#s&b critical
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Weāre going through this phase of fandom right now where people willfully ignore the sexist implications of female characters being shafted into housewife/mother roles or disempowered by the end of their stories. If you dare to criticize such writing decisions, you will be accused of sexism and be hounded for not ārespecting their choicesā as though these characters are actual people and not tools of storytelling. As if the cliche of female characters āsacrificingā their powers or having them stripped away exists in a vacuum and isnāt influenced by any larger cultural factors.
Theyāll say: āNot every character has to be a girlboss!!ā Or āLet women be soft and traditional!!ā As if thatās some revolutionary way of thinking and not the norm. Itās an extension of choice feminism, dismissing any dissent about the quality of the narrative to make it make sense and avoid the uncomfortable truth. Diminishing the agency of female characters and cramming them into traditional roles is a common occurrence in many stories, and we should be allowed to criticize them without being silenced.
#you already know what Iļæ½ļæ½ļæ½m talking about#shadow and bone#alina starkov#lb critical#anti leigh bardugo#katara deserved better#pro katara#nesta archeron#anti sjm#acosf#choice feminism#anti bryke#anti Kataang#s&b critical#pro Nesta
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Let's talk about Mal
Malina is a ship that I absolutely loathe. It is one of the worst possible ships to exist and it should not have been in the canon. This does not mean I hate friends to lovers as a trope. But Malina is toxic on so many levels and Mal's traits should not be portrayed as an act of love, in a YA novel no less.
Character Breakdown:
Characteristics/ Background Info:
Gifted First Army Tracker/ Third Amplifier.
Conventionally handsome.
Driven.
Opiniated(Considering the century the story takes place in.)
Beds other women often.
18-19 years old.
Orphan.
Was raised together with Alina.
How Alina sees Mal till she is taken away
Alina has an unhealthy codependency with Mal. She follows him around not just in the orphanage but in the army as well. She pictures them as husband-wife since they were children. She is extremely jealous and is just waiting for Mal to see her and pick her. But she is discovered as the Sun Summoner and taken away to the Little Palace.
How Mal sees Alina till she is taken away
A childhood friend who he thinks he has outgrown. He explores life beyond what the orphanage has offered him. He carries no romantic feelings for Alina(or going by the trope he has not realised his feelings for Alina). But till Alina is revealed and taken away to the Little Palace, she is not someone whom he associated with love or dreamt of sharing his life with. She was just a remanence of his past life.
How their relationship evolves after Alina becomes the Sun Summoner
After Alina was taken away, Mal 'realises' his feelings for her. And with no response to any of his letters, Mal is worried for her 'safety'. In an attempt to reconnect with her, he risks his life to locate the Stag. All noble and admirable so far.
Finally he sees her, he is more angry than relieved. Not to mention, it was her big debut. She had finally embraced her powers, had become healthy.
He claimed to be worried about her safety and was angry that she was safe(?). Once he realises his heroic act to rescue her is not needed he verbally bashes her for becoming who she was supposed to be(?) Practically calls her the Darkling's whore. See, I was a teenager once. I know that teenagers can be incredibly selfish sometimes. But if your bestie, whom you believed was being tortured, is safe and healthy, you don't bring them down, especially when you claim to love them. You will feel relieved. Yeah, it might sting a little to know that she has moved on without you and she is no longer the childhood bestie you grow up with. But, you support them and wish them well. However, Mal acts incredibly jealous and verbally lashes out unable to face his own inadequacy.
From here on it's red flag nation and classic abuser techniques and traits.
He finds runaway Alina. When you find your bestie whom you accused of being a cossetted princess a few days ago on the run, you become worried. But Mal is all 'I told you so'. His ego is soothed . The Darkling is bad just as he said.
He comments about Alina having an appetite. He has seen his friend sickly thin, with breathing issues, cold, hungry and suffering with an unknown illness for 8-10 years. And now he sees her finally healthy and eating and comments on it as if it is an inconvenience for him. This is were Alina should have had an awakening and walked away from him. But LB thinks this is cute and a healthy love. So Alina remains.
We skip to Siege and Storm, they are in incognito. Alina has wasting sickness again. But not a single concern from Mal. He doesn't question why she became healthy or why she becomes sick again. He is just happy that he got the girl he grew up with back.
When Alina is back in Ravka and with a prince no less. We see the absolute worst of Mal. He is jealous, once again of his own inadequacy, and takes it out on Alina. She is being thrust into a world of politics, in a country literally on the verge of civil war and all he can think of are ways to make Alina's new position about himself.
He throws tantrum anytime Alina has thoughts other than him. He doesn't allow her to focus on the war or grow into her new role. He hates that she is no longer the girl he grew up with. He hates that Nikolai is actually making her better, giving her autonomy, coaching her to the life of politics. He picks constant fights with her. Suffocating her more when she was already struggling under the pressure of leading an army.
Alina tries to establish herself as the leader and commander of the Second Army and he thwarts her attempts by telling the guards and soldiers under her direct command embarrassing stories from her childhood to 'humanize her'. She is the Sun Summoner, a living saint, someone who is being courted by a prince. But he cannot have that can he? He cannot let her raise to glory. He has to bring her down to his level to show her that she was no better than him. He does not want Alina to have anything that was not him or given by him. He punishes her for his inefficacy.
When Alina backs away from a kiss, he goes on to kiss Zoya and cheats on Alina and tells Alina she made him do it. This, right here, is how an abuser behaves.
I don't buy his redemption arc in Ruin and Raising. It was a switch up after the negative feedbacks to his characters and nothing more.
It doesn't matter in the end because, Alina's powers which were an integral part of her was ripped out and she ends up with Mal to become his wife. Mal gets his girl he grew up with, who has always been beneath him.
Mal was an anchor who did not allow Alina to move upward and succeeded in his attempts to sink her with him under the disguise of love.
Conclusion
LB portrays the Darkling as the evil guy and retcons the trilogy to show us how bad he was in the duology. But for an author who is so concerned about young girls falling for abusive men, she literally ignores the glaring, mile-long red flag in Mal and packages them as a destined lovers. For an author who is all about morality and opening young girls eyes to the viles of men, she is doing a disservice to her own readers. The chances of me as a woman, coming across an 'evil' shadow man like the Darkling or a literal Prince are zero(not even near zero.) But Mal is a regular guy. A guy whom we see in our everyday lives. You can see him in a friend who grows jealous of your growth and tries to sabotage your career or in a friend who carried torch for you and spreads rumours about you when he sees you with better men than himself or you can see him in a boyfriend who strings you along for a decade while he waits for his dream girl to come. My point is, men like Mal exist in the real world and the author cannot claim a moral high ground with the Darkling and ignore all the abhorrent things Mal did to Alina. I don't care if people reading this are pro Darkling or not but I care if someone calls Malina as a healthy ship.
Note: Please read books like 'Why Does he Do that?' by Lundy Bancroft or please watch the show 'Kevin can f* himself'. You will see the parallels and understand who Mal really is.
#anti mal oretsev#grisha trilogy#grisha critical#shadow and bone#seige and storm#ruin and rising#anti malina#anti leigh bardugo#anti mal#s&b critical
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I think I'm gonna write an analysis as soon as I finish rereading the trilogy but yeah s2 was fucking terrible.
I've seen many people saying they're happy about Alina, and while yes, I'm glad she didn't lose her powers and didn't end up with Mal, there are so much bigger problems with this season
Aside the costume still looking bad, pacing being all over the place because there are simply too many characters and the annoying repentance of the flashbacks, Alina comes as extremely annoying, stuck up, tone deaf and overall a bitch.
Unlike some, I do love book!Alina because she's a very flawed character but lots of her mistakes actually do make sense if you're able to let go of the grudge that comes from reading a YA 2010 book.
Show! Alina was intentionally supposed to be portrayed as strong, bold, confident and smart since s1. She's not supposed to be naive, ignorant, selfish and emotional like book!Alina but somehow she ends up coming across as so much worse.
The Darkling is no better. He comes off as extremely pathetic. He already was in s1, but I was hoping he was gonna have an arc in this season and become more like his canon self. Sadly, that wasn't meant to be.
Show!Darkling has no personality other than wanting Alina in such a desperate way that is hard to look at. I know the girlies gash over him being a āØ simp āØ but there's a difference between pathetic (affectionate) and pathetic (degoratory). He wants to keep the grisha safe but even that a aspect suffers from a very detrimental alteration they did on the show which I will now mention.
Apparently, grisha aren't the oppressed group we know in canon. On no, the season hits you with the hammer about how it's the fold and everything that happened in s1 that made everybody turn against grisha. Not that they've been capturing them, enslaving them and burning them for hundred of years, na-ah.
I have no comment on the crows since I hardly ever cared for them. Some scenes were good, but they suffered with how much the story was rushed.
The ending was shit, because while it's cool that alina kept her powers and an arc of her becoming basically a new antagonist is interesting on paper, it doesn't work here because it wasn't built up well and as I mentioned Alina came off as incredible unlikable and darklina was extremely one-sided.
The script was very poor and this isn't a hate towards the actors because they don't really have any control of it.
While I'll continue shipping darklina they were both done very dirty because they were ooc since the first season and the second one reduced them both to something beyond recognition.
#darklina#s&b critical#I'm one of the few souls who still defends the trilogy because it was meant to be as it was - a nice mid writing fantasy romance#but both Alina and the Darkling were much better in the books#idc that Jessie and Ben look hot#their looks can't fix how fucking terrible the script was#the Darkling was also very cartoonish which is an irony because for years I've been heading he's like that in books (newflash he isn't)#the fact that the grisha oppression was better portrayed in the books than in the show is a tragedy itself#congrats Eric Heisserer you somehow created an ever worse story wow#grishaverse#my venting#I'll just go back to loving book darklina 'cause I have no clue who these ppl on screen are
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I hope another streaming platform or TV channel will someday make a new adaptation of Shadow and Bone from scratch and give these characters the depth, complexity, and development they deserve. Slow burn would have been the way to go. Cramming multiple books into 8 episodes was never a good idea and I cannot believe the writers think they can trick Netflix into approving a spin-off by asking the fans to generate fake views through background streaming.
Ya know, I'm not holding out too much hope for a "more complex" adaptation, simply because the trilogy itself isn't what I'd call super complex. The fandom often finds complexity in what it could have been, but other than the Six of Crows duology, I think that the books are rather lacking.
That being said, the show could have been WAY better than it was and does make me wish for the emotional levels of the books lol.
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Alinaās reluctance to power didnāt make her humble or virtuous, it just made her cowardly. For Alina, rejecting power doesnāt mean rejecting corruption, it means rejecting a fundamental part of herself. It would have been good for Alina to accept responsibility and rise to the occasion as a hero and leader instead of remaining passive. Trying to generalize all forms of power as inherently corrupting ignores the context of Alinaās reluctance and frames her meekness and passivity as a good thing.
#Just because the text frames her self-centered nature as good doesnāt mean that itās good.#Iām so bored of readers who try to ameliorate the ending by appealing to the virtue of humility when that same quality was the thing that#was harming Alina in the first place. It wasnāt a good thing that Alina *never wanted power* TOO BAD! That came from Alinaās fear and#insecurity! It was something she shouldāve had to overcome instead of yielding to it in the end.#Itās Bardugoās fault that she linked Alinaās growing sense of self (in the form of her powers) with her relationship with Aleksander.#Demonizing him (and darklina) ultimately demonizes Alinaās personal growth and empowerment#the darkling#shadow and bone#alina starkov#lb critical#grishaverse#s&b critical#anti leigh bardugo#aleksander morovoza#darklina#siege and storm#ruin and rising
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I dislike s2 of s&b like any other person. Hell, s1 had a bunch of problems that people aren't ready to face yet. But the sudden anti Alina hate i see e v e r y w h e r e is beyond frustrating. Because every character was butchered and people will criticize the writing, but somehow Alina is a special case and deserves bashing.
Same goes for book readers who very obviously are reading the books recently. s&b writers/ showrunners aren't the only misogynists here, the fandom - and that include's darkling/pseudo darklina fans are also sexists and they mask it as "criticism"
#alina starkov#shadow and bone#s&b critical#darklina#the darkling#grishaverse meta#grishaverse critical#my venting#in both show and books alina is held in such high standards while aleksander gets a pass because he ātried to keep the grisha safeā#as if he isn't alina's antagonist who commits a bunch of crimes left and right . Having a noble cause doesn't erase that#and don't get it twist it. he's my fav character but i acknowledge his flaws instead of blaming everything on alina#some shippers straight up despise her and make her his villain. I'm so tired of this fandom seeing everything in black and white
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Too impatient for animated Mighty Nein. Gonna do it myself
Commission info / ko-fi
#GOING INSANE THAT'S MY H U S B A N D#fjord#fjord stone#mighty nein#m9#critical role#cr#critrole#fanart#fan art#my art#critical role fanart#critical role fan art
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Their choice to frame Alina's attempt on his life as suicide makes it seem like Alina was languishing in despair in some deep, dark dungeon. She was cornered (both physically and ideologically) and decided that her only escape was to eliminate both of them. The suggestion that the Darkling's treatment of Alina turned her into some kind of wilting flower is laughable.
His existence threatens the childish status quo that Alina wants to uphold; that much is clear from the way they clash with one another. Alina attempted to pull a Baghra and failed, but people take that scene out of context to make things more dramatic than they actually were.
I've blocked an anti yesterday, who claimed the Darkling abused Alina so badly he forced her to attempt suicide to escape him.
And just... No honey, how did you read that book?
Alina didn't try to kill herself to get away from the Darkling. She tried to kill them both, because she was forced to face the fact he's right, and they're truly alike in some aspects. That she loves her power and the power it brings her over others. She doesn't want to live in shadows of obscurity.
She wasn't some poor desperated teen victim, but a young woman avoiding unpleasant truths no matter the cost.
āI want this.ā I need it. Sacrifice or selfishness, it didnāt matter anymore. ... āThere isnāt any choice to make. This is what was meant to be.ā It was true. I felt it in the collar, in the weight of the fetter. For the first time in weeks, I felt strong.
Siege and Storm- Chapter 23
And Aleksander isn't only a representation of her not being the perfect, nice, saintly nobody, he will never let her hide and forget it.
#shadow and bone#the darkling#alina starkov#lb critical#grishaverse#s&b critical#anti leigh bardugo#siege and storm#aleksander morovoza#Baghra
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Stolas' "I've always thought so highly of you, I didn't think you think so low of me" is some disgusting, manipulative gaslighting. Its what abusive people do when called out for their actions: try to deflect by victimizing themselves and make the person they hurt look unreasonable.
I hate that there aren't more ppl who realize how manipulative and gaslighty this is.
#hb critical#helluva boss critical#stolitz critical#stolas critical#helluva boss#saw a post with more than 1000 notes with#this quote talking bout how its a miscommunication issue#how it reflects that S lives in a fantasy world while B thinks someone as high as a royal cant truly love him#ugh#I see it as pure deflection
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Scars of Co-Dependency: The Link Between Alinaās Repression and Mal
The first chapter of Shadow and Bone ends with a musing about the strength of Mal and Alinaās love.
Their determination to stay together is so strong that even the Duke takes notice. From the way this scene is framed, coupled with the context of how their relationship concludes, the reader is led to believe that this is the essence of their bond (and they would be correct in that assumption). Not because this scene is an example of ideal romantic devotion, but because it illustrates the codependency and stagnation that defines their relationship. Notice the phrasing of āThe boy and the girlā which becomes a recurring motif throughout the trilogy. Even when Alina and Mal are older, they are still referred to with these terms even though they have long outgrown them. Itās a romantic framing device that characterizes their relationship as a quaint and simple dynamic straight out of a folktale, but it also represents the way that their relationship keeps them trapped in childhood. Their over reliance on one another keeps them stagnant and stunts their growth, this is particularly clear in Alinaās case where her physical growth is literally stunted by the repression of her powers.
Alinaās repression is undeniably linked to her relationship with Mal. This connection becomes impossible to ignore in Alinaās flashback to the day the Grisha examiners came to see her.
Alina almost instantly recognizes the truth within herself and panics. In this panic, she makes the choice to deny her powers to remain with Mal at the orphanage, knowing that if she embraced her power, it would mean leaving Mal. She actively suppresses her true self to stay with Mal and for years after that day, she is forced to cope with the consequences. Alinaās great sacrifice to stay with Mal is not rewarded by love, instead, she is met with more hardship. For example, Alina doesnāt seem to have many close friends aside from the ones that are already friends with Mal:
Alinaās appearance is sickly and thin, hence the insulting nickname. But her thinness also suggests a kind of starvation of the self. By denying her Grisha identity, she denies her body the nourishment it needs to be healthy and strong. Because her sickness is connected to her repression, it also extends to her relationship with Mal from which the urge to suppress first originated. In an exchange with Genya earlier in Shadow and Bone, Alina displays her insecurity about her condition.
Her insecurity, her fatigue, her sickness; it all circles back to the choice she made to stay with Mal. It is only after her revelatory flashback and the acknowledgment of her loneliness that Alina is able to make progress in her training and awaken her true strength. This progress is accompanied by her letting go of her attachment to Mal and freeing herself from that emotional burden. Alina says, āI'm sorry I left you so long in the dark.I'm sorry, but I'm ready now.ā and reaches a breakthrough. One of the ways this manifests is in her physical appearance and maturing body.
Even though the remnants of her insecurity remain, the joy Alina feels cannot be dismissed. It is astounding that this is only able to happen once she lets go of her past with Mal and begins loving her true self. Her maturing body symbolizes her departure from that childhood connection that was holding her back, bringing her forward into adulthood. Once she begins loving herself and the qualities that make her unique, she can bloom. Malās connection to Alinaās repression and insecurity is RIGHT THERE and once you begin to really examine it, the link is difficult not to see.
In the Netflix adaptation, this connection is visualized through the cut on Alinaās palm.
In this case, Alinaās choice to stay with Mal is visualized through an act of self-harm. She intentionally cuts her hand to sabotage the Grisha exam, scarring herself in the process. The pain of cutting herself is a sacrifice to stay by Malās side and though some might consider that as a romantic act of devotion, I see it as further evidence of their flawed relationship. In both the book and the show, Alina harms herself and is doomed to a life of repression in service of staying with Mal.
This connection makes the ending even more baffling. It feels intentional that Alina is able to mature, find independence, empowerment, and new friends once she lets go of Mal, yet the ending suggests otherwise. The codependent nature of Malina is RIGHT THERE and yet the narrative never does anything to critique it and instead, chooses to romanticize it. It really makes it feel as though Bardugo favours Mal and his personal fulfillment over the empowerment of her heroine. So much so that sheās willing to wreck the progression of Alinaās character arc.
#shadow and bone#the darkling#alina starkov#lb critical#grishaverse#anti malina#anti leigh bardugo#s&b critical#shadow and bone season 1#shadow and bone netflix#aleksander morovoza#malyen oretsev#anti mal#anti mal oretsev#fandom discourse#shadow and bone meta
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Recently got into a (jokingly heated) debate with a good friend of mine over Peter B. Parkers character. As Iāve posted about before, I feel his character between Into and Across the Spider-Verse becomes heavily inconsistent; specifically with how little he was willing to intervene between Miles and Miguel in the train scene. But my friend rightfully reminded me that Miguel and Peter both feel certain that the multiverse is in legitimate danger because of Miles, though I do still feel Peterās tamed reaction felt very out of line even considering the drastic changes heās gone through between the films. Iām now feeling very mixed feelings, not aided by the fact that Iām not at all good at irl debates of any caliber, and that when confronted irl on my personal stances and viewpoints, I feel immediately unconfident in them after the fact.
So Iām asking the beautiful people of tumblr! What do you think? Do you think Peterās actions and behaviors make sense for how his life changed between the movies? Or is that a stretch too far for how he acted?
#my main thing is how is seeing the kid that made you realize you want to be a dad get slammed into a train not your breaking point??#like hand the baby off to gwen and go smack some sense into miguel even if you still agree with him because hes clearly going too far!!#though granted i do realize that at his core no matter how good or bad his life is going#i feel like peter b is just always an asshole and definitely always a bad mentor š#but alas i will let democracy do the talking#because that always works so well /s#hiding in the tags#across the spiderverse#atsv#into the spiderverse#itsv#peter b parker#miles morales#miguel oāhara#gwen stacy#spiderman#spider man#spiderverse#spiderverse critique#media critique#media criticism#media analysis#media literacy#poll#tumblr polls#random polls#poll time#my polls#polls#my first poll
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Iād also add that it allowed her to wash her hands of any responsibility she had as a sun summoner and let her retreat into the shadows of passivity just like Baghra did. The natural conclusion of Alinaās arc should have been an acceptance of an intrinsic aspect of her identity that would mend the damage dealt by years of repression. Furthermore, this repression is directly connected to her attachment to Mal because her resistance to the Grisha test was an effort to remain by his sideā¦and look how that turned out. She was weak, sickly and an ugly duckling waiting to return to her true family of swans.
People will retort with āWell Alina never wanted power, all she wanted was a peaceful life!ā Correction: Alina wanted a humble life because that was what MAL wanted and her resistance to destiny in favour of a life of irrelevance is not AT ALL a satisfying conclusion to a journey that began with a theme of self acceptance = good. If Alina kept her powers, she would have no choice but to embrace herself for who she truly was and stay with her once lost community to help them rebuild a broken country. Keeping her powers would necessitate shifting the status quo and choosing to make the bold decision of choosing responsibility over passivity.
Losing her powers provided Bardugo with an easy way out that practically forced Alina to choose Mal and thusly isolate herself from her newfound community to beā¦a young wifeā¦ugh. Alina is not challenged by this ending whatsoever and it truly is such a cop out that really says ā Power and ambition is evil and will corrupt your pure soul!! Thatās why you need to suppress all your deviant qualities and be a passive observer in the face of injustice!ā
Letās be real, Mal could never accept Alinaās powers because that would connote a sort of authority and power that would shift the gender dynamics in their relationship. He needs to feel big, which is why Alina must shrink.
Going to be controversial but the only reason Alina lost her powers was because otherwise she wouldn't have ended up with Mal. Mal wanted to live a quiet simple life and if Alina had her powers she would be "too powerful" (ugh) to justify living in the middle of nowhere instead of using her power and having a powerful role in the Grisha society. Leigh had to reduce Alina's identity and make her small enough in order to fit her into Mal's perfect quiet life.
#alina starkov#anti malina#anti mal#grishaverse#shadow and bone#s&b critical#s&b s2#s&b salt#leigh bargudo#lb critical
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darklina thoughts: I wanted to get into the shadow and bone Fandom(books and show) because of the amazing gif set of the darklina kiss I saw
Like who are these two that are sharing such a beautiful kiss. And look so aesthically pleasing together with the darkness and light vibes. I was so excited to find out who these two were because these kind of ships are my everything. Than I find out and šØš±š¤š š¤¬!!!!! It was like running full steam a head with tons of excitement and crashing face first into a wall when I find out everything about this Fandom. Both about the books and show. The author and this beautiful ship. And I'm like God why do authors do this ship. Tease us with everything we want and the full potential. But than do a completely one 80 and waste are time on things we don't care about, or find insulting or toxic, and tells us are tastes are dumb and toxic. So now I just read fics and look at beautiful art of Darklina and the potential they could have been. It's just so annoying because this stuff happens all the time!!! And don't get me started on what I heard about the author. I don't know if their true. And wish I could find out real stuff about her. But if it is. God she is so messed up for doing this to us.
I only got in the fandom bcs I randomly saw a teaser for the first season and Ben Barnes was there in all his dark glory. I knew nothing about the books, but the way that show was promoted I was expecting the epic dark romance, villain whoās not really a villain gets the girl all the vibe. Plus cool world build and complicated detailed story overall.
I got none of that.
That show was interesting and hopeful for the first 5 episodes (we will always have 1x05š¤). It wasnāt as detailed and complex as I expected, but it had potential and the main pair - the one they based THE ENTIRE promotion on by the way - was having one of the most fiery and spark inducing chemistry Iāve ever seen on the screen, so I kept my hopes up for the overall plot and focused on them. And thenā¦ then they backpedaled SO HARD on everything that made that show interesting for the broad audience, I wonder how they didnāt give themselves a whiplashā¦ though considering the horrible quality of s2 they probably did
Though I didnāt like the way s1 ended, I still thought there is hope, and āwe need a conflict for our main pair, I guessā. I truly, wholeheartedly believed that creators and writers of the show are not complete idiots and know how to read the room and what the most of their audience is there for, so thatās what theyāll deliver. But oh my, how wrong I was.
The second season is downright unwatchable with how horrifyingly terrible it is. I only suffered through the entire thing for Ben, who, bless his heart, tried his hardest to deliver the complexity and depth of his character, who he only agreed to play if they āwonāt make him a cardboard villainā. And they did exactly that in s2, or tried to, bcs Ben Barnes and his talent didnāt let them, despite all their efforts. The rest of the cast I guess didnāt have enough experience to fix the worst writing imaginable with their acting, so most of the characters became absolutely bland and uninteresting and SO IDIOTICALLY STUPUD, I yelled at them constantly, scaring my cat the entire time.
Also, as much as I understand it from exploring the fandom, the creators and writers of the show are die hard fans of the Crows, and they donāt actually like Alinaās trilogy at all. Soā¦ why didnāt they just do the books they wanted Iāll never know. Instead, they forced the Crows in the plot they were never a part of (making all of them okay with selling a girl to slavery in the process. Despite one of them being the former slave and the other one being the one who got her out of itā¦ make it make sense, I beg of you), in the second season they wasted SO MUCH time on their plot lines that 1)didnāt matter one bit for the overall story, 2)were absolutely uninteresting to everyone who isnāt the Crows fan beforehand. In the end we got half-assed Alina and Aleksanderās story with half-assed Crowsā story. They shouldāve just made the Crows show, without touching Alina and Aleksander
I havenāt read the books, but from what I gathered in the fandom, though still committing the same sin of putting all the promotion and marketing into the Dark romance trope without actually delivering on it, and force feeding the fans one of the worst and most toxic pairings ever with Malina, at least Alina and Aleksanderās characters werenāt made so cardboard and stupid, and there was tragedy in their story, not the shit that they gave us in s2. Though I absolutely DESPISE the fact that Alina looses her powers in the end and goes on to live Malās dream lifeā¦ Like WHAT THE FUCK?? What levels of internalized misogyny do you need to have as a woman, to write this plot line for your female protagonist???? I canāt.
On Malās toxiļæ¼city: at least that made him a fleshed out character in the books. Absolutely horrible one, how could the author make him āget the girlā is beyond me. But at least he had a personality, however terrible one. In the show, I guess understanding, that no one would root for that asshole, they removed his toxicity almost completely, but that made him as bland as stale porridge. There wasnāt ANYTHING left on his character. At all. How anyone couldāve rooted for him I absolutely refuse to understand. Any woman deserved better than Bladeš
I donāt know anything about Leigh Bardugo, except for the fact that she butcher my native language and makes me furious. If you donāt know the language at least on a medium level, perhaps donāt use it in your books. Or at least hire someone who does. The way she butchered it, Iām not sure she even used Google translateā¦
So yeah, Iām with you on only reading Darklina fanfics and admiring fan art. Iām not at all sad that they cancelled the show, and Iām even giddy that those creators and writers didnāt get their wet dream of the Crows spin off. They didnāt deserve it after the shit they pulled in the second season. I do hope that they wonāt ruin any other shows in the future. I am sad for the actors, who deserved much better and who were actually good at their parts, while the writing was okay. Poor Archie Renaux suffered the most, his character didnāt have good writing at all, not for a single scene. I hope weāll see more of all of them.
And we need Ben and Jessie to do a film together. Preferably a rom com, but Iām not picky. Just that their characters are together. Such chemistry canāt be wasted
#shadow and bone critical#anti shadow and bone#anti shadow and bone writers#anti s&b#anti s&b writers#anti leigh bardugo#darklina#the darkling#pro the darkling#pro aleksander morozova#pro darklina#anti malina#alina starkov#aleksander morozova#ben barnes#jessie mei li
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welp since some of those shitty leaks turned out to be true, those rook's rest leaks are going to end up being true and from the very bottom of my heart i wish c*ndal a very never get work adapting anything again i hope by the end of this your reputation is worse than benioff's and weiss's because it's all you deserve.
#tbd#anti ryan condal#anti hotd#hotd critical#pro team green#AEGON AND AEMOND WORKED AS A FUCKING TEAM.#VHAGAR WENT FOR MELEYS BC MELEYS WENT FOR SUNFYRE'S THROAT#never forget what they're gonna take from you#every fucking thing in this show is an accident except for the actual fucking accident i fucking hate the never ending r&nyra targ-ryen wan#she is not dxny and she will never be dxny#you woobify the textbook example of an ancestor that she's supposed to aspire to be better than#also aemond would never intentionally try to harm aegon#even if he was furious bc that's what family does they fight but they still stand by each other#also as if one of them isn't literally grieving the death of their child rn#at this point you know what i hope it gets worse bc this mf deserves to be called d&d 2.0#idk cryan condull are you an only child?? do you not know how family dynamics work??? ffs#and we still DON'T GET SUNFYRE FUCK OFFFF#WHERE IS HE#hotd spoilers#house of the dragon spoilers#hotd leaks#none of this brothel shit ever existed in f&b it was shovelled there to create the needless conflict between brothers who loved each other#bitches really think they're cooking with one aemond comment about the crown while they're burning down the entire fucking street#because brothers don't snark or roast each other ever /s#he still never tried to seize power and stayed loyal to his brother.
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can we talk about the ableism/sexism of people having the serum change steve's sexual preferences?
so many people cannot fathom a disabled/chronically ill man who doesn't fit the masculine ideal (due to said health issues) being a dominant and/or a top, especially with a partner who is closer to normative masculinity, and must automatically be a bottom and submissive
yet once he gets the serum and becomes the perfect example of the masculine ideal there is no possible way that he could be a bottom or be submissive because that's not "manly" and magically turns into a dominant top
the serum amplifies what's already there, it wouldn't change what he likes in bed, it would strengthen it.
#part of the reason i have set in stone headcanons about preferences for s&b is how ableist i've found a lot of fics#anyway pre-serum bucky wanted to be topped and dommed by pre-serum steve soooo bad#so bad it made him look stupid#marvel#mcu#steve rogers#steven grant rogers#nsft#fandom critical#fanfiction#fanfic
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Alina doesn't even know her exact age ( she said it herself) since she couldn't remember her age and her birthday date was given to her by the orphanage (the same date was given to every other child in Keramzin) but the antis settled for 16 for whatever reason.
This is why I say this fandom is full of shit. If Alina ended up being immortal anyway while the darkling was dead, those same people won't mind or come at old Alina for having a go at younger men the way they do with the darkling.
Coming to think of it: Baghra probably was already an immortal when she had Sasha because at that point she was desperate to have some company, she was probably few centuries old when she slept with whoever that mortal dude was and yet no one call mama Baghra the p or the g word smfh.
Would they keep the same energy with immortal Zoya taking lovers to her bad after everyone else she knows die??
Darkling antis stay consistent with their inconsistencies? I'll give them that
It's rant time
I swear every time a person says "Alina was a little girl/teenager" and "the Darkling was a weirdo for wanting her" my peace is replaced by an immense annoyance.
So just because the Darkling is immortal he's not....allowed to have a relationship?? So what, he must remain single and alone forever otherwise he's gonna break your white moral code? Do all immortal creatures must remain single and not have a partner?
Since when was Alina a "little girl"? She was seventeen, a certified adult by the Grishaverse standards since people are considered adults by the age of sixteen. So where did the "teenager" term came from?
And bold of you to assume that the word "teenager" even exists in this universe. In the Grishaverse you're a child and then you straight up become an adult at the age of sixteen. There are no teenage years for them.
And these passages from "King of Scars" prove it:
"She's barely sixteen" - which probably means that sixteen is also the age where girls begin to get married. In this case, Elke Marie will get married even sooner and no one bats an eye (everyone except Nikolai who tries to find an excuse to not get married).
And let's not forget the fact that Alina was immortal while she still had her powers. So if she had never lost them, sooner or later she would inevitably end up with Aleksander. The only other creature who could be with her.
Literally no Grishaverse character was disturbed or raised eyebrows for Alina's age. They all chastised her for wanting the "bad guy". Because it was the choice that made them revolt not the age, since she was an adult by then. They expected much from her (to rule, to lead, to fight) because quite simply she wasn't a child.
This babyfication of female characters in every piece of media has become a trend and I don't like it. You people will never accept other fictional universes' rules and you will never allow female characters to have depth and complexity. Alina had a sexual desire for the Darkling, she had feelings for him, she wanted power and she had her own darkness inside her but you will never get her out of the "she was just a little girl" description. You make her even worse than how she was written.
And it's evident how you have no problem with Nikolai proposing to Alina and even suggesting that he wanted children with her but everyone raged when the Darkling showed interest and sexual desire for her.
#the darkling#pro darkling#darklina#rant time#pro darklina#pro aleksander morozova#grisha team#anti bullshit#anti darkling bs#anti darklina bs#s&b critical#s&b salt#s&b criticism#aleksander morozova
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