#okay suspension of logical thinking but wtf

[lazysublimeengineer]

In Goatmaru we trust

[tartrazeen]

I like that DRv3 is such a love letter to fans with the payoffs they never got in the other games.

It's basically this: (spoilers below)

DR2 case 4: "Omg we're switching PoV characters? Wouldn't it be so cool if we switched to a different character entirely? We'd never see it coming if the murderer was Hajime."

DRv3 case 1: "👀 o rly?"

DR2 case 2: "Uhhhhh, Peko's asking us to die for her because she has a greater cause to uphold, but like... obviously not? Wtf lol nobody would die for a serial killer"

DRv3 case 2: "👀 do u need a more righteous cause?"

DR2 case 3: "Omg what if there was more than one killer at a time? Then you couldn't go after the obvious killer because they wouldn't be the blackened we'd have to focus on right now! What a major distraction! But no, this was one person trying to imitate a series of murders in a movie :("

DR1 case 3: Multiple deaths was kinda cool. Not totally buying how Hifumi believed Celeste about escaping together, but fine, Danganronpa logic. Lame that there was only one killer left, since Hifumi died.

DRv3 case 3: "👀 oh was that what killed the suspense?"

DR2 case 3: "Damn, it would've been awesome if Mikan was cured of the Despair Disease and then couldn't even remember she was the killer."

DRv3 case 4: "👀 tonite? Neo World tonite? tonite"

DR1 case 2: :/ This was so elaborate for literally no reason. Wow, haha, wacky, Byukaya screwed with the crime scene just to make it complicated. Thanks.

DRv3 case 5: "👀 *inserts south park parody of family guy's YOU-THINK-THAT'S-BAD? catchphrase*"

DR1 case 5: This is the whole case? This is uhhhh... super unsatisfying.

DR1 case 6: Ohhhh, that's why. Okay, it was part one of two. :)

DRv3 case 6: "👀 gotta make the first part seem like it's standalone - gotcha"

[chillichats]

ok! 53! (i got so caught up in rereading it that i didnt notice it updated pfffffffft) i hope you meant it when you said you like long posts @fathermooshroom because this is gonna be pretty long too

...the idea of charlie being subject two doesnt surprise me (i havent reread far enough to know if thats because its been hinted at or if i just drew my own conclusions). what DOES surprise me, though im not sure why it does, is the fact that dream is subject 1.

...although now that i think about it, wasnt there footage of a subjects face splitting open or something? shit, that would explain why dream always has the mask on... so THAT’S what the point of the mask is *Mask starts blaring in the background*

huh. sure hope dream doesnt unmask in front of tommy and scar him even more :/

we all knew there was more to the election than it seemed on the surface level. once again, it somehow did not occur to me that it was dream behind it. i feel a bit stupid, but then again that means the reveal of it hit me more. 

We know from Charlie’s POV that he doesn’t consciously know anything about dreams plan, which means there might be something Dream does later in the story that triggers charlie and puts him under his control? maybe like what he did with ranboo OH MY GOD HE ALSO HAS POWERS!!!! FROM THE BITE!! THATS HOW HE GOT RANBOO wait but wtf do spiders have to do with possession?? Did he hypnotise him????? can spiders hypnotise things???? for the sake of suspense im not going to search it up

what powers does dream even have??? does he have any??? again, bear with me if you’ve already said whether or not he does, mr moosh- i should probably have reread GE sooner.. does he have the sense?? god, i hope he doesnt.. maybe just a small amount of Sense?? maybe that’s why he’s been acting so fucking weirdly around tommy, because he can Sense that they’re the same?? or something like that? Dream can’t know tommy is spiderman or he’d just take what he wants from tommy when he’s tommy, but maybe the sense is why dream asks tommy for advice..??? im spitballing so hard rn that it looks like an american public school bathroom’s ceiling

‘not even my closest confidants’... fuck, so sapnap and george don’t know the extent to which Dream is behind things... hmmmm hypothesis time!! I think Quackity is going to reveal at least some of what Dream’s been doing to Sapnap and George at some point in the hopes that it’ll turn them from him. dunno if it’d work though.

god bless tommy, his faith in people means he cant fathom the idea that maybe dream was a piece of shit even before he got bitten... it’s alright, tommy. just listen to tubbo. You’re a mess because you’re shit at processing emotions healthily, not because you’re going insane.

Oooh, and a hit-and-miss with Kristin!! if only she’d remembered the name of the project Jack was looking into.. can’t really blame her though.

(pssst, tommy, a hint for you!! your sense hasn’t gone off around Quackity because he’s not a danger to you when he’s Quackity / you’re Tommy. trust in your Tommy Tingle)

oh. wow. that was a spiral. tommy, in your own words, your crown is falling, king. now if only you could accept that it’s okay to take the crown off once in a while. 

oh, i know what faulty logic tommy is using!!! he is Catastrophising and Filtering out the good to only see the bad. look at me knowing stuff~

wait, that’s right, tommy is angsting. oh nooooo. tommy look what you’ve done. you’ve fallen into the behaviour that every angsty superhero falls into. mr moosh it’s tragic to see tommy being so down in the dumps, but when i read that he punched the mirror i laughed 

[makeste]

1.) I'll dislike it if it turns out that Best Jeanist is still alive since I don't see a scenario where Hawks not killing him makes sense, unless of course if it turns out that it was all staged before hand for the villains (for some reason). The reason why I think this is that Hawks pulled out his swords on BJ after saying "how unfortunate" when BJ say's he'll be going public again. To me this reads as the equivalents as you and a "friend" being together alone in your home.

see, I see it differently. to me, what doesn’t make sense is for Horikoshi to not show us the conclusion of that flashback scene even after Hawks kills Twice. like, if he originally intended for it to build up suspense at the start of this arc, back when we weren’t sure whether or not Hawks would go through with it, that’s one thing. that actually played out beautifully. but to leave Jeanist’s fate up in the air even after Twice’s death makes no sense to me in a scenario where Jeanist is actually dead. at that point there’s no reason to keep it hidden anymore. we know Hawks is a murderer; we know how far he’s willing to go to complete his mission. so at that point there’s no longer any narrative purpose in leaving it ambiguous, right?

like, so we’ve got this mystery. did Hawks kill Jeanist or not? and there are only two possible outcomes. either the twist is that he did kill him, thus stunning the readers with the reveal that a hero would actually go so far as to kill another hero; or the twist is that he didn’t kill him, in which case the payoff comes later, when Jeanist makes a surprise entrance revealing that he’s still very much alive.

as far as the first of those two outcomes is concerned, there’s no longer any reason to keep Jeanist’s death a “secret” now if that’s the case. we’ve already seen his body. we’ve already seen Hawks kill someone else. what possible reason is there for Horikoshi to still be cryptic about it? we already know he’s not above showing us VERY detailed and gory and plain fucked-up things in character flashbacks, so it’s not like he’s barred from showing it to us because it’s too controversial or disturbing. there is just no reason I can think of why he would be so deliberately wishy-washy about it for so long only to have the eventual twist be “yes actually he really has been dead this whole time.”

but if the payoff is instead meant to be “surprise he’s actually alive!!”, then it makes perfect sense to not reveal it beforehand. in this case Twice’s death only adds to the twist and makes it that much more of a surprise. and imo it’s a much more satisfying outcome, and much more consistent with what we know about Hawks’s character. there’s all this talk about how this twist makes him “less morally gray”, as if moral ambiguity is something all characters should aspire to, but what this shows instead is that his morals are consistent, which is much more important to character-building in the long run. Hawks is someone who can see and understand the big picture and figure out the best action to take for the objective, logical greater good. but he is also someone who’s still fueled by his emotions enough that he’ll put the Greater Good at risk in order to try and do what he thinks is the right thing. and so he almost blows his cover at Fukuoka because he helps Endeavor battle the High End Noumu, and he does blow his cover at Gunga Mountain and is nearly killed by Dabi because he tries to arrest and capture Twice rather than killing him. it’s not until he has no other choice that he finally does the deed, and he pays dearly for it.

it is entirely in character for Hawks, when faced with a situation where the Greater Good requires him to make a sacrifice that doesn’t sit right with his conscience, to instead attempt some risky and convoluted “fuck it, let’s see if we can fool ‘em” solution which puts the whole operation at risk, but which allows him to spare the life of a man who’s done nothing wrong. the hubris of Hawks’s character is that because he’s so clever and is usually one step ahead of everyone else, he tries to have it both ways, and attempts to simultaneously stick to his principles and be faithful to his mission, and eventually that’s what does him in. you can’t be a walking, talking Icarus allegory and not expect your wings to eventually be burned off by the metaphorical sun.

anyway. so this outcome ultimately makes a whole lot more sense to me, ngl. as for why Hawks pulled out his feather sword when he was talking to Jeanist, I don’t know! we literally cut off right after that! almost as if whatever action or line of dialogue immediately followed that scene would have explained everything, and so is being withheld from us for exactly that reason lmao. it absolutely is a very odd thing to do while chatting with your friend; but speaking of said chat, let’s take another look at the dialogue here.

Jeanist says he’s planning to step back into the public eye shortly, and Hawks replies with, “that’s too bad.” of course we’re immediately meant to jump to the conclusion of “WTF, JEANIST, RUN,” but there’s another possible interpretation, which is that Hawks is apologizing because he’s about to explain to Jeanist that he’s gonna have to put a rain check on those plans. the sword might simply be his not-so-subtle way of saying “okay you better listen up you beautiful bedenimed man, because shit’s about to get real, and you’re either going to have to go along with the completely ridiculous plan that I am about to propose, or else I am going to have to straight up kill you, which I do not under any circumstances want to do.”

at which point Jeanist is presumably all “okay calm down kid wtf”, and Hawks proceeds to explain how they’re gonna take some random John Doe body from the county morgue and have one of the HPSC’s people use their quirk to transform the body into a perfect clone of Jeanist using a sample of Jeanist’s DNA or something. or whatever secret agent bullshit they pulled out of a hat in order to fool Dabi and the rest of the League. only we don’t see any of it, because Horikoshi does not want us to see any of it, because it would have removed too much of the tension and suspense from the Hawks spy arc.

this to me makes sense. it makes sense with what we know of Hawks’s character, and doesn’t sacrifice all of the work that Horikoshi put into writing his arc for the sake of cheap shock value. it builds on the conflict between Hawks’s own personal morals and the things he is asked to do by the HPSC for the sake of the Greater Good that don’t always sit well with him. it leaves room for the continuation of that arc as more of the HPSC’s secrets come to light, and as the heroes face widespread criticism in the wake of the Jakku disaster, which seems more and more inevitable. and, as a bonus, it provides an unexpected yet plausible last minute save for the heroes against Gigantomachia and Tomura and the rest. because it’s honestly going to take a miracle for them to make it out otherwise at this point lol.

anyway, so I think it works! we’re still missing some pieces here obviously, but all in all I’m more than willing to give Horikoshi the benefit of the doubt until he fills us in on whatever we’ve missed. I just wish we didn’t have to wait two weeks until the next chapter yet again sob, but such is manga-reading life.

[darkpoisonouslove]

“The Shadow Phoenix” Thoughts

Here comes the last special. Honestly, I am kinda nervous about this because they are shoving the whole season 2 in one episode and I have a feeling that that will not go well. Unless, of course, they thought of making more but abandoned it after this special but I highly doubt that since I think I’ve seen the final showdown in s2 being in this special. Hopefully, it won’t be a full disaster. I just don’t know what to expect anymore.- “her ghostly sister - Daphne”? This recap is on thin fucking ice (pun unintended). Careful with the wording there! This sounds horrible. There are better ways to put it.

- Wait, new outfits for Winx? Really? Ugh!

- Shadowhaunt is happening already. But hey, it’s Layla! And she managed to free the pixies! Wasn’t that supposed to fail, though? Or are they just trying to save time and remove the second trip to Shadowhaunt for the pixies? (Hey, does that mean no Amentia? Please and thank you!) I hate Darkar’s new voice.

- Oh, no! He got them back. But were those shadow tendrils in the original? I think I would remember them if they had been.

- Well, Layla got to Alfea fast. I know they are trying not to waste time but this is cutting down on the suspense. At least she is already bonding with Winx (and especially Musa).

- That scene with Darkar freeing the Trix was completely destroyed. First, they never got to show why Lightrock is so horrible (and it is horrible even to me although I haven’t had an evil routine). Not to mention that they never said how Darkar learned about them which was in s2. And they’re back at Shadowhaunt. What happened to Gloomix?

- Nvm, he gave it to them but they never got to try it on Lightrock guards. Such a shame! Also, calling him “master”? And even repeating it twice? They are acting like docile stupid minions. Say what? The Trix would never! I am pretty sure that wasn’t in s2 even if they still knelt. This is fucked up, them kneeling in front of him. Talk about wrong implications.

- Why did Faragonda only send Bloom and Stella? So that we can’t have the others in a scene? Or so that they can lose against the Trix who just had a power-up? Also, how is it that when they think no one will know they are sneaking around, the one they’re trying to ambush always knows that they’re there?

- Yeah, just send the fairy of sunlight underground where there’s no sun! Logic! And they didn’t recognize the Trix at first? Those are obviously not “things”, Bloom. Though, she might have suffered a concussion from the way they blasted her into the ground.

- “Shadow whirlwind”? What, did Darkar somehow imbue them with his own essence through the Gloomix and now they have shadow powers? I also resent the implications in this so, hopefully, I am wrong and this is just a coincidence.

- What did Darcy do to Bloom? And will they just keep calling him “The Phoenix” instead of Darkar? Please, no! That is somehow actually worse than Lord Darkar.

- Ugh, fake Avalon. Here we go. Though, at least he wasn’t in the first 1/4th of this. That’s something.

- The bonding with the pixies is cute. But did Tune just say “you rock”? Tune? The pixie of manners? What have they done? Smh.

- But can you keep them safe? Can you really, Faragonda? You sent them in Shadowhaunt instead of going yourself! Or at least accompanying them! And you’re not gonna get better at protecting them from here on.

- Daphne is too little in that dream of Bloom’s. If she was still a kid when Bloom was born, that means that she should be aging while she’s a spirit and we already saw that she was all grown up when Bloom was a baby in that flashback in “Revenge of the Trix”. This is illogical and she actually looks even younger than she does in the corresponding dream in s2.

- Ugh, that scene with the flowers! Why are they all crushing on him? And he’s using it against them. Also, is it possible that it was him that somehow brought on the dream about her parents? How else could he tell that she had a dream? Shouldn’t they discuss her birth parents in private also? Everyone is there listening. At least they’re back to their normal outfits.

- Is Sky jealous just from hearing Avalon’s name? That was better done in s2. They are really just chopping off everything that isn’t absolutely necessary and it kinda fucks up even the necessary things.

- At least it was Helia that offered them to see his sketches and not Stella grabbing them from him... which I think was what happened in s2.

- Are the Trix just gonna steal the Codex right now? From this celebration? Otherwise, they will have to go to Red Fountain twice and half the episode is almost up. Well, I guess not. Instead we get more Bloom and Sky stupidity. Bloom isn’t nearly as obsessed with Avalon as she was in s2 (she hasn’t had the time here) and he has no reason to be acting the way he is.

- “Listen, Sky, do me a favor and hang up the phone.” XD I love it! She finally told him off! And she really looks more interested in Avalon’s help with her parents rather than with him here. All I know is that I’m on her side this time while in s2 both she and Sky were being stupid but I understood him more. But he keeps being his douche-y self.

- Flora just daydreamed the monster that was supposed to attack Red Fountain but didn’t? Wow. Wow! WOW! ... Okay.

- Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, my god. Scratch everything I said about the Bloom and Sky drama. She not only started talking about it to Avalon, she hugged him! Wtf! Bloom, you do realize that you’re just giving Sky proof for his words, right? Maybe she was looking for consolation but she could have sought it out with her best friends aka Winx who we’ve seen absolutely nothing of (except for Flora but that is only because they just introduced Helia). That was so not in s2. I would have remembered that fuckery. And then Avalon goes all “perhaps you’re better off without him”. This is predatory behavior! He is distancing her from the people that care about her. I loathe all of this! Bloom, please, I have a little more faith in you than I did in s2. Snap out of this! I know he will be the one turning her dark but that can still happen if her dealings with him are only because of her parents. Can we end the nauseating undertones of this?

- “You may leave a message after the tone. But not if it’s you, Sky”. *bursts into laughter* I’m sorry. This is just too sassy, I can’t. It’s good. Even if Sky is actually the lesser evil.

- At least Flora isn’t having Layla snooping around in Helia’s room this time. She just decided to go for it. That’s better.

- Well, we’re finally back with the Darkar plot. But wait... The nostalgia spell is actually... how he gets to Pixie Village this time? Winx didn’t stop it? I know they’re saving time but damn! His plans have a very high success rate in this case (since everything has worked so far) which will just make it more ridiculous when they defeat him.

- Why are the Pixie elders actually in Pixie Village? The Codex is just one part? They’re gonna skip the whole “going to every school and Pixie Village to steal all four parts of it” thing? Well, that’s stupid. There was no suspense whatsoever here. We don’t even know what the Codex does! And Darcy and Stormy have also gone MIA like everyone from Winx except Bloom (and Flora). This is really just gliding downhill with the speed of light.

- Bloom, you stupid bitch! Now she’s kidnapped. And they just butchered the whole storyline of s2. Also, guess it was the real Avalon that was evil. Great! Then Faragonda fucked up even more by letting him in Alfea. Still think you can protect them? And now she’s sending the students to rescue Bloom alone... again. I know she’ll get there eventually but, goddammit, this is illogical, not to mention irresponsible.

- Why the fuck are there four pixies of the Codex if there’s only one part of it? You make no sense, writers!

- Yeah, Shadowhaunt is underground but you can totes get there with a ship. Makes perfect sense!

- Darkar was Avalon all along? EPIC LEVELS OF FAILURE ON FARAGONDA’S PART! She didn’t even for a second realize this? Isn’t he supposed to, idk, give off insane levels of dark energy? What the hell?!

- Well, of course, he has an army... that he won’t even control himself. I hate all of this! All of it!

- Helia has had exactly three seconds of characterization and about as many lines. The whole thing with him not wanting to fight was just erased. Not that it went anywhere even in s2 but still. It was a touching point for him and Flora who is also anti violence. And here there is zero ground for a romance between them. They just met, like, five seconds ago and never had the opportunity to get to know each other... at all. Which reminds me...

- Layla never became a part of the team. She was just with them in the previous mission to Shadowhaunt but none of the bonding was here. I know that they didn’t have much time at all for anything but they could have put one or two super short scenes in which some bonding happens between her and the rest of Winx. Because here she is pretty much a stranger to both them and the audience. We don’t even know what she’s like and what little we saw of her wasn’t exactly the way it should have been. Oh, look, they barely even gave her a transformation! Epic fail here as well.

- At least Bloom wasn’t strapped to that table like she was about to be sacrificed to the darkness... which was actually kinda what happened.

- Did they just got rid of the Trix? What was even the point of bringing them in? Darkar could have done absolutely everything on his own. All of this was absolutely useless! I. Hate. It!

- We never even saw Kerborg as a bat. He is just that monster now. *sigh*

- “Did you really think we would not come to help?” Well... The only reason I thought they would help was because I knew they would since I’ve already watched how this goes down in s2. But honestly, they’ve been leaving their students to deal with everything so if I didn’t know where this was going, the answer would have been “Damn right, I thought you wouldn’t”.

- “That was a workout”, he says after crushing a monster out of existence by being magically enhanced. What is wrong with the writers? Although, I guess this is better than him boasting he handled the monster on his own like in s2.

- Watching the portal open with just one part of the Codex is so wrong. And anti climatic.

- Of course, the pixies of the Codex can just open the door to Relix. Of fucking course they can. Makes perfect sense. Honestly, I am mad about this but the original with the color “riddle” wasn’t much better anyway. At least they didn’t waste time on it here so I guess this is better on that account. I mean, if it’s not gonna make sense anyway, might as well just take the shorter one, right?

- Did they fire against Bloom or was it just a coincidence that their powers disrupted her concentration.

- “You saved my life once”? Are they gonna pass what happened at Magix as saving his life? Because I am pretty sure in s2 he meant what happened in 2x10. And this is also stupid. It shouldn’t work after that drama they had. Everything was all over the place and they never got the chance to fix it. Not to mention that no part of the other bonding they had happened here. They only showed one moment they had together in that flashback, because that was all they got. They never really connected so this shouldn’t work!

- Oh, Darkar started absorbing the Ultimate Power already? Not that it matters. That last attack is more intense at least. But I am still pretty pissed about a lot of things. Including the fact that they never explained about the Shadow Fire and that it is the opposite of the Dragon Fire.

- They defeated the Shadow Phoenix but they can’t even get a decent photo.

I was wildly disappointed in this. I thought it would be bad considering they are shoving the whole season in one special but I could have never expected that it would be... this! Most of the suspense is drained from it thanks to the butchered storyline. If you put that aside and consider it its own thing, the plot got resolved but the pacing was horrible and there was no build-up to anything. Not to mention that there were things that felt like they were a second thought and were out of place (aka the Trix and the whole Flora and Helia subplot that went fucking nowhere.) It was pretty bad as a reimagined version of s2 and pretty meh as a standalone thing.

[itsclydebitches]

You really have to wonder where the heck volume 8 is going to go. I get cliff hanger season finales, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t a good thing for a show leave people wondering what the fuck is going to happen next season because the situation is so simultaneously confusing for the audience and hopeless for the protagonists. This really ties into your RWBY has no plan criticism. Okay, so they’ll land the bullhead and do...what? WTF are they going to do?! Seriously! Ugh 😑

RWBY has actually got me thinking a lot about early forms of visual, serialized storytelling. Authors prioritizing the emotional impact of a cliffhanger - “Omg that was so intense! I have to come back and find out how this is resolved!” - over the actual continuity of the story - “So... how will we solve this problem?” - is nothing new. Indeed, it’s somewhat popular because you’ve already achieved the primary goal of getting viewers to come back and consume your product. It almost doesn’t matter if the product is good provided you continue to generate those feelings of, “Dammit, I have to know how they get out of this situation” and get viewers back in their seat. Even when the viewer has reason to believe that the explanation won’t make sense/won’t be satisfying. It’s a capitalist perspective to storytelling (I just want to make money) as opposed to an artistic perspective (I just want to tell a good tale).  

Ben Singer refers to these as cop-out cliffhangers and (in film, far earlier in comic strips) they began in the early 1910′s. To quote from his book Melodrama and Modernity: Early Sensational Cinema and Its Contexts, emphasis mine: 

“By late 1914 or early 1915, virtually all episodes [of serials] culminated in suspenseful cliffhanger endings. With this design, serials encouraged a steady volume of return customers, tantalized and eager for the fix of narrative closure withheld in the previous installment. In this system of artificially perpetuated desire, serials conveyed a certain acuity about the new psychology of modern consumerism. Actually, the design is slightly more elaborate due to the cliffhanger’s system of narrative overlap wherein the next episode briefly retraced (usually with cop-out modifications) the immediate situation leading up to the cliffhanger” (210-11) 

AKA, a lot of serials ended with a threat seemingly impossible to overcome (woman is falling to her death - cliffhanger), rehashed that ending at the beginning of the next installment (woman is falling to her death - opening), and in doing so changed some crucial aspect that allows the characters to escape when they previously couldn’t have (woman now has a parachute when she didn’t before). As that example shows, such cop-out cliffhangers include continuations that completely re-write what came previously, such as Undersea Kingdom where in one installment you’ll end with the characters getting blown off a cliff of their own, but the next installment begins with them still at the edge, erasing any continuity. Other cop-out cliffhangers are a little more complicated, such as A Woman in Grey where installment #1 shows a massive block about to crush our bound Ruth and in installment #2 it misses her... even though she was directly underneath the block in installment #1. I expect RWBY to fit within this kind of cop-out, simply because we’ve seen them do it numerous times before. We’re presented with Situation A, then Solution B that doesn’t really make sense, and the fandom is left to connect the two themselves. Which they do, often letting RT off the hook in the process. As Singer says of that Grey episode: 

“A charitable reading would surmise that during his attack Hunter [another character involved] had inadvertently moved the bed on which Ruth was tied [resulting in the block not hitting her]; but since that is not established, it is probably more likely that the film simply hopes viewers will be too excited by the thrilling events to remember the spatial details of the previous episode’s cliffhanger crisis” (143) 

Authors may have thought they could get away with this in 1920 (audiences have always paid attention) but this is the digital age. Every installment of RWBY is re-watchable. More importantly, it’s GIFable. Viewers don’t even need to put forth the effort of re-watching the show because others do that labor for us, condensing these moments into bite-sized pieces we see on our dashes for months on end, to the point where we know the canon even better than the authors do. Yet RWBY continues to present “solutions” with the (presumed) hopes that a) audiences won’t remember what actually happened, b) audiences will be too caught up in the excitement of the story to care about logic, or c) audiences will do the work of connecting the two scenarios for RT, often doing a whole number of logistical gymnastics in an effort to get the solution to make some sort of sense. I’ve seen all three of these results countless times, but that doesn’t mean audiences should have been put in that situation in the first place. It’s not “good” writing, but it’s what I expect of Volume 8. I don’t think RT is so bold as to actively erase canon to the extent we’ve seen in some serials, but providing us with “solutions” to the Salem problem that don’t line up with what we learned in Volume 7? Absolutely. 

[atamascolily]

Lily liveblogs: “The Rise of Skywalker”, part one

I only made it through the first hour tonight because I had to keep pausing to yell at the screen.

"The dead speak!" Okay, but I don't get it: how do they know the Emperor isn't a recording or a hologram? Or, I don't know, someone pretending to be him like the "Hand of Thrawn" duology?

"Supreme Leader Kylo Ren" will never not be a stupid title, gag.

So the Sith wayfinder is just... there. In a forest. In a box with a conveniently removable lid. Okay, I'm going to need some context here. (Ironically, this scene was added back into the film to provide context, lol.)

I actually really like the whole "Force compass" idea, although I wouldn't have made it a plot point in my fix-it if it hadn't already been a thing.

Why the hell would you fly a TIE when you’re supreme leader, those things are shitty af.

So he's the Supreme Leader and he just... runs off to Exegol alone? No backup whatsoever?? I guess Hux or the moffs or whatever does all the actual work, lol.

What can I say? Ian McDiarmid's still got it.

10/10 for aesthetics in the evil Sith pyramid ruins. Kylo looks so out of his league.

So Kylo did actually hear Darth Vader's voice in his head.... or thought he did. Wow.Does Kylo recognize the Emperor's voice? Who knows! But the look on his face when Palpatine says he played him is priceless.

It will surprise absolutely no one that I love the secret underground evil lab with Snoke clones floating in tanks and a "Black Hooded Robes" dress code.

The throne reveal with the flickering light and the medical stuff... excellent.

Kylo's really more a follower than a leader and it shows at how quickly he's willing to serve Palpatine.

Uh, Palps, the last time someone ordered Kylo to kill Rey it didn't go well.... I can't imagine you don't know that.

Poe and Finn teaming up to play against Chewie and still losing is delightful. Also: DATING.

Who the hell is Klaud? Should I know their name? What are they doing there on the Falcon randomly?

I gotta say, I love Poe and Finn and Chewie's dynamic in the drop-off scene. Also blasting through the wall. And the aesthetic of the ice planet in general.

Lightspeed skipping's still dumb, though. Like, everybody is totally right to ream them for it.

Rey's flip to the ground when she's done meditating is perfect.

The Leia footage looks like it ought to fit, but it doesn't look right to my eyes, even if though I can't figure out what's off about it in context.

The training course run is awesome, but I can't help wondering how that hood doesn't choke her in the process or at least get in the way. Nice improvised quarterstaff there.

What the hell is this moment with touching Vader's mask and making a connection with Rey, I don't get it. It's clearly meant to be a moment. Both Kylo and Rey have flashbacks to traumatic past memories, but why right at that moment???

Ahhh, I love Connix's new look here.

why is Rey giving the saber back to Leia?? She's totally earned it several times over in the last two movies. And who else is going to use it??(And when did it get fixed, last time we saw it was split in two as a ~metaphor~ or something.)

Aww, Rey's doing her Jedi independent study with the sacred texts that ghost!Yoda told Luke were so boring he was glad that they were burning just to fuck with Luke. (Ghost!Yoda was an asshole. I am offended on Yoda’s behalf.) 

Yay for Poe and Rey interacting, but this is such a stupid conflict--or at least a stupid way to have written this kind of conflict. And yet somehow they still have more chemistry when Rey calls him "difficult" than Rey and Kylo have had in two entire films.

Why didn't Rey go on this mission again? I don't get it.

Poe's eyeroll on "Somehow, Palpatine returned" is the best.

Rose says what I'm thinking: "Do we believe this?" GOOD FOR HER.

"Dark science. Cloning." Dark Empire, here we come!

I would have bought Palpatine hiding in the Unknown Regions better if we already hadn't had Snoke hiding out there with an entirely different fleet/organization. Even assuming Snoke is Palpatine's puppet, how could Kylo not... notice?? Maybe he's just that self-absorbed. 

And they only have 16 hours before the attack. What a stupid arbitrary deadline to create suspense that ALSO makes no world-building sense. Got it.

(There are times when adding a deadline is a smart narrative choice and there are times when it is stupid. Guess which one this is.)

How does Rey connect Exegol to the books? I feel like the movie skips a step or two in explaining that.

What is Maz doing here?? I thought she was a free agent. Wouldn't it have been easier for her to bring the news from the FO mole, since she's usually the Agent of Exposition in these films?

Looks like the start of a Fetch Quest! Wow. Like I said, I really like the idea of the wayfinders, but not the execution. Also, way to shit on Luke for not finishing the job earlier.

What sort of relationship do Rey and Poe have that Poe is just casually gonna go along with her? I'm not complaining, I just would have liked to see some build-up... literally anywhere.

Finn invites Rose to come along... and she conveniently declines. WTF. I mean, there could be some UST here if you squint and I don't like this pairing, but... I don't get why she declines, except plot, I guess. 

Poe is rocking that scarf action.

Leia gives the saber back... all of Leia's scenes with Rey are literally the same. I think that's what bothers me. They just.. happen and they're all the same, because they're re-using old footage, and it doesn't quite fit the context of the narrative. And we just saw Rey give Leia the saber, so it doesn't quite pack the emotional punch it ought to when Leia gives it back so quickly before Rey has "earned" it. WASTE.

Kylo with the Knights of Ren, re-forging the mask he discarded in the last movie with the help of someone from... Planet of the Apes, I guess. Oh, hey, and there's no context or characterization for the Knights, they're just faceless background minions.

Also, WHY DO THE STORMTROOPERS CALL THEM "GHOULS"? That would actually be interesting to know why!!!

This movie is a bunch of ideas held together with duct tape and the barest streams of logic.

The moff council: most awkward meeting ever. Hux is legit trying not to laugh the entire time. Also, you can easily pick out the New Asshole Villain we're supposed to hate instead.

Kylo snaps at the one moff who actually asks a sensible question, lol, about Palpatine's ulterior motives. Kylo announces he's going to just fuck off with his biker gang to hunt for Rey, because it's not like he's Supreme Leader and actually in charge of anything...

Oh, hey, Space Burning Man. How about that. Poe actually facepalms, lol. ... How did they not notice that when they were landing??

There are just random First Order patrols on Pasaana? Really? Wouldn't they... I don't know, stand out? I need more context, this worldbuilding is so confusing.

Oh, fuck, Poe suggests they split the party, that's a terrible idea. I get that you're supposed to be a spymaster as well as a hotshot pilot, and your colleagues aren't exactly subtle, but...

All the aliens on Pasaana look like Ganesha, lol. I actually like the scene with the kid, because you can see how it pains Rey not to have a family--it's a good scene, it's just in the wrong place.

Geh. Time for more Force(d) Skype sessions with Kylo Ren, sigh.

"Serving another master?" Rey has Kylo's number 100% right there.

Oh, okay, so apparently they saw each other's worst moments in that vision sequence, got it. Still no good reason as to why, though or what Darth Vader’s mask had to do with it. 

Kylo sounds like such a stalker here. Scratch that--he IS a fucking stalker here. I don't find that attractive at all. "When I offer you my hand again, you'll take it" is a THREAT, and I want to deck him, especially since it’s very clear it will come true (but the context will have changed, which is supposed to make it okay, but is still gross to me). 

What the fuck it got worse, he actually touched her and pulled the necklace off GROSS. (Also, HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE???? Didn’t Luke die from pushing himself through space like that???)

Like how does the stormtrooper just start pointing a gun at them and nobody in the crowd notices? And nobody bats an eye when Lando shoots the stormtrooper, either. What?? And that stormtrooper was just patrolling by... himself? WHAT?

This fetch quest is SO STUPID whhhhhhyyyyyyyyy

Makes sense that Luke would hunt down a "Jedi Killer" except... what Jedi did this Ochi fucking kill? All of Luke's students died when Kylo destroyed the temple, so who was left to kill???? I DON'T GET IT. Also, is Ochi a Sith himself, or just in the employ of the Sith? NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE.

How does Poe know where Lurch Canyon is? Do they have local planetary maps in the Falcon??

Poe would 100% know how to hotwire a speeder. But why do they have to take two of them??

How come this is the first time FINN has seen a FO stormtrooper with jetpacks? Is he mad that they never gave him one???

Personal jetpacks are one of those things that sound cool, but are actually really difficult to work with in practice, lol. I can't imagine strapping something that explosive against my back.

Wait, Rey is able to shoot out an entire craft with a small hand blaster??

Ochi's ship is just... there. On the rocks. the entire time. I guess there aren't any scavengers on Pasaana.

Conveniently, they only start sinking in the sand once the trooper is no longer firing.

"Rey, I never told you..." what?

what is the point of the exchange with General Leia to build tension wtf. But Rose is just there, I guess!  

Poe's eyeroll when Rey turns on the lightsaber and he flicks on his lamp and realizes... hers is bigger. LOL.

Poe is so jealous of Finn and Rey, it would be cute if he weren't an asshole about it. Finn's like "tell us about all the shifty stuff you do" which would make more sense if the films actually showed us spymaster stuff in action instead of just talking about it most of the time. (Yes, I know, there was that mission to get the map at the beginning of TFA, but that was... it? And also two movies ago, so hasn't played a role in character development since. FINN got the spy mission in the last film.)

that dagger is... just conveniently there, huh.

Rey gets a vision when she picks up the dagger, she is TOTALLY A PSYCHOMETRIST, fight me.

Why would you put the location of the wayfinder on a dagger, this makes no fucking sense, this fetch quest is so dumbbbbbbbbbb. Also Threepio's programming is such a STUPID OBSTACLE TO OVERCOME on so many levels gaaaaaahhhh.

We're a half-hour in, and most of the movie so far could have been cut without missing ANY of it, fuck.

Threepio yelling "Serpent!" is actually kinda funny to me, but not in this particular context.

I really love the serpent-creature-sandworm-thing and I'm just sad this side quest has so little relationship to anything in the actual main plot because THIS COULD HAVE BEEN INTERESTING. Also, convenient healing magic time! (Introduced here so it seems like less of an asspull later.)

Rey is just so casual about how she transferred a bit of her life energy to the worm. Does it come back? Is it renewable? Is this permanent? I NEED MORE CONTEXT THAT THIS. I feel like I would be hella shaken to realize I’d just done something like this.

If the Knights of Ren had any distinguishing features or personalities, I'd be more nervous about them, but no, they're just mooks with better armor.

So they just assume the FO is watching the Falcon instead of impounding it? Seems like a bold choice, but okay. And what are the Pits of Grig?

Between the lightsaber when Rey was healing the worm and her bag and staff just now, Finn is really just there to carry Rey's things, isn't he? What a WASTE. I HATE THIS SO MUCH.

And the Sith ship... just works. Hasn't been scavenged or damaged at all in years. Okay then.

Gotta admit, I love Rey wandering off into the desert, lightsaber on her belt and blaster on her side holster like a badass.

Finn says, "It's Ren," and I'm like YEAH FINN, but also.. how does he know? Lucky guess? Process of elimination. LET HIM HAVE THE FORCE YOU COWARDS.

Oh, the FO captured Chewie and now they conveniently have the dagger. Sigh. THIS STUPID FETCH QUEST.

Rey's leap over Kylo's TIE is fucking EPIC and I love it. Sadly, Kylo is not dead for some reason despite his ship fucking exploding.

Also FUCK YEAH Rey just grabbed the ship out of the SKY with the FORCE, she is not fucking around. Of course Kylo starts playing tug of war and it explodes, and everyone's devastated except there were TWO TRANSPORTS in the last shot, so I'm just like... I see what you did there.

Also, the same thing happened the LAST time Kylo and Rey tried to play tug of war with an object (the Skywalker lightsaber, which Rey re-built off-screen, so you'd be forgiven for forgetting that happened--which again, would have actually been interesting instead of all the handoffs to/from Leia) so LITERALLY NOTHING HAS CHANGED, so I don’t even understand what the writers are trying to accomplish here.

Also, why does Kylo go for the ship instead of trying to Force choke her directly?? I don't get it.

i'm sad she doesn't bring the transport down on his fucking head, lol.

Wait. Force lightning. She pulls FORCE LIGHTNING??? wtfffffffffffffff?

Where the FUCK did Kylo go while Rey's angsting over Chewie? Was he even there to begin with? What is reality in this movie? What the FUCK??? (Normally, questioning reality would be my jam, but that's not supposed to be a theme of this movie.)

Nope, he's just standing there, not attacking her, because... why?? He's scared and horny because she blasted Force Lightning, and he thinks she's about to turn it on him? (I WISH.)

And he just... lets her go... WHY????????????

Meanwhile, in an asteroid field, Finn and Rey are having a moment, and it's really sweet, and maybe it's just my shipping goggles talking, but would this pairing have been so bad? It would have been so great instead of what we're getting with Kylo. Sigh.

Rey also has a vision of the throne room of the Sith with her and Ren as emperor and empress, gag, gag, gag. John Boyega looks so sad, here, and dude, #same.

Threepio uses the word "sinful" to describe the procedure they're going to use on him, which... actually says a lot about droids in this universe and I am drowning in feels.

SO NOW THEY'RE GOING TO KIJIMI FOR THIS STUPID FETCH QUEST AAARRRRGGGHHHHH dagger macguffin blew up and this quest is still not ovvvveerrrrrr

(I actually don't hate this movie as much as I hated TLJ - this is still dumb, but it's dumb in a way that is just dumb, as opposed to TLJ, which was still dumb but trying to be clever and smart and special and sophisticated about by winking knowingly as it "subverted expectations" by shafting all of my faves. This movie doesn't have the self-awareness to wink.)

They all clasp hands and I'm supposd to feel something but I don't because the group bond doesn't feel real to me or developed or EARNED, and also Threepio rushes in to join them and they're about to shaft him (and he already had that conversation with Artoo about how Artoo was his only real friend, sob). sigggghhhhhhhh.

They only have 8 hours to save the world and it takes HOW long to fly to Kijimi in that derelict ship? Just asking.

But somebody EVVILLLL was following them the whole time, lolololol.

D-O looks like a lamp, but he and BB-8 bond over being Round Things, I guess.

Rey tries to reassure D-O that he's safe, but considering what they're going to Kijimi to do to Threepio, I'm not buying it.

(Apparently, since Han and Luke are dead, and Leia's off-limits for the moment, it's Threepio who gets shafted in this film? Sigh.)

I actually like the landscape of Kijimi, even though it feels more like Disney World with fascism and snow than an actual place. Maybe it's just because Poe looks so good in that hooded jacket.

Zorri can't resist Poe when he looks at her like that. Oscar Isaac's just that good. I literally don't know why this character is here except to provide an unncessary love interest, though.

Poe as a spice runner (aka drug smuggler) is SO STUPID and also MAKES NO SENSE WITH THE REST OF HIS ESTABLISHED BACKSTORY. Also, like... way to make the Latinx character the classic stereotype even in a futuristic space film. Like, you have to go OUT OF YOUR WAY to do that. gag

Funny that Rey doesn't ask the translator droid WHO'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER what Babu Frik says.

So Sith is a language now? Why do the Sith have their own secret language and the Jedi don't? What are the Sith in nu!canon? A culture? A cult? Is the Rule of Two still canon? WTF is even going on here??

Threepio deciding to sacrifice himself to save the world breaks my heart, especially since he's trying to console himself by calling the party his "friends". YOU DESERVED BETTER, THREEPIO, I'M SO SORRY.

Poe and Zorri are up on the rooftop... she's still wearing her helmet. I'm not sure why you cast a famous actor if you're never going to show their face, but whatever, fine. Zorii says the FO took all the kids, and she's going to the "Colonies", whatever that means. I'm not sure how that's possible, this world-building really sucks. Would they take ALL the kids? Somehow, I doubt it. Even the rich kids? What about the non-human ones? What is the FO's relationship to Kijimi, anyway??? I DON'T GET IT.

Oh, hai, another macguffin. This one's a FO captain's medallion, which lets you land anywhere. And she's just going to give it to Poe because...  he's just that hot.

Why did the Emperor put a wayfinder on ENDOR of all places. (Okay, it's not the "forest moon" of ROTJ, it's Kef Bir or something like that, but still. WTF.)

We're an hour in and this fetch quest is still GOING. WHHHHHHHHYYYYY.

I'm surprised Rey hasn't realized that Palpatine has made contact with Kylo and doesn't just fed-ex herself to him and pretend to join him so they can go visit and she can destroy Palps. I mean, that TOTALLY worked in the last film, right??? Why wouldn't she do that again???

(Alternately, there's stealing Kylo's wayfinder, which again nobody seems to consider as an option. Do they not know about that one? I'm sooooo confused.)

"Only this blade tells" is super-creepy in that robotic monotone, y'all.

There is literally NO REASON for Zorii to give up her dreams  by proxy through the medallion macguffin except that Poe is so hot. No reason at all. Sigh. SHE COULD COME WITH THEM BUT SHE DOESN'T, BECAUSE PLOT. She’s literally a living plot device instead of a character and I hate it.

[ctl-yuejie]

all of @howdydowdy‘s most loveliest tags for my fanfic, you are so wonderful i don’t know how i deserved the good luck to find you ;A;

1. #OH MY GOD!!!!!!!#it's here!! i'm gonna lose my whole entire mind!!!!!#well i hope everybody's ready for me to scream about every single installment as it comes out because this is the most important thing now#i didn't even know turnip!ah yuan was gonna be in it THIS IS THE BEST SURPRISE!!!!!#i feel so honored that my tags had anything to do with inspiring this incredible au but this is absolutely so much better#even in this short installment i'm getting such a good feel for the three characters who have made an appearance so far!#excited to see your lwj!!!#'the only thing his viewers enjoyed more than his content were the occasional take-downs Wen Qing was dishing out in the comment section'#ahahaha you are so funny#PLEASE EVERYONE LOOK AT THIS AMAZING FIC! I'M SO EXCITED FOR IT!!!!#i don't know all the things that are gonna happen but i have a general idea and guys it's such a good au#op is so creative and brilliant!!!#the untamed#ah yuan and his two dads will be the death of me#fic#these are a few of my favorite things

2. #second! installment!! time!!!#i feel like i'm a reader in dickensian london waiting for the new chapter to come out in the magazine#except there's less pollution and i don't have to put coal in an oven#why are those my associations with dickensian london? idk don't worry about it#jiang cheng makes an appearance! okay so i have never really understood him but i've been reading a LOT of fic#and i'm starting to get the picture i think#this is like...just the right amount ominous to get me super excited to see what happens next#WYD JC????#also wwx's characterization is just *chef's kiss*#<3 <3 <3 love u op you're too good to me#puns

3. #ohhhh shit everybody lwj is here! things are happening!!!!#i love all the sibling feels lxc gives me always#in every single fic i read he's like 'lwj i found another boy your age please be friends with him i love you so much'#oOoOoO the shoot will be four whole days i wonder what can happen in four days you guys...#like maybe...mister stoic guqin falling in love with disaster farmer man????#STAY TUNED#you know what just occurred to me is that lwj needs an emotion translator#i'm thinking like luther the anger translator for obama in those key & peele sketches#except it's just someone interpreting all of lwj's stoic faces#i mean lxc can read his faces so you'd think he could do it but idk if lxc himself is emotive enough#i'll have to think about it more

4. #this fic is the gift that keeps on giving#slowly introducing new characters...now we're meeting my sweet baby wen ning...i don't deserve this happiness...#also wei wuxian's carefree chaotic energy is just to die for#and what's this? jiang cheng appears on the horizon? narrowing his eyes at a tumbleweed that rolls across his path#his spurs jingling menacingly as he stalks ever closer?#hold on to yer hats cowboys i smell some Plot approaching#the untamed#fic#(okay also 'explosive arts & crafts projects' ahaha you are the best at these descriptions)

5. #oooooooo things are really coming together my dudes...#more jiang cheng content! okay he is really growing on me. grouch with a heart of gold. huge schemer. just wants to make fun of his BIL with#his brother but feels like he has to prioritize his ~responsibilities~#he loves wwx and understands what motivates him and at the same time just wants him to like. chill#the air quotes ahaha#that wwx makes them and that jc hates it#also i think my favorite image from this is the fact that one of the draws of the tv show is that all the cultivator hosts are handsome#which means that when lxc needed someone to cover for him he just went to the producers like#'no worries my little brother is also super hot so he should meet all your requirements'#'is he personable? no. does he speak in complete sentences? also no. but are the viewers gonna go batshit over his face? absofuckinlutely'#and the producers were like 'oh yeah dude say no more'#this is so fun i'm really enjoying these updates!!!

6. #not the city centre itself but a nearby mound#which sounds unusual and ominous#honey you got a big storm comin'#lwj is getting there early...oh fuck the suspense...#also 'either this is just how show business works or no one really knows what they are doing' why not both lwj??#ahaha i am cackling and steepling my fingers imagining how this is all gonna go down#babe i'm glad you decided not to give me spoilers because it is so fun watching things unfold

7. #i'm just imagining the perspective of the film crew showing up and it's a barren wasteland#they're like...wtf kind of establishing shots are we supposed to take of this??#don't worry guys the cutest child on the planet lives here. just get some footage of him frolicking in the turnip fields#the audience will lose their effing minds

8. #i love jc's logic like 'no one can find out about this or it'll be bad for the family. how to accomplish this? better get a film crew'#also i love how he's lowkey bitter that no one wants to interview him AHAHA jc you peach#and he's like 'maybe i'll watch the show. JUST TO MAKE FUN OF WWX FOR NO OTHER REASON'#wow i'm like becoming really fond of this character op!!!

9. #AHAHA love this image of lwj staring after nhs as he traipses down the street#'fancy birds? tf kinda innuendo is that??'#also lwj deciding to wear all white so that people won't approach him ahaha damn where is my equivalent outfit??#MATCHMAKER LXC STRIKES AGAIN!!!!!#did lxc even have to go out of town for real or was it all a setup to get lwj and wwx in the same place??#wouldn't put it past him tbh#lwj is so perfectly taciturn here i love it#and not just because he's not personable or something it's because he's having FEELINGS#also because wwx never shuts up lol#'he is doomed just like before because even this unknown wei wuxian he wants to be close to and find out who he is'#ughughguhgghhghhh how are you finding and pushing all my buttons???#hot DAMN i am HERE for this!!!

10. #i've now read this three times and i love it more every time!#you have such a way with words and i love how you're getting into wwx's head#it can be hard to relate to him with how dense he can be but you make it all seem incredibly plausible and realistic!!#i love him like 'wonder what it would be like to share a hotel room. it's totally normal that i'm thinking about this'#and like. you show how he got there in his thought process and it makes total sense!#also: lwj as eye candy YES EXACTLY#nhs is the perfect choice for a tv interior designer expert. that is SO what he would be doing in a universe with tv about interior design#okay and MOST IMPORTANTLY we have come to the part in the gifset!! this is the best crack that ever caught feels omg ilysm#demonic blood pool WEI YIIIIIIIING#wen ning being all yeah goth guys and blood pools two great tastes that taste great together#i love everything about this and it was so worth the wait. very excited for the next installment!!!

11. #you are LITCHRALLY killing me with this sharp characterization!! how are you nailing all their voices!!!!#nhs just in it for the hashtag drama that's so spot on omg. breaking all the rules HE wrote just so he can torture jc#all 'are you seeing this??? ARE YOU??' poor nhs and jc having to watch these two lovesick fools make googly eyes at each other#for YEARS and not REALIZE it well it's your lucky day mr. fan man because soon the whole world will see this UST and validate you#okay but what i love the most is jc the masochist being so uncomfortable he has to keep turning off the video ahahahaha#wangxian out here romancing so hard that jc needs a barf bag. or therapy. or selective amnesia.#you ever get secondhand mortifying ordeal of being known? that's what's happening for jc here#it's mortifying watching other people experience the ordeal of being known. this is the hardest i have ever related to jc#it's like oh fuck. lwj loves wwx and it's so obvious. oh my god. i'm so embarrassed.#wwx is so gone for lwj and it's right there on his face for anyone to read. i'm in agony.#ALSO 'jiang cheng can feel his head get hot and he drops the phone on the table like it personally betrayed him' THANK U FOR THIS#everything about this is the best and my favorite#ahhh i'm so excited for the next chapters and so glad they're already up so i can read them right now!!!!

12. #lxc shooting lwj pointed looks every time the jiang sect comes up in conversation for the past 13 years!!!!! he would!!!!!!#i love the way you describe wwx through lwj's eyes. the love just shines through#also you are so insightful about his character but what else is new??? you're the character breakdown QUEEN#OH MY GOD AH YUAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111#i am writing these tags as i read or that would have been the first tag it's SO important#i mean my tag isn't important it's incoherent but AH YUAN IS IMPORTANT!!!!!#you really want me to die. you really want me to be all the way murdered.#this image of lwj just standing there with impeccable posture one arm behind his back the other holding a sword in the air randomly#with this squirmy lil bab clutching at his clothes and reaching up on his tiptoes#okay dang i didn't know there was gonna be action! intrigue!! an ambush!!!#this fic really has it all#bamf!wwx and rescuer!lwj#battle couple ftw#NOT TO MENTION DRUNK!LWJ!!! SELF SACRIFICING!LWJ!!!!!#how am i supposed to live knowing lwj Did That#ughghughghgughgh#'at least i made him happy.' at least you made him happy???!?!?!?#just let me live for a second!!!#just one second though then i'm gonna read the next chapter

13. #awwww jiang 'I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU I'VE JUST BEEN CUTTING ONIONS' cheng gets a tear in his eye#they are...a fambly.....#my man lxc coming thru for the people!! title of my upcoming inspirational children's book: Lan Xichen Takes a Stand#op you made me love jiang cheng. i'm in it now

14. #omg i forgot that you had written this and sent it to me weeks ago so when i read it just now i was like...obviously that's what happened???#i had already just fully incorporated it into my understanding of these characters in my head and forgotten how it got there#so this was the BEST surprise#i can't believe you. putting ah yuan and bunnies in the same chapter because you love drowning me in cute#soft domestic adoptive dad content???? ugh i literally need to lie down and go into a coma.#just a lil coma. to recharge my feels.#i don't know what you could possibly be putting in the 'extra' but i am. vibrating with excitement!!!!#this is one of my favorite fics ever and i'm forever happy that you came up with this amazing idea and executed it so well#I APPRECIATE AND ADORE YOU!!!#HEART EYES EMOJI#these are a few of my favorite things#the untamed#ah yuan and his two dads will be the death of me

15. #OH MY GOD NHS MASTERMINDED ALL OF IT#this is so perfect i'm in awe!!!!#of course he did!!!!#also 'he had been very invested in this romance he had even painted themed fans for this' ahahaha#these schemes! these machinations!! he got lxc out of the way! he put the idea in jc's head! ahhhhh!#mr. fan man

[chibipika]

Oh my god, I’m digging through old files on my backup harddrive and I found this dream from 2011 in which me, @antialiasis, and a baby dragon are on the run from The King of Everything.  It is absolutely batshit and I love it:

Okay, so for some reason I was hanging out with Dragonfree.  What the hell, subconscious?  Why do you always stick my online acquaintances into my dreams?  (I think it’s a side effect of that time in my life where all I had were online friends and the fanfic forum was pretty much my entire life, even though that was like 6 years ago.)  But at least this time it sort of makes sense—I’ve been working on an off on the Ouen dragons piece a lot lately, adding little touches here and there when I’m bored, so people often ask me what it is, so I frequently launch into explanations of, “Oh hey there’s this writer with a cool fanfic, and I’m doing fanart of it.”  “Hey what’s it about?”  “Well, it’s kind of hard to explain the plot because it’s basically an awesome reworking of silly ideas from when she was 12.” “ROFL THAT SOUNDS LIKE YOU.” “Erm….yeah.  -_-“

Okay then, random tangent aside I was hanging out with Dragonfree I guess.  No explanation given.  At least my dream self wanted an explanation, though never actually got one.  I was at my home house instead of my school house which makes slightly more sense (If I were European I’d sooner visit the US East coast/NY area than the friggin Midwest.)

Kay, I swear the plot was awesomely detailed and amazing but now it is starting to sound really silly and I’m not sure why I’m writing it down. Dangit.  It started out like...pretty mediocre at my house (or what was supposed to be my house but looked nothing like it, what.)  I think there was some subplot involving something going wrong with her website (some of the layouts weren’t working which was apparently a sign of someone currently stealing things from it?  What??? Also one of the styles was really cool and best described as a matrix Articuno.  YES.)  I dunno. And then there was a hilarious part where my sister walked though the kitchen into the computer room and said something like “When did Beth get here?”  And I’m like “Wtf, that’s not Beth.”  But then I walked into the room and it was. (So now Beth was somehow at my house too?  How did all these people get here?)  Dragonfree was in fact back in the kitchen on the computer that was for some reason there (no, not my laptop…a random desktop in the kitchen), and Beth did not appear for the entire rest of the dream. *shrug*  Though amusingly at this point I wondered, “Hey since this isn’t the internet, should I call you Dragonfree or by your real name?”  but never actually asked it.  So I went the whole dream without addressing her by any name (not as weird as it sounds—I don’t use people’s names often.)

But all of this random crap quickly derailed into something involving DRAGONS HOLY CRAP.  Okay, so I actually can’t remember how the dragons plotline started dang.  I think there were like, different types of dragons (one for each element?  This was completely unrelated to Pokémon, however. In fact, I don’t think anything Pokémon ever came up, other than that random bit about her site.  I don’t have Pokémon dreams often.  What the hell, subconscious.)  I think we had the earth dragon or something except I guess it was a baby.  And then like, the queen of the world ordered the dragons (she had a lot of them I think) to kill people, except each dragon’s power was only effective on certain people, and the Earth dragon was supposed to kill us.  I think I ran and hid in a bush (yeah…because that would save me from the elemental dragon…) but since the Earth dragon was just a baby its power didn’t kill us (and I was confused about why the other dragons’ attacks didn’t hurt because I didn’t know about the whole only-effective-on-certain-people thing).  So then I emerged from my hiding place and I think a lot of time had gone by because I saw the events in a slow, limited-animation cutscene type thing (hey…sorta like that game concept art my group’s been planning.)  Well the earth dragon was now an adult.  I met up with Dragonfree at some sort of dessert table where a servant was putting together sweets for the king.  Things like chocolate covered pretzels and bananas. I guess I felt like trolling the king or something, so I stole one of the chocolate bananas, and then we ended up having the guards sent after us (yeah, way to go dream self.)  We hopped on a train (like an old style steam engine) except it was rather small, and intended for little kids.  Well lo and behold my youngest sister was there.  We rode on the train for a bit until my sister climbed on top to check something and was doing it all very not-carefully like someone who has totally climbed on top of a train and started opening hatches a hundred times in their life.  Well something went wrong and then she fell off and got tangled in some vines and then the train tried to go through an insanely small tunnel and started shrinking, so we had to get off.  And then we found the earth dragon!  Except he was a baby again OKAY THEN.

(Thus far there hasn’t been much dialogue only because I can’t remember it.  Everyone was actually talking a lot more than this implies. They weren’t all just standing there.) Also I think I spent most of the dream wondering when Dragonfree was going to go back home.  Because “oh yeah we’re on adventure and running for our lives, but hey please don’t leave in the middle of all this I wanna hang out some more.” Uh huh.  This makes even less sense when you consider that there are no countries and the king of everything is after us.

Well this time the queen was there with the guards so we ran away into this sort of maze of stairs vaguely like a kids’ play area except kind of more serious business.  Some of the stairs were in fact escalators that were broken down, and others were so small that we had to slide down then and we were doing pretty good at avoiding the guards.  We all regrouped and figured out a way onto the third floor, at which point we were feeling pretty clever, but then WE RAN INTO THE QUEEN OH SNAP.  But she was actually on our side the whole time! I think this made more sense in the dream (maybe she knew the earth dragon wouldn’t kill us with its attack? But what about all the people killed by the king’s fire dragon?)  Well she did something to the stair area to prevent the guards from getting through while she made a deal with us.  So then we had the queen with us, yay?

We were now heading up a mountain!  I have no idea what we were looking for at the top.  Except first we had to go though some sort of summer-camp type area, where they made us go though inspection (okay?)  This involved pushing us under streams of water which I thought were going to be freezing but were actually kind of warm.  Kay then.  During the next part we were all in a building (at the camp I guess) and a bunch of the campers were watching tv. At this point I thought to myself “Hey it’s weird how this dream is still continuing even though I’m awake.” WHAT?  So I thought this part was real, but I was still dreaming it…even though it was real?  Now, there have been times I’ve been able to continue a dream while awake and have it actually fit in the dream, as opposed to the lame crap you usually try to add to a dream shortly after awakening until you realize “wait my logic works now and this is stupid.”  But anyways…I think around this point was I finally going to ask Dragonfree, “Hey we’ve been running all over a crazy kingdom all day and I’m still not sure what to call you since this isn’t the internet and all.”  But at that point I woke up.  Well…damn.  I mean, it’s better than when you have a dream end at a super-suspenseful point (since we were kind of just wasting time at a camp and I don’t even think the earth dragon was with us anymore).  But still I felt the need to go run and grab my laptop and start writing all this down and highly confusing my roommates in the process.

And holy crap LOOK HOW MUCH I WROTE IN HALF AN HOUR.  Why can’t I write my fic this fast?

[named-jiang-or-wang]

Alright continuing, let’s look into the plot holes/poor story executions/dumb scenes first. I will try avoiding the big themes or writing flaws, focus on the individual illogical events and scenes. Spoilers of course.

1) The Matchmaker scene. The 1998 scene was to show Mulan is not an “ideal wife”, while here, its purpose is for nostalgia and showcase Mulan’s qi once again. In this one, the fault is even more clearly not Mulan’s, and is therefore even dumber for the matchmaker to flame her. My problem with the entire scene, in both versions, is that no matchmaker would ever have the power to declare dishonor upon a family; that is the most egregious Western stereotyping I can think of, that ‘dishonor’ is some random thing you can declare, and I am disappointed that it sustained to this remake.

2) Mulan having to travel so far alone to the base camp. Wouldn’t each battalion have a local-ish camp? Otherwise the poor wouldn’t be able to make it. None of this long journey makes sense. The only reason this was here was to maybe show Chinese landscapes...but that could’ve been done when the army was traveling.

3) Too much Phoenix. It is unclear whether it is real or not, given that magic is kinda real, but it seems only Mulan can see it; I guess that’s the point, but the mysticism and grandeur is bled from too many appearances, and each appearance is way too long. Let’s count: 1) camp journey 2) death of “Hua Jun” 3) exile 4) fighting Bori Khan. The shots that comprised these appearances made the Phoenix too...real. Like an aerial shot from behind it? Come on, it’s supposed to be a mystical symbolic creature, only viewed for a few seconds at a distance, like the Ho-oh from Pokemon. The shot of Phoenix wings sprouting from Mulan’s back during the Bori Khan fight is dumb Western angel imagery. 

3) Mulan spending so much time chasing Bori Khan during the battle. Like wtf, the rest of the Chinese cavalry just eats all the arrows like chumps? At least fight a bit or something, and show Mulan getting knocked out.

4) Mulan “dying”, then discarding her armor and accepting her “womanly” appearance. Like why. Okay I know, it’s to show she’s not hiding herself as  a man, and the armor is symbolic of the ‘lie’. Still, it was very forced, and clearly there is no good in-universe logical explanation. There was no indication that the armor limited her, only the severing of her binder. She could lose her helmet, and the hair give her away or something. 

5) The pitched battle scene. Why would a bunch of birds cause the Chinese troops to form shield domes? Why did Mulan stand there watching at least 3 domes get busted before moving her ass? I will admit, the helmet trick and getting the Rouran to avalanche themselves was pretty clever, but Mulan riding from one side of the Rourans to the other side, setting up helmets, and hiding behind rocks, broke suspension of disbelief. The Rourans turning their trebuchet all the way around makes...a bit of sense, but is still kinda dumb. Believably dumb, but still dumb.

6) The soldiers believing the chancellor/witch that they want no guard anywhere. Also Bori Khan’s plan to kill all soldiers in the city. I’d think a team of ninja barbarians would have an easier time taking out smaller groups of soldiers across the city than all of them in a compact area...well I guess they can rain arrows? But they didn’t do that, they just jumped down to fight hand-to-hand...

7) All Mulan’s team did was kinda join the fighting? The plot squandered their tactical advantage, except the knowledge that Bori Khan was going for the Emperor directly...it makes a little bit of sense, but feels weird and forced all the same.

8) Bori Khan sure taking his sweet ass time to kill the Emperor. Okay, sure, he wants the Emperor to see his city burn first, but it still falls into the classic “villain doesn’t take action quickly, and thus allows time for rescue” cliche. He and the emperor should have at least had some conversation regarding their shared enmity.

9) The witch jumping in front of the arrow for Mulan. Come on, it’s like the witch wanted to die. She’s an OP shapeshifter who can throw arrows with pinpoint accuracy, could she not have simply caught the arrow in midair? Hell the Emperor could fucking catch arrows. And Mulan can dodge them! And then Mulan spent a whole lot of time on the outside of the scaffolding cradling her in her death throes, while still under plain view of Bori Khan...and Bori Khan just lets them have the tender moment, instead of shooting another freaking arrow??

10) Bori Khan suddenly not knowing where Mulan is, allowing her to sneak into the scaffolding. And then he notices her and they fight. Very...uncinematic fight initiation.

11) Why would Bori Khan jump onto the dangling plank, when that is clearly a very disadvantageous position? Okay to better fight Mulan mano-e-mano, but still dumb.

12) Mulan getting a new sword, with “孝” carved in the back. It feels cheesy and lame, especially when Xiao is supposed to be one of the core values anyways. And then the movie ends, because it is unable to answer the obvious question of whether it is filial/honorable to join the Emperor’s bodyguard or not.

These are roughly in chronological order, but I remember some other things now.

13) That one soldier getting caught pouring his water jug out and sent home. It was kinda off-beat; they could’ve made him do a humorous punishment, but no, they just sent him home (in dishonor I presume), to realize the the stakes of Mulan’s deception. This plays a lot into one of my main gripes of the movie’s themes, the 3 Virtues.

14) Mulan’s disrobing scene. We know Liu Yifei is pretty, we don’t need a suggestive shoulder thing, and then “tasteful flower petal” obscuring. Just show her in the water. Let’s not sexualize the most famous Chinese female hero, okay? For shame.

I realized these basically turned into Cinemasins. I’m sure there will be repeats when he inevitably makes one for this movie.

Overall themes and story structure criticism on the next post.

Mulan (2020) Review and Discussion *spoilers*

It was okay.

My mom’s wechat group found a link to a Chinese pirating site, one that has already been censored on Facebook lmao. So we watched it for free.

In general, yeah, it’s an American movie, in the way that General Tso’s chicken seasoned with leek and maybe marinated with Shaoxing wine is still an American dish. There is general Chinese flavor, and there are elements that are (obviously) honoring the original culture, but the overall structure, themes, dialogue, cinematography, is of the modern manufactured Hollywood variety.

I did get excited at certain moments though, like during the forementioned 2 rabbits in a field. Gong Li’s witch was the best part of the whole movie, and a legitimate improvement over the 1998 Mulan story. Her dialogue, action scenes, motivations, and cgi effects were a treat to watch. Other than that, we got a somewhat legitimate fight scenes for Chinese armies, and decent representation of young Asian actors, particularly male, supported by old legends.

Now let’s talk about the problems. Small things first, or aspects that can be isolated from the overall writing.

First, they cut out all the time from rather critical decision points, and gave time to useless moments. For example, time is cut from Mulan’s thought process in joining the army, and instead given to her scenic but boring and illogical solo trek to the camp. Training montage stuff is both squashed and extended; the fun process of watching the boys fail then succeed is replaced with Mulan’s qi subplot. We still get entertained a little, but it’s…eh. Also, she spends way too long chasing Bori Khan during the battle, and then fighting the witch. All this time, the Chinese army is fighting a pitched battle; couldn’t we see more of that??

Second, the action scenes. Terrible, western-style action. In Mulan vs Bori Khan, there are so many jump cuts, I could barely process what was actually happening. I know why it happens, it is much easier and cheaper to film, but damn it looks bad. During the pitched battle scene, when Mulan rejoins the fight as a woman, the camera focuses too much on her that I can barely see who or what she was actually hitting. The excessive slo-mo was also terrible. Martial arts looks the best when its fast, but still comprehensible, audience will be like holy shit; when it’s slow, the tension and momentum is bled out. Oddly, the best fight scene was just the spear practice between Honghui and Mulan…maybe I’m just a sucker for polearms.

Third, the costuming and props…I admit I don’t have much knowledge in these matters, especially for whenever Mulan is supposed to be in (Five Dynasties period?), but the costumes looked really…garish. Mostly for the peasantry. Perhaps ancient clothing really was so colorful, but for me and my mother, it reminded me of traditional clothing for Chinese minority groups. In most Chinese period dramas, commoners, even rich folk, wore mostly darker, muted colors. Browns, greys, whites, dark blues. Nicer clothes should have lots of embroidery and gradients, with silks and ornaments…Mulan’s dress clothes just look like the dyed cotton version of her animated clothes. The armor is fine i guess, but the general and emperor’s armors lack…intimidation. I would’ve preferred the famous winged cheeks. I also preferred greater use of polearms, rather than swords. Yes, swords are the weapons of western heroes and people identify with them more, but holy shit spears are so much more fun to watch. 

Finally, let’s talk about minor character development. In terms of that, there was…some. But it was very haphazard. It was like they were bullet points. Jimmy Wong missed his girl. Cricket was the comic relief kinda, the coward who had (1) badass arrow moment that was a Chekov’s Gun to the training montage. 2 buff dudes that I didn’t even remember the names of but they were cool. And then Honghui, who…okay I don’t know how to feel about him. I’m glad we got a shirtless scene for him, however brief. But he was still kinda…creepy, but not always. He flip-flopped between potential-love-interest-who-finds-out-first and wholesome-brother-in-law, and that was bad for the story. There’s the general who’s there to praise Mulan first, then reject her, and then accept her again. No show of internal regret or thoughts at all really. His role is clear, to be a stand-in for “society”, but that’s the only dimension. Waste of a Donnie Yen. At least the Emperor Jet Li had some badass moments: “I will kill him like I killed his father…with my own hands!” and I was like hell yeah.

There’s more, but I’m tired for now.

[redscullyrevival]

Fool’s Fate: The Tawny Man Rundown

@sonnetscrewdriver I’ve moved on to Dragon Keeper!

Plot/Setting/Narrative

Jesus

Okay

Holy shit???

I need a moment

Alright, so lets start easy

Being the Age of Sail nerdo I am this book’s voage bits were amusing and then a bit dissapointing; an apprecaition of sailing and living the sailor LifeStyle isn’t really a Six Duchies thing it seems, huh?

I was SO excited with getting a glimpse of my precious Bingtown babies in the last book that I was stoked for a high sea adventure in this book but wah waah mostly it was sea sickness and brooding 

Honestly I let myself down because this is a Fitz story and, well, how else would the sea be depicted?! LOL 

Poor Thick

Poor everyone for the most part, yikes

Farseer had a lot of mystery to it, a lot of slow burn world building/concept reveal with answers eventually given; Liveship Traders showed it’s cards on the table for the most part but thrived of the suspense of all the threads coming together or possibly unraveling; Tawny Man is the first series where I understood events before the characters did, the results of which made the series much more subdude than the last two. 

Not in a bad way, just, ya know, different. 

“Life Is Change” is very obviously the big overarching connecting theme between the Realm of the Elderling series and I only have praise for the fact each series has it’s own distinct tone and approach to the same (and shared) characters - it’d be a hallow utterance if the book narratives themselves did not change and grow series to series. 

The change in Tawny Man is big; it’s big for the narrative space and it’s big for Fitz and it’s big for the reader.

And you can accept the change or reject it, that’s a option we as the reader has.

I choose to embrace it.

But oh man, oh my god, I will miss The Fool. I’ll miss “Fitz and The Fool” as a unit. I know there is a new series and I’ll get to it eventually but I’ve got four Rain Wild books (YAY!) before I come back to Fitz and his part of the map so this is a solid goodbye for a while and it feels odd to part with them in the place we do.

Odd, but new. 

I’m talkin’ out my butt - I’m a little sad okay?! But I’m happy too. 

And I think that’s what this book was going for; a kind of reaffirmation that life and change is hurt and happiness and a lot of effort went into guiding readers through feeling that message as well as understanding it on an informative level.  

Ultimately I enjoyed Tawny Man more than Farseer, it’s just much more my-type-of-story. 

I never really agreed with/bought into Fitz’s choices within much of the Farseer Trilogy. I understood Fitz’s logic of course, so his choosing to let expel his pain and hide away (and all the other choices along the way) were not make or break issues for me; there is much to enjoy simply being along for the ride.

But with Tawny Man it was very satisfying for me to see Fitz come back again and again to his past decisions and not cast them off as impervious to change or impossible to face. 

That’s a beautiful message.  

I embrace that message very much in my mind and I will try to embrace it within my own life as well. 

And this isn’t relevant to anything but a little thing I’d like to preserve for my own amusement: This was the first book I’ve ever read on a Kindle! Lee got me one for my birthday for my “Year of Book” project. It took a little time get use to but once I adjusted I really enjoyed it - particularly the fact that if you are reading a borrowed book from an online library it shows you what others have highlighted as they read! I found that very interesting and I enjoyed highlighting my own favorite bits (which, not shockingly, coincided with many other people’s favorite bits).

For Rain Wild Chronicles I may start a new section for these write ups where I relay some of my highlighted sections, ‘cause why not? These are already long and useless, might as well really own them. 

Fitz

I know there is a lot we could talk about when it comes to Fitz in this book 

But I kinda already covered him in the setting/plot/narrative section above

And I really just want to let anyone bothering to read this know that I’ve never liked Fitz more then when he cleaned up and donned fancy Jamaillian digs and walked into Molly’s family chaos to tell a grieving family he is FitzChivalry Farseer and he’s gonna look after them.

I was shocked and horrified and thrilled and laughing

Fitz truly changed! It wasn’t just description of his inner change (although that was lovely, good for The Fool, thank you Fool) but the end of the book drags a bit as it does so as to allow Fitz to act on this inner change - which is something I’ll never hold against Hobb. 

So many books end quickly after their narrative climax but Hobb likes a good post cuddle and god bless her for it. 

Cutting a story off after the final movements have played is dramatic and can help events stand out as an experience in an audiences mind; but there is unique pleasure in seeing the individuals of an orchestra pack up their belongings and shuffle out isn’t there? There is a true affection for humanity’s relentless plodding along in those final chapters. Fine by me. 

The Fool

): 

So I freaked out towards the end there, ya know? 

And much like with when it happened to Fitz, a part of me thought it a cruel thing to do, to bring someone that far gone and that brutalized back.

I understood the thematic ouroboros of The Fool’s return and as a fan it was a relief of sorts but there is still that small part of me that found it cruel all the same.

I’m floored with how moved I was by the aftermath of the Fool’s death. Fitz’s quest to find the body and then to restore dignity to his friend - that was some rough stuff. 

It wasn’t “true grief” like with Nighteyes (for me anyways) but rather a form of anticipatory mourning, but in reverse? Hard to explain.

The point is yes, I cried.  

Oh oh oh how I hope The Fool can learn to manage in a world they can’t see into or shape. I hope to see the Fool again after visiting the Rain Wilds. 

Hap

lol

fuckin’ Hap

I love this idiot 

I love how all around Hap epic and fantastical things happen and his story is just him coming of age and figuring his shit out

Good for him

Does he know who Fitz really is though?! This was never addressed?! 

Prince Dutiful

Dutiful cracks me up

I love how he’ll go into PRINCE MODE and be near perfect Sacrifice and royal and awe inspiring 

then he laughs at boogers

Dutiful is hilarious to me, how I see him switch back and forth between mature young prince to out-of-his-depth-survivor brought me much joy

I love his friendship with Thick; I love how he falls for Elliania’s transparent baiting; I love how he’d be cool outwardly but skill “WTF is happening?!?”

What a joy! 

Chad

In the last book Chad really slipped through my fingers but now we’re back to our normal rocky relationship.

I like Chad

but then I don’t

And I think, finally, I’m okay with that duality 

Thick

My sweet little man

Everything about Thick is my favorite thing

I especially love how he is often described as being bored

Discussing intrigue and espionage and dragons? BORED 

Hahaha!

No wonder he and Nettle get along so well

I especially loved how he decided, for himself, to stay with Fitz on  Aslevjal

I’m excited to come back and hear more, learn more, about Thick

Nettle

I wouldn’t wanna be on Nettle’s shit list, would you?

What a storm of a person!

Nettle isn’t very defined still, she is a bit reactionary and never quite gets totally fleshed out by the end of the book. 

Which is a bit of a shame.

But! Nettle of the Dream World is a different story. 

She feels much more defined there and I dunno, maybe that’s intentional?

I like her but I’d have to spend a lot more time with her in the solid narrative space rather than the abstract dream/skill narrative space to really have opinions or emotions over her as her own character rather than her as a character and how she relates/involves/moves Fitz, Burrich, Molly, or Thick.  

Elliania

Elliania has a similar disadvantage as Nettle does but at the same time she still has more definition (to me) then Nettle; her motivation and actions are followable and her personality is filled in with Outisland society.

And she ain’t afraid to smack a bitch up with her titties out.

So she gets some mad bonus points right there.

I really felt for Elliania’s struggle and she totally won me over in the scene where she comes up from inside the Pale Woman’s domain dragging her forged sister and mother with her.

One of those scenes where the grandure, emotion, and awe of it all was very powerful

loved it, love her

Web

YEAH

Don’t need permission to do what’s right - fuck yeah

Web’s the friggin’ best guys

I want a spin-off of him teaching Old Blood children and Fitz

Swift

This little shit

I love him, I love all of Molly and Burrich’s wild children, but Swift gave me anxiety lol

I’m actually really intrigued by Swift but he’s too brief and wild at the moment, I hope he mellows out a bit but still keeps that confrontational fire and uses it for good

Burrich

NO. 

God

Damn

It

When my man showed up on Aslevjal I was shocked

I was so mad 

I was also very happy of course but ughgughgu

I WAS CONFLICTED and had good right to be

Oh this man, I really adore Burrich even though he is a flawed person - that’s what is so compelling about him though.

We kept learning things about and from Burrich up until the very end. 

I’ll miss you, Heart of the Pack.

Molly

I’m devastated for Molly

I’m Happy for Molly 

I’m very pro-Molly in general even though she is a bit vague

Like, she is more than just a plot device but not by a whole lot, ya know? 

What I wanna do though is sit her down and have a real heart to heart; ask her if she really thinks Fitz will ever be truly free himself of his duty, from his duty to the Farseers or from his own idea of honor.

That man is going to leave off on some quest or some shit you know it, I know it, she must know it! 

Be safe Molly, but happy, but alert

[sobdasha]

booking continued!!

All Systems Red (Murderbot Diaries), Martha Wells This book was exactly as advertised to me (with two choice pics of pages as quotes), except better. If you, like me, identify with robots and A.I. because you are salty and ace and hate people and being social and would rather just sit around binging Netflix, Murderbot gets you. My only sadness is that the library doesn't have the second book, so for the sake of Not Having Really Weird Preconceived Notions (I inevitably started reading a lot of series as a child from the second book and not being able to get my hands on the first book until much later in the series, and let me tell you, it's just…it's never quite the same after……) I stopped reading after #1. But it's pretty clear I won't regret buying these even without a pre-read so it's only a matter of time. (I am holding out for now for possible omnibus, tho)

The Broken Earth Trilogy, N. K. Jemisin Honestly I put this trilogy on my to-buy list before I even finished the first book, and I stand by that decision. I marathoned these very heavily, partly because my library holds all came in at the same time and suddenly I had like 5 books in the house that I needed to read because I couldn't renew them and there were a lot of people after me so I'd have to wait forever for another chance, but mostly because they were very engaging and I had a hard time putting them down! Or else an easy time just……not……pausing… I'm doing these very belatedly so I've read more of Jemisin's stuff and I think part of what is so compelling is first of all, the writing style is beautiful and gorgeous and exactly what I look for in a story. And second of all, it reminds me of all the good things about fanfic. I'm invested in all of the characters, complex and shitty as they are, except for the ones who aren't getting any redemption and are fair game for hate. The writing style is "current" (I didn't realize this was such a thing, but as I'm reading more I'm realizing I've gotten very accustomed to a certain flavor in writing, which older works do not have, having as they do their own current-at-the-time trends that I have not submerged myself in. There's stuff I grew up with that feels ~classic~ to me, but there's plenty of stuff that just does not). Present tense for the win. Jemisin throws in things like "We started out hating each other but now we've married the same husband together so I guess we're emotional support spouses to each other who don't like to have sex together but each greatly enjoy watching our husband lay the other spouse aaaaand we're all raising a baby together??" and "This doctor seemed like a perfectly adult young man until I realized he's pining for me and I'm in my 40s and he's 15 years my junior which makes him basically a baby uggghhhhh but also the world is ending and I'm tired and I shouldn't but oh well I gave in and slept with this in-his-late-20s baby" and I love it???? I am WELL KNOWN for not being here for sex or romance but like this…is intimacy…so I've been won over. Also I fell in love the instant that Jemisin dropped into second person pov, because second person is ~amazing~ when it's done properly and Jemisin not only knows that but she's a master. (I will confess, I cried betrayal towards the end of the first book when it was revealed that the second person was actually first-person-in-disguise. BUT LET ME TELL YOU, I was so wrong to feel betrayed. This wasn't a cheap "fooled you" trick, this was Jemisin wielding the tools of writing to the absolute fullest of her ability to weave the tightest possible narrative and it pays off. Let me go find a hat so I can take it off to Jemisin.) The last page of the first book tho!!!!!!!!! *Clock Town theme suddenly starts playing* I died but it was so worth it. Also it should tell you how amazing Jemisin's writing is that I, who am usually just here for escapism, who doesn't want books that are Too Real (unless they're also funny so they're hilarious in addition to being painful) or too grimdark and gritty in content, loved these books and couldn't put them down. They weren't self-indulgently dark, they were dark for a reason, but they weren't humorous and there's racism and slavery and rape and other atrocities in abundance and you figure out pretty quickly "anyone who lives to the end will have to be counted as an optimistic, happy ending for relative values of 'optimistic' and 'happy' and I'm honestly not sure how many characters will make it that far." But I want to read them over and over again and I want to strongly recommend them to all of you!

The City in the Middle of the Night, Charlie Jane Anders I don't know how I feel about this one? I think for me this one would benefit from a reread, to see if that makes it feel any stronger as a narrative. And also because it was kind of a perfect storm of having: a writing style/tone I didn't care for, especially coming off of the Broken Earth trilogy that was to me Peak Writing Style, I misjudged the entire plot from the summary on the back and spent the whole time going wtf. With this one, I did not have that can't-put-it-down urge. I wasn't unhappy when I was reading it, but I also didn't crave to pick it up and sit down for a while with it. I wasn't terribly invested in any of the characters, even though Sophie is the sort of YA heroine I would have appreciated reading in earlier years (think The Woman in the Wall, which I remember only vaguely but very persistently where the heroine nopes out of life, becomes a hermit in the house crawlspace, and when told she has to go to a costume party she's like "I'll be a moth because that is what my soul is" and gets presented with a letter-of-the-law lime-green luna moth costume and is like "THIS IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT I WANTED.") A pet peeve in this book: for absolutely no reason that I personally can see, the story is immediately framed as being A Very Factual Account From Sources. The reason it's a pet peeve to me is that when you try to logic out why disbelief should be suspended in a narrative…it automatically kills my suspension by calling attention to exactly why the narrative doesn't make any sense, plus the fact that your explanation? Doesn't fully cover the logic gaps. So I started off on the wrong foot here. (Years ago I had a creative writing teacher who told us for our assignment, we absolutely were forbidden to write about the zombie apocalypse. After demands for explanation, he relented: okay, we could write about the zombie apocalypse, but with one strict rule. We were not to explain in the story how the zombie apocalypse comes about. We had to start when it had already happened, with no explanation. He said that anything that had ever tried to stop to explain how the zombie apocalypse happened had been awful and poorly-done, so we just weren't allowed to do it. It seemed a bit harsh at the time, and of course blanket statements, but in retrospect I fully agree with his sentiment. Don't bog me down with details that detract from the actual story and also cause me to realize that your story is full of nonsensical holes.) The story also felt very...like I could see all the seams? It felt very contrived? Which--I  mean--stories are! That's the entire point! But usually something smooths it out so I don't notice. Again, I'm not sure that was a technical problem, it might have just been me not preferring the tone and the style and honestly thinking I was reading a different plot. On the plus side this novel had a lot of disaster lesbians and as far as I remember it did a good job of showing rather than telling the nuances of the relationships in a book that overall had a more unsubtle, YA feel. Like you can tell that Sophie's relationship with Bianca is unhealthy before Sophie admits it to herself, even while Sophie's so very in love. That was the part I saw advertised, and the reason I put it on my book list, so it wasn’t like I didn’t get anything out of this.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 052: “I Was Almost Too Late”

Previously on BnHA: Tomura’s gang of Noumus wreaked havoc on the city. Fucking Endeavor showed up to lend Gran Torino some support. Deku realized Iida was in trouble. Iida got all kinds of fucked up by Stain and tearfully monologued about how much he loves his brother. Stain was not moved and went in for the killing blow. Then my boi Deku showed up with the clutch last minute save.

Today on BnHA: Deku shows off his big hero brain and rad deductive reasoning skills. Iida is all, “DEKU, DON’T INTERFERE!” even though he’s just lying on the ground waiting to get murdered. Deku tries to hold off Stain using full cowl and it’s briefly the coolest thing ever, but then Stain grazes him with one of his blades and Deku gets paralyzed too. Stain is all, “you’re cool so I won’t kill you,” and yet again tries to kill Iida. Yet another U.A. student shows up before he can actually do so, because Iida apparently has a backup quirk of summoning main characters whenever he’s about to die.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 126 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.) 

um... what

[frantically checks chapter number like three times even though it’s printed right there]

lol what. is this a dream?? a flash forward? DO WE HAVE TO GO BACK KATE

WAIT A SEC. this is a color page! and 52 weeks in a year = 52 chapters in a year = it’s been one year in real time. that’s what they’re talking about

well, congratulations! but don’t fucking confuse me like that you assholes

GASSSSPP

POPULARITY POLL

I PREDICT TODOROKI AT NUMBER ONE, FOLLOWED BY DEKU, FOLLOWED BY BAKUGOU, FOLLOWED BY ALL MIGHT, FOLLOWED BY... WELL IN A JUST WORLD IT’D BE MY BEST GIRL OCHAKO BUT I GUESS WE’LL SEE

oh lord now there’s a two-page spread, and okay I have to risk spoiling myself because this page deserves to be viewed in color

okay found it

I just really love Bakugou’s pose and Aizawa’s grumpy sleeping bag face in the back. also Momo getting her drink on

WHERE THE FUCK IS THE POLL. DO I HAVE TO GO HUNT THAT SHIT DOWN. SHIT. I’LL DO IT LATER

(ETA: didn’t realize this was just the poll announcement and I still had to wait 10 more chapters for the actual results lol)

all right so flashback to Deku running with a 5% One for All speed boost to get to Iida before anything bad happens

he’s thinking about the coincidental appearance of several new Noumus in the same city where the Hero Killer had previously been rampaging about. and he’s wondering if it’s a sign that said killer and the League of Villains have teamed up

good instincts there Deku

and of course he’s realized that Iida went after Stain, since all the signs point in that direction. he’s read enough comics to know when a young hero has gone running off on his own on an ill-advised quest for vengeance

back to the present! Deku is all YEAH I WAS FUCKING RIGHT

(ETA: Deku saying “bingo”, which he does in English, with that satisfied “FUCKIN’ KNEW IT” expression, may be my favorite moment in this entire arc, and I mean that unironically. love it)

Iida looks totally shocked to see him and can you blame him?? he was literally about to die and all of a sudden fucking Deku shows up out of nowhere to punch the strong villain guy in the face? Deku who was supposed to be off on his own internship miles and miles away? and who wouldn’t have had any idea that Iida had gone off on his solo vengeance quest?

just goes to show, don’t underestimate the main character’s propensity for sniffing out trouble and getting involved in the middle of it, Iida

(ETA: since I’ve complained a little about the suspension of disbelief required for some of the coincidences in this arc, I just want to clarify that this is not one of those moments. I actually really like that Deku’s logic was explained, and that he didn’t just randomly stumble across Iida, but was actively looking for him after narrowing down his search radius)

anyway so Stain’s rebounding now and he does recognize Deku from Tomura’s photo

Deku is so fucking smart

can we all agree that even without One for All he still would have made a great fucking hero. worst case, he would have been like the most legendary detective of all time, probably

Deku asks Iida if he can move. good, he’s not dumb enough to try and take this guy on alone if he can help it

but the problem is Iida can’t move. apparently Stain’s quirk took effect when he was cut

shit. so... lol Deku! better not fucking get cut. time to put those new One for All skills to the test in a trial by fire

Deku considers just carrying Iida (he’s strong enough now lol), but then he sees the other hero guy lying there nearby, and he can’t get both of them

and now Iida is putting in his two cents, and. wow guys. this is easily the dumbest thing anyone has ever said in the whole series up until this point

JUST LEAVE ME HERE TO DIE, FAM. IT’S GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK, IIDA

Stain seems to admire Deku’s heroism, but he says that it’s his duty to kill these guys, and if Deku’s going to stand in his way, well then. you can see where this is going

what happened to that whole “I don’t kill kids, the people I kill all deserve it, this is for the good of society” and all that other shit

and he says “the weaker of us will be culled” with a scary face. and Deku looks intimidated because he can see that this guy truly believes the bullshit he’s spouting right now, and he knows that makes him extra dangerous

but when this guy says “the weaker of us”, I don’t know if he realizes that there’s a good fucking chance that’s actually him

also, I’m still half-expecting Todoroki to show up if this gets bad. though part of me hopes it doesn’t happen since it's so tropey. if he was hanging out with Endeavor, it’d make more sense for him to team up with him and Gran. or maybe join the fight against all of the Noumus downtown

Deku is reaching behind him and clicking something. it looks like his phone; I wonder if he called for backup

he’s realizing now that he’s on his own. but he’s also saying that he needs to “buy some time” so I hope he did call for help

Iida is screaming at him but dude, you really expect Deku to just leave you? I know you’re not thinking straight, but that’s suicidal at best and borderline insulting at worst. I hope Deku chews you out later

oho!

okay, two things I like here! number one, quoting one of All Might’s better lessons. and number two, THE FUCKING SMILE OMG. this is easily the most AM-like he’s been to date and it looks good on him, damn

look at Iida’s face

fucking relax?? you’re really killing my buzz here. just wait. Deku’s got this

probably

so Deku’s charging at Stain and Stain’s bringing the sword out! BOY YOU BETTER DODGE THAT SHIT OR ELSE IT’S A ONE-HIT KO WITH HIS QUIRK

YESSSSSSS

ALL RIGHT SON LET’S DO THIS

Stain thinks to himself that Deku made the smart move by getting in close, so he can’t use his long blade effectively. but now he’s pulling out one of his knives!

AHHHH YESSSS NOT SO FAST MOTHERFUCKER

(ETA: holy shit you can actually see two tiny droplets of blood by Deku’s arm, though. that’s so cool that you can go back and pinpoint the moment when he gets grazed and doesn’t realize)

I’m honestly starting to get a little nervous as to what’s going to happen, because so far Deku is making this look fucking easy, and I figure that in order for the suspense to be maintained, surely something has to go wrong soon, right?

then again

lmao every time Stain tries to hit him he’s fucking gone. pretty safe to say he’s got the speed advantage here I think

AND HERE HE COMES NOW WITH THE SMASH

EVEN AT JUST FIVE PERCENT, THAT SHIT STILL LOOKS LIKE IT HURT

oh my god

sure!! because why would Deku ever come up with his own fighting style when he could just keep ripping off Bakugou’s playbook until the end of time?! I love this so much

anyway, so that was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen, so naturally something terrible is about to happen I assume?

OH FUCK ME FUCKING SHIT

Deku’s trying to figure out what’s going on -- “did he graze me?”

I can’t tell for sure but it seems like there is indeed a sliiiight teeny tiny cut on his upper arm. fuck

although now Deku is thinking “no that’s not it! it’s blood!” and I have no idea what he’s talking about?

Stain’s walking up to him all calm. he says Deku lacks power but did a good job tracking his movements

see Iida, now if you want to freak out, I will allow it

oh shit??

never mind Iida

shit he’s walking back towards you!!

Stain please don’t kill Iida right in front of a paralyzed and helpless Deku oh my god

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh snap

WHO CALLED IT?! YEAH THAT’S RIIIIGHT

WHY SO SURPRISED, DID YOU NOT SEE THIS COMING

LMAO MEANWHILE I ONLY PREDICTED IT BECAUSE I KNEW FROM THE ANIME THAT HE DID GO TO INTERN AT ENDEAVOR’S AGENCY. IT’S THE ANIME’S FUCKING FAULT. I SHOULD STOP WATCHING FOR A WHILE, BUT I JUST LOVE THE SOUNDTRACK SO MUCH, AND IT’S SO MUCH FUN TO SEE THESE SCENES IN ACTION DAMMIT

ANYWAY!!!

OHHH MY GODDD

DEKU HIT HIM UP IN THE GROUP CHAT I CAN’T I’M DONE FOREVER

SO THEN HE DID KNOW HE WAS COMING. MAYBE HE JUST LOOKS SO SHOCKED BECAUSE OF THE STRESSFUL SITUATION HE WAS IN ONLY SECONDS EARLIER

ALSO, LOOK AT THIS HANDSOME MOTHERFUCKER IN HIS NEW FUCKING COSTUME

hey google play Arsonist’s Lullabye

BONUS:

Ochako’s meal plan wtf

she doesn’t eat

what the fuck did I just read

what the shit I don’t even get it. how’s it supposed to be funny. is it making fun of diets or making light of poverty wtf

whatever. I may honestly delete this bonus section, since it contains absolutely nothing of value and just ruins all that cool shit Todoroki and Deku just did

(ETA: well in the end I didn’t delete it. I’m not gonna post any of the rest of these segments though. they’re pretty terrible and it’s easier for me to just pretend they don’t exist)

[vanishcd]

6.04 liveblog under the cut

- Shameless Sherissa AND McArgent shipper okay, I really love Mel and Chris working together

- ARGENT WHAT THE FUCK

- well holy shit, Malia’s scary

- ALSO A FUCKING BADASS I MEAN WE KNEW THAT BUT SHE JUST FUCKING PULLED THE BULLET OUT OF HER LEG WTF MALIA IM SCREAMING

- Hayden omg

- also if Gwen ends up like Tracy and Erica (aka the side character who is scared and gets pulled in as a target and is likable and then gets killed in the same fucking season) I give up on this show tbqh

- “We need to fight them.” “We need to hide them.” Liam and Mason in two sentences everyone

- “theyre a supernatural force of nature coming to erase your soul!” Liam. Sweetheart. 

- I love that the mini pack manages to be MORE suspicious and awkward about protecting people from the supernatural than Scott and his friends

- Also I’m never going to be over the fact that at the start of the show, Scott was terrified of Argent, who literally put his hand around his throat and threatened him at gunpoint And now they can just look at each other and give a nod and have a plan and it’s beautiful

- “Run.” Scott “I’m not losing anyone else” McCall

- Lydia knows something’s up with “Claudia” yas

- Does anyone else want to just hug Lydia every time some banshee thing happens to her? I mean yes, it’s helping her find Stiles but how terrified she looks the more crap happens.....Lydia Martin needs to be protected forever. 

- *SIGHS LOUDLY* COYOTES DO NOT EAT THEIR YOUNG

- “You stay [human] by getting involved.” MY HEaRT

- So wait. Natalia and Claudia have known each other since high school. Was it just a fandom wide headcanon that she and Melissa knew each other too? Cause if Natalie, Melissa, and Claudia all knew each other then, it gives even more meaning to the connections in the pack and make them deeper.

- What was the music behind Natalie and Lydia’s conversation, I need it now

- I call bullshit on the Wild Hunt “effecting” everyone It’s one thing to be paranoid they’ll take you It’s another for it to have an unconscious aggression effect Sorry TW no, stop adding new rules when you don’t even explain why or how in the first place (Seriously. Why are they stuck in BH and WHY are they taking so many people? I can’t be wrong in thinking there’s a purpose and method of choosing who to take besides “you see them youre taken” right??)

- gdi Scott

- Hey TW. remember when you actually did good on limiting the slo-mo and using it effectively? Yeah, you’re dropping the ball again and the scene is actually losing suspense for it

- I love that at this point Melissa’s like “I’m gonna be stern about breaking the rules for show but let’s do it”

- Malia’s frustrated growl, I love it “Shoot ‘im.” yes pls, nathan’s a dick

- ......so NOW they’re not afraid of Parrish? NOW they can shoot him? Again. I’m calling serious bullshit on the “motivations” and rules of this threat. but whatever.

- YES MY GIRL HAYDEN FINALLY WOLF’S OUT

- Aaand she’s gets 2 seconds of it. GDI

- GOD DAMN IT GWEN

- god. damn. it. nathan.

- ....so is that meant to be proof that the dementia WAS directly linked to Stiles? Possibly giving birth to him???

- SCOTT IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT STOP

- Aaaand I also call bullshit on Scott suddenly switching from “Stiles is real” to “it doesn’t even sound like a real name”. You MET his GRANDFATHER with the SAME NAME.  “There never was a Stiles was there?” And Lydia shakes her head except she’s the only one who still believes? I GET why Malia wouldn’t, the logic of “I’ve lost too many people” fits right in with the way she is. It doesn’t with Scott and he wouldn’t give in so easily, especially being so SURE previously he’d had a best friend. No. I call so much bullshit.

- “He didn’t eave anything behind.” “Just us.” AND THAT EXCHANGE ALONE SHOULD BE ENOUGH, THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE RESOLUTION MOMENT WHERE THEY KEEP FIGHTING

I GET the logic of “we’re fighting the wrong battle”, ESPECIALLY from Malia and Scott who have been trying to do so many things and protect so many people. I understand why they might deviate from doing both protecting and searching to just protecting those that are left. 

But for them to suddenly believe Stiles isn’t real...that’s a whole different thing.

And it plays right into “confirmation bias”. One thing “proving” you wrong nixes all the other evidence, causes you to lose faith, even with other indicators. idk idk idk, I can’t tell if this is good writing or bad

- And THATS how you make me love the mini pack and do a rally. THATS how you do it

- And I really do love the image of them walking right past the Jeep