#ooc. time to get real into unethical science !

[magilv]

anyway stares at ferelden & skyhold being cold places n rotates alim in thick & furred robes n dresses,,

[vicemirrored-a]

it’s not often a tweet comes for frankenstein and jekyll’s asses at the same time but i’m fucking delighted when it does happen

[ichbindaa]

Name one of your favorite tropes.What has influenced your writing and blog? What is a trope you’ve always wanted to subvert?

Favorite trope? I have so many omg... I guess one would have to be like.. As cheesy as this is going to be, rivals to lovers? Like. Real slow burn type of thing. Like sure they don’t get along all the time and have disagreements but that doesn’t mean two people can’t work together and/or fall in love. Which might be obvious from how hard I ship Moi.cy

What has influenced me? That’s a tough one. I read a lot of books when I was younger. Like the Twilight Saga, some of the Warriors series, and even reading some of my dad’s comics when I was a wee lass. I was always told I had a knack at writing, and really started getting into it around middle school. I met folk who had the same interests as me, and we’d literally write RPs together in a notebook instead of participating in chorus lmao. Those same ppl inspired me and kept me going, and even when I stopped writing for a while, it was always a thing I loved. And honestly, the people I’ve met here have influenced me a bit too, to branch out of my comfort zone, and just have a good fun experience all around.

A trope I want to subvert? I’m gonna answer this from a fandom standpoint rather than just in general cause honestly, I want to see this go away.

WARNING LONG ASS PERHAPS UNPOPULAR OPINION UNDER CUT

People in the fandom immediately write Moira as “evil”. Even tho a common theme in the series is small hints that “the world isn’t black or white” and whatnot. So they demonize the hell out of this woman. And yeah I’ll admit, she ain’t the nicest. She’s bold and brash and will kick you in the ass. Sure, she works with Talon. Sure, she has supposedly unethical ways of doing science but where’s the proof. All we have are some in game interactions and the common theme IS NO ONE LIKES THAT IRISH BEAUTY and I honestly want to see that go away. Like an onion, people have layers. And so do characters. And they instantly assume she made Widowmaker (AGAIN NO PROOF) AND Reaper. Hell some believe she betrayed Gabe and Blackwatch, but we literally don’t know. While I get people will hold onto the in game stuff dearly, I feel as though it should be taken with a grain of salt. Cause if I remember, the devs even said none of that is canon, just kinda like.. General assumptions?

But forreal stop demonizing her because you want a “bad guy” to blame. I’ll dip into this a little as well, but the Mo.icy trope that ppl take as canon that they instantly hated eachother? Don’t agree with. Even if I took out my personal hcs for each character, I still believe that perhaps there’s something more behind it all. Yes Mercy states Moira’s ways are “unethical” but we don’t even KNOW what she did that was considered unethical. Was it the experimenting on herself? Maybe. But even then, what was she supposed to test on? Lower class folk? 

I joke that Mercy and Moira were probably frustrated with one another at times, and poke legit fun at it. Cause they are just wildly different. Now I’m not saying Moira is a saint or w/e, no one really is in Overwatch. But people really need to look DEEP into characters and stop believing everything the fandom itself believes. Not to mention the trope w/ Moi.cy is usually depicted as a “functional and normal” relationship when it’s deadass destructive and unhealthy in that light. It sets a bad example, especially to the younger fans.

And honestly you can disagree with me, that’s valid. this is NOT ship hate or dissing other people’s portrayals of moira or mercy. Do what you want! But i honestly think like, supporting shitting on Moira without even considering her lore and her own motives. and honestly blizzard just might follow that trope, and I personally see it as bad writing. Like there’s SO MUCH MORE one can do. And the Moi.cy dynamic trope honestly explains itself. Just don’t idolize/romanticize toxic ass ships. If you’re writing it and acknowledge that it’s unhealthy, go off tho. not every ship is gonna be sweet n soft.

One last thing, the hate is so ingrained in the fandom over Moira that i’ve deadass seen ppl go to moira’s just to verbally harass her. with a character that wouldnt even KNOW she existed. so ppl gotta keep ooc n ic seperate and stop following a dumbass trend imo

anyway im ali and thanks for coming to my ted talk!

[thenixkat]

Thoughts on the cartoon Static Shock

So these notes n’ stuff was part of my 4th? rewatch of the series. I’d watched it once to actually finished the show since I never caught all the eps when it was airing on tv, another time when I was on a Static Shock kick, and the 3rd time streaming it with friends to see what they thought of it. Each time I picked up on more stuff like character and events, but this time I gave it an actual serious watch to get details, timeline, and a solid handle on characterization and abilities, and plots that I can work on for my fanfic. And taking off the nostalgia goggles and giving it a real hard critical look?

It’s not great.

It’s about average like it still makes it to my top ten superhero shows but its like probably number 7 on that list. It is still absolutely my favorite show in the DCAU; but ya gotta take into account that I don’t like Superman, I hate Justice League b/c it’s very much a drama and its ep should have just been released as hour-long things, I refuse to watch Batman Beyond, and I prefer The Batman over Batman The Animated Series. What I’m saying is literally the only other thing in the DCAU that I’ve watched and liked was Justice League Unlimited and even that I have issues with. 

If I’m ranking DC shows that I like I’d go:

1. Teen Titans

2. Black Lightning

3. Static Shock

4. Legion of Super-Heros

5. The Batman

6. Justice League Unlimited

So what do I like about Static Shock?

Black people. Like, holy fuck there’s so many Black people in this show. With different skin tones, hairstyles, eye colors, body types. Got em as good guys, bad guys, and neutral parties. Got a Black girl as the protag’s main love interest. Introduced a slew of original Black heroes and villains to the pasty as fuck DCAU, even if the rest of that universe likes to forget that Static Shock takes place in it. 

Just, I love dorky science types like Virgil and Richie? Also, I like their friendship very much. That is some good shit right there even if I hate the ship and thus don’t interact with most of the fandom b/c of it. And paying close attention to it added a lot more complexity and depth to the characters than I’d known was there.

Also, I don’t normally like female characters, but Shebang is good. I like her very much and I will not forgive the writers for “She-Back!”. Also, Sharon is a boss. Daisy is the best girlfriend and could literally do so much better than Virgil, that boy is blessed to have her.

And I do like to see superhero noobs who have no fucking clue what they're doing and keep trying their best. And I like more stuff where like the hero does more than just fight people? And has a life outside of heroing?

The show is also just, genuinely entertaining to me? Like both as an adult and as a kid its fun to watch. It's something that younger me tried to catch on tv.

My problems with the show?

This show does not do right by its female characters. Frieda drops from the face of the earth for long stretches of time when by all rights she should appear at least as often as Daisy. The show forgets that Frieda and the main boys are very close friends. The main girls are never brought in on the loop as well as their intelligence gets completely underfunded that they don’t figure out the loop exists in the first place. Others like Trina and Shenice just fucking vanish, much like Frieda, even when they shouldn’t. Sharon spent an episode being blatently ooc. Also, Virgil’s mom literally got fridged for drama and male character development. And doing a bit of reserch it also fucked up a femal character from a different show and then killed her off in a brutal graphic manner.

There are plenty of spots where the writing is either noticibly lazy or outright incompetent. Especially in the aformentioned area in handling characters. Other times there’s the plot of an ep being pushed in a direction that doesn’t make sense given what we’re being shown, or don’t make sense going by just... fucking basic ass phsiscs, or doesn’t make sense b/c it contradicts things we’ve previously been shown.

Speaking of that! The lack of continuity very much hurts the show. Characters at the very least should learn from previous experiences. Past events should effect the present and the future.

Also, I’m not sure what’s at fult for it, either the Y7 rating or the writers’ lack of nads, but the show ignoring many many deaths and how they’d logicly effect characters also robbed it of some of what it could have been. For the same reason is probably why the gang and coruption of city officials and such dropped from the show so quickly. Its possible that I would have not noticed this as much if I never watched Black Lightning (which is fucking good btw) and seen it done right.

And as a show for kids some of the episode have fucking gods aweful messages or undertones. I will not forgive the use of the ‘what measure is a nonhuman’ trope in “Toys In The Hood”. Nor will I forgive the narritive fucking around with characters and their relationships to punish Shenice for being a confidant Black girl in “She-Back!”. And I don’t know who the fuck thought that telling kids that people who break the law don’t deserve human rights and its ok to use them is human guinea pigs was ok in “Wet N’ Wild”. And did no one stop to think that maybe they shouldn’t portay a dude poisoning the community of an in-universe predominantly Black comminity with largly untested and potentially dangerous experimental chemicals on the reasoning that “most of them are thugs” as a good guy. Idk, someone shoulda stopped and thought a little bit about that in the entire time it took the ep to get made. WHAT THE FUCK WRITERS.

What I would change?

-Have Frieda and Daisy in on the loop. Frieda either figures it out or is told in the 2nd ep and Daisy figures it out in her debute ep. Sharon figure it out durring ‘Brother-Sister Act’ and she isn’t written wildly out of character. Have the 3 of them become superheros, expand the fucking team.

-Remember that Shenice and Trina fucking exist? 

-Remember that all of the other villians that nly show up in 1 ep still exist and would likely be able to escape from prison about as easily as the onse that do get to make multible apperences.

-Remember that BacPac isn’t a backpack and can act with his own agency.

-Scrap 90% of ‘Toys In The Hood’.

-Have characters actually effected by people they knew dying in the Big Bang? I. E. Hotstreak’s entire posse never showed up again and he should feel some fucking way about that. Virgil and Wade had known eachother for years.

-Do something with the fact that Brainiac did fucky shit to Richie that should have lasting and possibly traumatic concequences. Also all of the nanites, where are they?

-Have Dr. Todd be a villian and the heros and villians working together to stop his plot b/c holy shit its unethical.

-Just... so many things. Little improvements.

[magilv]

had the big-brain realization that the way alim dresses post!blight is essentially just riding habits, which is especially fitting for inquisition era after dennet supplies alim & the inquisition with horses

[magilv]

it's the way leliana is the single most normal person in the entire fifth blight gang

[magilv]

god alim's just. an unsettling lil weirdo. tall for an elf, built like a twig but can chop a man's head off well as anyone with a blade in hand, paler with every year, got them reflective elf/warden eyes, can never seem to fully bleed out but doesn't have the healthy flush of someone with a lot of blood, absolutely cold to the touch & barely warmed by a fire, as a mage thrives in close-up combat & fights like an abomination. @/ferelden your hero is so offputting <3

[magilv]

cackling about the difference in alim seeing different kinloch mages alive after a hot minute dskfjghs sees irving: i am glad to see you yet live, first enchanter. sees anders: holy shit, you're still alive?? huh, good for you. sees wynne:

[magilv]

i yote about as much to ksusha earlier but please think about hofs & in particular mabari-having hofs & being associated with wolf collars. look at these things

wolf collars are specifically meant to protect livestock guardian dogs from, well, wolves, & on their own they look like a kind of halo. something something fereldans & their dogs, & wardens being guardians of ferelden ; something about how humans & adjacent are To Darkspawn no better than livestock. the collar is as much armor as it is a weapon, intended to fend off attacks to the neck whilst injuring the wolf biting at it. the hero of ferelden, said to be maker-sent, bathed in divinity as both shield & spear, & when the fight is over the halo drips with the blood of the enemy...

[magilv]

anyway thinks abt how inquisitor alim looks like shit, frankly speaking. third of his face covered in years old scars, always looks a little sick, dark bruises of circles under his eyes, just this side of malnourished... there's always a little dried blood under his fingernails. he is pretty only in the same way a specter is pretty.

[magilv]

boy, you sure have had a go of it, haven't you

[magilv]

alim going stupid going crazy with spells of paralysis & weakness & hexes of vulnerability, affliction, misdirection before sticking his sword through the gaps in loghain's armor & loading him with lightning spells: fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you

[magilv]

YES❗❗ KILL ❗❗❗❗❗

[magilv]

landsmeet time :)

[magilv]

god i do need to like. formulate coherent thoughts abt just the level of fucked up that alim is, physically speaking, because like,, obviously one thing is the fact that his blood has the blight in it, but another thing is that he's a blood mage, one that gained all the basics of actually Performing blood magic from a demon... he's been using blood magic fairly often, notably less during peace periods in ferelden but still using it a fair bit when hiking off to soldier's peak to work in tandem with avernus on blighted blood experiments — avernus needed warden blood to best continue his research ?? alim's got plenty, & he's already drunk some of avernus' research results. much of the experimentation was done directly on alim, so he's a little, uh, fucked. on the upside, he can lose a lot more of his blood while doing blood magic before he starts feeling woozy :)

[magilv]

alim looking at fucked up weirdos w his big eyes: