#so there is a high chance someone Has actually explored more of this idea rather than using it as a device for villain aus.

[ghostflowerhotpotch]

How do you think the events at the end of the movie would’ve played out had Miles actually gotten sent to his home universe (Earth-1610) and Gwen had also arrived there as well when she got the watch from Hobie? How different would that part of the movie be excluding the stuff that happened at Earth-42.

Honestly? That's a good question.

I initially was thinking of someone a fic response like I did with the jealous prompt I got a few days ago, but I couldn't find a way that I could align all the canon elements in the fic in a way that would give a good conclusion. Perhaps I would use that idea for a proper fic.

Regardless, the thing that I keep thinking is not on Miles or Gwen, but Miguel and his allies.

At first, naively so, I thought Miguel and the others were looking for the Spot; perhaps I just wanted to think this a bit more positively; because the idea that this grown ass man roped two other people to capture a 15 year old that wants to save his dad is...a choice.

(I swear I don't hate Miguel, he just tests my patience a lot.)

Now, for obvious reasons these would be a problem for any Ghostflower reunion because Miguel has no chill; and would not wait nicely for this young couple to settle an argument.

Where is he, though.

Not seriously, what is this?

I was thinking he would be in Visions Academy, but this doesn't look like it at first glance. The dark atmosphere and the rain is not helping this either. If anybody has an idea, I am listening, but the only clue I have is that Miguel has a gigantic red sign that says "Welcome."

(Fun fact, the first time I saw this movie i almost expected the sign to say Hell. It wouldn't make sense on a world building sense but that was what going on my mind seeing this situation.)

Riley we know was waiting in front of Miles's house.

Now, this one is not really a problem because in the scenario that they are all in the same universe, this would mean Gwen already dispatched the Meathead (the director's words, not mine;) with Miles just entering his room after that.

Considering the situation, there is a chance Gwen would either see Miles going into his apartment, or perhaps Miles realizing that Gwen is on the alley. However for the nature of this ask, we would not explore those scenarios in this post.

Here is when it gets tricky.

Jessica was following Miles' dad, which makes sense considering they are looking for Miles and he may try to go directly to his dad.

In the scenario the timing tracks exactly the same, Gwen would probably look at the window and see Miles, so she may or not realize Jeff is coming.

What would I think if Gwen got to Miles directly? That things would probably escalate rather quickly.

I think if Gwen saw Miles lying on the floor (As he did when he got home in Earth 42;) she would quickly rush to him. To which I would expect Miles to either adopt a defensive posture, or tell her to stay away.

We need to remember that as far as Miles is aware, she is still working with the organization, last time they saw each other she was attempting to capture him (Well, honestly she didn't try very hard, but it would still be betrayal for him.)

Of course, I imagine Gwen would start with either a "I'm so sorry, Miles," "I am not here to fight, I am on your side," "I know a way we avoid the canon event." Perhaps she would say a combination of all of those things, the problem is that I don't think we would have a chance because problem number 3 would arrive.

(Imagine this is Rio from 1610.)

Now, I am going to be a bit generous here, and I will imagine that Rio didn't hear Miles coming in (unlike Rio from Earth 42,) perhaps the other version of her heard Miles come in because she was picking up laundry and was close to the door.

But I am sorry, every time I try to imagine an scenario where Gwen and Miles get to met here, I can't imagine any of them being quiet enough to not make Rio realize there are people in her house. Emotions are running way too high for either of them to think about that.

In the movie, Miles was on the floor and heard Rio appear, so he had the time to get his jacket on. In this scenario? Frankly I imagine Miles and Gwen would be close to screaming so neither of them would realize of her coming by.

Now imagine you are Rio for a moment.

You all of the sudden hear your son and or/the girl he was with earlier screaming about nonsense you don't know what the heck could be about, and when you open the door you see your son and that girl in Spider suits. No idea if there is any information or pictures of Gwen's as a Spiderwoman on Earth 1610, but that's kind of a moot point when your son not only is dressed up as the current spiderman, but also is sporting these.

(Sorry I don't have a full image, I try to get ANYTHING in the movie that would give me a good visual, and no shot; I couldn't get the complete image of where I got these, and finding these was a pain and a half.)

There is a 50/50 chance that Gwen/Miles may be able to sneak a "is a costume!" lie, but all things consider this would probably make Rio realize a lot of things are making sense all of the sudden. Rio would probably rush to Miles once she sees he is this hurt and freak out, no doubt.

And if things couldn't get worse, is around this time Jeff is coming upstairs, and who came with him?

YEP.

Now, we see that Jess spies on Gwen and Miles' parents thanks a device, not sure if this is the spider thing Gwen used earlier to track the Spot, or something else; regardless, she would definitely see them there, if not hear the ruckus.

Here is the thing, would I think Jess would do something?

...Sadly, yes.

Jess has kind of a soft spot for Gwen, and while I don't think she was the best Mentor (less about what she taught Gwen and more on not being there for her enough, but that's another discussion.) Jess gave the chance to Gwen to go to 1610 in the first place, she also let her try to fix it (thought the circumstances weren't too generous,) and while we don't have a clue what she would do next, I am inclined to believe that canonically, she is not going to snitch to Miguel that Gwen went by, perhaps only mention that Miles isn't in this dimension.

Because here is the thing, she has a soft spot for Gwen, but we can see that she definitely thinks Miles is a problem; and considering she is still helping Miguel, I doubt her mind had changed much in that regard.

So while she let Gwen "go" to get Miles (though there is the chance she is just letting her go so she can track where she is going,) I doubt she would see Miles there and not do something.

Now we have Rio screaming her lungs out about what the heck Miles has been doing, Miles probably trying to explain the situation to her, Gwen may or may not try to defend Miles (honestly the only reason I may think Gwen doesn't say anything is because this is really a conversation she shouldn't be involved.) And Jess then comes out from the window to collect Miles; she may also bring her Motorcycle with her which would cause even more chaos.

Hey remember how Jeff was just going upstairs? I like to think is something like this.

I know is an old meme but imagine Jeff, happily coming back home after an end of his shift; and he finds the house with his son on a Spiderman costume fighting a very pregnant woman (who may have the motorcycle INSIDE HIS HOUSE,) the girl he brought with him earlier shooting webs or something trying to stop the black lady, and his wife probably screaming on a corner.

While writing this, I originally was going to say earlier that having Miguel and his croonies here could make things a tad complicated; no wonder I deleted that earlier because this is just chaos.

Speaking of Miguel, no doubt Jess informed him that Miles was at his house, with no signs of Riley. Depending or where he is, he may be coming by soon enough.

Sorry if you or anyone else was expecting a fluffy or heartwarming scenario, but in this blog I try to adhere to canon facts as much as I can for these analysis, and I couldn't answer with canon possibilities without taking everything into account.

That being said, oh my g-d this was so much fun; I should try to do these more often.

I will see if I use the original fic idea I had in mind, while drafting this I also thought of the possibility of what would happen if Gwen's picture (That as discussed in this analysis, she may have with her) fell off while she was leaving Miles' apartment; if anyone is interested in that last idea please say so because I am on the fence about it.

That's it for today! Hope you folks had fun with this.

[hotdaemondtargaryen]

FABIEN FRANKEL AND MATT SMITH TALKING ABOUT THEIR CHARACTERS IN 'HOUSE OF THE DRAGON' S2 FOR CBR MAGAZINE.

ABOUT EPISODE 2.

FABIEN FRANKEL:

"[Criston's] really shocked, actually. I don't think he ever thought it was going to be him. Larys [Strong] has a better chance of becoming Hand [of the King] than Criston does."

"It's not a bad thing for Criston that Otto [Hightower] is gone. Criston as Lord Commander is about as high up as he ever thought he could ever get."

"Criston is not built for this kind of power. He's a soldier. He's built to be out on the field fighting."

"He's not an orator. He is not a wise leader. That just isn't him. He's a man of few words, a man of action, and a man of, I think, compassion and humanity."

"But ultimately, I don't think he wants it."

"Albeit, I don't think Criston thinks Aegon is the right person necessarily to sit on the Iron Throne. Aegon is also someone who wants to get things done and prove himself."

"Aegon respects Criston because Criston's known him since he was a baby and taught him a great deal. It's kind of like Criston's been a manny to Aegon. [Laughs] He'd rather have Aegon on the Iron Throne than anyone else at that point."

"Even Aemond on the Iron Throne has its own threats and its own risks. Aegon's impetuousness can also be a good thing for Criston as Hand of the King."

MATT SMITH:

"It's very complicated for [Daemon and Rhaenyra] because Rhaenyra feels a great sense of betrayal and a sense of injustice that is being directed at her."

"Ultimately, it's at the hands of Daemon with his impetuous behavior."

"Coupled with the grief of his brother dying... the fracture of that relationship with Rhaenyra means that he literally is an island on his own in the middle of the ocean, with nowhere to go and no one to talk to."

"He's left to his own devices and his own thoughts get the better of him. He becomes submerged in his own deep, dark psychology."

"It's love, grief and vengeance. Daemon feels it's impossible not to exact that feeling of revenge when it's in him."

"He's not someone who can just sit on that and go, 'Do you know what? I'll leave that until tomorrow.' [Jaehaerys' death] isn't his mistake ultimately, but he does put it in motion."

"Whether I've got rose-tinted glasses about Daemon or not, I think he did it with his best intention."

FABIEN AND MATT TALK ABOUT FIGHT SCENES ARE THE BEST PART OF THEIR JOB.

MATT SMITH:

"The [scenes] that are tough are actually the ones where you're sitting around the tables. They take like three days. They've got to do all the coverage on everyone."

And you're like, 'Oh, God.'

FABIEN FRANKEL:

"I think if you quite like sport, which Matt and I do, the fight scenes are the best bit. I actually wish I could do more [fight scenes], because it just gives you something to completely focus all your energies on."

"When Matt and I got to do a great fight together in Season 1, those days flew by, and my adrenaline was sky-high."

WHY CRISTON IS PURSUING THIS RELATIONSHIP DESPITE HIS VOWS OF CELIBACY?

FABIEN FRANKEL:

"I think it's for the audience to create in their head the narrative as to why [Criston and Alicent are] having this relationship. I know what my motivations are playing it."

"It's important to remember that she saved him at the lowest point in his life, at the end of [Season 1, Episode 5, "We Light the Way"] when understanding the psychology behind the relationship."

"I'm very interested to hear what the theories are on that."

HOW MUCH OF DAEMON'S RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS DAUGHTERS VIEWERS WILL SEE IN 'HOUSE OF THE DRAGON' S2?

MATT SMITH:

"Without giving too much away, I don't think it's a huge area of exploration this season because everyone's on their own path a bit, particularly Daemon. There's an interesting story there to be told, certainly."

"Fatherhood is a very complex idea for him at the moment."

"He's still in the throes of grief, so I don't think he's a particularly efficient father this season."

ABOUT THE ARCS OF REDEMPTION FOR DAEMON AND CRISTON.

FABIEN FRANKEL:

"That's for the audience to decide. We're not the writers, so we don't have power over whether these characters ever get redemption arcs or not. They either get them or they don't. Then we have to play whatever is written on the page and find a way to justify that -- good, bad, or in the middle."

MATT SMITH:

"What's going to be interesting is it's up to people to decide, 'Did he do it? It's like it wasn't a mistake. Was it on purpose?' That's in [the fans'] hands really."

FRANKEL AND SMITH BOTH AGREED THAT THEIR CHARACTERS HOLD A MIRROR TO ONE ANOTHER, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO THEIR OBSESSIVE LOYALTY TO THEIR RESPECTIVE FACTIONS.

MATT SMITH:

"Whether it's right or wrong, and whether they make the right decisions or the wrong decisions as a result of it, they both have a profound sense of loyalty in them."

"Maybe that leads to foolish pride, which leaves them exposed. It's a great strength, but it's the greatest downfall in a way, isn't it?"

FABIEN FRANKEL:

"100%. As a human being, I want to think that you have some willingness to change."

"Daemon and Criston's problem is that they don't change enough, or at least, adapt."

"Certainly, Criston finds it very hard to adapt."

"But the world is so complicated and everyone's so hateful, spiteful, manipulative and self-serving."

"Criston and Daemon are just extensions of that, ultimately."

WHAT ARE THE MAIN WEAKNESSES OF DAEMON AND CRISTON?

FABIEN FRANKEL:

"Romance. I don't think [Criston's] built to have relationships."

"Maybe he falls in love with Gwayne Hightower on the road. He's just not built for this world, man."

"I want him to get out of the castle and just get away. I think that once he gets away, things will be a lot better for him."

"But he's trapped."

MATT SMITH:

"Daemon's pride is probably a weapon against him. It's his inability to listen to anyone but himself."

"There are a lot of inner workings in Daemon that are trying to sort of destroy him. In a way, they're the things that propel him and drive him forward."

"I almost don't even want to name them as well, [but I'm] putting them out there."

"He is a dark storm of a man, certainly."

[jamiesfootball]

☔️

Now that I've actually read The Beautiful and Damned (essay still incoming), I've been thinking of an AU fic that explores what if Jamie did read the book in season 1. It....intrigues me for a number of reasons.

The fact that Jamie was the only one of the group to receive what is essentially a cautionary tale (no we didn't see most of the picks, but it feels safe to say that Jamie was the one Ted thought needed 'correcting')

The protagonist ends up a bitter, angry, abusive alcoholic. Granted Ted could not have known about Jamie’s dad at the time, but ough. Ted.

Giving this book to anyone and going 'here, this reminds me of who you are' is frankly insulting. I think if Jamie were to confront Ted about that, Ted would consider that half the job done. He clearly just wants Jamie to think about his actions and how he treats people. Unfortunately I could see this backfiring on Ted. He may not mean it personally, but I think Jamie would take it personally, especially because--

Aside from the fact that the protag is rich and full of himself and found to be charming, that guy is nothing like Jamie. In fairness to Ted, those are basically 3 of the 4 things he knows about Jamie. In unfairness to Ted, the other 1 thing he knows is that Jamie is a professional athlete who by definition had to work hard to get to where he is. Meanwhile the protag for TB&D has never worked for anything in his life -- the opposite of Jamie, our battler. In fact one of the defining traits and the reason the protag falls into being a penniless drunk is because throughout his life he was given many chances, and he ignored them all.

I think Jamie would likely get bogged down in the details. On the idea that the book was meant as a critique of him, rather than a lesson he could learn by. Another example of how Ted bringing up topics in a roundabout way tends to get misconstrued by Jamie as mind games.

Bonus round: the protag is very classist. The book occasionally alludes to the unfairness of this, but it is very much an ongoing topic for the protag on why he deserves all his money.

Bonus round: the protag is exceedingly misogynistic. The book almost never disagrees with this. Even season one Jamie 'women can do anything' Tartt would never.

So I think that a fic that explored Jamie's journey while reading this book would be fascinating. From the beginning where it's clear from the start that this protagonist is a spoiled, snobby twit to the end where the protag ends up a functioning alcoholic who yells at his wife and reminisces that by preventing himself from treating her in a physically violent manner, it makes him hate her even more. By the end of the book I can see Jamie being actively triggered by what's on the page--

--which would serve in a number of ways to kickstart Jamie's troubled history a good three episodes before the curse fire.

So yeah, this fic idea is less than a week old and I am still working on it but. Intrigued, I am.

Also I keep envisioning a running gag like that episode of The Office where Michael is watching The Devil Wears Prada and Pam is keeping track of where he is in the movie by what he's quoting at her. Except in this fic, Ted (Pam) would not know what the hell Jamie was talking about for a good long while, because he hasn't actually read the book since early in high school.

Why do I think Ted hasn't read it since early high school? Because if he'd read it later, he'd probably remember that there's a guy in the book who kills himself by shooting himself. It's literally one of the last parts of the book, and it's meant to serve as a punctuation on the consequences of the protag's actions.

Just a thought, but I think if Ted had read it after his dad dying, he might not suggest it to someone. Even if the meaning of the book fit.

For fic related reasons though, this means that Ted's trauma could ALSO be introduced way sooner. In season one even! This fic could have so much bonding through book-relevant trauma it's crazy to think about.

So. Yeah. New wip thoughts in progress. Whoops.

[venusshiftsx]

I agree with your post about the topic of age-changing, but I want you to clarify your stance because I think this topic isn’t black and white and is much more complex.

To start, I think we can both agree that aging yourself up or down solely for fetish reasons is wrong. No question about that.

However, I don’t believe everyone who ages themselves down in their Desired Realities (DRs) and includes romance elements has bad intentions. For instance, if someone creates a DR where they script a romance that begins in their teens and continues into adulthood, I see that as acceptable. In this case, they aren’t shifting to date a minor; they’re trying to experience a storyline where they can grow older with the person they love.

There’s also another thing that bothers me, which highlights the hypocrisy of some shifters: people who keep returning to DRs they created when they were younger, even as adults. These people haven’t abandoned their old DRs, and they keep shifting back to them. Isn’t the whole idea that you can shift at any time? I still think this is okay, though, because their intent isn’t “to be with minors.” They’re revisiting a DR they created at a younger age, often to continue something they started and don’t want to give up on now.

I’m also curious about people who age down for romance not out of any perverse interest but to heal and explore things they missed out on. What do you think about that?

For example, imagine someone who never had the chance to explore their sexuality in a positive, healthy way and saw others their age having teenage romances they wished they could experience. In this case, they’re shifting to fulfill something they always wanted but couldn’t have.

Or maybe someone had a bad romantic experience back in high school and shifts to replace that negative memory with a positive one.

Would you consider this to be bad or wrong? These people are technically aging down for romance, but their reasons go beyond simply wanting to date or have intimacy with minors. They’re doing it for personal growth or closure.

Since you mentioned that aging down to heal is different, I genuinely want to understand your perspective more clearly.

I agree that aging down purely to date minors is definitely creepy and inappropriate. But for those with deeper, more complex motivations—people wanting to relive or fulfill a teenage dream, for example—I think there’s a different side to it.

As you put it so well:

"If you’re aging yourself down to relive your teenage years or fulfill a childhood dream, I love that for you. Go live those dreams; go relive the teenage years you deserve."

Like genuinely what is you stance on this ?

I genuinely still believe if your shifting purposely to date a minor is wrong. If you’re shifting to date a teenager while they are still underage so normally 13-18. I would wait until you are both adults (18+) to actually date them. You can still be friends with them and have like a so called slow burn relationship. But if you’re an adult here and dating a kid in another reality I do find that wrong. But that is my stance on it.

If you’re shifting to heal yourself, and your sexuality. I think it’s okay, but I would still wait to until they are both adults.

But i think it’s different in a lot of ways, if you’re shifting for the sole purpose to enjoy yourself and not ideally to date but end up getting in a relationship with someone there, it is still something to think about however you’re intention genuinely wasn’t to date a minor.

In my post I was more talking about the people who will just age themselves down more to date minors. Rather than actually being there for the experience or the enjoyment of being there.

But like I said if your shifting to heal, to live your dreams and like you would here end up meeting someone a long the way, I think that’s okay. But if you can and want to wait until they are also adults I think that’s super.

It really is just how you put it into perspective and how I put it in perspective, everyone’s opinions are different and valid. I just wanted to say that ADULTS whose sole purpose to shift is to date a MINOR is crazy to me and a lot of other people.

I hope this made sense!! 💕

[ripplestitchskein]

I've been binge reading your Helluva Boss and Stolitz posts for a while now and I love how mature and nuanced your takes are. I've run into a good deal too many Stolitz antis on Twitter who won't give Stolas and Blitzo's relationship a chance to improve later, despite the show clearly trying to do just that. I'm especially tired of people saying that their relationship is one-sided. And even when actual evidence is put out there that Blitzo actually does like Stolas back, they say it doesn't count because those hints are less than 5 second long small details rather than being spoonfed to them. Just argued with one of them on Twitter like an hour ago and that's exactly what they said. And they accused ME of not paying attention because in their mind, Stolitz was built up from sexual assault, and they think Blitzo's line in Western Energy "He can get hurt?" is somehow out of character which confused the hell out of me, and they kept insisting that Blitzo had "zero interest" in Stolas no matter what.

Thank you so much!! I do try my best to be as rational and logical as possible so I’m glad it’s coming through, not to say I don’t have emotionally based reactions or bias but in my meta analysis I try to set my personal feelings about the text presented aside and just talk about what it could potentially mean based on recurring elements, themes, and deliberate choices made throughout not just in individual scenes.

LooLoo Land is a perfect example, there are some moments in that episode I heavily dislike (Blitzø shoving the dolls down his pants, the “as long as she washes it” convo, and Stolas being sexually inappropriate in front of his kid) so I do understand some of the criticism. It was also episode two and being a creative myself I know firsthand that things like that happen. You put in things early, for a joke, a laugh, to highlight personalities and they don’t necessarily come across the way you intended or jive with where the story ends up. Which is why a lot of my analysis takes in the entirety of what we have so far, the recurring stuff, not just individual moments or one off lines.

I’ve always maintained that it’s crucial to remember that creators are not perfect beings who are getting their story from on high fully formed, they make mistakes, they get inspired and take things in a different direction as things develop, they can contradict themselves over time. It happens.

It’s also a cartoon so it’s limited in how much it can even do, how expressive the characters can be, how much time they have to explore and the medium absolutely comes into play when analyzing it. Art has always been and will always be subjective, and unless the creator flat out contradicts something it’s largely left to interpretation, but that interpretation cannot be based on one scene, or one episode, or a one off bit of dialogue or a single expression either.

I always encourage not wasting your time arguing with people who are still serving up early content talking points or who dont have media literacy as a learned skilled. I know it’s super hard, I’m guilty of it myself. I was so close to going off on a “Stella and Stolas are mutually abusive” take last night you have no idea. It was more the dude was just being deliberately obtuse to the point I stopped myself and was like “they have to be trolling, no way someone believes this”. You can’t change their minds, they obviously don’t want to engage with the material from a place of good faith, and it just bums you out at the end of it.

A lot of them are really young too I find, which may be part of the disparity. I’m 38 so I have a lot of different experiences to draw from they haven’t had yet. I’ve been a fandom girl since I was a kid, I’ve always been a shipper and I also create things so my perspective is further down the line and with lived experience some people don’t have yet. I’m reminded of this daily, my oldest son is 18 and we have many conversations where I’m reminded about how much you learn as you grow older and the assumptions you make as a younger person. This is not to say that younger people can’t think critically but it is a skill and it improves over time like any other.

I also encourage people to think of what is being said and why. There is a lot of hate for VivziePop as a person. My understanding is she said some things early on and created a hate base that is going to deliberately misinterpret just to validate their initial assumptions about her motive and character. With popular things there is always a small subset that hate a show because of its popularity too, I don’t think because they are jealous like some speculate but because they didn’t personally enjoy it and don’t like feeling like they are missing something, so they take it in a “it must be the children who are wrong” Principal Skinner approach. They can’t see why people love it so those people must be ignoring what they didn’t like about it and they must tell them.

Sometimes people like another ship or another character more, and their ship might involve one half of yours, or they don’t feel their character is getting the same focus and attention because of yours. So instead of just letting everyone enjoy their own things it’s now a competition, a source of resentment and they must make that everyone else’s problem.

And I’ve talked about the fascistic purity culture that seems to encroach into fiction spaces as well that is also at heavily play. Any time a character does anything that is vaguely “toxic”, “problematic” they are immediately painted with the SA brush, the creator is promoting it and the fans are enabling it and are somehow directly responsible for it existing in the world. You can’t do anything about them except enjoy what you like, look at it critically within your own personal comfort level, and as always, my favorite thing to say “kill the cop in your head.” Not just with fiction but everything.

I’m glad my analysis is being enjoyed, and I super appreciate your feedback on it. Come to my inbox anytime and we’ll enjoy the ride together!

[persephonesdesires]

✫ Self Reflecting with Persephone ✫

I’m in the later half of my 20s, I have a career I love, an apartment I’ve made into my home, so many awesome friends that I keep up with regularly, and I’m so incredibly proud of how far I’ve come.

BUT..

When it comes to romance and relationships and sex…I feel like I know almost nothing.

I’ve done so little compared to others my age, and I know it’s not good to compare but I’m really worried what this will mean for my future. I’ll be honest about my experience, I’ve had boyfriends in high school and college, gave oral to them and explored with touching but that was it. I didn’t lose my virginity until I was almost 23, and it wasn’t bad but it was weird and foreign and I only had sex with him a few more times after that. …and then a pandemic hit.. and we all know how that put our lives on hold. I watched my young 20s fly by so quickly, with basically nothing to say for them because I was trapped at home. Then last spring I got the opportunity to have a threesome with a couple I had become friends with. Oh. My. God! Me? Invited to something that sexually advanced? that hot and wild and pleasurable? Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would have said yes to such a thing. But I did say yes, and it was so SO HOT. There was no penetration for me but I was fine with that. I was over the moon to go down on them both and to have them both go down on me.. To experience and treasure and explore both a woman and man’s bodies all in the same bed as me. It was exhilarating and taught me a lot about what I liked and how I wanted to be touched and pleasured and I’m so grateful for that experience.

It’s been almost a year since then though.. and I have done NOTHING since then. There is an argument that I should go out more, talk to more people, and flirt more and show interest when I feel it, and I want to be clear I do try to flirt when I meet someone I think I’d like. But everything has fizzled out rather quickly or in general I’m not around anyone I’d really like to try and date. So I instead chose to look within, I’ve learned a lot from places like tumblr and doing my own self exploration of what I like, what I think I’d like, what I want to try and what is a hard no for me. What type of relationship I’d like to be in, what expectations and desires I have for a partner, what sexual activities and kinks I’d like. I feel like I have a good idea of this all. But I’m missing the practice, the actual experience of being with another person, whether casual or romantically. In cliché terms, I can talk the talk but I haven’t had the chance to walk the walk yet.

I look around me and I see so many different kinds of people in relationships, casual or committed and romantic or sexual alike, people of every shape, size, height, weight, race, age, gender, and so much else. And I’m happy for them, but it almost feels like they know a secret I don’t, and no one will tell me. They won the game of life and I’m just trying to learn how to play still..

And I feel ..Broken? Defunct? Left behind?

I struggle with how this all makes me feel mentally. I tell myself we all grow and experience life at our own paces, in my heart I know that, but I want my pace to speed up, because I’m so damn tired of being left behind.

I’ll keep dreaming and trying to find someone I really like and want to get to know. And until then, I’ll be here, doom scrolling on tumblr and coming up with long ass text posts no one will be reading.

This post is for my own benefit, to voice out my feelings and worries. But if any of you resonate with my words, feel free to comment or reblog, and most importantly know that you are not alone in this world.

[pixelgrotto]

Sweet Nightingale

One of the neat side effects about my job writing guides for Rock Paper Shotgun is getting exposed to stuff that I don't typically touch. For example, the survival/crafting genre, which blew up in the 2010s when I was living in Asia and too busy trying to survive in real life. I was aware of games like The Long Dark, of course, and I thought Valheim looked okay when it came out. But as someone who's never been thrilled with the idea of chopping down digital trees for wood (except for maintaining my farm in Harvest Moon 64), survival games have mostly fallen off my radar.

Obviously, that's no longer the case thanks to work. Survival games are perhaps one of the few video game genres out there that remain opaque as hell, therefore making them perfect fodder for guide writing. And this year has already seen several big survival games released, with Palworld taking up far more of my mental space than I ever would've imagined for much of January and February. (My lukewarm take is that Palworld is okay. Not really my thing, but I get why people like it as both a meme game and a "I can't believe Nintendo isn't suing, because that Electrabuzz ripoff is equipped with a GUN, somebody stop him!")

But this post is not about Palworld. It is, rather, about Nightingale, an enchanting survival title made by Inflexion Games that unfortunately launched into Early Access only a few weeks after Palworld probably stole some of its potential player base. I had the chance to consume a fair bit of Nightingale prior to its release, and I also wrote a few guides on it for work. I'm not sure if it's actually going to take off - its current player numbers aren't as high as expected, and the game bristles with a special degree of enrapturing jank that's definitely not going to appeal to everyone. Case in point: half of my colleagues hated the pre-Early Access UI, which made several unusual decisions, including flipping the usual hotbar configuration present in these sorts of games. This has since been rectified, and now the UI is more streamlined and accessible, though also a bit more boring, in my eyes.

I think Nightingale sticks with me precisely because it boasts an aesthetic and setting that are very much not boring. We're talking about a gaslight fantasy atmosphere that feels a tad Neil Gaiman, if he were channeling the same stuff that inspired Alan Moore to write The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Apparently, Nightingale's concept was based on the novel Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which I have not read but now want to, and the game starts by placing you as an inhabitant of a late 1800s reality inextricably linked with Fae beings. A big calamity happens, and folks exploring the Faewilds are tossed into disparate realms and separated from their magical hub city, dubbed Nightingale. You have to help your character survive in these bizarre biomes, which are filled with Wonderland-style beasts and floating sculptures in the sky. Hopefully by constructing your own estate in these magical outposts and allying with other Realmswalkers, all of you will one day reach the city of Nightingale once more.

I am an absolute pervert for this sort of alternate history Victorian stuff, and if I'm going to be very frank, my initial reaction when playing Nightingale was wondering if its enchanting setting was "wasted" on a survival/crafting game. It's the sort of thing I'd expect to see in a tabletop RPG (which I would gladly play), not a game where you need to construct a sewing table and then kill 5 hippos so you can skin their hides and put those hides on the aforementioned sewing table and wait a minute so you can craft a little cape for yourself.

I'm not the only one to have this thought, and there's a whole calvacade of commentators who posted similar things on every Rock Paper Shotgun article devoted to the game. In a nutshell, it seems to come down to the fact that many outspoken individuals don't like the survival gameplay loop of running around chopping down trees so you can craft a better axe to chop down more trees, but thus far they've safely been able to ignore most crafting games because they typically take place in forests or post-apocalyptic environments that are usually pretty samey. Nightingale is not samey, which makes people want to play it and then lament that it's not in their ideal genre of choice.

Once again, I really need to expoud upon how much charm this game has. Your guide through the tutorial is a smooth talking fey with a poncy vocabulary named Puck. Umbrellas serve as in-game gliders to make you descend from great heights like Mary Poppins. And even though the basic survival loop is there - yes, you've still got to farm those damn hippos - there is a nifty tarot card system in place that procedurally generates the worlds your intrepid Realmswalker is forced to confront. It's a mishmash of ideas that really feels like it's ripped from the pages of some Game Master's steampunk world (there I go again, going off on how much I'd like to play a Nightingale TTRPG), and even though it's largely busywork, eventually you can get a rifle that shoots ice ammo and a legendary set of "armor" that's really just a Victorian tweed suit. By damnation, it's appealing.

It's this sense of originality that makes me want to play Nightingale more, and injects within me the strength to overlook the jankiness in the combat and UI that make me ocasionally feel like I'm playing a game from the late 2000s. (The first Witcher, are ya there? I'm reminded of you.) And I daresay it's unfair to say that Nightingale's eclectic setting is "wasted" on a survival/crafting experience, which is a harsh statement that probably does a disservice to both Inflexion Games and to the entire genre. While these sorts of games might not be my automatic cuppa, Nightingale actually makes me want to play more of them, and I plan on purchasing V Rising next month, which I missed out on back when it came out.

All this is a roundabout way of saying that there's power in a good setting and a striking coat of paint. Sometimes that's all we need to overlook gameplay loops that do not initially appeal to us, and I'm sure there's a whole audience out there that cared little for crafting in the wilderness but loved monster collecting. Palworld was the honeypot that probably encouraged them to look deeper into what survival games had to offer. For me, Nightingale performs a similar function.

There's also the fact that I appreciate it when games take risks and dare to step outside of the cornerstones of what's considered safe and sellable in their respective genres. Nightingale probably wouldn't have stood out nearly as much as a CRPG, for instance. There are already gaslight fantasy RPGs out there, and you can still buy Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura on Steam. But there's nothing quite like this in the survival space, and thus we have something brave and bold, unique and odd - a potent combination that compels me to stay a while in its mysterious Fae red room. I certainly hope that Nightingale survives its turbulent Early Access period, because while chopping down trees and building houses might not be what I'm immediately looking for when I sit down to play a game, stick a tophat on me and say I'm doing it in the realm of A Midsummer Night's Dream and my mind has the potential to change. It's all about the flavor, in other words, and Nightingale has that in spades.

[curryfury13]

Hello again!!

I'm back again for the next retrospective of my first ever fan-fiction, True Friends. This time, I'm going through the second and third chapters.

As a reminder, you can click on the banners to go read the chapters for yourself in full. I'll just be giving some commentary about them about where I was as a creator at the time and my thoughts.

Thank you for reading!

Hinata awakens!

And I've realized I had her awaken with brown eyes, rather than golden as she has in the rest of the story. Ah well!

There's little bits of description in this chapter that have still held up for me, but I was still very much to the point and direct with a lot. Still caught up in the, much to do, much to see. Chop chop! It's fun to see at the beginning, considering things slow down soon when I get caught up in the fun of being on Destiny Islands.

I remember when I chose the name Aiko. I thought I was so clever! If any of my old readers are going through this, did I trick any of you with that? I'm certain I didn't. I won't say the spoiler on the off chance someone is reading this that doesn't know, but Aiko is something Hinata still refers to in her current story. It's stuck around even after all this time! Even if I cringe a little bit every time I use it. I will keep insisting on its usage.

And then we get to Kairi and Sora beginning their research about her memories! I liked this concept. I still do in theory. It reminded me a bit of the Twilight Town shenanigans and the 7 Wonders in Sunset Terrace. But, I will be honest, I was coming up with that "research" for Sora and Kairi on the fly and it shoooows in later chapters.

Outlines are important, guys!

"That would be nice," Riku unknowingly said aloud.

A sigh escaped Riku's lips as he leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling, thinking about Hinata. He remembered that she looked about the same age as him, and maybe she would end up being in the same grade.

"Excuse me Riku," Riku's History teacher, Mr. Zhoa called; bringing him out of his thoughts and making him look up front at the teacher. "You think that forcing children to do manual labor would be 'nice'?"

----

When I tell you I thought this was hilarious writing back when I wrote it... I thought I was the bee's knees. And who, may I ask, also picks up on the super subtle ATLA reference with Zhoa as the history teacher, soon to also be the sparring teacher? That's right. I was both amusing and with the times a decade ago.

There's so many lines in this series that make me groan now days. That sort of groan that actually aches your soul a little bit, like why did I do this? Ok, maybe that's a little bit dramatic. It's more like when Facebook likes to remind me of a status I wrote when I was in junior high and thought I was hip and everyone just needed to know when I needed a snickers.

In the end though, both those statuses and those silly lines aren't bad. Sure, they might make me groan a bit or snicker, but they are harmless and fun, too. And why can't we all have fun with storytelling?

Moving on with the rest of the chapter, we had Sora and Kairi getting to meet Hinata officially! It was all under the guise of the "research" that quickly led to Kairi's adopted parents also adopting Hinata. Like a domino effect, I guess. There was a cleaner way to do it, but I understand the reason I went with it the way I did. Kairi's family already handled this in the past, they'd be the go-to people for it again. I don't think the research needed to be tangled up in it.

It is also where we first learn that Aiko isn't Hinata's younger sister's real name, but a nickname! This was an interesting concept to me and is why I'm not sure I like Aiko for it. The idea behind it, that I don't recall if I ever really explored in the story, is that Hinata's parents were split on the name for her sister. Mom wanted Aiko, Dad wanted the other name that ended up getting chosen. After she was born, the mother continued using her chosen name, claiming it as a nickname.

In that sense Aiko works. Without that explanation, Aiko isn't like her real name at all and is just confusing as to why it's used. It's my story, so why didn't I put that explanation in from the beginning? It's because I didn't think of that explanation at the time and figured it out later.

Another point goes towards story planning!! And multiple drafts, I suppose.

[wishingstarinajar]

Hi, on anonymous because I'm shy, but a while ago, I saw your discord status talking about Genshin Impact, and I was wondering what you thought of it. Sorry if that's intrusive! I really like that game and wanted to know.

Le gasp, someone who knows me!... Maybe, haaai~

Genshin, yes (or Genshion, as I accidentally typo-ed it in my status and people were so kind to point out x'D). So my status said I was giving the game another try after leaving my account to rot for almost two years.

I made an account back then and tried to play but was so overwhelmed by it, I didn't find much enjoyment in it. I tried it long enough to get my adventurer rank to 7 or something, but I struggled hard with wrapping my head around the gameplay style. So I left it to the side.

Cue last week, when I brushed off my account and gave it another go.

Day one was hell: I had NO idea what was going on, I didn't remember anything, and once again I struggled with getting a hang of the playstyle. I was having no fun and decided to give up.

Day two was... okay: I figured I gave up too easily the day before and wanted to give the game another chance. It's a pretty game with nice designs and scenery, I like the soundtrack, and if so many darn people like it, then surely I'm not doing something right. I got some online assistance and slowly started to understand how the heck to play it.

Day three was actually fun: Finally, after trying for hours, I was starting to have fun. I could progress, I didn't keep getting my ass handed back to me, I dared to explore and got a better taste of the story. Beating harder mobs/bosses felt really good.

From here on in, the game has been rather enjoyable, but I have hit the "grind wall" now where I need to grind for level boosts, food materials, and other items to upgrade weapons and artifacts, and to ascend characters and weapons so they can gain higher levels. My "main-ish" team is now all in the level 33 brackets and my Adventurer rank/level is 22, so I've been doing okay, I guess xD

I'm still not that great at switching out party members to create elemental chain reactions or what-have-you for good damage; I'm not used to this kind of playstyle, especially this fast-paced, but I'm trying. I usually just go into fights with Xiangling and wreck things (most of the time). Takes a bit longer than it should but it works.

I think the game is pretty alright. I didn't have a high opinion of it before, but that was mostly because my own experience with it was pretty shit. It has a nice story, pretty graphics and a wonderful soundtrack. I like to explore and glide, I think those are my favorite parts of the game, and I do smile when I'm interacting with other characters.

Things I still don't like very much are:

The English voice acting. Some of the voices are pretty grating to listen to, while others sound very forced (aka not genuine or natural). Hopefully this is just throughout the "beginning" of the game and people ease into it better later on. I am considering downloading the Japanese voice-acting pack though.

Being forced to stick with the gender of the Traveler you picked at the very start and being unable to customize their appearance. I'm not going to make a whole new account just to switch gender for aesthetic reasons. Still sucks that this isn't something that can be changed, at all.

Adventurer level hurdles. I hate you... Just let me progress through the story, don't make me wait and grind.

Ice. The Ice element is my worst enemy and the mountain area can fek right off.

Can I have some more dudes on my team? Thanks.

I will say that the urge to make a Genshin OC is there but I feel like I don't have a good enough grasp on the game, the setting and the story yet to justify it. We'll see.

[agentplutonium]

Fic WIPs I want to post in 2024

I wanna hold myself accountable more than anything so here's some fics/concepts I want to write in 2024. I don't know if any of them will get done we'll have to see.

1. Like Real People Do

This is kind of a cheat since I already started it, but I really want to finish this fic in 2024. It has been in progress since last September. I love it it is my child however it is time for this guy to get off of my wiplist. It's already 35 k, and we're still six (+?) chapters away from the end. If any of my wips are getting finished this one is a priority.

2. Biting the Hand That Feeds

This fic I just started last? month? something like that, but where its shorter and I like the concept there is a high chance that I will finish it. It's a Milo/Sweetheart 1920's AU that Dizz introduced me too that I am putting my own spin on. I am actually in love with the concept and I wanna see if I can get that whole "can't be together but like fuck do I care" vibe down since this is the first time that I'm properly writing it ^^

3. Milo/Sweetheart Mafia AU

This one is another one that is probably (hopefully) going to be done sooner rather than later. Veau actually handed me this concept attached to Copacabana (at Copa) by Barry Manilow and I am so excited to play with it. The song in general fascinates me, I liked it before now but I listened again a few nights ago while we were talking about it and really listened to the lyrics and it has such a fascinating story it tells. I haven't picked out the themes I would be writing JUST yet (I just started developing it on the 24th) but there's probably gonna be something there.

4. My Tank fic that is based on songs from Stick Seasons (We'll All Be Here Forever) by Noah Kahn

This one is pretty self-explanatory, but the concept fascinates me. Ever since that album came out I have never been able to detach it from Tank no matter how hard I try. So, the natural response is to write a fic until I hate myself (/lh/j). It would revolve around the relationship that Tank & Milo/Sweetheart would have before, during, and after Quinncident/Darlin moving away. This one has themes of different connections on person can have, and how those connections can age as someone grows up and changes, and what its like to navigate someone returning after so long and changing so much.

5. My SpiderSneaks AU

this is just me indulging in my other hyper-fixations. In this fic, I'd be taking the plot of The Amazing Spider-Man and twisting it to fit into Milo/Sweetheart. I forget what other details I have, but it's a concept I've been sitting on for a while. I'm just obsessed with spiderman guys that's really the only reason this exists. However I would love to write out themes of the struggle between purpose and love/happiness. I feel like that's a fitting thing to imbed into a spiderman au that doubles as a milo/sweetheart fic. The two of them are easily put into that "must do good" role, and their relationship seems to balance that out a little bit, but I kinda want to play with it in regards to Sweetheart.

6. The Milo/Sweetheart intimacy fic. (the one talked about in this post. )

This kinda ties into me pushing my aspec!Sweetheart agenda, but the idea of writing a fic that shows the intimacy and love these two share without defaulting to a sexual encounter is so fascinating to me. I would put SO MUCH into that fic guys you don't understand. I need it. It's not even "oh this would be cool to write" its "I NEED to write this to satiate my soul."

I do have other wips I want to work on but they're smaller and will probably act as buffers between the bigger ones. I hope I can get most of them done, especially the unfinished fics because I hate having unfinished projects. However there are themes I would love to explore in the not started ones that might convince me to start writing it ^^

[ctlightner]

Storygraph Wrapped 2022

Went on Storygraph today and found my wrap-up for 2022

It's hard to believe I only read Iron Widow a year ago. I know it's new(ish), but it's been on my mind all year, so it feels like I first read it 5 years ago. It's one of the few YA books I've been able to get through and be excited about in a long time, and of course I've pre-ordered the sequel!

I'm less surprised that something TMNT related is my last-read book. Statistically speaking, TMNT had the best chance at being either first or last or both, given my brainworms

Not surprised Fantasy is my most-read genre. I've been trying to branch out a little more over the last few years, but old habits die hard. Banger year for comics, though, and I don't see that changing any time soon. Need to try and work a few more Horror into my diet this year.

I admit, I don't go out of my way to seek out queer books. By that, I mean that I try to read diversely, so queer books are definitely something I seek out deliberately, but I tend to see it as a bonus rather than the whole reason to go into something. Then again, I rarely read Contemporary anything, so there's a reason why I don't read issue-focused queer fiction as often. I've been reading more Non-fiction lately, so if I see a spike in queer lit, it'll probably be from a non-fiction angle.

I've been slowly acquiring a taste for romance books. Most of these pictured are probably there as a secondary genre, but I've read a few that were primarily Romance. The issues I'm having run parallel to me not enjoying a lot of Contemporary (which is a good portion of primarily Romance books), and also having been burned many times when I try to read Fantasy Romance. FanRo tends to lack in either of the genres while favoring the other, so I'm very, very wary about it. Recommendations appreciated.

More stats below the cut.

I've been tending towards shorter books lately. I used to be able to devour 800 pages epic fantasies, but my tolerance for high page counts has dropped significantly. The last super long books I think I read were Mistborn Era 1 seven years ago. Frostheart also doesn't feel like a tome to me because it's Middle-Grade, and MG books actually have lower wordcounts overall, and sometimes bigger font and illustrations that can pad things out. If "Escape" had been formatted like and adult book and had zero illustrations, it probably would have been closer to 250-300 pages at most.

Novellas are my recent loves, especially the Singing Hills Cycle. Into the Riverlands was not my favorite (that still remains The Empress of Salt and Fortunes), but it was pretty good. I think I'll try to reread the three books sometime this year.

Along with reading more books in general, I've been using my library more. The reason why it took me over a month to read Tender is the Flesh is because like 5 holds came in and I was suddenly given Deadlines.

Very interesting to see that over 50% of my 5 star reads were comics. I knew I read a lot of them this year, but it's nice to know I really liked a good portion of them, too. Unsurprised that the prose fiction I gave 5 stars were on the more literary and stylistic side of SFF.

I read Evelyn Hardcastle for a reading club. I'd heard of it before, but hadn't heard anything about it that would have made me pick it up otherwise. It's a very weird book. I like the time loop structure of the plot. It's pleasantly confusing and I honestly love how the constant body-jumping kept me on my toes. However, the gimmick did start to wear out its welcome a bit the longer it went on.

I grew very disillusioned by the ending, however. Up til about the last quarter of the book, it's designed as a time loop whodunnit. Very interesting. However, by the end it starts to turn into a weird, sudden exploration of the futility of the prison system. as someone who's been digging into prison abolition/restorative justice lately, I was at first intrigued by the idea, but the final few reveals ended up severely clashing with the story that came before hand. I think it ended up generating exponentially more questions about the world of the novel than it answered, and it didn't present these questions in a way that was looser, softer, less important to question due to the themes being explored.

For contrast, I also read Thistlefoot last month, and though I have a few complaints, they're not complaints about the worldbuilding. Thistlefoot is a fairy tale, a book of magical realism, filled with soft magic. and it doesn't pretend otherwise. Evelyn Hardcastle, starts out in a way that let me go along with it; I didn't feel the need to question why this guy was trapped in a body-jumping time loop. By the end, when the author tries to give answers for questions I didn't really have, it made the whole thing unravel now that the author was shifting into harder worldbuilding.

As for the TMNT actor autobiography... it's not very good. I could only ever recommend it to hardcore TMNT fans who would get something out of reading a self-published autobiography by an obscure actor in the 90s films. It's clear he wrote the book himself, though, so I have a deeper appreciation for the effort put into it than whatever Evelyn Hardcastle was trying to do.

I don't care about keeping track of the series I'm reading. I don't read 200 books a year (only 56 in 2022... a lot higher than non-readers but still nothing compared to some Booktubers), and I try to DNF when I know I'm not going to like something.

I am going to try rereading more books this year. I Am Not Immune To Consumerism, but I am trying to inoculate myself a bit. Going to not buy any more books from now til June, and try to reread a few of my top favorite books. I miss the days when I used to reread books over and over and get something new out of them.

I've already decided that Hogfather is going to be my Christmas read every year, and the Collector's Library edition is probably going to be the first book I get on July 1st.

I'll be honest: could probably stand to DNF even more. Some of the books I actually marked back onto my TBR rather than as a DNF. Often it's because I know I wanted to read it, owned it, and just wasn't feeling it. Other times it was because I'd barely gotten 10% into it and therefore didn't consider it even as something I was really reading.

That being said, ACOMAF has one more chance for me to try and read it at the behest of my friend or else I'm just gonna give up. Maybe if I borrow their physical copy I'll have better luck (I don't read a lot of ebooks, and if the library makes me give back a slow-going book before I'm done, I won't fight that hard.)

Speaking of physical books, I have a shitton of them. I primarily read physical books. I'm going to try and read down my physical TBR this year so that I can clear up my shelves a bit. 35/56 owned books in 2022 isn't bad though!

And that was reading for 2022. Lots of interesting insights for myself. Here's to a great 2023!

[gunsli-01]

On the same train of thought.

It's rather upsetting to see that there's still this impression that any of the prisoners' murders are indirect. I feel like it would be more accurate to say that many people wish they were indirect. There's an inherent unfairness in grouping people who intentionally killed with people who never intended to that is never explored when discussing this idea.

So, like people really think that Milgram would put a bunch of people who never intended to kill anyone in any way had no ill intent in the same prison together? Yet no one wants to talk about how the first Milgram novel covers this topic already.

Like the entire point of the novels was to display what complacency leads to. Even the people who directly murder individuals in that are doing so out of complacency in their situations. Gentle wishing to help his sister die like she wanted but being incapable of fulfilling her wish or being there in the way she needed before she attempted to take her own life.

Then the actual person he kills is legitimately a murderer. The other person to attempt to kill someone in the novel which it's never confirmed if she succeeded. Considering what certain characters in Yamanaka's works have survived high chance that he did. Like literally none of the cast in the first novel have confirmed deaths outside of the guard and even that is tentative at best.

Only did so in response to a wrong that she could no longer stop. After not going to check up on her friend who hadn't been responding to her texts. Like the murder she seemingly commits is literally done in response to her own inability to stop intervene sooner.

So, yeah- In the novel everyone shares the same crime of complacency and noninterference. They all had the opportunity to help but didn't that's a major theme in the first novel. Something everyone in the cast has in common. Yet, I'm meant to believe that in Milgram the web series things have been split into two neat little groups like that.

That someone would put a bunch of murderers in a panopticon with people who were just woefully inconsiderate of those around them and allow them to attack each other? Because definitely the people who murdered people before won't do so again now? They definitely won't act against these others who would be woefully unprepared for it because the worst they've done is be mean to someone else or make a choice regarding their own body.

That's a bad way to set up an experiment.

Like, that's wild what kind of set up is that? How does that make sense? Then there are conveniently outliers to that logic? It just comes off as some going these murderers are different, they're good trust me they didn't mean to do wrong an-

Like, it's fine for someone to personally believe that.

Yet, it's important to at least interrogate why one thinks that. Because at the end of the day it is a very othering belief to report as fact. It's bias in its purest form separating people into groups that make one look more favorable than the other. Is believing that their actions did not hold malice, that it wasn't their intent for that to happen just an easier way to convince oneself to forgive it?

It really comes off to me as someone going,

"Well, they're not like other prisoners."

Yet, the fact is they are because they're here. It really grates me that no one recognizes how belittling and dismissive of the characters this can come off as.

It's annoying.

Wild thing to say, so leaving it out of tags but-

There are a good few people who genuinely believe Mahiru's situation are these fucking songs. I don't know how to articulate how this is not a healthy response to anything (emotionally valid and cathartic yeah) and escalating the response to murder instead of property damage legit makes it worse.

It is so wild to me that I've seen a good deal of people go,

"Yeah, his cheating ass deserved to die."

With literally zero evidence he cheated in the media and literally none of the other prisoners' victims being accused or speculated of having cheated. It's just impressive that fans of the series are more willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to the prisoners. Characters we have been told have actively murdered someone in various ways. Yet, the idea of what constitutes as murder or being responsible for another person's death is made vague and turned into something that can be an inactive thing with zero ill intent or malice.

While the victims are highlighted repeatedly as possibly maybe being the issue. Like maybe they should have been nicer, more understanding, willing to listen, what did they do or not do. It's impressive that a lot of how I've personally seen victims discussed in real life is being mirrored by the audience.

Back to the idea of Mahiru's boyfriend cheating. To be completely honest I get why many people would like to believe that's the case. Honestly, it's at a point that I just gotta accept this is a personal interpretation. One that seems like those who believe it might get some cathartic payoff from viewing it that way. Something I can totally get to an extent.

Yet mixing it with how Kazui's situation was interpreted. I.E people highlighting marriage as sacred conveniently forgetting that marriage started off as a business transaction in this instance. All the while Shidou literally has his wife do all the child rearing, cooking, and even make up for his social failings,

Q.19 What was your partner like? Shidou: A strong person. I tend to be a bit careless in my personal life, so I was always relying on her.

But is praised as an honest caring man. Well...

It certainly shows a habit of favoring the traditional for a lot of people who like to consider themselves forward thinking and moving away from traditional values.

The guy with the literal nuclear family has been put on a pedestal as a trustworthy, reliable and good man. Despite the fact his actions led to the demise of that family. His selfishness killed not only the people he cared about but a bunch of people who should have never even been involved to his own admission.

Yet the people highlighted at failing at love/relationships are Kazui and Mahiru, while Shidou is viewed as a victim of circumstance. Kind of interesting when you really stop to think about it. It's about time people do what Kazui said in Cat.

Keep it simple and view these situations as victim and perpetrator. Instead, people are trying to reason how the perpetrators are victims too which is fine and can be true to an extent. However, when it comes at the expense of actual victims... Well, that's when good intentions and trying to see the best in others gets a bit dangerous.

[athanatosora]

If it's okay to ask, what's your opinion on that "AfO might be Izuku's dad" theory?

okay, so. it’s both fortunate and unfortunate that this ask wasn’t sent a year.. two years… idk time is fake - that this ask wasn’t sent a while ago. i’ve thought about this a Lot and had another blog dedicated solely to my thoughts on this along w a few other related things, but that blog doesn’t exist anymore so not only are you not gonna get an actual, serious reply, what you Will be getting are the missed-potential humor ideas that i think should’ve gone in every afo-is-izuku’s-dad fanfic. or at least one.

*talkin abt dads at circle therapy*

midoriya: look i sympathize w all of you but at least you can rest well with the knowledge ur shitty dads will die someday

*sports festival*

todoroki: are you all mights kid

midoriya, crying @ the realization that he Does want AM as his dad: fuck yeah i am

midoriya, to himself later: this is peak irony. the man i want to be my dad is my birth dad’s arch-nemesis. i could not be happier than i am knowing this

*post sports fest*

todoroki: i hate my dad he’s a bastard

midoriya: oh man dude wait til you meet my dad

todoroki: wait what

*kamino ward*

midoriya: never mind this was a mistake

*still kamino ward*

midoriya, shaking w euphoria as all might us-of-smashes afo’s face into the concrete: kick his ass, dad! make him regret that he’s still alive!

*afo and all might talking @ tartarus*

afo: you missed your chance to die, all might

midoriya out of nowhere: SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE ELSE I KNOW TO BE HONEST!!! HMM!!! MAYBE YOU KNOW THEM!!!

*internship*

nighteye: you don’t deserve one for all

midoriya: i mostly don’t agree with you and the only reason why i slightly agree with you is for a reason you don’t know, so your argument is invalid

*with eri*

midoriya: yknow what i know a lot of ppl w shitty dads. do you think i should start a club?

*fighting overhaul*

midoriya: NEVERMIND!!! YOU GUYS SHOULD START A CLUB!!! IT’LL BE CALLED “SHITTY FATHERS COALITION: HOW TO TRAUMATIZE YOUR CHILDREN 101″!!! I HOPE YOUR MEETING PLACE WILL BE ON THE SUN!!!

i thought a LOT about this before, mostly bc so many fics i read just… w the exception of a few, they all went along the idea that afo being izuku’s dad was a convenient segue for villain izuku aus instead of the focus bein the actually-pretty-interesting afo-is-izuku’s-dad idea and i just. well. i’m a particular bitch, and when u can’t find the content u want u just have to make it yourself, right

anyway, whatever horikoshi does? i’m looking forward to it. him pulling an “i am your father” thing is totally plausible considering all the other sw references, and i’m curious to see what he does w it if he does go in that direction with the series.

[geekgirles]

So Determination has already started to sink my hopes, seeing as how Chloé literally berated Ladybug for losing the miraculous and indirectly caused another akuma out of pettiness and jealousy, but I really do hope they don't go with the predictable route and have Lila easily manipulate her now that they are supposed to be allies.

The thing is, their whole villainous team-up is a great chance to explore Chloé's character beyond the rich spoiled brat aspect of her personality the show's been reinforcing for most of its run. I'm not saying they try to redeem her—that ship has regrettably obviously sailed at this point—, but it'd be good if they went back to the characterisation she was given in seasons 2 and 3 when her time being Queen Bee proved she can actually be rather resourceful and competent when she puts her mind to it.

Which are qualities she will need if we hope to see something interesting out of her little alliance with Lila.

Personally, I think it would be very compelling if Chloé never really stopped suspecting Lila after the secret formula to call Ladybug fiasco. Or at least if the writers kept that aspect of their relationship consistent and didn't sweep it under the rug now. 

As @nobodyfamousposts ‘s posts have proven, I might be setting myself up for disappointment with that one.

If you think about it, after season 3 Chloé has, objectively, no reason to like or trust Lila. Nor does she have a reason to understand why she (Lila) would want to ally herself with her, of all people.

During Miraculer Chloé was about to discover Lila is a liar and a fraud and call her out on the fake secret formula she gave her. And she would have learned the truth hadn't Lila been quick enough to point out Ladybug did come to her, which was the whole point of the stupid dance she made her perform anyways.

What does that tell us?

Just like everyone else, Chloé is under the impression that Lila is either best friends with Ladybug, or at least in close contact with her.

With that in mind, why should Chloé ally herself with her after the events of Miracle Queen? More importantly, everyone knows Chloé no longer stands Ladybug, so why would her supposed best friend want anything to do with her?

One could argue their alliance is actually against Marinette, someone whom Lila all but admitted to hate back in Penalteam (but let's be real, she was clearly referring to both Marinette and Ladybug). And while Chloé clearly has a bone to pick with Marinette, from her perspective...Lila has absolutely no reason to dislike her that much?

Because from Chameleon to Ladybug Lila has repeatedly made it so it appears obvious to everyone that the one holding a grudge is Marinette against her, while she seemingly acts like she respects and tries to be her friend just like everyone else in the class. With that in mind, Chloé should have no reason to believe Lila hates her too.

And here's where Chloé’s characterisation could benefit from!

Chloé got confirmation from Lila that she hates Marinette, meaning she's not quite the saint she makes herself out to be to their classmates. I believe it would be very interesting if Chloé were the one to realise how much of a liar she really is by pretending to be friends with her while she tries to expose her for intending to use her.

I mean, there is absolutely no way Chloé would just accept the mere idea of being used by someone. Her! Chloé Bourgeois manipulated by some nobody? Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!

Who knows, it might even be satisfying and fun to watch if it's Chloé, of all people, who ends up exposing Lila for the liar she is. Because maybe Marinette will try to listen to Adrien's advice and take the high road. But Chloé? Yes, she's definitely that petty.

I don't know, maybe some less emotionally-driven, more objective analysts like @kisilinramblings​ will be able to come up with a more likely outcome, but I just feel that, despite of everything, Chloé’s character deserves better than to be reduced to being Lila's puppet.

[lunagalemaster]

EXCELLENT.

Disclaimer: just because I'm saying the sequels should have different protags doesn't mean the previous movies should have. In fact, the previous movies help set up contrast and theming for the sequel movies that make each other better.

That being said: Shrek 3 and Toy Story 4 with Fiona and Bo Peep respectively.

I feel like I'm gonna have to justify Shrek 3 better so I'm gonna start with Toy Story 4.

Literally? You can have the exact same plot of Toy Story 4 complete with Forky and everything and it would be better with Bo Peep as the protagonist. Think about it, every story beat that Woody goes through, learning a different perspective, living for yourself rather than others, learning to enjoy even with the potential of danger, and finding what it means to live? All of it. All of it could be done with Bo Peep but better.

She's a porcelain lamp sold when she wasn't give use anymore. However, she has a high respect for Woody so she probably THINKS she can find love in another child again. Have her be sold in antique shop and meet the doll with the broken voice box. Everything is fine. Until she meets forky who despite being loved wants to just die. There Bo Peep goes on a journey to realize that living as a toy isn't for her and that loving herself is more important than waiting to be loved. This story doesn't negate the other three in the series. Rather it brings a different perspective: not everyone lives the same way and that's okay. Love comes in all forms, and a home isn't always the same for everyone. Change is scary but worth it if you find where you belong.

Shrek 3 in contrast has issues. Just. The entire plot is kinda bad? King dies, for someone reason Shrek needs to become the king, he finds Arthur and stresses about being a dad, prince charming is somehow back, and they defeat him wooo. The problem with Shrek 3 is that Shrek pretty much went through all his arcs in the first two movies and he doesn't have much to do. Also his plot is kinda weak.

Instead? Have the plot be that Fiona's dad is dying and Fiona has to decide whether or not she continues her legacy as a princess or lives in the swamp with her husband. Shrek started as a parody of the fairytale princess movie, making fun of Disney. But they really didn't go into the princess tropes rather than the surface level "haha these princesses are badasses" thing and the admittely wonderful message about multi-faceted idea of beauty. Shrek 2 sets up the Fairy Tale Kingdom and the fact that Fiona is a princess to the entirety of it. Why not use that as the plot of the third one? Why is Shrek the king?

I think it would be much more interesting for Fiona to deal with the roles of a princess. After being stuck in the tower for all her childhood, what does she want? To rule a kingdom that is her legacy? Or stay with her husband that accepted her in every way and every look? And, even moreso what does she want for her children? If we keep the idea that Fiona is pregnant this isn't just a decision for herself but for THEM. Will they be safe to live here in the kingdom? Does she even want that for them? Does Fiona even have a duty to be here or is she overthinking what her role even us?

Plus it would be an excellent chance to explore the other princesses and their relationship with their tropes and Fiona. Instead of again, basic group of one-note fairy tale princesses, they can have like actual opinions while ALSO being funny side characters. PLUS PLUS you don't even have to get rid of Shrek's role as being an anxious dad who doesn't even know if he wants kids. Shrek 3 is about the future, the one the two of them build together with their friends and family. I can def see a sweet scene where Shrek asks Fiona, "Okay, put aside everything. The castle, the swamp, even me, what do you want, Fiona?" And she explains, she wants to feel safe, she wants the two of them to be happy, she wants these kids to be happy and safe. She never wants them to have the childhood they had, forgotten and feeling unloved.

Fiona knows they can do this. Together. Because she trusts Shrek. She trusts herself. She just doesn't know if she trusts the world.

Shrek wanted them to go to the castle at first to Fiona's surprise. He explains that, he's afraid they'll be little monsters out there that he will be a monster. If they grow up here, they could be, idk, more civil. Fiona just scoffs. "You know by now no one is civil here. I'm afraid they won't accept them."

"You mean," Shrek says, "they won't accept you."

And listen this is a Shrek movie and it will be mostly silly and funny but they also have a lot of heart to them. Tbh? I don't know how this would end. A strong antagonist would be needed to contrast Fiona. Perhaps an evil step mother or one of the princesses wanting to take the throne (or both; an evil step mother working with one of the princesses). You can have the concept from the original Shrek 3 where prince charming wants revenge except, a princess and an evil step mother want revenge after they lost their business partner, the fairy God mother. Prince Charming is potentially set up as a fake out villain in this.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on how to make these movies more interesting thank you and goodnight

Anyone want my opinion on animated sequel movies that would be way better with the woman love interest as the main protag instead of the previously established main man?

[hamliet]

Unless a Grain of Wheat Falls and It Dies...

Or, why I am pretty optimistic about the fates of Jean, Connie, Gabi, and all titanized people this chapter, which is also an excuse for me to talk about SnK’s allusions to Russian literature. 

There are strikingly parallel ideas The Brothers Karamazov and Attack on Titan, as well as parallel plot points and imagery to the point where if it isn’t deliberate, it’s uncanny. (NB: before people yell at me about comparing a Japanese and Russian work, Isayama has used Russian names since the start of SnK--Shiganshina is a Russian name.) In particular, there are narrative allusions to a portion of the novel known as “The Grand Inquisitor,” which is a short story within a novel. The central thesis of “The Grand Inquisitor” is as follows: 

nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than freedom. 

This parable is told within the story by Ivan Karamazov, a character whose intellectuality is his gift and his curse. He tells his brother Alyosha that the motivation for creating this parable is precisely the evils done to children (oh look, a major SnK theme) and specifically cites an example which was unfortunately taken from real life in Russia and which Isayama has an uncanny parallel:

I want to see with my own eyes the hind lie down with the lion and the victim rise up and embrace his murderer. I want to be there when every one suddenly understands what it has all been for. All the religions of the world are built on this longing, and I am a believer. But then there are the children, and what am I to do about them? That's a question I can't answer... If all must suffer to pay for the eternal harmony, what have children to do with it, tell me, please? ... if it is really true that they must share responsibility for all their fathers' crimes, such a truth is not of this world and is beyond my comprehension. Some jester will say, perhaps, that the child would have grown up and have sinned, but you see he didn't grow up, he was torn to pieces by the dogs, at eight years old...

... How are you going to atone for them? Is it possible? ... What do I care for a hell for oppressors? What good can hell do, since those children have already been tortured? ... I want to forgive. I want to embrace. I don't want more suffering. And if the sufferings of children go to swell the sum of sufferings which was necessary to pay for truth, then I protest that the truth is not worth such a price. ... too high a price is asked for harmony; it's beyond our means to pay so much to enter on it... It's not God that I don't accept, Alyosha, only I most respectfully return Him the ticket.”

The actual parable of “The Grand Inquisitor” is Ivan’s answer to Alyosha’s question about Ivan’s lines above. Ivan tells a story about how freedom is actually what dooms humanity: it is the curse. (Alyosha does not believe this.) Jesus comes back to earth and is promptly arrested, because his existence and return threaten the wellbeing of society. To be happy, one cannot be free, but one or two strong people in society should be free and bear the burden for everyone else (you can see the parallels to King Fritz/the Reisses). 

Nothing is more seductive for man than his freedom of conscience, but nothing is a greater cause of suffering... all his life he loved humanity, and suddenly his eyes were opened, and he saw that it is no great moral blessedness to attain perfection and freedom, if at the same time one gains the conviction that millions of God's creatures have been created as a mockery, that they will never be capable of using their freedom...

This is SnK’s thesis: to be free, there will be suffering. It is part of human nature, and yet to not have it is to be lost. But SnK, despite its explorations of human darkness and monstrosity, has a higher view of humanity than does Ivan. SnK’s view is more alongside Alyosha’s, who says what is honestly the truth about not just the Reisses, but Eren now:

"Who are these keepers of the mystery who have taken some curse upon themselves for the happiness of mankind? .... It's simple lust of power, of filthy earthly gain, of domination—something like a universal serfdom with them as masters—that's all they stand for.”

Mikasa is akin to the Christ figure in the story, akin to Alyosha: Christ is constantly asked to speak, asked to act, and he does not until the very last moment, when he kisses the Grand Inquisitor on the lips. After the story is over, Alyosha then does likewise to Ivan. 

Not to mention when Alyosha worries about Ivan’s mental state, he then answers with this:

“Listen, Alyosha,” Ivan began in a resolute voice, “if I am really able to care for the sticky little leaves I shall only love them, remembering you. It's enough for me that you are somewhere here, and I shan't lose my desire for life yet.”

A simple leaf can save a life. A leaf can save the world. A leaf, grown from a tree that started as a seed falling to the ground, dead, only to grow life from that death. Alyosha himself notes SnK’s central thesis of chapter 137 in the (very long) novel’s final pages:

...some good, sacred memory, preserved from childhood, is perhaps the best education. If a man carries many such memories with him into life, he is safe to the end of his days, and if one has only one good memory left in one's heart, even that may sometime be the means of saving us.

There’s a lot more to this, but this is the epigraph to The Brothers Karamazov, the central thesis of the entire novel:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." -John 12:24

Suffering can grow great fruit in an individual life, and by giving something up, by even death, something beautiful can come. Through cruelty, you can find life. 

This is not just a long-running theme in SnK, but a pattern in its plot. Often those who surrender then receive exactly what they had surrendered (but admittedly, not always, like Erwin). 

Mikasa accepted Eren’s loss, and got him back.

Mikasa let Armin go, and got him back.

Falco gave up hope of survival, and got another chance: 

Hange was going to die alone, feeling guilty for having failed her comrades, but saw everyone again, and they told her well done: 

Historia gave up being free, but now we know she will be.

Levi gave up on his revenge, and then got it. Annie thought she would never see her dad again, but she did. For Mikasa, accepting that she has to kill the boy she loves coincides not just with her acceptance of her love, but with the acceptance and knowledge that he loves her:

It always comes with sacrifice, increasingly hard sacrifice, but usually the seeds that are dropped grow and bloom. 

This chapter, everyone surrendered their hearts. They let their dreams fall to the ground, and I honestly think the story will allow it to plant life. Yes, the world as a whole is saved and that is enough to make thematic sense, but it works even better if the very people who were titanized this chapter also bloom again. They chose to trust Mikasa, Levi, Falco, and Pieck to finish the task.

The characters giving up their lives only to get them back make sense, and give Mikasa’s sacrifice of Eren. For Mikasa, Eren was her world, and she gave it up when she had lost everyone else. She had nothing left, and she still did it. I would hope she’d be narratively rewarded beyond just the world being saved, because Mikasa has always been motivated by her personal relationships.

Moving on from Mikasa: Connie’s mom has been kept alive and the concept of turning mindless titans back to humans was already brought up specifically in relation to her:

Connie giving up on his mother a dozenish chapters ago only to get her back now--not through sacrificing a child, but through saving the entire world--would fit the themes and patterns of SnK.

Thirdly, Gabi should not die. She’s Eren with positive development, and cannot meet the same end. Even people who are skeptical of every titan being saved seem to agree that she’ll be fine. It’s possible she’s the only one saved, but imo, not likely. 

See, the only shifter characters who are going to have the option of self-sacrifice are Falco and maaaaaybe Armin. The others look like they’re about to die right here and now, never mind choosing someone to save: the mindless titans are ripping at their napes. Armin also looks to be in bad shape. 

Yet Armin cannot narratively commit suicide; two chapters ago he was still screaming at himself for being useless and thinking he would be better off dead. He’s already tried the heroic sacrifice, too, so why would it work this time around? It does not work for his arc. Falco dying for Gabi was the plan without any freedom from the titan curse; it’s more powerful if ending the curse changes things, rather than forcing him to make the same choice that Reiner has always been trying to make: a heroic suicide. It could happen; it’s just not as narratively strong.

As for whether the worldbuilding rules, we know that mindless titans are not truly dead nor entirely mindless; they just don’t have freedom. Ymir’s case of getting herself back after decades shows that they aren’t quite dead or absorbed. They still have consciousness that can be awoken; Ymir described it as being in a long “nightmare.” Dina still went looking for Grisha. Connie’s mom remembered and recognized Connie, telling him “welcome home.” There is plenty of evidence that there are parts of these people that are still in there even if they are forced to become monsters (oh hey, it’s an Eren parallel; he was conscious of it and had choices while mindless titans do not, but the parallel remains).