#or if you just need a side character for a filler episode

[dg-outlaw]

Wait?! Was that supposed to happen after I listened to Steam Powered Giraffe? I must be listening to them wrong because I'm still a cishet male. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway. I had to reblog because I saw SPG years ago at a Steampunk Con here in Texas. Loved their show, music, and crowd work and promptly bought all their CDs they had available after the show. Yes. CDs. It was that long ago.

But I also agree with OP because well... oops, I think I broke the thing.

The “LGBTQ+ is a social contagion” theory from cishet people is soooo funny to me like you’re telling me heterosexuality is SO ingrained and SO watertight and yet SO fragile that if your kid so much as picks up a fucking Steam Powered Giraffe album they’ll turn into raging queer? Do you HEAR yourselves?????

[gentlemanjuniper]

If I could inject just a little positivity to the news...

Season 2 has a lot of filler and stretches out a pretty simple mystery to six episodes. That's the appeal to some, I get it. But tightness and focus was not its strong suit. I remember feeling like it wasted a ton of time on side characters and it's possible shaving the story down to 90 minutes will skim things down to its most essential beats and be stronger for it. Basically, S2 got a lot of time given to it, and this is obviously my personal opinion but I don't think it used all of it well. I think S2 itself could have been half the length simply by employing more efficient storytelling and we'd not mourn too much.

A lot of S2's weaker plotlines feel built around people that Neil wanted to work with again, with so many recurring actors (I'm thinking of the zombies specifically, when that minisode could have easily been tighter without them). A lot of s2 to me feels like Neil just making work for the people he likes and wants to work with and a movie has to be more accountable to things like that.

Lots of entire fandoms exist around single movies. 90 minutes is not nothing. It's enough for many, many films to tell a complete story with cute character interactions and satisfying emotional arcs, especially when A&C are the only real significant connecting threads between both seasons thus far.

I don't think there are as many loose threads that absolutely need resolving as people may be thinking. Would I like to know why Aziraphale did the '40s apology dance? Would I like to see his bookshop gun? Sure. Are either of those necessarily essential to closing out the story? I don't think so. Really, what needs resolving is the second coming and, directly connected to that, Aziraphale and Crowley's rift. To me, not knowing the story obviously, that seems super reasonable to do in 90 minutes?

I don't think anyone involved in the final season can possibly be blind to the appeal of the show being Aziraphale and Crowley over anything else. That's certainly the reason why their roles were expanded to begin with from the book and why the second season was, nominally, all about them. They also now have to pay MS and DT for appearing in a movie rather than an ensemble show, there's no way they won't be front and center. Amazon wants a show that will make money and market itself; there's a reason why all the promo material for S2 was of Crowley and Aziraphale, because people engage with that stuff, reblog it, make art that promotes the show, etc. It makes no artistic or financial sense to make a movie that sidelines them.

GO is at its best when it has Terry's voice most strongly in it. That's why to me, S2 was a weaker, more meandering season overall (that, and I think the minisodes, while fun, just make the season feel comprised of different voices not always working in tandem towards a common goal). If I was a writer hired to condense a season into a film, and one of the authors had been rightfully disgraced, I would go out of my way to ensure the clearly Terry stuff is most significantly emphasized. It's telling to me that the Pratchett estate is producing and it's possible that the end result will result in more Terry, less Neil.

Think of it this way: everything we've gotten after S1 has always been extra. Imagine telling a fan of the book in the 90s that not only will you get a six episode adaptation, you also get a totally new second season, AND a movie?

Basically: I know this is disappointing but I think a lot of the pleasure of the Good Omens fandom was ALWAYS people picking up on and expanding on details, and y'all managed to do that just fine when A&C were only ensemble members in S1. You can and will do that with a movie too. And this solution both a) ensures first and foremost that Neil won't be involved or the allegations swept under the rug, and b) gives an opportunity for the heart of the story to be emphasized with greater focus, clarity and less filler.

Will we lose good stuff? Probably. But it's also possible we will get a tighter, more condensed, focused version of the best bits, the Terry Pratchett-est bits. I can easily see a 90 minute movie that, knowing they HAVE to focus on the important stuff now, is more Crowley and Aziraphale centric than ever.

[fixyourwritinghabits]

No Such Thing As Filler

Okay, so yes, this is another post based on something I saw that irritated me, but it seems like this idea keeps coming up, so I need y'all to internalize this. There is no such thing as filler in good writing. None. Do not approach your work thinking you have to fill space in a story, I will beat you with this wiffle bat. Don't ask me where I got the wiffle bat. Don't even worry about it.

The idea of filler comes from a very particular place - when an anime or TV show has to fit in a certain number of episodes, but doesn't have enough content (hasn't caught up with the manga, the source material isn't long enough, etc) to cover those episodes. An episode has to be written, but the characters can't really progress, and so are given something else to do. Many a trope has come from these episodes, and they're sometimes necessary. Filler in this context is something that makes sense.

The dark side of filler is the idea that you need some space between Big Event 1 and Big Event 2 in your story, therefore you need throw anything in there to take up space and make your word count. This is a mistake I've made and I've seen plenty of other writers do it too, but it's a huge waste of your time. You do need something between those big action scenes, but you should always be writing to accomplish something.

Instead of thinking of that writing as filler, try to approach it with three things in mind:

Move Forward With Character Development and Backstory - Your characters barely survived a huge gunfight, and they won't encounter the big bad again for another few chapters. How do your characters decompress from that gunfight, and what does that say about them? Did a cocky character go in guns blazing, only to be deeply shaken by how a real fight works? Did that fight spark a moment of deep trauma for the main character that they have to reflect on afterwards?

Filling this space with meaningless scenes is a huge waste of opportunity. Think about how to dive deeper into your characters.

Move Forward With Plot and Subplot Development - The bad guy beat the heroes to the stolen gem, but they left behind a clue to why they want it. However that clue could reveal some painful truths about the protagonist's beloved great aunt... Carmen Sandiego???

A major goal following a big action scene is having the characters figure out what to do with what they've learned and what to do next. It's where romance subplots or secret relative subplots make progress, when truths are revealed and next steps are taken. You can absolutely do this in any setting - a flirty conversation while at the battling cages, a tense moment of feelings while hunting down a wayward chicken - but your main goal is making progress for both the characters and plot.

Move Forward With Worldbuilding - Worldbuilding has it challenges, believe me. You don't want to write a chapter on how an airship works only to have to cut it later. But you should still try to flesh out your world, and you should do so with the perspective of how to use that worldbuilding to your benefit. Maybe a critical scene hinges on the main characters knowing how that airship works, or that lake your main character often stares at is the setting of the big Act 3 Boat Battle. The weather can play into both perspective and emotions. Knowing what the main character's house and car looks like can reflect a lot on their personal character or backstory.

When you're struggling with a scene or a chapter, rather than writing filler, take a few steps back and think. What can you establish with your worldbuilding? What can you reveal about your characters through their dialogue and actions? What subplot could you explore or add in these between moments?

Filler from a fandom perspective - Now let me make this clear - if you're writing a fanfic just to have a cute moment between the characters you like, or you really want to force everyone to do that weird Twilight baseball scene, that's fine. You don't need a grand goal to achieve for every story, there's no need to justify your fanwork in any way other than you wanted to do it.

But I'd also argue fanwork doesn't fall under the filler label either - something you create, be it a character snapshot or a 'what if the gang meets Slenderman' parody, isn't taking up meaningless space. It's something fun you did that you and others enjoy, and there's nothing wasteful or pointless about that.

[tastywormfood]

Ive tried to get my feelings about Moominvalley s4 into words, but im having a really hard time even accepting them. But ill try!

So here's my thoughts in Moominvalley s4.

Im 23 now and i remember being 12 - 15 figuring out my identity, and the only "representation" in mrdia being basically either "Bury your gays" trope or just queerbaiting. I grew up on a base level thinking i wasnt allowed to exist, and if i still dared to, tragedy would be my only birth right.

I believed i wasnt allowed to live a happy, soft AND queer life, cause no media i had seen had ever showed me that, that was a possibility.

Both the 90's Moomin series and Moominvalley 2019 are my comfort shows. I fall asleep to them at night, i listen to them like a podcast while im working or outside, they even calm my panic attacks. I collect cups, plushies, i collect the Comics and even some of the books.

I have 3 Moomin tattoos. This universe means a damn lot to me, and to thousands of ppl world wide.

As a queer person i find incredible comfort in Tove Janssons work, and you have to be a fool to be unable to see the way Snufkin and Moomintroll are written together.

I have been following this show since early 2020 and have watched interview to interview, ive listened to the podcast more times than i can count, and they knew what they were doing.

From the beginning of the show they deliberately wrote Snufkin and Moomin to be something more, they even confess In a BTS that their Moomin might like Snufkin more than Snorkmaiden. Even the podcast talked about it!! We are not crazy!!!

I feel incredibly gaslit by the entire situation, and suddenly im 14 again being told im reading too much into it.

Idk what happened inbetween S3 and 4, but it felt like all the love and care that came from the show, just disappeared?

Ignoring Snufmin for a second, every episode this season felt like a filler. It has no plot, followed up on nothing from the last seasons, and had an extreme amount of loose ends.

The former seasons, especially s1 and 2 has such amazing writting, character development and just a feeling of patience and of softness, i would watch it and think everything would be okay... But this season felt stripped of every inch of the care Tove Jansson put into her universe.

I want to talk a little about Moomintroll.

One of Moomins character Arcs is his want to grow up, its his need to be taken seriously and his need for independence and adventure. His need to step out of his dads shadow, and to be his own moomin! The character development he had built up through out the seasons, completely and utterly disappeared. There is no trace of anything in s4.

He is right back to where he started in s1, not being able to stand up for himself and say no, not having the confidence to go on adventures and right back to idealizing his dad. If anything this entire season felt like a prequal! Cause at least s1 Moomintroll wanted to learn, and was activily trying to change.

Moomintroll truly felt like a side character this season, i dont even think he has any important moments. Unless you count Comet in Moominvalley (which i dont), where all his independence has disappeared. Moominpapa literally has to push him out. He made one decision that eps, which was to float down the river instead of walking, which ended up being the wrong and slower way.

The regression Moomintroll went threw this season is heartbreaking, and thats not my Moomin.

Focusing for a bit on Snufkin, this season felt like a slap to the face.

They know that Snufkin is one of their most popular characters right? If not the most popular. If anything he is at least in the top 3, not only in Moominvalley but in the rest of the moominverse.

So why did this season feel like Snufkin erasure?

He was barely in it, and when he was all of that glow that normally radiats from him was all gone. He felt like the husk of a character.

This version of Snufkin was on of my favs, cause you could actually see his flaws and disagree with his actions. He had room to grow, and he did, he truly did.

He learned from Moomin just like Moomin learned from him. Their characters Arcs co align witch each other, their relationship and interactions are the pillars of the entire show. Snufkin and Moomintroll are what make the show proceed.

Finding the 2019 show for the first time as an 18 year old gave me confirmation and trust, that i was allowed to live a soft and slow life as a queer person. If Moomintroll and Snufkin could have that kind of beautiful queer slow burn romance, then i had a chance to as well.

They knew that a big part of their viewers are queer, and they knew how popular Snufmin was. They knew what kind of ppl they attracted, or they wouldnt have made it like that.

All the soft moments, the longing, the zoom in on eye contact, the zoom in on hand holding. They said trust us, they said be patient, and then they threw everything they had been building up out and set fire to it.

We got Queerbaited, and i truly havnt felt this feeling for a while. We got actual queer shows now, ofc they all end up being cancelled! But they exist!

This show felt like it was crafted with so much love and care, that i completely let my guard down. The entire queer Moomin community did a 5 year long trustfall, just to hit the floor the last second.

Season 4 of Moominvalley felt empty. It felt lost of all care and love. The first 3 seasons felt handcrafted by warm hands, season 4 felt machine made. Easy to digest, with no real soul.

Season 4 of Moominvalley feels souless.

I have chosen to live in a world where Comet in Moominvalley is a prequal to s4 and that s4 is a prequal to s1. The true last season was S3 and Moominvalley ended with Snufkin and Moomin walking arm in arm. Thats the only way i can Rationalize everything.

I have so much more to say, but ill stop here for now. Hope all of you are doing okay<3

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Well... at lease we have Wandee & Stand-in?

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

May 2024 Wk 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

Wandee Godday (Sat YT) ep 4 of 12 - The geept is strong with this one AKA Yak CAN flirt. Wandee now knows he isn’t the only one with a crush on someone else. AND YET they are SO DAMN CUTE together. I do wonder sometime if Yak is running a counter con with Dee pretending to have a crush on Taem. Meanwhile, mad props on the HPV vax public service! Good for them!!! Now that's my kind of product placement. I do have a feeling the sad bit with these two is gonna be VERY sad and last longer than we like. 

My Stand-In (Thai Fri iQIYI) ep 5 of 12 eps - It’s a riveting show. Pleasant? No. Riveting? Yes. Tiny crumbs for Ming’s assistant. Joe is best boy. That is all. I LOVE this show.

We Are (Weds iQIYI) ep 8 of 16 - TOO MANY SOUND EFFECTS. Omg get your fingers off those buttons you computer wanking sound dude (you know it’s a dude) what tf do you think this is? Lovely Writer? Also, they left ALL their drinks! Can you not walk and drink at the same time in a BL? Meanwhile not much happened that hadn’t already happened AKA bit of a filler ep. That said, the friendship group stuff is glorious!!! Also this brand of super gentle flirting suits PondPhuwin better than any of their prior rolls. It reminds me of how much I think they suit a historical. There is a gentle dignity to these two. 

Only Boo! (Sun YouTube) ep 7 of 12 - I love how kindly the turn down was. But most of the dancing stuff was dull. I don’t know I just find the actor playing Kang pretty vacant of appeal I guess. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

At 25:00 in Akasaka AKA 25 Ji Akasaka de (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 6 of 10 - As is not uncommon with JBL I’m being to get frustrated with Yuki the Uke. Sigh. I’m probably gonna stay that way for several episodes given the pacing of this show. 

Living With Him AKA Kare no Iru Seikatsu (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 7 of 10 - Also frustrating. Willful misunderstanding. We got us some running of the gays but boy is this drawn out. 

Blossom Campus (Korea Thurs Gaga & iQIYI) ep 3-4 of 6 - The puppy is a bit too much sunshine innocent for me. And the professor is a bit creepy. I don't know, I'm not loving this one like I want to.

It's airing but...

You Made My Day (Thai YT) ep 1 of 5 - mini series staring the I Will Knock You couple Tar & Bom, started but I couldn't find it. I also didn't try very hard.

The Time of Fever AKA Unintentional Love Story 2 (Korea movie) trailer released to Korean theaters 5/25. HoTae & DongHee, side couple from Unintentional Love Story are back! Same actors, same character names. I love them. I NEED TO SEE THIS. How?

OMG Vampire (Thai Sun ????) ep 2 of 10 - yeah I can't find it.

In case you missed it

Crossing my fandoms moment, major Kpop blog ran the following: OMEGA X Hangyeom Talks Jazz For Two, Brotherhood, And More With KpopStarz

Tis the season of remakes? Both Addicted Heroin (August, my love!) and My Love Mix-Up (G4!) are coming from Thailand. I am very excited to see both. I love a Thai remake, often more than the original.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

May Releases

VBL (Taiwan) is releasing 4 'Special Episode' epilogues to their 4 2023 shows every Friday this month on Gagaoolala, Viki & Viu. Not sure on search terms or how to find these. (Or, frankly, if we need them.)

5/10 – You Are Mine

5/17 – VIP Only

5/24 – Stay By My Side

5/31 – Anti Reset

5/28 My Biker 2 (Thai movie YT?) - trailer

5/30 Knock Knock Boys (Thai Thurs WeTV & Gaga) - I do love Best and I'm interested in seeing him in a new pairing. That said, I'm not wild about Seng. Still, this looks like a chaotic pulpy mess, I'm looking forward to wallowing in it one way or another.

5/31 The Time of Huannan (Taiwan movie) - May not be BL

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

All Wandee Gooday.

Icky no longer allows screen shots or there would have been a bunch from Stand-in.

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity

@rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in it's infinate wisdom doesn't like too many tags.

There's these tricks, remember:

[enixamyram]

Things I Hope For in Season 2:

Huskerdust - I heard Vivzie is hoping for at least 3 seasons and while I enjoy a slow burn, I also don't want them to get together at the very last minute. I want a chance to have a season of them being together before we say goodbye. So if we are gonna get 3 seasons then can they get together in season 2, please?

Velvette - She's in my top fav so I hope we get a chance to learn more about her since she's still pretty mysterious compared to the other Vees.

The Vees - I really want them to have a genuine familial and caring relationship. Someone else said it better but in general I just want them to be god awful selfish people who care only about themselves and each other and nothing and no one else.

Valentino Break Down - I'm sure you've seen that TikTok. The one with that song I can't remember the name of where Val is losing it over Angel breaking free. I want this! I want a whole song number of Val just having a massive tantrum when he realises Angel is steadily escaping him.

Flashbacks - I've heard this is apparently actually going to be a thing. I'm looking forward to whatever it is but if I was being greedy, I want flashbacks both of their human lives and of when they first ended up in hell.

Niffty Explanation - I still stand by that I both am terrified and in love with this character. But more than anything I'm curious about her so I would love to learn what her deal is!

Chaggie Date - This is kind of a filler episode idea. I have the highest of hopes that now the show has done so well, they'll give it more episodes and maybe we can get some filler type episodes. One of which should include Chaggie having a date! I don't care what whacky scenario follows, I just want to see them being cute and cuddly!

Angel's family - I really hope we see more of his family. I also hope that Molly has a chance to somehow interact with her brother. And, to be evil, I also hope that Arackniss is a bastard and we get some angst with him and Angel because I heard (no idea if it's true or just gossip) that Angel's family was mostly homophobic. I mostly want angst because I then want it to be followed by comfort from the rest of the hotel.

Fat Nuggets Origin - Either a flashback of even just Angel telling someone about how he got Fat Nuggets. I know Val gave him to Angel, but I am curious as to how it came about. Was it when Val was pretending to not be an asshole, or was it an "apology" for being a dick or what? I need to know!

More Overlords - I'd love to see more of the Overlords who didn't really get much screen time in Season 1. Like the T-Rex looking one whose name I'm not sure because I've seen multiple ones for her...

Lilith and Lucifer Reunite - Vivzie has managed to make me love this couple despite never actually seeing them together. Just the way she describes them as a corny sweet romance, I desperately want to see these two together. I want to see the corny sweet romance between them! (And you know, figure out what's going on with Lilith and answer all the questions and blah blah blah, give me the romance!)

Lucifer Vs Alastor - I love these two together. I need more of them pissing each other off. I have been spoiled with fancontent and now I need something canon.

Cherri - I want more of her in general! But I also really, really, really hope we see a softer side of her. I pretty much originally fell for her because of the Addicts music video, seeing her stand up for and look after Angel when he was at a low point. And while I still love her being the good intentioned bad influence that she was in her episode, I do want to see that side of her again.

[torveiglyart]

He has arrived. Like the prophecy foretold~

aka me living up to my last post.

As much as I love Black Paladin Lance, I think it only would have worked after the whole Lotor thing. Back in season 3, Lance respected Keith as their leader and vice versa, but, had the roles been reversed, I think there would have been a struggle on both sides. Keith would have a hard time respecting Lance as an authoritative figure, and Lance would struggle listening to Keith and not always lead with the team's needs in mind. Lance was kind of Keith's impulse control in the new set up, whereas a RP Keith and BP Lance would create a power imbalance. Keith respects Lance as an equal, and Lance respects Keith as authority. When Keith leaves, however, the dynamic shifts.

Lance respects Shiro as his hero and leader, but Shiro consistently does not acknowledge Lance as his right hand, and by extension, his equal. Lance is pushed aside again and again, but everyone else listens to Shiro so there's not much he can do. When Keith comes back, there's a new relationship between the two.

Lance appreciates Keith's insight and decisions more after the lack of acknowledgment from Shiro, and Keith is more accepting of authoritative figures telling him what to do thanks to the BoM. It's at this point where a BP Lance would work out. How it would get to a lion switch again, I have no clue, but I do think a changing of the guards part 2 would be a good way to show Lance's character development instead of *sighs* garfle warfle snik and allurance.

Honestly I think allurance should have happened sooner and then like a whole 'soul searching filler' episode where they break up on good terms. It's too often we find permanent or sad endings with media relationships. It would have been nice to see a "hey maybe this doesn't work. Friends?" from Lance and Allura.

Okay, another unrelated thing (sorry). Can someone please tell me the real reason Keith voted Lance in GWSnik? 'Cause "I don't want to spend an eternity with you" is sooooo not a legit answer. He should have voted himself if that were the reason. Is it because he felt bad for Lance? He didn't want him getting called dumb for an eternity? He didn't think anyone else would vote him? Does he actually think Lance was the best person to carry Voltron? Or is he just a sad gay in space?

I guess you can answer in the comments or a reblog but, yeah! Those are my thoughts on Black Paladin Lance! Thanks!

[madeby-meru]

Jason Epsiode 9 Thoughts

Yesterday I played whatever I could of episode 9 on Jason's route and finished watching the rest on youtube, so I wanna share my thoughts (generally speaking tho, I actually enjoyed the episode! it was honestly refreshing after.... everything, lol)

beware of spoilers under the cut <3

Okay, this was quite surprising for me. From what I had spoiled myself already I could tell that I was going to like some things about the episode, but I was not expecting to feel overall so positive about it!

From the beginning, I personally really liked all the tidbits of the common route. I liked seeing Tasha and Zahra play cards (seeing their relationship and how close and friendly they seem, what they like, etc), and I also liked the time spent with the inters, they were fun and I generally enjoy seeing the MC interact with other characters. I did miss some more interaction with the other routes, I chose Thomas to work with and honestly it felt like he was barely even there :/ it would have been fun to see him more with the interns and talk about the project he was working on. I don't know, I like this type of "filler" stuff that tells you about the characters and how they act and interact with other people and in different situations, it makes them feel more 3d and real and I fell like this is something the game lacks a LOT. It's nice that we are very focused on our route from the get go cause we get many moments with them, but at the same time it makes the experience very isolating and you dont get to know anyone much besides your route (you also have way less chances to get affinity with other characters, which bothers me honestly, I don't like feeling "locked" with the LI i chose). It gets boring for me but I understand that's just preference and that many people prefer this, so I appreciated all the common route moments we had this episode.

Now, Jason.

God, I absolutely loved it, the more I think about it the more I like it. I liked getting to know more about him, I liked the vulnerable moments, the looks to the side, the sad face, the smidge of angst. The special scene was cute, he looked so soft and kind while keeping that playful air. I wish they had some more banter and more jokes but I liked how they interacted in this episode and how it seemed llike 2 actual adults subtly flirting and connecting. He was very charming here.

HOWEVER, I need to be honest and mentioned all the stuff I didn't like at all.

First of all, it really bothers me that in the spanish version the characters don't seem to have a defined speech style at all. The way Jason speaks sometimes feels SO weird and it doesn't fit him at all. It takes me out so much to hear him speak like that.

Then the writing is... ugh. It feels like it has not been proof read at all, so many repetitiveness? It takes me out of the story a lot and honestly, it feels poor quality and that it has little care put into it

And it really bothers me how they repeated AGAIN the whole "i have never seen him smiled genuinely like this" GIRL YOU DID ????? ON EPISODE 7 ????? YOU SAID THE SAME THING THEN ????? is anyone editing these dialogues be honest with me beemoov

Lastly, my biggest enemy this game: Ysaline

I really, REALLY, don't like her. It bothers me how utterly dramatic she is with the whole "deal with the devil" bullshit (and the amount of times this sentence has been repeated is so obnoxious, we GET IT, be original ffs). Specially cause what the actual fuck has this man done for you to antagonize him and judge him so much? 5 random people that you knew for 2 days told you he was bad and you ran with it, girl have some actual thoughts of your own and stop judging people you know shit about.

Because I am seriously asking, what has Jason done to be "THE DEVIL"? Work hard? Cause that's all I have seen.

(And where did that episode 5 stuff with the "You owe me a favor now" go ???? did everyone forget about this ???? this "deal with the devil" bullshit again ???? I was expecting this to be a relevant line but we are going on episode 10 and I only hear crickets, it has't even been mentionned I really hate how utterly disconnected the episodes feel and how we have literally no plot)

And god Ysaline gave me so much second hand embarassment when she kept accusing him og using Tasha to spy on Devenementiel ????? GIRL? First of all, you are the new hire of a 7 people company, what the fuck would your 16 year old sister have ???? Devenementiel doesnt even have confidential information why would Jason even CARE. This was EMBARASSING.

Also, Jason telling her that he motivated Tasha by telling her that Ysa would be better ?????? Bro what makes you think that, all you have seen of this woman is her being an absoute mess, doing the most stupid and ridicuous bullshit, NOT WORKING (miss girl was out strolling around the city looking for apartments during work hours, she barely even worked that day), and not being able to even organize a damn birthday party. What about this woman is capable or competent? Aren't you supposed to hate incompetent people? hm?

I really mean this but these two have so little chemistry that is DRY as a desert I don't understand what Jason could see in her cause everything we know about the character would point to him disliking her. In his route what would make sense is for Ysalinne to be super hard working person, someone competitive and very focused on her work that takes her professional life seriously. THAT is someone that I can see Jason liking and somewhat admiring and wanting by his side.

Anyway, tldr: I liked this episode, I hope we get more like this, I hope Ysaline grows the fuck up and I hope we have more fun banter and jokes and flirting instead of creepyness <3

[physalian]

A Guide to Productive Filler

I was going to write this post about the wonders of fanfic and how it does not do the “forced miscommunication for cheap drama” trope, and it did not stay that post for long.

I’m sure it’s out there, but it’s not saturated in the most popular fics and I think I know why: Fanfic exists in contrast to the established canon, and the canon has forced miscommunication, thus fanfic looks at the perpetual failure of those plotlines and ignores it.

Nobody likes this trope, yet it keeps happening. In TV, at least in the old days when we had full seasons with appropriate and satisfying filler episodes and actual good stories and such (you know, before Disney +) TV shows were contracted to fill a minimum number of episodes and didn’t always have enough content to fill it, especially CW shows.

Enter filler episodes, which, when productive, still entertained the audience with off-beat side quests or gave more screen time to beloved side characters or explored more of the world and the lore. Filler plots meant that you could casually check in on your favorite show once a week, or miss an episode, and not feel completely lost because the plot wasn’t super tight and lean. Some of my favorite episodes of all my favorite TV shows are filler plots and just because they’re “filler,” as in, not a plot-heavy element to advance the narrative, doesn’t mean they were lacking in story.

That was good writing.

Bad filler elements were sh*t like forced miscommunication for cheap drama and it still exists even in the “mini series” that are really just long movies extended to keep people from canceling their subscriptions. TV shows may have one or two head writers, but they’re still written by committee and producers and production companies trying to milk as much from a profitable product as possible, which means they couldn’t write an efficient, epic romance that ended too quickly. They had to faff about for a few seasons before delivering to keep butts on couches tuning in to generate sweet, sweet ad revenue.

Forced miscommunication in TV shows have always made sense in that light. Yeah it’s a product of bad writing, but I can’t point at the head writer or even the staff writer alone and criticize their writing ability because it likely wasn’t their decision.

Forced miscommunication in books, however—that I have no excuse for. Books aren’t written by committee. In this case, I really can just blame the author for their bad choices, which, in turn, maybe came from their favorite TV shows and how they executed similar plot lines.

Fanfic does not do this, usually. It’s not written by committee and has no quota to fulfill to beef up the narrative with extra chapters.

—

So. You want your story to be longer, fanfic or otherwise, but you’re struggling because your plot is too thin and you don’t know where to go from here.

First, a disclaimer: Novellas exist and can be as short as they need to be.

“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter,” means that  just because it’s long doesn’t mean every word serves a purpose. With enough time, the writer can trim down their thoughts for conciseness and clarity, and say the same thing with better impact with less beating around the bush.

So just because it’s short doesn’t make it bad, just because it’s long doesn’t make it good. It’s about what you do with the words you’ve written.

However, if it really is a thin story lacking substance and oomph, here’s some suggestions that are not sh*t like “forced miscommunication”. These are not meant for generalized application and should be considered heavily before implementing, because any one of them can change your book for the worse by adding in unnecessary detail that distracts from the main story.

1. Consider multiple narrators

Now. I just read a rather bad book that could have lost about ⅔ of its story for a variety of reasons and told the same story in a fraction of the page count. One of those issues was giving the villain several POVs that ruined the suspense and the tension because the reader became privy to their grand plan long before the protagonist and instead of having all our questions dying to be answered with the protagonist, we were waiting around for them to stop fooling around and figure it out already.

With that said, if you have a character of second importance to the protagonist whose perspective would benefit and enrich the story, consider giving them POVs to explore either when the protagonist couldn’t be present, or in contrast to the main narrator’s thoughts on the story and conflict.

I’ve never written anything without multiple POVs and still get carried away sometimes just trying to fill in all the missing time that didn’t add enough to the story to make it worth it. I have deleted POVs from ENNS that were better left up to audience interpretation then all laid out on the table.

This technique very much necessitates restraint, but giving your foil character, your deuteragonist, even your villain some narration “screen time” might help you beef up your word count and tell more than just one biased side of the same story. Fanfic tends to be very efficient with this because, again, one writer working for free tends to want to be efficient and not give pages upon pages of useless prose.

2. Side-quests and character studies

My all time favorite filler episode of any TV show is LOST’s “The Constant”. It focuses entirely on the side character Desmond. He’s an unwilling time-traveler and throughout season 4, struggles to control his temporal displacement and risks dying if he can’t find a “constant” to anchor him to the correct timeline.

This episode is often praised as one of, if not the show’s finest hour. Desmond spends most of the runtime flipping erratically between the past and the present as his romantic relationship spirals for other plot reasons. He ends up making his “constant” his fraught relationship and is able to revert to the past with knowledge of the future to get his then-ex girlfriend’s new phone number so he can call her at an exact date in the future to prove he won’t have given up on them. When Des finally makes that call 8 years later, it’s so emotional, so full of catharsis, so exciting to see him finally reach her after struggling since we met him.

And it has absolutely nothing to do with the plot at large, only Desmond’s arc. It explores some of the world’s lore but doesn’t answer any of the main plot questions or progress any other major character, and Des is the only time traveler so all the risk surrounding time travel is only for him. Critically, it still adheres to the themes of the show and fulfills much of the promises of this character’s role in it.

The show’s worst episode, “Stranger in a Strange Land,” is also filler about protagonist Jack’s tattoos. He makes a relationship with a woman nobody cares about and spends the entirety of the episode’s flashbacks, which is most of the episode’s runtime, dicking around in Thailand. With this quasi-wise woman’s tattoo techniques. Nobody cares what they mean, they didn’t connect with the themes of the show, didn’t tell us anything substantial about Jack or the world, lore, or story, and just felt like a massive waste of time.

If you’re going to write side quests, be more like “The Constant” and less like “Stranger in a Strange Land”. 

3. “Slice of Life” moments

A repeat of referencing this scene and this movie but I don’t care: “Doc Racing” from Cars is just one example. Adding in scenes like these won’t give you tens of thousands of words, but maybe you only need a couple hundred to feel satisfied.

Slice of life moments slow the pacing down, so place them wisely, and just let your characters be people in their world. Small things, human things. In Cars, it’s an old man letting himself enjoy life again when he thinks nobody’s watching. I have a scene in my sci-fi WIP series where two brothers, plagued by their family’s social status, take a drive and pick up greasy drive-thru food to park on a mountain overlook and just watch the city while licking salt off their fingers. I think Across the Spiderverse is about 20 minutes too long, but that scene of Miles and Gwen upside down on the roof before the plot ramps up is another quiet, human moment.

It could be a character who needs a break from the breakneck speed of the plot and the stress to listen to music, walk away from the project and enjoy the sun, anything. Do try to not get overly pretentious trying to make it super metaphorical and poetic, let the audience do it for you. These quiet scenes could end up being the audience’s favorite.

—

If you’re trying to make your book longer, don’t be like Bilbo Baggins, okay? Don’t let your characters be spread thin, like butter scraped over too much bread. Add, don’t stretch. If the romance is on track to come together sooner, let it, or figure out a more meaningful way to delay it than throwing in a dumb argument that won’t mean anything in 20 pages anyway.

This wasn’t an exhaustive list, just what I think could be the most effective with the widest applications across genres.

[psi-spectacular]

I don't like hazbin hotel (shocker)

A lot of the problems come down to three things: 1. Viv's issue with being unable to let a concept go, 2. Her inability to maintain a consistent tone, and 3. The fact that it only has eight episodes. Look at helluva boss for example. So many villains get cliffhangers that say "oooOoOoOo I'm gonna reappear in another episode, just you wait!!" And they either just don't or the execution is completely flubbed stryker-style. And what is the show supposed to be? Is it a slice of life comedy about imps killing people on the surface? That concept was basically abandoned like five episodes in. A serialized drama about a complex relationship? Nope! the exploration of Blitz and Stolas's toxic relationship is returned to status quo for gag comedy. OOP! We've got two new characters to center the episodes around while abandoning the core cast!

Now look at Hazbin. I really liked the pilots concept! The idea of sinners being redeemed was interesting, the animation was nice, the characters were compelling, and I was really interested to see how they would develop over time and become better people! Then episode one of the new season comes out. Suddenly its about how heaven sucks actually (Off topic but can we talk about how in the opening exposition, Charlie talks about how angels kill demons to keep them from rising against them, and then in the meeting with Adam talks about overpopulation? What's up with that?) and quickly turns into a war against heaven plot.

You know the main concept of the show? Redemption of sinners? Yeah. I can count how many episodes are about that on a couple fingers. And count how many characters are actually there for redemption on two. And there are so many side characters they like to focus on rather than, I don't know, Focus on Charlie?

Thats another problem! Charlie barely has a focus. You'd think, as the main character, she'd get some sort of development, or some kind of arc, or at least more of a personality than "sunshine princess with big dreams". I don't use this word very often or very lightly, but shes very much mary-sue ish. Her obvious issues (IE seemingly weirdly fundamentalist christian ideas on redemption, constant overstepping of boundaries, the fact that she barely seems to put anything into her relationship with Vaggie while Vaggie falls over herself to make sure Charlie's happy, Very visible savior complex) are never discussed or adressed, and the fact that her hotel is based on an idea that doesn't have any evidence of actually even being possible is only ever addressed by antagonists who are supposed to be in the wrong. She doesn't change, she doesn't do much, but still manages to get everyone to sacrifice themselves for a hotel they're supposed to be super attached to. But we're never shown WHY they care.

And don't get me started on the side characters. The V's are only important in 1-2 episodes and never again, Carmilla exists as a plot device, Lucifer's... Lucifer, Adam is a one-note sexist strawman, and they just... Keep introducing characters. Pentious, Cherry, Mimsy, Cannibal town! You care about these characters! You must you must you must!!!! What do you mean you don't know who these characters are? Of course you do! They were in the plot important pilot that you have to get on youtube to watch!

These characters could have been explored so much better if there was more time in the show. Yes, thats the fault of Amazon, but when you're working with constraints, you need to learn how to work within these constraints. Keeping the "Heaven bad, hell good" thing for the second season while leaving the first season to focus on character development would have made the final battle so much more impactful. It's like an anti steven universe. People complain about how much filler steven universe has, but without that "filler" we wouldn't care about the characters as much as we do. Hazbin hotel, on the other hand, is like watching all the "intense, plot important" episodes without any context of who these characters are and why we should care about them.

At some point, when you're working in the industry, you need to learn that you need to trim the fat. Get rid of certain characters and plot points. Kill some characters off if you need. Wait to introduce a concept. If you can only work with a short amount of episodes, focus on making a good story with well developed characters first and a grand finale later. If you can wait, Wait. If you can't, don't. I know there's a second season but I genuinely don't know how it can go from here. Adam's dead, a sinner is redeemed, the hotel was rebuilt bigger and better than ever... what now?

TL;DR Hazbin Hotel reminds me of me and my friends old edgy gods and goddesses discord roleplay from when I was 13 than an actual planned story.

Sorry for the essay. Its honestly painful seeing something I looked forward too for years flop so hard on the execution. I love the concept, the songs, the animation is.... okay, Angel dust is best boy, but everything else is just eh. Mid. It tries to be so grandiose but I just felt bored and very confused throughout the whole thing, and very uncomfortable during episode 4. Its not offensively bad (hell, its barely even as offensive as people say it is) But its just. Not good in my opinion.

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

My memory is terrible so I wanted to do a breakdown of my stuff every once in a while. Might be monthly, might be whenever I feel like it.

QL - Currently Watching

🇹🇭23.5 [11/12] - This show is not working for me anymore. Of course I'll finish because there's only one more episode but honestly I don't really care if any of them are together and that's a problem.

🇯🇵25 Ji, Akasaka de [5/10] - I'm so normal about this show. The way this show is using the show within the show is really smart and the editing is very good. I'm actually looking forward to see how the 'rival' will shake things up, which is odd for me.

🇰🇷Boys Be Brave [2/8] - So far so good. Gi Seop is obvisouly not the best boy but there's something about his energy on screen that is compelling to me. I really liked that Jin Woo was honest about his feelings and I like the 'I love you but I don't like you' dynamic a lot. The second couple gave me some ODS vibes so I'm bracing for some angst. [Finished will write it up at the next round up]

🇯🇵Living with him [6/8] - Filler episode with not a lot of new information, but I did enjoy the supermarket scene. I continue to delight in Kasuhito's expressions.

🇰🇷Love Is Like a Cat [2/12] - I'm waiting to binge this one. Didn't like how this started and the rhythm just isn't working for me. [Finished]

🇹🇭My Stand-In [1/12] - Pretty is pretty. But I don't trust Thailand with high concept so I have reservations. I hope I'm wrong. I liked the first episode so we'll see.

🇹🇭Only Boo! [7/12] - Well the Shone thing was what I feared and I don't think it really fit with this show at all but now it's over and I'm ready to forget it ever happened. Moo continues to be an absolute delight to watch and I'm looking forward to seeing a more relaxed Kang. The sides are pure torture. Payos sweetie, you need to confess or let it go cause I can't take it anymore.

🇹🇭We Are [8/16] - I'm enjoying the friendships in this a lot, it all feels very natural when they are together. I'm not super invested in any of the couples, although they're all doing a good job. I'm having a good time with Tan/Fang (Aou is so fun to watch) and hopefully I will have a good time whenever the show decides to give me Chain/Pun. I also think some of the actors have really improved, I was really impressed with Satang specially.

QL - Finished

🇹🇭1000 Years Old - I wrote before that this one wasn't really my thing and obviously the finale didn't really change that. The different lifetimes I think could've been explored earlier and would probably make this a bit more interesting to me. It's not like there was too much going on to use the time for that but it is what it is. Also the whole thing with the vampire girl/wife, it was so unexplored that I didn't really get why all of a sudden I should care about her at all. All in all, it started fun but halfway through it lost me a bit and now it's over. Bring on the next vamps.

🇹🇭Deep Night - This one surprised me a bit. There was a refreshing amount of good communication and they gave the people what they wanted, poly and older lesbians. I wish there were more acrobatics and the editing was weird in places but overall it's an entertaining show.

🇰🇷Gray Shelter - This is weird one. Because I feel like I have to fill in the gaps myself and that just shouldn't be the case. I enjoyed the actors a lot, and Lee Jae Bin presence on screen kept me engaged for most of it. There is definitely potential here if they had the time to explore all the different elements. But this runtime it's just not enough to fully flesh out these characters and the complex issues it wants to tackle.

🇯🇵Love is Better The Second Time Around - Started great but lost itself by the end. I don't think it needed that external conflict by the end with the brother and the mother because they weren't on firm ground to begin with. If I were to make a list like this one by @lurkingshan I don't think Myiata and Iwanaga would make it there. Iwanaga was amazing to watch though. He pretty.

🇯🇵My Strawberry Film - One pining gay boy does not a bl make. With that said, even as a drama there's nothing interesting here.

🇹🇭To Be Continued - Meh. It was fine. I wish I had more of the side couple because Gumbie is adorable. Midway this was getting into The Promise territory, and while it's not that bad, and I guess the reason for the separation is a valid one, I don't think Achi being the 'bad guy' for most of the show actually makes sense.

🇹🇼Unknown - The last two episodes were a bit of a letdown if I'm honest. I have nothing to say about the first 10 episodes. Incredible. The character growth is so well done, and the family scenes feel very grounded. Just all around outstanding work from the whole cast, but specially Kurt and Chris. I think Kurt showed Yuan growth so well and I'm in awe of Chris' acting all the way through. Even with the little stumble at the end this show and these characters will stay with me for a while.

Rose Watches OJBL

Junjou (2010) - Second chance romance. I liked it. It's a nice watch, nothing particularly outstanding or new about this one, although that's not really fair considering it's more than a decade old, but alas I've seen other versions of this particular type of bl. Nevertheless I liked the characters, specially Tozaki,

Athlete (2019) - The visuals were the best part for me. There are several things I like in this, the main actor does a really good job imo and I truly enjoyed the bar scenes. But it doesn't all come together for me. I don't have a problem with the ending as much as how we got there.

Other - Watched

This was a slow month for me. I started a new job and some other stuff happened so I haven't really been in the mood to watch new stuff. Mostly comfort watches and rewatches. Oh I did watch Heartbreak High S2. It was good.

That's it for right now. My ask box is always open. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday tomorrow💜

[its-jaytothemee]

A Burden Shared - Part 1: The Fight (2/2)

Pairings: Astarion x Tav, Halsin x Tav, Astarion x Tav x Halsin

Word count: 4,241; Tav and Astarion POVs

Rating: Explicit, 18+

Read on AO3

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Summary: A group sparring session turns sour, and Astarion becomes very protective of Tav. Halsin goes to comfort Tav afterwards and ends up confessing some feelings he's had for a while now.

Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Eventual Smut, Feelings Confessions, Spoilers for Act 3, Sparring, Protective Astarion, Soft Halsin, Tav needs a fucking hug.

Author's Note: The tadfools get a filler episode. No explicit material yet, but will be present in a later chapter. Part 1 is finished, hopefully part 2 can be uploaded sometime in the next week or so. Will switch between a few character POVs, for now I only have Tav and Astarion. Enjoy! :)

Karlach and Tav cleared out a large area of the camp to give themselves plenty of space. Wyll and Astarion went to fetch the large stash of various weapons they had collected along their journey for them to choose from. Everyone else gathered around, admiring their makeshift arena.

“Alright gang, here’s the rules!” Karlach’s voice was full of excitement. “The challenger gets to decide which weapon Tav gets to use against them. No magic!” She looked at Gale, whose shoulders slumped slightly. “If anyone disarms her, they win!” Karlach was talking so fast, obviously anxious to get to the sparring.

“Wait, what exactly are we winning?” Shadowheart asked.

“I don’t know…you just…you win!” Karlach shouted back. Shadowheart just shrugged in response. “If Tav knocks you down before you’re able to disarm her, she wins.”

Tav took her place at one end of the sparring zone, she couldn’t help but feel a little excited.

“Okay then…who’s first?” She yelled out the challenge. Shadowheart started to move forward, but Karlach plowed past her, knocking over everyone and everything in her way.

“ME!” She yelled, radiating pure joy. “Don’t worry Soldier. I’ll be gentle.”

“And my weapon?” Tav asked, smiling back at her.

“Take the greatsword.” She replied, grabbing her own greataxe.

They took their positions standing opposite of one another. Tav steadied her breathing, never taking her eyes off of Karlach. She took a relaxed ready position, her greatsword held low at her side, waiting. Karlach’s lips twitched into a half smile as she let out a roaring scream. Now.

Karlach had a few moments when she entered her rage where she was most vulnerable. Usually, Tav would take those moments to protect her in a fight, but not today. The second the yell left her lips, Tav lunged at her. She reached her friend just before her rage started to take effect. Tav brought her sword up to catch her greataxe in just the right spot where it caught onto her blade. She twirled around the front of Karlach, ripping the axe from her hands before she could strengthen her grip. Disarmed, she would be much easier to topple. Tav kicked the weapon away, forcing Karlach to decide whether she would push forward attacking, or risk turning her back to grab her weapon. She chose to attack, of course. She took a step towards Tav, arm extending to try and wrestle her sword from her grasp. Tav let one of her wrists lag behind her as she moved away and Karlach took the bait. She turned so her back was facing Karlach, her arm wrapped around Tav, still holding her wrist. Still off balance from lunging at her, Tav was able to throw her weight forward and send Karlach tumbling to the ground in front of her. She moved to stand over her, hovering the tip of her greatsword above Karlach’s chest.

“Dead.” Tav said, smiling down at her. Their fellow companions clapped and let out a few cheers.

“Fucks’ sake, mate.” Karlach said, laughing. Tav offered her hand to help her up from the ground.

Wyll was already taking Karlach’s place as she was finally standing up.

“Let’s see how you handle a weapon that takes a little more finesse.” Wyll teased. He tossed a rapier towards Tav. She caught it by the hilt and gave Wyll a knowing smile. He knew she relied mostly on her strength to overpower opponents. She handed Karlach the greatsword as she sauntered back over to the others.

They stood only ten or so paces apart. Wyll gave a low bow, always the gentleman. Tav couldn’t help but laugh in response, returning the gesture. He began to move around her, his quick and graceful steps were much harder to anticipate than Karlach’s stomping. She opted to stay in one place, slowly turning her body to keep aligned with Wyll’s. He suddenly lunged at her. The swift fluid motion was perfectly timed with his steps. Tav moved her blade to block the attack, swatting it to the side. She made a couple of slashing movements that looked clumsy compared to his, trying to keep Wyll on his toes. She knew if she could wear him down, she would get an opening. He continued to dance around her, every now and then attempting a flourishing swipe at her. After a few minutes, she noticed a slight change in his breathing, and he slightly lost his balance trying to feign a step towards her. Gotcha. She took the opportunity to step to the side, just out of reach of his blade. Once clear of his sword’s arc, she ran to get behind him. Before he knew it, her foot was colliding with the back of his knees. He let out a small yell before dropping to his knees. She kicked his blade out of his hand and jumped in front of him. She smiled and pointed the sharp tip of the rapier at his throat, other hand on his shoulder.

“Dead.”

Wyll pursed his lips in response, but smiled as he took her hand to help him off the ground. More clapping and cheers from the sidelines brought another smile to her face. Astarion let out a loud whistle.

Gale was the next one to take the challenge, holding two quarterstaffs, he made his way to stand across from her.

“Gale, what are you doing? Tav could kill you with her bare hands, let alone with a weapon.” Karlach teased.

“Kill him Tav! Kill him! It would be so funny!” Astarion yelled, making himself laugh so hard he fell off of the barrel he was sitting on. Roaring laughter came from everyone else at the sight. There was no way to deny it now, Tav was having a very good time.

Gale gave her a slightly concerned look. She shook her head slightly, reassuring him that she would not in fact, kill him.

“Quarterstaff.” He said, tossing the extra staff her way. She caught it in one hand and twirled it above her head. She gripped the staff with both hands and held it out in front of her.

Gale took a small step back, getting into a low, defensive stance. He knew he wouldn’t be able to overpower her, she would have to draw him out or go to him. Gale was deadly quick with his spells but was no match for Tav in hand-to-hand combat. She held the staff in her right hand and sprinted forward. Gale held his position, preparing himself for her impact. When she was a few steps out, she jumped and lifted the staff over her head. She tried to aim at the end of his staff to throw him off balance. He moved at the last second and caught her strike right in the center of his own staff with a loud crack. Tav raised her eyebrows at him, she was rather impressed with that block. However, Gale seemed all too happy for the silent praise and lost his concentration for a moment. It was just enough time for her to spin around the other side of him and sweep his legs out from under him using her staff.

“Very dead.” She said with a laugh, her quarterstaff gently resting on his chest.

“Just drag me away. My knees will never let me get up from this.” Gale simply held his arms up waiting for someone to move him. Tav continued to laugh as Karlach came over to help pick him back up onto his feet.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Shadowheart moving in to claim the next round.

“Mace and Shield.” She said, already equipped with a spear and shield.

Clever, Tav thought to herself with a smile. Shadowheart was cunning, she knew that if both of Tav’s hands were tied up she would have a harder time grappling anything away from her. She walked over to the pile of weapons, grabbing a simple mace and shield.

“Wait, we can use shields?!” Gale yelled from his seat. Tav laughed in response.

“I’ll allow it.” She said, already trying to anticipate Shadowheart’s movements.

They circled each other, each tracking the other’s movements carefully. The shield added more weight that could easily fatigue her, so she would have to make this quick. Tav decided to make the first move. She needed to test the range Shadowheart had with that spear. As expected, Shadowheart lunged at her as soon as she reached the very edge of her range. Tav turned to the side to avoid being hit by the spear. As it rushed past her, Tav had the perfect opportunity to smack the shaft of the spear away with her shield. Shadowheart was able to maintain her grip on the weapon, but she was thrown off balance. Tav was able to take another step forward, putting her within range to strike with her mace. Using her momentum from her shield bash, Tav spun back around to strike Shadowheart’s shield. She hit the edge of the shield with a loud crunching sound. Shadowheart let out a grunt and her shield went flying off to the side. The sudden movement caused Shadowheart to twist away from Tav, giving her an opening. She hit the middle of the spear, causing Shadowheart to fumble and fall to the ground. Tav pinned her spear hand to the ground, mace still held high.

“Dead.” Tav said, still standing over her. Shadowheart gave an approving smile before wincing suddenly. Tav looked over to the arm that had been holding the shield to see her forearm horribly bruised, and slightly disfigured.

“Shit! Oh shit! Shit, shit! I’m so sorry, Shadowheart.” Her excitement disappeared as she stared at the injury, tears stinging her eyes. She jumped up, releasing her other arm. Carefully, she leaned Shadowheart back up off of the ground. Tav was breathing more heavily now and starting to feel some heaviness in her arms from the first few rounds of sparring.

“It’s alright, Tav, really. These things happen when we’re fighting, even during practice. Besides, I can take care of this easily.” She gave her a reassuring smile. Halsin was making his way towards them.

“Allow me.” He said, kneeling to their level. His familiar healing incantation prompted the warm soothing magic to fill the air around them. Tav watched as Shadowheart’s arm returned to its normal color and shape. Unexpectedly, she felt the healing surge over to her as well, taking away some of the soreness in her muscles. She looked at Halsin, who gave her a quick wink. It caused her heart to skip a beat.

“See? Nothing to worry about.” He said, helping Shadowheart up to her feet.

“Maybe we should stop…” Tav said, her guilt causing her chest to tighten.

“Of course not, darling!” Astarion jumped to his feet. “We haven’t all had a chance to best you yet, don’t tell me you’re scared.” He flashed a teasing smile at her.

“I…I don’t want to hurt anyone.” Tav folded her arms in front of her chest.

“Oh come on, Soldier. Shadowheart’s fine! We were just starting to have fun.” Karlach complained from her seat.

“I’ll go next, I know you won’t hurt me.” Astarion’s tone was teasing, but Tav could see something else in his expression too. It was important to him that they keep doing this.

“Okay then,” she said with a deep breath, “what weapon?” She smiled back at him.

“Weapons.” Astarion responded, his expression was pure mischief. “Pick any two you like, my sweet.”

She went over to the mess of weapons and picked up two shortswords. Astarion was holding both of his daggers, crouched and ready to strike.

Tav moved back to her starting spot. She held the two swords out in front of her, their light weight a relief from the previous round. She knew she would have to watch him closely. Astarion was fast. Tav knew him well, but he also knew her. She would either have to wait for him to tire himself out or lure him into a false sense of security. Astarion moved first, dashing towards her quickly. She sidestepped his attack, taking a swing at his arm using the flat side of her blade. He easily evaded her swipe. He continued running back and forth, making small slashes at her swords, trying to get them out of her grip. She feigned a move to her right, luring Astarion to her side. He looked confident, likely thinking that she had tripped. Tav waited for his signature twirling move he did with his daggers when he was sure he was going to hit something. That was when his grip was weakest. As soon as she saw the dagger flash, her foot came up to collide with his wrist, causing him to drop the small blade. He let out a small chuckle as he rubbed his hand and wrist.

“Oh darling, I didn’t want to have to do this to you.” He shook his head slightly, a playful smile on his lips.

“I’m sure I can take it, love.” She responded, keeping her voice as innocent as possible.

To her surprise, he placed his dagger back on his belt and started walking over towards her. He had a very serious, sultry look on his face. Tav felt herself smiling like a fool. She shook her head fondly, she knew exactly what he was doing.

Astarion stopped right in front of her, in a position where she could easily topple him over, but she decided to play along for a moment. He reached out and placed one hand on her hip, and the other on her cheek. She leaned into his touch a little, but also subtly moved her left leg to be in between his.

“Oh, look at you melting into my touch.” His voice was as sweet as honey. “I sometimes forget how devastatingly beautiful you can be when you’re fighting. The way your skin gleams, that…intense look in your eyes.”

“Boooo! Go back to fighting!” Karlach yelled from the sidelines, eliciting a laugh from the others.

Tav did not miss the fact that the hand by her hip had moved ever so slightly towards her sword’s hilt. But she felt Astarion relax slightly as he stroked her cheek. There it is, she thought to herself. She hooked her readily positioned leg around his and kicked it back hard. The look of surprise on his face was worth every second of his silly teasing. His legs flew out from under him, and he fell to the ground with a loud thump, seemingly knocking the wind out of him. Tav smiled and kneeled over him, pinning the hand still holding a dagger to the ground with her knee. She crossed the two shortswords over his neck. His smile widened – he was enjoying this.

“Nice try. Still dead.” Tav whispered. She gave him a quick kiss on his nose before standing back up. He took her outstretched hand, taking a small bow after he stood up. More cheers and laughter came from their companions.

“Well, my dear, we have to use all of our strengths after all.” He turned to go and sit next to the others.

She kept smiling as she watched him walk away, realizing that he may have suggested this entire spectacle to try and cheer her up. And it worked.

While she was staring after Astarion, Tav failed to notice that Lae’zel had made her way out of the small group to face her. She was a little surprised as the indifferent githyanki usually avoided their group activities. Tav smiled at her and gestured to the weapons off to the side.

“Which weapon, Lae’zel?” Tav asked.

“Pick what you would like, elf. It makes no difference to me.” Her tone was cool and steady.

“Very well.” Tav responded, her smile fading. She went back to her greatsword to match Lae’zel’s.

Lae’zel’s strength rivaled her own. She was cold and calculating in a fight and was not known for her mercy. The strange thing was that she didn’t seem to want any mercy either. Tav carefully took her place in front of Lae’zel, taking a moment to slow her breathing. They stood there staring each other down for a few moments, when Lae’zel finally lunged towards Tav.

Tav swung her blade up to catch Lae’zel’s first swing. The metal rang in the quiet air. They held their position, staring at each other through the crossed blades. Tav pushed Lae’zel away with a grunt. Lae’zel made a large, slashing swipe at Tav, causing her to jump back. Luckily, Lae’zel was caught a little off balance, giving Tav a chance to recover. She lunged at the githyanki, aiming a low blow with the flat side of her blade. Lae’zel was barely able to swing her sword back around to block her. Tav recovered quickly, bringing her blade back up to try and make a hit to loosen Lae’zel’s grip on her weapon. She lifted her hands at the last second to avoid the blow. They each aimed another powerful swing at the other, causing their blades to meet directly in front of them again. As they held their swords crossed at their faces, the muscles in their arms began to shake under the strain. Tav broke away suddenly in an attempt to force Lae’zel off balance again. She recovered quickly, but not before Tav was able to kick the side of Lae’zel’s thigh.

“Chk.” Lae’zel hissed toward Tav.

Tav immediately went in for another hit, this time aiming for her arm. Lae’zel parried her swing, bringing her own blade down on Tav. Tav was almost able to move out of the way, but the sword’s edge grazed her left arm, leaving a shallow gash. She winced in pain, almost losing grip on her sword, but her right hand maintained its hold. Tav did have to bend over slightly while trying to keep her balance and keep her weapon in her hand. Lae’zel was standing in front of her, sword held high, moving to strike. Tav kneeled at the last second, catching Lae’zel’s attack with her sword. The impact sending pain up her already injured arm. Her strength faltered slightly, and Lae’zel pressed her advantage. With Tav close to the ground, Lae’zel pushed all of her weight into her sword, causing Tav’s hand to slip slightly and slice across the edge of Lae’zel’s sword. The sight of blood running down Tav’s arm and their blades did not give Lae’zel any pause. She was starting to worry that Lae’zel wouldn’t let up even if she yielded or dropped her weapon. Tav took a couple of quick breaths and very quickly rolled out of the lunge she had trapped herself in. Lae’zel fell forward, almost hitting the ground, but used her sword to catch herself. Tav spun around with one leg, sweeping Lae’zel’s feet out from under her, causing her to land flat on her back.

Tav slowly stood up and walked over to her, holding her greatsword just over her throat in her uninjured hand.

“Dead.” Tav said. This time, there weren’t any laughs or cheers from her companions, just a few murmurs and awkward claps.

“Chk. Make it so then.” Lae’zel said up to her.

“That’s not how we do things here, Lae’zel.” Tav said, trying not to show how exhausted she was now. She dropped her sword to the side and offered Lae’zel her hand. She promptly refused and got up on her own. Tav gave a small nod and turned to walk away towards the rest of the camp. Suddenly, Astarion’s voice called out to her.

“Tav! Look out!”

His warning came just a moment too late as she felt a sharp pain across the back of her head, it brought tears to her eyes. Her vision swam momentarily, but she soon realized that Lae’zel had hit her with the pommel of her sword. She fell to one knee, trying to shake off the pain. It was barely a second later before Astarion and Karlach were standing over her. Karlach was pulling Lae’zel away from Tav as Astarion huddled over her protectively, daggers drawn. The others came running over right after. They managed to wrestle the large sword from Lae’zel’s hands.

“Kainyank!” Lae’zel growled at Tav. “We still carry ghaik parasites and yet you waste our day with this useless game!”

At this point, Tav had managed to stand back up. Astarion stepped forward so that he was slightly between her and Lae’zel.

“You stop to help every mewling istik we pass. We could have been here over a tenday ago if you would not insist on using us all to fulfill some hero’s purpose! You trust a ghaik with our lives, our futures!” Lae’zel let out a frustrated yell as she tore her arms away from Karlach and Wyll.

“You have no right to lead us. Your weakness will be the ruin of us all. I will have no part of it.” She moved towards Tav again, fists held up and ready to fight.

Unable to hold back her frustration any longer, Tav yelled and dove towards Lae’zel. She caught her right around the waist and tackled her to the ground. Lae’zel fought her, but Tav had the advantage. She was able to grapple Lae’zel into a chokehold of sorts.

“Stand down, Lae’zel!” She shouted.

Lae’zel struggled against her grip, scratching her long nails on Tav’s arms. She caught the small gash in her arm from earlier, causing Tav to cry out in pain. The cut on her hand was still bleeding and Tav felt Lae’zel starting to squirm free of her clutches, headbutting Tav in the process. She decided to let go, hoping she could roll out of the way before she took another hit to the head. But once she was free, Lae’zel simply rolled away from her.

She stood up and glared at Tav. With one final growl, she turned on her heels and stormed away from the group.

Astarion helped Tav to her feet as all eyes turned to her. Her head was pounding, she could feel blood running from her nose, and her vision was a little blurry. Although she couldn’t tell if her vision was struggling from the hits she took or the tears.

“I uh,” she stammered, still trying to fight off the dizzy feeling, “I think we should call it a day.”

Astarion gently wiped a trail of blood from her face with his sleeve.

“I think you need some healing, my dear.” He said gently.

“No I…” She could barely think straight. “I just want to go and clear my head. I’ll uh, I’ll be back soon.” She turned away before anyone could respond and started walking towards the trees at the edge of camp.

***

Astarion watched as Tav sulked off into the trees. She wouldn’t talk with anyone about it, but he knew she was starting to feel the weight of being their assigned leader. He couldn’t imagine that he helped with that, being one of the rowdy vagabonds she was trying to manage. He wanted to help her, really, he did, but he had no idea where to start. Everything was going so well today until the fight with Lae’zel. He didn’t think he had ever seen Tav laugh so much. A moment after she disappeared from his sight, he saw Halsin start to walk after her. For some reason, he felt a small spike of pain in his chest watching him follow her. He was relatively certain that Halsin wanted to be with Tav. It was obvious in the way he talked to her, how he hung on to her every word and watched her walk away for just a moment too long. He trusted Tav, but he still couldn’t help but feel a little upset at the two of them together alone. While he was hopelessly pining and fighting off waves of jealousy, Karlach had somehow managed to sneak up on him.

“Hey soldier…” She was trying to be quiet yet still managed to be the loudest person in the camp. “Maybe you should go and check on Tav. Since you two are…you know…”

Astarion shot her a look “What? Together?”

“Sure. I was gonna say ‘fucking’ but same thing really.” Karlach shrugged.

“Ugh must you be so vulgar?” Astarion said, rolling his eyes. “Besides we’re not…I mean we haven’t since…” He suddenly felt flustered. “It doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t even know what to say anyway. I’m not exactly skilled in the art of comforting others.” He looked up again to see Halsin disappearing into the trees.

“Aw come on, Fangs. I’ve really been rooting for you two. Besides, from what I gather from Tav, you’re very skilled at the art of– ” He shot her another look that cut her off abruptly, and she tried to hide a smile. “Sometimes all you need to do is be there, even if you don’t know what to say.” Karlach nudged him slightly with her elbow.

“Halsin will be able to help her much more than I could.” He responded, surprised by how sad admitting that made him. He shook off the feeling, and instead turned to where Lae’zel was standing near her tent.

“Besides…” He started, his temper rising, “I think maybe Lae’zel and I need to have a friendly little chat.”

“Fuck yes.” Karlach whispered under her breath, following closely behind Astarion.

[mdhwrites]

Do you think Boscha was treated unfairly in the context of the show? I know you've said before what you would have wanted her characterization to be, but what do you think of her character as we have it in TOH - and do you think fan and narrative treatment lines up with this?

I'm going to ignore the fan element. Fandom is going to fandom after all. However, I can easily say where her narrative treatment went wrong in the show!

She should not have been in S3.

This is always a fun topic to me essentially because I am pro-Boscha. You ask me what her character is, the potential of it, etc. like that and I can give you reams of thoughts. However, I also said, before S2 came out and I was working on a fanfic where Boscha was quickly becoming the main character, that I didn't think Boscha should show up again. The reason is pretty simple too. TOH already had a lot of threads to pull and Boscha's narrative use was over. Honestly, Hexside was essentially was used up by then.

Boscha is a minor supporting character to the main character's love interest. Not a major supporting character, a minor one. Amity's family is MUCH more important to her character than her one bitchy friend. The only use Boscha had narratively was to both contrast how Amity was changing and to also allow Amity an antagonist to overcome as she made her way to being on the side of good. Her being a one note bully is perfect for that and exactly how she should have been written. Winging it Like Witches capitalizes on this and fulfills both of her purposes and Amity cuts Boscha out of her life so... Why are we still seeing her? She is no longer even a supporting cast member to the love interest, she is just a floating character in the background.

And in S2, we get a fine answer for that. She's essentially one of the townsfolk of Wartwood in Amphibia. Someone who can show up for a quick gag but doesn't take up too much time. We're not trying to progress her character, we're just taking advantage of the fact that she's not gone. She's a gag but it's genuinely rooted in her character unlike the one joke that King or Hooty have that we're just supposed to mock. This worked. Period.

Then S3 tries to give her an arc. Why? Well... Because it doesn't want to be a kid's show. Kid's shows after all, like Amphibia, have characters who don't have some deep backstory or brooding complexity, they're just... Fun. They're nice. They aren't complicated. Boscha, WAY too late, was made to be complicated during a shortened season so the show could claim it had one more redemption? So it could claim its shallow bully character wasn't shallow? And she takes up a good amount of time in this episode for this when you have THREE SPECIALS. The stress of the world ending isn't enough to cause Willow to lose control, she needs one more push from Boscha. We finally have to acknowledge that what Amity did was a complete dick move to her best friend and then not actually acknowledge it because Amity gets to just be morally superior instead of a decent human being to this girl having a mental breakdown. It's awkward, clunky and does NO favors to Boscha besides just kind of making her look pathetic, which is a pretty common trick in TOH for trying to redeem someone. Boscha isn't so bad because she's actually a loser and not as bad as someone else in her nearby vicinity.

Why? Why do this? Why do this TWO SEASONS after Boscha was no longer narratively useful? It is just pointless to your overall story so it should have been cut. THAT is Boscha's biggest problem in the show and if anyone told me they couldn't forgive her for adding filler to S3, I couldn't tell them they're wrong.

I love Boscha. That means I know when to let her go, something the show should have learned if they actually cared about her. See you next tale.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[allastoredeer]

I just found some Hazbin Hotel leaks, pre-being pick up by A24 and, do you know we could have had an episode where Charlie meets all the Deadly Sins? We were absolutely robbed of a pretty good filler episodes before the big finale with heaven.

Here's link to the leaks: https://imgur.com/a/nCorcZq

In case the link doesn't work, you can also look at this tumblr post: https://www.tumblr.com/hellaverse-critical-confessions/727383242254204928/hello-the-pre-a24-leaks-anon-again-heres-link?source=share

I really hope they use some of this old concepts on the next season cause they seem quite funny and interesting. Those ideas could help flush the characters out a bit more and the worldbuilding. What do you think?

Me writing notes while reading the leaks:

OOOH HOO WE GOT SOME WONDERFUL CHARACTER INSIGHTS! Especially with Husk!

“Angel and Charlie drag Husk out to a carnival show to show him the not-so-sleazy side of life. This proves difficult with Husk being raised to know nothing but crime and no experience with innocent fun.”

Husk has no experience with innocent fun. He only knows the sleazy side of life T.T Also he has mob connections 👀That is good to know. I find that so, so interesting. It explains it grim outlook on life. Why he's hardly every smiling or having fun. I think one of the first times we actually see him smile is after fighting those shark demons with Angel Dust in "Masquerade."

Now that I'm thinking about it, he smiles a lot more after that. Or, at least from what I remember. I might need to rewatch the show (for the dozenth time, LMAO). But, that kind also goes to show how much this guy needs friends. Good relationships. Connections outside of crime, which is all he's known all his life.

I WANT HUSK TO HAVE PURE, DUMB FUN AND TO LAUGH AND SMILE AND IM SOBBING JUST THINKING ABOUT IT

Also love delving more into Vaggie too. How she's incredible responsible, but controlling. After reading through a few of the episode description about her, my personal headcanon/take is that she still has a bit of that "angels are superior" mindset in the way that when she challenges Maxine, she's quickly reminded of her own limits when she's defeated "very easily." It's like what Carmilla was saying in the show. The angels are arrogant in their fighting. They leave themselves open, they're brash, and uncoordinated because they're not used to fighting demons who can actually fight back.

As far as we've seen, all of their victims are regular demons. None of the Overlords. Well, except Carmilla that one time, and she'd taken down the Exorcists with relative ease because she knows how to fight, and she's powerful. Given that this is the first time an Exorcist has been killed, and the first time we hear about an Overlord being attacked during the Extermination, I assume not a lot of Exorcists come face to face with the Overlords.

So, this kind of brash arrogance still lingering in Vaggie, who see's a demon talking down to her and automatically challenges them to a fight, only to lose immediately. Then her falling back into her insecurities that if she's not able to protect/fight for something/someone, than she's useless (which is ANOTHER thing she's learned from her time as an Exorcist angel--if she's unable to fight for the cause, what use does she have?). It's like this double-edged sword, and I'm rahhhhhh I'm gnawing on it.

ALSO ALSO, getting not only one annual event held in Hell, but TWO! "Hells Weapons Exo," (which I like to think Vox co-hosts with Carmilla, as she is a weapons manufacturer, and Vox is the guy to go to if you're looking to sell/buy something. Also, Vox HAS to have a showmanship side of him. Like, a legitimate showy, entertainer side--which I also like to think is what brought him and Alastor together before their, uh, falling out.)

Their second event being "Challenge Day" where lower tiered demons can challenge higher tiered demons for control over souls? I interpreted this in two ways, 1) challenging a higher tiered demon for the souls they already own, or 2) challenging the person who owns your soul as a way to get it back - both of which I really like. It actually fits really well with some of the world-building I've been doing for the last few days, so I am eating it up.

ALSO THE FACT THAT THERE'S A ROYAL BALL HELD AFTER "CHALLENGE DAY." My RadioApple brain LATCHED onto that so quickly. Imagine Lucifer taking Alastor to the royal ball as his date T.T I wanna see them all dressed up fancy, and I want them to dance, and dsofslknjljblkjbj FUUUUUUCK

Thank you SO Much for sending me this! I am soaking up these lore pieces like a sponge.

It also mentions Angel and Charlie taking Husk to a carnival show, which makes me wonder if there are places like carnivals open in Pentagram City, or if it's similar to the traveling circus thing Blitz grew up in. Like, do hellborn demons who doing travelling circus/carnivals just go through all the rings, one-by-one, including the Pride Ring? That way the Sinners get to get in on it too? AH! I just love thinking about it.

Thank you thank you I am feasting so much right now.

(THIS ALSO MAKES ME SO UPSET ABOUT STUDIOS LIMITING SERIES DOWN TO 8-10 EPISODES A SEASON, WE COULD'VE GOTTEN SO MUCH CONTENT AND WORLD BUILDING IF THEY'D GIVEN VIVZIE AND HER TEAM A PROPER SEASON TO BUILD IT ALL UP AND GRRRRRRRR)

Oh, also, I just realized I didn't answer your original question about the Sins, GOD I wish we got that. I want to see Charlie interacting with all the Sins so badly. Though, I suppose with Amazon not really owning Hazbin Hotel, where all the Sin's have been showing up, I wonder if they'd be able to do an episode like at all.

I don't know. Things to think about.

But to sum up! Thank you so much for this! I know this answer kind of went on long LOL, but you have given me so much brain food and I am eternally grateful 🙏

[showtoonzfan]

Charlie and Vaggie are certainly not in good hands with how Viv has written Loona, and it’s funny because Loona is like…the only exception to a female character in Helluva actually being 2 dimensional and struggling with something that’s OUTSIDE of her dad, unlike Octavia who’s whole character is to be upset at Stolas at this point, meanwhile Millie has fucking nothing but that’s besides the point.

Taking out the fact that Loona is just..hard to sympathize with like many HB characters, her having social anxiety as well as living with the fear that people wouldn’t like her when she’s angry and painting her out to be some monster is…not a bad idea at all, you just need to be a smart writer who knows how to write engaging conflict and dedicate time to their struggles and other sides, something Viv is incapable of doing because she doesn’t know how to make her female characters interesting without gushing over a man or being attached to cheap angst so the audience can feel bad for them, and clearly has no intention to actually dedicate time to exploring them since this is the Stolitz show and we don’t have time for exploring other characters outside of Blitz or Stolas’s perspective. 🙃

And don’t get me wrong, Spring Broken wasn’t a masterpiece either, but good GOD, episode 8 is just fucking EMBARRASSING to watch regarding Loona’s writing, for any writer looking to write a female character, her dialogue and actions will make you hurl, it’s so empty and lifeless. It felt like there was zero effort put into diving into her struggles, because there wasn’t. This episode was nothing but a music video but adds the plot of Loona going to a party to cover it up as a Loona episode. Viv had no fucking clue what she was doing, she makes Loona more unusual then she normally is, making her hard to read at times and then hilariously flip flop. The first half of the episode she barely has any dialogue, she gets upset at a group of hellhounds being mean to her and then stands there and looks awkward for the second half. Beezlebub certainly makes a jarring first impression, but she’s genuinely nice and outgoing, and Loona just…out of nowhere decides to leave for a reason that’s not really clear other than she has to call Blitz for the plot to move forward, and then acts hostile towards Bee for no reason when she was concerned about Blitz.

When she was in distress and wanted to leave, rather than a scene of let’s say…her venting to Blitz about how much she feels people hate her, how scared she is that she’ll never make friends because of her reputation, how insecure she is that Beezlebub seems more fun and outgoing than her that maybe Tex wouldn’t even want to be friends with her anymore, literally anything to actually have her talk and dedicate time to her struggles, Blitz could have even comforted her or encouraged her to go back in, but NAH, what turns her confidence around suddenly is simply because a hot Hellhound flirted with her. You’re so good at writing women Viv bravo, you have a female character battling trauma and social anxiety but lusting over a man is what makes her confident. Seriously….the way Loona goes from “let’s just go this isn’t working” to “Hehe I mean we could give it another try 🤭💕”- in the span of like…2 seconds was laughable.

Out of all of this I think the most insulting thing is that when Loona finally DOES make friends and socialize with other hellhounds, it’s not even the focus. We don’t even get to see it, it happens off screen expect for this one moment of her chatting with two dogs expect there’s no dialogue and just fucking puppy noises.

I get that this episode was filler but that doesn’t excuse the unfair and shitty writing Loona once again gets. 🫤

[regulusrules]

When I say Merlin is my comfort show, I probably should strictly elaborate that I mean S1 Merlin. Although most of my favourite episodes are not even in that season, but it just brings insane levels of comfort. Really, why the fuck did the writers deviate so much from it? If for the "character development" narrative, there's literally nothing that was not perfect about their characterizations in s1:

Banter boyfriends? Check.

Exponentially affecting each other both positively and (sometimes tinges of) negatively? Check.

“I see your village is raided.. one sec I'll follow you till the end of earth to protect you and all those you care about.” Check.

Able to mentally grow from the restraining mindsets of Uther (and in Merlin's case Kilgharrah) when they consolidated together in letting go of Mordred despite being told the reverse. (Which was one of the reasons for their downfall, being held back by thoughts and actions that were not their own). Check.

Arthur actually saving the day with the assistance of Merlin's magic (ep4) which he does not reject and rather owe his gratitude to? (something that was later on lost as they insisted on fixating on Merlin's solo savings). Check.

“Is that poison? Here. Lemme drink it for you.” Check, check and check.

God we were so robbed of them being them in the most significant aspect. A continuation of s1's characterization should've actually involved Arthur figuring out on his own, them a duo working on bringing magic back to Albion (even if you still want to end it by killing Arthur, at least the whole core of the show wouldn't have been lost), and not the bleeding out of the same tropes and the same villains over and over without ever reaching to a point. I really get the argument of sticking to the legends, and I don't mind it, but they didn't stick to the legends from the beginning which baited us into thinking it will get resolved happily.

But to be fair, Arthur did get a relatively good character development. His transition from prince to prince regent to king was really done well. You see him growing to being more empathetic and more honour-driven. But he still should've been represented as the almighty king he was, not one who didn't have 2 braincells to figure out that his closest human being had been hiding from him for 10 years. And on the other side of the coin, Merlin should've had the chance to be Emrys, by all BAMF meanings of the word, not overshadowed for a whole decade without ever having the love and appreciation he deserved. He shouldn't have needed to turn bitter and obsessed. They shouldn't have resorted to just 48 hrs of Arthur knowing.

Honestly, I love this show as-is with an extent I cannot even describe sometimes, but their character development took a turn different from the one they truly deserved. Instead of filler episodes, they could have focused more on Arthur and Merlin's relationship, Arthur and Merlin growing, Arthur and Merlin succeeding.