#she is a unique character beyond all limits

[ms-all-sunday]

"nobody is born in this world to be alone" hits so hard because its at the height of the inciting incidents that lead robin to want to die and be afraid chronically of intimacy and love. I love that even though she's told this as a child and everybodys hopes are on her she fails fucking horribly at not wanting to die and continuing the research of ohara for the majority of her lifetime.

I love that it's made explict that she wants to commit suicide specifically to avoid abandonment and not out of any sense of selflessness but to specifically act incredibly selfishly (just like how usopp reacts negatively and cuts them off to avoid abandonment hello our bpd king & queen.) (I also love that they manipulate the inital reason to pretend theyre less neurotic than they are.)

I love that robin is allowed to exist and have struggled with this this badly throughout her entire life and she's not a failure or unforgivable. she's 28 and is allowed to have lived this long with these issues and she isn't a failure

i love that she finds her will to live only now. only when she finds friends who want to put so much effort into her and she accepts that help, finally. her scream of "i want to live" is so good in the dub, her final acceptance of help and love and

[genericpuff]

Are there any characters from LO that you actually like/don’t mind

I have a lot more appreciation for Minthe now with all the hindsight that Hades and Persephone are often way worse than she is. She still had a lot of issues on her own end that she didn't deal with well, and while I would have liked to see her actually develop properly beyond her struggles both internal and with Hades, I think the best thing we could have asked for was Minthe being written out of the story the way she was. At least then Rachel couldn't continue to use her as a punching bag (she just tagged in Leuce for that, sigh)

Helios is great, zero issue with him. This scene is a lot funnier and more relatable to read in hindsight:

like ofc Helios is gonna rat on her, he's the fucking sun who's been around for thousands of years, why would he put any more of his limited freedom on the line for macaroni art LMAO (and yes, Rachel herself confirmed that Persephone made macaroni art cards for Helios, it's like... yeah okay it's cute but Persephone and Demeter still hid a crime from Zeus, the sentimental value of the birthday cards have no bearing on that LOL)

Thanatos is also in the camp of "characters I appreciate more in hindsight and wish got better character development". Adding in the 'twist' that he was Hades' adoptive son after we just spent nearly two seasons watching Hades treat him like just a lowly employee who didn't deserve his respect was certainly... a choice. And I don't think I should have to explain why it was a very very BAD one LOL

Hephaestus is also great, I know he's an extremely minor character whose only real role was to delete the blackmail photos from Apollo's phone but, like. look at him???

amazing. precious. sweet boy. and it has absolutely nothing to do with my absent older brother issues why would you say that- (｡•́︿•̀｡) that said, there are still flaws in his design (his prosthetics especially because he's constantly wearing running blades for every occasion which I feel like Rachel only chose because they "looked cool" and were "easier to draw" but like. his poor hips and back, that's gotta be uncomfortable 😭) but even just his face on its own is ironically one of the most unique character designs across the entire cast, not for any sort of outstanding or creative reasons, you just can't possibly mistake or color swap him with anyone else LMAO and though I can't feasibly give credit to Rachel for writing a neurodivergent character - because I have no clue if that was her intention here, afaik she's never really talked about it - I can wholly relate to him being the introverted computer guy who just wants to be left alone with his work and his airpods, like that's literally just me LOL

And of course nothing Rachel could ever do would make me hate Demeter, I think it's so ironic and tone deaf that Rachel claimed she "didn't get" why Demeter was so hated by the fans and didn't "agree" with the comparisons to Mother Gothel, but like... Rachel literally wrote her that way. And while she did "resolve" it, it wasn't with any actual empathy towards Demeter's own side of things, it was just bandaids on top of bandaids and then going "yep! She's all better now! That's character development!" Out of all the characters who deserved better, she was the one who deserved the most 😔💓

[artbyblastweave]

Finished up Batman Beyond today. As much as I liked it, one thing that did jump out at me over the course of the show was that Dana Tan was basically an unreconstructed instance of "The Superhero's Girlfriend-" a love interest who's present in the narrative mainly to create tension between the demands of the superhero lifestyle and the loved one who's in the dark, but who has very little agency or role in the story beyond that, indeed, very little else you can have them do if you want to preserve that. The episode in which I believe she got the most focus, she spent most of it running for her life from a Rat Guy through the sewers.

There's a post about Spider-Man doing the rounds, which posits that part of why Mary Jane won out over Spidey's other long-term love interests was that because she wasn't originally intended to win, she had room to develop traits and dynamics beyond "superhero's put-upon girlfriend-"in fact, she had to, in order to present a plausible temptation away from whoever Spidey was quote-unquote "supposed" to be dating. I'm not a comprehensive Spidey reader, so I'm not going to go to the mattress for that read until I've read some more- but I do think there's some meat to that dynamic in general because of this show. Melanie Walker only shows up in three episodes and already she's got a ridiculously tangled family dynamic thrown into the mix, torn loyalties, the need to keep her head above water financially no matter what other goals she has, a cool hoverboard. Max Gibson's got an actual give-and-take back-and-forth with Terry and Bruce, the added interesting complication that she's trying to prybar her way even further into the game than either of them want her to but it's not like they have a way to make her leave. Dana is.... pissed that Terry is spending so much time with Mr. Wayne. Again. I mean, she's got a job to do, she clocks in at the start of each episode and does it.

This sort of harkens back to Invincible, where a major tenet of the first quarter of the book was that for logistical and ethical reasons, a superhero's dating pool is realistically limited to other players of the game- other people deep enough in the cape lifestyle that they can keep up and relate. Otherwise, your partner is going to spend most of the relationship stuck on the outside looking in, and even if they're nominally okay with the situation it's going to suck. Arguably, Amber in the comic fell into the pit of visibly existing mainly to demonstrate this, reproducing the dynamic they were critiquing. The show did a lot of legwork trying to make her more of an actively agentic character, but when the entire point is that a character in her position would have extremely limited agency there's only so much you can do to patch that. Then Eve rolls in, and it turns out you can do the exact same relationship beats about chronic unavailability, lack of communication and the like, but with a partner who's equally capable of showing up to all the big set piece fights and gorily eviscerating people in her own unique ways- a character who's consistently around in the story for reasons other than that she's dating the hero. You don't have to pick!

This got longer than I thought it was going to be. I do want to round out by saying that this sort of aligns neatly with something else that I've noticed- namely that a lot of post-10s cartoons also appear to have noticed this, and either hang back from biting off more than they can chew by committing to a romance subplot for their leads, or if there is a romance subplot they really aggressively commit to making sure the love interest approaches deuteragonist status in terms of airtime and agency. Hell, Steven Universe left the exact status of Steven and Connie's relationship ambiguous, and it still had a lot to say about the civilian girlfriend freezeout trope. Again- date other players!

[scratchtovoid]

“Make it a son for a son”

There’s a new season two promo where we hear Matt saying Daemon’s infamous line for the first time. And it has me wanting to bring up something I see with the team black fandom.

(BOOK SPOILERS)

There’s an impulse within team black to distance the characters of team black but particularly Rhaenyra from B&C by presenting it as a rogue act committed by Daemon on his own.

Now, first the book does not tell us that. The book gives us little to go on beyond Daemon’s involvement and the obvious implication that Mysaria was his KL contact to set everything in motion.

The rest of the details are mostly speculation.

Rhaenyra’s involvement is limited to a letter from her husband promising that Luke would be avenged. We have no further details on what she knew or how she reacted. Which also gives the show lots of room to present Rhaenyra’s feelings about this revenge plot however they like.

But what I see often in this attempt to isolate B&C to a Daemon-plan not a team black plan, is a misunderstanding of Daemon as a character.

In a bid to defend Rhaenyra’s innocence in the act, Daemon can not just be the lone perpetrator, he is also the monster.

Except this is an intensely human act.

A personal attack.

He could have killed all of Aegon’s heirs in that moment. As well as TG’s two queens. That would be the political move. Taking out the other side purely for political gain regardless of the innocence of the children he attacked.

And this is where those arguments from even within team black fall flat to me.

Because this is not political. This is personal. This is a grieving parent and husband who has no control and could not prevent the initial attacks on his family.

It’s not only rage and revenge, it’s grief and guilt.

So when team black talks about this event and may even lean into the interpretation of Daemon being a monster. It actually takes away from the greater story of team black, part of what makes them unique in contrast to the greens.

The greens, and this looks to continue based on the promo which seems to suggest Otto wanting to use Jaehaerys’s funeral as a propaganda tool, are very politically driven.

Think about it, they’re acting on tradition, purposely wishing to limit the power of women. They use rumors at court as a weapon, look for deals to be made, deck their king out in symbols of legitimacy. They always have a political angle to the moves they make.

This does not mean they do not feel emotional! I’m not saying that. But team green always has this internal conflict of making the political move at the cost of the emotional gain.

And team black (but particularly Daemon) are the opposite. They will make politically bad moves to satisfy the emotional urge.

Look at Rhaenyra marrying Daemon in secret, yes there is a political angle, but ultimately that marriage was one for love. Or Rhaenyra imprisoning Coryls after turning on the dragonseeds.

And with B&C there is no political advantage! They gain nothing in terms of good will with the public or lords of the realm. They have no eliminated any threats. They actively let threats live!

So what am I getting at here?

I’m not justifying Daemon’s actions. But this is fiction. And sometimes I think it’s good to look at a story for more than just “right” and “wrong” or moral lessons.

I think GRRM asks such interesting character questions in the Dance.

What does it mean to do something in an act of pain that is clearly going to be detrimental to the other side?

What does it say about a person to do that?

I think team black specifically should be asking questions like that.

[kaibutsushidousha]

Thoughts on Solomon/Romani and Goetia?

A long time ago, Nasu wrote a character named Angra Mainyu. Angra was randomly chosen to have a greater spiritual purpose and because of that he never learned how to be human, but after unique circumstances in a Servant summon, he got the opportunity to have the mundane life he never had in his time, finally learn to be human, and because he valued what he took so long to obtain, he felt compelled to return himself to nothing so that the people he cared about wouldn't lose it.

Great narrative, right? Shame that it happened in the limited frame of the mind of Emiya Shirou, a notorious tsundere. Imagine how hard this same story would hit if it happened to a character much more expressive. Someone who, while not exactly honest because Romani was even more full of secrets than Angra, was super open about his joys and griefs, engaged intensely with everything without exception, and overall the symbol of positivity among the team.

Romani may be a pessimist and chicken at heart, but he's rivaled only by remake Roa in terms of being tangibly happy to be alive, and that adds so much weight to his conclusion.

Both to Solomon and Goetia, Romani represents the difference between knowledge and experience. Solomon never learned to be human because he lived his whole life doing as the voice of God told him to. He knew everything but never learned anything. He was a good judge of character, a good legislator, and a good administrator, but couldn't a good person because he wasn't a person at all.

Solomon lived his life on autopilot, feeling nothing about the many tragedies he saw. With the power to see past, present, and future, Solomon did nothing about the horrible tragedies within his sight but beyond his reach, because he objectively knew his choices were optimal. That's why Goetia disparages him as the heartless and uncaring king.

But Romani is different. Their core as a compulsive people-pleaser with a crippling fear of disappointing remains the same, but Romani is not self-assured like Solomon was. Romani needed to go out and see the world, learn things the hard way, try and fail, and accept being disliked. Every Servant not named Bedivere is vocally critical of him, but in his 10 years alive, Romani learned to live with that. He's someone who always tries his best but values the experience of his failures as much as his successes. That's why his final answer to Goetia was "There's nothing to feel angry about". The same answer Solomon would have given, but with completely different in terms of unspoken meaning.

Goetia already has his own post, so I don't need to extend his part much, but same deal. Goetia is mad at mortality because he knows it but never experienced it. Then after Ars Nova, he experiences it and suddenly gets what it's about. Mirror to Solomon as Romani valuing the world by experiencing it.

Goetia was really intent on having Mash as the one human who agrees with his vision, and the beginning of the story, Mash could have agreed, because although she knew a lot of history, she never experienced history. But 7 Singularities and any number of events later, she did, so history mattered a lot more to her than Goetia's dreams of deathlessness.

[taniahylian]

Kimberly

Alright, first of all I want to apologize to all the characters in the Golden City event because I got absolutely obsessed with a character that literally appears for 5 minutes just to be the final boss 😂💔. But I think there's so much lore in those 5 minutes, so I wanted to share my analysis with you.

Now, to be fair I know a little bit of what's to come on future patches, so I might be slightly biased (I absolutely adore this hellish creature), but I'll limit what I say to the current patch. That said, spoilers for 2.0 ahead! Read at your own discretion.

First off, let's talk about the way she's introduced. A very unique way indeed; Eternity, being contracted by Apostole Mathew to get him out of the Elysium safetly, but not wanting to escort him herself, gives him a simple old wind-up robot toy (probably from the 1800's, when they were cheaply produced in mass quantities for the first time).

She also says that it's from the Saint Pavlov Foundation, and that an employee stole it and sold it to her for some cash. Not only that, but it's not the only artifact that was stolen and sold to Eternity during the chaos after the storm; this toy is part of something they call "lost assets" that they're urgently trying to get back.

However, Bernard calls this toy the "most important one" of these assets, so... why? What does it do, exactly?

Well, you just need to wind it and...

It's just like the tale of the genie of the lamp, isn't it? Wind the toy and a beautiful girl obligated to fulfill all your wishes appears. We also know her name is Kimberly, since it was inscribed on the toy.

But here's the thing... Kimberly, this girl, is literally forced to do anything her master wants. ANYTHING. Let that sink in. She's literally a slave. Why do I say that? Well, she says it herself; she'll obey any command.

Her voice isn't exactly thrilled when she's summoned, nor is her expression; the game even points out that she looks frail and weary. It sounds like she's only ever summoned to do very bad things; to the point that when the Manus Believer asks her to kill J and his friends, she says "Is that all?" And seems happy that it's a relatively simple request.

Still, she doesn't exactly take pleasure in the task; it's more of an automatic response for her. Sure, she also has some blood thirst in her, threatening to rip out their spines and all, but she also says that she's a skilled hunter and prefers to kill her prey fast. And honestly, even if she has developed a thirst for blood and questinable morals... can you blame her? We don't know for how many years she's been enslaved and forced to perform henious acts for her masters; this kind of life would change anyone.

But why was she enslaved, exactly? Well, we know she's a very powerful being, first of all, because she easily breaks J's new knife, which was made with a mystical magic metal that had to be found with a literal ancient map.

So, from this we can already infer that she's no ordinary arcanist... and then comes the big reveal.

Now, I don't know what creature this is, exactly, but from the goat face and horns and all... it looks like a sexy demon. My speculation is that she's a new type of "Beyond", which we know are arcane creatures that possess human-like intelligence and attributes, but usually have tremendous power; Voyager, Jessica and Valentina are examples, but Jiu is a half-blood of this kind too. In real life mythology I'd say Kimberly looks kinda like a succubus? But we need more information to conclude that imo. She could also just be a very weird genie lol.

Regardless of what she is, I think we can safely conclude that her story, being a slave for who knows how many years, and then being trapped in the wind-up toy in the foundation for a lot of time, is very tragic, especially since we're shown that the only thing she wants is freedom.

She was given to a Manus Believer; he's her master, but he's a mindless monster that doesn't know what he wants, so she's free... for now. If either the Foundation or Manus Vindictae find her, however, I don't think it'd go well for her... although actually it might be better if the Manus found her, since the Foundation would just put her back inside the toy and store it away forever.

Now, judging by what Eternity said, I believe she might think that she did Kimberly a favor by selling her to the Manus.

However, I wholeheartedly disagree and I'm personally holding Eternity responsible for whatever happens to Kimberly after this patch. She had a slave in her possession, and she could've probably freed her somehow (like ordering her to be free or something idk), but instead she chose to sell her for profit (like a true Ameri- I mean, capitalist) to one of the leaders of a terrorist organization. Do you understand how fucked up that is? The Manus have no morals, and giving them absolute control over anyone is bad enough, but this one is a supernatural being on top.

Also, we know Kimberly didn't want to be sold. She didn't want to be used. Sure, she liked getting some fresh air for a change, but she would've prefered to stay in Eternity's bag. How do I know? Simple.

This fucking broke my heart. I feel so bad for this poor creature, and I just hope she finds true freedom someday :c

Sorry for this extremely long analysis of an npc lol, but I'm absolutely obsessed with her lore and I can't wait to learn more about her. I hope I at least aided you to view her in a more sympathetic light.

[shellxrls]

ickyrafe did not make twincest, she is not unique, twincest has been around forever and she does not need credit whenever somebody writes twincest.

i fully agree with you on the aspect of the label not being an original concept, just as any other kink or scenario (e.g nerd!character, princess!reader, etc) however everything beyond that label has been — ickyrafe characterised both twin readers and poured so much of her heart and soul into the story.

furthermore, it goes beyond the copying of a common concept. ickyrafe has been consistently stolen from and copied across multiple blogs on multiple incidents, that’s not excusable and every single person has a limit, once that’s crossed it becomes much harder to forgive and forget — it sucks all the joy out of writing and discourages authors when it seems readers are greedy to take up any slop, regardless if it’s a half-assed attempt at mimicking a genuinely creative of concept.

now, it is not my argument however as ickyrafe’s mutual and friend i feel strongly about this and encouraged to support her. i want to clarify; do not send hate to this user, nobody deserves that and i do not encourage such behaviour nor is it the purpose of this post, this is simply informative and meant to encourage accountability, and honestly because i am mad and i have a right to defend myself and my friends. so because you want to get into the technicalities:

tw: mentions of dark content & topics such as incest, drugging, kidnapping.

— lacehartz is a repeat offender, regardless of whether she’s been ‘taking inspiration’ or not, she’s on multiple occasions written very similar drabbles and ideas to ickyrafe & my darker sideblog. once is fine, even twice, but three or four times then it’s starts to get suspicious and it is only natural to get frustrated.

1) i create a housepet!reader with rafe and reblog the post below as a part of my au.

lacehartz then reblogs this exact post, talking about ‘dogwife’ reader… look familiar ?

2) ickyrafe writes about big bro rafe drugging reader.

lacehartz writes about the exact same concept a couple days later… look familiar ?

3) ickyrafe/bunnyrafe creates a whole father figure!bf rafe au

lacehartz/lovlidollie begins writing for father figure!bf rafe…. look familiar ?

these are just the examples with proof, she also starting writing uncle!barry immediately after ickyrafe formalised that au. however since she has deleted all uncle!barry posts (suspicious, isn’t it).

these may be vague inspirations, so much so that a one-off would be excusable; but there is a clear pattern of ‘inspiration’ that simply turns into direct copying of everything ickyrafe & other authors create.

— if you actually read lacehartz post you’ll start to see similarities between her twincest au and ickyrafe’s. it’s one thing to take the name of a concept someone else has done, it’s another to follow the same path they went on for characterisation.

moreover, she admits to having seen ickyrafe’s post and au prior, and wanting to tag her for credit. all is well and good on giving credit but with her consistent prior patterns of ‘taking inspiration’ you’d at least assume she’d ask the og creator before posting anything, regardless of a tag or not.

copying is exhausting. it’s shameful and the lack of integrity is appalling. if you cannot create things yourself, there is no place for you to exist peacefully within a fandom. this is insulting and humiliating for authors who pour time and their heart and soul into their works. as a reader if you’re satisfied with content being stolen and poorly regurgitated back to you, you should be embarrassed too. as a collective we need to do better, let people know if their ideas aren’t original, let authors know if they’re being stolen from. don’t send the same ideas to multiple creators, or you’re going to lose the content you so greedily consume.

lastly, to reiterate, this is not on attack @lacehartz. what has happened has happened and cannot be changed, i do not wish to start an argument nor follow up on this issue more than it requires. i simply hope you reconsider the way you consume content then choose to put out very similar ideas, and learn to ask for permission, give consistent credit, and create and implement your own unique ideas instead of relying on others.

[asherisawkward]

I found Luz not caring about the demon realms history annoying. I get it. Some of it was made up, but most of it wasn't, just why the crusade was started. It seems a lot of the history she got was through word of mouth.

You figure a fan of fantasy would be excited to learn the history and culture of a magical realm, not just magic. I'm surprise a lot more demons and witches didn't get fed up with her. The only thing who seemed to have anything against it was Hunter, but I could be remembering it all wrong. Sorry if this comes off as a rant.

I absolutely get what you mean!! Luz, from what I remember of TOH, spent a lot of time trying to fit the Boiling Isles into her opinion of what a fantasy world should be. She doesn’t really listen to the laws or the cultural norms. I suppose that it makes sense to ignore the laws to a certain extent, considering they’re made by a witch hunter pretending to be a benevolent ruler, but she doesn’t even try to think about things critically. Especially in this day and age, you are supposed to research and analyze before you draw a conclusion, not just take the word of some criminal who doesn’t even off you any proof. I love Eda. She’s badass and creative, and I adore how she grows to care about others through the series. But she is a biased character to introduce a world through, and Luz doesn’t even question it. She hears Eda’s “oh, he just wants to control magic” and runs with it.

The biggest example of her complete dismissal of the Boiling Isles culture, laws, and norms would be when she continued to push to be in all classes. Not only does she lack the necessary knowledge to cast precise spells, but she is asking the principal, the teachers, and all the students to risk themselves for her fantasy. This isn’t some petty pickpocketing that she’s asking a few people to ignore. She asks to be allowed to violate one of the most important laws in the whole country—it has the death penalty, for fuck’s sake! Principal Bump could have been executed for allowing this; the teachers could have gone to prison! And the students who don’t turn her in, while unlikely to suffer so severely, are likely to be punished as well! How many people could have been hurt or killed by her thoughtless violation of the laws if Belos had been shown to be a bit more how Dana claims he was? (Because, all things considered, he’s not shown to be the harshest ruler ever.)

Additionally, it bothers me that she never bothers to explore any real cultures or traditions on the Isles. She “wants to be a witch,” but doesn’t focus on anything other than the magic of it. If it were Harry Potter world, where witches are exclusively humans with human culture but magic, I’d get that, but it isn’t. It is a whole other world where everything from childhood to the system of government is different. Her refusal to let go of her preconceived notions and just explore what the BIs is like comes off a little bit like a weeb in their mother’s basement saying “I want to be Japanese,” going to Japan, and then never exploring it beyond their notions of what Japan is like from anime. I love Luz, and it was incredibly impactful for me to see a fellow neurodivergent fantasy nerd on screen, but she has a tendency of treating the Boiling Isles like her escapist fantasies. It bothers me that it’s not really addressed.

Finally, this lack of exploration leads to limited knowledge on what the actual inhabitants of the Boiling Isles are like aside from a select handful. What beliefs aside from the Titan do people have? What rituals do they perform, holidays do they celebrate? What are the people of the Boiling Isles like? Part of what I love about Amphibia is the time it takes to world-build, to show us all the different ways that the world works, and how there are varied, diverse, and unique cultures that are a part of it. It makes Amphibia dynamic and alive. The Owl House doesn’t do that with the Boiling Isles, and I’m bummed about that.

I hope this is close enough to what you’re talking about, because this got me on a tangent.

[maybe-boys-do-love]

SOTUS S episode 5, and I find myself wanting to cry? Nothing horrible happened. Time's just moving so differently in this series. A character gets introduced as a new employee in the procurement department, and we're told Arthit's been there for four months already! The hazing rituals that lasted fifteen episodes have passed by in a flash. Without a big announcement, the show's scooched us into a more adult sense of time, and it's filling me with melancholy. An adult perspective also permeates the characters at the office who lack the earnestness and comradery in the university's friend groups. Isn't that just like life? Some of these coworkers are guarded, some are jaded, some are manipulative. I'm actually impressed with how the show's achieved the disappointment I'm experiencing, because it's managed it so quietly, and it's a feeling that's accurate to the disenchantment many go through at some point in adulthood.

So much, really, is quietly happening in the subtext of this series. Arthit's internalized homophobia isn't being named but it pervades his anxiety and see-sawing attitude toward public affection with Kong. "Sleepovers" have been HEAVILY implied but never explicitly stated. Day's got pretty intense traumatic reactions going on that he refuses to speak on. Then, M's little romance plotline last week and the ending quote was about the feelings we act out versus what we speak out and share. I've been thinking about the similarities to Dark Blue Kiss for a few episodes now, but they've really come to the forefront now; all these motifs floating around in Sotus S encouraging us to think how out this couple can be. And we now have Kongpob, out of everyone!, closeting himself with his family (the first family moment we've gotten for all of SOTUS's run).

I can't help but think about how influential this must've been for Aof while writing DBK, and I can't wait to see the special episode that covers this series and interviews the author of SOTUS, Bittersweet, to see if she mentions any influences, because as I mentioned in my response for the last episode, there's more than a little of What Did You Eat Yesterday? in this series. The television series came out after Sotus S but it's manga began in 2007, and its mangaka, Fumi Yoshinaga is notable for having a much more queer feminist lens than many other's in yaoi and BL.

Sotus S, even with its fan service, is working for me, because it seems to be working as a wedge, using the sharp-tipped selling point of the cute young BL university boys, to widen the opening in the door for conversations and depictions beyond the limited scope of those teen romances--unique pressures on long-term queer relationships, LGBT experiences in real-world workplaces, imagining queer adulthood. The show painted the office in a silly light to invite an unfamiliar space into the BL sphere, but it's camp has begun to reveal the drudgery and inconstancy of the adult world. I'm interested to see how it depicts that maturer mindsets and kinds of love that our characters will learn to persist and find meaning in adulthood.

[letitrainasunnyday]

Sorry to bother you, but i really wanted to know your analysis to this unique 'partner' relationship that most coai fans like to enforce on conan with Ai, i think they got it from the 'great' recent movies smh, but if so, then do you see that furious conan reaction in m26 was in character of him? Would love it if you answered that, cuz as an old SR shipper, that ooc or new movies 'conan' has really bothered me since then🙏

Hello!!

Sorry I've been horrible at answering asks, but keeping up to date with Conan has become an increasingly harder task to handle along with work and life, so yeah. I'm going to try and answer more of these cause I've got a bunch piling up in my box.

Anyway, on to your question. Fair warning, I'm not going to be too positive about any of this. There's a larger conversation to be had about the CoAi relationship that now goes beyond the typical shipping wars in the fandom--these have been going on since the early internet days and I have grown and matured since then and have learned to stay the fuck away from them. To this typical aspect of any and all fandoms we must now add one key factor: the fact that the general marketing and movie animating team have decided to keep things spiced up because canon ShinRan is fucking up the people's need for CoAi. Meaning, since ShinRan is now canon, there is no real place for shipping wars to take place, but they gotta make their money. So how do we solve that? We put more CoAi in the movies under the pretext that Aoyama has always said Haibara is a "partner" to Conan case-wise and intelligence-wise. And to that we must add that, for some reason, everyone except Aoyama has forgotten how to write Conan --I've found him to be very out of character lately in the movies, so I agree with what you're saying-- and Ran --all they give her now are anecdotal scenes thinking about Shinichi, or kicking someone's ass just because she's strong, or randomly spitting out exposition because she's interested in history. I'm especially pissed about Ran, because they've reduced all of her strong heroine traits to basics that are used to further the story or scenes that seem to be almost an obligation. And thus people have started to dislike Ran more and are starting to really cheer for Haibara, who has a more prominent and decisive role.

It sickens me not necessarily because I dislike Haibara (I do, but not because she's a possible love interest to Conan), but because of the disservice this does to Ran. They've relegated her to a tertiary character simply because it's in their economic and marketing interests, and, in turn, they're deconstructing her as a character to the point where I don't even recognize my girl anymore. I wish Aoyama could really set the record straight and limit what the movie staff can and cannot do, because he's always talking about supervising the movie scripts but it feels more like he's just going there to say: ah yes, this looks great, Conan would say "hello" instead of "hi" but the rest is great. All the while they're destroying one of his most important and beloved (even by himself) characters. Same can be said about Kogoro, by the way, who now appears so little in both manga and movies (and anime) that I almost forget he's an essential piece of the story.

And all of this is just another painful symptom of how the manga's quality keeps falling and falling to the point where it feels like there's no real reason to keep going both as an artist and as a fan.

[coricatchthorne]

Cori Reads: What Manner of Man

When I was looking for queer web serials, What Manner of Man by @stjohnstarling kept coming up—for good reason, turns out. This lush, gothic, gay epistolary romance is a treat for vampire lovers and fans of sexy blasphemy. It’s also a passionate meditation on organized religion and stifling stricture, and a journey of a man of faith finding its limits and pushing beyond to find who he wants to be and what truly matters to him. I did not go on the much-beloved Dracula Daily adventure, which WMoM was inspired by, but this work stands firmly on its own. Minor spoilers to talk about things that compelled and moved me.

From page one, our protagonist, Father Ardelian, absolutely radiates ‘closeted gay monsterfucker’ energy. He oscillates between a total lack of self-awareness, a clear resistance to actually gaining self awareness because of what it would mean for his faith, and moments of deep insight and thoughtfulness. And it’s a joy to watch; in turns funny (yes, Father, it’s totally regular for a priest to really want to fuck I mean “meet” a demon!), tragic, and profound.

Fellow lead Alistair Vane arrives in the wake of a blood-red sunset, heralded by oncoming darkness, surrounded by ‘an aura of almost palpable evil’, and... well. Guess what his deal is. I guarantee you’ll figure it out before Ardelian (who immediately finds him ‘magnificent’). But watching our Father fail to realize why or even that Vane is obviously horny for his blood, neck, and entire self is a great deal of fun. The pacing is deliberate, but effective, especially combined with the gorgeous prose. Having spent time on the west coast of Ireland, I recognized and felt grounded on the island of Swallow’s Rest and in the strange, historical surroundings of Withern Hall. The island and manor are practically characters in their own right, as is the unique community there (with two very memorable lesbians and lots of other queer eccentrics among them). Ardelian’s engagement with that landscape and community kept me hooked even when he wasn’t having, recovering from, or gathering new material for his regular (hot!!!) erotic nightmares.

Through all this winds a sharp and thoughtful narrative around faith and religion. My mother grew up Catholic, and though she broke away from the church before I was born, I’ve spent years realizing how deeply that faith still haunts her. Watching how Ardelian used scripturally-infused self loathing as a bludgeon against any part of himself that didn’t fit the role he felt obligated to play filled me anew with compassion not just for him but my mother and others who’ve lived that experience. It was exhilarating watching Ardelian move through and beyond his crisis of faith, and without spoiling anything, I expect Ardelian’s final “letter” to stay in my mind for years to come.

I found WMoM a beautifully written, tragically humorous, blasphemously erotic, and deeply affecting work. I’m very much looking forward to St. John Starling’s next (Frankenstein related!) project. You can purchase WMoM here: https://books2read.com/u/bPnAjz 

[godisasimp]

Let's talk about Honkai Impact 3rd for a bit, yeah ?

I need to let go of it, scream into the void, because I can't stay polite about it, I started being rude in community servers about it.

Greetings,

I am a +960 days long player of the game Honkai Impact 3rd, I started during the Theater of Domination story arc and more precisely, during the Phantom of the Theater patch and the release of the valkyrie Stygian NYX.

But more importantly, I am a very so very tired player that also happens to be frustrated and angry at the treatment, or mistreatement, of a game I once held so dear to my heart.

I discovered Honkai Impact 3rd half a year after Genshin Impact's launch through an ad playing the Befall cutscene and immediately fell in love with the character I would later discover is called "Herrscher of the Void".

I don't remember most of my early days, but one of the things I do remember is getting my first S-rank valkyrie... The one who made me discover that game : Herrscher of the Void.

And ever since then I've been playing daily rarely missing a day, let alone more than that. I was eager to progress and eager to get new valkyries.

But unfortunately things changed.

The hill that keeps going down.

It all started with the release of Elysian Realm chapter story arc, a side story about Mei's time in World Serpent, at least it seemed so. It was a cute, Visual Novel styled story about a group of heroes from the previous era, an era mentioned in Mangas and the story that was shrouded in mysteries ; a cool side story to finally show us how the previous era was, to accompany the new game mode.

The gamemode was, and still is, very fun to play, with a lot of unique builds and play styles, it was a refreshing experience to not get burned out of Abyss and Memorial Arena, it kept improving overtime adding more and more characters ; the only major negative thing I could say about it was when mihoyo "fixed" the Mobius Signets who, very early on, allowed players an infinitely increasing buffs and made reaching the integer limit (aka going in the negatives) doable and easy, and also allowed anyone to clear the floors regardless of gear and level.

The story bits we're cute and gave life to the otherwise empty lobby, as you could randomly trigger conversation between characters and it really felt like you were walking in on a conversation that had started while you weren't here.

The Mobius plotline was wonderfully done, it wasn't a secret that she was evil, she was upfront about it and while she mash have tried to look cute in front of Mei at first, she never kept the act for long merely using it as a way of annoying her. The subplot of all of that was Elysia, the character that spoke and helped the most often, she was hiding her past and acting as the underlying mystery one may not notice at first.

A mystery who's resolutions unfortunately started Honkai Impact 3rd's worst, and still ongoing, era.

I've already said my fair share of thoughts about Elysium Everlasting, but for the sake of the post, I shall once again repeat my thoughts.

Following in Kolosten footsteps (and maybe through the influence of Genshin Impact), not good ones, Elysium Everlasting was "open world", as "open world" as Honkai Impact 3rd could get, this was not a welcomed choice by most of the fanbase, as a mobile game Honkai Impact 3rd has always told it's story through a Visual Novel style of story telling with minimal amount of walking around for the players, the stages being mainly used to fight enemies and bosses in ; the only other "open worlds" were in the same named category, all fully optional and merely just mihoyo testing the concept. Elysium Everlasting was the 2nd main story "open world" and my experience with is was beyond terrible, at the time I was using a pre-made low end computer that could barely handle Elysium Everlasting's scene, I experienced lags, textures not loading at all, freezes and crashes all throughout my playthrough of the chapter, something that worsen with Moon Arc, this experience made me frustrated already but the writing didn't make it worth it.

Elysium Everlasting's story was the worst one mihoyo ever wrote, it was a complete 180° from Elysian Realm, the new characters introduced did not get the luxury of the bits and pieces of randomly triggered conversations to expend their characters and unfortunately felt flatter than the first half. And they also suffered from the poor writing of the part, but at least they had no previously established character that got ruined and destroyed, same couldn't be said about the previously introduced characters, and the one who suffered most from it : was Elysia.

- Elysia : From beloved to beloathed

I've talked a lot about this character but I shall detail my history and experience with her one last time.

I have in my head created two distinct versions of Elysia : Elysian Realm and Elysium Everlasting. Simply because her character is so different between the two halves it is almost like we have two Elysias.

I will talk about ER!Elysia first because she is the one I like ; in the first half of the arc Elysia was presented as a very friendly character, borderline too friendly, and suffocating and pushing boundaries to the extreme for her own sake, a character that claimed to just be a normal girl... And she was just that, a girl that was happy, sad and angry, a girl that had insecurities about her group and the distance between her and the others, a character that lied to get her way and stole just for her amusement, she was normal, she had flaws and character, characters around her felt all sorts of ways towards her. That was who is she was, a normal girl with a past she wouldn't talk about.

And I very much liked that character, coupled with a design I really liked and she quickly became a favorite of mine in the chapter.

But then she went through what could only describe as a character assassination when Elysium Everlasting began.

Elysia who was a character who was allowed to have flaws was stripped of them, who was allowed to feel things beyond happiness was stripped of that, she was stripped of everything until all that was left is a flawless, perfect and unhatable "character". She became a character not allowed to feel even an ounce of sadness, even while walking to her own execution and death, a character no one was allowed to dislike her, all characters that previously called her a "traitor" and showed dislike towards suddenly flipped on their head praising her. Including Mei who was weary and not so attached to her.

The Flamechasers became what can only be discribed as an Elysia worshipping cult, who's only purpose was to sing praises to Elysia and nothing else.

With my small talk about Elysia done, let's go back to the overall story.

The story now lacking a threat had to create one from thin air, one that wasn't hinted at previously and so the Herrscher of Corruption fell into the story. And not even it was free from joining the Elysia worshipping cult the entire arc was.

After deleting Elysia, the Herrscher of Corruption also became infatuated with Elysia and decided to become her and leave the Elysian Realm to spread the gospel, if I had to guess.

I will say that the Herrscher of Corruption was a fitting enemy, an entity who's power revolves around data, set free in a realm entirely made of data is sure to create a dangerous foe.

Yet, despite being deleted from the Elysian Realm, Elysia came back and was used as a Deus-ex-machima type of character to finally defeat the final enemy, the finale wasn't a group effort it was just Elysia.

And just like that, Elysia deleted the Elysian Realm after being brought back through the sacrifice of others, she sacrificed herself and unfortunately this changed Mei's character, from hating self sacrifices and joining the enemy's organization solely to stop Kiana from sacrificing herself, to a character who is fine with self sacrifices all of the sudden.

And that characterization of Mei is one of the reasons Moon Arc was so terrible.

As I mentioned earlier, Moon Arc was yet another "open world" but even worse as it was scaled up, the lags worsen, I could barely play the chapter as I kept freezing, and so the frustration of Elysium Everlasting not only kept going but increased and made my experience of what is the final chapter of the original trio's story absolutely horrendous. And just like Elysium Everlasting, the story did not make me struggling to even launch the chapter worth it and I was about to give up on multiple occasions.

Moon Arc was a mess of retcons awful decisions.

The reveal that the Will of Honkai was the AI Prometheus made no sense at all and was not hinted at throughout the story, the Will of Honkai was always a naturally shapeless and emotionless figure that never spoke and only answered through actions, it did not seek anything, even when taking the shape of whoever is communicating to it, it had no face, it was just Thing. Not human, not herrscher just a physical manifestation of the Honkai's will, as its name say. But then the reveal of it being Prometheus made no sense considering the previous actions the Will of Honkai, and suddenly makes everything illogical and weird, and makes us ask why Prometheus did what she did, such as protecting Sirin and answering Otto's questions.

Then came Misteln, the "Hare" of World Serpent, who supposedly existed after Cecilia died and during Bronya's mother pregnancy, which is an inconsistency that has yet to be cleared, as those two time do not lineup at all, another confusing part of her is her powers, which are stigmata related but she seems to be able to do whatever the writers need her to do.

Staying on World Serpent, Kevin and his plan made no sense and their overall actions, or lack thereof was weird, they were supposedly trying to stop the trio and yet they helped them, talked to them for hours, and Hare even helped Bronya reached the full potential of her Herrscher core ; the overall pacing of the story was slow and there was no sign of the supposed emergency the trio was against, it was like a walk in the parc, slow walking and taking the time to have exposure.

But the worst part of all of it, was the introduction of Ai Lambda Hyperion, she was introduced in an event, in that event the player, aka us, were a part of it, it was a cute event about repairing the game and saving Ai Lambda. It was all there was to it. Until she came into the main story and so did the player, so did we. And that ruined everything, now the entire Honkaiverse is supposedly real in our world ; it especially ruined the final fight against Kevin, instead of the trio pulling through and beating Kevin, we do which makes their victory underwhelming and not as earned as if they won on their own.

Part 1's story started of as a really good, with character interactions and good character development but slowly the interactions and development worsen and disappeared leaving only an empty husk of its former self. Part 1 had a lot of potential for an emotional ending, but all we got was a nothingburger ending where Kiana is just physically stuck on the Moon but everyone can still visit her, instead of a feeling of isolation as a consequence of her saving the world, there was nothing to worry about, everything was going to be happy go lucky as usual.

- Part 1.5 : a breath of fresh air that wouldn't last

This part, or half part, started off slow and uninteresting for me, but it was still refreshing to focus on a character often put on the sideline : Seele, it also brought back a character shown in the manga and a visual novel, Shigure Kira, which was unexpected but welcome, they were focusing on existing characters instead of creating new ones.

But the start and my interest in this part was slow, but then the character Vita was introduced, a mischievous and humorous character that is still mysterious, a very interesting character with a lot of personality.

The 2nd half of Salt Snow Holy City, was way better, we had an actual threat in the form of Sa and Vita, while also having a lot of interactions between characters that otherwise wouldn't interact a lot, especially Veliona and Sentience, those two were very fun to watch and listen.

And so was the arc with Moriarty and all the Vita's, my only problem with this entire half part was the reveal of Griseo, while it does make sense somewhat, and Su I was hoping they would let go of the Flamechasers all together and never bring them up, their arc was over and they were only characters in a separate side story, but they slowly became main characters.

The twist of Vita doing all she did to betray and eventually kill Sa just to gain the freedom she craved and could never get as a proxy was wonderfully done and a well deserved ending for such a character, and it felt deserved and earned, she used everyone to advance her plans forward, and only relied on the other characters help at the end, when the final blow needed to be dealt, Kiana had to do it for Vita, but other than that Vita is the one who made her plan, worked towards it for years and manipulated Sa ; it was her win, she deserved it.

All and all, this entire half part felt so refreshing and made me hopeful for the future of the story... But unfortunately this miracle was just that, a short lived miracle the last bit of good writing Honkai Impact 3rd had.

Part 2 has a rough start, introducing a lot of characters in quite a shot amount of time and so the early bit felt quite rushed, but it slowed down once all the characters were introduced and set in the story it was quite good, and the threat of Perception was well set and the conclusion felt right... Or what I thought was the conclusion.

The twist of everything being a simulation from Dreamseeker's perspective just ruined everything, all the efforts went to waste and the ending suddenly felt worthless, it was just one of countless simulations so it meant nothing, all the emotial weight this had was gone.

I do like the mystery of Senadina, to at least have a bigger mystery connecting everything somewhat, and Vita's return to the story is one I am very happy about, it almost made me believe in MiHoYo again but as always, these moments of brightness in the other wise dark place the story is at are nothing more than dimly lit candles just about to go out.

- Honkai Star Rail : the false collaboration

It all started with a miscellaneous announcement of a Honkai Impact 3rd collab with Honkai Star Rail, Hi3rd collabing with other MiHoYo games happened before and it was very good, so we would get a collab character and outfit and lovely and funny noncanon event to go with it, everything should have been nice, I was on the fence due to the very bad Promare collab but I was hopeful, it was a collaboration between coworkers, they couldn't mess this up. Except they did, the moment it was revealed that Sparkle and other Honkai Star Rail related things were not noncanon events but fully main story canon.

Sparkle's introduction just created a whole mess in the timeline, her arrival in the mars computer happens before Welt's and Void Archive's departure, years before A Post Honkai Odyssey happens, it introduces the Solar System as a, weirdly, unreachable (supposedly protected by the Cocoon of Finality) place for Aeons and yet Sparkle and a random Messenger found it, that Messenger also sparks a new power scaling debate as she qualified Kiana as a "emanator" like entity, the interaction was not hinted at all throughout Penacony or anything Sparkle related prior to the collab happening, so it all just feels like a last minute decision to connect the two games, that were already connected through Welt and Void Archive.

From my point of view, there is no collaboration between the two games, this entire "event" and announcements were just to announce that the games were officially and connected as happening in the same Universe ; unlike collab valkyries Sparkle is fully gacha, an S-rank with no free way of being obtained, all collab characters are SP and farmable so this is already a suspicious play on Mihoyo's, and due to this Sparkle will have banner reruns after her banner ends, unlike collab that are only available in their patch, her stigmatas will be craftable despite being themed around her... All these points lead to the only possible conclusion : Sparkle was never a collaboration valkyrie, she is just a normal and permanent part 2 valkyrie. So the whole "collab" thing can only be assumed to be a bait of some kind, a bait for a valkyrie that is mediocre at best. A bait to lure in more spenders. A bait for money.

And so we reached the current end for the story, a beautiful story that unfortunately went downhill and the few good moments only ever lead to further disappointment, for we saw what they were capable of writing and producing and yet we were just let down, we were letdown more and more for one simple reason : the fandom kept praising the story, I barely saw complaints anywhere outside of my circle of friends, despite it getting worse and so mihoyo got away with writing worse and worse and worse until now, where we are at a point where salvation and redemption are no longer an option.

The fandom will crucify people who dare criticize the story because in their eyes mihoyo employees are some kind of Godly writers, hating a part will get you harassed, saying you dislike a character, especially Elysia and anything surrounding her, will get you seen as a bad person, this fandom has built so many layers of toxic positivity that it actively damaged the product. Mihoyo are not the sole responsible for the mess that Honkai Impact 3rd is, we are also sharing that responsability, for never calling mihoyo out their bad story choices, because the fandom kept "crying at the heartfelt stories" and because someone saying they disliked a fandom favorite was something worth getting bullied for, we like to call out other mihoyo games' fanbases toxic but we are no different, we are just as toxic if not more.

You may have noticed how I started to leave out details more and more as we progressed, simple answer I just skipped the story, because it was burning me out, going through long yet boring and non consequential stories was making want to stop playing, and so while I previously held the story above the gameplay and PvE aspect of the game, in current time that order has switched, and i skip story after reading summaries from CN to prioritize gameplay.

I also did not talk about events at all, and again it's really simple : the events, especially Captainverse, are really charming and well written, which is a very odd contrast to the main story, i focus more on those than the main story and find myself enjoying them even more ; this was a post to mostly complain and since I had nothing to complain about the events' writing I simply never mentioned them.

At least this whole thing is just my view of the whole thing, my view of the fandom, my view and opinion. And I just wanted it out of my chest.

I may add a portion about the character design, but this problem has mostly dissappeared since Part 2 began, so I don't feel the need to talk about it in details anymore, mihoyo moved on from that and so shall I.

[itssovero]

07. Final Fantasy XIV Online: Dawntrail (Square Enix Creative Studio III, 2024)

I'm far from an MMO-focused gamer (I won't be talking about hardcore raiding as I haven't yet worked up the courage to take the leap into that content), but FFXIV absolutely stole my heart back in 2020 with its rich worldbuilding, incredible life-affirming storytelling, immaculate vibes and soundtrack, satisfying cooperative gameplay, and generally welcoming in-game community. With prior expansion Endwalker wrapping up a 10-year narrative saga spanning the game's entire history up to that point, this new adventure is poised to be the start of a whole new phase of the game, and in my opinion, Dawntrail absolutely starts that journey on the right foot (despite what media literacy-devoid outrage merchants on social media would have you believe).

The narrative revolves around themes of community, collaboration, and understanding, with the player character taking on a mentor role to the empathetic and sociable but inexperienced Wuk Lamat as she participates in a rite of succession to become the leader of her nation while coming to truly know the hearts of the people she would serve. She's not running unopposed, however; her journey pits her against a host of other claimants, including her elder brother, who harbors warmongering, expansionist intentions for the nation. With the legend of a fabled city of gold at the heart of this continent-spanning contest, thrilling adventure, heartwarming character interactions, and manmade horrors beyond your comprehension delicious-looking local cuisine are abound.

Without spoiling the twists and turns the story throws at the player as it wends on, Dawntrail in typical FFXIV fashion tells a fundamentally prosocial story that really made me want to connect with my fellow human beings. The story actually positions itself as a sort of companion piece to the critically acclaimed Shadowbringers, both expansions tackling the premise of making the world a better place for those who follow in our footsteps, but each from a different angle, with Shadowbringers focusing on taking back the world from oppressive forces while Dawntrail focuses on preventing such oppression from materializing during times of peace. The setting of Tural is a character unto itself, its lands lush and beautiful, and its peoples and cultures endearing. The revelations throughout also help further expand the scope of FFXIV's universe in ways that will almost certainly be relevant in future stories.

The dungeon and trial design is tight and streamlined, hitting upon what I feel is the perfect level of challenge for normal duties. The two new DPS jobs, Viper and Pictomancer, are both fluid and satisfying to play, the former focusing on pure selfish damage with a busy fast-paced attack rotation, and the latter requiring strategic timing of skills with longer cast times in exchange for absurdly high burst damage and strong party buffs.

The slate of announced patch content is massive, as well, with a large-scale Field Operation, a new roguelike Deep Dungeon, a new wave of multi-path Variant Dungeons, some new form of lifestyle content, and a new unique Limited Job gameplay style all being promised in addition to the usual 8-Player and Alliance Raids. We've seen a lot of these types of content before, but never all at the same time. Combine that with the start of a new story and the currently-ongoing graphical overhaul, and this new phase of FFXIV almost feels more like the start of a sequel than an average expansion release.

[melfinawins]

My partner started watching the new season so I joined in. Oops?

The spoiler tag is at the top. I recommend not reading this until you've watched the entire season.

Well. That season was all over the place. Big lack of cohesion.

I wound up watching it because my partner did. And I just marathoned it.

I like all the long conversations, but it got taxing and too meandering by around episode 6. I kinda hit my limit with Mikey and Tina. I loved their interaction completely, but instead of it being a unique/special moment, they applied it to every fucking character on the show.

I liked that Claire told the Faks to fuck off. That was nice!

I loved Ted Fak and Sweeps/Gary's conversation. Got teary-eyed.

Loved everything to do with Marcus. I've said it before and I'm going to say it again: he's getting a star before all these other jokers. He's the only one who has balance. He has climbed the mountain of self-actualization and reached its peak.

Loved in the finale where the camera just recorded real life world famous chefs talking and being happy about food. I was so starved for a sense of joy, I rewatched that part over again because I just wanted to see happy smiling faces. But they kept showing Carmy's dumb ass.

Things I hated: nothing was resolved, only secondary storylines (Marcus, Nat). Literally EVERYTHING ELSE IS OPEN. We didn't even get Syd telling Carmy she wanted out (didn't have to resolve that shit, just fucking START THE PROCESS OF RESOLVING IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE), or Cicero being straight with Carmy. We didn't get Nat showing off the baby to her brother, we didn't even get Carmy meeting the baby. WE DIDN'T GET RICHIE FINDING HIS JOY AFTER LOSING IT-- HE DIDN'T EVEN GO TO THE WEDDING OR NOT GO--NOTHING. Like, the fuck? This show goes on and on about the heart, but we barely got any moments with the characters reminding us what we watched for.

I hate that Carmy passed down his abusive behavior and trauma he got from the EMP chef to Syd, so now her ass is panicking in a hallway when THE FORMER EC OF EVER IS DOING JAEGER BOMBS IN HER LIVING ROOM. Carmy ruined that for her. They didn't get trapped by a star, Carmy ruined that opportunity the moment he got out of that freezer. They were never going to get the star. It was always a shot in hell in the first place, but with Carmy at the helm, it was fucked from jump. HE SHOULDN'T BE EXEC CHEF OF JACK SHIT.

I'm mad that Carmy doesn't even realize how hard he's fucked literally everything. I know that's a part of the point, as EMP chef didn't give two fucks either, but I'm mad that Carmy let the trauma get the best of him and then fucking PASSES IT ON.

WHY DIDN'T CARMY APOLOGIZE TO CLAIRE. I feel like even with his traumas, it was overblown. Like, a lot. As a person who was raised by two Donna's, who fucked off and left the state like this fictional character did with like, 24 hrs notice, a person who would have also skipped their parents funerals had not they had to pay for it, ect, where are his motherfucking balls? CLAIRE FUCKING DESERVES BETTER. THIS MAN IS IN HIS THIRTIES.

This review isn't even about SydCarmy, because I'm just mad about the season in general lmao

Like, I hate Carmy right now. There are sooo many people depending on him to support their families and their way of life. He was so self absorbed this season that he imploded his restaurant over fucking menu choices. The damage may be too great. And he may have fucked it beyond repair. I kinda don't care about his head space, because Donna is/was shit, but she didn't fucking implode a restaurant full of people depending on her.

He's turning into his parents.

I said previously that his ass was on thin ice. I meant that shit. Like, I'm not rooting for him as of right now. He's done too much damage. It's like Syd said in the 2nd episode or whatever: this is a him problem, not a them problem.

And Donna can fuck right off lmao And no, being women who can experience and bond over childbirth doesn't heal fucking wounds, actually. As a person who has been in that exact situation, I skipped half the episode once Donna showed up. Because I also thought my mother with severe mental health issues could relate to her daughter giving birth. But then that shit didn't happen and once the baby has arrived, the story gets rewritten. Donna, in her current state, is incapable of change. Sorry not sorry.

And when has Nat ever been that fucking dense? Anyone with eyes could see Syd and the rest of the staff are miserable. And she saw the numbers-- that place won't last a year if they don't fucking bring in the budget. What good is a star if the place is closed a week later? CICERO HAS PUT DOWN ALMOST A MILLION DOLLARS. If the storyline is to be believed, they would be making a nice dent in the loan if not for the daily changing menu. And for what? Recycled, uninspired food that Carmy is just regurgitating from his former bosses who actually put in the creative energy to accomplish it? Very 2014 of him indeed.

I usually really love dark seasons of shows, or the mid point of a movie franchise (think Two Towers of LotR). I was going in expecting it to be fucking really dark. But something that's really important when you're doing the midpoint of a story is giving the audience something to hold onto. You have to show the audience that though it's dark, the dawn will come. There needs to be hope, even if it's just a flicker.

Not the case here.

In this 3rd season, every time the story would show some positive moments in a tiny storyline, they'd reiterate how shit is fucked and possibly permanently. And the characters are unlikeable, but not in a Succession kind of way!

My hopes for the characters of The Bear is that they get the fuck out and find other spots at other places where they can self-actualize and be happy.

I hope Syd gets every one of her dreams and spending time with Carmey will seem like a drug induced psychosis from the stale waffles she ate in her freezer. I hope she and Luca fuck. I hope she, Luca and Marcus fuck. I hope she opens her dream spot with those two and they get everything that Carmy inadvertently sabotaged at The Bear.

I hope Tina goes if she wants to go around the world, even if it's just at Syd's new place. I hope the staff walks and goes with her. Honestly, I hope they all just go to a spot Syd creates. Syd has the potential to be Terry when she "grows up". All she did this season was babysit Carmy and put out fires that Carmy himself lit. Even if Carmy promises to fix himself, like, HE CAN'T BE TRUSTED. Because his "relapses" are fucked and terrible and severe. Even though we see him kind of get a catharsis from telling EMP chef off, Syd and the crew didn't see that shit and there's not much left of his word to them.

That's it for now. I got progressively more angry as I started writing.

I think that episode 1 of this season was one of, if not the best, hour of television I've watched in a long time.

I'm surprised that the season as a whole left me so disappointed.

Also, it's really funny that they got Thomas Keller to do a cameo, since Joel McHale is based off him lmao

[will-cipher-from-reverse-falls]

The Fall of Euclydia: Part 1.

Will had been walking- or flying- around his town: Euclydia. It was a 2D World with 2D characters and shapes of all kinds. From large shapes who could reach the top shelves too small shapes who could fit into a mouse hole, there were millions upon millions. But Will was different. He could see past the barrier. Beyond his world. He could see the stars. His Mother, Scalene, and his Father, Euclid, were always worried about him. They didn't think it was normal for their usually quiet little boy to suddenly start pointing out the stars. They didn't understand him. No matter how many times he tried to tell them, they never listened.

"Mom, mom, look at the stars!" Will would say, pointing up. But they never saw it like he did. "Willbur, there's nothing there..." Scalene said kindly. Will looked down sadly. Scalene picked him up. "Hey, it's okay! You aren't weird! You're just limited edition!" she told him. "My little star..." she mumbled fondly. "So you do believe in the stars?" Will asked, excited. Scalene chuckled. "Well, I don't exactly believe in them, but I'll take your word. Your unique. That's a compliment :)" Scalene said. Will's eye practically shone in happiness. "YES! YES! YOU BELIEVE ME!!!" he exclaimed happily, hugging her. Scalene hugged back, patting his head.

The difference between Will Cipher and Bill Cipher's past is that nobody believed what Bill was saying. But for Will, his mother took his word for it. Soon, she began seeing strange things too. "Will, do you see that?..." she asked, confused. She saw a circle in the sky. "Yeah! That doesn't look like a star though..." Will mumbled, interested. "Well, maybe there are more than stars...maybe planets?" she suggested. "Oh yeah! That looks like a planet! But why can you see it?" Will asked. "Maybe you just have to believe in it?" Scalene responded. "Something doesn't feel right though...why is it coming closer?"

That was the end of part one! Tagging these amazing people here:

@bill-ciphers-nightmare-blog

@askbillchiper

@doritodemon13

@baby-bill-rp

Respond in the comment! Reblog if wanted!

[davekat-sucks]

you brought up recently that the writers were going for the original feel of homestuck. I'd like to say what I think the feeling for Homestuck actually is. I am going to reference Act 5. 1. Almost every time something horrible happened to a character, they were eventually gifted something positive out of the experience. Example: When Terezi lost her sight, she was able to speak with her mom on prospit. 2. The character's relationships were clear, simple and didn't often change unless some major event happened. Example: During all of Act 5 part 1, Sollux is mad at Aradia and voices his frustration with her even when he apologizes to her, he gets angry with her. 3. The art style remanded relatively consistent. Example: Act 5's visual portrayal of the cast looked the same as the acts that came before. Hero mode had sharp edges and long limbs. Environments had a limited color palate. Talksprites were probably the most abstract art style at that time. 4. The characters main responsibility were tending to tasks involving the game so they always had something to actually do and they belonged in a team. 5. Bit by bit, the story would explore the character's unique powers and we could sometimes see how those powers worked with other's powers or aid. Example: Dave could travel through time, Terezi would tell him what to do. 6. The characters would be responsible for their actions, but because of their age or external forces, the audience could emphasize with them if they choosed to do so. Example: Scratch was manipulating Virska. Virska was also expected to kill for her lusus at a young age to keep her fed. 7. Information was given to the audience quickly. The pacing was extremely fast. Example: Some of the ancestors stories are a handful of sentences. (This has the added bonus of if there is a character in the cast that the reader doesn't like, the character won't be a focus for too long.) 8. We hardly ever saw characters that were not important to the story. The story only visually depicted characters that were actually going to have a role, making the world feel more condensed and smaller. More focused too. 9. The characters understood what was at risk and were at times pessimistic about playing the game. Even so, the cast usually leaned towards optimism. accomplishing their goals or fixing their relationships. The characters actually cared about their lives and what the rest of the cast thought of them. Example: Terezi at one point tells Sollux "1 W1LL H4V3 4 FUCK1NG BL4ST 4ND YOU C4NT STOP M3" in response to Sollux telling her that what they're doing is serious. 10. Chatlogs were as long as they needed to be and the conversations were engaging. Anything I missed?

I think you are pretty spot on with these. That's what the writing is like in the original Homestuck. I don't get that same feeling when reading HS2/Beyond Canon. One could argue that during that time, Andrew Hussie was just doing all this on the fly as it goes on. Perhaps it was that kind of freestyle that he is able to express it naturally in his way. He just writes what he likes without too much input or influence from audiences that read it.