#some of the changes were completely unhinged imo

[dark-immortal-kiss]

I can’t believe it’s 2022 and I’m back on my loustat shit. They were my first ship at like 11 years old. I guess some things are just never outgrown.

[sidsinning]

UNNECESSARY AND UNHINGED RANT ABOUT CINDERELLA'S CHARACTER FROM CINDERELLA (2015) INCOMING

Lemme talk about Cinderella from Cinderella (2015) for a bit actually yeah because these changes to my girl completely baffle me

She has friends now

Goes outside on her own

Says the only reason why she's staying is because it's her parent's house- bruh.

All of this takes away (+ more reasons down the cut) from the true cruelty of OG!Cinderella's backstory and how it all connects so well to inform you of her character and the actions she takes

OG!Cinderella has been indoctrinated into accepting her life as a maid to her step family since she was a small child. She is never seen going outside of the house besides the night at the ball. The only friends she had were random animals around her she couldn't even fully converse with. She had no other human perspective on her situation or how to get out of it. It makes sense why she's just taking her stepmother's tyranny while holding everything in because this isolation and neglect is all she knows. This is the entire limited scope of her world. A sad reality to many cases of abuse in real life.

And they just. Erased all of this for some. Reason???

The night at the ball was a big deal because she literally NEVER gets to go out. This is the only time she interacts with the outside world aside from the ending. The impact of that was HUGE in the original movie. The new one just cheapened that imo by implying she goes out in town and talks to others regularly. This event was an impossible, fantastical dream come true to someone who is never treated as anything but a servant to everyone she knows.

Basically OG!Cinderella has it way worse which is what makes the ball such a huge deal in the first place.

Third point I don't think I need to explain how Cinderella staying in her abusive home bc the house is "hers to love now that her parents are dead" is not a good character change and doesn't make sense. I would understand if her dad was alive and insisting on staying, but he is GONE. It is a building you grew up in sure, but that's all it is. Not something you sacrifice your wellbeing for. So that's a shit reason they didn't need to make up to say why this character is stuck in her abusive household. The isolation and years of gaslighting were enough. (Also showing how much of a frightening presence and manipulative villain Lady Tremaine is.)

And she sure left it quick after getting hitched lol

The Fairy Godmother having the audacity to test Cinderella with that "oh I'm a poor old woman and I want some milk please" nonsense

Not very godmotherly of her in this version. 🥴 The Fairy Godmother appeared in the original to offer pure comfort to Cinderella in a time of desperate need, when this resilient and kind spirit finally reached her breaking point. The dress, slippers, pumpkin carriage, and magic were all given freely as a present to make her feel better at least for one night.

Meanwhile this goofy ass Godmother has the audacity to be like "hey is she gonna be nice or not even though she's crying in tattered, recently destroyed clothing- I need to see that or else she doesn't get the magic juice". Like why did this become a way to test her morality all of a sudden? Why did you need something from her to give up the magic goods?? It's not even a good test she just walked a couple steps and poured some milk in a bowl,,,

Idk man they made their relationship transactional for no reason which taints the original purpose of this scene imo. The original Fairy Godmother already KNEW Cinderella was kind without having to make sure by disguising herself as a rancid old lady. 😭 Weird and unnecessary addition.

Kinda nitpicky here but this film did not at all match the terror of the torn dress scene which really shows you how horrifying and humiliating it was to Cinderella

Comparison

AND THE BIGGEST OFFENDER: THE WAY SHE "ESCAPED".

I NEED TO TAKE A BREATH

BECAUSE LIKE. WHAT WAS THAT.

Original Cinderella, seeing a real chance of escape from her abuse, uses everything in her possession to do so. She's yelling for the mice to get the key, to get Bruno to chase away the cat, running down to meet the prince's attendants to make sure they get the proof of her identity from her- and that moment she oh-so-casually pulled out the second slipper??? SEEING HER STEPMOTHER'S SLACKED JAW??? GAGGED US ALL.

ICONIC

But 2015. Bitch. What is going on. She gets locked up and easily accepts her doom. She just twirls and sings in her prison like a dunce because cINDerELLa wAs aLReADy cONTenT wIth her sMaLL mOMEnts oF hAPPIneSs anD dREamS wItH thE pRinCE.

Just. Gives up.

Not the mice begging her to get up and save herself come on now

The mice have to do their best on their own to push open her window so the prince and his crew hear her on time.

And yeah, all she had to do was open a window.

WHAT. WHY. HOW. WAS THIS??? MORE EMPOWERING???

1950: use your brain to fight to the very end

2015: quit while you're still ahead, or don't try you just gotta dance and sing all pretty then someone will come along and save you

I'm sorry, but for a production that was so critical of the notion of "Cinderella just waited around for a prince to save her"...is that not literally what they changed the ending to?

You wanna talk about lack of agency in princess stories well here you go 😭

You know what's sad about all this in the end is this is still the best recent live action Disney remake imo LOL

Anyways hello if you've made it all the way down here I rest my case

[pharawee]

I just finished watching Love Syndrome: The Beginning and... I actually really liked what they did with the source material. It's interesting that this and the series are by the same production company and director but other than the choice of skinny jeans (someone must have been a big fan lmao) and Tuss reprising his role as Neil, the movie has a very different vibe imo.

It's also unfinished, meaning it ends on a cliffhanger with a big 'to be continued' - which probably isn't intentional seeing as they were originally aiming for a cinematic release (not to mention the sudden passing of the producer/director). I can't blame them either because I think they made the deliberate decision to mostly leave this as is to honour the director's final work:

As it is, I think the movie is a very solid piece of entertainment with some really nice acting, especially by Bix Tagon as Itt.

I've read most of the novels in the Love Syndrome universe and they're actually very same-y with the same non-con kink repeated throughout pretty much every couple's story (and there's A LOT of couples). This is why Day and Itt were never my faves (especially since the tropes really be troping with these two) and tbh I wasn't really into Long and Frank's version of them either (which isn't their fault at all - I just don't think Frank was a good fit for Itt), but Nef and Bix really make them work for me this time.

For one, there's zero romanticisation. Day is positively unhinged and there's zero doubt that Itt is the victim here. The scenes between them are incredibly brutal to watch but at the same time there's this almost stageplay-like feeling to them - as if every little piece of dialogue and acting has its place and nothing is drawn out or glossed over. I really appreciated that (as difficult as their scenes were to watch). I don't think that's easy to accomplish. I saw in some of the bts that they worked closely with either an acting coach or an intimacy coordinator (or both) throughout the filming of Day and Itt's scenes and imo it really shows. As bad as it sounds because Day is such a horrible person and Itt is straightup going through hell, theirs really were the most interesting scenes in the movie for me.

According to MDL Nef and Bix are rookie actors too so kudos to them for doing an incredible job. I hope we get to see more of them especially since Day and Itt's story is far from finished and I'd really like to see if they can pull off the transition from toxic hate to toxic love (imo it didn't work at all in the series, mostly because it started with book 3).

As for Gear and Night, they chose to almost completely sanitise their story (except for the initial bet itself) which imo was a good choice because in the novel reading about the same trope over and over again got tired real fast. Night takes Gear back relatively quickly and then they just pick up where they left off (but with Night more or less in control now).

Plus, Tiger Tanawat (who btw is a Change 2561 artist) as Night is such a mood:

I already loved Rossi as Night but dang (also, I need that shirt). 🫠

There's also some cute Four and Gus moments that unfortunately (or fortunately - seeing as how the writer of the novel also seems to have an age gap kink that's better left unmentioned 😬) gloss over most of their story. Knot, Fu and Neil kind of appear but that's about it.

I wonder - providing we ever get to see the second part of this movie - if they'll scrap the horrible Neil as the villain side plot or not because I could totally do without that. 😬😬

That being said, if you thought The Effect was difficult to stomach then you probably shouldn't watch this. Love Syndrome never hides the fact what it is about but it unfortunately doesn't offer any content warnings. Its SA scenes are explicit and realistic so if that's upsetting to you please please don't watch this. 🙏

[caralara]

hi cara! i wanted to ask you something you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to :)

i used to go to your blog a lot to read your thoughts about louis and bg and i loved your opinions. i noticed that you’re not as active here as you used to be so i was just wondering if anything changed in your beliefs? do you still see things the same way as before?

thank you, hope you’re doing well <3

Hi anon!

Thank you for your message! I think there’s a few factors that come together as to why I don’t post as much anymore.

At some point the death threats, the doxxing and the hate messages got too much for me to feel like I can deal with that everytime.

I feel like the fandom dynamic has changed. The bluegreeners got completely unhinged imo and the theories are just - ridiculous?

Louis has expressed imo that he wants us to believe the narrative, and I’ve decided that it’s probably best to let him have the narrative take over the fandom, bc I do still believe that that was part of the plan.

I will never be able to be convinced that Freddie is his biological son and that the public narrative is what actually happened. I went over it again and again and again, and it just doesn’t make an ounce of sense to me, while bbg being a stunt does make sense to me everytime.

That being said. I do also feel like he ran out of energy. He’s made his peace with the situation. Too many things upset the timeline (like him breaking his arm and delaying was crucial o think). And I also believe that he’s gotten to a point where he’s gotten the taste of this success has become too important and also real to him that he doesn’t want to risk it anymore. I feel like before it didn’t feel real to him, or he felt like it was a last hurrah, nothing sustainable, that he got to experience, so it’s easier to risk it all if you don’t believe it’ll last anyways. But it is lasting. And he is believing in himself and his career more. So I do think he’s gotten scared again to risk it and won’t end it therefore, and I also frankly believe he’s not with harry anymore, and all the pain of the closeting and all that has kind of lost its sting with the touch of time.

I also gotten a very demanding job last year, and along with touring for different artists I simply have way less time to be as invested.

Basically, I don’t think louis is planning to end it at this very moment in time. I don’t think he’s his son. I didn’t unlarrie, I do believe they were together, multiple times and in different capacities. I do believe they’ve been broken up for about 1.5 years now. I don’t feel it worth it to go into it a lot at the moment, as the reactions are often too nasty, and I’ve come to the conclusion either way it’s better to let louis have the fandom talk be the way he wants it, in order for it to end or in order for him to have peace with it.

Let me know your thoughts!

[golbrocklovely]

What's you opinion on the colby and mlp drama? I see some fans are mad at him for "breaking her heart", cause the poor girl was waiting around for 8 years in the hopes of him finally making her his girlfriend and he has the audacity to date another girl. For all we know they're never been in a committed relationship.Her fans should be encouraging her to finally getting over him and move on.

i've gotten an ask about this before, a week or so back. i was against commenting on it just bc i don't want to give mlp the time of day. but as things have slowly played out, via her and her fans… i don't really feel the need to stay silent on it.

there's a lot i'm probably gonna say, so this will most likely be a very long post lol

and to those of you that hate-read the shit i post - especially since you like mlp so much - i ask you kindly to read completely thru. i know that's a lot, but please consider doing it, especially before you send in an ask calling me a "dick rider" for colby just bc i don't immediately say he's a slut and a douchebag for breaking her heart :)

i'm gonna give the briefest of rundowns for those that don't know.

first off, if you want to know how i feel about mlp, here is an ask i answered a while ago detailing most (if not all) of the shit she has done over the years.

secondly tbh, i never understood her relationship with colby. sure, they were always weirdly flirty, seemingly in a will-they-won't-they type of thing. but her livestreams have painted an ENTIRELY different picture. one that paints her as a bit…. unhinged, imo. he doesn't look great either, but i'll get into it.

now, what has been happening recently: i pop in occasionally to her streams but for the most part i steer clear bc she annoys me too much. i have friends that tell me everything, plus you guys. but i have witnessed some stuff with my own two eyes. when she first started streaming, she was NONSTOP talking about colby. answered any and all questions about him, how they were super close, talked about adventure buddies, said all the good poems in her book are about him, even saying she was gonna have him on at some point soon. and she was gonna have him in videos soon as well.

as you have pointed out, anon, her fans are mad that he "broke her heart" but how that became "reality", so to speak, stems from this: her sister asked her what she was doing for nye, and mlp said she had no plans bc "no one asked her yet" to do anything. fast forward to after colby's bday, aka around the time the pics of him and m leaked, and suddenly mlp is not streaming.

the stream she did a couple days after colby's bday is a new level of crazy i haven't seen from her bc she just aired it ALL out. and even if she didn't do that, her fans with their big ass mouths on twitter, insta, and tiktok, have been doing it for her.

she explained to her chat that she just went thru a breakup, basically. that it was an eight/nine year long situationship that was on and off again…. interestingly, her and colby have been friends since 2015. which would be…. eight/nine years.

very clearly, she is talking about colby, without saying his name.

now, there was someone in chat that said something about situationships, someone else asked what a situationship is, and the person replied with "a sexual relationship but with no commitment" or something vaguely like that. mlp immediately said "oh that's not what i had."

………so, you're telling me that whatever went on between the two of them….. wasn't sexual…. at all??? maybe i don't understand what a situationship is then, bc i was under the impression that the SEX PART was kinda the whole point. otherwise…. you just kinda have a friendship. an emotional situationship is just not a thing lol

even tho she kept telling her chat "i can't talk about this", she just kept going. she said that la changes ppl, that she thought they were on the same page for years and then all of sudden things took a turn. she thought she knew him well bc she was so close to him for so long. she can't talk about it publicly bc it's "too obvious" and she has to stay offline bc it's all on social media (which really just… seals the deal that it's about colby lol). she said she cried in his face and he said nothing. she also, verbatim, said "it's like one week you're their everything and then the next they want to go party and be with crazy girls and i'm not crazy" which…. cmon girl. you might as well have said m's name atp.

now, with all of this out of the way… how do i personally feel about this, since my opinion is so valid lol jk

for years, mlp has made it her mission to plant the seeds thru out the fandom that her and colby were secretly dating behind the scenes. that they had something going on but "oh guys, i can't talk about it ;)", playing coy and never outright shutting down the rumors. i have literal ss from her fan accounts saying "you guys don't know the truth. of course colby would never tell the full story" and shit like that. these are fans that fully were in GROUP CHATS with her for years, listening to her every word. so it's very clear to me she was telling them directly what was going on.

or at least the good parts - that her and colby were a thing.

but colby CONSISTENTLY has said time and time again that he is single, that he is not looking for a gf, that he hasn't had one since 2016, that he hasn't met someone he wants to spend the rest of his life with. he has said all of that to us for YEARS. now, unless bts he was saying to mlp "oh baby, you know i'm just lying to the fans" that is the ONLY WAY he would be completely in the wrong here. regardless, colby has been seen publicly with girls so. many. times. mlp has been called out for liking edits making fun of said girls! she's also been rumored to be his guard dog, to loom over him, that he needs to "keep his bitch on a lease" - and the ppl who said this were the girls that were fucking with him. so she isn't in the dark that he is with other ppl.

and again, a situationship is NONCOMMITTAL. that means they aren't dedicated to each other. she herself has been with other guys, she admitted that. so why is it colby is the asshole here?

her fans are claiming that he flaked on her, that he chose m over her….. babes, that's not how this works. first off, again - noncommittal. these are the terms and conditions they BOTH agreed to. they have been playing this cat and mouse game since like 2016. nothing about their relationship has changed since then, let's be honest here. secondly, she literally said out loud "no one has asked me" aka COLBY DIDN'T MAKE PLANS WITH HER. so, he can't flake on someone he didn't make plans with. and this is no shade to mlp - but she doesn't drink, she doesn't party. colby for years has always been a partier. what exactly was he supposed to do with her on nye???? i'm not saying that to be mean. i say this as someone who is a wallflower, a stick in the mud, a prude, a straight-edge, ect ect. i haven't partied since i was in my early 20s. i get the lifestyle she has. i'm just saying realistically, of course he's not gonna want to hang out with her on one of the biggest nights to party.

now, all of this is not to say that she is the only one that did wrong in this situationship. colby should have said something long before now. but he liked that she emotionally supported him, he liked he could rely on her for his emotional needs to be fulfilled. he should have realized how deeply into him she was. he should have cut the chord long before things got to what they are today. but to bring it back to mlp, since this is about her mostly - she is 30. THIRTY. she has been playing this game since her early 20s. she knew what she signed up for. they haven't even had sex. with all that deep emotional bond shit they had going on - they never got intimate in that way. and clearly, she never had a problem with it. until now.

i think for the entirety of their relationship, mlp knew at the drop of a hat colby would come running to her - and vice versa. i think this is the ONE TIME he chose someone else over her. that, tied with the fact that she was making all these promises of him being in her content - videos, her documentary, streams - she NEEDED colby to say yes to all of this. and maybe he said yes, but then changed his mind. maybe he said he was too busy, and when she found out what he was busy with (hanging out with m on nye), it finally clicked that he was not into her like she was into him. even tho as a fan that has been obvious for years now.

and while i don't like mlp, i don't wish her harm. i don't wish her to be heart broken or sad. i know exactly what she is going thru. all of my dating experience has been unrequited love. i get it. trust me. however, you can't play innocent and naive. you knew what colby was doing all this time. and sure, he's a dick for not stopping this sooner. but you clearly knew what was up - YOU COULD HAVE LEFT. you had years, eight years in fact, to leave at any point. but you accepted what you could get, and you milked it for all it was worth. not to mention, but how did you expect him to want to be with you when you are in gcs with his minor fans talking about him constantly??? that man likes to keep things private, and you were basically shouting it from the rooftops.

not only that, but you played the fun game of shitting on any girl he was friends with or hooking up with. and only apologized when you got called out for it. and then tried to play the whole "i'm all for women supporting women" bs. let's be real honest, cards on the table - you only support women when you deem them as nonthreatening. the moment a woman is competition to you, especially in regards to getting attention from colby, you shit on them. bc you're scared. you're scared he will choose them over you.

also this doesn't even take into the fact that why would you want him to date you at this point when he has made it clear he doesn't like you like that? you want him to lie and pretend to be into you?

all of this being said, while i do have some sympathy for her, i also really don't. and the reason for it is bc she LIES. she egregiously lies, and has done it multiple times in her live streams (and obviously for years now).

here's two main ones, off the top of my head: one, she said she doesn't who corey scherer is…… besides the fact that apparently she has been in colby's life since basically corey was there, i find it hard to believe she doesn't know who he is. one reason is bc she used to go over to the old trap house. she 100% met him. and you know why i know this? reason number two, SHE IS IN THE BACKGROUND OF ONE OF COREY'S VIDEOS. she is there, sitting next colby. watching corey do something goofy for his vlog. why she would lie about this, idk.

two, and this is a bit of a weird one, she said she doesn't like zoos. she said bc she's vegan, zoos make her upset and cry and that she wants animals to be free or whatever. okay, hey, that's valid. and you might be like "how is this a lie?" well, back in september, when snc were in hot topic. she went with colby to said store. you know what they did after that (maybe even before)? THEY WENT TO A ZOO. i got the video clips of her giggling with colby over a capybara. the last time she seemingly hung out with him publicly was THEM GOING TO A ZOO. when she answered this question on stream, i was confused. bc she literally was just at a zoo with colby. so why lie??

she doesn't even benefit from lying about this shit. so what is the point?

and the reason why a lot of this deeply pisses me off is bc of how two faced these fans of hers (and colby's) are. in chat, she will have ppl kissing her ass, saying colby is a shitty guy. he's emo trash, he's a douche, they want beat the shit out of him from breaking her heart. he's a slut, and they even trash m. all that. but then, weirdly, on twitter and on xplrclub these same exact fans are begging, PLEADING, for colby to give them a crumb of attention. making edits of him, buying the merch, tagging him relentlessly. so… which is it? is he a dickhead, or is he this swell guy you want to have say your name in chat? pick a fucking lane.

okay. i'm done now :) lol

[crehador]

brother crab's summer 2024 first impressions: isekai suicide squad

i am almost impressed by how this is exactly what it says on the tin. standard bog isekai with suicide squad characters. not completely unfun but also not compelling to me in the slightest

since it's only 10 episodes i'll probably stick with it just to see if anything changes. i'm pretty much just here for the cast so any thoughts i have will focus on that

umechan's joker... idk i feel like with the right direction he could do a great joker, but ngl this was just alright to me. i don't think he gave a bad performance or anything, but he was a very typical sort of unhinged to me. where i feel like the role really could have benefited from a bit more fucked-uppedness

imo we needed mamo for this. love umechan but no one does a freak like mamo

AS FOR 486哥 WHO I'M ACTUALLY HERE FOR. HE DIDN'T. FUCKING. HAVE LINES. think he said "i'm hungry" at some point in three episodes and that's it. i was an episode and a half in and realized he'd done nothing except snore twice. god. fml. not a dc guy so was not familiar with this character when i picked the show up. mistakes were made

but yeah i mean i'm already 3 episodes in and it's only 10 so i guess i'll see it through

[mirandahamilton]

what were your thoughts on seven kings must die?

LOADED ass question lol

controversial mayhaps but i liked it well enough! in the sense that i was entertained, and i did get some satisfaction from my viewing experience.

positives:

i really loved the updated intro/credits!

finan's narration was a cool change

the acting! it was all hitting for me :) i think harry especially did a great job, imo he had the most character work to do and i really felt his conflict (maybe this is gay bias but idc). the new actress for eadgifu did a really good job as well, her character was consistent and i enjoyed her interactions with uhtred

the action sequences were very well done and i loved the battle

sets, costumes, hair/makeup...all looked great!!

the ending! loved the callback, and although i wish we'd seen more charcaters in valhalla ik most of the actors weren't available so it's cool. really enjoyed the ambiguity. althoooooough unlike most ppl i don't think uhtred went to valhalla at the end (would love to chat/debate on this one)

uhtred getting stabbed at the final battle....lowkey i was emotional esp when sihtric and finan found him and he was serving cunt dead

aethelflaed shoutout :( miss my wife and i think they did the female characters so dirty but i would have turned it off if they went to aegelesburg without even namedropping the queen

i really enjoyed osbert & edmund being besties (BUT their stories should have been more developed)

i go into my critique below lol but i won't apologize for unironically vibing with the catholic guilt evil homosexual drama. in many ways it hit for me and i shan't be issuing an apology

i loooooooved the new locations, especially the shetland islands

problematizing the christians 🙏

negatives:

WHERE the abject fuck were any of the women characters???????? STIORRA? hild? aelfwynn? aelswith?? eadith???????? like??? not even a shoutout????? make it make sense. this was the most offensive thing for me and i won't be getting over it anytime soon thanks

i wish we'd heard something about cynlaef and aelfwynn!!! wasn't he like besties with aethelstan?? would have been so easy to make it work smh

pacing :/ it was impossible to tell how the story was meant to be moving through a concrete sense of time. a quick look at the wikipedia for king aethelstan shows that there were years between his coronation and the battle of brunanburh, yet the movie makes it seem like from beginning to end the story takes less than a year? and it's also unclear how much time has supposedly past since the end of s5. it started off pretty slow, but regardless i was admittedly engrossed by the halfway mark

sloppy evil gay drama :/// like in some ways. listen. i am not complaining lol. but i think it would have worked much better with more breathing room. ingilmundr was just so clearly intro'd as a villain, and i would have preferred seeing some more subtlety and cunning over a period of time, plus some actual internal conflict for him. by his last line ("i grew fond of you, but my love for my people prevailed") it seems as though he did have some genuine affection for aethelstan, and even though he completed his mission in the end i wish there'd been more depth there.

also, fwiw and as other people have said, unhinged to go 5 seasons with no queer characters only to haphazardly throw a couple in the follow up film...and have them be villains!!! gay people CAN be villainous lmao but idk how intentional they were being about any of this

overall just felt rushed. there were a lot of parts that would have benefited from some breathing room and dramatic build up. plus we didn't get to connect with a lot of the characters, and the writers were relying on viewers to care based on the tv series -- mostly fine for our mains like uhtred & co, but a real disservice to the newer characters. even finan and sihtric didn't do much besides follow uhtred around, which is par for the course but i wish they'd had individual arcs. ingrith's death didn't hit that hard bc she barely had lines. aelfweard's too, and he needed to be built up as more of a threat (even tho his death is mainly supposed to serve as a character moment for aethelstan).

hollow villains! i wrote abt ingilmundr above, but anlaf and astrid were so 1 dimensional. and the writers could have tried a little harder lbr. and let astrid SPEAK

ALDHELM. ok. his death was such a waste. james did an incredible job, but it felt so meaningless. oooh ah uhtred was upset. but he was upset already? and it didn't make him turn his back on aethelstan????? so tell me quickly what did we accomplish

aethelstan's redemption....i feel like he went from being a villain to back to besties with the squad in 2 seconds and i think it should have been fleshed out more. like i'm fine with them reuniting and i was rooting for it but i think we could have gotten more of aethelstan realizing his mistakes and showing remorse, and demonstrating that he has changed -- uhtred will probably always have his back, but besides Realizing Things he didn't really do anything to show that he has grown and prove that he's different and better than edward -- this was an issue throughout the movie, but it stands out the most with him since his actions drive most of the plot

no offense but where tf did uhtred get his little army from

[svampira]

For Brooklyn and Elias, n.35, what inspired you to create them?

(Asking bc their designs are literally so cool. I would love some insight on that cause I am OBSESSED)

ask game (🥺)

Hiii ty for the question

This is interesting because out of all my ocs they're the ones where I'm less sure about where my inspo came from🤔 especially when it comes to Elias he very much developed as my art improved 👇 here's his earliest design (tw old art...)

By drawing him over and over and using blueish tints over my art all the time he got pinker and pinker and he ended up getting a design that's a little more sleek and cohesive. My main inspos for him were the vtmb toreador fledgling (because he used to be my toreador pc until i decided i liked him being a fledgling too much and changed it so he's the childe of the og toreador fledgling) and with time i ended up getting more and more inspired by other media, for example mahito from jjk, someone's nsfw oc that will go unnamed lmfao, and i started referencing irl people when drawing him to get a feel for proportions and to make his design more consistent. My main inspo is fernando lindez (though they rarely end up looking very alike) and what I try to replicate in Elias are his eye shape and his general facial proportions, i like how all of his features are close together in a way that feels kind of feminine and pretty.

When it comes to Brooklyn instead my inspos are more clear though her design kind of came naturally with me just messing around while practising how to paint darker skin tones. She is also a vtmb fledgling redesign (this time the malkavian one) and one of their clan stereotypes is that they usually get heterochromia. I didn't like the idea of just giving her different eye colors (though that's what ended up happening LMAO) and i looked into like. Pretty pictures of eye trauma😭 examples down here nothing graphic imo

This is not exactly what i had in mind at the time but it's similar so. Just kind of randomly evolved into her whole eye being white as i messed up painting. When it comes to her general design I wanted an excuse to draw lots of fun hairstyles without going against vtm canon (vampires are stuck w the same appearance forever) and whenever I design characters i like to steer kind of minimalistic, so i often end up with making the eyes and hair the same colours because I dont want them to get too busy or overwhelming. I can't even point out specific inspos for her because it's just a very common trope (tempest, yue from atla, 5000 different ocs) but when it comes to irl influences i was inspired by Anok Yai because I'd seen her in an interview and fell in love with her + a lot of other dark skin black super models. That's the main thing with brooklyn she has to give supermodel and very put together which kind of contrasts with her personality being. Completely unhinged. Anyways I don't really reference her much anymore because Brooke's features just kind of fit very nicely with my same face syndrome but here's Anok Yai for fun ^^

[vergess]

The Letters from Watson situation and you bringing up that being exposed to bigotry over time normalizes it reminds me of a situation where I was hurt because someone didn't tw for bigotry. I watched the Nanny a lot as a young kid and when Matt Baume did a video essay about it and it's roots in queer culture I decided to try and re-watch it. When I actually went to watch it, I was floored by the sheer scale of fatphobia presented. It wasn't a jab here or there every other episode, it was a barrage of fatphobia in every episode, baked into the text. I tried to hold out, to see if I could ignore it, but eventually found myself in tears as a chubby child actress was berated on screen for comedic effect. But what really scared me was... The show was getting to me. I was starting to see the thin but less petite elder daughter as fat, when I wouldn't have before. The show was changing my perspective despite my best efforts to not let it get to me. Fatphobia is not comparable to anti semitism, but this taught me that, if you are going to present a piece of media, or analyze it, not mentioning or warning for bigotry is irresponsible at best, and endorsement at worst. I'm still a bit irritated that fatphobia wasn't mentioned even once in the essay. I'm really sorry this backlash is happening over a very reasonable reaction. :/

Mmm, actually I think most kinds of bigotry are very comparable.

Not universally, no. But, in general? People benefit from comparing them. Solidarity is often built on learning the things we have in common first, so that we can better help respect and protect each others' different needs, interests and abilities.

Just off the top of my head, for example, fat people and Jewish people are both characterized as greedy, and in fact, Jewish people are often specifically characterized as fat.

But that's REALLY off topic, haha.

In this case, while there were some warnings made about a month ago (apparently these warnings were repeated if you use the email reader, but I do read on the website, where the warnings are not repeated), and while I was aware of the content going in, my issue is, again, not with the existence or lack thereof of the TW list.

As I have. Repeatedly and constantly said. I think the TW list is lovely. It's great. It's very complete. Nice work everyone. No one has any problems with the TW list. No one has ever had any problems with the FUCKING. TW. LIST.

THE PROBLEM. IS WITH. THE UNHINGED. ANTISEMITISM. IN RESPONSE. TO THE MOST MILQUETOAST. IMAGINABLE. POST. EVER. MADE.

Here's the breakdown.

20 y/o Jewish woman: Gosh, even with the trigger warning a whole month ago that imo was really not enough, that sure was some antisemitism. I would prefer to see more pushback on such intense racism in the future, but it is early days. Sure hope things get better as we go!

Me, 30+ Jewish person: Haha, yeah, reminded me of how much it hurt to read when I was a kid. Glad I've got bigger problems to worry about nowadays lol.

Every gentile within earshot: OH SO YOU THINK WE SHOULD CODDLE YOU POOR LITTLE JEWBABY FEELINGS HUH? WE SHOULD CENSOR ART FOR YOUR PRECIOUS WIDDLE OWIES? YOU WANT YOUR TO PRE-DIGEST YOUR WORDS BECAUSE YOUR SUBHUMAN JEW BRAINS CAN'T READ? KILL YOURSELF!!!!!!!!

Me, again: Okay, well. That is an extreme fucking reaction so let's fucking calm our asses down with the goddamn nazi shit for ten fucking minutes, perhaps????

And then the gentiles devolved into further screaming about how I'm, I don't know...

They seem to have convinced themselves of a lot of things at this point. The ones willing to put their names on it are mostly content to call me anything from a liar to a harasser to an imbecile incapable of reading, to someone with a personal hatred of the Substack operator, etc etc.

They seem broadly convinced that I "want" something or to impose on the substack. Which is nonsense. All I "wanted" was to read some books I liked with a group of people and discuss, and that ship has thoroughly fucking sailed.

The anonymous bitches are mostly wandering into blood libel at this point. Again, I used to post all my anon threats, but I stopped doing that once bigots got smart enough to start reporting me for spam when I did that, because victims showing their harassment in public is, of course, the real harassment.

They also seem not to be aware of a very simple fact:

I can still see your comments in my notifications page if I'm the OP, even after you've blocked me, and it is very fucking obnoxious.

[ratmonologue]

Top 5 characters whose stories you would rewrite, given the chance =)

ok I was not ignoring this I just needed like 3 days years to think about it because GREAT QUESTION, this will get long and progressively more unhinged, let's go-

5. Holland Vosijk ADSOM: Debating whether he belongs on this list, because on the one hand his part of the story would not be as impactful as it is if it wasn't completely soaked in tragic dramatic irony, but on the other hand, :,((. So I'll just change one tiny little bit at the end, to make it so he.... how to not-spoilers things.... so he Realizes certain consequences of certain actions. He deserves that much, at least. Also ice cream. I'll write the existence of ice cream into his world.

4. movie!Faramir LotR: I get what they were they were trying to do here, to give him a bit more of a character arc re juggling the pressures/responsibilities/legacies of Gondor and his father and Boromir and his own moral compass. And I actually don’t hate most of it! I don’t mind that he was tempted by the Ring at first - even the kindest, most level-headed person in such desperate circumstances is at least going to spare a glance at the supernaturally-alluring desperate measures, and imo that doesn’t make him less level-headed or kind. Therefore what DOES feel out of character, and what I’m changing, is how much of a dick he is for a bit there. No gratuitous Gollum abuse allowed.

3. The BBC Merlin knights: For the purposes of this list, they count as one. If it were up to me this would be less of a rewrite and more of a plain old write because I think they deserve a proper spinoff series full of more wacky Arthurian hijinks (Green Knight, anyone? questing beasts? the Holy Grail?) in which Merlin and Arthur and co. only have brief, humorous, and completely irrelevant cameos. The rest of those dunces deserved some character arcs too. If a full spinoff is out of the question, then at the very least keep Lancelot alive longer and give us some Ramifications re Guinevere and him knowing about Merlin’s magic and whatnot, give Gwaine his potential depth back and don’t just reduce him to comic relief, give Leon the respect he deserves for saying no to certain death so many times, etc etc yeah basically I just want more of all of these idiots. I love them.

2. Kai Leng Mass Effect: Yeah, ugh, I know, but hear me out: what if... he was an Actual Not-Pathetic Secondary Antagonist who DIDN'T completely suck shrimp balls?? Have him cameo in ME2 while you're "working for" Cerberus, establish him as a halfway competent sort of rival who's actually like, plotting things or whatever, so then when he comes back in ME3 it's like "oh shit, it's THAT bastard!" rather than "this is SO FUCKING STUPID [punts controller through screen, while crying over Thane (yes, I'm fixing that part too)]." I hate him, you hate him, we all hate him, for good reason, he sucks SO HARD, he can't even land a single hit on me until the goddamn cutscene has to give him the win on Thessia, but! It did not have to be this way! He could have been marginally competent with some writing tweaks, and fellow ME players everywhere could have rolled their eyes significantly fewer times! I want to hate him the way I'd hate an actual adversary, not the way I hate a piece of gum that refuses to un-stick from the bottom of my shoe!

And, in the #1 spot because all these years later, thinking about it STILL fills me with rage... Yassen Gregorovich's Alex Rider Prequel Book.

Context: The Alex Rider series, action/mystery novels about a 14-year-old James Bond expy, was not THE most formative childhood book series for me, but it was up there. In the top 5. Seeing as how I have been the exact same brand of predictable my entire life, 10yo me's favorite character was Yassen, the opposing-team assassin with maybe 20 pages of screentime over a 9-book series. It was obvious that he had... morals is too much of a stretch, but there was a sense of still waters running deep. He was played as a 'darker side of the same coin' sort of deal re Alex himself, and had some Complex History(TM) with Alex's father and uncle, both of whom were, like Alex, MI6 (double) agents, both dead prior to the series' start, one so by Yassen's hand. Yassen also dies young halfway through the series, of course, but his ghost hangs around.

Fast forward a decade or so, well after the series proper had ended. Find out Yassen's getting a prequel book, aptly titled Russian Roulette, tracing how he went from an orphaned nobody to one of the most yikes most competent secret agents in the world. Get HYPE, because he's a goldmine of potential for fleshing out both himself and Alex's past. If you're going to do a spinoff/prequel, this is exactly the kind of character you want for it.

Unfortunately (and this is where we shift from Context to Rant), in my excitement I’d forgotten one crucially important fact, and that is that Anthony Horowitz is completely incapable of keeping track of his own books’ canon.

I’m not gonna rewrite a play-by-play here (that’s stored in a probably 6 page word doc I vomited up shortly after finishing the book wherein I attempted (failed) to rewrite it all to make it make sense), but the short version is that 1) sometimes the timelines and/or events just straight up contradicted what was established in the main series; 2) Horowitz apparently chickened out of the fact that Yassen is kinda sorta definitely a villain and/or he just didn’t know how to write a corruption arc; which together led to 3) Yassen has virtually zero agency in his own book, and in the moments he does have agency, the decisions he makes don’t make sense, in that they are straight up impossible to reconcile with both this perpetually-victimized younger version of himself and the calculating hitman we know he becomes. That’s another thing, we didn’t see him evolve from one to the other, he just kinda. clumsily flipped a switch at the end there. I don’t have to explain that that kind of writing is stupid and lazy. And I know, this is a middle-grade Bond ripoff, I’m not gonna get fuckin, idk, Black Sails levels of character nuance or anything, but like. We can still have a little nuance in this nicely complex premise? Just a smidge? Please...? Apparently not.

(And I’m not even going to get into whatever the FUCK was going wrong with John Rider’s character, except to say that he was hands down the most important person in Yassen’s life and something in his characterization was Definitely Going Wrong as compared to what we already knew of him, which in turn fed into Yassen’s whole everything feeling Off, etc etc why is this entire book made of Nonsense Hell)

In conclusion, there was SO MUCH POTENTIAL and it was SQUANDERED by author laziness and yes I am angry but I’m also just Sad. the entire point was to show all these different people and events and overarching themes (which did actually exist, believe it or not) from alternate angles, but instead we just got a mess. it could have been amazing. and while I clearly haven’t figured out how to make it amazing yet, at least I’ve identified the problems, and that’s step one.

And yeah, there was a russian roulette scene (the gun kind) in the book. Two, actually. They were horrifying and should not have been in a middle-grade series. But they’re honestly among the least of my issues here.

You’re not remotely a great person, Yassen, but for some reason I love you and you deserved better. And Anthony, if I ever meet you: it’s on sight.

[becomingpart2]

also I agree with you about Kim being very inaccessible, like the show leaned very hard in the early seasons into her being jimmy’s perfect dream girl who endlessly supports him, and then in the later seasons they did kinda acknowledge she’s more morally grey but imo they still really pulled their punches with her character. the thing that I found most baffling is i never really understood her motivations, like why does she want to support jimmy so much, why does she want to go after Howard? I feel like the show never gave us a satisfying answer, they just gave us some flashbacks to her childhood and expected us to fill in the blanks. I guess I just expected more from her character considering she’s supposed to be the secondary protagonist.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you!!!! God. this is one of my biggest frustrations with the show. I don't wanna sound like a misogynist, I want unhinged women, give me unhinged women, but she gave me nothing. I really tried to like her but I just can't understand her.

In the beginning, she was more of a side character that served almost as Jimmy's conscience, so I didn't think much of it, maybe we would get more from her later. But then as she grew as a character within the show, very little changed. Season 5 was probably the season they decided to give her more room (albeit a bit too late) and started to give her more shades of gray here and there and then out of nowhere boom slipping kimmy and the Howard plan. It came out of fucking nowhere and I was someone who was totally interested in Kim in S5, so I was paying attention to her. That came out of nowhere, I never understood why she did that, the reasons the show gave were barely even reasons at all. And from that moment on, she completely lost me.

I've already said it but I really hate how they used childhood flashbacks on this show, I think it's cheap and lazy.

I think the only time I understood her was in her decision to leave Jimmy, but everything before, nothing. I don't even know why she likes him so much. I don't get them as a couple. Her breakdown on the bus was the only time I've seen her express a bit more of emotion that isn't the occasional frustration but even that wasn't enough. I hate how understated this show is, I wish she yelled at Jimmy during the phone call or when she went to see him in his office with the divorce papers. But no, nothing. WHAT is she thinking? I don't know. And then the overdramatic "when I knew him, he was", oh fuck off. Just give me SOMETHING.

But yeah, Kim is inaccessible to me. I don't understand her, I'm not sure if Rhea Seehorn's performance is also a little at fault but I wanna say it's more of a writing (and maybe directing) issue.

[msookyspooky]

Random Headcanon's for the Scream Character's

Billy really was a normal sweet kid and a good boyfriend before his mom left. Everyone paints him as always being crazy and his mom just triggered him but I honestly don't think that's true. Sidney and her parents would not have been okay with her dating a bad boy from Sophomore year onward. Sure it happens and maybe she saw past it but If Sidney would have seen how Billy acted with Randy in the videostore; instant break up imo. He could not have hid that side of himself for two years straight. Remember, they were dating a whole year prior to Maureen cheating. My theory is he may or may not have had a 'side' to him or other undiagnosed disorder in his gene pool (Mrs Loomis snapping too.) but Billy's psychotic breakdown was mostly situational + groomed by Roman and there were other things in his life that probably were boiling over and Debbie leaving him completely broke him. So, he was in an extremely vulnerable state when Roman came around and molded him. THAT is why Sidney trusted him so much in Scream before the phone incident and even somewhat after. Because Billy was a good boyfriend before her mom's murder and she would have never suspected it. Now how her or no one else could see him tumbling into madness or at least deep depression before Roman sank his talons in is beyond me. Maybe she did and he shrugged her off? Either way, the situation made him shut down all empathy towards other people and changed him. His empathy is towards his mom, possibly his dad since Hank never died and that is it. He has symptoms of a psychopath and even though that is usually genetic I 100% think a psychotic breakdown could do it as well.(Don't come for me bitch I'm not trained in any of this just using what I know from research 🧍‍♀️) If his mom never left and Roman didn't come along; Billy would have never been a killer

Contrary to Billy's situational psychological crazyness. Stu was always going to kill. I don't even think it's is he a sociopath vs a psychopath argument as much as he is just disconnected from reality. (Though he would most likely be a Sociopath if he was bc of his lack of boundaries as well impulsive behavior. Thinking killing was a game.) Stu possibly suffered abuse as a child. He was terrified of his parents more than the law. Either A. They abused him and permanently terrified him. Or B. He really has a stunted mentality and thinks of killing as a game and fears his parents more than the law bc the consequences are just not clicking LIKE A KID. He's like a giant little kid with no sense of how things work. He still could have been abused and that is what stunted his growth mentally. However, his violent tendacies were always there. Never preplanned just urgent anger or sadistic glee he couldn't control. Billy just suggested the killings and he was instantly down. Like, hell yeah cool. Most ppl no matter what mental illness they have or how severe are not that easy to convince. Whose to say he hadn't killed before or was planning to? My theory is he is so disconnected from reality that killing really is a giant fun game to him and he would have eventually murdered someone even without Billy.

Idk why this isn't more thought of throughout the fandom. Billy and Stu did not rape Maureen bc the evidence would have pointed to someone other than the guy they were framing. Cotton Weary had sex with Maureen, left, Billy and Stu taunted her on the phone and lured her away, they killed her, police suspected rape bc A. they didn't know about the affairs. B. Cotton's semen or her discharge or bruising being there. They naturally assumed it was rape but in actuality no one raped her. Cotton's dna from their affair incriminated him even more. Not saying that Billy and Stu would think of rape as morally wrong enough not to do in their book BUT it would have been stupid on their part and made it obvious there were other suspects besides Cotton.

Stu isn't a lapdog. Stu literally revealed on the phone he was going to throw Billy under the bus. He hesitated giving him the knife. Stu is like a kid. He most likely suffered trauma that regressed his mental age. He's eager to please, desperate for attention and most likely fawns over people he feels close to in an obsessive way. He could have even been in love with Billy and vice versa which is why he was so eager to please him. However, he was not nearly as stupid or a lapdog as much as the fandom makes him out to be. I think Randy saying it in the videostore sealed the deal for people even though he was only acting like that bc he was helping Billy too and covering their tracks. Billy was the one with the plan. Stu just tagged along out of the urge to kill. But he 100% had his own plan to kill and bail if needed. My mind is made up on that.

There was a third killer in Scream and it wasn't a teen or Roman. You're telling me two 17-18 yr old guys could come up with every detail? Roman only told Billy the basics. How did they get tactical police shoes? How did they get to the houses so fast and leave just as quickly? How did they both take down and restrain Steve or Neil by themselves enough to tie them up? Sure, Stu was deranged and tall but these two lanky teens were able to take on a football player with muscles and a grown man? Possible but stil meh to me. Their plan was too thorough for two teen boys to come up with on their own. Both crazy. One completely unhinged and disconnected from reality and the other so blinded by revenge he was stupid at times. (Fucking stabbing yourselves before killing Neil and Sidney. Not even thinking to AT LEAST tie Sidney up as well...Really? Jill was smarter in 4 in that respect tbh.) I truly think their was an adult involved in Scream helping them or guiding them. I would say Roman if it wasn't for him going back to Hollywood. But Billy and Stu had help DURING the killings 100%.

Randy is not this mecha survival final boy like the fandom thinks. The kid watched one too many horror movies and based them on real life. Scream itself is making fun of slasher movies and Randy was supposed to be the narrator setting most of the dumb rules up into play. Everyone is like "omg that's so out of character how he died in 2" no its not. If the rules work then him losing his virginity did him in. He was drinking, he was pissed off and not thinking. Plus Mrs. Loomis attacked in broad daylight, something no one thought of. (And the whole debate how a middle aged woman could pull him in. LOOK. Randy is a fucking small guy and she grabbed him backwards, using momentum to haul him back into the van. PLUS she was enraged at what he said about Billy. Adrenaline is a hell of a super drug as far as testing the bodies limits. I have seen tiny girls become the hulk when they are pissed I'm jus sayin) Point is, Randy was just a teen boy that loved horror movies. He was not some survival guide especially since it showed him even on the couch not aware of Ghostface behind him. He was a giant satire showing how even he didn't always follow the rules of slasher movies and how dumb the rules are.

Tatum loved Sidney and had more chemistry with her than Billy. I am not saying they weren't just BFF's and I don't want to ruin female friendship with constantly thinking "omg they are gay together" any time two women are close. BUT it is strange that it was only those two as friends especially since Sidney didn't fit into Tatum's popular social circle. It's like Tatum went out of her way to be friends with Sidney. Maybe they were childhood friends and that's why? But I think it's entirely possible that just like it's speculated that Stu and Billy were secretly in love; Tatum possibly was at least bi and in love with Sidney.

[swampgallows]

I read your garrosh chronicles pt 3 post and i prrtty much agree with every word.

I started in cata and skipped mists and most of wod, additionally i havent read any of the books and its really changed my opinion on garroshs writing from absolutely godawful to run of the mill bad.

I also am pissed at blizzard even more if thats possible. why was so much critical characterization not in game like my impression of garrosh was formed with the cata questing including! stonetalon and like WHY THE FUCK is the entire goddamn reason for the war in a book! Ahhhhh! Stonetalon, silverpine, the barrens, and ashenvale paints garrosh as imo someone with a massive chip on his shoulder but who cares deeply abt honor and shit! Im gonna stop this here before i start ranting about wod

I really really appreciated that post and wish you luck in your garrosh standom

(I lied who tf thought groms we will never be slaves line was a good fucking idea standing next to a smiling yrel who has no lines grrrrrrr)

im glad you read my big fat chronicle post, it was cathartic to write way back when. i still get pretty pissed about the twilight's hammer thing getting retconned, both because it was one of the more insanely gory things to come out of wow (druids being skinned alive and having their hides/skins hanging from the trees, hamuul hiding in a pile of his druid friends' corpses and body parts long enough to escape, etc) and also because it totally fucked over the characterization of cairne AND garrosh. cairne was completely justified in fighting to the death over that amount of brutal carnage at a completely peaceful gathering, and garrosh was also justified in defending his honor to the death that he would never order such an attack. it also really defangs a lot of the twilight's hammer for cataclysm too.

i think that chip on his shoulder is one of the traits people really liked about garrosh before they railroaded him into being fash. even if they had turned him into a villain without the ‘orc hitler’ thing, part of what made him so compelling was how unpredictable and boisterous he was and that he always gave 200% of himself to everything. he did have his brooding moments, but the majority of the time once garrosh was yanked out of his shell he was just like a steam engine off the rails. putting him on the very predictable track of "more power/world domination" made him boring and exhausting. there were some glimmers of that "full force unhinged" garrosh in mop, particularly the divine bell quest comes to mind: dropping the bell on a young gay boy, yes, but also the bit where he has to be talked down from a blinding rage so he doesnt kill the only mogu prisoner with any information on the bell, and compensating for it by silently killing every single mogu on his way out, leaving a bleeding trail of corpses up the mountains of kun-lai. like, god, the drama. what a fucking king

[fantabee]

March Reading Review! I kinda went off this month, so I'll try to keep it brief. Books are stacked in order of favorite to least favorite.

Open Water: 4/5. What a beautiful book! I've never read something in second person before, so it did take a little while to get into. Heartbreaking in many ways, but I'm glad I read it!

Iron Widow: 3/5. I was a little disappointed with this, I won't lie. I appreciated how angry and unhinged Zetian was, but the pacing was a little too fast and the plot didn't feel completely thought out. It was still a fun read, but not a masterpiece.

Carmilla: 4/5. I was able to read this while I was working one Saturday, so I was definitely a little distracted. My favorite aspect was the atmosphere, everything was so beautifully melancholic and richly described. I also really like how Laura was both enamored and disgusted by Carmilla and her affection, the contradicting emotions felt right given how they were described.

These Violent Delights: 4/5. I really enjoyed this! Compared to the last few YA books I've read, the writing was clearly much better and the author had way better control of what she was doing. Being a retelling helped that, I'm sure. It didn't feel like an unnecessary retelling to me either, I think the change in setting added a lot to the story, or at least my enjoyment of it.

Elatsoe: 4.5/5. I loved this. It managed to strike a perfect balance between fantastical and grounded. I loved learning about Lipan Apache culture and the inclusion of spoken stories about Six Great felt really natural and added a lot imo. The only thing that kept it from a five was that the main character is supposed to be 17 and she's written more like she's 13. I mentally aged her down for the entire book because I can't believe a 17 year old acting like that. Otherwise I loved this.

Tender is the Flesh: 4/5. This was a hard book for me to get through, I will not lie. It was very well-written and had some good things to say, but man some scenes made me very uncomfortable. I can get over the gore pretty easily, but the way the special meat was treated just made me... ugh. I'm glad I read it after the fact, but it was hard to get through. I'd look up trigger warnings before reading this if you're interested. People aren't lying, it's *highly* disturbing.

The Bone Shard Daughter: 5/5. Love love love this book. Love the world, the characters, the pacing, all of it. Jovis and Lin's story were both so compelling yet heartbreaking and I can't wait to see what happens with the next. Mephi is such a good boy. Highly recommend this book if you're wanting a new fantasy to jump into.

[greensaplinggrace]

What Is There To Celebrate About the Darkling? (Part 4)

1 2 3 4

He’s calculating but impulsive. Gentle yet firm. Stubborn and adaptive. Just a real mess of contradictions that makes him all the more interesting.

He loves nature. He loves the forest.

Fond of luxuries and nice things. After growing up as he did, I think he deserves them.

Very socially awkward. Introvert just trying his best. Anything that isn’t manipulation and therefore something he’s planned in his head is just a social train wreck waiting to happen.

The way he pushes up Alina’s sleeve when they first meet. This man had zero compunctions about acting completely unprofessionally in front of his soldiers and I think that’s very sexy of him.

He’s constantly tired and exasperated with the people around him.

The way he says “quiet” with the softest voice imaginable and a room full of laughter instantly goes silent.

He had no interest in Elizaveta even though she was utterly obsessed with him and I think that’s hilarious.

Elizaveta: I have a plan to resurrect the Darkling Everybody Else: Oh the Darkling is so evil for trying to come back! The Darkling, who just wants a nap and is sick of this mortal bullshit: Why am I even here? This is such a pain in the ass. I should have killed Elizaveta when I had the chance.

How he asks if Alina “will have” his name like a man proposing.

Has his bedroom attached to the war room.

Constantly checking up on Alina just to know how she’s doing. Never pushing her beyond her limits as she’s training.

Very creative with his shadows and the extent of their abilities. So many of the ways he uses his powers are genius.

His ending in RoW is a tragedy and an injustice. He deserves better.

This old man pouting at Alina in episode seven as he says “please, I just want to talk to you 🥺”

There is a black kefta made for Alina after like two days in the Little Palace. He really was already planning their entire immortal futures together as Mr. and Mrs. Starkov wasn’t he?

His bed is covered in maps and notes when he’s plotting how to find Alina. Also before that, the way he’s poring over the notes at his desk and giving orders is 👌🥵

Him acting like a real General at all is simply amazing.

The fact that he trusts Luda with his life. That they have a whole intimidation routine set up around him purposefully getting himself fatally injured knowing she’ll heal him.

He looks like a vampire in the show and a fae in the books.

His favorite ABBA song is probably “Lay All Your Love On Me.”

Looks composed but that’s only a façade. Is actually an unhinged feral terror of pain and misery.

That scene where he tells the king she will remain in the Little Palace to train undisturbed and he puts his foot down. ON THE RED CARPET. the king’s carpet. and uses a commanding voice that’s just on the edge of an order…I’m surprised he didn’t get flogged for that. IMO nothing conveys the fine line he walks with those in power while wielding his own like this scene. Literally he should just be celebrated for this alone.

“‘Why won’t you leave me alone?’ I whispered one night as he hovered behind me while I tried to work at my desk. Long minutes passed. I didn’t think he would answer. I even had time to hope he might have gone, until I felt his hand on my shoulder. “Then I’d be alone, too,” he said, and he stayed the whole night through, till the lamps burned down to nothing.

Trapped a bunch of Saints in the Shadow Fold like a true amoral disaster villain. What an icon.

His barely concealed amusement and half hidden smile when Alina comes to put his kefta on. The way he finds Alina utterly hilarious and tries so hard to act like he doesn’t.

That small amused smile when Alina jokes about finding Volcra hilarious. Please he’s so adorable 😭

“‘I know what you feel when you’re with the tracker,’ he said. ‘I doubt that’ He gave a dismissive wave.” - My Malarklina obsessed self, vibrating at the edge of my seat: but what does it mean?!?

Mal and the Darkling’s entire fight in the Fold: dumbass on dumbass violence.

The way he stands with his back turned to Alina when she enters his tent the first time they meet and then does the slowest Godfather turn in history. 1999/10 - points removed for a criminal lack of cat petting.

“I may lead the second army, but the king is still the king.” - the delivery of that line. the implications, the history behind it and also the foreshadowing for his plans.

That slow turn face reveal in episode one though. Like okay we get it you’re pretty alkjsdflkj

Confused Old Man Face™ whenever Mal or Alina do anything remotely defiant in his presence.

How he tells Alina to come closer and she only takes the tiniest step and he doesn’t even react.

His little head cock whenever someone says or does something that just doesn’t vibe with him.

Darklina tumblr has now convinced me that the Darkling is a cat in human form.

“You’re an amplifier,” she said. He glanced at where Sylvi was pouncing on another helpless tree, oblivious, and gave a single, frightened nod. How could he have been so stupid? He would have to tell his mother now, and she would insist that they leave right away. If word got out, they’d both be in danger. Amplifiers were rare, hard to find, harder to hunt. Their lives would be forfeit. Even if they got away, word would spread. He could already hear his mother’s voice: Foolish, careless, callous. If you don’t value your own life, show some concern for mine. Annika touched his sleeve. “It’s okay,” she said. “I won’t tell.” Panic crowded in. He shook his head. She slid her hand into his. It was hard not to pull away. He should. He was breaking his mother’s fundamental rule for keeping them both alive. Never let them touch you, she’d warned him. - 😥 I just want to give him a hug all the time.

His strangled shout when Mal tackles him off of the skiff.

His smile when he’s summoning the sun. The expression on his face when he does so. Like I know I’ve mentioned this before but damn. If you ever needed a reason to celebrate him, this would be it.

“Shame, I’ll have to give that speech again now.”

The way he flips Mal over his shoulder in the Fold after Mal attempts to strangle him.

His little lecture on the Small Science to Alina when they’re going to meet the King. Info dump.

“You make it sound so easy.” “A bird makes flight look easy. But it was born to do so.”

When Alina looks at him for guidance on whether or not to remove her veil and he gives her a small nod.

The handhold in the throne room after Alina’s demonstration is absolutely precious, but it’s in a room full of people he should be keeping up a façade for and it’s so unwarranted and yet he does it anyway, I’m-

The way he says “welcome home, Ms. Starkov,” in the most tender voice I’ve ever heard and then goes “ok that’s enough emotions for one day” and then just straight up leaves without even a goodbye.

He has his symbol?? Sewn into Alina’s kefta??? bRo???!?!

Disaster Simp never gets tired of introducing Alina to other people or talking about how she’s the best thing that ever walked this earth.

The Darkling lying: honestly

“I have devoted my life to undoing the great sin of my forebearer, but I am never seen as the solution. Only as a reminder of the problem.” Sasha you were literally the problem. What a manipulative little shit. We love to see it.

The way he closes his eyes and kisses the coin before he makes a wish at the wishing well.

“I think the Grand Palace is the ugliest building I’ve ever seen.” - I love him your honor.

This man has the most intense lines for Alina. Like straight up I would have booked it when he said “you and I are going to change the world”. But then the head grab?! “I’ve been waiting a long time for you.” He’s so intense like sir can you tone it down a bit please I am begging you.

“I shall be right by your side.” / “We can do anything. Together.” / “For us.” / “You cannot do this on your own. And neither can I” / “I want you to know my name. The name I was given, not the title I took for myself. Will you have it, Alina?” - WEDDING VOWS

That scene in the war room when Alina comes to find him and he instantly drops his guard and lowers his arms and welcomes her with a soft voice.

“Am I bothering you?” “Not at all.” - girl you could be stabbing him in the chest and you still wouldn’t be bothering him.

This whipped disaster sounds like the proudest man on the planet when he talks about how much more his enemies fear Alina over him.

His shadows react to his emotions.

“YoUr’E nOt IvAn.” asjlkdfjs god he’s so embarrassing.

Local Dark Lord Sasha offering Alina the throne after she literally tries to kill him.

He gets so jealous of Mal.

Has a great relationship with his soldiers and his men. His men trust him implicitly and believe him to be an amazing general.

When he turns around after Alina puts the kefta on him and looks flustered/has to take a breath because she’s a lot closer than he expected. The way he’s breathless and literally can’t string a sentence together because he’s so distracted by her closeness.

His jokes are absolutely terrible.

GF: *jokes about throwing herself down the stairs to get out of an event* Sasha “no thoughts head empty only Alina” Morozova: haha I’d just have my healers heal you right back up again.

How genuinely touched he is by Alina admitting to wanting to help Grisha and Ravkans.

That scene in Demon in the Woods when he notices the intricate details of the politics in the Grisha camp after one meeting with the Elders. He has the Ulle pegged almost instantly.

Born to be a leader. Born to take care of others. Born to protect. Even in Demon in the Woods he’s protecting people. Even in Demon in the Woods he’s leading them and caring for them.

The way he cups his hands around Alina’s face when they’re kissing.

This man gets so starstruck by Alina walking into the Fete that he doesn’t even excuse himself from the King’s side to go to her.

Long haired Aleksander rights!

Ok I know the wig was kind of ugly but he looks pretty with long hair and I think it would look very good on him naturally.

The way he slams his hands together in the Winter Fete scene and instantly turns the room pitch black.

Literally any times he summons shadows is a blessing and we should all celebrate him for it. They are so beautiful. On god if I ever saw his shadows in real life I would be awestruck.

He asks Mal if he’s okay when they first meet.

The pure, barely contained fury directed at the Conductor for daring to harm Alina and kidnap his Grisha.

He always has to make a grand entrance.

This man is like a bloodhound when it comes to Nina. He is very invested in finding her and I feel like that’s never really talked about.

“I know exactly how she felt. The King’s soldiers treated me the same way. Because they knew- they knew that I was more important than any of them.” - the way he says it, like it’s something he has to remind himself of in his head constantly. a justification for the way he’s been treated, the fear he evokes in others. a way to protect himself from the hurt of being ostracized and reviled. arrogance and conceit as a defense against emotional harm.

Also the way his face instantly changes after that, like he’s said too much. vulnerability. lowering his eyes. shifting his eyes. literally just everything about this scene makes me love him all the more.

Dark carriage rides up to the Crows’ hiding place. Grisha circle the area as Aleksander steps from the carriage slowly, dressed all in black, floofy cloak high on his shoulders. Villain Entrance™

Him slowly pulling a knife out of his chest like it shouldn’t have killed him is hot as fuck and also totally badass. Big dick energy.

“I’ve had enough of your lies.” “And what lies are those?” - Alina, pulling out a fifty mile long scroll of grievances: Well, for starters-

This man is literally just an Alina Starkov compliments machine.

He cares so much about the Grisha and their protection. He loves Ravka and his people so much.

He had an entire cult dedicated to him.

“They would approach him. They always did. But he felt more anxious than usual. He’d stopped trying to make friends in the places he and his mother visited—there was no point when they moved on so quickly. Now he wasn’t quite sure how to go about it.”

Save a Villain. Murder the King.

Openly admits to staging a coup like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

He speaks so slowly. He moves so slowly. Everything he does has to have Purpose and Gravitas.

Theater Nerd™

He knew Nikolai for years and yet couldn’t recognize him as Sturmhond. We do stan an oblivious icon 💕

The Darkling after he gets his ass whooped in Siege and Storm: Mom can you please come pick me up? I’m scared!

He’s here to manipulate sun summoners and murder cities. And unfortunately he’s all out of sun summoners.

Would absolutely get drunk on real alcohol. This man thinks kvas is strong liquor.

Has his wrists exposed exactly one time in the most skin he’s shown all season and it’s when Alina visits him at night in the war room. WHORE!

Was too emotionally slutty and fell for Alina. RIP.

He’s passionate and cold and beautiful and hurt and twisted up in ways nobody could ever hope to understand and he’s stunning.

I would literally kill for this man 🖤✨

[crehador]

how are we halfway through the season again it’s true what they say time flies like the wind and fruit flies like bananas

anyway winter 2023 mid-season thoughts:

nier and uniteup aren’t quite at the halfway mark yet due to their hiatuses (which were thankfully short, looks like no one is getting fucked like isekai ojisan this season knock on wood)

no new thoughts on nier since 3-ep ruling since lol it’s still at its third episode, but finally coming back this week! hype

uniteup is still adorable, though i’m starting to notice more immersion-breaking moments of the voice actors just... really sounding like they’re reading off a script

which is honestly kind of cute to me? they’re all very new of course and it’ll be nice to see them grow and improve as they get more work (well... if they get more work)

technoroid is shocking still the better idol anime of the season, though as i suspected it does struggle a bit to hold the perfect balance between its idol plot and its human/android tensions plot. they did a really phenomenal job of striking this balance at first, but the idol stuff has fallen by the wayside a little imo

it’s like if you’re going to do both you’ll need to do both well enough to justify having both, which technoroid is... still more or less accomplishing! i do wish we had a bit more idol stuff, but i can’t imagine how they would be able to do that without making the other themes suffer, so i think overall they’re doing as well as they can

that’s only for new idol seasons though because idolish7 is back from hiatus hell and continues to be the best idol series, like, of all time basically

trigun stampede is... well... i can’t say i’ve completed come around to it. i don’t so much mind that there are changes, it was always billed as a re-imagining after all, but so many of the changes (most of them, in fact) just make no damn sense to me

i’m not even a manga purist or anything, like yeah that’s my favorite version of canon but i do also love the og anime a lot even in how it deviates from the manga (i even like the og anime ending! so i’m really not like grrr grrr nothing can change from the manga grrr it just... doesn’t feel like these stampede changes are reasonable)

stampede is of course a gorgeous show and i’m loving the visual feast, also gotta give props for the crybaby livio flashback scene because that was quite literally everything i could have wanted

SINS I STILL HAVE NOT AND WILL NEVER FORGIVE: MILLY ERASURE. AND THEY TURNED?? MY WIFE??? ELENDIRA??? INTO A CHILD FOR SOME REASON?????? WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT WTF

anyway i will continue to enjoy the visual feast and otherwise keep my expectations so low that they are buried in the ground, my only hope is please please please let legato be as unhinged about knives as he is in manga canon do NOT take this away from us gays we need it

fumetsu s2 is still good but ngl kinda losing me, i’m just sad enough already that i don’t really need this lol

blue lock is coming up on its first season ending, and no it hasn’t held the high quality of its earliest episodes, but i still personally find it to be an incredibly good adaptation. hoping s2 will be announced quickly so i can continue watching with my dearest

high card is still in the strongly okayish category in terms of quality, wihch puts it above ooyukiumi no kaina... and it pains me to say that because kaina had such a strong start, but i don’t feel like it’s actually done anything all that interesting with its very cool worldbuilding

or, rather, i guess i’m just not into what they are doing. it’s fine and all, but i’m not feeling invested in the characters. worldbuilding is still dope as hell though

tsurune remains gorgeous and... kind of baffling in terms of vibe lmao like what the hell happened in the novels because i’m so sure it’s not as sanitized as the anime, i can just feel it

even in s4 my memories and i are still in such a weird relationship with bungou stray dogs which is that i know i’ve read the manga up to this part at least, probably even farther, but the absolute most batshit things have to happen before i’m like “ohhh yeah i guess that did happen huh”

don’t remember anything else. how did kunikida even get in jail?! he’s my favorite so the fact that i forgot that makes me wonder what else i forgot lmao

tomo-chan and i guess we’re calling it ice guy are still both pretty cute, and i usually enjoy office romcoms much more than high school romcoms because hell yeah adults

but tomo-chan has a strong edge over ice guy. both these series are just in the pretty okayish category for me, but tomo-chan’s comedic beats tend to land while ice guy’s do not. ice guy has its very cute moments, and it’s so so so soothing that i’m definitely enjoying it, but its comedy (especially its comedic timing) is just not really working. very often there are sketches that go on for just waaay too long, to the point that i think ice guy may have benefited from being a half-length show like cool doji danshi

still very cute, though!

and speaking of cool doji danshi, it’s still asdkflajsdlfkj i want to PUNCH a CLOUD these idiots are so cute. eikyuu shounen, the other half-length series of the season, is still pretty enjoyable too! surprisingly, if we rule out idolish7, i think i’d actually say eikyuu shounen has the best music out of the currently airing idol anime. uniteup and technoroid are obviously better in many other ways, but the eikyuu shounen music is right up my alley

last but certainly not least, the vampire dies in no time s2 is still so fucking funny that i’d put it as a strong contender for anime of the season for me. i feel like we’re seeing a lot more of fukuma this season which is fantastic because the bits about ronaldo’s writing career are so incredibly relatable lmao

like where can i get a fukuma-san fr