfying than seeing familiar names pop up, either in your notifications or in a group you’re in. most of the time, they’re all very kind and you won’t regret letting them into your life!

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

i plot out almost always, though this sort of bites me in the ass. it bores me when i’m writing to already “know” what’s going to happen and that’s why i lose steam. it’s weird

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

sort of. i write a lot of angst and i’ve gotten quite a few “fuck you author” comments-- most of the time they’re paired with “for making me feel these feelings” or “for writing something so sad” or some shit but i don’t appreciate that bc, like, fuck you too? i’m sorry that you felt the need to cuss me out?? i tag pretty liberally and if you felt that you couldn’t handle the topic i was writing about then you shouldn’t have clicked

unless it’s, like-- a friend or regular going “fffuCK YOU AHHH” which HAS happened and makes me snicker lmao

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

huh. i’m trying to become more proficient in the Big Three (smut, angst, and fluff) and thus far i’ve got one of three down p good. but specific scenes i have trouble writing would have to be scenes in which i have zero experience and pretty much have to improvise-- it helps me grow as a writer, ig, but it’s just frustrating

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

the rest of the writers’ inktober prompts

a fic wars piece with @frenchibi

a post breakup iwaoi

of fountains and flowers final chapter

a handful of voltron fics, 4 of them sheith

alien!iwaizumi

maaaany half-abandoned drafts

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

YES AND IT IS TERRIBLE SOMEONE STOP ME

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

nah. motivation is fickle and i don’t want to make writing a chore. writer’s inktober was hard enough (it’s december and i am still not done :,)

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

considering i started on wattpad, yes lmao. i’d like to think that i have since i’ve been on ao3 but hahjajhjkh

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

i reeeeally liked writing a bit of magic is key and three’s a crowd because they were both humorous domestic magic aus~ but i’ve liked most things i’ve written tbh. also, obviously, of fountains and flowers.

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

that i’ve posted? i honestly don’t know. maybe you can be so stupid sometimes because i was just starting to write iwaoi and i now hate the way i portrayed them, not to mention that this dumb little fic has more kudos than my recent stuff and i just *clenches fist* don’t think it deserves that

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

not sure. maybe i’ll have ofaf finished by then hahah,, but really i don’t know. writing is a tool but fanfic writing is just a hobby

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

i’m pretty good at writing emotionally charged situations. also dialogue, i find banter or long back-and-forth conversations fairly easy

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

transitions, justification of characters’ actions. the hardest thing writing-related would be fighting through envy and feelings of inadequacy but i experience the former plenty anyway rip

33. Why do you write?

i write because i enjoy it-- i love creating my own worlds, interacting with other writers, living vicariously through my characters

well, that was fun! i’ll tag @frenchibi, @astersandstuffs, @minyardxva, @josai

[arecomicsevengood]

Anti-Gone by Connor Willumsen: Book Of The Year

Koyama Press has just published Anti-Gone, Connor Willumsen's first book-length project. It's great. I interviewed Willumsen for the Comics Journal two years ago, and his book is everything I could hope a debut full-length book by someone I went on record with praise before they had a full book out would be. It's a gamechanger on the order of the first Powr Mastrs book, or Ruppert and Mulot's Barrel Of Monkeys. These are books I basically have never even attempted to talk about why they're good, and instead view as an article of faith for people with my critical allegiances. I doubt a better comic will be published this year.

It nonetheless seems in bad taste, or somehow redundant, for me to try to go on at length about the book for The Comics Journal: Let other writers have at it, so that it can be viewed as consensus opinion that this book is great, not just one lone idiot's ass-covering opinion. Still that's not to say I'm not thinking about it, and if you want to know what I'm thinking when I'm asserting the book's greatness, I will attempt to put it into writing here now.

Let's begin with the title: Stating an opposite of "gone" implies presence. "Here" is already claimed by Richard McGuire. That book riffs on place while Anti-Gone is more about presence of mind, as held by its characters, who rove about a vast dreamscape of a world. Partially, it's about the struggle to take in the world around you as the world around you, without say, immediately spitting up references to movies. It's a struggle to see the world without mediating it through your memories of other mediated experiences. This struggle gets spoken of explicitly through dialogue. At a formal level, the book is all about commanding your attention, and holding it firmly, as you experience it without knowing where it's going.

That last bit is what most narrative art attempts, and what most audiences expect. We go into a story wanting it to be something other than our immediate reality, and by giving it our attention we hope for the best. Of course, if you've seen a lot of movies, or read a lot of comics, your own foreknowledge of tropes can lead to feeling you're following along with something you already know where it is going. This feeling is not exactly the same as constantly referencing culture you've consumed over the course of a conversation, but it's related. Anti-Gone sets up a formal system where the reader's full engagement parallels what the book is about. Meanwhile, becoming aware of the rate of attention at which you're engaging with something essentially makes you more engaged.

Connor does a pretty great job at avoiding any sense, at any given moment, that you, as the reader, know the story he's telling. I will do my best to likewise avoid giving anyone reading me before the book any undue advance knowledge of plot points, although obviously a little will be revealed, and the further you read the more I'll allude to.

Let me stay focused for the moment on this theme of commanding attention. Most comics try to engage readers by being as clear as possible, in the composition of a panel or a page. They want to create a rhythm that carries you along. Towards the end of my interview with Connor, he discussed this idea of "visual tension," and wanting to push it further. I didn't know what he meant by that. Essentially, it was a notion of something that trusted the reader's ability to read it, without telegraphing meaning through symbols and shortcuts. I basically still did not understand what he meant at the time that I asked him to define it, or I didn't understand what the point or effect of this would be. It's an approach that runs counter to all sorts of shit, from Scott McCloud and Understanding Comics to that "How To Read Nancy" book Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden are about to put out, to my understanding of Frank Santoro's workshop Connor was previously a student of. The payoff is here in this book, and it's twofold: One, it feels fresh as fuck to read something out of step with current trends in methodology. Two, you naturally read it at a much slower pace, which works wonders towards the effect that you pay attention to it without expending brain power anticipating what'll come next.

Willumsen increases visual tension in a number of ways. Caleb Orecchio pointed out a couple of examples when he wrote about Anti-Gone for Comics Workbook, which I will link to instead of scanning more pages. The first is varying degrees of detail, where things get dropped out to capture small gestures, juxtaposed against fuller drawings where the smaller action is located inside. Because of this, the layouts fluctuate. Eyes move all around the page, to take in all that might be important. The marks begin to be read almost like lettering: I feel like I am truly reading it, and not just at a level of engagement akin to skimming. I'm not just turning pages, I'm poring over the drawings.

The drawings need to be great for the sort of highwire act I'm describing to work at all, to compel you to want to look at them. It's a cartoon language, lacking extraneous detail, but the human characters are allowed to be ugly, with unwieldy flesh and unflattering clothing. The lines that make the world are smooth, and feel neither anxious nor tepid, but thought-through.

The visual language insists you pay attention to all of it, and the story doesn't betray the art by giving any indications that the plot has a main thrust you should focus on. When Willumsen puts in a page where we essentially are tracking character's progress through a landscape by the light of a window's shape shifting as characters pass by it, we take it in, aware, essentially, the the journey is more important than the destination. In the absence of action, we are paying attention to mystery. What Willumsen called "visual tension" ends up imparting its own kind of suspense to the proceedings. In film, an editor can slow down the pace of a scene, but comics require the reader to slow down their reading experience on their own. A film can create suspense by taking its time getting to something viewers know to be inevitable. Here, we are slowed down by the fact that we don't know what is going to happen next, but we know we need to pay attention to make sense of whatever will come.

The language of drug experiences has a term called "time dilation," for the feeling where the brain's ability to think essentially outpaces reality's sequential unfolding. One of the things that I wanted to talk about in my interview with Willumsen, but was too self-conscious and chickenshit to talk about directly, was psychedelics. The ideas engaged in Willumsen's comics often feel "trippy," but I know that, for instance, both Noel Freibert and Robert Beatty are people who loathe having their art styles compared to the effects of drugs, finding it both reductive and off-the-mark as to their experiences. But I don't think it should be off-limits to talk about this stuff, or leave the discussion of it to Joe Rogan: Drug experiences are frequently overpowering in a way that leaves an impression on most people who engage with them. This is not to say you can't get to similar places via meditating, or reading a lot, or engaging in any kind of spiritual practice: However the fact of drug use allows a shortcut that then can be exploited or talked about in an anecdotal way. The focus in Willumsen's comics on perceptual phenomena could originate from drug experiences, or it could just stem from an intense drawing practice: How paying close attention to something changes the way in which you see it, how you ascertain its essence. It's easy to justify not talking about drugs by rationalizing other ways the mind-state can be reached.

However, one of the things that makes my avoidance of talking about drugs so disappointing to me is that one of the things that happens in this book, that enough pages are devoted to that you can even say it's what it is about, in summary, is getting fucked up and going to the movies. If that sounds like a not particularly deep subject, consider that David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest can be said to be largely about getting high and watching TV. These things, especially taken in conjunction, basically constitute the very essence of the postmodern condition. Drugs increase our awareness of subjectivity, and TV and movies are other people's subjective visions, worked out elaborately enough they can be shared. Wallace was mostly interested in Television or entertainment as a different kind of drug that still held addictive and spiritually numbing properties. Willumsen's narrative interests in drug experiences neatly dovetails with what I view as his themes, and the aspects of attention that are all over the book already.

Another concept that comes up in the concept of drug discourse, like Aldous Huxley or Terence McKenna or whoever, is the notion that these drugs essentially remove the frames by which we look at the world, the learned and assumed contexts where we encounter things and consider them to be the way they are. In a design decision that turns out to be more thematically appropriate and less decorative than you might initially suspect, the front cover of Anti-Gone has a die-cut, essentially turning the whole thing into a frame for a simple cartoon drawing that is the book's first page. That frame, giving the name of the book and its author, can be removed to present the reader with an image unmediated.

(That title, by the way, is a pun on Antigone, a Sophocles tragedy, and a figure in Greek mythology. Rather than summarize the play, I'll just reference Wikipedia's statement that the name means "worthy of one's parents," which is sort of interesting if you view the book itself as being a part of an artistic lineage, but I don't think Willumsen would be interested in referencing that to try to prove a point that he is some kind of heir to the tradition of comics exemplified by, say, Richard McGuire. However if I wanted to interpret it that way to give this positive review a vaguely hyperbolic thesis, I could. If I wanted to point to other forebears, whose work I greatly admire, I'd point out that, on a level of how the book is actually made, the feeling that I am looking mostly at marks made with pencil makes me think about CF, while the computer-assisted shading added after the fact makes me think about Kevin Huizenga.)

The notion of unmediated experiences doesn't just relate to drugs or movies, of course. It's also about how we experience one another: How, in personal relationships, (romantic or non, or ambiguous), the way in which we view another person does not necessarily line up with how that person sees themselves. In fact, often it can be the view of a third party, if spoken aloud, that effects our interpretation of what another person is like. Those who watch a lot of movies might recognize this as the premise of the Nicole Holofcener movie Enough Said, which costars Elaine from Seinfeld and Tony Soprano, as well as Holofcener's go-to star, Catherine Keener. This shows up as a sub-theme here also, and I think it's this element that puts the book over the top for me in asserting its quality.

At a certain point in my life, I started to view "personal relationships" as the most important there is, essentially. In terms of art, insight into these areas became more affecting than, say, how a person interrogated genre. At this point, I even feel fairly resolved and at peace with death, but I know that for as long as I'm alive, how to relate to other people will remain something of a mystery. This book feels useful to me, in these instructive terms: It insists you view people on their own terms, the same way you take in the reading experience. Other books might present themselves as spectacles to be taken in, or puzzles to be solved, or as things where you are meant to relate to the main character as an author surrogate or whatever.

The other aspects of the book that boil up through its willingness to wander feel related to this notion of relating: There are interpersonal relationships, yes, but then there are questions of capitalism and desire, or how one navigates politics when those in power maintain their status by force, or questions of pet ownership. (I love the alligator the two main characters adopt and name Blade.) All the big questions are here, essentially, if you give enough of your attention to see them there: The book demands, and rewards, giving it all you have.