#really interesting and entertaining characters

[rosewood-multifandom-writer]

Okay, I did not know that “porn addiction” is not recognized as such, but the information I got from business insider and other sites does state that if someone watching porn does negatively affect their everyday life, then therapy is needed. And I did not know that this term was being spewed by “Christian” people. I’ve seen this term being used in psychology a few times, and I thought that it was a legit addiction, but now that I know it’s not a real thing, I can throw that out of my vocabulary. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, @devilith

Now that I know this information, anyone who unironically uses the term “porn addict” or “porn addiction” in any Twitter post I come across or when I’m just scrolling through one of the tags on Tumblr, now I will truly know who is a puritan and a red flag.

Either way, my point still stands. Now that I am really thinking about it after doing further research, saying that porn “rots” someone’s brain is a puritan thing to say. I’ve seen no one but antis unironically use the term “porn addict.” What’s next? Playing violent gory video games “rots” someone’s brain?

How about we just stop calling other people “gooners” and “porn addicts” over them just enjoying NSFW content? And if someone is gonna call somebody “degenerate” over sexual content, someone else is most definitely gonna do the same thing to them if they’re into content way worse than the content they are attacking people over or just as freaky.

How about we just leave people be and not name call people over enjoying entertainment? Because those types of people devolve themselves into being bullies because what? Someone is interested in something you don’t like?

Besides, a man liking an attractive female video game character and seeking out Rule 34 of them or simply watching sexual content will not cause a spike in sexual violence. As mentioned in the article devilith provided, people who commit sex crimes have consumed less porn than other criminals.

It really does go to show how much antis really regurgitate the same extreme “Christian” rhetoric (and of course I unknowingly spewed this term without knowing that “Christians” used it to demonize people who watch sexual content, and I’m sorry for using that term and not knowing that), and even more ironic is the fact that some of these antis actually do consume content that they deemed “degenerate” but they shame and harass others for liking it. For instance, many mainstream anime fans who are antis.

So, TL:DR, “porn addiction” is not a real thing, and this term is only being used by extreme “Christians” and puritan antis whenever they see something sexual they hate and/or are ashamed of liking.

is it true that porn of any kind (erotica, audio, pics, etc) rots the brain? like, is there any truth to the idea that I'm damaging my brain permanently? I mainly like to read erotica on tumblr or ao3. I've also seen people refer to anyone who likes any type of porn as degenerates and sex pests.

is this what we're doing now. we're calling people degenerates just for reading horny fanfic.

besties we are never ever never ever never ever never escaping conservative christianity.

[lovemyromance]

(Not a troll ask please don't shoot :D - genuine question)

But I feel like it's really downplayed how much Gwynriels gaslight the fandom. I joined ACOTAR bc I saw Gwynriel fanart and thought they were cute. I Got all the way to ACOSF still hoping for Gwynriel and got a whole lot of NOTHING. And honestly I think Elain is as interesting as cardboard (sorry), but you'd have to be downright blind to ignore she had something going on with Azriel.

Then I saw on titktok about the bonus chapter, everyone going in saying omg thats where gwyn & az are mates! So I cracked it open, read it - and bruh - HE'S OUT HERE TRYING TO GO DOWN ON ELAIN??

How can you put THAT interaction & the conversation he had with Gwyn side by side and people are walking away from it saying Gwyn & Azriel are mates?

I'm so genuinely confused why someone would start that nonsense. The way I ate up Gwynriel art/fan theories it was like she was a major character there from the start and they'd already had 8 kids and a HEA.

Then I open the books and they barely even have a conversation??

It was honestly really annoying. felt like a scam, like one of those authors peddling their book on social media and then you realize its a wattpadd fic written by a 12 yr old not an actual book

If it helps - we're all confused. Nothing has been proven yet about any remaining couple so idk why the Elucien and Gwynriels are out here straight up inventing fiction and trying to pass it off as fact to anyone willing (and even unwilling) to listen.

This ship war could've just been - "Hey I like Elucien more!" Or "I love elriel!"

But instead of just accepting these are all opinions and not actually what is in the books - people decided to straight up gaslight and claim that Elucien are a couple and Gwynriel are mates.

If you cannot point to it on the page where such a thing it explicitly happened - then it is not canon.

Lucien & Elain? They're mates. That's canon.

What's also canon - is that not all mates are a good pairing and end up happy together.

Whats also canon - is that the cauldron was wrong.

It shouldn't be hard to reach accurate conclusions if people stopped treating their wants and headcanons as fact.

Like for gods sake - let's just look at fanart. I'm not saying that every piece of fanart is canon or even should be canon - but elriel has much more canon fanart. Thats literally a fact. They have multiple major moments together - on the page.

What is canon Elucien fanart? When she falls out the cauldron - naked and humiliated and he gives her his cloak? When they sit together over a tea service acting uncomfortable? When she avoids him every other time she sees him?

What is canon Gwynriel fanart? When he gives her boss a secondhand necklace to give to her or anyone else? When he - and cassian and everyone else - watch her cut a ribbon she sees as an enemy?

I've seen so many people open up these books expecting some grand romance between Elain & Lucien and end up disappointed because... she doesn't even want to be in the same room as him.

So many Gwynriels with similar stories to yours expecting some entertaining Gwynriel love story only to also end up disappointed because Gwyn doesn't even exist till the last book and she and Azriel barely interact.

They chose to believe in a nonexistent ship and are trying to compete with canon Elriel evidence. Like ok - tough shit? But you can't just start making shit up.

Until Elain accepts that bond - or even gives Lucien the time of day - they're not a couple. They are nowhere close to endgame if everything she has done and said has shown us she doesn't want him.

Until Azriel himself declares Gwyn is his mate or vice versa - they're not mates.

And yeah I'm gonna get a lot of backlash from the "foreshadowing and crumbs" crowd.

But let me ask you this:

There are some Elriels who think the mating bond between Lucien & Elain is fake. There is plenty of evidence and similar language used about their bond that resembles the fake Rowan & Lyria bond. Plenty of signs showing their bond isn't quite right.

do you think Elriels can then claim it's canon that the Elucien bond is fake?

"We have crumbs and foreshadowing and similar language used" too. But do you see us going around claiming it's canon?

No.

We are very clear about the distinction between canon and headcanons. About what's in the books, and what is just pure guesswork and theory.

"Sparky spark" and "elucien is endgame" are both theories until proven. They are NOT canon.

Wish they'd just learn the difference. They'd be a lot less unhappy fans.

[1tsstargaze59]

OK, I know I said I wouldn't post but like I HYPERFIXED SO HARD THAT HM-

ANXIFEAR FANKID?????

Also some college au anxifear doodles below the cut hehe /TW for slightly suggestive content?? Ever so slightly XD

So basically them ^^^^^ /hj

I love them sm like I was just making a fankid for fun, I DIDNT EXPECT TO LOVE THEM THIS MUCH THO TWT💕💕💕

She's 17, she plays Overwatch, her fav food is cosmic brownies, she's a spelling bee champion and future literature major (I've been thinking about them all weekend-)

Pls be nice to Panic guys, they're TEENAGE CODED‼️and definitely a minor in the college au OK?

Anyway, imma yap about them for a bit now, so you can leave if you're not interested XD

Panic's actual size is this, just a bit taller then his mom (ft.Me intruding on the concept art LMAO)

Their design is based off mainly the little shocked expression sign, yk the 🗯, their hair I saw a design that had this hair style and I really loved it and it made me think of @/re-colligere's design for Professor Terror, aka spy AU Fear, how his prosthetic arm is shaped like a neuron! I thought that was very clever, so I was inspired by that ovob Lastly, we have the concept art for the second movie and the character of Rebellion! They have similar shape language and I knew I wanted to give Panic a different fashion style from her parents. It resulted in an inspiration from street wear and traffic signs, signaling how Panic is slightly~ well dangerous XD

Personality wise, Panic is very calm surprisingly! They talk sparingly, only when they want a specific idea conveyed to others; this usually results in them intruding on conversations with really unsettling statements ^^""" They hang out under headquarters with the other complex emotions, usually just entertaining themselves, reading, playing, napping; I suggest you not do anything to... brutal? Or loud around them, they are very sensitive and if ANYTHING triggers them, THEY CAN SPEND A REALLY LONG TIME JUST YELLING until someone manages to calm them down. ^^"" The comfort blanket is a gift from auntie Ennui, I'll draw them with the rest of the fam later ^^

[wings-of-ink]

I'm trying to make my own IF story, if it's ok to ask how'd you come up with the ideas? Or how'd you build off it to make a whole (beautiful and amazing) story?

I've had a few ideas but get caught up in trying to make everything in one section fit, and then I feel like I'm getting no where

if you have any tips Id love to hear (your game has become one of my favorites in the 24 hours it took to play ♥️)

Hello Nony! I am so glad you enjoy GC, and am happy to answer that question as best I can. I'm free-styling here, so this will be a bit long.

For me, most ideas just sort of spring up, but they aren't full ideas when they do. GC started from a thought about a cursed MC. That was it. I just dwelt on it and sort of answered questions about it - where did the curse come from, etc... It grew a lot from there as I tried to answer questions about it. The nature of those details gave me my fantasy setting, which I grew as well. I just started small and found a place for each layer that I needed to add to the structure. This can take quite a while depending on what you're cooking up. GC had months and months of building and background before I ever started writing the actual story.

In this poll, the IF idea I had for "Shivers" was literally inspired by my brother-in-law. He actually has that nervous tick, and he jokes about it, and we tease him (good-naturedly). He says that his future gravesite must be under a parking lot or a sidewalk because people keep walking on it, lol. It just made my imagination spin.

The "gritty drama" idea from this same poll stemmed from one of my OCs. I just made a setting for her and then thought of the type of world she lives in and what I could do with it.

Other ideas I have had came from thinking of a cool "scene" while listening to music. Music is a great medium for me to help me think about my characters especially. Just listen to your favorite tunes and let your brain go wild.

It just sort of also depends on how you think. There's nothing that says an idea just needs to come to you, you can set out to find one.

I would recommend focusing on themes and genres that you enjoy reading as well. I am a long-time fan of fantasy, I have written several fantasy stories in the past, and it just feels comfortable for me. You are more inclined to think of story ideas in the niches that you love the most.

One thing I would highly recommend for IF's especially is that you make sure the MC is the center/focus of your story. Some IFs can feel like the MC is a secondary character, and the story is really about the ROs. They can still be great stories, but your reader is often looking for a personal experience in addition to the story and romances.

And just an aside that I think is important, since in the IF communities you see themes repeated, especially popular ones. Do not worry about if your story is completely unique. As long as you do not pluck ideas and words directly from others, it's okay. In the literary and entertainment world, truly unique ideas are very rare if not non-existent, but your version of it has not been told before. You also don't need an earth-shattering idea to make it interesting.

I hope this helps you a bit. If you have more questions or comments about any of this, feel free to send in another ask. If you tell me more about your personal process and experience, maybe I can think of other things that would help if you like. ^_^

[argentinianidiota]

I also respect yours, I believe in terms of comedy and writing the first two movies are far better than the third and fourth. I saw the Schafrillas video but I felt strongly about the fourth one for a lot of time before that became the bastion of Shrek-4-lovers. I watched that video like 2 years ago by now so sorry if I repeat some of the takes Schafrillas has, it's not intentional.

In a sequel the thing I search for the most is expanding of the concepts or characters, in Shrek 2 we see Shrek changing for Fiona to make her happy instead of the other way around, the first one already closed perfectly but the second movie talks about what we are willing to change because of love, however, the change we see is physical to appease the parents, but Shrek is still Shrek and in both movies he would absolutely prefer living in the swamp only with Fiona, minimal responsibilities and peace of mind.

So then Shrek 3 and 4 happen.

Shrek 3 isn't my favorite, but I wouldn't say it's bad, I believe it is a poorly executed idea of Shrek coming to terms with being a father by putting him together with a young teen, however, Shrek in the first 2 movies isn't afraid of commitment, he was afraid of leaving his peaceful and calm life behind, that's why he went on the mission in the first place, Farquad's law inconvenienced him.

For me, Shrek 3 isn't funny, I believe the frog wedding to be entertaining, and the princess subplot is one of the best on the whole SCU, but it comes as too little too late, the movie drags on with the least interesting characters and a tropey mind-swap between Donkey and Puss. In short, Shrek 3 isn't my type of movie, I prefer other kind of comedy perhaps, I didn't find it funny but entertaining at best and cringey at worst.

Shrek 4 talks about the last plot point the franchise leads to, "What happens after the happily ever after?" I believe this, plus "Shrek isn't really happy with leaving his past self in the past" gives us Shrek 4. Although Rumpelstiltskin isn't the best villain I believe he is better than prince charming and more interesting than Farquaad, he ties perfectly with the story, after all we thought the king and queen just abandoned Fiona to her luck (which they did still).

Shrek being stressed and out of his comfort zone is on character and we have seen him blow up in similar circumstances, the straw that breaks the camel back being the birthday cake, he feels he isn't him, after all that talk about not changing who you are to appease others, he feels his responsibilities and new role changed him, no, changed his life around him, so he has an identity crisis.

To be honest the jokes didnland for me, I believe fat Puss is cute and plot contrivance and all, the flute enchanter (in spanish he was called El Flautista but I don't know how to translate it) was a really original concept and I loved the ogres living in community, now Shrek knows he can do it, it's not essential of an Ogre to live alone like he does.

Shrek 4 takes Shrek to an alternate reality where he didn't exist It's a Wonderful Life style, for me the most important part is the ogres and Fiona not loving him back, it's a better and more profound character analysis of the two and their lives if they didn't know each other. The ogres show shrek he can live in community, and when life changes, you change with it, you can't keep the clock on the same place, it's illogical.

Even with it's shortcomings (the writing felt reslly weird in some places, the jokes were fewer but in my opinion funnier than Shrek 3's) I believe Shrek 4 should be the way you close the SCU.

Also rumpelstiltskin wasnt played straight either imo, he was a better Farquaad, he had all the power in the world and flaunted it to try and stop Shrek before the day passed.

Even then, I know people see Shrek as a fun franchise instead of a deep, interesting franchise, so it's really subjective. Your take is really interesting too and it feels good to talk about Shrek, I didn't mean to sound like you needed to explain yourself, you are entitled to like the movies you like, I love movie Musicals which a lot of people say are lower/worse versions of the original

Rewatching the Shrek movies and I still don’t understand why people think the 4th one is good. I think it might actually be worse then the third one.

[waitineedaname]

I've been relistening to the homestuck soundtrack album by album while working lately and man. it's reminding me how much I genuinely loved about homestuck, and how that made the aspects of it that sucked so much more frustrating

[ozzieinspacetime]

Trevor Hills being Pathetic Blorbo #1 and your enjoyment of him being said Pathetic Blorbo #1 just adding on to the games pre-existing meta commentary is,, so good. They made him as miserable as possible and god it really worked.

[naarlar]

Okie so hot take: I don’t think Melinoë is as good of a protagonist as Zagreus. And here’s why.

It all comes down to motivation. Why did Zag go through the events of Hades 1? Because he was living in an abusive and volatile household and had to find some way to make things better for not just himself but his house. Otherwise he surely would have lost his mind having to deal with the abuse he got (remember at the beginning of the game basically only Nyx and Achilles were helping him. Everyone else is either neutral towards him or outright hostile). He needed answers, he needed to find out who and what he was by trying to find Persephone. And in the end he succeeded and was able to create a better life for himself and his house. Hell, even his relationship with his dad improved.

Now let’s look at Mel (yes this criticism is only addressing Early Access Hades 2). Why is she going through the events of Hades 2? Because… she’s been groomed since basically birth to kill Chronos. She doesn’t really have any other motivation than because it is what is expected of her essentially. She even says during her confrontation with Chronos, AFTER HE THREATENS TO HURT HER FAMILY, what do I care I barely know them (yeah sure she could just be bluffing to Chronos but that is still a very chilling thing to say when supposedly all of this is to save them and it makes her reunion with Hades lowkey ring hollow or weak). In another scene she even says the same thing to Hecate and says Hecate is more her mother than anyone else. Heck even in the flashback scene with young Mel and Hecate (which was very cute I’ll admit) she says she would want her mother to come back so Hecate isn’t sad. This makes all her motivations to kill Chronos and save the Underworld seem very… disconnected from the main component of the game? Being saving the house of hades and her family??

Like it’s expected of her and she was raised at birth to basically be prepared for this but she doesn’t have any personal reasons for doing any of this than just not letting Hecate and the others in the Crossroads down. Hell when she comes back from killing Chronos for the first time it honestly feels like Hecate is more interested and invested in what happened than Mel herself.

It makes her a really weird protagonist especially when comparing to her brother and how effective he was as a protagonist. Think about it, with Zag we got really in depth and character revealing moments where as the player we understand why he is doing all of this and so it is easy to go along for the ride because we like Zag and want to help him. Mel says she cares a lot about what is going on and wants revenge, but it all feels surface level (and which is understandable she doesn’t know these people, all she can say is “the titan took my family” when let’s be real she sees the people in the crossroads as more of her family). It honestly just seems like because she is expected to kill Chronos since she could think, she feels she has to do all this. It feels weird how she is disconnected from the core point of the game being to save the house of hades when Zag was so integral to that same core point in the first game.

I dunno, just my thoughts, I’m curious to see what everyone else thinks.

Edit: just fyi cause I feel with the comments I’ve been getting from my posts, I like hades 2 I am excited especially for the official release. I recognize my criticism/analysis could be wrong or out of date since the game isn’t finished yet. These are just my initial thoughts.

[scarslittlehat]

hope you dont mind me adding onto this post but this feeling was a big part of why i never finished secret life. while the gimmicks in SL progressed a bit more gradually, there came a point where the i felt like tasks were manufacturing drama and interactions more than drama/social dynamics were being defined by player decisions. while individual episodes of SL were entertaining because the ccs are entertaining, i felt like the core factors that made 3L/LL so appealing years ago - the improvised storytelling - had been lost.

this is absolutely no shade towards grian, but i think part of the issue (for me, at least) is that these past two seasons have had such heavy-handed external influence - im always aware that there is an “admin” who is in charge of the gimmicks and expecting a certain outcome (ie. death and drama), so i struggle to feel immersed while watching events unfold. 3rd Life and its successors were always really interesting to me because they had such strong internal narratives and the events progressed as natural responses to decisions made by the characters. up until LimLife, the gimmick was set at the beginning of the season and after that every event could be traced back to the characters. as op said, they felt more like survival games while the newer gimmicky seasons feel like gameshows. maybe this is just my own reverse recency bias, but the alliances and events of SL/WL just dont feel as memorable to me compared to the first four seasons - imo because the events no longer feel driven by an internal, character-focused narrative.

Obviously this is a complicated situation for the CCs since they’re trying to come up with something fun for themselves to do while trying to entertain a very diverse (and factional) audience. And I do enjoy watching Wild Life because at the end of the day these ccs are good at their jobs. But I also hope that if there are future seasons, the gimmick will be more hands-off and limited in scope.

i think something that has hit me with SL and now WL is the way gimmicks push the "narrative" rather than survival makes me feel like im watching a game show rather than a survival show. i understand as content creators that they want something there to lead the videos and engage with but, as i have felt and expressed before, when they force results to a series where surviving to stay alive feels cheated or manipulated, i feel like theyve lost the plot of what "Life SMP" even started as.

it is conflicting with this season being multiple gimmicks technically but, when i think about it too i was already worried at the vibe of a new season feeling like theyre running out a gimmicks. and now we have a whole season to run through loads of gimmicks lol. which can be good and bad, and in this case it may start to feel bad if said gimmicks get harder and force what the snails forced this session-- the flow of the entire episodes, and easily shifting the lifespan and survival of a player just with one touch.

you cant argue on the fact that the Life series is about having limited lives and not dying, and the way this occurrs changes every season. but from 3L to LimL the things that cause death are other players, the existense of their limited lives, or the 'environment' of vanilla minecraft. LimL only shifted slightly by making lives count down regardless of dying, but it was hardly a twisted in reality. SL made a change towards have i felt was more game-y/content creation focused by making it so that tasks they were forced to do, could result in their deaths, some being blatantly dangerous

WL going from 'haha they get small or big' and the deaths from it being accidents by bugs (which sucks but did not create a huge issue in the end), to 'snail you will instantly die to and there is nothing you can do to stop it' is a pretty big jump from session 1 still basically being vanilla and session 3 being unbalanced and making cause of death forced upon the player in a way that did not work with vanilla survival at all. its like if they just had a creeper following them all session, but instead its just masked with a cute snail. a creeper following you all session isnt 'normal' so it falls out of fashion with how seasons previous to SL felt.

part of me hopes WL can exhaust the feeling of having "gimmicks" not even remotely related to limited lives and next season they can refresh with like... classic 3L mechanic instead. and get a break. i dont want to say things feel "forced" but SL and not this episode were way too strongly shaped by the gimmicks to where i dont feel like im thinking about this being a "Life SMP" series at times, and only reminded when someone suddenly dies in a way that felt random or uncontrolled

[charmwasjess]

okay well maybe I'm finally making sense of my Acolyte experience because I'm genuinely very very bummed to hear that it's been cancelled

[citrusinicake]

ppl who dont understand loving a character while also hating them fascinate me, clearly youve never stanned a complete and absolute dickhead before

[cyberdragoninfinity]

Jack Atlas for the Yugioh ask game

DA MASTER OF FASTER

Why I like them/why I don’t: it took me like two years to come to grips with it but i think jack is one of my absolute favorite yugioh rivals. yes they kind of fumbled the bag Badly with him in season 2 but i do really adore the character arc the show Did give him. the depths of how much he cares about the people he loves is soo so sweet AND I WONT FORGET IT. EVEN IF THE SHOW DOES. his dynamic with yusei is fantastic, that last duel of theirs makes me emotional as hell. he's also just so funny and a blast to watch, he's dumb as a rock and picks fights with children and THEN THEY PUT HIM IN ARC-V??!? AND TRIED TO MAKE HIM OUT TO BE THIS GREAT MENTOR TYPE FIGURE?!?! LMFAO?!? NO HE IS NOT. also his deck rules :^)

What I like about their appearance: i think my favorite jack atlas physical trait is his little 'A' earrings. all of his monogrammed shit is hilarious but the earrings are just. so good. i know he thinks theyre so cool.

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?: SAME IN BOTH AND THANK GOD. WHITE BOY SPOTTED.

OTP: it's gotta be scoopshipping sorryyyyyy carly and jack's dynamic is just so sweet to me ;_; i believe in Failgirl4Failguy fuck what da rollback on jack's character said i know he loves that woman so much

NOTP: said it on yusei's but im not into yusei/jack, their dynamic is far more interesting to me reading them as adoptive brothers.....

OT3: idk if i have one for him?? hm.

Favourite card they use: any and every resonator card i love his little tuner FREAKS

Favourite moment they were in: I'll yell about it forever but i fucking love the Jack vs. Robo!Jack duel. he really dueled the physical embodiment of all his most negative traits and said "i care about my friends and i dont want to be like that anymore." for a brief and beautiful moment his character development ruled like absolute hell. god.

Least favourite moment: the end of 5ds really does take and give in equal supply--i fucking hate that part like RIGHT AT THE END?!? WHEN JACK IS SO MEAN TO CARLY AND IS LIKE "I DONT NEED ANYONE". IT SUCKS SO BAD. WHY DID THEY DO THAT TO HIM!!!! that end duel is so good otherwise!! graaaaa

Something I associate with them: Miraidon, because A.) purple but also B.) I named the second Miraidon you can get in Violet 'Jack Atlas' after spending like three hours trying to catch the damn thing in a luxury ball for my clark. deeply in character jack moment to me. it's what he would want.

[deadbeandrop]

actually y'know what i guess i'll talk about it while i'm here

i think about this scene a lot regarding him and (obviously) this episode in general, but especially when slinkman is like... actually a character that gets development and changes over the course of the show, it really does say a lot to me

and with the placement of scenes here, it's right in between lazlo, raj and clam getting slinkman to muster up the courage to show off his past aspirations, to give it another go, only to be reminded of how all that turned out, panic, and flee back to what's comfortable... aaand in between him finding out everything is actually lumpus' fault, and very purposefully sabotaging a budding dream, at that

and i think he's sort of gone through life in this way for a long time, this humble and passive acceptance of the roles and duty he's been placed in, of the world around him deciding who he's supposed to be. especially to lumpus. a best friend, sure, but nowadays an assistant, an emotional support crux to keep him (and the camp) from falling apart. i've always ran along with the idea that running camp together was lumpus' idea from the start, and look how it's turned out

i love how he says "pull yourself together", too, the tone he has as if he's scolding himself for daring to think or try to be anything like that again, that he should know better by now, when the moment's far passed

although, i don't think fame and danger/excitement are what he really wants out of life, even deep down — not anymore, at least. in the end, it's a lot more about healthy self development and sort of taking back "control" of his own path in life, right? and at the same time, a little of all that now and then wouldn't hurt...

see i've been typing this out for an hour but forget everything i just said and let's get slinkman a motorcycle

[pianapplez]

Hello there 👋👀,

So I just found your blog and had a lot of fun scrolling through all the pjo show crit😂 I couldn't help but notice that one tag you left on a post where you said you had some beef with Annabeth's portrayal in the books 👀 Would you mind elaborating on that if you're comfortable with it🙈? Because I absolutely share that sentiment, but it's sooo veeeery rare that I see other people express anything like it... I've found that trying to be a part of the fandom can be pretty alienating most of the time, if you're not exactly the biggest most devoted Percabeth shipper...😅 And often any criticism leveled at Annabeth just gets you a smack with the "internalized-misogyny" hammer... it's even worse in the tv show now due to... obvious reasons...

Again just if you're comfortable with answering of course🙈 There is a reason I stayed on anon after all...😅😂

Really glad you asked because i finally get to ramble about this heheheh (going forward, know that i skimmed over The Last Olympian to have a clearer sense of what I meant because that's the book where Rick fumbles her character more than the others)

i'm gonna try to make as much sense as possible but short answer would be, she's underdeveloped. Long answer:

She really got on my nerves in the last two books, with the whole Rachel debacle and then the Battle of New York. I can't really remember a single moment in those books where she and Percy aren't bickering or having heated discussions, which really made me question their friendship status. Of course, it's not like friends can't fight and it obviously builds up the (romantic) tension between them, but it got unbearable at one point.

I understand she's a teenager in an incredibly stressful situation that didn't even get to have a normal upbringing- she grew up way too fast (run away at 7, head counselor at 12) while also not really maturing, which is not a problem for a character, if it is handled properly. Given the fact that I am writing this, Riordan did not.

On the surface, my biggest beef is that Annabeth is not exactly held accountable for her actions (ie. treating Rachel a bit like shit and going off on Percy for a bunch of stuff.) I know Percy is to blame a bit here: as far as we know, in TLO he basically cuts the greek world out of his life as much as he can as a coping mechanism. And while yes, he never apologizes either, he doesn't give her nearly half the hard time she gives him: always either giving him the cold shoulder (there must be at least one example of this in the entire series but i cant be bothered to look it up sorry) or starting an argument only to then storm off (see the "you're a coward, Percy Jackson!" scene, which is not the fairest example since she was confronting Percy about ignoring camp but also was a bit too harsh about it) (especially after finally reading the prophecy and being under the impression that he was absolutely going to die when he turned 16 lmao) or just straight up storming off (see, Annabeth reacting when Rachel shows up for the first time during the battle of new york). While most of these feel, at least to some degree, fairly justified given how the entire situation does an absolute number on her emotions, she comes off a bit brattish and like she's trying to rile Percy up, especially when it comes to Rachel, which in the context of a battle that could mean the destruction of the world.... Well, it reads as a bit childish to me, and i wouldn't exactly have that much of a problem with it if it was dealt with in some way (a two-way apology would be nice).

After that first impression, i realized that Annabeth is barely ever anything else other than a plot device (when relating to Luke) or a love interest (when relating to Percy). This might be because the books are on Percy's POV. Hell, on the third book he's even conflicted when Annabeth is considering joining the Hunters of Artemis, aka, when making a choice for herself would mean he loses her (which is fine and dandy but it feels like Percy is more upset about her choosing her own path rather than being sad about not seeing her as often); we really only get a few glimpses of her, as in, actually her when she's on her own.

Obviously it's impossible to talk about Annabeth without touching on percabeth, which also is, in my opinion, what hinders Annabeth's character the most. On paper they sound great. The guy whose fatal flaw is loyalty falls in love with a girl whose been let down by people over and over, and she decides to never give up on the boy whose always had people give up on him (can't find one of the million posts that talks about this right now but it always goes something like that) And yeah, the bickering is really well written! But that's literally as far as it ever goes: they don't ever seem to have fun together, because 8 times out of 10 the bickering ends up being passive aggressive, and mostly done by Annabeth. My biggest gripe about percabeth is that their friendship seems to be based off... shared trauma. Literally. Other than going on quests together we are given no examples of them hanging out, nor a reason why they would want to spend time together in the first place, not even a shared hobby. Yes, in the fourth book they had a movie "date" planned but of course they didn't even get to it, and surprise surprise, they had a minor discussion, and surprise surprise, Annabeth was passive aggressive again. It's hard to picture them having fun together when even the author doesn't write in any scenes in which they get along smoothly (and before you say anything, a scene in which they get along where neither of them is about to die, and they're not talking about previous adventures. Gets a bit hard then, doesn't it?) It's even harder to picture them as a couple when the moment she gets upset about something, she starts coming off as emotionally manipulative (see, again, literally any conversation with Rachel or about Rachel)

To be fair, the books are relatively short and don't allow many "filler" chapters, if you will; there's always something happening to keep the main plot or a minor plot point moving forward, but it's not like there is no room to develop the characters' relationships, especially when we're talking about the main char and what is essentially his endgame. As an example we have Percy and Clarisse, or Percy and Beckendorf. Their interactions are brief but still hold so much weight.

Worst of all, Annabeth could be one hell of a character; what's most interesting of all is how being a daughter of Athena she is still incredibly emotionally driven, which is displayed very clearly with her fatal flaw being pride: her telling the Sphynx that her questions were too easy was not smart nor strategic: it was completely impulsive. I seriously think she wasn't far from being the best character in the series had she been given more time.

I guess i have as much beef with Annabeth as i have with Rick for doing her dirty. I really could sum this up with: while her emotions are justified, she acts upon them quite poorly. And this is what i mean when i say she's underdeveloped, because it would've been nice to see her come to her senses a bit.

Would love to read anyone's opinions on her character though, feel free to comment, even (or especially) if you don't agree with me!

[skayafair]

The fact that Kayne critically misjudged John's true feelings and how much their relationship with Arthur have progressed, brings me so much joy.

Not that all-knowing and all-powerful anymore, are we?

It'd do him good to be brought down a peg or two.

[bahoreal]

the thing about bridgerton is that its kinda contrived and bad but its also very compelling. and thats fun.