#really showing my taste for the third arc here lol

[midnightdemonhunter]

Yo girl, Meant to be yours, Dead girl walking.

[ignitesthestxrs]

I may have missed it but did you watch Shadow and Bone on Netflix? What were your thoughts on it?

i watched the first season! i think i have spoken about it on here before but i didn't tag it because i wasn't very nice, and i didn't want to like, spring that on the greater fandom tag lol

uh overall i think that the show flattened a lot of the things that i enjoyed about the books, and did not improve on anything i disliked from them.

the way the show engaged with race was deeply performative and one dimensional, like, jump-scaring the viewer with ISN'T THIS RACISM SO BAD AND AWFUL in a way that seemed intended to induce the viewer and the show itself to feel good about having noticed that they just got punched in the face.

like right before six of crows came out, i did Representation Math to figure out who was going to die lol and i was Correct and that's the kind of ethos that the show persisted with. coupled with the vibe from the books that has been increasingly sinophobic, i just uuuh Didn't Like It, it left a bad taste.

(obvs i am White and it is not my job to claim Good or Bad Job overall, or assign myself Progressive Points for having this take, but it is the way it hit me at the time of watching and after discussing with friends who are better positioned than i am to comment)

the casting of nina really bothered me, and bardugo's open support of it, while i get that it was probably a sensible choice for her, REALLY bothered me. like if you're going to create characters based on which Diversity Niche they fill, then it's incumbant on you as a creator to hold firm to that vision and use your power and your voice to push back on attempts to uuuuh hollywoodify fatness. like it was just a fundamental betrayal that...sure, i get, that's hollywood, but also this character was explicitly created as a balm to the hollywoodification of fatness, and the response to her casting was basically 'well so long as she's plus size that's what is important'. idk like this is not the fault of the actress at all, but it is: tiresome. the actress is not Fat.

also her costuming was terrible in a very un-nina way that felt like it was trying to disguise how unfat she really was/frumpify her

but aside from That Stuff, i also think that the show misunderstood the fundamental point of two of the core Alina relationships in a way that was deeply boring and in fact more of a problem in the case of the darkling in particular.

like a thing that the books does really well actually is the arc of mal and alina's relationship? in which they start off with a fundamental misunderstanding of what they mean to each other that results in them growing further apart to the point where they both have to change who they are as people to actually fit together properly again. it's a really good example of like, puppy love not working out because values and life circumstances change, but then character growth enables the characters to come together as new people with a different perspective.

because the show starts mal off in his Clear Devotion phase, it makes a lot of the potential growth in that relationship way less meaningful? lol i know a lot of people don't like book malina and...whatever to that, frankly, but from a Craft Perspective, they gave this man his character from the Third Book without giving him any of the Growth Triggers that got him to that point. i only care about I Am Become A Blade mal because he had to fight to get to that point.

re: the darkling on the show lol the show has this weird ethos that their relationship is somehow more ethical if the darkling is Really No For Real In Love With Her from the beginning, which is just SO off base with what the actual problem is with that relationship. the show tries to girl bossify Alina by have her take the darkling off guard/having him experience Real Emotions For Her without considering the fact that this just means that,,,someone who loves her is using her? that's not better! she doesn't have More Power in this relationship because she's shown to be more proactive in the romance side of their relationship, because he's still using her! she hasn't won something from him by making him experience an emotion or desire, she's just wound herself deeper into his web - but the show presents these moments as though she has gained some kind of control over a situation that she literally cannot have control over.

like the whole point of the relationship in that first book is that alina is being groomed, but instead of showing that, the show said 'oh grooming is bad, alina should have more agency!' and shot a situation where she literally cannot have agency because vital information is being kept from her, as a 'yas queen make him obsessed with you!' kind of situation. he's already obsessed with her! because she's a tool to him! it's not agency to make a man want you when he is already using you for his own purposes, it's being groomed!

i need shows that are engaging in depicting problematic relationships to fucking lean into that rather than wriggle out of it. because when they try to wriggle out of it, they always, always end up depicting something that's still fucked up, only now the narrative doesn't seem to be aware of its fucked upness.

anyway uuuuh those are my main thoughts on show, i did not watch the second season and probably never will lol

[nolabballgirl]

Skam: Ranking the Sana Seasons

So in light of Skam España’s upcoming Amira season, I thought I would watch all of the existing Sana seasons (Skam OG, Druck, Skam Italia, and Skam France) and give my rankings, coming from the perspective of a cis Muslim woman of color from the US. 

Overall, none of the seasons lived up to their potential, and none really explored Islamophobia or racism is any meaningful way. They definitely could have benefitted from more Muslims (if any at all) in the writer’s room. For example, most of the remakes (Druck did the best here) miss the mark on approaching the main conflict between Sana and her non-Muslim love interest. They even have most Sanas asking a parent or Googling why a Muslim man can marry whoever he wants but a Muslim woman can’t, so I’m not sure if they are trying for some backdoor feminist angle. First, that’s not accurate. Scripturally, a Muslim man cannot marry an atheist or an agnostic either, which is how the Sanas’ love interests are generally coded. Second, for me, the actual question is more of interpretation of faith. Seeing a five-times per day praying, hijabi Muslim woman grappling with following the scripture and then *wanting* to be with a non-muslim knowing that not only does it go against her faith, but that he wouldn’t participate in a huge part of her life (e.g. imagine the loneliness of fasting all of Ramadan by yourself year after year) is the drama and love and heartbreak I want to see examined.  

Tbh, I thought Amira N.’s guest appearance on Lucas Rubio’s YouTube channel gave us a more in depth dive than pretty much all these other seasons combined, but anyway, here we go:

1. Druck S4 (Amira M.) - I really love Amira M. (her spunk, attitude, and incorporation of faith into her life). But, they completely shortchanged Amira by giving her fewer episodes and essentially turning it into the Mia and Hanna show by the end. However, across the remakes, I thought Amira’s story arc and confidence in her Islam was the best depicted so far. 

Amira M. and Mohammed have the best Yousana chemistry. The romantic tension is so palpable. Plus, Mohammed standing guard and not having her Maghrib prayer interrupted was such a thoughtful touch! (in the other remakes, there are always people making out or barging in when Sana is trying to pray). 

All the remakes have shown the Sanas praying, but here we have scenes with Amira reciting her prayers out loud for the audience to hear (not the usual mumble-core), and Tua has such a nice reciting voice (qira’at) :)

Druck didn’t ruin the Girl Squad for me (even though they pretty much gave Kiki a personality transplant to get there!)

But, Druck played this season super safe and did not engage in any *real* conversations with the GS surrounding racism and Islamophobia, so major missed opportunity there! We only had snapshots of Amira dealing with racist third parties here and there, but no cohesive resolution.

Omar and Essam’s storylines really went nowhere. They could have done so much more with these characters and their struggles fitting in to German society. Although I do think the “house party/left behind bottle of alcohol” scene fit better with Essam and his friends vs. having it be Amira trying to fit in with another group of girls.

Like with Skam Italia, it feels like something is missing when one of the Girl Squad members is MIA (here, Mia/Noora), but Druck overcompensated and not in a good way.

2. Skam OG (Sana B.) - Sana is the OG bada$$. I’ll admit it took me a little while to get warmed up to her, but I love how this season showed her vulnerability. I also thought she and Yousef had great chemistry. Plus, Sana and Even friendships are pure gold :)

However, I didn’t like:

the characterization of the Girl Squad and how Sana was essentially pushed out in favor of the Pepsi Max girls (come on Girl Squad - do better!)

the Noora/Yousef flirtation/make out - unnecessary other than to give Noora more screen time. And not a fan of wrapping up storylines with text message exposition...

the Sana/Isak bench scene. Yes, there were some good moments but I didn’t like putting the onus back on Sana to be the one doing all the work and answering all the dumb questions. It’s so exhausting.

the cyberbullying story, followed by Sana messaging William behind Noora’s back - left a sour taste in my mouth RE: Sana’s motives without any great or meaningful resolution (sidenote: props to Skam España for moving this to Eva’s season - makes a lot more sense!) 

3. Skam Italia (Sana A.) - So despite my misgivings with SkamIt due to its casting issues, I was excited coming into this season because I saw a lot of hype on social media. But, it turned out to basically be a carbon copy of the Skam OG season, so it left me disappointed overall. 

Sana and Malik are cute, but...

I really didn't care for the Girl Squad this season, and the treatment felt even worse than the GS of Skam OG’s season 4. The dynamic was really all over the place - they pushed Sana out in favor of the BCU girls and essentially let them badmouth her and accuse her of sabotaging their vacation house. But as soon as Silvia is the one who gets insulted, then all of a sudden we’re a Girl Squad again? Where’s the kindness and understanding? Where are my Sisters Forever?! 

It’s always weird to me when one of the Girl Squad members is MIA (here, Eleonora/Noora was gone for most of the season), so it just feels like something is missing.

Gay conversion therapy storyline - yes, this is an important topic that affects religious households, but there was no in depth treatment to it, like at all. And do I hate that they gave the intolerance storyline to a Muslim family and imam when there’s already rampant Islamophobia in Italy? Yes! But, more so it takes away from Sana’s story. It was more of an excuse to incorporate Martino/Niccolo into S4 instead of developing Sana as a character and having Skam Italia deal with racism and Islamophobia head on. Also, it was a case of another character (Sana) speaking for Luai instead of having Luai speak for himself about his experience and trauma. 

Sana taking off her hijab in Filippo/Martino’s apt - lol...it’s just not realistic.

4. Skam France (Imane) - The worst. Do I need to say more? Okay, I will. 

The casual, unchecked racism jumps out. 

The casual, unchecked Islamophobia jumps out.

Um, Girl Squad - look at what you’re doing, look at your choices. Seriously, talk about ruining characters and ruining a Girl Squad.

Dragging out Sofiane and Manon’s relationship. Totally undercuts the Imane and Sofiane chemistry compared to the other remakes. Yousef/Mohammed would never.

Followed by the Manon and Charles show. *roll eyes*

Someone please rescue Imane. Girl, go hang with Jamila and Lamia. You’ll be so much happier. 

Someone give the Bakhellals their own show far away from here. 

[borisbubbles]

25. PORTUGAL

Elisa - “Medo de sentir”

We’ve finally crossed over into the “I like this” territory :-) Let’s celebrate by booting another ballad ^_^

Song Analysis

This will be short and sweet though, since there isn’t much to say. “Medo de sentir” basically the Marie Myriam of its national final: It is a cromulent ballad that did nothing wrong and is solidly good, but not great in all the relevant areas (vocals, composition, staging). 

I mean,

Even so, Elisa gave me a few small nuggets that warmed me to her, serving DRAMAFACE in the FdC Semi

and LOOKS in the Finale: 

Peach puffy sleeves that rival Leonor Andrade’s legendary shoulder pads as a fashion statement <3 (honestly, this is pretty subdued for FdC fashion even? Hold on until I get talk about Felipe in the NF Corner) 

Honestly, you may wonder why I like this more than “Répondez-moi”, but I don’t really have a reason  - unless you’re willing to accept “Medo de sentir is underrated, is performed by a Weird Indie Girl and is from a criminally overlooked Eurovision country” as valid argumentations. Oh and while I only *very* mildly like Elisa, it is a decision I made myself, completely free of the social pressure I feel whenever Gjon, or heaven forbid, Roxen or Diodato, pop up. 

Furthermore, the fact that I still like Elisa even after she won her NF also speaks greatly in her favour. I’m not sure if you were aware of how good FdC was this year? Well, sit down because you are about to witness it!

NF Corner

Remember how old Eesti Laul’s neck was snapped and its corpse was urinated on by the shit Estonians? Remember how the quirky indie weirdo entries had to find a safe haven elsewhere in Europe? The Portugese hallmark traits of “Not Giving A Fuck”, “Doing Our Own Thing No Matter What” and “What Do You Mean This Isn’t A Vimeo Showreel?” allowed for Festival da Canção to absorb Eesti Laul’s broken spirit and channel it from every (Ley-La-)Ley-Line.

and since this is the first *GREAT* 2020 NF I am covering, I will do HONORABLE MENTIONS before I actually review my four choices :o

Dubio - “Ceguiera”: Hamburglar-looking goddess <3333

MEERA - “Copo de gin”: Pure EL-style EDM *and* it’s about drinking gin, needless to say this song is basically *my anthem*.  Jimmy P - “Abensonhado”: Rap rarely is my thing, let alone three minutes of it non-stop. Having said that, this is genuine and dramatic and Jimmy is flanked by a GOSPEL CHOIR (dressed in chasubles!!!) who support him in ENGLISH... I am not made of stone.  JJaZZ - “Agora”: Totally slept on this weird indie anthem, but then they showed up looking like this:

and yes, it was even funnier in motion (sadly gif’ing rights are reserved to the Elite 4 soz) Elisa Rodrigues - “Não voltes mais”: a jolly tropical ballad in a genre I recognize but cannot name (some sort of pimba fado jazz? Does this work?) and was incomprehensibly hated by the Portuguese? Will I ever understand how this country operates? Probably never. Kady - “Diz so”: another pimba fado jazz sort of thing? My friend André (who is from Brazil) tells me it’s actively parodying Brazillian counterculture and leftist stereotypes which is such a random quirk to put in a Portuguese music comp <3

And before we move on, I’ll chuck in a very speclal DISHONORABLE mention for our good friends Blasted Mechanism.😈 I actually forgot to do my jury duties for ESCUnited here, so I’ll just let James (the person with the best taste on our team, including yours truly) do it for me: 

Fucking *TRUTH*. “Rebellion’”s problem  has always been a lack of motherfucking balls. Sure, these middle-aged steampunkers attempt to implement a genre shift between indie rock and fucking ORCHESTRAL METAL/HIP HOP and make it so underwhelming and pathetic? People blame the live, and yes it was *bad* (forever cackling at “REBELGIUM” tho), but it was the studio that failed to deliver on the promises it made.  It always surprises me when people (Sean and Roy I AM coming for you) slam "Verona” for being a “fanwank” and then fall for a Rebellion which is basically a fanwank for heterosexual snobs. #ShotsFired. 

Now, as for the actual Boris faves, LET US START WITH A LIBERAL DOSE OF ASKEW CUBISM

Judas - “Cubismo Enviesado” 

VÊS OU NÃO?  VÊS OU NÃO?  VÊS OU NÃO?  VÊS OU NÃO?  VÊS OU NÃO?   

VÊS OU NÃO?  VÊS OU NÃO?  VÊS OU NÃO?  VÊS OU NÃO?  VÊS OU NÃO?  

VÊS OU NÃO?  VÊS OU NÃO?  VÊS OU NÃO?  VÊS OU NÃO?  VÊS OU NÃO?   

VÊS OU NÃO?  VÊS OU NÃO?  VÊS OU NÃO?  VÊS OU NÃO?  VÊS OU NÃO?  

 WHAT A FUCKING SPANDEX CATASTROPHE. “Cubismo enviesado” is a horrible song, the choreography looks like it had been conjured up during a particularly drunk night of bedroom karaoke and Judas can’t hold a tune for the life of him. The lyrics don’t even make sense in Portuguese <33333 It is an art school project gone disastrously wrong. NEEDLESS TO SAY, I AM OBSESSED.😍

Filipe Sambado - “Gerbera Amarelo do Sul”

That look

The regal panache

Those... leather shorts?

IT IS SO QUEER I LOVES IT. As with Cubismo, I am fucking OBSESSED. However, unlike Cubismo, “Gerbera amarela do sul” is *legitimately* great, lol. In addition to having a KICK-ASS fado rhythm and the off-the-charts visual components (the jewellery! the hats! the throne! the hand choreography!), the lyrics are highly intelligent poetry geared at dismantling upper class snobism.😍 Rare to find an entry that kicks ass on SO MANY levels. Even harder to see it lose to Elisa Myriam - but I’m not sad it lost because, you know, it would have befallen the same fate as a “Telemóveis”. At least his existence makes the memory-holing of Achille Lauro’s ICONIC Virgin Queen Cosplay so much easier to stomach. 

Throes & The Shine - “Movimiento”

I mean, entries that open like THIS: 

are instantly iconic, ngl. The best FdC entries offer a great triple of great looks, unplugged stubborn artistry and fun quirky rhythmes. Throes + The Shine pass this with flying colours and I mean, THOSE sunglasses alone yank up the laugh-out-laugh factor to astronomical levels. add in a hilarious choreography, sound effects that seemingly imitate duck mating noises and three very attractive men (in 2020! the concept!) and it’s an instant fave right there. 

AND THEN MADE THEIR ENTRY EVEN BETTER BY ADDING MIDNIGHT GOLD/JOWST EFFECTS TO THEIR STAGING. 😍😍😍😍

MANCHAS DE LAMA NA SUA PELE  

HEROES. 😍😍😍

and of course, this wouldn’t be a 2020 NF without an obvious runaway fave losing at the last minute: 

Bárbara Tinoco - “Passe-partout”

SHE IS TINY <3333:

She’s like a human bonsai... or a personal attack chincilla.

Okay, so Portugal were *THIS close* to out-France’ing the French with this sassy Zazballad, served with a generous dollop of parisian accordion and stank reaction shots.

Yet another entry that shamelessly uses an attractive man as a boytoy prop <333 For a brief moment, Bàrbara and Tiago establish themselves as a pair of lovestruck La La Land idiots, gearing themselves towards the EPIC moment where she will dump him... and then this happens before the first chorus:

Barbara opens up a can of dancer carbs and it completely fucks up her no-bullshit keto diet. 

Those dancers man. They aren’t a *bad* addition in itself, but if your thing is “romance ballad but *plot twist* it’s actually an end of romance ballad get lost loser” do not burn the clou within the first minute of the performance to a group of dancers who don’t even dance *along with the beat of your song*. UGH.

(and also, more devastatingly, the reduce tiaGOD’s airtime how dare they grrr)

Fortunately though, I have learned to appreciate the wrecktitude of it all because it caused one of the funniest downfall narratives in recent ESC history. The Portuguese were, of course, foaming at the mouth with all the decisions Bárbara had made (not even for the points I raised, necessarily?) and Bárbara was having none of it. It went kinda like this

Juries: EWWW DANCERS AND CHOREOGRAPHY YOU ARE RAPING YOUR OWN SONG YOU PHILISTINE WHORE. Bárbara: 

Juries: WOW WHAT *ARROGANCE*!! YOU THINK YOU CAN WIN BUT BOY DO WE HAVE NEWS FOR YOU :-) 

and lo hand behold, the finale rolls on and Tinoco’s dancers are still there, and are even *MORE* present than they were in the semi (but also in sync with the beat) and Bárbara gets promptly jurydunked into third place. 😍 Even though she has the *ONLY* song in FdC that could have qualified in its semifinal. 😍  A woman who stands three apples tall trolling an entire nation and juries because she knew she had gold in her hands and then getting rigged out of the easiest nf victory out of pure SPITE 😍  WHAT AN ARC. 😍

Portugal 2020 vs Portugal 2021

Elisa probably would not have qualified. I’m not sure how popular of an opinion this is, but I prefer the semifinal performance of “Medo de sentir” and that wasn’t the staging they were going for. Not many people seemed to care either way, and that’s usually the death sentence for Portugal. 

Elisa won’t be back for 2021 or whenever Eurovision is rebooted. :sigh: Fuck you, Coronavirus. 

Freaky! Friday! Factor!

See: NF Corner:

Score: 4 Senhits out of 5. 

[maevelin]

So I have been receiving some lovely reviews for my story including some constructive criticism which I acknowledge fully. That been said I think that one of the good things that comes from such reviews is the chance to not only think about certain things but also to be able to have a constructive discussion too.

Some of the reviews I have gotten are not showing as of now in the site once I accept them but I have read them from my email too. Fanfiction net is malfunctioning so I assume all the reviews eventually will show up. 

Anyhow... Now since the two reviewers that left me basically the same review (are you two or one?....sorry I had to ask lol) were on guest and I can’t reply to them by private messaging I am going to do it from here so they’ll know my mentality over the things they are questioning and how I see things as I write the story and my characters. Replying on tumblr is not ideal and possibly they won’t be able to see the answer here but eventually when I post a new chapter in my story I will point them towards this post.

That been said I have a few things to cover mostly.

This story is a parallel to Seasons 1-3 and somewhat 4 of TVD. I haven’t watched TVD after that point and neither anything connected to that universe. I found the show to be doing a disservice to its characters and I found the writing poor so I stopped watching. So any allegory that can be found in my story that is connected with TVD and its characters is up to S4 of the show. 

After a point my story is going to diverge from that and for now there are parallels and I am trying to not write the characters extremely OOC but after breaking a certain word limit the characters you write, either they are part of fanfiction or based on some other characters that inspired you...well they start to get a voice of their own.

I acknowledge 100% the fact that a reader may not like some of my characters. It happens. We can’t all have the same perspective or taste and so on. 

So this is not me being critical over the reviews or trying to change anyone’s opinion. I am just here to point out how I view certain things and characters as I write them.

But let me clarify some things because this may not be a story for you after all.

1. If you are expecting Klaus Mikaelson to have a redemption arc in my story then this is not a story for you. Yes there are some glimpses of humanity where Caroline is concerned and as I will get into the second phase of the story and as Klaus’ background and main plot will get into the forefront more of these glimpses will appear. Along with more of his darkness.

This is why I chose this particular alternative universe as a setting for my story. Because vampires are monsters so I wanted a human version of despicable monsters too. 

I also chose an environment that is steeped in misogyny and is not progressive because if I wanted to parallel TVD I had to have such elements in the story since the writing in TVD was awfully misogynistic, racist and homophobic. My plan though, and I hope to be able to succeed on that, is to eventually subvert those tropes in my story which is exactly it is set that way in the beginning.

Back to Klaus now...I am not going to woobify the villain. I am not going to have love ‘save’ him. He isn’t going to change for the sake of love. Any development that happens to his character and to his relationship with Caroline won’t turn him into another character. He is an adult, a criminal, a psychopath really. Those aren’t traits to change.

2. I NEVER ever saw Caroline as a good or moral person even in TVD. So don’t expect that in my story either.

The fact that the writing in TVD told us so doesn’t make Caroline a good person. Since the narrative of her actions and character contradicted it. Yes she had good sides. She may have wanted to be good too. But she was still a Vampire. Which came along with a certain darkness despite the writers wanting to have their cake and eat it too by writing the vampires of the inner circle of TVD as Mary Sue vampires while they still murdered and killed and yet they somehow were the good guys.  

Caroline’s potential for me was that she was meant to have agency. To be a vampire and relish in the dark parts too. That was one of the reasons why I liked Klaroline so much. Not in order for Klaus to become better. Or Caroline to simply become worse. But in order to show the true nature of vampirism will all that came along with it. To focus on the mythology, the legend, the immortality and freedom, to the creatures of the night. And you know...blood, desire, gore and slaughter. Simple every day stuff really.

I wanted Caroline that sided by the ripper of Monterey because he was her savior but did so despite knowing that he ate children. Caroline that was raped by Damon but overcame the horror, that stood by Elena when she committed genocide, that took Mason down, that was tortured by the werewolves and then said goodbye to girly girl Caroline and said screw it all I will be cheery but I will be a survivor too and thrive. The Caroline that fought the tomb vampires. The Caroline that tricked Katherine. The Caroline that in order to save her friend murdered 12 witches in cold blood. The Caroline that manipulated Klaus’ affections to save herself and despite seeing the good parts in him was never fooled by those and saw him for the villain and menace he was and never coddled him. The Caroline that distracted the worst monster of them all and had fun while doing so. The Caroline that traded a date for the life of another person (a friend of the man she loved back then) because it suited her purposes. The Caroline that joined a game of life and death with Klaus Mikaelson and found the silver lining and was pulled towards him despite how much she fought against it. The Caroline that was a hypocrite in believing she and her friends were better than Klaus and still got the plan to put him Rebekah’s body and bury him forever. The Caroline that when Klaus saved her in the corridor she still toasted over his demise later on the same day. The Caroline that Silas saw how she wanted her perfect feathers ruffled. The Caroline that screwed Klaus despite him having murdered Jenna and Carol Lockwood, and Elena and having tortured all her friends. The man that despite doing all that and sending her boyfriend to exile she still wanted and was still attracted to him. Because she couldn’t underestimate the allure of darkness no matter how much she tried. Because it was a part of her too with or without Klaus.

That Caroline that for me was never a good person. It is just too simplistic to claim that she was. 

3. Sometimes sexual desire and connection is not translated by good actions. You don’t have to be a good person to feel lust for someone. To be infatuated. To be tempted. 

Sometimes it is physical. Sometimes it is intellectual. It doesn’t have to be love. It can be desire. Some times you can desire assholes too. It is instinct.

Do Klaus and Caroline love each other in my story? No. Not yet. Don’t know about the future.

Do they have the hots for each other and want to bone each other? Yes. Definitely.

And if we are being honest ...did that desire came out of nowhere? 

I don’t know ...didn’t it came out of the blue in the show too?

Here in my story the slow burn has been building up for more than 200.000 words. Maybe you feel I failed on communicating that correctly. Maybe I did. But I wouldn’t say that desire is always reasonable or gets there in a straight line step by step.

This is still a story based on the trope of enemies to lovers so of course those two are enemies now. Maybe you don’t approve or like that stage or makes no sense to you. But some times enemies can have desire for each other even without reason. If that isn’t a trope for you I digress.

Even in TVD though Caroline was never head over heels for Klaus. She covered her darkest desires and their connection with hostility. She always had walls up. She had put herself on a pedestal against him despite her own terrible actions and her own darkness she still wanted the villain. She was still at the beginning of the journey that give or take 1000 years would turn her into Klaus’ door as she by them she wouldn’t be that different from him. 

4. Is Klaus dragging Caroline to darkness in my story? Yes. In her own darkness that was already there to begin with all the potential. In the same way in TVD he was an Original and she was a baby vampire and he saw in her parts of himself. “We are the same Caroline”. “The allure of darkness.” “The darkness desires.” and so on. Klaus that in TVD his version of mercy and kindness also equaled darkness and pain.

So those are things that inspired me to write my story so here we are. Caroline is unlocking emotions in Klaus. Emotions that he never had before and he doesn’t know how to deal with or what they mean and gets destructive and confused because of them. While he still basically worships the ground Caroline walks on while he also still plays his fucked up mind games. In the same way Caroline is finding freedom in the darkness he opens up in her too and still wants to bring him down.

5. In the same way love can’t change a person fundamentally but show the best and worst versions of one’s character which is something that applies for Klaus in my story then in the same way the same counts for Caroline.

Her agency won’t be forgotten. She is not all of the sudden going to forget her plans and her desire for freedom because she feels desire or even love for a man. It doesn’t work that way. And she won’t be simply good, the vanilla version of good or simply evil or pulled to darkness. There is going to be a struggle of what she feels. Both for Klaus and for herself. That won’t change. It won’t be sacrificed in my story.

Caroline for Caroline comes first. Klaroline comes second. At this point I would even debate that comes third after her family too. 

Caroline won’t change to a doormat for any man. Not in my story. Not simply because I ship Klaroline.

If that makes her unlikable. Then so be it. If it makes her selfish then good.

If this is somehow lost in translation for you I get it. Maybe I didn’t write it as clearly as I could. 

But if you want to get a better feel of who Caroline is through the Klaroline ship in my story and her connection to Klaus and all her reactions to him and the ship in general then I am afraid you’ve lost the meaning of my story. You won’t be able to get who Caroline is only through shipping goggles here. I am not writing her like this despite this being a Klaroline fanfiction. 

And of course she is confused btw and not certain for things and is still building up her character through mistakes and uncertainty. Her age, her background and her current situation add to that. 

6. Disclaimer:  If anyone is expecting anything similar to what I have seen from TO in gifs (I didn’t bother watching those seens) regarding Klaroline then ...NO. I don’t know how more forward I can be with this. I cringed beyond belief by what TO had shown for Klaroline from what I saw here in tumblr. I double tripled cringed by any gifs I have see from TVD after S4 when it came to Caroline (O_O) and there is no level of cringe that can describe how I felt when it came to TO in general. So if anyone is expecting that or is basing their opinion of what they see in my story over THAT perspective...then I get it...yeah..my story will most definitely disappoint you. No questions asked about that.

And last but not least.

I get what you are saying about the long descriptions and not as much dialogue in my story but then again I am afraid that’s my writing style here. I won’t change that anytime soon.

Let me be honest here by saying that IF I was publishing this as a book I would probably be trying to contain the long winded texts more, to make a better pace and so on. The descriptions would still be longer than the dialogue though. Because that’s my style. That been said this is still fanfiction and I am writing it in order to have fun so this is me having fun. Letting go and even writing all this writing vomit lol...I get it. It is not always easy to read. It can be tiresome and jarring. But that’s how I write and I do feel that my writing is not for everyone. I am not saying you are wrong in your criticism here. Objectively you are right. I recognize that too. But it is what I like and feel inclined to write so...yeah.

Anyhow. This is my long winded answer too (see? That’s HOW I WRITE lol...if it is not dissertation what’s the point ha ha)...I hope I’ll get more reviews from you and thank you for your compliments in those reviews too. I am always open for more discussions of this sort either you are on guest or not.

Thank you and take care.

[itsclydebitches]

I'm not sure the best way to ask this but I'll try, sorry if I send a bunch of anons. I got into a discussion about what constitutes "bad writing" and as a writer who views writing as art, I personally have a hard time actually saying any writing is bad (even when it is literally hard or cringe to read lol). I personally tend to read stories and if there's stuff that doesn't make sense or lacks continuity, I tend to naturally change the story to make sense/be "better" (for myself). (Cont)

It’s a crazy complicated subject, isn’t it? I too view writing (any craft, really) as art. Which, for me, doesn’t mean that writing can’t be bad, but rather I acknowledge that “bad” is a subjective label and there’s no art in the world that’s “bad” to every single person. Which is why censorship can’t exist. The art that one group deems “bad” in an ethical manner can’t have the power to destroy it when another group needs and thrives on that art. (And I’ve spoken before about that careful balance between allowing art to exist/allowing for its creation but making your morals known regarding individual pieces. e.g. “I’m not going to blindly fight against everyone who creates kink art but if you created something that, say, fetishizes a group in an offensive and potentially dangerous way, people have the right to speak up about that.”) 

But here we’re not talking about “bad” moral writing, but rather “bad” entertainment writing. Even though, in reality, the two are rarely separate issues. But let’s assume they are for a moment. Yes, I wholeheartedly agree that from one perspective “bad” writing simply does not exist. The cringeiest YA novel is going to be some teen’s favorite book. The song that sounds like nonsense noise to you may be another’s anthem. Someone fell in love with that fic, or that drawing, or the lopsided sweater you knit. So right in those examples we can see how “good” art often depends on: 

Your relationships (a “bad” drawing by a child is going to mean something to their mother) 

Your age (people adore books as teens that they later realize were “bad,” but it wasn’t “bad” according to who you were at the time) 

Previous skill level (if you just started knitting and you could barely manage a scarf last year, that sweater is “good” now, comparatively) 

Experience (someone with very little knowledge of animation might be blown away by a show that’s sneered at by someone who consumes the medium regularly) 

What you as an individual prioritize (when people talk about a “good” story one might be referencing the plot, the other might be referencing the world building, the third relatable characters, and everyone has a different list of requirements for what makes a “good” tale) 

Something unidentifiable based on our tastes that, notably, are always changing

So obviously art is subjective. However, when we’re talking about art in the media that’s meant to be consumed by the masses, we need to introduce two crucial elements: 

This is art that (usually) someone paid for, in one manner or another. Producing this art was someone’s job. Thus, there are expectations attached to the experience that help people determine whether it’s “good” or “bad.” If you paid for a show that implied it would have solid continuity and then it failed to produce that, that’s now an issue between a buyer and a seller. Like going to a restaurant, paying for a burger, and getting a sandwich instead. We can argue that they’re very similar foods. We can argue that the sandwich is still a delicious food to receive. We can argue that you have to power to go home to your own kitchen and make a burger yourself if you’re that picky... but at the end of the day you ordered something (or, to be clearer regarding media, were encouraged to expect something) and then didn’t receive it. That makes people mad. Or at best, disappointed. People may naturally be inclined to do the work of the writers tasked with providing their entertainment - making things “better” as you say - but that shouldn’t be a requirement. When I pay someone to make my food it’s not a part of the unspoken contract that I will doctor the meal extensively until it resembles what I thought I was paying for. 

Though subjective, there are types of art that the majority of people tend to prefer. Consistency being a major one. Are there abstract forms of art that deliberately work to confuse or frustrate viewers and do people find that engaging? Absolutely. Do the majority of people want to work hard to follow/understand/explain the story they sat down to watch at the end of a long day? Nope. It’s the safe bet of “Yeah, some people might not care if we retcon this but more people are probably going to be upset that we can’t follow our own story rules.” That consistency spreads to everything, including things like character arcs and endings. If you look at controversial shows like How I Met Your Mother or Dexter, when people say “This was a bad ending” they rarely mean “No one could ever like this conclusion.” Rather, they mean that “The vast majority of us expected something based on what you previously produced and then you failed to provide that. This doesn’t make sense and thus we feel lied to.” 

The purpose of (most) stories isn’t to produce feelings of betrayal, anger, frustration, and disappointment in your audience. So if a story does produce those feelings via all that you mention - lost potential, lack of continuity, numerous mistakes, etc. - then it has failed to do what (most) stories seek to do. Again, not all stories are like this. Many do try to produce such feelings. But for the majority of mainstream works if your audience doesn’t experience feelings of happiness (or catharsis) and satisfaction... then the story is “bad.” In the way that a car that won’t run is “bad.” The car might still look good and maybe you can use it for something else if you put your mind to it, but it has failed to complete its purpose as a car. 

That for me makes a “bad” story. It has failed to function as that particular type of story should. When we sit down to something like RWBY we have certain expectations. They’re produced by what the show has already introduced, its genre, its tone, what RT says during panels, how much money the company has, etc. Expectations like “Characterization will remain logical and consistent” or “If you introduce this concept you’ll come back to it,” or “We’re not going to have a whole bunch of animation mistakes.” Failing to meet these expectations doesn’t produce an objectively bad story - someone out there will like it - but it does produce a “bad” story in relation to what the majority of audience remembers had hoped and expected the story would be. Every story in the world is compared against its potential and the expectations it produces along the way (even if one of the expectations is a story’s ability to creatively undermine expectations: “We thought we were going one way but then there was a twist. Crucially the twist makes sense so that’s still satisfying, even though it’s not what we thought we’d get). How well the story manages that determines whether the majority considers it “good” or not. 

[kemonododo]

Decided to rewatch the whole series after seeing the finale, here's my thoughts as they come along part 2

This fight between Catra and Adora is where it all comes to a head. Adora begging Catra to follow her, Catra begging her to stay. Catra denying Adora the satisfaction of saving her, then pulling herself out of the portal as a corrupted monster. Adora seeing her true friends put their trust in her, then immediately see a horrific monster in the form of her love take their place. Catra lets everything out here, how she hates Adora's hero complex and how she blames Adora for everything. It's just so raw.

Of course, the best part is the punch. Adora is no longer going to take Catra's hate, she is done. In her own words, she made her choice and she has to live with it. That final death glare is everything. This is the lowest point Catradora will ever face, and it takes Catra proving that she is willing to change for Adora to see the good in her again.

Angella's sacrifice hits a lot harder now that we know she's dead for good, something about the "trapped between portals stuff" convinced me she wasn't when I first saw this. She died still believing her husband was dead, and the last true conversation she had with Glimmer was an argument. Hug your mom kids, you never know when you'll have that opportunity again.

This finale has a lot of parallels to the series finale, especially with Adora being convinced her destiny means she needs to be a martyr. That's Shadow Weaver talking through her, something we see in full force in season 5. While Angella here stops her from sacrificing herself, she still has that warped view of what her destiny is, and it takes Catra to finally show her the real way.

That spin is when I started shipping Glimbow.

This final speech by Queen Glimmer is another great example of how the show hides sinister meanings behind normal dialog. Any other show and we'd be cheering when Glimmer focuses on defeating the Horde, but we know the blind devotion to that goal has so many consequences in waiting.

Both Catra and Glimmer look great in their new clothes, it's a fantastic way to show how much they've grown.

The Valley of the Lost is another one of those great more episodic episodes, it's still connected to the whole story but we also get to take a little break and enjoy some a new local with a Star Wars feel with fun antics with Perfuma, Huntara, and Double Trouble. I wasn't sure about DT when I first heard about them, seemed too late to add a new major character, but they're an absolute blast and help give season 4 it's own identity.

Catra's nightmares are just the start of this season's take on her character, this is where we really dive into how unhappy her actions are making her.

Mayor of Elberon got the biggest glow up of the show

I love how, just, done Adora is with Catra. No more playful teasing, Adora is here to defeat Catra and save the town, nothing else.

Double Trouble is a really fun character, but I'll be the first to admit they aren't good representation. It's bad enough they're the "only nonhumans can be non-binary" architype, but also that they're a creepy masculine trans person who pretends to be a cute girl to get on people's good sides... Yikes. It's a genuine complaint, and one of those criticsms you just have to accept.

We finally get to see some character for Spinnerella and Netossa! They're relationship is one of the big keystones of the season 5 conflict, so it's really important that we had this episode to get to know their chemistry.

Oh Shadow Weaver, how I love you. She's decided Catra and Adora don't have anything left to give her anymore, so she's switched to the vulnerable and easily manipulated new orphaned queen. Glimmer's one track mind on defeating the Horde makes her an ideal target, and Shadow Weaver is again successful in bending a child to her will.

The Glimmer and Catra fight! Glimmer's arc parallels Catra's, especially in this season. Of course she never falls as far as Catra, but I do love that we get just a taste of how this war can sour even the cute sparkle girl.

This final moment with Catra and Double Trouble, amazing. Catra has been mowing through friends, she's already pushed away all the genuine ones, and she's realizing that it sucks to be with people who aren't.

Best way to set up a sympathetic villain, give them a girlfriend lol. Light Hope is tragic, her programming tells her to protect and serve She-Ra, but also to follow her directive. It's something that conflicts in her psyche, and is another strong-suit of this show and it's masterfully written villains.

Princess Scorpia is one of the best episode of the series. Sure the Glimmer drama is nice, but Scorpia... Wow. The remnant of genocide raised in the most toxic place on the planet is the most kind, loving, loyal person to have ever lived. And yet she still chooses to leave. Catra was her crush, someone she saw herself with and promised to be by forever, but even she knows when there isn't anything left she can do. It's a wonderful message and a fantastic episode for one of the best characters in the show.

Mer-Mysteries is actually really well crafted, up until this point all the funny joke episodes have been self contained, but here that's subverted. It's shocking to see Mermista joking around throughout the episode only for it to end with her in utter shock and fear at seeing her home destroyed. Plus the reveal of Double Trouble is great.

Neither Hordak nor Angella was fully invested in winning the war in the first two seasons. It's a good way to escalate tension, as now the Horde's victories make a lot of sense because Hordak is suddenly extremely motivated to win thanks to Horde Prime. It makes the war the first season made such a big deal out of seem paultry in comparison to the slaughter we see now.

I love Sea Hawk so much, he's genuinely funny and endearing.

Bow singing to himself may be one of the most depressing moments is the show. This whole arc of Glimmer and Adora falling out is mostly set-up for Glimmer's choice to activate the heart alone, but it's still really well done and something I really enjoy watching. Something about two friends blowing up at each other, ripping each other apart while the third is left in the ruins is just the angst I can't resist. Catra realizing winning the war isn't giving her the closure she craves and finding out about Scorpia leaving is also a perfect parallel.

Mara is revealed to be a hero all along, what Light Hope painted as a crazed lunatic turned out to be a woman who saved the universe from her own people. It's a beautiful message, and the emotional attachment we feel with her and Razz causes the tears to well up again for what feels like the hundredth time.

The three cadets are great this season, not only do they get some time to shine but they also show how Catra's tyrannical rule is hurting the soldiers beneath her.

I love the moment where Glimmer pulls out the queen card. It's culmination of her arc since the second season, she is finally letting her hatred of the Horde consume her. That shot, the slow piano as it zooms in on her backlit by the fire. Probably one of my favorite scenes in the entire show.

This episode is a monster on my heart, the juxtaposition of Scorpia finally finding the support and kindness she deserves while Catra is suffering the consequences of her own actions. That one shot, a Catra smiling at the news of winning the war only to zoom out at a destroyed room where she collapses on the floor choking on her own tears is a masterpiece.

Even Beast Island gets a glow up

Beast Island is beautifully Eldritch. A place that sucks away your fortitude and will until you're absorbed into it like a digesting stomach. The show does have a lot of moments where it really messes with the character's heads and I love it.

When the signal begins to take over, Bow feeling like he failed Glimmer, Micah realizing his wife is dead, Adora giving into her insecurities, Entrapta being overcome by the betrayal she's faced, all their eyes going gray and dead. It's emotional and terrifying, something this show excels at.

Shadow Weaver spends so much time manipulating children you'd think she'd have it down to a science, but it doesn't seem to ever work out for her in the end, does it?

Entrapta is a great character because every time she exposits she just sounds so enthusiastic, even when she's revealing terrifying truths, like how Adora's "noble destiny" is to exist as the universe's most dangerous gun.

I love how Double Trouble only had to tell Catra that She-Ra wasn't at Brightmoon, their scenes with Hordak and Catra was just for the drama. We got a great fight and Catra finally getting vibe checked, so I have to say DT well done. Their methods are cruel, but hearing someone say to her face that it's her fault people leave her, mixed with the dissatisfaction of winning while alone is the catalyst for Catra's redemption.

Light Hope is revealed to be the one who stole away Adora, the one who forced her destiny on her. Horde Prime may have been the final big bad, but Light Hope was the one responsible for everything. And Adora breaks the sword, ending her destiny as the First One's intended and saving Light Hope from her programming.

What an ominous ending! Hordak, the big bad from season 1, is left a squabbling mess defeated in seconds, and we are faced with a huge and terrifying new universe with seemingly no hope of going against. The stakes are the highest they've ever been, and even already knowing what happened it makes me excited for what comes next.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 243: Happy New Year

Previously on BnHA: The government was all “shit what are we going to do about Shigaraki Tomura and his Actual Fucking Army of villains, oh I know, why don’t we draft some child soldiers” and so they brought back internships and made them mandatory. Class 1-A had the Christmas party to end all Christmas parties, featuring 20 unique custom-tailored Santa costumes, enough chicken to feed Tomura’s entire Actual Fucking Army, and one (1) giant sword that somehow made its way into the hands of Eri, First of Her Name. Tidings of comfort and joy were had by all, and to cap things off, Shouto invited Bakugou (who by the way was having a lot of thoughts about how Best Jeanist asked him to reveal his new hero name the next time they met, because Horikoshi knows what kind of angst I like) and Deku to come intern with him at the motherfucking Endeavor Hero Agency and make everyone’s OT3 dreams come true.

Today on BnHA: Deku visits his mom on New Year’s Eve and the two of them ball out at the Make Me Cry Olympics. There is a whole plotline all about Hawks getting coffee, and I’m trying to figure out if it’s really just coffee or if THE ENTIRE SERIES SECRETLY HINGES ON THIS ONE SCENE omg. The next day at the Endeavor Hero Agency, Endeavor is all, “welcome! fuck you,” which may or may not be setting the tone for this whole arc. There’s a brief flashback to All Might congratulating his sons on their internship and saying foreshadowing things like “your new quirks probably won’t go fucking apeshit again” and “you’re a lot like Endeavor, this internship will be good for you!” Back in the present, Endeavor dramatically leaps over a railing and blasts off to go fight Monk Gyatso with the disaster trio hot on his heels. Hawks then shows up out of nowhere and the text is literally all, “WHAT’S HAWKS DOING HERE?” and seriously though. What are any of us even doing here. This arc has only just started and I already have no idea what’s going on and I fucking love it.

(All comments are my unspoiled reactions from my initial readthrough of the chapter. I did a quick edit for grammar and clarity immediately afterward, and added a few ETAs in the process, but aside from that there are no changes.)

loooool

is she going to be all right

-- also! WE’RE GOING TO SEE THE PARENTS AGAIN HOMG YES. HORIKOSHI YOU’RE ON FIRE WEEK AFTER WEEK YOU MAD DOG

(ETA: literally the only way he could end his streak was by going on fucking hiatus. son of a.)

oh shit I forgot that they had the cover and a color page this week! this is great

by the light (ba da dum ba da dum) of the silvery moon (ba da dum ba da dum) I want to spoon -- holy shit, what. do you ever look up the lyrics to a song you vaguely remember from your childhood twenty-five years later in order to make a bizarre joke in a manga recap and you’re like “!!?!?” lol what the fuck. this shit is from 1909. old timey pervs

anyways this may be my favorite Jump cover ever. colors are amazing, art is super cute, it’s the whole package. Aoyama and Iida are killing me. I need that Iida ball in real life, I would seriously pay real money

and now the color spread!

where can I buy that U.A. hoodie. I’m not kidding, I need it in my life. the U.A. logo is great because it doesn’t scream “LOOK AT ME I’M AN ANIME FAN” unless the other person also watches said anime, in which case that’s awesome because the two of you can become best friends and bond over how you’re both nerds with impeccable taste

Kacchan out here holding a fucking root beer like we don’t all know the truth. yeah tough guy you go to bed at eight-thirty and you’re third in your class at the top high school in Japan. but you keep on trying to preserve that image. also this kid is singlehandedly making wifebeaters high fashion I swear to god. it’s a talent

Kirishima looks so good in v-neck shirts yes you go Kiri!

Mina is here!! Mina is part of the main character squad now, everyone! that’s right!! Iida Tenya was booted out after he refused to partake in this photo shoot due to moral outrage over the fact that they’re shooting this at what appears to be a crime scene. a vacuum cleaner was murdered in cold blood omg

Ochako not smiling is such an unusual look for her (and Mina and Kirishima too for that matter) but holy shit. I like it

TODOROKI I’M TRYING TO REACH THROUGH THE COMPUTER SCREEN AND UNBUTTON YOUR TOP BUTTON. HOLY SHIT HOW CAN YOU EVEN BREATHE. RELAX

so the new character book is out October 4, eh? I think we knew this already, but maybe this time the date will actually stick in my mind. anyways, so doing the math, that leaves Kacchan three more chapters (including this one) to reveal his hero name. boy you have a deadline get to work!

YESSSSSSSSSSS

MY NEW YEAR’S ARC MAY NOT BE HAPPENING, BUT AT LEAST WE STILL GET TO SEE THEM RING IN 2217 HOORAY

damn that’s a lot of narration in the first panel

“while accompanied by guards” oh shit. and yet, I get it. I like how they refer to it as “the chain of events that led us to move into the dorms” rather than “that time Bakugou got fucking kidnapped.” they are not letting that happen again. good

IZUMAMA YESSSS

at least he’s being open with her about it! come on Inko, push through this. he’s already got 240 other things he’s still not telling you, don’t give him any more reason to keep being secretive

oh my god now Deku is like “anyways do you remember Eri?” and he’s reaching into his pocket now, holy shit?? WHATEVER HE’S PULLING OUT IS GOING TO BE SO FUCKING CUTE, ISN’T IT

oH MY GOD!!!!!

THIS SON OF A BITCH IS JUST GONNA KEEP ON AMASSING A COLLECTION OF ADORABLE AND HILARIOUS LITTLE KID LETTERS, ISN’T HE. LISTEN HERE DEKU YOU MOTHERFUCKER!! THAT PIC OF “MISTER DEKU” IS -- I’M -- !!!!

“I was hardly able to do anything for her” ?? you SAVED HER LIFE?? you BODYSLAMMED OVERHAUL INTO THE GROUND?? YOU GOT US ALL OUT OF THAT ACCURSED BASEMENT? listen here you modest little shit you need to stop doing this. you even taught her the true meaning of quirks for crying out loud. you are the actual best

god the way he is staring at this letter is giving me too many feels for a Thursday afternoon. these are like Saturday night feels. this manga never goes easy on me

same Inko same

oh my god now Inko is launching into a speech about Deku’s sad childhood I can’t with this, MA’AM PLEASE

“covered in bruises” oh my problematic ship. oh this nuanced manga with its intricate layers of feels. this is the lasagna of mangas

hello page 3 is just one big assault on all my emotions and I would like to report this to someone help I am being besieged

oh my fucking god Midoriya family. I’m trying to process all of this and just!!

like. she’s known all this time how big his heart is and that he doesn’t care about himself and just wants to protect others. but for the longest time he was powerless to do it. but still he kept dreaming and she kept looking on waiting for that day he’d finally give up, ready for his heart to break, bracing herself. and then this miracle happened and he got a quirk and all his hopes came true and he got to go to his dream school, and now he’s training to become a hero just like he always wanted

and everything special she always saw about her boy is shining so brightly now, and everyone can see it, and he’s become so strong. but also he’s growing up so fast. he’s gone from being someone she had to protect to someone who’s strong enough to protect not only her, but everyone. strong enough to carry the world on his shoulders

just. can you even imagine. how much pride she must feel, in addition to the relief she’s expressing now. but also the loneliness of knowing she can’t hold on to her baby boy forever and he’s on the verge of going out into the world and leaving her. in fact he basically already has. anyways I came here today for some Three Musketeers antics and now I’m sitting her with Izumama empty nest feels, what is this

-- yo, what?? he’s starting the internship on New Year’s Fucking Day? U.A. doesn’t fuck around, goddamn

(ETA: seriously, no rest for the weary here. both Endeavor and Hawks are as busy as ever too. poor Hawks, who never wanted to be a hero to begin with, spent New Year’s Eve undercover trying to drown his sorrows in sugary coffee. of course, Jeanist is spending his New Year’s either in hiding or dead, so.)

anyways so he’s bidding his mom goodbye and getting onto a bus, and he’s all bundled up in a scarf but can’t be assed to wear a jacket, apparently. whatever Deku

AHHHH WHAT IS THIS NOW

AND OH MY GOD LOOK WHERE HE IS

THE LEAGUE OF PLIFF’S HEADQUARTERS AT THE OL’ OVERLOOK HOTEL. watch out for the elevators. Toga probably really likes them though

“where did you run off to number 2” um, he’s still a top ranked pro hero? what, do they just expect him to never do his job ever again? even if they think he’s on their side, they must realize that he needs to maintain his so-called cover

anyways, fucking Slidin’ Go is back, guys. when is someone going to punch this slippery bitch in the face

wow he’s seriously chewing Hawks out for flying off without permission. can someone please just deck this mouthbreather already

oh my god

this motherfucker really truly believes he is Hawks’s senpai. imagine having the same power as a fucking banana peel, and being so deluded you actually think you outrank a double agent of indispensable value, who also just so happens to be Dabi’s best friend, and oh yes, THE NUMBER TWO FUCKING HERO. I don’t even know where to begin with you, Slidin’ Go

oh snap but he’s immediately being called out on his BS lol this is great

twenty microdevices?? holy shit. that’s gonna make it really difficult for him to actually report back to the heroes

maybe if the PSC gives him twenty of their own little spy cams. then the only challenge is for him to try and remember which are which

lmao look at this little metaphorical drawing

isn’t this the Hyrule Castle level from Breath of the Wild

anyways don’t mind me, I’m just sitting here trying to figure out if there’s a double meaning to these two panels

is Skeptic just really bad at making small talk, or is there something here that I’m totally missing?? did he witness something during Hawks’s coffee run?

(ETA: this seriously reads to me as some kind of coded threat, but it makes no sense given the rest of the conversation. he goes on and on about how useful Hawks will be in helping them spy on the heroes, but then calls attention to him sneaking out to buy a single can of coffee. in conclusion I am probably overthinking this way too much, but it’s odd. maybe he really is just trying to be nice and coming off as weird and creepy.)

now we’re flashing back to Hawks’s last report to the PSC

if this is after he met up with Dabi then why does he still have the bag? WHEN WILL THIS STOP HAUNTING ME. I’M SO TIRED OF WAKING UP AT NIGHT IN A COLD SWEAT ONLY TO SEE HAWK’S BACKPACK STANDING THERE RIGHT NEXT TO MY BED, WATCHING

-- SDLKGHSLDKHFL

lmao this scared the shit out of me. Enji what the fuck

yesssss it’s mah boisssss

wow, he’s pretty weirdly enthused about the whole thing, huh? I expected him to bitch about it more. since Shouto basically offered his friends the gig all on his own without any consultation whatsoever. that’s called nepotism Shouto but it’s okay I forgive you

anyways. so are the Endeavor offices located in THE FUTURE. or what. is this Epcot

DKFJWELKFJL

LOL THAT’S MORE LIKE IT. FOR A MOMENT I THOUGHT WE HAD SLIPPED INTO SOME WEIRD ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

hahaha exactly

well I’m glad I’m not going crazy, at any rate. anyways though, Endeavor trying his best to be a good dad and caving in to his son’s ridiculous demands because he’s trying to make up for TWO DECADES OF BEING COMPLETE GARBAGE is pleasing to me as always. deal with it Endeav

HE SAID DEAL WITH IT!!

oh my god Katsuki is saying something holy shit, the next few panels will set the stage for what could be the sleeper hit character dynamic of the year. ghghkghhhhhh

( ⁰ o ⁰ )

oh my god

(ETA: Katsuki I have written whole essays about how perceptive you are and then you just. sob. now that he’s finally starting to ease up on the whole Angry Asshole thing, his inner dumbass is really shining through.)

YES HE IS AND THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO, YOUR BOURGEOIS SON HAS FALLEN IN WITH THIS CHURLISH ROUGHNECK FROM THE HOOD, DIE MAD ABOUT IT!!

lmaooo

that mental image omfg. HE WILL PUT UP WITH THIS SUFFERING IN ORDER TO GET CLOSER TO HIS GOAL. what a sacrifice. the pros outweighed the cons. it’s logic. I can’t, I

and Endeavor being so fucking mad that Shouto picked this asshole to be his new best friend sob. YOU CAN’T STOP THEIR BROMANCE IT IS UNFOLDING BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES

anyways I love everything and I’m all set for the mentoring to begin. bring it onnnn

so now Deku is being surprisingly earnest and thanking Endeavor for accepting them into his agency

and we’re getting our first glimpse of Deku’s Upgraded Feelings About Endeavor oooooh juicy

Deku is so good at seeing into people’s hearts. and so forgiving. we already knew he was -- the inciting event that led to the whole fucking series wouldn’t have even happened if he wasn’t -- but I’m honestly still so impressed every time I see it

(ETA: and also, this means that he still went and told him off during the sports festival even though he was scared of him. kid is the fucking role model to end all role models.)

also I’m already sensing that this chapter (and indeed, this entire arc) is going to prompt more Discourse up in the ol’ fandom. that’s going to be fun. anyways, I’ve already essayed more than once regarding Endeavor’s redemption arc, so I’m not going to spend too much time hashing out the same old points. but basically my stance is I’m fine with it. I think it’s good to show that people can change no matter how far they’ve gone down the wrong path. it may not be easy, but if they’re genuinely remorseful, and if the desire is there, then why not? I’m not gonna get up in arms because someone is trying to become a better person. the alternative is that they stay terrible, and that doesn’t help anyone

anyway, so now we’re flashing back to what appears to be a conversation with All Might, and oh my god

but you guys. listen. Katsuki is there, again. they’re not even discussing OFA this time and he’s still there! elbowed his way into this mentorship like the determined little shit he is, and now he’s not leaving and you all just have to deal with it. oh my god it’s everything I ever wanted, someone please pinch me is this real??

lol and now they are discussing OFA, but that’s okay. it’s only natural that would also be on the agenda

really, All Might?

you consider that “just fine”? that bloop? just as planned?? I know you love your son, but maybe consider raising the bar for him just a little bit. he is capable of so much more, and now of all times is not the time to go easy on him

and he’s still talking about the SIXQUIRKS as though unlocking more of them right now would be a bad thing. I really think this is the wrong approach. maybe I just want to see Deku go buck wild and fucking lose it though, idk

Katsuki has no patience for this either

“I don’t doubt it.” please Deku we’re not worthy of you and your wholesomeness. and he’s so sincere, too?? how does Kacchan continuously absorb all of this shameless admiration and affection day after day, week after week. how is he not humbled by it

anyways time to shut up about that though because All Might is now mentoring Bakugou directly and this requires my full fucking attention

yessss let the character development commence! I’m so excited ddhkshl

and now we’re back in the present and the conversation is taking a very interesting turn!

YES! HE DID! DO YOU REMEMBER? YOU WEREN’T REALLY PAYING ATTENTION BEFORE BECAUSE YOU WERE STILL IN ASSHOLE MODE. what do you have to say about it now?

...

mysterious

what

(ETA: “is he always like this?”)

lol what

hahaha. this arc is off to a fucking hysterical start

oh snap y’all look at this

100% chance Deku is right fucking behind him lol. probably they all are

YEP

BITCH, WHO THE FUCK DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DEALING WITH. YOU THOUGHT THESE WERE JUST ANY OLD INTERNS?? FUCK YOU, THESE ARE PREMIUM, CLUB-LEVEL, OCEAN VIEW INTERNS, YOU UNAPPRECIATIVE LOUT. YOU INGRATE

lol but he’s not missing a beat though, and he’s ordering them to stay behind and watch him oh shit. what is even going on

now we’re cutting to some fucking yogi bobbing around town in a lotus position screaming about a divine revelation he received from fucking space. okay

AHHH WHAT

HAWKS IS ALREADY GETTING IN ON THE ACTION, JESUS CHRIST. DOES THIS FUCKER EVER PUT ON THE BRAKES?? THIS ARC IS LIKE TWELVE DIFFERENT PLOTLINES INTERSECTING ALL AT ONCE AND I CAN BARELY KEEP UP. THIS SHIT IS A TRAINWRECK WAITING TO HAPPEN AND I’M STANDING HERE MESMERIZED

BUT!!!

cue Celine Dion’s “All by Myself” while I fall down dramatically nooooo. the lord giveth and he taketh away. YOU OPENED A DOOR AND CLOSED THE WINDOW YOU BASTARD sob why

well shit. and that means that Katsuki has only one chapter left to reveal his hero name, too. (ETA: keeping track of the important things here lol.) and somehow I don’t see that happening unless the focus of the next chapter takes a very dramatic shift, since we seem to be launching into full plot mode before any of us even have our seatbelts on. not that I’m complaining about that because sdkljk

anyways. see y’all in two weeks I guess. the My Plots Academia arc sure is off to a crazy fucking start

[madisonrooney]

im not that involved in the tangled fandom but i have some Thoughts on the finale/series overall now that its done so i figured id share. im a little under the weather so sorry if these are kinda scattershot

(spoilers below)

for starters, ive been watching since the beginning and was hype since it was announced. i love tangled the movie, probably in one the higher tiers of my fav disney movies, not to mention it was the first tv show wed gotten based on disney movie since emperors new school 11 years prior.

at first i was skeptical about them giving rapunzel her long hair back. it was pretty clearly just a marketing ploy but it was done pretty well in the pilot which i really liked so i could get behind it.

i thought the first half or so of s1 was really good and really cute. it was just a sweet little slice of life in corona. 

i started to get disappointed in the show once queen for a day came around. varian is my fav character (more on him later) and i didnt really like his villain arc. it felt really out of nowhere. not an obvious villain, not a surprise twist villain, just a character that didn’t feel like should’ve been a villain at all. it just didn’t bode well with me. 

i also felt that the jump from slice of life show to high stakes, serialized show was far too abrupt. even tho i liked the second half of s2 and all of s3 better (more on that later as well), it still seemed to have an uneven balance of light and heavy plotlines. i dont wanna sound like one of those people who hates filler episodes. filler episodes are good, but need to be done in the right way at the right time, and i feel like this show didn’t do that very well.

speaking solely on the high stakes, i really feel like they were too high for a show of its kind. in a way, i felt it was somewhat disrespectful to the source material. the show isnt canon, and i feel like it made some big changes that effected the story and characters from the movie, which i think is taking a step too far if youre working on a tv show thats made by an entirely different crew than the film (even tho its the same cast). like, eugene’s dad being revealed and being given a backstory, gothel having a daughter, it just felt like too much for me. compare it to, say, the dragons series, which had very high stakes but also fit snugly between the first and second movies, and took great effort so that nothing they did effected the films’ stories. the showrunners on the dragons show were even consultants on the third movie, so they all flow together nicely.

but rapunzel and the great tree reeled me back in and i was much more invested from there forward, main reason being it gave me my favorite trope (that was kind of already there, but even moreso from this point on): a bubbly girl and an angsty girl who are somehow best friends, though they may be at odds sometimes, like during this arc. i became way more invested in cass as a character and rapunzel and cass as friends (or a ship, im fine with either).

my problems with the imbalance and too high stakes didnt go away with the remainder of s2 or with s3 but my investment in cass’ arc (AND THE REDEMPTION OF VARIAN WHICH I WAS HOPING FOR) was enough for me to put my issues with the show at least somewhat aside.

as far as more things i liked about the show:

VARIAN

he is my fav character and has become one of my new fav characters of all time. i have this thing i think ive mentioned before where if i like an actor and like a show he’s in i love the character twice as much as i otherwise would. so having one of my fav broadway actors whos in one of my fav broadway shows play him made him an instant fav. but i also just love how cute and quirky he is.

cass!

like i said, i love cass and grew to love her more through her newest arc. partially for the same reason as with varian with the VA thing. i dont know much about eden espinosa but ik shes played elphaba and i love that they employed so much broadway talent for this show (more on that later). since the show has started, ive gotten into rent, and she was broadways final maureen, so thats cool too. but beyond just that, i love her arc and personality and of COURSE her relationship with rapunzel, that being one of my fav aspects of the show. it fits right in with liv and maddie, riley and maya, trish and jessica, webby and lena, luz and amity (depending on how the rest of the owl house plays out lol) and im HERE FOR IT. also, despite the fact that i wasnt a huge fan of the high stakes, i give the crew a lot of credit for making a main character a villain for an entire season. thats a big step for disney to take that i dont think theyve come anywhere near before and i give them props for that.

the broadway and disney alum cast!

weve got james monroe iglehart, pat carroll, christian borle, gavin creel, laura benanti, jane krakowski, etc. and as a broadway nerd i love that, not to mention that some of these people had worked with alan menken before which is awesome

the fact that they brought back the ENTIRE movie cast PLUS alan menken is amazing. i dont think any other show based on a movie can quite attest to that

so, onto the finale itself

- i was worried varian may go bad again especially given his initial resistance to eugene suggested his dad might go bad but that didn’t happen so yay. i noticed other people mentioning musical call backs but the only one i noticed was let me make you proud and it made me so happy - ALSO VARIAN BEING THE ROYAL ALCHEMIST IM SO PROUD OF MY SON - this being disney, i figured cass getting redeemed was probably inevitable, but i’m still relieved it happened. now i dont have the bad taste left in my mouth jessica jones gave me. and i loved how her redemption went, seeing her so vulnerable and letting herself be that vulnerable in front of rapunzel CRYING INTO HER ARMS LIKE MY HEART. they really made her very broken, it reminded me a lot of maya hart. sometimes disney channels not willing to go that deep but im impressed they did. - i was kinda hoping it would be revealed that gothel wasn’t actually cass’ mom, i remember seeing some people hoping for that, cuz, again, i feel like thats a bit much to change from the movie canon, buuuut that didnt happen. oh well. - I WAS HOPING FOR I LOVE YOUS BETWEEN CASS AND RAPUNZEL AND WE GOT IT AND WE GOT A HUG AND IM ALIVE - lance adopting the kids was adorable - all the movie parallels were *chefs kiss*

everything wrapped up so nicely and im really happy with it as a finale!

that aside, again, i do still have some issues with the show. so im gonna take a moment to shamelessly plug big hero 6 the series bc imo that does the movie to show adaption FLAWLESSLY.

tl;dr: great finale, despite both loving and hating some things about this show, yall should watch big hero 6 the series, im love varian

[fyrapartnersearch]

Oh? You're roleplaying with me?

Buona sera my fellow roleplayers.

I am currently on the hunt for willing partners who are as infatuated with the Jojo Universe as I am. I am specifically looking for someone who is not opposed to fresh new ideas as well as canon centred plots. Jojo has been by far one of my favourite anime shows in the past few years…. 
And I can’t explain what it is that is so captivating, but everything revolving around it has me hooked, and the passion for it grows with each passing day. It is so much fun and offers a lot of leeway for unlimited possibilities.

And since I am a creative person with a few ideas up my sleeve that could be integrated into the pre-existing universe, I’m certain we can come up with something fresh and engaging. Which of the Jojo story arcs can we roleplay? Well here’s a small list of the ones I am willing to do:



Phantom Blood

Battle Tendency


Stardust Crusaders

Diamond is Unbreakable

these are the ones I am most familiar with since I still haven’t watched Golden Wind yet (I know, I know… it’s about time…)


Now I do encourage a lot of plotting, exchanging ideas and of course, creating original characters. Of course, we do role-play as the given canon characters since there is so much variety and fun material to work with. However, since the world itself is so vast, it would be even more interesting to make up our own characters and story arcs as well, to add and expand on the given setting.

Also, if you have ideas for AUs or some plots, feel free to share. :) 

Now there are also some adult themes and crass elements, despite the flamboyant upbeat appearance of the franchise. Which means, I don’t mind violence, gore, adult topics and so on. I am in my twenties and have little to no limits when it comes to role-playing.


The lines I will not cross however, are heavy subjects such as graphic rape, pedophilia, necrophilia, scat and bestiality. Those are some of the things I won’t do. But other than that, everything’s fair game. 

Please be sure to be at the very least be 18+, though I prefer my partners to be 21 and older. 
Here are a few things about me and how I write, just to give you the general idea when you message me. My writing: Usually third person perspective, although I have made some exceptions in my experience. My style is flexible, and frequently my word count could go up to 1000+ per reply - though it highly depends on the given situation and partner. Quality AND quantity. I love detail in description, and I am actively seeking someone of the same infamy. My partner should have a basic grasp on grammar, punctuation and somewhat of an interest in knowledgeable writing. No text talk, no one-liners and no UwUs (lol).  I would also like to say that I am a lover for doubling in a roleplay. If you are curious to know what it is, feel free to ask me anytime! 
Rating: Alright, so you are writing with some of mature age. I have 12 years of experience on my belt. This will be a fair warning to any of those who are not really comfortable with adult themes. There will be violence, swearing, gore, intimacy, uncomfortable subjects, drama, conflict and other dark themes included within the story. I have few limits but I will respect the boundaries of my partner. And lastly, I won’t fade to black or skip out on the nitty gritty, unless it doesn’t serve a particular purpose in forwarding the story. Interests: My line of interests vary when it comes to genres. I love conceiving my own lore inside a story, be it an original or a pre-existing universe. I am not opposed to tapping into some science fiction, action, romance, crime, action or thriller genres, in fact I encourage it. Characters: I write canon as well as OC characters. Faceclaims, GIFs, drawings (which I also happily indulge in), mood boards or just a plain physical description is perfectly acceptable. Characters should be written as opulent, flawed and unique individuals. In other words, don’t be scared of having them f’ up every once in a while.   Romance: Openly play and accept characters of both genders, preferable m x f pairings, but I am open to m x m and f x f relationships as well. I have more experience with m x f relationships, so I might be more adept in that category, but I am always happy to play my partner’s preferred role. If the chemistry of two characters compel me, I am on board with it! I encourage erotism, but always in a tasteful, sensual manner (that goes for romance as well). Content: Drama, violence, sex, metamorphosis, symbolism, action, romance, pretty much everything is a-okay. I don’t get very bothered by certain subjects that may be uncomfortable for the general public. Roleplays are fictional stories and we best keep viewing them as such. If there are things you are uncomfortable with, name them and I shall respect those boundaries. Also open for AUs as well! When it comes to the Canon characters, I’ll make sure to stay as close and true to the intended personality as possible. Like for example, if I play DIO as one of the main canon characters, you know what you’re in for ;) 
He won’t be walk in the park that’s for sure. And if your original character for example, will develop romantic feelings for someone like him, it’ll be one hell of a time, let me assure you. Either way, I am excited for your messages! Please when you message me, tell me a bit about yourself, what you would like to do, how you write and all that jazz. I am not a big fan of short and curt responses…. I would like to get to know my RP partner a bit more before establishing anything. There has to be a certain chemistry between the two writers, otherwise this will be nonsensical. Communication is key.


If you wish to contact me, please message me here: Email: aylosreverie@gmail.com

-Ally

#Jojo'sBizzareAdventure

[shadowsong26x]

EPIX/Rise of Skywalker Reaction Post

So, I got back from seeing EPIX this morning, and I figured I should get all my thoughts down!

Everything spoilery is behind a cut, and this post is also tagged with the spoiler tags I’ve listed here. If you want me to add any additional tags, let me know and I will to this and any future EPIX posts.

Okay, so, before I really get into this, I should mention two relevant contextual things that probably strongly impacted my feelings on this movie.

I’m not super-invested in the sequel trilogy. I love (most of) the characters, I’m not really into the story that’s being told with them.

Given where TLJ left us, I went into the theatre expecting something between A Trainwreck with Some Delightful Moments and A Delightful Trainwreck. Basically, it was going to be a Hot Mess and I knew it, but I was pretty sure there was going to be something to love, even if the film as a whole didn’t delight me (which, honestly, is even where I stand with TLJ, which remains my least favorite film of the series). And, you know what? I got exactly that. A Sometimes-Delightful Trainwreck. I’d say it’s even towards the upper end of that Delightfulness scale.

All right, moving on to actual thoughts. I’m trying to focus on the positive here, mostly because I did overall enjoy this movie, but I also had some Problems with it.

I’m gonna talk about Kylo Ren first, mostly because I want to get this out of the way. I will say that--when I first saw TFA, I thought I could be interested in this character. I thought they were gonna maybe go the burnt-out gifted kid route with him, which would be hella interesting to explore for the child of Heroes like Han and Leia, and the Legacy he had to live up to. Obviously, they didn’t, and while the direction they went is certainly topical, it’s not super engaging, at least to me. I know it is to some people, and far be it from me to harsh anyone’s squee, but he basically doesn’t do anything for me. I personally don’t find him particularly interesting or intimidating.

Basically, I don’t particularly care about Kylo Ren. (I don’t know if I’m quite at the point where, as my roommate puts it, I aggressively��Do Not Care, but the Not Caring is definitely a thing.)

Anyway, that disclaimer aside--his arc was okay, I guess? I mean...I think my general feelings on the subject are not that it felt phoned-in, exactly, but that it was mostly there because the writers thought it should be there, rather than it flowing organically from the character(s) involved. It also felt rushed, but that goes back to a problem with the movie as a whole that I will get into later in this post. But, given that, the actual beats that were involved in said arc I thought were effectively done. The bit with Han in the wreckage, in particular, was nice.

As for that Kiss though.

...I mean. I’m actually kind of pleased that the end of the film left the romantic threads dangling? It gave me plenty of OT3 feels (though I felt like, especially in the first third or so, the film was leaning more towards Rey/Poe and Finn/Rose, but there was some later stuff that seemed to hint at the full OT3 with a question mark on where Rose stands.)

But I do have a problem with the fact that the only on-screen kiss between Major Characters was between Rey and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. That being said, I can backfill/justify it in that...you know how some people headcanon that Luke’s initial crush on Leia was some sort of “There is a Connection Here that I Cannot Name and it’s probably supposed to be Romantic given our ages and genders and presumed lack of other relationship so let’s go with that?” Between something like that and the fact that he just gave up his life for her in a very literal way (side note: the Force has always been New Powers as the Plot Demands; but the healing thing was a) if not actually in a canon novel at least strongly implied and b) ALL OVER fanon so even if I had a problem with Random Force Powers suddenly occurring I wouldn’t have an issue with this one; the Force Diad thing was ~handwave plot device~ sure fine whatever). ...anyway, given all of that, I can backfill it to a way where I don’t hate it (i.e., if he’d lived, I don’t think it would’ve been followed up on very much/they would’ve settled into a non-romantic relationship of some kind, whatever that might’ve been). Except that it’s the only one, which kind of leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Then again, he did immediately die, so...yeah, I can live with this. I don’t like it, and I don’t think I ever will like it, but I don’t hate it either and it’s not a dealbreaker for me.

Most of the other problems I have with this film come down to structure and pacing. In that, thanks to where TLJ left us, this move had to do so much to bring the story to any kind of cohesive end, and not enough time to do it in. Trying to squeeze too much plot into too small a space.

(I actually had the same problem with ROTS initially--although that was more due to the PT having pacing issues as its Primary Narrative Flaw; TPM was way too slow; AOTC actually had good internal pacing but couldn’t quite make up for it; and then ROTS was as a consequence of that really rushed. Meanwhile, with the ST, I feel like the writers are relying on “it’s all there in the manual” a little too much, so not really...trying as hard, if that makes sense? To make it all connect within the film, I mean, as opposed to depending on people going into other/outside/supplemental material to connect the dots (still not as bad as the Prisoner of Azkaban movie on that front, but it’s still Bad; and, like, all film versions of novels leave some stuff out, just look at the LOTR films; but POA left out a key plot point and that--is a rant for another post. Back to EPIX). It’ll be interesting to see what kind of deleted scenes come out, or if it’ll grow on me in future watchings. Not that it’ll ever become a favorite, I don’t think, but it might improve in my eyes.)

Anyway, basically, a lot of this felt rushed or like...introduced but not really addressed/wrapped up in any kind of satisfactory fashion? Kylo Ren’s arc in particular, as I’ve mentioned before, plus the Threepio stuff felt rushed and non-consequential, and also with Rey’s arc to an extent (it...again, all the beats worked for me/I thought it was fairly effective, but it really needed two movies to pay off as well as it could have). ...I mean, there are more plot threads I could probably mention here, but those are the three that stuck out the most.

Also, this movie needed More Rose :( I LOVE HER and she was barely here!!!!!

Another thing I would’ve liked to see is...okay, I really liked the Overlapping Voices bit, but it would’ve been nice to have more Presence from the ghosts? Like...there’s a bit at the end of season 1 of Sailor Moon where she’s in the Final Battle, the other four have died (or just been left behind, if you’re watching the English dub), and their ghosts show up and place their hands on hers and lend her their strength? A visual cue like that would’ve been great and helped the arc feel more complete. Especially since Palpatine had all of his predecessors/Sith ghosts backing him in a more visible fashion. But, then again, that’s a Personal Taste thing and while it would’ve, IMO, made that moment better, not having it doesn’t make it worse, if that makes sense?

(Also, the credits moved too fast for me to track, but I definitely saw Qui-Gon Jinn listed, though I don’t recall hearing him, and I definitely recognized Anakin/Hayden Christensen and Mace/Samuel L. Jackson and Obi-Wan/Ewan McGreggor (and Alec Guinness I’m pretty sure?) and obvs. Yoda/Frank Oz when actually listening, but I couldn’t identify the other voices--anyone have the full list? Was Ahsoka and/or Kanan and/or Ezra involved, or was it restricted to movie-only Jedi?)

But...yeah. Apart from the Kiss being very ....:/ for me, most of my identifiable problems with the film is stuff like this.

I think the other thing I want to talk about in detail is the Rey Palpatine reveal.

So, up until this movie, I was actually in my corner flying my tiny but determined Rey Kenobi flag, and the more I think about it, the more I like Rey Palpatine for some of the same reasons? Like...I don’t remember everything I’d thought through about Rey Kenobi, but it had to do with the cyclical nature of Star Wars, and bringing it back where it started--and we get that with Rey Palpatine, in a nice arc, healing some of the damage her grandfather did, both to this family and to the galaxy as a whole.

That being said--those of you who know me and my fic projects know I’ve been writing a child (daughter) for Palpatine for quite some time now, and I have no intention of stopping, lol. Am I going to take this/Lavinia’s (presumably) half-brother into account in future projects? ...probably not. But I am looking forward to/hoping we get a novel or something about him and Rey’s mother. Because that is actually a story I’m interested in--why canon!Palpatine chose to have a kid, and how said kid managed to break away and got to this point. [...y’know, I actually think Rey Kenobi’s background/thread of descent would be less interesting to me? Since I subscribe to the idea that a) Korkie Kryze is Obi-Wan’s biological son; and b) Obi-Wan had many Friends With Benefits throughout the galaxy and figuring out exactly which one Rey descends from carries less weight for me.]

...okay, I think that’s all the Detaily Bits I want to get into, so here are some bullet points of things that really stuck out to me, in no particular order:

Bawled like a baby re: everything involving Carrie Fisher. Just...yeah. Miss you Space Mommy.

LANDO! I loved his entrance, I loved him adopting Jannah at the end, I loved all of it.

Chewie’s fake-out death was also actually pretty good/well-handled. I mean. First Boom happens and I’m like DDDDDDD: but then I remember how people reacted to his death in Legends and I’m like would they really do it and then DELIGHT.

HUX. Okay. I never really cared about this dude before, and honestly I still don’t really care about this dude but at the same time, those of you who know me know I have a Thing for double-agents and defectors and I LOVE THIS WHOLE ENTIRE PLOT THREAD. I LOVE THIS SHITHEAD TURNING TRAITOR FOR THE MOST VENAL REASONS AND STILL BEING A BAD GUY/EVIL/AN UNREPENTANT JACKASS. THIS WAS PERFECT.

(Also Finn shooting him in the leg instead of the arm as requested was DELIGHTFUL)

SPEAKING OF DELIGHTFUL gotta love Zombie Skeev Palpatine Unliving His Best Afterlife. Was he as Delightful as he is in ROTS or ROTJ? No. Did I still enjoy every minute of his scenery-chewing nonsense? You bet your ass. So happy, Ian McDiarmid looked like he was having tons of fun and honestly what more could I have asked for?

The whole scene on Ahch-To was just *chef’s kiss.* Use of Yoda’s theme with the rising X-Wing, Luke being snarky and kind and beautiful, him emerging from the fire with the saber...just loved it.

LEIA HAD JEDI TRAINING AND HER OWN LIGHTSABER. BB!MARK HAMILL AND BB!CARRIE FISHER’S FACES.

LEIA TRAINING REY. REY CALLING HER ‘MASTER.’

USING THE BOND TO ARM KYLO REN okay like I said I have Mixed Feelings about the arc as a whole but that moment was SO COOL.

Poe’s ex-girlfriend was pretty great, ngl.

JANNAH AND EX-STORMTROOPERS YESSSSSSSS

HINTS OF/SHREDS OF EVIDENCE FOR FORCE-SENSITIVE FINN GIVE THEM TO ME NOW.

D-0 was pretty cute!

All of the Badass Finn.

Also that MOMENT where Finn runs up to Poe like “I NEED TO TELL YOU A THING” and Poe is all “I NEED YOU TO FIGHT WITH ME” and Finn just interrupts himself to thank Poe and they have that “General” “General” moment and it’s SO CUTE I’m love it.

The entire thing at the Lars farm at the end. Just. Burying the lightsabers, seeing the twins’ ghosts, claiming the Skywalker name, Rey having her own saber now. This movie was a Hot Mess but it definitely ended on a high note.

...that’s pretty much what I have for right now. I will probably have more thoughts after discussing it with other people/seeing it again (because I will be seeing it again). But overall...do I like it? Well, it’s Star Wars, which I love and which frankly always has some Super Dumb and/or Frustrating Stuff, and the things I disliked weren’t bad enough to Ruin It for me, so yes, I liked it. Is it my favorite Star Wars/good for a Star Wars movie? ...not really, no. It did have some gorgeous moments, but it doesn’t really hang together. Like the rest of the ST, it relies way too much on It’s All There In The Manual and, between that and the fact that TLJ didn’t do the work necessary to set it up, the movie felt rushed and a little bit...I don’t want to say hollow, maybe shallow is a better word? I mean, I know this is Star Wars and It’s Not That Deep (but the ground is soft and I’m ready to dig or however the quote goes), but this felt particularly shallow even for Star Wars. Like...cotton candy, fairly good/tasty but a little bit prone to melting away and with very little substance holding it together. On that level, I’d actually probably rank it around Solo (which, let me say, I really like)--so, better than TLJ, but still A Hot Mess of a movie. But I enjoyed myself, and I think overall my feelings are middling-to-positive on it. Even if...honestly, even like less than four hours after the movie ending, I’m already forgetting like half the plot points...? Like I said. Cotton Candy.

What did/do you guys think?

[queenharumiura]

Brotp Kyouya & Haru ((because why not =P))

Send me a ship and I will grade it: ||Still accepting||

I’m answering this in terms of a Brotp, and i’m teetering between A: I love it  and B : It’s really cute

[Note: In case anyone else other than Klee sees this, this is referring to her Kyouya from OHSHC. This is not about Hibari Kyouya from KHR.]

-

I dunno how these two would even meet or even begin to have a sibling sort of relationship, but if it happened for whatever reason, I think it would be a very interesting relationship. 

I would say that Kyouya really wouldn’t have a hard time adjusting to Haru. I mean, look at Tamaki. He and Haru are both balls of energy who often have weird and crazy ideas and or fantasies. Haru’s love for wearing costumes fits with the whole Host club thing where they also are willing to go into costume for the sake of events or whatever. 

I would think that Kyouya would be accepting of Haru from a generality standpoint. Haru comes from an average family, where her father is a college level professor who teaches mathematics. Haru herself goes to Midori, which is supposedly a famous all girls private school for very intelligent students. She is a part of the gymnastics club. 

Her desire to be a Yamato Nadeshiko means that she will try to learn more… sophisticated skills, but we should know Haru’s personality. It’s a lil on the wildly energetic side. However, if you consider the future arc, where we see the future Haru for a brief moment, she was quite calm and mature. 

It’s not wrong to say that maybe after YEARS her Yamato Nadeshiko training wore off. Still, her ‘Hahi! Haru–’ spoken tick doesn’t seem to leave and I love that. I’m similar in the way that I also speak in third person a lot and some spoken ticks of mine don’t leave so easily. Especially my habit to start out most things with ‘haha’. 

In real life and online, I start a lot of my sentences with ‘haha’ because that’s how I actually talk. It’s just a habit of mine and I don’t know why? Haru’s stubborn tick makes me feel like I have a comrade lol. 

Anyways, back to the scheduled programming you came here for: From an outside view, Kyouya can be viewed as a cool and collected character who is very keen on making money, only caring for that. 

Though i’m sure you and I both know that’s not entirely true. He is cool and collected, but he does care for others, and he doesn’t always consider money into the equation of things. A good example would be the time when he helped prevent a person from being swindled. He tried to tell Haruhi that he did it because he recognized the person, but he wouldn’t have been able to see her ring behind the banner. 

He helped because he wanted to, and he didn’t want anyone to be swindled. Also, he isn’t afraid to get into contact with people of all sorts of backgrounds. If he was all about money and only about money, he wouldn’t have interacted with people who aren’t of any use to him beyond what is necessary. 

In my opinion, he treated most people the same way, with a level of respect and dignity. You don’t really see him looking down on people because of their status. He is also very conscientious, like when he makes sure to update Haruhi’s father on her activities because she doesn’t do it herself. He puts up with a lot of Tamaki’s shenanigans, so I’d be willing to say that his patience levels are GODLY. 

He does have a temper when he’s first woken up though– but I mean… #MOOD. 

From this, I’d say that he’s the type of person who likes to connect with people for many reasons, and their character is certainly one of them. You find out one of your customers were harassing another person? It doesn’t matter how influential their family is, you OUT. 

There is dignity, morality, and just… kindness to that. 

Given how he wasn’t against interacting with Casanoda, he isn’t really against people who are from a darker side of society. He judges people as they are, not really from where they come from. He doesn’t discriminate against Haruhi either who is a *~commoner~*. We’ve seen some people hold that against Haruhi before if memory serves me right. 

Kyouya in my mind would not judge Haru for her family status, or her affiliation to the Vongola mafia. 

I do kind wonder if it’s possible that he either approached her because she’s either intelligent, her costume making skills (lol), or just– hey she’s affiliated with a powerful mafia B3c (lol)

Just a thought on my part, really. 

Anyways, Haru also doesn’t really judge people based off background either. If she did, she should have stayed clear of Tsuna from the GET GO, but she didn’t. She judged him to be a good person even if he’s a part of the mafia. 

Of course, she’s also rather fearless, on top of being very optimistic. Even though she knew that Tsuna is supposedly the next mafia boss, she had no qualms over slapping him or challenging him to a duel when she thought he was abusing kids. She will absolutely not tolerate it. She has NO CHILL when it comes to protecting children. 

Above all else, she’s very up standing when it comes to treating people right. It doesn’t matter if she loves you, if she thinks you are a bad person, she will drop you. She won’t let her love cloud her judgement to the point that she’ll forgive you for abusing people. She will not stand that. 

I think that Kyouya and Haru probably share that kind of mentality. They both would want to associate with upstanding people. Kyouya is a bit more behind the scenes than Haru is, with the way he isn’t very outright with the way he does things. Sometimes he’ll help people behind the scenes. 

Haru is more upfront about it, as she’s a very honest soul. 

Haru is also a very dedicated person who is willing to go to far lengths for those she cares about. She has canonically put herself at risk for the sake of others. She’s very… how to say… impulsive. Very much so. Especially when love is involved. She’s very… hyperactive and full of daydreams. (Tamaki, i’m looking at you too)

Kyouya wouldn’t have a hard time adjusting to her, I think. Consider her a younger Tamaki tbh. 

Haru is very loyal. When she thought that Tsuna had accidentally killed someone when he ‘blacked out, allowing his mafia instincts to take over,’ she said that she’d wait for him like a dedicated wife lololololol. There was no such thing as lets hide the truth! Nope! If you’re Haru’s husband, you better take responsibility for your actions and she’ll wait for you like a dedicated wife. 

Certainly, there were theatrics as she went into that. Even if Kyouya’s reputation has some blots, Haru wouldn’t judge him for that. She’s the sort to judge someone based off her own personal knowledge. However, she is concerned about safety– so if the rumors said he was violent, she would care for that, ahahaha. 

All that being said, if they did somehow form a sibling bond, i’m sure they would be good at caring for the other. Haru loves to visit her friends and check up on them. Watch her also make him bentos for him to try. You may have fancy chefs, but don’t you know the best seasoning is LOVE!?

Make sure you eat all your vegetables and fruits. They are healthy for you– but she doesn’t need to say that given his family background, riiiiiight????

Have a taste of the commoner bento filled with love. Join Haru on her escapade to the CAKE BUFFETS. This is how commoners enjoy their fill of cakes. lol

Kyouya… I feel, would be supportive towards her. Indulge her in her weirdness, and maybe help her towards her dream of being a world class costume maker. Hard to say since I can’t recall off the top of my head if he’s ever been around kids, but I think he’d be the sort to take care of people well. 

I do think he’s the youngest child? I feel that given his upbringing, he’d be sensitive to the fact that younger children should be treated with care and with support. He doesn’t like the way he had to keep himself caged due to his brothers, and that’s so stifling. Due to this, I think he’d be more of the sort to allow a younger sibling freedom. To step out from the shadows, so to speak. 

Can’t say if I think he’d be the sort to spoil people, but I do think he’d be the kind to reward people for good work? Like he gives people the praise they deserve, rather than just praising for the sake of it. Fairness is big and i’m sure Haru would like that. 

It’s been said that she gets spoiled by her father and she’s quite embarrassed by it, so I think she’d be happy with getting praise for what is worth it. Being overly praised to become spoiled would probably make her feel embarrassed. She’s trying to be a Yamato Nadeshiko, spoiling her rotten would be bad! 

All in all, I think, they’d have a comfortable dynamic? Truly, this depends on your interpretation of him. This is just my thought in generality. 

I do think if they were to have a sibling like relationship, Haru would be happy to have him around and she’d be very affectionate. He’d likely show his affection in not so obvious ways in line with his cool and princely persona type. 

One thing is for sure, they both have a temper that can be dangerous. Haru can probably fly off the handle if someone does something she views as morally wrong. Kyouya probably would do his own thing– but not fly off the handle, he’s too ‘cool’ for that, kek. 

So I think if they both had a common enemy, it would not be good for that enemy. I feel as though if something happened to Haru, he would do something about it, but behind the scenes like the shadow king he is. 

Just know, the moment you become a brother figure to Haru, she will try to get you to wear a costume. Who is she to deny someone who can help her model clothes so she can get them fitted? Some of her costumes… (by that, I mean most) are… interesting… //cough

I can foresee Kyouya having to deal with a mini Tamaki. The problem is that Haru has a temper and she WILL fly off if she sees something that needs corrected. Kyouya, have fun chasing after her. Do scold her for being impulsive as usual. 

Haru is very optimistic, so she often uses her own theories to explain people’s actions. As long as she thinks you are a good person at heart, she can probably reason whatever in a positive light. 

Except for abuse. She won’t even bother trying to see that in a good light. You hit a child, and it’s bye bye for you. 

Really though, Haru is an interesting person with various interests. She is training to be a Yamato Nadeshiko, a model housewife. Yet, she has an interest in wrestling due to her father. 

She is rather prude tho and gets easily embarrassed. RIP Lambo who got german suplexed because he had too many buttons undone on his shirt. 

She did punch out a pervy doctor who was being a pervert towards her. I will always praise her for that. Good girl. So she’s certainly someone who has a temper and will use whatever means to protect herself from pervs. QuQ 

I don’t think Kyouya would have to step in for that. I can see him praising her for a job well done while also thinking about how to deal with it on his end without her knowing. OTL||||||

So yeah, I think they’d have an interesting sibling dynamic where they like to support each other the best they can, or at least just enjoy each other’s company. 

[kevoreally]

#BuffyAt20 - S03E08 “Lover’s Walk”

> OKay, first thing’s first: is it Lovers or Lover’s? Wikipedia has the first one, Hulu has the second. Very confusing.

> Another fake-out opener where someone is being hyperbolic about the world ending but it’s just grades or something.

> Willow got a 740 verbal on her SATs. Like, I think she’s being too hard on herself, but I get not feeling academically fulfilled by that. I think I got 700? I don’t remember. My math sucked, that’s for sure.

> That Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel reference has endured the test of time.

> What is Xander’s score if it’s close to 740? We joke about his grades a lot but like. Get serious, son.

> Willow, that top is so loud.

> Omigod, I’m looking forward to going back to pretending Xillow never happened soon.

> Cordelia testing well is good continuity with “Band Candy.” And I loved them following up on SAT scores. I think these might have come out a little quick, but it’s fine.

> “That was my sarcastic voice.” “Y’know, it sounds a lot like your regular voice.” “I’ve been told that.” I feel you, Oz.

> Cordelia’s terror at the idea of double dating IS A DANGER SIGN, XANDER.

> I have Buffy’s SAT score memorized: “1430, Buffy, you kicked ass!” (A friend got the same score on her first take.)

> “Now you can leave and never come back.” I actually love Cordy here, a rarity for me lately.

> Pretty sure the shot of Spike crashing into the Sunnydale sign is just a retouched copy of the one from Season 2. Not a problem, just funny.

> I wasn’t sure I had the energy to do my #BuffyAt20 right now but this theme song is giving me life.

> I don’t get Spike’s obsession with Sinatra in this episode but sure.

> Oh man, remember the Factory? It’s a slot on my Buffy Monopoly board.

> Do we feel the flashback to when Dru left Spike that we get in Season 3 keeps in line with what we’re presented here? Dru accusing him of loving Buffy as far back as now? Hm.

> Literally the episode where Cordelia and Xander break up is the episode where it most seems like they’re a happy couple. And even then, they’re horrible to each other half the time. Sigh.

> Oz giving Willow the PEZ Witch is still one of the best things ever. I really wanted a wolf PEZ for Oz.

> Okay, a friend and I recently discussed a fan poll where people voted on their favorite mate for Willow and it made me uncomfortable that Oz was winning. But… I get it.

> There’s a lot of focus on Giles packing in this scene.

> Ooh! Worth noting: the guy who wrote this episode wrote three of my favorite #Daria episodes! He’ll also later write “The Zeppo.”

> This episode laid a lot of interesting potential for Buffy to be able to leave Sunnydale. Not forever, but, even if just for college. It was interesting.

> I wish I could make Buffy Now see how much Giles treated Seventeen Buffy like an adult over this Angel situation. He could’ve been SUUUCH a prick. And their relationship got really awkward for a while there, and I don’t think Buffy was entirely fair to him. Or probably him to her too. Fathers and daughters, man.

> I spent a whole dumb Xillow scene typing that last one. Not sorry.

> I’ve said it before but it’s wild that Buffy’s house never changes once in 7 seasons. The cinematography changes so much that it feels like a different house.

> How does Angel not hear, or even sense, Spike right outside the Mansion? Still recovering from Hell, I guess? Coz otherwise, wtf?

> I do love Spike waking up on fire.

> What happened to Spike’s car between Seasons 3 and 4 anyway? Where’s that story?

> “This is just too much.” Some real gentle language there, Spike.

> The Magic Box is, like, the same SHAPE we see in Season 5. But the layout isn’t totally right. And the back hasn’t been blown out yet. The storefront is the same. They moved the register away from the door. Hmm.

> Ooh, that Spike shot of grabbing the shop owner becomes his credits shot.

> Hey! It’s the Mayor! I forgot he’s in this one. And Allan! He’s pretty cute, tbh.

> “Boats did have canons. And a loose one would cause it to rock.” Lol.

> The way that the Mayor celebrates sinking that putt makes me wonder if he hadn’t been expecting it, haha.

> Where is Angel getting hair gel from in the Mansion? How is this a priority? Then again: same question at Derek Hale sleeping in a train yard.

> I’m not loving the dramatic beat when Angel tells Buffy she should leave. Like. Buff. Shouldn’t you? Sigh.

> Willow is trying to do magic on Xander without his consent. That’s actually an interesting portent for Season 6.

> Xander and Willow, like, really try and hold their own against Spike here. Mad respect.

> Alyson Hannigan shows such amazing vulnerability in the scenes with James Marsters, it’s bonkers. And then how it flips on a dime to be comedic. Wild chemistry, those two.

> OOOH, Dru accused Spike of going soft for teaming up with Buffy, eh? Interesting…

> HA! The “chaos demon, all slime and antlers” line was a favorite among fans, so we loved finally seeing him in Season 5.

> “I haven’t had a woman in weeks.” Blech. “Well, unless you count that shopkeeper.” Double blech.

> “I’m not a real witch, you know.” Heh.

> It. Is. SO. Clever. That Willow sends Spike to Buffy’s house. Holy. Shit.

> You know who else is a good version of Cordelia Chase? Valencia from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Becomes a good person in, like, half the time it’s taking Cordy…

> Ugh, I hate coincidence moments like that. Buffy heard Spike on the phone when her mom happened to call? Sigh.

> YAAS, the Joyce/Spike bond! We needed more of this!

> Joyce Summer is Top 5 TV Mom material.

> “You get out of this house or I will stake you myself.” GEDDIT, JOYCE!

> Lol, remember how Buffy is going to start sleeping with Spike? This show, man.

> Spike just called Angel a “poof.” Nice.

> “What if they were kidnapped by Colombian drug lords?” CORDELIA. STOP.

> Oz smelling Willow is… interesting.

> Buffy is so eager to kill Spike.

> Did Buffy rip off Sookie Stackhouse with this love triangle or vice versa? Angel being Bill, Spike being Eric. Hm.

> Buffy always made kicking in doors look so cool.

> What exactly are we supposed to make of Spike’s observation about Buffy and Angel being in love here? I mean, he’s right. But. Like. What, they needed someone else to tell them?

> “I won, right? Kicked his ass?” “You were real brave. Do you need to barf.” Classy.

> “Give me a third option.” “He’s so drunk he forgets about us and we starve to death.” HA.

> AAAAAnd they kiss, aaaand Oz and Cordy show up, aaaand it’s horrible. AAAAND Oz is the only one who composes himself maturely, like always.

> Cordelia getting skewered was… so weird.

> They’re having this vampire fight, like, in the middle of downtown Sunnydale right now. I get that it’s probably 3am or something but omigod.

> Oh yeah, the storefront is definitely the same a when it’s the Magic Box.

> Seeing Buffy, Angel, and Spike standing side-by-side is a hoot.

> The “let’s give baby a taste” stuff Spike does is… No.

“ “Baby like his supper?” No. No he doesn’t.

> The table Spike stakes this guy on is, like, probably the same table he and Anya bang on in Season 6, haha.

> The holy water bombs are so cool. Why don’t they use holy water more often?

> The resolution of this Spike story is… so Spike. You know, we probably would’ve never seen him again if they didn’t love James Marsters SOOO much.

> Remember when they made us think Cordelia died? Like, right after she found of Xander cheated on her? This story was, like, one of the lowest points of the show. I’m sorry but it was. I remember laughing out loud when we found out Cordy wasn’t dead. That’s not something you wanna get a laugh on.

> What was the point of this story arc, though? “Don’t cheat or someone could die?” This is a ‘Blood on the Pavement’ type parable here. Way more Dawson’s Creek than Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

> I remember thinking Cordelia was going to be blind, because of the “I can’t see you” thing. I don’t know how being skewered would blind her.

> Okay, CAN WE TALK about the nailed-up broken sheets of wood at the Mansion entrance? It is the weirdest thing, it looks like a child’s tree fort.

> Buffy, if you think you’re fooling Giles and your friends into believing you don’t want Angel, you are sorely mistaken.

> Angel, be a big boy, let the seventeen year old girl go.

> She has to step through his weird cobbled-together wooden doorway! And it’s gone, like, after this episode! Wtf!

> This maudlin montage of all the characters being despondent was, like, the biggest bummer. Why do I love Season 3 so much?? This is such a downbeat point for the show.

> And there’s Spike riding off into the sunset. See you in a year, William.

[onewomancitadel]

Yeah, being in uni is going back to being a preschooler again.

You've earned the honour. And I'm sure there's other good content creators for knightfall,

I am mildly allergic to the words 'content creator', but yeah, I do know there are other fic authors primarily on FFN. Sunset Hunting is writing In His Kindness currently if you want to check that out. There are others recommended to me, but it seems like the fandom I've discerned present for Knightfall is more interested in V1-3 era Knightfall. I am resolutely not, merely a matter of taste. To my eyes V1-3 Knightfall is a completely different ship basically, and I don't multiship. There are also a lot of issues with characterisation of Cinder and Jaune since I have very different interpretation so that's also a thing I'm concerned about.

I'm glad I'm a fic author whom you can reread, thank you for enjoying my work.

As for downloading videos, I know that RWBY can be downloaded off of Crunchyroll if you have it, but idk if it's usable for editing purposes.

Okay maybe I'll check that out, but are all the volumes on Crunchyroll? I watch on the RT website with sponsor First. Stupid name change. I'll see what I can do anyway.

The newer chapters definitely haven't decreased in quality, they're definitely still good. The only thing making them not as enjoyable as the other ones is, obviously, the lack (or great reduction) of Cinder/Jaune moments.

Yeah, I had a feeling that happened to be the case. I really like separation and it had to happen but yeah. Understandable. This is where I'm okay with concrit ftr, when I did specifically bring it up/ask for it, in case anybody else is reading this.

I figured it was worth mentioning because I noticed I got very few comments the last few chapters (haven't checked FFN reviews because I had a person leaving comments who didn't like the story from the sounds of it, scared me off, and edit: fandom etiquette I'm used to is don't like, don't read), but if it's coming from the separation angle that's fine. I did really try to bring in the angst/interest with outside third parties, since that hadn't been present throughout (most) of the earlier story, but yeah.

Just mildly demoralised. I regret writing my fic sometimes, the epic highs and lows of being a complete fucking loser who can't write. Sigh.

And lastly, I've only watched bits and pieces of RvB, but I'm definitely interested. [...] Developed a minor crush on Carolina.

Oh, the romance is very minor, and the only time it's good imo is when Miles wrote that one episode, it was the episode that got him working on the Chorus Arc I think. My favourite seasons of the show are the Blood Gulch Chronicles and the Chorus Arc, the Freelancer Saga REALLY doesn't hold up (Season 8 is probably the best of those), it's way too melodramatic in tone (especially 9 and 10, I can't do it). Chorus is at least a bit sillier and stupider and the villains are better. I prefer RVB when it's silly and stupid (and it's honestly an offensive show lol), but I wouldn't say that I really watch it regularly anymore.

Agent Carolina is still like my favourite character though.

What are some good ships for me to get into? Either ones with good canon content or ones with good fanfic, ones that you liked.

None of the ships are the sort of thing I'm interested in now, personally. There are fics for a few ships like Grif/Simmons (often a background pairing), Tucker/Wash, Locus/Felix, that sort of thing, most of them are M/M, there were some others which were popular. None of it is really conducive to good romance (edit: in case anybody gets upset I said this, I mean RVB is not a romantic setting with a traditional romance payoff, and all of the canon romances are tragic), and most of them are - being really mean here - tonally inappropriate to RVB, RVB is ridiculous. Most of the fic is too serious. (Grif/Simmons works best because it's basically canon and very silly). But again, that's my qualm about the Freelancer Saga.

Anyway, enjoy your naps, it sounds like you need them. <3

Re: the new chapter.

It was fantastic and I WILL be commenting, I just don't have enough time to dedicate right now (or rather, I have the time management skills of toddler).

Re: miscellaneous

I've now listened to the Camp Camp theme about 40 times because I love the fact that it's technically Jaune singing it.

I was also very guiltily watching rwby amv's like the shameless 2000's fanfic reader I am, and you know what I found? There's like, ONE single Knightfall amv, of unknown quality since I haven't yet seen it. And since you're the Designated Knightfall Person... guess who it falls to to Deliver us from hopelessness.

If you feel like it, that is XD, but I certainly couldn't do it and you are, as I've said, the #1 knightfall content creator.

Hope you're having a nice day:)

Re: the new chapter.

No worries about commenting, I appreciate the ones you've left on previous chapters. Thank you for reading. (: These past few chapters have been pretty hard for me to get through mentally, I mean I've enjoyed writing them but I get the sense they're not very good. At least next chapter might prove interesting. I hope everything is going well for you; if your time management skills are as good as a baby, then make sure you're getting those afternoon naps in. :D

Re: miscellaneous

Have you seen Red vs. Blue? I think I've mentioned to you I was a fan of it and that's how I got into R/WBY, but um. Jaune's voice actor (and writer for seasons 11-13, though he also wrote one episode in season 10 which at the time had me confused when he said he couldn't write romance, because it had the only and most romantic scene for that couple in the show) also voices another character in RVB and it's. Very funny. He has a lot of range, let me put it that way. (I actually really like Miles' voice acting lol).

EDIT: Lol and Cinder's letter X-ish shaped scar even reminded me way back when of Locus' visor, she matches with her boyfriend's voice actor's character in RVB. Incredible.

I like fanvids conceptually but there are very few I actually really like. I generally prefer the ones without lyrics, like instrumental scores. The ones I do like I go back and rewatch frequently though. I really love how fanvids themselves can be so convincing of an idea and string together different scenes, it's argumentative like an essay.

And since you're the Designated Knightfall Person

This is a very high honour, thank you.

guess who it falls to to Deliver us from hopelessness.

I have one plotted out in my head already. :( I would really like to get Skimming Eye done as soon as possible and on time according to my schedule so other stuff I want to do keeps falling to the wayside. The fanvid living in my head is really awesome though. I put together the music already.

The one thing I can't find is a source for downloading R/WBY episodes. I'd prefer to buy them so I actually want to OWN them and load them up in VLC media player etc.

It's such a pain in the arse always going to the website, for that matter I can't make a fanvid without actually having the episodes. I've surched in all of the requisite places.

I guess there are only the DVD versions? Is it blu-ray now? Sucks to be me without a disk drive. This is when I really want to get a desktop again.

and you are, as I've said, the #1 knightfall content creator.

An extremely high honour lol. There are lots of other talented fic authors and people into the pairing, I'm very sure. I'm just doing my thing. I've parked myself here and I'm not moving. I suppose also I really like R/WBY and I'm very much into the show, V8 was my favourite volume etc., so that influences my reading and my output/interest. But trust me I have absolutely no conceited ideas about myself, I know I'm a weirdo.

Thanks for your ask and hope you have a good night. (:

[lia-nikiforov]

Spring Anime Watchlist

Ugh, sorry that I’m so late with this, I don’t even have a good excuse, I just wasn’t feeling it. But since I’m super delayed with anime and I’m out of town for the weekend (hopefully I’ll come back bearing exciting news *---*) I decided to leave you with this, my watchlist of the Sprinquel season and how all the new shows are shaping up so far (spoiler: the sequels are great, everything else… ehhhhh). Best to worst, too lazy to number

Uchouten Kazoku 2

Season one of this show didn’t make my all-time top ten for nothing, and if I ever doubted that, this new installment came with the perfect timing to remind us of its whimsical charm and simple yet painfully real family melodrama. The gorgeous, loving rendition of Kyoto, a city I love with all my soul, is just the cherry on top. It’s only four episodes in and there’s already so much drama and character work every episode is a delight. I also think Benten is by far Mamiko Noto’s best performance and she’s such a unique character in the realm of anime I love her as much as I loathe her. I love this show and it’s such an underappreciated gem, go watch it for real

Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul

Continuing the trend of absolutely fantastic sequels, Virgin Soul has done a brilliant job in plunging us back into the Bahamut world and the new character dynamics that have changed significantly in the past ten years. Nina is a most excellent protagonist, and I absolutely approve of how getting horny unlocks her dragon transformation. Now I understand why Victor Nikiforov had to pull back from the show, Nina would be stuck in dragon form forever *swoons*. I’m 100% intrigued and super excited to see where this is going. And the animation is fantastic, thanks Cygames for pouring so much money into this gorgeous production.

Natsume Yuujinchou Roku

I loved season five, but I’m already loving Roku even more. I can’t say why, but there’s something about this season focusing on how Natsume is no longer alone, but is instead surrounded by loving friends and family, and how happy he is for that, and it’s incredibly heartwarming. The episode where Natsume gets aged down to a child was particularly lovely. Of course it would be kind of great if we got some movement in the Natori or Matoba or Reiko plots, but I won’t say I’m getting tired of Natsume’s one-off little heartwarming adventures. This season also looks much better than the previous one, so kudos to Shuka for that.

Attack on Titan 2

You can almost smell the money on this one. The animation and direction are fantastic, even without original director Aramaki who’s too busy doing his Zombie Train!AU fanfic. I definitely like how they’ve made the tone more horror-like. I’ve already read ahead on the manga so there’s no surprises for me, but I was still gripping the edge of my seat when the Beast Titan spoke. At least the four years of wait look like they’ll be worth it.

Boku no Hero Academia 2

So the mandatory tournament arc is upon us and it’s honestly really top notch. But you gotta kill all this recap, it’s only been a year, BONES, we’re not stupid. I’ve heard a lot of praise for the upcoming Sports Festival arc and so far it’s delivered (gimme more of Mei and her babies pls), so I’m excited for whatever else is in store for us. And extra kudos for having a female character who’s doing it all for the money and isn’t shamed by it or called greedy or shallow, but is instead praised for her realistic approach. Ochako is best girl and Japanese otaku have literally the worst taste.

Yowamushi Pedal: NEXT GENERATION

Not much has changed since my Winter Final Impressions. Teshima’s still Best Boy, Kaburagi’s still mildly insufferable and Midosuji is a riot. The Interhigh has started surprisingly fast and I’m all set to see all the melodramatic sports anime deaths that await us. Just give Teshima a trophy, he’s literally the best of all boys.

Little Witch Academia

The plot seems to have finally kickstarted in this one which is fairly interesting. Though I must say I’m getting a little tired of Akko. She’s just too close to that plucky, ditzy, irredeemably dumb and childish protagonist that I tend to hate coughsailormooncough, sorry, something got stuck in my… keyboard. I’m definitely interested in the inevitable villain reveal for the new tech teacher and her backstory with Chariot, as well as more of Best Girl Sucy. It’s still a fun show and in the upper tier of TRIGGER’s limited portfolio, but it so far still feels eons away from the brilliance of Kill la Kill. Let’s hope they stick the landing.

Kabukibu

So let’s firstly get the butt animation out of the way. It’s butt. I’d started to regain some faith in DEEN after Rakugo and Sakamoto, but I guess not all shows can get the A team and it’s a shame that a series with interesting stories and pretty character designs gets stuck with the negative zero budget. Although seeing Kuro break into kabuki lines in the middle of a crowded room is giving me way more second-hand embarrassment than I can usually handle, the show is overall harmless and cute, and it has very good discussions of gender stereotypes, particularly in episode two. I think, narratively, they overdid it with the “oh wow, what a coincidence, there are TWO characters in this one school coming from kabuki families” but aside from that, it’s pretty fun.

Starmyu2

I don’t have a lot to say about this one. It’s still fun, extremely dumb, super forgettable, but equally charming. Everyone’s awfully samefacey and they introduced like a hundred new characters that I can’t keep track of, but we still have people randomly breaking into ridiculous songs, so that’s all good with me

Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine

This isn’t a great show by any means, but it hits the right notes for me so I’m not even gonna pretend I’m expecting any sort of groundbreaking quality out of it. It’s just pleasantly familiar without being gross and I legit like the deep voice they gave the tiny teacher. (I slept through the last third of episode 2 though and apparently missed on all of Kai’s deal oops he calls everyone ‘good boys’ so we cool)

Chopping Block

This special section is for shows that I wasn’t intending to watch when the season started, saw a lot of praise for them and decided to check them out, only to not find anything special. I haven’t dropped them and still kinda hope they do something interesting because the concepts could work, but they aren’t giving me any reason to continue watching, so… idek what to do with these lol

Re:Creators

This was nowhere near my radar because of that chuuni otaku title and throwaway LN character designs, but then I heard the premise and read it was from the creator of Black Lagoon and thought it could at least be exciting. It isn’t. There’s so much bloody talking in this show they had to make it interesting by showing us a montage of the characters doing random daily activities (excitement???) while one of them talked nonstop. Like with the others in this section, there’s a good story hiding beneath layers of boredom. They had a strike of brilliance when Selesia is accidentally spoiled of a major development in her novels that she’s not aware of (a spoiler of the ‘your friend betrays you and kills your other friend’ magnitude) and she… doesn’t react at all. God it was so frustrating. It was an incredibly opportunity for drama and reflections on morals, but I guess it was more interesting to gush about how thorough LN authors are when creating their works blablablayaaaawn. The animation in the fight with the magical girl was cool though.

KADO: The right answer

Let’s start by that horribly obnoxious title. It already seems like it’s gonna be preaching about some morally gray thing that they’re gonna try to make black and white. Not good. The CGI is certainly the best I’ve seen in anime, the cube alone looks excellent. Storywise though.... it’s trapped somewhere between absolute boredom and gratuitous glorification of our Lord and Savior Nippon, the only country with good people, capable of making decisions for the sake of humanity. Guys, I hate the UNitedstates’puppet as much as anyone, but the way the conflict is being presented is so transparently condescending it’s annoying. zaShunnina’s cute though.

Zero kara Hajimaru Mahou no Shou

Saw someone reccommend it as “if you liked Spice and Wolf.”. Turns out this is 10 times more boring and 10 times more chockfull of icky sex jokes than I ever needed in my Spice and Wolf. Also the animation is butt, episode 4 looked teeeerrible. I think there’s a charming little story somewhere in there, but they have to tone it down with the “hyuk hyuk everyone thinks Zero is banging the tiger man hyuk hyuk” because they kill me. That whole “what is a kiss” scene was just so cringey I wanted to throw the scriptwriter out the window. Puh-lease give me something interesting show. I’m begging here

 DROPPED

Berserk

Like, I thought I could suffer one more cour of hatewatch, especially since I’m a little ahead on the manga and at least Serpico is a character I enjoy, but having to digest this gross edgy manpain extravaganza with a sprinkle of gratuitous rape at every given opportunity in that godawful CGI is just… ugh. I’m fine experiencing this story just once, thanks.

Alice to Zouroku

I went into this expecting Usagi Drop or Amaama to  Inazuma cuteness, instead I got weirdass Anime Alice™ with little girls fighting with the power of godawful CGI and some evil scientific organization… thing. The show opens with a big fight scene, and Anime, if you gonna do that you better make it the best fight scene in the history of everything, but it isn’t. The direction is terrible, the colors are muted and even with the girls’ unique powers, it’s incredibly tedious, and the animation it a literal butthole. We have a lot of butt animation this season hey Japan maybe start paying your employees a living salary and not literally overwork them to death…? Just a thought.

So, like I said, the season’s strong because we have a LOT of magnificent sequels, but the new stuff is just…. Eeeeh. Kabukibu’s the best of the bunch, but it pales in comparison to the big hitters of the season. Oh, and I didn’t even sample SukaSuka because I’ll be caught dead before I touch a thing with such a stupid shorthandle (and the full title is highkey idiotic too), sorry, I’m too old for this level of LN.

[marshmallowgoop]

I'm surprised you feel that way, although it made me sad (especially that senketsu was gone), I really loved the way they dealt with the themes of moving on, and of the impact the past should have on us.

I’m surprised that this is surprising! Apparently I haven’t salted enough about the ending recently, huh?

That said, I don’t know if you read this post that I linked in my last response, but I would recommend reading it if you haven’t (and if you want to understand more of my POV). The argument there is just one of the most eloquent I’ve written about why the ending plain doesn’t work, but I can also point to a whole slew of other essays/thoughts on the subject that I’ve done (the ☂ are warnings for Extreme Salt and the numbers in parentheses note that the essay was included on that page in my compiled meta book): 

Senketsu’s Death: For the Best? (186)  ☂

Senketsu’s Final Fate? (143) ☂

Senketsu “Outgrew” Being a Uniform? (139) ☂

OVA Thoughts ☂ 

Senketsu’s Death: Is Senketsu Really Dead? (145) ☂ , Part II  ☂ , Part III  ☂

The OVA is Awful if You Like Senketsu ☂

OVA Salt ☂

“Outgrowing Sailor Uniforms” ☂

And then the one I linked above: Gurren Lagann, Re: Cutie Honey: Kill la Kill Ending Salt ☂

Buuuut that’s a whole heck of a lot of TLDR, so let me pick out the relevant bits:

From Senketsu’s Final Fate? (143) ☂:

I appreciate how the OVA expanded on Senketsu’s dying linesome more with the idea of “graduating” from the past and learning to move on,but, opinions, it wasn’t really the closure I was hoping for. A peek in myanalysis tag shows that I don’t ever seem to stop yapping about how Senketsuis more than a uniform, and I’ll always argue that point,since that’s so much of what the show means to me. And while I’m compelled bythe OVA’s take on “outgrowing” being less about growing up but more aboutletting go of the past and moving on, it still rather adds to this idea of“outgrowing Senketsu”… which leaves a really sour taste in my mouth. Yeah, itseems to be more about what sailor uniforms represent (and particularly, what aKamui represents) than anything about Senketsu personally, but the point stillstands. He’s Ryuko’s friend and partner. You don’t outgrow that.

Worst of all, though, is that the closure at the end heregives off the impression that Ryuko doesn’t need Senketsuanymore, which doesn’t sit right with me. Cause, like, when you lose a friendand you learn to live without them, saying you don’t need them anymore feelsall sorts of wrong. People certainly need people, but with friends, itshouldn’t be about being so reliant on them that you literally need them tolive—it’s about wanting them in your life because they enhanceit by being who they are. So in this sense, yes, Ryuko doesn’t need him, butthat’s not something I want to hear in this show’s final moments. I want tohear that they were friends, that they had good times together, that she’llmiss him but she won’t kill herself in missing him, and she’ll never forgethim. This “I’ve outgrown you and I don’t need you anymore” vibe I get justfeels like a slap in the face after everything those two went through together.

From OVA Thoughts ☂:

I can’t enjoy the OVA as much as I would like because it mucks up one of the show’s most crucial elements. To spend a whole series touting two characters as equals and one and the same and then try to pass one off as just some grand mentor figure that needs to be “outgrown” and moved away from plain doesn’t work. And it works even less to treat him as though he’s been some object all along. All of that seems to be going on with the OVA, and all of it leaves me shaking my head.

From Senketsu’s Death: For the Best? (186)  ☂:

You might outgrow sailor uniforms (though I’ll point outthat this sentiment is pretty broken, considering Ryuko still has a year ofhigh school left and no, she’s not done wearing sailor uniforms just yet), butyou don’t outgrow friends. 

From Senketsu “Outgrew” Being a Uniform? (139) ☂:

Now, moving on from the battle and letting the past rest? Ican totally see that as a good way to conclude the show. With the idea ofchoosing your own destiny and breaking the strings of fate that bound you, theOVA does indeed work on a lot of levels and asks a lot of touching questions,too. What do you do with yourself once you are freed from fate? How do you moveon? All great. I dig it.

And I’d dig it a lot more if Senketsu was handled as nicely.Ryuko needs to move on from his death and not drown herself in sorrow for hisloss? Awesome! Perfect way to end the series. But it gets so… muddled.

First off, there are a million different ways to interpretwhat even happened with Senketsu. Is he dead and watching over Ryuko in theafterlife? Is he an imaginary space ghost? Is he a god? Is he in Ryuko’s heartand together they get to live out Ryuko’s greatest happiness for reals? Is heboth literally in her heart and Life Fiber Clothing Jesus atthe same time? Is he sharing Ryuko’s body a la Birdy and Tsutomu and they justhave to build him a new one? Is it like Wan and Raava where they’re fused but(I presume) they can still speak to each other and maintain their own personalities?All of these could work in canon, and for something that’s supposed to giveclosure, it’s rather frustrating and confusing. What is even meant to beconveyed with such an ambiguous conclusion to Senketsu’s story? If he’s deadand the theme is moving on from fate, make it clear that he is indeeddead—don’t complicate it.

From The OVA is Awful if You Like Senketsu ☂:

Meanwhile Senketsu’s character is totally shat on [in the OVA], he’streated as little more than an object when his entire arc was about realizinghe’s human and so much more than that, this forced, last-minutemetaphor of “outgrowing your sailor uniform!!!” that never made sense inthe first place and was totally contradictory to the entire rest of the show isfurthered in the most demeaning way possible (“lol senketsu ur just a sailoruniform and guess i’ve moved on from them even though i actually still have ayear of high school left and also weren’t u supposed to be, like, my friend andequal? not anymore!”), and there’s such ambiguity about his final fate thatnobody can seem to agree if he’s even freaking dead or not… which just mucks upthese forced metaphors even more. 

I was fucked up for days after I first saw the OVA because Iwas so disappointed by it. I could not believe the treatment of Senketsu, andeven now I still cringe a bit whenever I edit with it or write about it.

From OVA Salt ☂:

The OVA’s supposed to have this big message about moving on(and, in Ryuko’s case, moving on from Senketsu’s loss… I mean, at least, I think that’swhat they’re going for, but it gets so muddled), but it’s hard for it to meanmuch when you don’t really see her suffering. How much didthis loss mean to her? Who knows, because the show doesn��t get into it verymuch.

Which is awful, because it’s a loss that should mean somuch to Ryuko. It was literally one of her greatest fears that she’dlose Senketsu. She had a recurring nightmare about it, and she was so fiercelyprotective over him that she would have died for him without even a moment’shesitation. The two of them are described as “soulmates,” a perfect team,“two-in-one.” She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. This isthe kind of death that deserves some time. And you just don’tget much in the OVA, and what you do pretty much reducesSenketsu to an object.

It’s just… disappointing, especially because I don’t thinkany other (heroic) character would have been treated like this if they had diedinstead–and the OVA certainly wouldn’t be so widely accepted if they were.

From Gurren Lagann, Re: Cutie Honey: Kill la Kill Ending Salt ☂:

Again, I think there’s merit in tragedies and the sad factthat things aren’t always going to work out. I think Senketsu’s death couldhave been really poignant and powerful even if it broke my heart. But themessage they went with [Senketsu living “wouldn’t do anything” for Ryuko’s growth] leaves me empty and not feeling anything but disappointment,and, even worse, it’s not even a tasteful portrayal of such a message as “TheSense of Wonder” is. Senketsu’s entire person is discarded, and a loss that should bemonumental is brushed aside as something righteous and “for the best.”

Okay, that’s a heck of a lot of TLDR, too. So, basically, I guess it comes down to this:

The idea of moving on from the past is fine. It’s fine to do that in relation to a character’s death—even great! However, Senketsu—literally the second or third-most important character—has a death scene that lasts, in its entirety, hardly over one minute. One. Minute. For the protagonist’s canonically-described soulmate. It’s just not good.

And not only that, Senketsu also dies less than five minutes before the end of the series. The show only focuses on Ryuko’s grief for a brief moment and then Senketsu is promptly ignored until, right at the last minute, the show decides, oh, right, yeah, Senketsu, moving on from sailor uniforms, yeah, sure. It seems to me that Senketsu was originally far less of a character than he ended up being, and that’s fine… but then you can’t just shove in your originally-intended ending and act like it’s cool. It’s not.

In fact, I’m sure Senketsu didn’t used to be such a character, because Ryuko thinking about Senketsu in the last moment of episode 24 wasn’t even in the almost-final script. The “outgrowing sailor uniforms” thing ended up being so tacked on in the final version of the story that even the nearly-final draft just kinda threw it out there and completely abandoned it. 

So that big, overarching idea of “moving on from the past” that the OVA tries to build on? It was literally thrown together last minute. And it shows. It shows so hard.

Because think of it this way: say Mako died, in the last five minutes of the last episode, in hardly a minute. Say that, as she perished, she told Ryuko that she’d only be holding her back in life (even though the entire rest of the series says otherwise), and that it’s good for her to go. Say Ryuko cried for all of thirty seconds and then there’s a flash forward and she’s shopping with her sister with cheerful music. Say that the whole show ends when Ryuko sees a girl who looks like Mako, feels sad for a second, and then is hunky-dory because she knows Mako helped her get her to where she is.

Would that seem well done or like a sad, but beautiful display of moving on? No! There would be an uproar if this happened! Mako’s death would have felt ridiculously tacked on and pointlessly cruel!

But that’s exactly what happened with Senketsu. His death isn’t given proper time, the “moving on” message is so forced that you don’t even really see it in an almost-final version of the script, and the only reason it gets accepted is because Senketsu doesn’t look like a cute human girl or guy.

And that is why I can’t stand the ending of Kill la Kill.