#super compelling very tragic

[pumpkinrootbeer]

"Mandy deserved better" "lip was so ungrateful" the rape scene guys. guys. the rape scene. she literally rapes him guys. he says no and stop repeatedly and he tries to push her off. and then hides in the bathroom for 45 minutes after. guys.

[baconcolacan]

YOU! 👉

I just relized you the one who wrote one of my fave fics on Ao3! I need to know if you don't mind, will there be and updates to regimen? It tickles my brain chemicals. No pressure btw <3

Ahahaha yes hello 👋 you found me, the writer of that horribly tragic fanfic

I get asked this a lot, but I dont mind answering it again for people who dont know but, yes I do plan to get back on the writing saddle for Regimen eventually, it’s just a matter of my motivation and willingness to get back into the headspace of that universe. I already have the ending planned.

I’ll be real for a sec: I’m a very empathetic writer, so it’s tough for me to have my thoughts be overwhelmingly negative as Regimen’s universe demands. It was easier when I was unmedicated.

[pocketoon]

get ready im drawing MORE TRIGUN

[artist-issues]

that was real dumb. From a storytelling point of view, truthfully. Why would you take the only character who has some real-life characterization, some stuff that grounds the show and makes it's main element feel at least a little rooted in reality, and unravel all that characterization—and then kill him off?

Let me back it up.

It's a teen treasure-hunting show. Nobody wants to watch that unless all those individual words feel realistic enough to be relatable, and compelling. Teen. Treasure-Hunting. Emphasis on teen, otherwise I'd watch National Treasure.

you have the boy hero who's dad was a treasure-hunter and mysteriously disappeared. Thats not very realistic, its a little fantastical, but you can make it feel realistic if you work hard, and compelling if he's a good actor with chemistry.

you have the hot girl who's part rich-kid, chosen-poor-kid, who hangs out with the underdogs just...because. Okay, that's a little cliche, a little "my parents don't understand me, I'm a rebel without a cause" in the cheeseball way. Clearly gotta be the girl-in-the-group, gotta be eye-candy. But you can make it feel realistic if you work, and compelling if she's played by a good actress with good chemistry.

you have the boy who's a brainiac and he hangs out with the underdogs because they'll be nice to him even if he's a weird brainiac, just...because. He's like the good-boy in the bad-boy group. Another cliche, but that's fine. That won't take too much work to explain, and it's not super compelling, but it rounds out the crew, and again, it'll work if you have a good actor with good chemistry.

you have another hot girl who's basically perfect and joins the hero group later—she's rich but she's more compassionate to poor people than literally anyone around her for unexplained reasons, she can be inconsiderate but that compassion thing comes in clutch if consequences ever roll around to keep her likeable, she's funny, charming, strong when she needs to beat someone up for girl-power but damsel-in-distressy when her boyfriend needs to look heroic, willing to turn on her whole family for the love of our hero, whatevs. Cliche, but you can even make her feel real if you work. Points for an actress who's good and has chemistry.

and then you have loose-cannon, comic-relief boy who's like our hero but grungier and slightly less heroic so that he doesn't steal the spotlight. He can break up tension when you need a break from tension, OR he can bring it in when you need to start drama, because like we said, he's a loose-cannon. Fine. Cliche—

—oh but wait. His dad abuses him. Oh, that's some real stuff right there. Real-world stuff. Not "my daddy's a supervillain murderer," or "my daddy ran off and disappeared treasure-hunting," or even "my daddy doesn't like my friends." It's right in between the cliches and extremes. It's real-feeling in a way that everything else isn't.

But maybe they'll overdo it and make it super-tragic, super-dramatic, they'll shoot it in a way that's too gratuitous, he's got PTSD but it's way overdone, he's all weak and mumbly or he's got to be taken care of by the rest of our motley crew like a soft boy—

No? No, they're not doing any of that? No, they shot it in a realistic way that portrays the horrible tension of the relationship but doesn't linger too long, too melodramatically? No, the character isn't making this his whole thing—hems actually acting like this is just a part of life? A sucky part of life, but a normal part of normal life for him? Woah. Thats real stuff right there. And it causes the trauma and the rage and the heartbreak but...all that stuff just simmers...under the surface? Realistically under the surface? He brushes the abuse topic off with people who care about him, but he's perfectly willing to use the abuse topic to get out of trouble with adults who are on his case? Like a real teenager in real life who grows up around this and experiences it might?

Wow. That doesn't take much work to do, at all. It writes itself. It is real and true.

More than that—little things—when a character says a heroic line of drama-film dialogue about treasure hunting, this comic-relief boy always winds up saying something...random and sort of shallow? He says something about weed or repeats what the dramatic kid said in a funny accent? Like a real teenager would in real life? Like a real kid, who really responds to everything as if he doesn't think much about The Future or Epic Destinies?

He eats moldy bread when everybody else is poring over a treasure map? He flirts inappropriately when he should be dramatically waking up in his concerned lover's arms after getting hurt saving her? He makes really stupid decisions, not because they need to cover a plot hole or because he's "the dumb one" but because...he's a badly-raised teenager who genuinely has always had to look out for himself? He says something simple and real when any other character would've said something daring and poetic?

And put on top of all that that he's played by an actor who's really good at his job and has great chemistry with everything that breathes onscreen?

That's the character that puts the teen in "teenage treasure hunting show." The real, believable adolescent-who-doesn't-think-beyond-the-moment. The reason watching this team of cliche treasure-hunter stereotypical breakfast-club Romeo-&-Juliet cast is even interesting.

By having JJ be a trailer-trash punk who's dad beats him up, who loves to have a good time with his friends and takes his anger about his lot in life out on a silly us-versus-them rich kid group every chance he gets? By being the character with one foot in "reality" and the other in "adventure" out of sheer "I've had nothing my whole life so I don't know what Considering My Future is, and I might as well be cocky" attitude?

He grounded the show. You can believe John B would drive his van into a moving plane, and Pope would be able to win in a fight against a grown-man drug-dealer, and buried treasure exists and can be found by kids—you can believe all of that because of JJ. Because one character feels real, your subconscious goes, "I know that the writers know what 'real' is because JJ stood up covered in bruises in that hot tub, so I trust them to bring 'real' back in somewhere down the line."

I'm not saying there's nothing else realistic in the show. I'm saying, he felt the most really real.

And they killed him.

I don't care how pretty and neat it is to see my hometown in their show, I'm not watching it anymore, it was already way not worth it, but that's just ridiculous.

Don't even get me started on the way they killed him, and by whom, and how it was shot, and at what point in his "character arc" it was done. Ridiculous.

[yamisnuffles]

DATV Spoiler Free Review

I beat Veilguard a couple days ago and have had some time to let it settle in my brain. So, without getting into the nitty gritty and more spoilery things, here are my overall feelings on the game.

The Great:

The world itself. The scenery. It was really gorgeous and felt fully alive in a way that none of the previous games have quite managed. Since it wasn't as open world as DAI nor as narrow in scope as DA2 (nor as old as DAO lol), it felt more vital. Definitely a place where the advances in graphics helped, I'm sure.

The Good:

The companions. I wouldn't say any of them blew me away but they all at least ranged from enjoyable to very good. I definitely had my quibbles here and there but I think they were all pretty solid. As such, though I've only done one romance, I'll suppose they're all good. A bit... sparse in my experience and from what I've been hearing, but nice enough.

Overall, I also think the story was pretty good. Like much in this game, nothing that blew me away, but solidly compelling.

Also, mechanically, the gameplay and the glamour system. It still doesn't feel like DA to me but it was enjoyable once I got used to it. It works well with how I play games. And it was nice to just set looks for myself and my companions and not worry about stats vs appearance.

Rook. I have some definite Complaints, and so this point is probably closer to the good to mid range, but they did a pretty good job with letting you pull in your faction stuff. I'm prevented from saying great because it feels like, even with what are supposed to be rougher dialogue choices, you're limited to being mildly pleasant.

The Mid:

The music. This is tragic to me because every previous game had some really standout songs and DAI especially was such a solid soundtrack. I love soundtrack music. Also because Hans Zimmer! I love Hans Zimmer. But the entire thing felt very generic epic fantasy to me. It wasn't bad but it didn't feel good. The only times I ended up moved by the music was when they lifted DAI songs.

The lack of imports. It wasn't the end of the world but did make some cameos feel really off. And for all the talk of making what few things were imported matter, that really didn't feel like the case at all (unless you were in a specific subset of players). I didn't care too much, but it was just enough to make things feel weird, especially with characters like Harding who are so attached to previous stuff.

The Bad:

The world felt so sanitized. I have no issue getting rid of real life bigotry that makes so sense in the context of the world. For example, the sexism in DAO especially made no sense. That said, there was a lot of in world nastiness that is just... gone. The game does a lot of telling us the elves have it bad but doesn't show it. No one bats an eye at a Tevinter mage running about outside of Tevinter. No one cares about a Qunari in occupied Treviso. I suppose it's not the worst thing in the world but it feels weird, especially when it's so central to Solas' motivations.

This sanitization carried on through pretty much everything. All of the factions are presented as good and heroic, even the ones that are historically pretty shady. Your companions are all pleasant and palatable. They have the occasional minor squabble but even when they almost have actual beef, it's solved super easily. You might get some disapproval for decisions but companions never seem to much care or hold it against you, even on really big things. I don't need DA2 levels of interparty drama but, boy did I want a bit more tooth sometimes.

The Awful:

I can't get into it without spoilers but it did a Thing that Bioware sometimes likes to do that I absolutely loathe. This is definitely personal but it ruined some of my desire to replay.

Overall:

I'd give the game a 7/10 or maybe 6/10, depending on how I'm feeling. It was enjoyable for the most part but it had so many things that felt like splinters. Lots of little things that stuck under my skin and bothered me. Would I recommend it? Genuinely depends on the person.

[marzipanandminutiae]

You talk a lot about the (tragic) lack of love for female characters we typically see in fandom spaces. Did it always come easily to you to prioritize/be super interested in female characters or did you have a journey to reach that at some point when you were younger?

When I was about 3 years old, my father took me to the book store (mostly to look at the pictures, of course) as was our usual habit. apparently, after wandering around a bit, I said to him very seriously, "Daddy. There's a problem."

"What is it?" he asked.

"Not enough books about girls."

He took me to look around the kids' section again and see. Afterwards, he turned to me and said, "Marzi, you know what? You're right. What are you going to do about that?"

To which I'm told I responded, "Write some."

So yeah, it goes back pretty far.

And to be clear, I don't think focusing on female characters is some kind of moral imperative or sign of superiority or anything else more than just...really liking female characters. Some people do, some people tend to have a more balanced array of faves gender-wise, and some seem to end up gravitating more toward male characters. Which I do get! For me, female characters just have this...undefinable Shine about them. They're almost always the most interesting and compelling to me. Maybe it's because I'm a woman; maybe it's because I'm a lesbian. I don't know. It's just always been like that, and no other gender of character can compare (though I can of course find them interesting to some degree as well).

And of course :) this includes trans female characters :) because those are also Women :) just in case anyone gets any ideas that they absolutely fucking should not :)

It's more the widespread attitudes and trends one sees writ large in fandom that can irritate me at times. there's a difference between "yeah a lot of my faves are male" and "I just think femslash is only good when it's a genderbend of two male characters" (which is a real hot take I've really seen) or all the shows I've seen clogging up my dash with GIFs of pretty male couples and learned exactly nothing about the female main characters in the process.

[dickgraysonsptsd]

okay and what about YOUR dickie suit opinions? im curious

OKAY YAYYYYY this is very long so do not click the expand button unless you want this thing unleashed on your dash!!

mulletwing + gliderwing. absolutely radiant. stunning. masculine in a deliriously gay manner. the gold feathers/plating look SOOOO good. the wing-like cape is elegant and cheesy in equal measure. he looks COOL and BEAUTIFUL and DISTINCTIVE and ICONIC and OF THE TIMES and LIKE MEN LUST FOR HIM

2. every robin suit with his legs fully out.

3. nightwing 1996 suit. my favorite post-disco suit! the V chevron looks so much sleeker and more beautiful without the bird head imo and it comes with the beloved fingerstripes <3 if i'm just rotating dickie in my mind it's nearly always in this suit <333

4. classic discowing. you look BEAUTIFUL babygirl!!!! special mention to the front of the suit being zippable.... why do you have a zipper there if not for men to use it to expose your chest mid-combat ?

5. riddle of the beast elseworlds corpse fit. this is such a great fantasy reimagining of mulletwing and also bruce keeps dick's corpse in it next to his throne after dick dies which rockets it up the list by sheer brudickosity. (his actual riddle of the beast outfit is so-so, i'd put it in the bottom quarter of his suits total)

6. agent 37. that chest harness is clearly designed for men to grab onto to yank him closer to them. and such a brave choice deserves respect.

7. white knight. for a comic that made me viscerally disgusted with its spineless centrism and sheer fumbling incompetence, dick looks good here! i love his jacket, and although the suit is a fairly generic variation on the rebirth suit as far as i can tell, it still looks sleek and stylish!

8. renegade. as an evil variant on his nw '96 suit, GREAT!!!!! i love that the renegade logo still looks vaguely birdlike but looks MORE like some kind of military plane or drone... very fitting :)

9. redondo suit. i don't care for redondo's art but this suit really has that "mecha pilot's suit getting shredded apart moments before sex" energy and that compels me

10. btas comic sugar glider. look at him. i want to snap him out of the air like a dog biting a floating soap bubble.

11. hipstripes suits. very kind of the artists to mark exactly where men are supposed to grab him

12. n52 suit. i like the chest logo design on this suit A LOT but it's ruined by not being blue T_T and also T_T by being n52 T_T

13. teen titans cartoon time travel episode. the bird logo is far too chunky. points deducted. i also don't care for the silver/metal belt and gauntlets, but they're appropriate for the overall design choices in tt cartoon so they can be forgiven...... THIS time.

14. young justice cartoon. you are nothing to me.

15. titans tv. i love this version of dick as a character (he's sooo pathetic he has such big wet brown eyes he's so pretty he is SO tormented) but the armor on this suit makes it look terrible imo. leaning into a more masculine armored Cool Super Hero vibe for dick is just not the play

16. gotham knights video game suit. the same "you tried too hard to make him masc" issue as above but without brenton thwaite's air of tragic bisexual melancholy

17. all robin costumes with pants. get his thighs out. what's wrong with you. are you jacking off to him with pants ON? what kind of freak pervert are you

18. batman. it makes me so unbelievably sad LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!

and a link to strawbearri-frog's which is good and funny

[hinamie]

My I ask why are you a gojohater? I am a gojolover and love your gojopieces and love your portrayal of Gojo and Megumi, and I've known you're a gojohater since before I hit follow, but I am honestly curious haha I am a gojolover, but I love criticism of Gojo (and anyone tbh but him in specific precisely because I like him a lot) both narratively and metanarratively, both his writing and his personality. So I am really curious, all the more because I always love your takes on him not just in image, but in concept. Many of my fave people to talk about my fave characters are haters of my characters, it's alright, truly. I really mean no harm. I'm just super curious because I think it could be very juicy and intricate analysis given your portrayals of Gojo xD

I am asking on anon because I'm shy and you're a big account, but I could ask off anon too if you're not comfortable with answering this question without putting a face on the sender, or in public as a whole. I am not shy enough that it would be a problem to me if you prefer it. Of course, please feel free to ignore my question too if you don't want to reply for whatever reason (even just not being in the mood, that's good enough reason in my books xD)

In any case, thanks for drawing and sharing your art with us!

Hi anon! i’m glad you like my art of him but if you’re expecting an intricate analysis on gojo you’ve come to the wrong blog :’> 

as fr my thoughts on him,,, listen. I hate on him as a meme gsdhjf it’s not that serious. i’ll come out and say it, I don’t /actually/ hate the guy, really the extent of it is just that I think he's annoying a lot of the time and not in a way that endears him to me. however when I started watching jjk I’ll admit I Was charmed by him! And even now I can recognize tht there’s undeniably a lot to his character that makes him super interesting, I think that his loneliness and burden of being the strongest hidden under a carefree mask r things that make him rly compelling. i like that he’s insane i like that he’s strong to the point of being unreachably Alone, i LOVE that despite that he cares so much about the kids and tries to connect with and protect them at every opportunity. he’s a tragic tragic character and annoying or not, I eat that up

my beef is with fanon gojo ghjgshd seeing the way that the audience treats him soured him for me Bad. It’s so hard to see a character for the tragedy of their desire for connection when the entirety of their personality and the significance of all their fascinating story beats are entirely drowned out by mischaracterization and audience horniness. he overshadows everything he’s in because That Type of gojo fan sees him and gets tunnel vision regarding everything else—see the people who were threatening gege's life over killing him and Hard banking on a gojo comeback until the very end despite th narrative uproot it would cause. someone could make the most emotionally poignant piece of gojo-centric content and you’d still have probably a majority of his fans doing nothing but barking because that’s their 6’4 dom top or whatever. 

atp i’m used to seeing it but it still makes me angry that such a deep character with so much story significance is completely objectified by ppl who claim to be his fans. that’s not my business tho, engage with media however u want, just know that i Am judging you

so long story short i hate on him out of principle. i saw the way fandom treats him and i simply decided that yeah i dont like this i will not contribute. i will not show him any love beyond the art i make of him. but I wouldn’t dedicate so much time and effort to making art of a character if I truly hated them lmao i’m not that dedicated to the bit

[instantpansies]

sfth abigail is very tricky for me to headcanon bc i can't decide which is better: "tragically heterosexual" trans woman profoundly isolated in suburbia trapped in the only relationship she thinks she can have, or extremely in-denial seemingly cishet housewife caught up in traditional gender roles after a failed career in a male-dominated field and reminded of it every day.

both are so good and so full of potential and i can do both but it does have a bearing on how i approach a specific timeline/storyline i'm working on. idk, trans!abigail is so compelling bc she's in this very normative, very not-queer space and marriage, and i can imagine her experience as being just. so lonely. and she feels stuck there, in such a precarious position where there's nothing quite wrong but nothing at all right. and the trappings of suburbia are very restrictive of how she can even talk about herself or her marriage or her life. i also just get a very queer vibe from most of tom's women characters and abigail is no exception.

cis!abigail is super compelling too!!! mainly bc i think she is deeply closeted about something and i want to give her a horrible lesbian crisis in the middle of her decaying marriage. and i think that a trans woman who has been queer for a long time having a sexuality crisis is a very different situation from a middle-aged straight woman who has never even considered it and barely knows queer people exist. additionally, a cis woman marrying someone she met during her career, with the constant reminder of her failure and the weight of living up to her new role as a wife, has a ton of potential.

either way, gender is really important to (my interpretation of) abigail's character, and i want to find a way to depict her relationship with her gender and gender roles and her place in the society in which she finds herself, in a way that is interesting and compelling and does her justice. both are good, i just can't decide what to do for this storyline (that will end up determining how i think about and synthesize her story in general).

[oh-no-its-bird]

Favorite Naruto Character?

Impossible question!!! It changes by the day depending on what fic I'm reading tbh

I feel like if I'm asked this on the street on a time limit, my default answer would probably be Tobirama? But like in part just bc hes what I'm known for/started out writing, so

But like, in the running for favorite uhh

Kakashi is amazing, forever and always. Specifically team Ro era him, I have a mild obsession w his younger iterations bc of the edge factor and also just how fun it is how he fucking shapeshifts into a new guy depending on his stage of life. U can get functionally, like, 4 or 5 completely different characters out of him purely based on how old he is, it's fascinating

Orochimaru. My beloved. He fascinates me. His gender. His crimes. His snakes. I love snakes. I love him. The unbeatable comedy of him being a fucking housewife in Boruto never ceases to amaze me. On me and my girlfriends first date I spent an entire 20 minutes talking about Orochimaru. She did not and does not know anything ab Naruto. This is a true fact you can ask her. I do not regret a single minute of it.

Tobirama, ofc, I fucking love mad scientists and maybe he isn't Orochimaru crazy but by god is he some brand of lunacy. His morally grey (arguably, at times, black) ways and rizless autism has enchanted me...I can not let him go

Izuna is way up there too, fanfiction has convinced me to love him and he remains one of the characters I find easiest to write. Somehow he worms his way into my fics and aus without even meaning for it to happen. The Izuna Sickness(tm)

Ok now imagine a little space here as I mention my runner ups / secondary favorites

Gaara. I love Gaara. I need more Gaara centric fics. I have very little to say or write about him myself and I never talk ab him on here but I love him. He is The Character Most Ever in my heart. Every day I scream and cry over the fact I've probably read all the Gaara centric time travel and crossover fics out there. So fucked up. I don't trust my own skill to write him. My hands are not shaped for it. I read a Gaara/Izuna/Tobirama time travel fic once and it changed my life.

HIKAKU. HIKAKU IS ALSO ON THE LIST. NOT REALLY BUT LIKE. HES UP THERE. FUCK. I LOVE HIM. He is a blank slate and it's arguable if he even fr fr exists but I don't care he means the world to me. The strong Hikaku warriors of ao3 (mostly Domoz) showed me the true beauty that is Hikaku. I fell in love with him. He exists in the back of my mind constantly.

Obito is not The Favorite but he's also up there. Specifically like. The deranged takes of him. Obito being a freak is my bread and butter, but this may also be linked to the fact that Kakashi is in the running for The Favorite(tm) so like. Maybe I'm just projecting my own love for Kakashi onto Obito then having way too much fun making him comedicallt weird ab it

The list goes on tbh, there are SO many naruto characters out there it's kind of insane. I became a little bit infatuated w Utakata at one point but the tragically little content for him lead to me getting distracted by characters with characters w more content for them. Sasuke and Neji I also find super compelling and occasionally have fits of tearing ao3 apart in search of content for them.

Ik u didn't ask and this is a ship and not a person but like. Also Kiba/Kankuro. Honey Honey Honey by @late-cambrian changed my brain chemistry forever and made me spiral for a little bit as it convinced me to love Kiba and Kankuro as a ship and as characters. I think I've talked about the fic before actually, it remains a favorite. I need more Kiba content, I fucking love dog boys (as I'm sure u can tell)

I'm sorry u asked me a simple question and I went on a rant, oops. In my defense it really is impossible to choose— ask me again in a month and I might give u a different answer, who knows

[fuedalreesespieces]

Inuyasha x Kikyo, Sesshomaru x Kagura

getting my rating out of the way: TWO OUT OF TEN BABYYYY!

here's the thing - i think inukik's dynamic is interesting because of the restraint. the distance between them despite their perceived kinship. souls brought together because, in kikyo's words, they both know loneliness.

but that isn't really true. inuyasha is alone, kikyo is lonely, and it's this disconnect that makes them incompatible. on the surface, they share many traits that stem from similar issues. both are distrustful, both have to hide their "true selves" under masks of either prickly disdain or stone-cold apathy. and the deal they make about the shikon jewel is really where it clicked for me how much they just don't work, because before kikyo can get to know the real inuyasha, beyond pre-conceived notions, he has to strip away a part of himself. he has to become human. and a huge, huge reason as to why inuyasha is the way he is is because he's a hanyou. who will he be after a transformation like that?

inukik shippers like to prattle on about how inuyasha and kikyo are super tragic and deserved better, but can we actually think about what that means? what would their relationship be like if things had gone according to plan? you have inuyasha, whose just given away a crucial part of himself, simultaneously tentatively happy to start a life with someone but also completely lost because he doesn't know how to be a lover, how to be a husband, hell, he barely knows how to be a friend - is that what they once were? friends? he doesn't know how to adjust to humans who would have once shouted and thrown things at him. he feels the fleshy things around his ears and wonders how he can still possibly feel deaf when he has them. he hates how he can't see his own hands in the dark. he hates the unspeakable and unexplainable human aches.

and kikyo is free. she still heals people, of course, but she no longer has to deal with the burden of the shikon jewel. and now she has a companion to share it all with. he's always so frustrated, and she can't understand why beyond the fact that he's a little weaker now. they're so careful with each other, too. they didn't know how to hug or hold hands or touch when they were meeting alone back then, so they don't know how to kiss, either, as husband and wife.

i can't see them fighting. i can't see them bickering or having a playful spat and that, to me, is a problem. one of the reasons why i love inukag so much is that we see them fight all the time, but they always come back stronger regardless. their feelings don't waver. and because of the honesty in their arguments, they learn each other's tells and ticks. the small details. they aren't afraid to get into a debate, because their love is strong enough to withstand it.

when i think of inukik, i think of walking on a wire.

besides all this conceptual stuff, we do get inukik in the show, after her forced resurrection. and this is where you totally lose me. any potential interest i could have had (and there was none to begin with) goes down the drain with lines like, "your life is mine." no. NO.

genuinely she made his survivor's guilt so much worse by reinforcing his negative line of thinking. and then at the end when he's holding her dying body, lamenting that he couldn't do more for her, she's like, "it's okay. you came." THATS WHAT HES BEEN DOING THIS WHOLE TIME??? no. no. this is too irritating lmao

i don't hate kikyo (most of the time) i just think a) inuyasha deserves better b) they are nooot compatible. also, most inukik shippers i've met turned me off from the ship even more.

anyway inukag and kagkik are a thousand times more compelling >>>

rating: 10/10 no notes

okay, but genuinely, i love sesskagu. i don't talk about them a lot, but they really are one of the more interesting pairings imo. opposites in many ways, but also very similar. sesshomaru, so certain of whom he is, and kagura, still trying to recover her body and identity for herself. sesshomaru, who travels the lands at his own pace, and kagura, who wishes to be free as the wind. sesshomaru and rin, kagura and kohaku. both haughty and powerful, but with contrasting personalities. wouldn't hurt to give sesshomaru someone (who would bully him) to banter with either.

also, i have a super specific headcanon of kagura teaching rin wind magic....i just need more rin and kagura interactions please im begging.

anyway 10/10. sesskagu sepremacy.

[lurkinginnernarrator]

Hello, it's MXTX Ask Game :

1.) From the 3 works by MXTX, who is your favorite (canon) couple? Why?

2.) From the 3 works by MXTX, do you have any non canon fav ships?

(FYI, I have at least 10 non canon ships from those 3 series, sorry)

3.) From the 3 works by MXTX, do you have any favorite quotes (from each series)?

4.) Who is your favorite love interest in MXTX three novels (luo binghe, lan wangji, mobei jun or hua cheng)? Why?

5.) Who is your favorite mc in MXTX three novels (shen qingqiu, wei wuxian, shang qinghua or xie lian)? Why?

6 a.) Which do you think is more tragic : Yi City arc or BeefLeaf arc or the Fallout between Shen Jiu - Yue Qi? Why?

b.) Can I ask your opinion on the comparison between bingqiu, wangxian, moshang, and hualian (their plus and minus sides)?

1:

I love all the main couples, but just based on the pairing alone I'd say Hualian, from aesthetics to the journey they went through, it's all very pleasing to look at. As some say, Hualian invented love

2. All of the ships of SVSSS, a rarer favourite of mine being Zhushen. But I enjoy all of them, and I enjoy the character dynamics in any flavour of romantic, platonic or something more unique.

3. That one passage in SVSSS where it talks about Qing Jing being a daycare for ADHD children kills me every time, Xie Lian's iconic "I cannot get erect" and Wen Qing's and Wei Wuxian's whole "Thank you, and I'm sorry."

4. They're all super entertaining! No shade to Bingmei, Wangji-xiong and Mobei-jun but I'd have to say Hua Cheng, reason one being: He's the cuntiest. His jangly boots? Cunty. His monologues? Yes. (When his little monologue to Qi Rong was animated in the donghua I was OBSESSED. I need to be him.) Also I love what he's done with ghost city specifically.

5.Shen Qingqiu, AKA Shen Yuan.

The narrative style immediately hooked me due to its humor, and the special way he looks at the world in part due to transmigration and in whole due to his own mindset and character made it so much sweeter. His journey from beginning to end, especially when we get to the extras makes it so impactful when you return to the beginning and see such a stark difference. His little quirks, and how he's practically unarmed against politeness is hilarious.

Watching him struggle and come to terms with the personhood of the people around him was gratifying, and unfortunately for me, slightly relatable.

He's just so supremely enjoyable.

(Honorable mention here for Wei Wuxian, I adore the sibling dynamics in MDZS so much, especially Yunmeng Trio. I will be forever thankful to the untamed for it.)

6.a)Oh this is HARD.

I am only on Volume Six of TGCF, but from what I've seen of beefleaf so far... It wins. Qijiu devastates me continually, but He Xuan offing Shi Wudu in front of Shi Qingxuan? The tragedy is incomprehensible. The connection between beeflead is worse than dead, it's tainted irrevocably. And the worst part is I can't bring myself to blame just one person. Shi Wudu's motivations compel me, and He Xuan's are completely justified.

And Shi Qingxuan is caught in the middle. Losing a brother to a dear friend. He's the nexus of tragedy in this case.

6.b)

Devotion is the characteristic that strikes me as a throughline of all the pairings, Bingqiu, Moshang, Wangxian, Hualian.

(I'm going to try and keep this short lol)

Shen Qingqiu's devotion is fully demonstrated in the Holy Mausoleum arc, and Luo Binghe's is clear to anyone besides Shen Yuan.

Shang Qinghua's devotion is demonstrated during Maigu Ridge, and when Mobei-jun is left vulnerable during his subsuming of the ancestral Mobei martial aspect. And Mobei-jun's devotion is so beautifully and gently demonstrated through the pulled noodles.

Wei Wuxian's devotion isn't given as much of a spotlight due to the circumstances and time it takes him to get to the point of realization and acceptance, but his continual attentiveness and inherent trust in Lan Wangji, are clear even in his first life. The confession is a clear moment of devotion to me.

Lan Wangji's devotion is well chronicled. His very life is built around devotion. His musical compositions reflect it, his ideals are inspired by it, his family is grown by it. In Wei Wuxian's second life there isn't a moment where Lan Wangji isn't in a mindset of devotion. I think his greatest act of devotion, (though I think there was more than simple devotion at play) was his decision to take in Wen Yuan.

I cannot speak as well for Hualian, as I don't have the full context yet, but what is the bond between God and believer if not devotion? A beautiful form of devotion is worship, and Hua Cheng is a skilled master at all forms of it.

Thank you for the ask, and I hope I answered it adequately!

[karuvapatta]

buckle up, I'm gonna bitch about Arcane season 2 for a while.

disclaimer: the animation and art direction is absolutely stellar, writing and voice acting is mostly solid, music ranges from good to amazing, sound design is great, and it's a great show overall.

HOWEVER:

There were so many interesting subplots and ideas, but not one of them had enough room to breathe or time to develop organically.

(spoilers under cut)

Caitlyn - I love the subplot about her becoming a fascist dictator and Ambessa's pupil, I really do. But then it sort of fizzled? She faced no repercussions for installing a police state and using chemical weaponry against civilians? The last one got to me especially - her mother built this system claiming that "the people of Undercity deserve to breathe" and Caitlyn then turned it against them. Okay, Vi and Jinx both called her out and it left to her rift with Vi, but... she's still in charge at the end, having seemingly learned no lessons?

Vi - uh, she was there. Sort of. Most of the time. Again, she joined the Enforcers, and it led to SOME conflict, but... is she going back to being an Enforcer? how does she feel about that? Who knows - Vi was mostly there for Cait and Jinx's subplots than her own.

Jinx - her subplot with Sevika and Isha was my second favourite thing about this season. The idea of her becoming a symbol and uniting Zaun is great. That little moment in the prison was awesome. But, ultimately - it didn't amount to much. Her sacrificing her life for Vi (or not, I don't know if she actually dies) didn't hit as much because we already knew she was actively suicidal.

Isha - had the potential to be super annoying, but like I said, I ended up really liking her character. Her death rubbed me the wrong way, however - it was very emotional, but the framing was very strange. Were we supposed to find it inspirational? Tragic but beautiful? Proof that Jinx isn't irredeemable?

Sevika - again: loved her, loved her interactions with Jinx and Isha.

Silco - I found it weird how this season consistently framed him as a good guy. Jinx and Sevika remember him fondly, he was the only thing holding Zaun together, there are cute flashbacks / AU versions of him and Vander being happy... he's a complex character and we love him for it, but let's not forget his many, many crimes.

Singed - kinda weird that he got what he wanted with no repercussions.

Mel - all right, her subplot bothered me perhaps most of all. Mel is a joy every time she's on screen, true, but last season she had been established as a savvy politician and businesswoman, motivated by her mommy issues, and a corrupting presence on Jayce. She pushed for progress at all costs to fulfil her own ambitions and prove something to her mother. That's a great setup! But what we got in s2 is... random superpowers out of nowhere. Mel always had power - she was the richest woman in Pilltover and basically ran its Council - but now instead of confronting her with the potential side-effects of Hextech, the consequences of her ambitions, and the futility of proving herself to her abusive warmongering mother, she just gets... more power. Out of nowhere. And validation from Ambessa. It was just weird.

Jayce and Viktor - easily the most compelling part of this season, and my favourite subplot. And STILL - it felt rushed and incoherent. I thought at first that Viktor would become jealous and resentful because Jayce is everything that he isn't, and I am honestly so glad they didn't take that route. But instead, Viktor gets... brainwashed by the Hexcore I guess? Ascends to a higher plane of existence? His Jesus Days and his cults were fascinating, but I didn't get the philosophy behind them at all. I can see why Viktor would want to shed his physical body for a machine that has none of its weakness, and how he might convince others to follow that path, but instead he chose to brainwash his followers and then assimilate the entire human race? What? There were so, so many potential sources of conflict between himself and Jayce - the Hextech weaponry Jayce built, Pilltover's fascist takeover of the Undercity, Jayce reviving him against his will and not destroying the Hexcore, accidentally poisoning Ekko's tree through their irresponsible use of Hextech... but the conflict we got didn't built on any of that. And I don't understand why.

(But I get you, Jayce/Viktor shippers. You won this round.)

[singing-not-sleeping-beauty]

What are the five good werewolf movies?

Ginger Snaps: early 2000s horror movie in which the titular werewolf is a teenage girl named Ginger Fitzgerald, sister focused narrative that acts as a metaphor for the death of girlhood, super gory, tragic ending that leads into the sequel, warning for depictions of self harm for both movies

Bhediya: Bollywood horror comedy with a strong environmental message, fantastic score, and compelling character growth

The Wolfman (1941): this is where the formula for most modern werewolf movies comes from, and it is certainly dated in some aspects, but it exhibits something that most copycat movies forget, we should feel sorry for the man behind the monster. We should be saddened, not indifferent, to his inevitable demise

Wolfwalkers: Very different from the other films on this list as it is an animated kids movie, but it is an Irish film inspired by the legend of the wolf-men of Ossory, with a unique 2D art style, and themes of anti-colonialism

Werewolf by Night (2022): yes, this is a marvel special presentation, but it also works well as a stand alone piece, and stays true to the idea that we should sympathize with the werewolf. Jack Russell is immediately endearing, and unlike so many werewolf movies he neither dies nor finds a cure by the end. While it works as a contained story, it still leaves you wanting more in the best possible way

[juniperhillpatient]

I know I'm terminally coffin-brained lately but hear me out it really bothers me that the perception of the Coffin of Andy & Leyley is ONLY "hehe incest cannibalism game" which is....not EXACTLY inaccurate but it certainly simplifies it ya know??? like I call it the incest cannibalism game too as a joke but I'm realizing there are a lot of people who think of it as like...a porn game? & btw I'm not AGAINST porny games or whatever I just think it's reductive & inaccurate to call Andy & Leyley that when in reality there is not even (so far) any textual sexual content beyond a demonic vision of a possible future. yes very obviously their relationship does have a sexual & romantic undertone, but it's compelling specifically because it's a complex story about siblings who have been genuinely fucked over by their parents & the world & they have developed a topically obsessive codependent relationship as a result.

like the initial conversation that the game's title is based on is Andrew casually half-jokingly talking about killing himself & it's just so..... narratively delicious. Ashley is not some horny one-dimensional slut who just wants to fuck her brother? Her reaction to Andrew talking about suicide is to joke that she'll race him to the balcony & he says back - semi sarcastically but we KNOW there's truth in his words, that he's clearly thought about this - that it would be too romantic, that they would be smashed together on the pavement, buried in the same coffin & like...the game proceeds from there with these two living in this intertwined fate, tangled together in ways neither of them can ever escape. it's romantic but it's also tragic & awful.

Andrew's love for Ashley will always be bitter & tinted with resentment because he was thrust with the responsibility of raising his little sister when he was only a child himself. he was made responsible for caring for Ashley with absolutely NO example of what caring for someone looked like & he was barely old enough to care for himself. Ashley never had anyone care for her in her entire life except Andrew & so she absolutely adores him to a dangerous & unhealthy degree.

like I hate it when people think Ashley is oh so abusive & manipulative or Andrew is so awful & selfish (she is manipulative & he is occasionally selfish) but like - as if there are not layers upon layers of WHY she treats Andrew the way she does & WHY he's so resentful. (as a side note I think debating who abuses who (aside from obviously the fact that they were both abused in different ways by their mother) or who's "worse" just...misses the whole ass point.)

and the cannibalism is initially about survival & the stakes are very apparent & built super well given the opening of the game spends a lot of time just demonstrating that they are literally starving to death to the point where Ashley is fainting & they're sharing a can of tomatoes out of the garbage joking that it's the best meal they've ever had. it is highly worth noting the way their actions escalate & get worse & worse with time as the game proceeds & you can see the way they're both getting more & more comfortable with violence & taboo. this game just would not compel me if it were just randomly "lol let's eat people!" get real

idk I just feel like people who don't know the game get the wrong idea about it when it's actually SO narratively rich okay bye

(this is not an anti Gravecest post either just to be clear, I fucking love the ship I just feel like it gets oversimplified often & also that Ashley especially is highly mischaracterized a lot, even in the game's marketing sometimes. at the core of the game are two deeply broken people who were fucked over bad & who are tied together in a way that neither of them can ever escape. it's love as horror & I loooove that about it)

[brightblurr]

Lacus didn't need to be an accord.

I just wanted to do a short thing about Lacus, a character I love immensely, despite the fact that I don't like what was done to her in Freedom.

I can almost separate her as three separate characters between Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED DESTINY, and Gundam SEED FREEDOM. These three different characters serve different functions and can almost come across as three different characters.

Gundam SEED: The version of Lacus we encounter in SEED comes off as an oblivious pop star. Aboard the Archangel, she is charming, pretty and very oblivious to the nature of the people around her. She charms Kira, and the other crewmembers. She doesn't come off as a threat. It isn't until she is handed back to Athrun, and Rau attempts to launch an attack on Kira, that we see that Lacus is well aware of military rules and stops the attack quickly. The shift in change of voice, her curtness and even her expression tell you that the facade she had aboard the Archangel was not the full picture of Lacus. She is full aware of where she is and what she can do.

This continues in SEED. From somehow rescuing Kira, to getting the Freedom from him from what is likely a high security military base (and doing it with the same super oblivious pop-star charm she had aboard the Archangel), to how she manipulates Athrun into realizing he needs to leave ZAFT. This Lacus that we see is cunning, capable and knowledgeable in ways that we couldn't imagine. She changes the tide of the war and her influence on others is awe inspiring. Even Cagalli, for all of her piloting abilities, can't amass the same reactions that Lacus does. She knows the military, she knows the political climate, and she can influence people. She is the most powerful character in SEED, and they didn't make her pilot to do it.

In Gundam SEED DESTINY: Lacus takes a step back and wants the normal life with Kira. It's understandable - she is a young woman in love, who wants to spend her life happily with Kira. But it isn't the same politically savvy young lady we see in SEED. She doesn't want to use her influence, even if the world is struggling. It comes to a point where she can't even stop others from using her influence.

In DESTINY, Durandal tries to use Lacus's power as a figure to manipulate others. He can use the music side of her, but he has trouble understanding what she was really like. Lacus was not the oblivious, cheerful pop-star that Durandal portrays Meer as. She was cunning. She knew the military. She knew how to use her words in a way that would force others to consider her perspective. Meer can't replicate that because they simply don't know how intricate Lacus is.

Given that Lacus relies on Kira as a sword, I don't even think Kira understands that depth of Lacus. She is not simply a figurehead. She is experienced. We don't see the SEED Lacus who charmed her way out of a dangerous enemy ship, or charmed her way into getting the Freedom, because she just becomes the worried, scared girlfriend. She speaks up in a speech against Meer when she finally has to, but that speech shows none of the tact that Lacus had in SEED.

In Gundam SEED FREEDOM: They reduce everything that SEED Lacus accomplished by making her an Accord. She was intelligent, knowledgeable about the military, apprised of world affairs, and knew how to use the gaze focused on her and direct it to others. She was powerful without needing to be an ultimate coordinator. Being an accord and simply attributing all of this to her ability to read minds and influence others as something generated in a laboratory, destroys just how compelling Lacus truly was. It is so disappointing. It is tragic that it really hurts her character development. Instead of putting her on the forefront of the battle with the same charm she had, she is reduced to simply waiting for Kira to rescue her, piloting the Mighty Defender pack to Kira, and then piloting for him? It's such a strange twist when Lacus could barely move the Infinite Justice in DESTINY. It reduces her from being a powerhouse character to just being another genetically enhanced character who didn't work for what she had.

The Lacus in SEED, who showed tact, charm, cunning, was an amazing character. She wasn't stupid in the slightest. in FREEDOM, she doesn't even try to charm her way out of Orphee. She doesn't try anything except claiming she's resisting. It isn't the same character, and I'd argue this hurt her more than anything.

I would have preferred the story simply leave her as an endearing, powerful political figure, and for Aura to want her to join them because Durandal told her about how powerful Lacus is. Maybe throw in that she knew Lacus's mom and had been promised Lacus to be with Orphee. The Accord bits were never necessary.

Nail in the coffin for me was when Cagalli was shafted, but still given all of the power that Lacus could have had. She spoke up against Orphee, showed political tact by letting the Millenium escape, prepared for the Accords powers with remote control AND the remade DESTINY era gundams, and was shown to be a much better political leader.

Lacus could have been that and more. She didn't need the piloting. She didn't need mind reading. She only needed to be Lacus, full on Lacus, let loose. She was such a compelling character, who broke the mold of the oblivious, pink character that she should have been in just in SEED. I hope they don't touch her character more and make it even worse lol.

It literally is three different characters if you separate the three Lacus. She is not even remotely as intelligent or capable as the version in SEED.