#seriously this has been one of my biggest gripes

[clarkgriffon]

say what you want about the love triangle direction of the show we all saw coming, these first two s3 episodes are the most natural miranda cosgrove has felt in the role since the reboot started

[wei-ying-kexing-apologist]

QL Grievances: 2024

Because I have no original ideas, I am copying @lurkingshan's decision to create an end of year QL Grievances list.

Most Egregious Act of Ableism: Last Twilight

Listen. I am in no way, shape, or form opposed to Day getting a retina transplant and having the surgery be successful. The problem is that Aof already had one unsuccessful attempt and had absolutely no reason to end the show with a second surgery and he had no right to fake out the audience with how Day stepped into the road. Putting all of that aside, I think it is incredibly ableist of Aof and the show to have Day be entirely reliant on Mok without any reciprocity. This show made me so goddamn mad, if you want to hear a longer diatribe about it, check out The Conversation episode where Ben and NiNi ever so politely let me rant at length about it. 

Biggest Betrayal of a Horny Lesbian: Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko

ONE DOES NOT GET LABELLED A HARDCORE LESBIAN WHO ACHIEVED CONQUESTS OF ONE HUNDRED WOMEN TO GET INTO A RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN UNREPENTANTLY HORNY FOR THEM AND NOT FUCK FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR. AYAKA AND HIROKO SHOULD HAVE BEEN FUCKING NASTY SINCE DAY ONE. THEY WERE WRONGED!!!!!

Best Example of Why You Don’t Turn Straight Stories Queer: Chaser Game W

This show was bad. But some of what made it bad made a hell of a lot more sense when I learned that Chaser Game W was originally a heterosexual story. 

The Fuck that Got Fucked: Unknown 

This show spent such an incredible amount of time building up the complicated emotions of an (initially) unrequited love between two brothers. Which is why the last two episodes were especially a let down. With how well they had set up all the emotional stakes that came before it, I was so incredibly disappointed in the way that 1) the emotional core of the show was speed run into acceptance of a major change in their dynamic and that 2) the editing of the opening scene in episode eleven cut literally any and all emotional tension out of the scene AND it was kinda fucking confusing. 

The Fuck they Should Have Fucked: The Sign

By the end of this show, I had a lot more gripes with it. But I think quite a few of the plot problems could have been resolved if they had, as @shortpplfedup said “they shoulda fucked in Nong Khai”

Biggest Waste of a Based Grandma: Wandee Goodday 

GRANDMA I LOVE YOU. Unfortunately, your grandson is kinda sorta a selfish piece of shit. Apologies to everyone who liked this show, but I could not finish it. 

The Chains of Heart Award for Biggest Gap Between Cinematography and Storytelling: 4Minutes

4Minutes was absolutely gorgeous but if you have to tweet out an explanation for the ending of your show, then I think you have missed the point of creating a television drama. I personally do not feel like Sammon did all that she set out to do with this piece. 

Biggest Waste of the Weird Girls: 23.5

Ongsa and Aylin both gave me so much hope that this show fundamentally would understand high school girls. And I think generally it did, but the writing fell apart and left me ever so disappointed. Shout out to my saving grace TsukeTabe for being the thing that gave me faith GL can be good, because I am still struggling to find strong sapphic shows. 

Worst Execution of Having Your Cake and Eating it Too: Dead Friend Forever 

A conversation seriously needs to be had in the Thai BL industry especially about moving away from branded pairs. I sincerely believe that the desire to give Phee and Jin a happy ending because they were thinking of putting Copper and Ta together as a branded pair after the reality show. The ending of DFF was confusing and really fizzled out the captivating build up to what the hell was going on. It felt like they had three different endings and instead of just picking one they decided to toss them all in. The worst part is that I think if they just had a gloved hand pick up the ax and drag it toward the house right at the very end, then I would have still been okay with the ending. 

World Record Holder for Fastest Did Not Finish: My Love Mix Up 

Okay so having never seen Kieta Hatsukoi and being interested in adaptations, I decided I should watch it while it was out and while I was not being influenced by a prior experience with the original TV show. But I only made it through a single part of the first episode before I realized that the production was having difficulty balancing the performances with the sound design, and it messed with the comedy to the point that I decided that it was probably for the best if I just…didn’t.

[rederiswrites]

Alright, I've got to get the gripes out. Doesn't mean you have to read it. If you love the game you probably shouldn't. This is for people who are really disappointed or angry about...things and would like to feel like they're not alone.

This is not about the absolute value of Veilguard. I enjoyed the game and I am, if anything, enjoying it more on the second playthrough. Like all the other installations, inevitably it is its own thing. Some franchises are just logical continuations of their previous installments, but Dragon Age has never been like that and I sure wouldn't expect it after this long since the last installment.

[Edited to add that I reblog locked it but 100% encourage sharing your feelings in the replies or even my dms. It's fine to talk about it! I want to talk about it!]

That said, my biggest gripes about Veilguard:

The sanitizing of the Crows

Come on now. I even defended you, Bioware! Before the game, I said, nahhhh they won't make the Crows Good Guys just because of Lucanis! Lucanis was tortured too! Well, they didn't do that, I guess. They did it as part of a much larger pattern of ironing out the moral grey areas the franchise was formerly known for.

The Crows are Patriots! Well, they are. And also, though you wouldn't know it, slavers and torturers and murderers of children. You'd be forgiven for not realizing that, considering the creation of the feel good House for orphans who really wanna be contract killers. But it is pretty foundational lore and all. There is the like, one previous Crow character, whom they wrote as going on a righteous mission to kill Crows, because of the whole them being bad thing.

What was being raised by the head of the Crows like, Lucanis? Torture? Hahaha funny oh you mean literally. Literally your grandmother tortured and starved you and never gave you the slightest choice in your life and you've accepted that because you accept the logic that it was necessary. But again. That's based on my knowledge of material outside this game.

Any previous game would have reveled in that! Do you ally yourself with these people, this objectively bad organization full of people who don't see themselves as bad at all? Because they are very good at killing, and that's what you need! But this game just makes them good guys. No moral dilemma needed. Nope, we like black and white now.

And speaking of which,

The dehumanization of the Antaam

Ew. Ew ew ew.

Gimme a minute and I'll come up with something better to say but seriously? Ew.

They neither look nor sound like any of the other qunari characters. They sound like animals, literally. Exactly once does one make the slightest attempt to do anything but attack you--and then he attacks you anyway. Not a single one deserts. I guess the lesson here is that apparently qunari really do become mindless beasts without the structure and discipline of the Qun??? Ew. No thank you.

I know, you gotta have faceless mooks. In Inquisition we fought rebel mages for absolutely no good reason but that they attacked us. In da2 thugs literally fell from the sky. But the absolutely comprehensive way in which the Antaam never spoke for themselves, as actual people... Wow.

Imagine. Imagine if we could have actually negotiated an agreement with a group of them, for that final battle. Would that have been so impossible? To fight mages?! Imagine if we'd had a former Antaam companion. Imagine if he'd been mulling over what the Arishok, Sten, the OG proof that qunari are NOT animals outside the Qun, said before the Antaam rebelled.

Mythal: basically a nice mother goddess!

What. What. What.

In this, the culmination of her sins, the finale of Solas' millennia of taking the blame for shit she set in motion, Mythal is... Flat as hell. Millennia of her scheming. Surviving. Using and abusing her children, arguably using and abusing Solas, seducing and manipulating and whatever it takes to nudge things her way. And now she's just... Kinda imperious I guess? And Morrigan just has her memories and nothing is bad about that ever. Huh.

The thing is, I was never against Mythal, in all her complex nastiness. We didn't know what her game was! I just wanted to know! What made it all worth it? What was the plan?

Well I guess the plan was--nothing? Don't worry about it. I guess.

Side note, the design work on the Mythal fragment was some Computer Animation Is My Passion, early 2000's Barbie straight to VHS looking shit. Profoundly disappointing. Did you even try.

Tell, don't show

Is the strange new voice in the blight coming from over there really horrifying? Or did you just say it was roughly fifteen times, but then actually it was just a big blob of Blight that you had to shoot extra times? Is the Butcher cruel? Or did Teia and Viago just tell us he was cruel with absolutely no detail whatsoever? Is Minrathous really blighted if you choose to save Treviso? Or are there just more beggars and some rubble and literally one blighted character? And so on, and so forth.

Remember that popular post not long ago, about how one of the great joys of Dragon Age was the sifting through unreliable narrators? Piecing together Avvar epic poetry and fragments of ancient elvhen runes and Andrastian canticles to try to guess what actually happened. The unique and unusual (in fiction) joy of the historiography of it all? We got to actively engage with the discovery. We got to piece together that Solas was the Dread Wolf, bit by difficult to find bit.

The fridge horror of it all could be really incredible. Making us work it out for ourselves meant that we experienced it much more intimately. It was an incredible storytelling tool.

Yeah I guess we just watch movies about it now. Just plug in the DVD Wolf statuette and now we know. And the codexes are reduced to flavor text and puzzle clues.

And last but definitely most,

Flat writing

Look man I know that's subjective as shit but it was. A lot of it was. You either agree or you don't, but for me, it was never more obvious than in the moments of contrast, when it was up to standard. The conversation with the Butcher. Every minute with Solas. Spite.

Contrast the Butcher (intense! Passionate! Creepy fucken pale face Harkonnen vibes! Deranged but genuine love for Treviso!) with the Dragon King (I don't even know what to put here. You don't even have to fight him! He just...blusters, and then there's a dragon, and then Taash shoves him and he falls over.)

It's just...I could probably forgive a lot of the stuff that went before if it was just more compellingly written.

Even here I absolutely will not be getting into character complaints. Those are too personal, and frankly I think people should keep them to private conversations. They have too much potential to hurt people for too little gain.

Sigh. I'm done now. I will try to focus on the good and the creative because I think that contributes a great deal more to everything and everyone. But for now, let me contemplate what could have been.

[kakarotcake]

Had a giant early morning realization on why I enjoy Gochi as much as I do. (I wrote a lot in this; there's a TLDR at the end but please read through my hopefully-coherent rambling to get full context.)

It's specifically because of how non-conventional they are. They didn't date / go through a courting phase before they got married. They barely knew each other at all in fact. Yet, Goku felt unbothered enough to honor a promise he made as a child, and agreed to go forward with the marriage anyway. Chi Chi stayed committed to Goku's promise, despite how she didn't know him, and literally got his consent as an adult first before they went on.

And they made it work.

I so wish we got to see the 5 years of Goku and Chi Chi living together + the early years of Gohan's youth, but specifically because I would like to see just how they each adapted to their new living situation. But regardless, the fact remains that they STAYED together. Chi Chi for sure would've left Goku if she was that unhappy with how Goku just isn't a conventional guy when it comes to relationships. Going home to her dad and resuming being Fire / Frypan Mountain's Princess was always right there as an option. Hell Chi Chi's been identified as an attractive lady in-universe, so she could probably meet someone new before long! But she didn't take it. IIRC, she never has.

I also feel like Goku would also get up and leave if he was unhappy. He's never had to force himself to sacrifice his own happiness for someone else as he lived on Paozu by himself for years, then spent the rest of his teenhood traveling around & training, so if presented with that kind of scenario he wouldn't think twice before being like "ok whatever, see ya" and just peacing out. He wouldn't see the point in staying, since why would he make himself stay somewhere he isn't welcomed or doesn't feel welcome? Grandpa Gohan's old home was always there for him.

My personal biggest gripes with their relationship have honestly never been because of how they had little chemistry before they got together. For me it's always been about how Chi Chi is just treated like a joke by the writer(s); she follows an angry housewife stereotype. Sure, it's supposed to be a joke and she's supposed to come off as comedic, but it only ends up doing damage because it encourages you as a viewer to not take Chi Chi or her relationship with Goku seriously. (I'm ignoring Goku here, but his writing in DBS *anime wise at least* is atrocious and further fed into this btw.)

Yet, from what I've seen over the years in the western fanbase, people's biggest issues with Gochi (aside from general Chi Chi hatred) is because it isn't a conventional relationship. It had hardly any chemistry going into it. I understand that logic, don't get me wrong, but I only understand it when I factor in society's amatonormative & allonormative lens. And I hate both of those things. Gochi not complying with them is what I find charming about the ship.

They didn't date or establish a super deep bond or whatever, yet they lived together in peace for 5 years. They continued to bounce off of one another throughout Z. Chi Chi NEVER remarried or even dated someone while Goku was dead for 7 years. She was crying happy tears when he finally returned at the end of the Buu saga. Goku was more than happy to go home with her and their kids (and tbh I'm 99.99% sure he wouldn't have minded if Chi Chi chose to get with someone else - he chose to stay dead after all). OBVIOUSLY they care for one another a lot, despite how they married each other as strangers. They themselves are narrative (if that's the right word) proof that conventional love & romance & whatever don't guarantee successful marriages. I adore that.

And it's funny because Vegebul is a pairing that also had little to no chemistry going into it, but unlike with Gochi, the no chemistry actually does hurt it for a couple of reasons (all of them revolving around how Vegeta was/is a terrible person) that I won't get into here because it'll derail this post and it's long enough already. I just wanted to point that out in text myself first, before other people came at me trying to argue it.

Anyway. TLDR Gochi as a ship defies amatonormative & allonormative concepts regarding intimate relationships. "You have to date / court someone first, fall in love with them, then marry them because marriage will make sense & be healthy then." They didn't do the first two parts, but after getting married, they're happy together. They spat in the face of societal norms & expectations.

[myrfing]

Ok. Anyway, I’ve chewed on the role quest capstone since I played the quest last night and some people are right: it isn’t surprising for this game’s overall writing. The game tends to be very safe/liberal-centrist with its leanings, since you know, corporate product meant to grab as wide of an audience as possible. They wrote this to be as vague and as unrealistic as possible, to give themselves plausible deniability on top of the “it’s just a joke maaan” and maybe that’s why it’s so frustrating: because she does bring up salient points that players have been craving to see more of, but it’s once again played off or cheaply handled or overshadowed by something safer. It’s a problem of the greater time bubble and the need for an unchanging game-setting (what a trouble it would be to have to revamp the derilicts, or the refugee camps outside of ul’dah), and a problem of corporatized writing. Even on the other foot, when they do try to handle it with sincerity, it’s been bizarre, rushed, and never really sticks the landing (ex. the whole post-shb fast-trak to make the tribes friendly to the alliance now so they can friendship blast our spaceship in EW and are technically not totally excluded in the definition of the world-at-peril; they write like they’re hurriedly trying to cover hypocrisies and not because they have fully-fledged ideas). Or they omit writing any problems entirely. Hi Sharlayan, Radz. They aren’t willing to go deeper because it would require them to take an actual stance on anything—but what SE wants to do is sell its game, not really be making a thesis of any sort. Now they’re pulling in years-long unscratched itches for their readers to either conjure overconvenient solutions to, or make cheap potshot jokes out of.

Honestly, this is one of my biggest gripes with the expac’s writing, other than too on-the-nose character developments. It has a very interesting setting, a very interesting time in history of the game world, and it only knows how to handle it with baby gloves. It doesn’t really want to get political, even though it’s an inherently political subject: nationhood, regime changes, definitions of peace, etc. Certain characters occupy positions of power, but are not allowed to look at or speak of it, the WoL included. They don’t know how to handle it on a basic level, and so they don’t know how to create humor out of it. Writers can only write what they think is true, even for jokes, but they don’t even know how to obfuscate it in a way that makes sense. Apyaahi is just another character written for convenience. She has hildibrand-level ridiculousness in some of her reasonings that are supposed to be comedic, but also mostly serve to warp her points into something that can’t be taken seriously. But are also so hamfisted it doesn’t even function as comedic satire that well. Why they chose discontent with state repression and homelessness as their point-and-laugh of the day, I dunno. Maybe they sense an audience shift lately. They do like to flipflop just a tiny bit across the line from time to time so they’ll always come out with something for everyone Lol

[chakotaybodypillow]

Can we talk about how sinister it is that they made Chakotay marooned for 10 YEARS?!?!

I would've still been shocked and heartbroken over like 1-5 years 😰 but 10?!?

I'm sure it has something to do with aligning the time traveling to the plot, idk I kinda went braindead whenever they discussed it. I didn't wanna think about it too hard.

But man... longer than the time he was on voyager? The guy witnessed the genocide of his home planet, faced the horror of the cardassians as a maquis, went missing in the delta quadrant, lost like 95% of his maquis buddies, unintentionally started a civil war on an alien planet, lost his crew, was captured and imprisoned, went missing for ten years, losing the only organic companion he had, and after all that, he stayed true to his sense of duty 😭 not to mention he spent the majority of his life being emo. WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO MY POOKIE WOOKIE BABYGIRL PRINCESS QUEEN?!

This reminds me of that scene from one small step where he said the things that he wanted in life always took a back seat, he just wants to teach anthropology/ paleontology at the academy ☹️ and it seems like they're just fulfilling that statement. I seriously think about that a lot when it comes to him. It's one of the entire premises of the headcanon lore I've come up with for him. He has a very strong sense of duty and a strong desire to protect those around him, especially after what happened to Trebus. And some people say he's boring 😔 hes definitely not boring on paper. I'll tell you that much.

I loved prodigy s2, but this is probably my biggest and only gripe. I'm not a fan of the trope of bringing back legacy characters only to make them go through the most diabolical scenarios known to man lol. Let them be old and rest 😔 (I know that wouldn't make good storytelling, but I'd still want to see it more often)

This is what they looked like in the writers room formulating chakotays story lol

[marengogo]

came across this thread today, the op was saying how Army don’t stream for the members equally, and that we all should love all their music.

I’m lucky I do, and I don’t agree necessarily with the thread, but is there some truth to it? Have the company sabotaged the members? Do they care about their solo careers?

I get the feeling they do and don’t. As in, they respected the decision for them to go solo but only to a degree, bc I can see there was some errors, or fumbles along the way, and each solo fan base that’s come along be it Army or vile solos, has a gripe.

Is it bc the members just want to be in the group? To me they keep saying it, Jimin said it to Yoongi, so you have him being so successful in his solo debut, and gaining awards and records left and right, but to Yoongi he says the group comes first. Obviously solos ignore this, are demanding pjm 3 already, think he’s going to act next, and want a world tour next year. Are they going to be disappointed? Or will Army?

How do you think this will look next year and beyond?

The one thing I do agree with the person about it getting them to do weird things when the come back, maybe not Run but kinda, the childish things surely should be left at the door? Not bc they weren’t good, but they are all nearly 30 plus.

Dear Anon,

Thank you for stopping by with this Ask 🙏🏾. There’s actually been many, very interesting Asks that have been sent, which deserve an answer but this one has topics I’ve been meaning to talk about since June but business and laziness have been reigning supreme in my neck of the woods so … with regards to; How I view Chapter 1.5. Cause you see, we call it Chapter 2, for obvious reasons, but I am almost certain that on an episode of Suchwita one of the boys mentioned how their coming back together as a band would be what they consider Chapter 2, which you could be thinking “Tomatoh, Tomahto”, but I think it is a very distinctive chapter in the story of their lives, which deserves its proper nomenclature.

So, thanks to you, I am basically going to be ranting, educatedly as always, and because I have been seriously frustrated about many points within your Ask, I will be probably be at an all time sarcasm, but I want to say this now, please rest assured, it is not directed at you at all mainly at majority of the people on the blue Bird App 🤡. I will do my best to obviously answer all your questions in the process, however, if I were to fail in doing so, please feel free to write back and say “Yo, you pansy-ass Marengo, you did everything but answer my questions, where my answers at?!” 🫰🏾💜. 

And that’s it for my preface disclaimer, now, may the rant commence!

CHAPTER 1.5 WAS MEANT FOR ARMY

There is a disconnect. 

There is a massive disconnect between the Tannies and many ARMY, which was created due to our future’s uncertainty, mixed with dreadful tales from the past. One thing we tend to forget, sometimes, is that these boys are de facto from South Korea. In the past couple of years, no matter how global they get, the way the Western Music Industry has been “dealing” with them nominating them for grammys, but never winning, not wanting them to be on radio, etc, added to the way they are treated in their very own home worse than criminals upon making mistakes, only good for trophies and tourism, etc has heavily emphasised this fact for me.

And then the biggest one of all; SK’s Conscription aka Compulsory Military Service. Few have been given exemptions, based on having done waaaay less than our boys many a politician son is within this as well …, and there was a period between 2020 and 2021 where I wished they could be exempted. My opinion changed since then, but in all honesty, regardless of what the government would decide, or what Koreans felt about it, deep down, both them, as well as ourselves, knew that they would be going. That being understood, it was now a case to be confronted with the sad history that idols who go for their service tend to be forgotten and can never really make a successful comeback. Hence, as Korean men, they must have worried about this like crazy, 18 months are, after all, a lot of days to ask for someone to wait in their case it was a total of almost 3 years.

Blue Bird ARMY: B1tch! I’d wait even 10 years for the boys, what the hell are you on about?! … Yeah well, it wasn’t just waiting for us though, was it? hyb3 is going through its fair amount of sh1t, and random nugus and their mamas keep trying to smear the boys’ name every other business day. It’s been hard AF for us going through it, and I am sure for them as well, not being able to be here with us while we go through it. Missing each other has been a major issue as well, but, speaking about missing, let’s go back to the disconnect I was talking about. Here is the situation:

Tannies - “I don’t want to leave ARMY, I’m so scared they will forget me, but at the same time, I need some time alone, so perhaps this is a good time as any to wander alone, for a bit, while providing ARMY with something they can remember me by, hopefully appreciate, and mostly enjoying, just while we are apart for a while. Basically, I get to explore and have new goals, before having to serve but all the while I’ll keep my lovely ARMY entertained: WIN-WIN!”.

ARMY - “I don’t want the Tannies to leave but they have to, so, somehow, I have to show how much I appreciate them and how there is no way in hell I could ever forget them- BUT HOLD ON … he got a concert, but my bias didn’t … global superstar? What is my fav then? Chopped liver? … Jazz?? Why the hell should I listen to that, when we have a great pop song … The company doesn’t care about my fav, why are they even here, they should leave! … Family? What family, they never wanted to be together to begin with, as soon as the military is over, each one will go their separate way, mark my words … 🤡.

We are on completely different mental and emotional planes.

I am sure the boys are super happy with all the goals and achievements they made while being away, and I am positive they didn’t think any of this was possible while they were not around, but if even it were to happen, they probably thought ARMY would do it like they always have, together. Instead, forget about antis and boycotters for a second, we presently have to deal with solos and shippers within our fandoms, who have taken it into their own hands to redefine this chapter as a time of belligerent independence, instead of creative, and peaceful, waiting. 

I think the boys didn’t want us to try and free them from the very environment they are basically responsible for creating, I think they wanted us to still be here united in said environment, while enjoying 7 different trips along the way, but yeah, some of us completely misread the map, some of us are lost as hell within one of the 7 trips, and some other just didn’t go on the journey waiting for the boys to be back on the “initial” path.  

IT’S NOT ABOUT LIKING, IT’S ABOUT SUPPORTING

If rap is not your cup of tea, it would be ludicrous to ask you to suddenly become an aficionado. Nobody is asking that. Take for example a close friend of mine. They are an OT7 who didn’t like one of the solo albums that were released this year, regardless, they streamed it so hard you’d think the person was their fav. They might have put extra emphasis on their bias, but they were never below par when it came to all other 6 members, because they understood the assignment, and they respected the “teachers”. 

875 is a group composed of 3 rappers and 4 vocalists. Within this subdivision there are pop lovers, jazz lovers, dance lovers, alternative & indie lovers and epic production lovers. This isn’t a novelty, it’s always been like this. They’ve never hid it, it was always all out in the open, so what’s different now? Why are people acting surprised at Jin choosing the happy route or Hobi focusing on dancing? Blue Bird ARMY: “But they are also individuals, they deserve to shine in their individuality” Well, yes. But if all we do is being too busy fvcking up the only environment that allows them to freely be said individuals, where the fvck else are they going to do that?! I mean HYB3 may be the devil incarnate, but it is always better the devil you know the world out there is seriously fvcked up; SERIOUSLY FVCKED UP. 

Furthermore, let me tell you another giant problem about being a solo, shipper, or one eyed fan; you can’t see the bigger picture. The bigger picture is not important because just because it is pretty, like sure, trophies and accolades are great and all, but we are here supposedly for the music, but also because we think these 7 young men are just exquisite. Blue Bird ARMY: “And what if you think that only 1 is and the others should disappear?” And this is the part I’m gonna "spell out":

That 👏🏾, my blue birded ARMY friend, is 👏🏾 exclusively 👏🏾 your 👏🏾own 👏🏾 fvcking 👏🏾 problem 👏🏾.

Not everything is a fvcking conspiracy, the Tannies have said time and time and time again how they want to be together on stage, so what’s with all the forced narratives, uh? And you see, people who didn’t watch Suchwita wouldn’t know it, people who didn’t watch Are You Sure wouldn’t know it, people who don’t watch Run Jin wouldn’t know it, heck people who only watch their fave WEVERSE live wouldn’t know it. No matter how much you want to surround yourself of just your fave, it is fundamental to understand that this boys are surrounded by each other, because in reality, they can truly only trust the 7 of them. Period.  

So when you are blocking out Tae, because you are a jkker, know that you are also blocking out a part of jkk. When you are ignoring the rapline, because you like the maknae line only, know that you are also ignoring a part of the maknae line. When you are disrespecting 6 members because you are just a JK solo, know that you are also disrespecting JK. This is a paramount concept to understand, for real, we should never be forced to like, but we need to learn to respect and properly support, because supporting each member makes it easier to help each of them reach their goals, as they won’t have to worry about one another.

OF BEERS, LEGOS AND WHATEVER TF YOU WANT!

Now, I'm not sure what Era ARMY people are nowadays, I was today years old when I found out that there are Yoongi Incident Era ARMY like damn fam! But if you were a 2022 Festa ARMY you probably watched a WEVERSE live or two. The most memorable, to me, are probably Jungkook basically staycationing, with drinks at all, and Jimin making things out of LEGO. 

JK is the type who has nothing to hide, but at the same time will not tell you things he doesn’t want to talk about. Period. He drank in his house in front of us, did laundry in his house in front of us, watched movies in his house, cooked in his house, had guests in his house, showed us said house itself, but you know one thing he’s never shown us? Jimin in his house, yet we know for a fact JM was in his house at least twice. And it definitely wasn’t for lack of trying! The hyung line, minus Joonie, also did several lives, all very informative, some playful and carefree and then there is Joonie. His were emotionally all over the place, and we couldn’t quite understand, at the time.

What I’m trying to say here is that in everything, from their lives, to their private time, to their projects, the boys seemed to have absolute freedom in the actions and choices they made: THEY ARE BTS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! If they can’t, in SK’s entertainment who can? You see, hyb3/BH/g3ffen etc all messed up, a lot, for all of the members and that’s a fact. Some g3ffen really have no clue what the fvck they are doing, some others hyb3/BH have had a lot of other fish to fry mhj, k-media, and company, but I do believe that there never was any real malicious intent why shit where you eat??? I do think though that there was real disorganization. Why? because our boys are unprecedented.

The steps they take, the records they break, the achievements they make are all unprecedented in their environment. There is no blueprint as to how to handle a band like 875, because they are the blueprint. Hyb3 artists have much more freedom than any of the artists in the big 3 could ever wish for, or even comprehend, and this notion is completely lost with the likes of a certain girl group 🙄, like, the very fact that they can go around blabbering the way they are, is a result of the fact that they are part of a company whose environment was mostly moulded by our boys and hence allows that.

All of this is to say that if JK was drinking live, it isn’t because the managers told him to, it is because he wanted to. If JM was building lego live, it isn’t because the managers told him to, it is because he wanted to. If Jin started asking ARMY directly what they wanted him to do, it isn’t because the managers told him to, but it is because he wanted to. The most managers can currently ever wish to obtain from these boys is to please please please not spoil sh1t 🥹even that, some of our boys, struggle with, sometimes … okay, many a time 😬.

ARMY have certain expectations from the Tannies. Some Tannies do as well, and some others have no idea what to think and, once again, here is indeed where the problem lies. For example, Blue Bird ARMY: “Jin, I want you to be an actor” but Jin doesn’t want to, he’s said it so many times; so where do we go from there? You think doing PG-13 rated things is not good for JM’s image but he was comfortable only doing that at the time, because maybe he was going through he’s own private issues; so where do we go from there? And by all means I would like him to feel comfortable to express mature concept in ways other than dancing, but that would depend on him or us asking in a no-pressure, mature, manner.

I think there has to be a conversation between ARMY and the Tannies, kinda like what Jin suggested when he asked us what we wanted from us, and then it was up to him to decide, because, as the own person that he is, there are some things he doesn’t want to do acting in a k-drama and sometimes he was very happy to do participate in variety shows. It has always been about the two of us, Tannies & ARMY. It was always a love and respectful bond between the 7 of them and our fandom. But now it feels like solos and shippers are about to run a platform we never subscribed to. 

I know that Red is such a passionate color and Orange is playful as hell, Yellow is such a happy colour to me like it can do no harm! Green is so calming and pretty, Blue has depth and can be a bit scary at times, Indigo is dreamy and promising, and Violet, well violet is sexy AF. But aren’t Rainbows simply amazing? I think they are, and you can only have rainbows with all 7 colours.

Each color can exist on its own in nature, but rainbows need a space and light to be reflected on, the sky's the biggest area where you can reflect a rainbow, and just because we know the sky is not a limit for us, it doesn’t mean we are okay to ruin it. Let’s have a perfect sky ready for the boys when they come back. ARMY is the name they gave us to support and protect all 7 of them, let's find a way to unite each other again and find a new plane where we can both, Tannies & ARMY, meet once again 🙏🏾.

Always respectfully yours 💜,

Marengo.

PS - I apologies to all the other great asks as well, the cold weather makes me lazier than usual 🙇🏾‍♀️

[newx-menfan]

NYX #6 Review

*Spoilers!*

Kiddddeeeennn !!!

The issue starts with Kiden dancing in the rain while going to a “Dazzler concert”…(the scene is really GORGEOUS here!!)

Kiden is soliloquizing about people being a trap… (this is what being friends with Laura DOES to YOU lol)

Kamala is basically me at a concert… that was basically how I was when I recently went through security for Charli’s Sweat Tour…😬😂🤣 (I WISH I could be Anole 🤣🤣🤣🤣)

Does Sophie still have her powers when she says “Cuckoo”? (Idk, this plot point admittedly doesn’t make much sense to me…)

While walking through the venue (they should really be getting into the merch shop line-amateurs…), Kamala is worried she’s not taking the “no contact” with her sisters well…and apparently becoming addicted to video games…

Anole is basically eye-fucking everyone at the venue (GET IT VICTOR 🤣🤣!)

We get a sleight of hand from the writers- it’s NOT actually Kiden, but LOCAL, that Laura smells and is kind of fixating on! (sorry Kiden…you’re too good for Laura anyway!)

Local then shows up to basically hit on Laura/tell her to “stay out of his way”. (Playing hard to get- copied from the Hellion Playbook!)

The team FINALLY remembers the Mojo plot exists. (I get it… Hellion was WAY MORE exciting…)

Prodigy has of course the RIGHT reaction (“Oh Fuck” indeed!)…

Dante is promptly dent to the merch line while they deal with the baddie (finally- it’s 100% going to sell out of all the good items guys!) and Dante offers Sophie to come with and be in the “normie group”…she promptly declines…

Kiden narrates how Mojo has basically been taking homeless mutants and how she didn’t trust Mr. Friendly (and apparently DOES kind of think Laura is a shit friend too!)

The team springs into action while Sophie feels awkward on her secondary team with Anole (sorry Sophie!), while Local brakes into the sound booth.

Prodigy calls out Local and Co.’s evil plan to insert a subliminal message into the music to use Dazzlers fame to essentially get followers (so…TikTok?😂🤣)

Local argues that it’s the same as what they did at the protest (let’s not rehash that last issue, Local…) and that Mr. Friendly is the only one helping homeless mutants (which is TRUE- even BEFORE this event Xavier and Co. We’re terrible at helping the Morlocks…)

Laura talks sense into Local and Local admits to Laura that if he goes back Mojo, he will kill him…but sadly Mojo has already taken over Local’s body… (🥺)

Mojo works the crowd like a BOSS…while lamenting how generic this evil villain plot is (not your BEST work admittedly, Mojo)…

Kiden busts onto the scene to save the day and beats everyone (GO KIDEN!!) and decides to catch up with Laura…while they just…let Local escap? (But the CONCERT guys!!….Seriously though…I get it…I would probably turn the other cheek if I had TS tixs too lol)

Laura totally up and leaves with Kiden without saying goodbye to the rest of the group (AKA probably hooking up with Kiden😘😘!)

Back to the Local subplot…we see Mojo has apparently adopted parasocialism… (but has he read Mark Fischer???)

Review:

This issue was good- fun. Don’t have a lot of complaints.

I didn’t really LOVE the art- some panels, like the rain were gorgeous…some were a letdown…

Dante is still just kind of awkwardly there…but Anole is slightly better in this issue.

My biggest gripe is how NICE Kiden was to Laura and basically letting her AGAIN back into the fold despite Laura being a shitty friend (I felt similarly irritated with Jubes in X-terminators barely saying anything to Laura basically ignoring her for months) …but I feel like that’s potentially COMING in the NEXT ISSUE!

Theories:

Kiden is working for SOMEBODY… either the new Quiet Council or Mojo…and Laura just got kidnapped…

Her POV sounded way too bitter and Laura randomly disappearing, sounds like we are finally going to see someone TURN on LAURA…

I was kind of wondering if Lil Bro, Tatiana, or any of the others in the group are being held/controlled by Mojo…

It would 100% be HILARIOUS if Kiden, Synch, AND Hellions formed a group of basically “Laura’s EVIL EX’s” 😂🤣😈

[dianethepisceswitch]

My feelings on the "Silver is gonna kill Malleus" topic

@oddberryshortcake recently made a post explaining her opinions on the topic. One of her key points was that death and killing goes against Silver's character and morals. I agree with that opinion wholeheartedly. Silver is Aurora, and would try to be compassionate and ease Malleus's pain with his words rather than drawing a sword. If anything, the person out of that group who would be quickest to pull out a sword and start fighting would be Sebek. This doesn't apply as much because of his intense Malleus worship, but Sebek is less likely to try and talk things out. I really do doubt that anyone is gonna try and kill him unless S.T.Y.X. as a company wants to disobey the Shrouds and take matters into their own hands.

Despite all of this, I'm really angsty. Seriously, I love a good bad ending. One of my biggest gripes with the chapters in Twisted Wonderland is that after they defeat an overblot everything just goes back to normal. I know that this is a Disney world and there's ALWAYS a happy ending in Disney films, but it's unrealistic. Not trying to say that a universe with cat men, magical frisbee tournaments, and ink monsters is realistic, but the effect that overblot has on the universe is almost non-existent. I think if Malleus were to die, it could give everyone the reality check they needed. Not everything has some happily ever after. People die. People become traumatized. It may have been fun the past six chapters to dance and have a rhythmic after we defeat a "villain", but chapter seven if different. For a lack of better words, chapter seven isn't like other chapters. Chapter seven having lasting, devastating, worldcrushing, eye-opening consequences that the characters have never experienced, besides the Diasomnia group.

Truely, if Malleus dies I could imagine everybody trying to be happy. Trying to start a rhythmic, but ultimately breaking down instead. Screaming, crying, numb, etc, as a result of not only Malleus's death, but because of everything they themselves have faced. Perhaps Leona can finally breakdown and cry about his lack of feeling valued as a kid, you get the picture. This would be bad especially for the Diasomnia group and the player. For Diasomnia, he was family, whether he was a brother, a master, or a son, he was family and now he's gone. I could see the characters going out into public and hearing and seeing people celebrating his death, someone like Rollo. Seeing this could evoke feelings of anger, or cause the profound sorrow to well up once again. After all, Malleus's death is basically him losing Melanor and Levan for a second time.

Luckily for us, Disney is a bunch of flakers, so I doubt they will take this road. Regardless of whether he lives or dies, I'll be satisfied. I'm excited to see what Aniplex has in store for the remainder of this chapter, and I will be anxiously watching alongside the rest of the fandom.

[eriophorumcallitrix]

ok so i wanna talk about my biggest gripe with the latest reason for disliking tubbo. this ended up accidentally being a more in-depth character explanation from my/tubbos pov. and boy do I mean the compulsive overexplanation really popped off on this one

(disclaimer: you’re obviously allowed to dislike any character you want, I’m not your mom and I’m just voicing my own view + experiences lol)

one of the biggest criticisms for him im seeing as of the moment is that he’s being annoying. and I completely agree. I think he’s being inflammatory at really awful times. but what I don’t agree with is the lack of discussion about why he’s acting this way. chalking his callousness up to simple neglect or lack of care is a disservice to his character.

my interpretation of tubbos current mental state and how he got here is like this:

tension has been high strung for weeks now due to the egg island workers showing up and harassing people. they’ve killed empanada, and there really does not seem to be shit they can do about it. the federation doesn’t give a shit, the workers are OP as all hell, and tubbo has tried everything in his power to keep sunny and her siblings safe. not even his busted set of armor kept him from getting three-tapped. like tubbo said: “why try if there’s no chance of winning?”

so already, he’s depressed and frustrated with himself for not being able to do a damn thing to keep the people he loves safe.

then we get into his relationships with the people around him. in tubbos eyes, pac and fit are forming a close relationship that he feels is going to leave him behind. pac, fit and Ramon have each other now. they’re family now in a way that tubbo doesn’t seem to be a part of now. I can’t remember if he said this exactly, but it was along the lines of: well now there’s not going to be any space for me [if they’re that close.] his closest friends are moving on without him, and there’s nothing he can do about that either.

now we have a depressed barely-adult guy whose self esteem has TANKED because he feels like there’s no use for him anymore. his friends are moving on without him and the only thing he’s good for is how useful he can be to others.

except for sunny.

it barely took a week for them to get attached to each other, and now it’s them against the world. sunny is all he needs, and tubbo is all she needs. they mean everything to each other, and would burn it all down if it made the other smile. and right now? it’s looking like it’ll be just them against the world until further notice.

but sunny has her friends. she has her siblings! she loves them to death and they love her to death too. she has her accountant bad, her bodyguard fit and driver pac! (if I remember correctly xd) and they’ve got her. sunny can trust them, and has them to stick around for.

tubbo does not have this. don’t get him wrong, he’s incredibly grateful that she’s got people on her side that love her other than him! but this doesn’t come without unspoken jealousy and resentment. not resentment towards sunny, obviously, but definitely some jealousy of her relationships with the others. and possible resentment towards the others for not sparing the same kindness towards him.

this is where I tie back to my original point. the difference between sunny and her pa is mostly communication and trust of others. sunny is willing to communicate and trust others, and tubbo is not.

to start with why tubbo isn’t communicating with others right now: i believe he’s reached the point of emotional shutdown. he has tried his damndest to do what he can to resolve the situation and nothing has worked. this is already something I believe is stressing him out really badly, thus taking up a significant portion of his emotional threshold.

and now he can’t even seek solace or help in his friends because he cannot let himself trust them.

he has tried to give out cries for help in ways that aren’t necessarily straightforward. and he’s also said some seriously worrying things lately under the guise of being jokes. i don’t blame the others for not getting that, but I still can’t help but wonder why nobody’s really thought to look any deeper into it? like don’t get me wrong, tubbo says some completely inane shit sometimes. but has the frequency of these “jokes” and his inflammatory behavior not tipped anyone off at all?

regardless, tubbo feels like he’s tried. he’s not that good at communicating, and even when he is, he may not come off as treating the situation with proper sensitivity. it’s already a struggle to communicate, not even mentioning trying to ask for help. this is a whole other layer to wondering why he even tries doing things “right.”

he already thinks people only keep him around for what he can provide, so thats the only thing he thinks he’s got going for him and he’s barely hanging onto it too.

so as a result of not knowing how to cope with the situations around him and pretty much being extended past his emotional capability, he acts out. he doesn’t want fit and pac together because they’re gonna leave him behind. so he tries to ruin it. it doesn’t work, and they are continuing to move on without him. so he constantly comments on how annoying it is, and in a way, tries to get them to push him away themselves. he just wants a resolution to this hurt he’s feeling, and he wants them to just get “the move away” over already. but obviously that’s not gonna happen.

so he makes insensitive jokes, says stupid shit and does stupid shit too. he lies and blames others. he wants his friends to push him away already and give him a good reason to finally run away with sunny and completely isolate. this is beyond his capabilities, and all he needs at this point is a solid reason for him to finally hit the ground running.

but each day he comes back to spawn, doing everything he can to not completely lose it for sunny. he’s trying his best to keep it together for her, and he can’t let himself be weak. admitting his feelings in the place he’s currently in would end up coming out as a breakdown. and he cannot let the people around him see that. it would be a fatal error to open up when he cannot trust the feds nor the egg island workers not to take advantage of his weakness. and he needs to be there for sunny, to at the very least protect her if nothing else.

so essentially: tubbo is past his emotional threshold and is barely keeping it together. the facade is slipping and the harshness/what people perceive as annoying is continuously slipping out from the cracks.

(with this next bit, this is just me recognizing autistic patterns of behavior in myself + some others in tubbo’s character. i dont actually know if he’s autistic this is just me drawing parallels from my experience. and how I have seen these behaviors be treated within the qsmp fandom. don’t say I’m armchair diagnosing him or whatever for the love of god please)

so tubbo cannot cope with the situations around him, which is resulting in his mask slipping. he’s fully aware that he’s being insensitive and kind of an ass, but he is quite literally past his capability of keeping up with social niceties at this point. and i do think the unnecessary jokes in bad taste are purposefully to get people to either notice something is wrong or to get them to push him away so he doesn’t keep hurting their feelings.

and people getting onto him about communication I think simply do not get how utterly difficult it is to communicate when you have reached the point where you’re struggling to mask. not to mention the danger he could put himself in by being vulnerable to others on top of that. so ultimately, brushing off his fears and character traits as a simple “he could do this but doesn’t want to/is just stubborn and annoying for no reason/for a reason that isn’t good enough for me” is kind of ridiculous. it also reminds me of some things I’ve been told in relation to my struggles with autism, but that’s just me. not that i think people are actually being ableist but i do think some of y’all’s arguments are slipping a little too close to ableist rhetoric.

once again you’re allowed to dislike whoever you want and think they’re annoying, but i would encourage you to think a little more in depth as to why you think they’re annoying.

(and I’m not saying some people don’t like autistic traits that aren’t cute n quirky but… it’s getting a little too close for comfort >_>)

[midnightsun-if]

There’s no way I can pass up, “i’m gonna remind them you’re mine” for my girl Scarlett please 🙏

You don’t know how you keep getting dragged into these things…

Sure, in the light of day, Aurelian Academy was the picture perfect institute for higher learning and a practical hub for possible connections within the supernatural, and even sometimes human, world, but at night? When the enchanted lights dimmed, when the professors turned in for the night in their wing, and the moon rose above the shimmering lake that made its home on Aurelian’s campus?

That’s when the real fun, as you’ve been told, begins. Parties, secret meetings, illicit affairs, and more all occurred under the cover of night within Aurelian, and you just happened to have been pulled into once such event— a party that Blake hadn’t stopped gushing about since he heard of it: It’s supposed to be the biggest party of the year! How could I possibly miss it? And, since you’re my best friend, I’ll need you by side when I attend. It won’t be as fun without you.

The fact that it’s barely into the second semester didn’t seem to matter to Blake in the slightest.

Seriously, who thought it’d be a good idea for both sirens and succubi to be housed in the same dorm? That’s only a recipe for disaster— added to the fact that the incubi dorm was a relatively short distance away, and you have a whole slew of potentially bad ideas.

Though nothing bad as my idea of actually attending, you gripe, hand tightening around the flimsy plastic solo cup, sloshing an almost luminescent blue drink over the brim. Blake has been lost in the sea of people, I’m not even sure what time it is, and I think I’m going to go deaf if this music doesn’t shift gears soon.

All in all? You weren’t having the best of times. Not that you minded parties, you’ve been to quite a few in your time, but this sort of thing hadn’t ever really been your scene. The air, intermingled with a variety of scents, is almost cloying in your nostrils, the beat of the bass thrumming your ear, and it’s only due to the privacy wards that you haven’t completely keeled over due to the sound. Your only saving grace is the fact that your girlfriend had agreed to come save you after a certain amount of time.

Getting the chance to see Scarlett, even if it’s in a throng of gyrating bodies and a dimly lit room, she’ll definitely be a sight for sore eyes. You just have to hold out long enough for her to arrive. And she’ll hopefully take me back to her room, you muse, taking a sip over the surprisingly sweet concoction in your cup. Which will lead to the actually exciting part of my night.

For now? You’re content with sticking to the sides of the party, the shadows wrapped around you in a comforting embrace, as you waited for your emerald green eyed savior to arrive.

“You’re not having fun are you?” The sudden voice causes you to flinch in surprise. Your attention immediately settling on the form of Isabel, an occupant of this very dorm, who had a charming smile stretched across full lips. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so miserable at one of these things.”

You shift. “I’m not miserable,” you reply, not wanting to seem rude. “This just isn’t usually something I go to.”

Isabel hums, amber eyes sparkling. “I can see that.” She tilts her head, slowly appraising you in a way that immediately sends alarm bells ringing in your head. “I can say, with quite a bit of certainty, that you haven’t ever been to one of my parties before?”

She’s right.

“Why do you say that?”

“I think I’d remember someone as beautiful as you attending,” she purrs, leaning closer, locks of raven black hair falling over her shoulder. “None of my sisters, or myself, have been able to take our eyes off you since you arrived with that incubus.”

Sisters. The realization hits you instantly. You’ve completely forgotten that Isabel was a Siren, a species that always traveled in pods, a group that grew as close as family. Who also happened to make a game out of who could get the most valuable prize by the end of their hunts. How do I keep getting into these situations?

Isabel’s smile only grows. “I must admit I’m surprised none of them have snatched you up yet.” Her hand trails down your arm, before you’re able to jerk it away. Something she doesn’t seem to take offense by. “It’s possible they’re too shy to.” She tilts her head, eyes flashing carnally. “Pity. But it only means more of you for myself.”

“Look I have a—”

“She’s already spoken for, Laurent.” A sharp voice interrupts your rebuttal, accent thicker than usual due to the agitation you detect laced within her tone. “You’ll have to take your games elsewhere.”

Isabel’s entire countenance shifts as your girlfriend finally comes into focus— Scarlett. Your eyes rove over her form, clad simply in a red-laced corset top, paired with a belt and tailored black pants, as well as her signature heels, she looks every part of the unflinching conquerer that roams the halls during the day. Not a single strand of dark auburn hair out of place, emerald eyes narrowed into slits as she takes a protective stance next to you, the only sign of her anger being the slightest clench of her jaw. Something anyone that wasn’t you could, and would, miss.

“Wasn’t aware she was yours, Voltaire.” The siren holds up her hands, clearly not wanting to get into an altercation with your girlfriend. “Maybe you shouldn’t let her wander off alone without you.”

Scarlett’s brow arches, an imperious look etched across her face. “I’d take that into consideration if your opinion mattered in the slightest to me.” She waves her hand, a flippant gesture of dismissal if you’ve ever seen one, and drawls. “Run along now. I do believe your time in our presence has run its course. No need to insist upon a place that doesn’t want nor need you.”

Amber eyes flash dangerously but she wisely keeps her mouth shut, giving you one last look, Isabel turns and disappears back into the throng of bodies, no doubt heading over to her sisters that stood near the open bar.

A gentle touch to your cheek pulls your focus towards Scarlett’s face, a bit more emotion now showcased— if the slightest downturn of her lips, and the darkened state of her gaze, was anything to go by.

“Why did you entertain her for so long, my heart?” It’s asked softly, no accusation in her tone. A question borne purely out of curiosity.

You rub the back of your neck. “I panicked and sort of froze.”

Scarlett’s eyes narrow at that. “Did she do anything to you?” A darkened gaze, that flashes obsidian, turns to look back at the room, in the direction that Isabel had disappear off to. “If she did all you have to do is tell me and I’ll handle it.”

“Honestly, I didn’t realize what was happening until it actually happened.” You shake your head, taking Scarlett’s hand, that had limply fallen back to her side, in a gentle hold. “She caught me when I was thinking of a fairly distracting topic.”

“Oh?” Dark auburn hair falls over Scarlett’s shoulder, reminiscent of Isabel’s earlier action, but somehow more elegant, and your girlfriend’s gaze darkens for an entirely different reason, the obsidian black telling of a completely different hunger. “And what would that be?”

Stepping closer, you wrap around arms loosely around Scarlett’s neck, tugging her closer until her body is flushed with yours. “You.” A satisfied purr rumbles out of Scarlett. Her head titling into the gentle touch of your fingers running through her hair. “Out of pure curiosity what were you going to do?” At her raised brow, you elaborate. “You said you would have handled it. How?”

There’s a beat of silence, wherein only the party surrounding you both intercepts it, but when Scarlett offers you a sultry smirk, you immediately felt the familiar swoop in your gut, heat building between you both. It’s of no surprise when Scarlett leans closer and places a hard kiss to your lips— somehow making it deep, passionate in a way that only she could, without ever introducing her tongue. “What would I do, my hear?” She purrs, tugging at your bottom lip with her teeth. “I’d remind them that you’re mine.”

She dips her head, placing an open-mouth kiss to your neck. Clearly delighting in the way you arch against her at the familiar action.

“I suppose I have a different course of action now.” Scarlett steps back, keeping your hands interlaced as she leads you towards the exit, hips swaying in a rhythmic fashion. “Something that’ll be far more rewarding.”

Your breath catches. “And that is?”

“Reminding you that you’re mine.”

[aquatark]

Can I ask your opinion on Endless Ocean Luminous?

Thanks for the ask anon! :D

I've been trying to get my thoughts on this game together into something that makes sense for a while now, but no better time than the present!

tldr: I seem to like it more than most people! I think this game is alright though it's still very flawed, and I'm still enjoying myself with it, but it seems very clearly rushed and it shows. I'm still very happy that the series has a third entry at all, and am looking forward to the future of the series after this game!

...okay, now I'm gonna aimlessly ramble for wayyy too long lmao (spoilers under the cut if you haven't played)

So, to get a few of my biggest gripes out of the way:

Having completed it... the plot is god awful (esp the ending, iykyk). I think I would have preferred having none at all, but Daniel is cool

The English voice of Sera isn't ideal, though this is an issue other languages (like Japanese, French) don't seem to have

The setting, character development, and lore is much more shallow, uninteresting, and poorly-explored through gameplay than any other diving game Arika has made, which is saying a lot bc EO1's plot was invented pretty close to release, and is known for also not being great

The game doesn't run as smoothly as I'd like. maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I remember a time when devs didn't feel like they could release their game if it crashes as often online as this game does

Some of this game's creature textures are far less polished than they ought to be for a Switch game. Surprisingly, most of the ones ported from Arika's defunct mobile fishing game are fine! It's stuff like the megamouth shark and bigfin reef squid that really stand out to me as sub-par

I'm not as bothered about this as some ppl seem to be, but I would have liked a little more customization freedom, ala EO2's suit cuts

Many creature descriptions are copied verbatim from EO2, which I really dislike. wasted a perfect opportunity to highlight different aspects of creatures, not rehash the same tired and basic facts

Though I love the concept of dynamic time of day underwater, it's executed very poorly imo. Could have done with some more fine-tuning (something that could be said abt... a lot of this game lol)

All of this however only detracts a little from my enjoyment of the game overall.

The fact that something like the story can be shipped in the final product with a dev team that shares many many people with the original EO games (seriously, compare the staff lists on the wiki, I genuinely teared up seeing so many familiar faces again)... suggests to me that this game was subjected to crazy time constraints, though I don't have any concrete proof. Nintendo has been known recently to be anti-crunch with some of its biggest IPs, so maybe an Arika problem? Regardless, this game shouldn't have released in the condition it's in, and definitely should not be the price it is.

I really don't like being too negative though, so I won't be! After all, and this may be controversial coming from an EO blog... but the various flaws of Arika's previous diving games made this not be the biggest surprise to me. I mean, I 100%ed EO1, including collecting every salvage and getting all gear/hairstyles! Do you have any idea how hellish that is? I eat slop for breakfast!!

I've still been playing a lot of this game with my dear friend MDB (us pictured below), and there are a lot of things I like about it!

I will, for example, drool all over this game's sound design till the day my son "dies" in a tragic submarine accident. Ayako Saso (main talent behind Everblue 1/2, EO1/2, and Luminous' original compositions and sound in general) knocked it out of the park as usual, with the menu sfx feeling really Everblue reminiscent in a way I adore, and the music easily being some of the best in the series. I know many fans are disappointed by there being no vocal tracks, but honestly? While I like the fact EO1 and 2 had them, they simply wouldn't have fit in this game. So I'm chill about it.

I think the random generation and focus on multiplayer are fun and fresh for the series! I have EO1 and 2 when I want polished singleplayer gameplay, and this game when I feel like something else. EO1 and 2's multiplayer objectively sucked, so it's a really interesting angle to take. The gameplay loop is entertaining enough for me - I like salvaging, scanning creatures, collecting tags, and hunting orbs, both in solo and shared dives. The framework is solid, but could use a little more meat.

The fact they were finally able to realize the "Ancient Sea" concept that had been thrown around during development since EO1 is lovely. Despite having been a dinosaur kid, I'm not really knowledgeable on any of the species depicted in-game, so their designs don't bother me... I'm just a sucker for human ruins overrun by prehistoric life!

Though there are some categories of sea creature that I'm a little sad not to see anymore, like seadragons, sea slugs, and many marine mammals... I don't mind this game's different roster. I like the creature variety, because imo, it would have been a little boring and predictable to have the roster just be every creature that was previously in EO, plus some new ones. This system avoids the kind of problem Pokémon games are currently having, where they have so many critters that they can't possibly put them all in one game, but fans are upset not to have the entire dex ported, y'know? It's like playing EO for the first time again!

I've seen several people theorize that the series was "intentionally sabotaged with a bad new game, so that they have an excuse not to make any more EO games", and... I mean... all I'll say about that is that there's no use killing something that's already dead lol. There'd been no games for over a decade, and very little demand for one - why would a game company looking to make money put so much effort and money into marketing, development, pre-order bonuses, and My Nintendo rewards in order to create hype for a game that's bad on purpose... when they could have kept the series dead for free? Nintendo clearly believe the concept of diving games has legs (or fins ig), with a staff team who love the ocean and dive irl, and are trying new things to see if it sticks better than the previous four games they've made, which collectively sold worse than Luminous did.

It may not all be great, or even good, but experimentation and trying unconventional things is what made EO such a special series in the first place baybee! We just remember the parts of it we liked, and forget the really dumb stuff. The EO team has never been perfect, and I can see their smudgy fingerprints all over this game... I mean, these are the same devs who didn't notice a crash so bad it had their game recalled, and repeatedly yoinked copyrighted material without permission to use in their games... but that's a long post for another day lol.

Soooo yeah! Those are some of my thoughts! Feel free to express your own thoughts on the game here - I'd be curious what other people think, and I'd be more than happy to answer more asks on specific elements of the game, or just getting me talkin' about this game, or any other game in the series for that matter! Any EO questions at all, ask away~!

Thanks for reading, hehe! >( ')

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

Lance/hunk/shiro for character opinion bingo :3?

Hi!! Thanks for asking!!!!

Lance-

Everyone but me is wrong about them<3- Source: trust me bro. But ok seriously, everyone is going to have their own opinions and interpretations and they are more or less valid. I get that! And i also get that people are just having fun! I really do! I am not trying to be fun police! But also there is so much in the fandom that is Just......plain wrong whether it's coming from Lance stans or Lance haters or Keith stans who ship kl, i don't even know where to begin with. And even if i did know, if i started listing all of them we'll be here all day. Ok i think my biggest gripe is this insistence that if kl (or any Keith ship really) had became canon it could have saved vld, cause just no. No it won't. The writers hate their characters of colour and the Love Keith, if kl had became canon Lance would have just been reduced to being Keith's eye candy. Neither would making him Black paladin. Just look at what happened to Shiro and Kuron

They got done dirty by the fans- Kl shippers insisting that their fanon 'fixed' Lance and said fanon is Lance having every nuance or complexity removed with only things remaining is either his insecurities and him having a crush on Keith my beloathed. Please i need most fans (especially Keith stans) away from him, doesn't matter what their feelings about Lance are, all of them somehow come up with worse fanon

They got done dirty by the creators- Everyone and their mother has talked about this in great detail but still. Just. A farmer?!?! A FARMER?!?!?!!? Also apparently him moving to Altea even though he spent so much time missing Earth like?!??! I would have accepted that if it's because he is Allura's Prince Consort or a diplomat or something but this is just bullshit

Wasted Potential- Lance could have had such a great arc about being support and humility and finding his own place with his own strength but noOooOoo it's instead about how he'll only ever be second choice to fucking Keith

I am constantly going insane rotating him in my brain like a fork in a microwave- this fucker has been in my brain for 7 goddamn years and he is neither planning to leave nor planning to pay rent

Popular ships for this character suck- i actually like most of his ships except klance, the blight that it is (i enjoy it too occasionally but it's so everywhere it's getting on my nerves, free my boy i am tired of Keith)

Overrated- I love him. He is my most favorite character ever, but people need to shut up about him forever <333, especially because that fanon guy is not my son

Constantly listening to songs and mentally holding them up like paint swatches- i have. So. Many animatic ideas around Lance. So many of them

I WANT TO STUDY THEM LIKE COCKROACH- He's my little labrat and i am an unethical scientist about to have fun experimenting. He's just so intriguing, i think what's intriguing to me about is how much messy, contradictory and human he is as a character

FREE SPACE- Maybe i am bit biased here but in my opinion vld should have had three main focal points. Shiro, as he has connection with galra empire and the horrors they were committing in the present and the universe that needs to be rescued, saved and healed. Allura, as she has connection with the lions and their legend as well as the past of the galran empire and what was destroyed in their wake and seeks justice, healing, and remembrance. And finally, Lance, as he's connected to every member of the new team, no matter how uncertain and one sided those bonds were, to Earth and his family who never even knew about those dangers and are unprepared, what's at stake and the future that needs to be defended and protected.

What's wrong with him (affectionate)- He's so goddamn annoying<33333

Not Enough ScreenTime- Or atleast he definitely he needed more focus

My opinions would be received by most fans as akin to hitting a wasps nest with baseball bat- other than my dislike for kl? I think allurance was fine, yes the relationship needed better writing. But so did every relationship in this goddamn show buddy, as a matter al is one of the only ones that actually had some development for both the characters.

Also Lance should have stayed the blue paladin "He deserved to be someone's first choice" HE WAS ALREADY SOMEONE'S FIRST CHOICE!!! HE WAS BLUE'S FIRST CHOICE!!!! BLUE WAITED FOR HIM FOR 10,000 YEARS!!! SHE CHOSE HIM OVER THE BEST PILOTS, THE BEST ENGINEERS, THE BEST SCIENTIST AND SO MANY OTHERS!!!!! *rattling and gnawing on my cage bars*

BITING AND KILLING AND MAIMING THEM AND DEATH AND VIOLENCE- I am definitely Normal™ about him. Yup. Just don't look at my blog

Hunk-

i have answered him here!

Shiro-

They got done dirty by the fans- I do not get this opinion that Shiro staying dead would have fixed the narrative. Like Shiro had been dead since s2 and only came back at the end of s6 to be a side character. Him staying alive was not the reason behind the quality of the show decreasing. Also the entire "who should be the Black Paladin" debate is pointless the answer will always be the guy who fought Zarkon in the Astral Plane for it.

They got done dirty by the creators- Literally so fucking dirty, Shiro really goes from one of the most interesting character with compelling backstory integral to the plot, to a side character who may as well just not be there. The absolute bs of it all

Wasted Potential- Shiro had So Much going for him as a character, but alas

They work better as a part of a dynamic- Shiro and Black Lion parallel mirrored dynamic my beloved they'll never make me hate you <333. Cause seriously it's the most Lion-Paladin bond in the whole show, their shared similar trauma and that too from same people!!! How can you not???

The popular ships for this character suck- maybe this is just me being a Keith hater, but Shiro's dynamic with literally every other character was far more compelling then his dynamic with Keith. Like with Allura? Shared trauma from same people and also shared responsibility. With Pidge? Trying to find the same people they love. With Hunk? Two characters who struggle with their neurodivergency and need stability. With Lance? Character foils. In all these cases Shiro is in an equal position and feels like a character. With Keith however, platonic or romantic, the entire relationship is about how Keith feels about Shiro, and how sad Keith gets when Shiro gets hurt/missing etc etc, and just a completely one sided mess that is less about them equals and more about putting Keith on pedestal, which is just utterly boring nothing burger to me

I want to study them like a cockroach- Tell me your secrets boy <33

Not enough screen time- Yeah </3

My opinions would be received by most fans as akin to hitting a wasps nest with baseball bat- Like i said i find his dynamic with Keith at best boring and at worst detrimental to his character in canon in Doylist perspective way. Which sucks cause like it's fan favorite relationship in both canon and fanon and is also almost everywhere.

Also i know twinganes (Kuron and Shiro being bros) is really popular but i personally cant see them get along. Especially at first. Shiro canonically doesn't like Kuron and refers to him as an evil clone, which understandable, Shiro did spend months dead in astral plane while Kuron (unknowingly) took over his life and then goes on to nearly kill his friends. But it is also so unfair to Kuron who is not only dead but also no one is mourning him AND his body is being used by Shiro. So if Kuron were to survive all That™ i doubt he'll have high opinions about Shiro as well (hence my post s8 au)

And even if all that didn't happen i still think they'll have problems. Like at best they will be civil and friendly but also deeply uncomfortable around each other (Kuron cuz clone trauma and Shiro cuz Haggar trauma). At worst it's just this-

I like them but i don't think about him much- confession i personally found Kuron to be much more compelling as a character. Shiro is a good character! I get why people like him!!! But also if i had to choose between the two it would be Kuron without a doubt. Shiro just doesn't hit the brainrot levels of likability to me

[solar-wing]

I also realized that Sky's character has no meaning in Fate, it is only to give drama to Stella and Bloom's friendship, when it was not necessary to destroy this friendship. Fate's worst mistake was destroying Stella and Bloom's friendship, because of a stupid love drama.

If you take that drama away, Sky's presence makes no sense. Brandon and Riven would have been better (although Beatrix should have been called Darcy from the beginning).

But Bloom has to have love interests, I guess, when really Bloom is still the same with or without Sky.

Also, it's a shame that Sky's character always focuses on Bloom, Sky gains a lot when he is separated from Bloom.

no seriously!

I didn't really think about it too much when I was just watching the show, but then when I started writing the story and was trying to figure out how to build Sky's story, I was like "damn, you really don't need to be here."

at least for season one. season two, he played more of a role so it made sense, but season one was literally a straight up "ariana, what are u doing here???"

but it wasn't that hard to give him more plot to his story, it was just more of shock like damn, if it wasn't bloom or stella, you would literally have no reason to be here. bloom's story is barely affected by sky's presence, compared to the animation where literally every five seconds it "oooh sky...", "sky doesn't love me anymore!" "why is sky acting like this???" gurl...get a fucking grip. I'm sorry, but I can only take so much.

it made me actually appreciate the live-action version more cause I appreciated seeing the relationship not take too much away from the Bloom as a character. like watching the animation, it's like 50% of this girl's identity is who her boyfriend is. free me, I beg...

but I was disappointed to see them using Sky as a tool between Bloom and Stella, which I also can say I 100% saw coming. like it was such a common thing in the fanfics before the live-action, and then again, seeing the preview and the literally first 5 minutes of the show, I was watching and I was like, ooh...typical. but again, wasn't too mad cause Stella's storyline and the overall plot made up for it.

however, Beatrix is definitely not Darcy's equivalent, she's Stormy's. Cause at the end of season two, Stella had the card with her sister's name on it and they were both clearly indicated to be the live-action versions of Icy and Darcy. Beatrix was an air fairy, and considering all her signature lightning magic and stuff, it was very clear who she was representing. How I saw it, Icy would have been a water fairy that freezes every damn thing as usual, and Darcy would have been a mind fairy, being that she was the witch of darkness and illusion in the animated series.

my biggest gripe with a lot of the romances was how they went out of their way to be different from the original to the point it was unrecognizable. Like Aisha's romance with the blood witch Gray I think his name was...please. If y'all don't stop playing in my damn face and get Nabu up in here! and I'd also would have liked to see Brandon come in. One thing that was always sweet to me in the animated series was how Brandon always put Stella first and was her rock in a lot of situations outside of her friends. And in this series, I would've really liked to see someone put Stella first and see past the person she shows herself to be.

but with this story, I definitely wanted to give Sky a plot that wasn't solely connected to his relationship with Y/N or Bloom. So i hope a do a good job.

heh. anyway...

IT'S THE POWER OF CHARMIX, THE MAGICAL LIGHT…🧚🏽‍♀️🌈✨🌟☀️💫🔥💦🫧 THE POWER OF CHARMIX, AND YOU WILL SHINE BRIGHT!🔥💫🌟🌈💥🧚🏽‍♀️🫧 SPREAD YOUR WINGS AND FLY! LIGHT IT UP THE SKY! 🔥🪽💥🌈💦🌙🧚🏽‍♀️✨☀️ IT'S EASY IF YOU TRRRYYYYYYYYYYY!🔥💫💥🌟🌈🫧💦🌙🧚🏽‍♀️

[rose-above-dark]

Tbh now that side order has been out for a bit I feel like I can speak my piece now, spoilers ahead!

Is anyone else. Just kind of disappointed with side order?

ITS NOT BAD!! It’s not bad, it’s good actually.

But I just kind of.. expected more? It’s a 4 star meal not 5. It kinda feels unfinished? Like there was meant to be more to it, but they couldn’t do so for whatever reason. The story was just. Not enough, order I just don’t think should have been the final boss. We get no info on him before hand like with tartar, we just get one cutscene with order for the intro and that’s it. That’s all we get. Sure we get more dialogue when we replay with different pallets, but it just dosent have the same thematic impact as tartar had. And I like smollusk don’t get me wrong!! I just wish there was more to it, that instead of a distant threat we

marina should have not been the first boss. She dosent play enough of a role for it to feel satisfying. The trailers had hinted to something big, something major with her. That she will play a key part in the gameplay and story, that you should always keep her in mind. But no. Instead we get order, who wasn’t even hinted to in the trailers or anything.

In octo expansion, we get to see background on her through her dialogue in the form of logs, and while we get that in side order too through the dev diary, it just feels like an afterthought this time.

The music is.. alright? I LOVE THE BOSS THEMES don’t get me wrong!! But the final boss theme, order / smollusk feels too minor to really be anything. It’s no fly octo fly, and even ebb and flow, the final theme, dosent hit the same as octo expansion’s ebb and flow.

And then the bosses. I just. Don’t like the bosses. They feel too short, or in case with the pinball one, too long. And the fact that there’s only 3 of them? In a game you’re meant to replay? It all feels the same after a while.

and then there’s the agent 4 problem, my biggest gripe.

Why isn’t agent 4 in side order again?

They seriously had so, so much potential. They were originally on team chaos, they were meant to be the protecter of the system, they could have been as good as agent 3 but with a different twist. Instead they get called a nobody and never show up again. “Wait, this is Pearl and Marina, they don’t know agent 4!”

Marina had designated agent 4 to be the protecter.

God I wish they were in side order, it would tie in thematically with everything, agent 3 in octo expansion, agent 4 in side order, agent 3 in this main story mode, agent 4 in the dlc this time.

Without them, everything just feels so disconnected, yeah I get that’s the point but I don’t think it’s a good point.

The gameplay itself is… eh? My brain began to melt after the 4th pallet. Again it all just feels so samey, and the weapons I actually want to play I only play once before there’s no reward and I’m just wasting my time. It makes me not want to replay it, it’s all the same.

Sorry this is incomprehensible I’m tired

[erithel]

In my own personal opinion I just don’t think romance should have been in Voltron period.

They butchered Allure/Lance, a ship that could have gone somewhere (even if it wasn’t everyone’s personal fav) if the writers actually took the time to develop the relationship earlier in the series, but they decided not to because of plot/story reasons.

Then Lotar/Allure, again, a ship that could have been interesting and took the story into a whole other route, but in the end the writers decided against because because plot/story reasons (and wanting to keep the galra the big bad evil guys)

To me it’s clear the writers were way more focused on getting the story plot out as quick as possible then anything else which could be seen as a whole other controversy.

So I’m actually glad they didn’t listen to the fans and add in ‘klance’ or any other fan loved ship because the writers would probably botch that up too and get the fans upset then no one would be happy. Because to me having a certain ship in place of another isn’t going to ‘fix’ the poorly written romance or the quality of it.

I’m not trying to say you can’t have a romance in a plot/action driven story or whatever but I am saying that the writers that worked on Voltron clearly didn’t know how to include it properly.

You have a lot of good points here that I agree with, which I want to address before getting to my biggest gripe with a romance subplot in VLD.

First and foremost - I agree.

In terms of relationship focus, I think the stronger story would have relied on building the team as a team. A found family. Building up the relationships between all the paladins without throwing in a romance just for the sake of romance.

I think this angle would have made it even more compelling if they still went ahead with the Lotor/Allura subplot - because then Allura could have had people to talk to about it. She wouldn't have been alone trying to sort out all the feelings she was having that hit her out of nowhere.

I think that the caliber of romance that is in VLD canon is the same as can be found in most action movies. And by that I mean, it's just there because the main dude has to "get the girl" in the end. It's not really founded in anything, and it doesn't really add anything to the overall show or movie.

On this same note, I believe this is why so many people actually thought Klance could actually happen. Because they included moments that made a keen-eyed viewer pause and think "wait a minute. Why did they lay so heavily into that?" or "why did they linger on that moment" or even "bro, if my strictly platonic friend called me 'the future' I would start to wonder if they had feelings for me."

I've definitely said it before, but it's worth repeating. People want to see romantic relationships that are founded in something. They want to see romance that makes sense because the characters share something special.

We should be past the point of throwing in a romantic subplot for the sole purpose of simply having one in there.

But - going off on another point you made - this cannot happen if the focus is not on the characters and their relationships to each other. You can't add in any kind of special connection if the only goal is to have Plot and Action.

And here's my biggest gripe with romance in VLD.

They had one they could have built on. It was right there, and as far as I know, it was okay with everyone.

So why in the fuck wasn't the romantic subplot Hunk and Shay?

Seriously. They were adorable, and they actually had something between them. And then it just...never went anywhere. Shay even came back in a later season, and...nothing.

I would have loved to see Hunk and Shay as the romance story of VLD, but I guess a lot of that has to do with how the creative teams viewed him as "not a main character" enough. :(