#the fact the protagonist is brazilian makes me so happy

[v7-arts]

I have played the demo yesterday and...

[shera-dnd]

I have decided against my better judgement to be weird about the Dawntrail MSQ

and we can't talk about an expansion set in the fantasy americas without talking about

COLONIALISM

oh yeah, we're going there baby

So disclaimer that I may be brazilian, but my ass is white as hell, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. Also if any native americans have made posts on this please let me know so I can boost their analysis as well

Also also I'm more than happy to delete this post if I mess up. I'm genuinely trying to make a thoughtful analysis, so if I fuck up just say the word and this thing is gone from this website

Oh also also also, Dawntrail MSQ spoilers ahead!

So FFXIV has had a... messy relationship with colonialism over the years

The fact that the major antagonists for the first half of A Realm Reborn a literally called "beast man tribes" is absolutely not a good start to this story

Add to that the fact that The Twelve (Eorzea's gods) are shown to be kind all powerful deities, while the Primals (the tribal gods) are evil spirits summoned to bring destruction to the world

and yeah no ARR is not good with that shit. It's EXTREMELY not good. If I hadn't been told it got better later on I would have dropped this shit before I got to Titan

But they have been taking steps to unfuck things. First we're shown that even the "civilized societies" (in this case the catholic elves) can summon Primals, then that Primal summoning isn't an actual native custom but was introduced by foreigners with malicious intent, and that not all "beast man" practice that

Then they changed the names of the "Beast Man Tribe Quests" to "Tribal Quests" and then finally to "Allied Society Quest"

Which would have been an empty gesture had like half of the post-Shadowbringer patches, as well a lot of Endwalker, not been about forming alliances with those people and working together with them, recognizing that they have as much right to the land and to life as any Eorzean, this all culminating on the Primals being summoned with the express purpose of helping you protect the world you all share

I guess they realized that they couldn't have their big bad for most of the game be the evil expansionist empire, if they didn't like actually reflect in their own imperialist fantasies they were propagating

Then the teaser trailer for Dawntrail drops and everyone in the fandom is like "wait... are we gonna do a colonialism?"

And memes were abound of how all those lessons from before don't apply to the "New World" of Tural

THANKFULLY the actual questline leading to Dawntrail helped to settle some of those worries

We're not going to Tural to explore a new uncharted land, but are actually being invited over by the local royalty in order to aid them with their right of succession. We get introduced to the nation of Tuliyollal and how it's a thriving land with its own culture and not just a "terra nil" waiting to be colonized

Still there are some worries that this is gonna turn out poorly and that we're just gonna end up being white saviors

But I think they managed to avoid that pretty well

For starters neither the Scions nor the Warrior of Light are the protagonists of this story. You're all simply supporting character's in Wuk Lamat's story

A story that centers her people, her culture, and her family

And it's not even one culture. They don't portray Tuliyollal as this monolithic mish mash of every single native american culture

No, the lands of Tural are in fact comprised of multiple different people's and nations, each of them with their own customs and traditions which are informed by their history and the lands they live in

In fact learning about their cultures and partaking in their customs is the whole point of the Rite of Succession. It's all set up so that the next Dawnservant would be someone who understands and respects each of the peoples that comprise Tural

(I could, and probably will, write about what Dawntrail has to say about what makes a good ruler)

And our girl, Wuk Lamat, is shown to be the rightful heir because she really goes out of her way to understand each of the nations and show her appreciation for their customs

Putting her well above her Sharlyaboo brother Koana, The King of Unresolved Daddy Issues Zoral Ja, and whatever the fuck is going on with Bakool Ja Ja

(I joke, I love my two headed traumatized dumbass)

Tho I will admit that this does end up giving the tribes a somewhat "planet of the hats" vibe. Like their named NPCs are diverse and interesting, but you can just assume that most random NPCs of any given people are gonna act according to the stereotype

Which is unfortunate, but I have hopes that with the next few patches and the addition of Dawntrail's own Allied Society Quests, we'll get to see more to them

But that... is only up to lvl95 and the end of the Yok'Tural (southern Tural) segment

because then we get to Xak'Tural (northern Tural) and holy shit does it feel like they drop the ball there

Like they really COULDN'T keep themselves from making Shaaloani a fucking Wild West map

Instead of doing anything with the actual cultures and histories of Native North American people, they just do wild fucking west

Because there's ceruleum in them thar hills! And apparently Koana turned most of the region into Sharlyaboos too

So we get a bunch of Wild West frontier towns mixed with native american tribes and mud brick cities. We have trains and guns and a sheriff and a duel at high noon, but now everyone got native american names

At least there's one group off to the northern side of the map who seems to stick to tradition and live in harmony with nature, and that group is shown respect by the other people of the region

so we at the very least avoid the "cowboys vs indians" crap, but my god does that region just feel bad compared to everything else they had done so far

Then we get to the big twist: THE CYBERPUNK PORTION OF THE GAME

because yes, we go full fucking cyberpunk

so turns out that a whole segment of Xak'Tural got colonized by the kingdom of Alexandria, including the lands of the Shetona (Erenville's people)

And I feel like this is the most poignant section of the MSQ when it comes to colonialism

Because here we have Alexandria, an empire that has reached the limit of what it can do sustain itself on its own world, and so has decided to spread out and colonize others in order to gain resources

We see the Shetona and other natives of the region being separated from their families and kept in isolation from the rest of their people

And tho Queen Sphene is shown to be a kind and caring ruler who gives people a choice when it comes to joining the empire, WELL SHE'S STILL THE QUEEN OF A FUCKING EMPIRE

Like her form of kindness and just stagnant peace is put in stark contrast with Wuk Lamat's own love for her people and more proactive pursuit of happiness and harmony

(again with the "what makes a ruler theme")

Also the people that choose to be assimilated into the Alexandrian Empire? Yeah, they're doing so because Alexandria has advanced medical technology and you can only receive their aid if you're a citizen

Not only that, but you have to be a working citizen. We see later on a character being denied medical aid, because he lost his job, thanks to the King's decision and at no fault of his own

yeah this is cyberpunk, not just sci-fi

ALSO can we talk about how the technology used for that medical aid and the little gizmo they give you to signify you're now a citizen, will literally erase the memory of the people you lost

So the Turali who are assimilated into Alexandrian culture not only lose ties to their culture and their loved ones, but are not allowed to grieve their loss, because what they once had is slowly being erased

How their choices add up to survive on their own OR be assimilated

How this all takes place IN NORTH FUCKING AMERICA!

THE CYBERPUNK CITY IS LITERALLY SET IN THIS WORLD'S EQUIVALENT TO THE UNITED STATES

So yeah, I don't think is is accidental. I genuinely thing that they're making a point about the realities of imperialism and colonialism, as well as taking some shots at the US while they're at it

Of course this part is still centered around Wuk Lamat, and instead of having a moment of "the only ones who can stop the evil white europeans are the GOOD white europeans", we have Wuk Lamat be the one to save the day, defeat Sphene, and save her people from the colonizing empire

So I would like to argue that everything that happens from lvl97 onwards is them picking up the ball again and making a real point

buuuut that comes at the cost of us being unable to engage with the native peoples of Xak'Tural outside of the context of colonialism

Which genuinely fucking sucks, and I hope it will be remedied with the post-Dawntrail patches

As well as handling the whole shared land situation they ended up with and how this might end up in a Land Back sort of movement, and oh boy can they mess shit up royally there

So in conclusion FFXIV has had a messy relationship with colonialism and imperialist fantasies and tropes, but the devs seem to be making a concerted effort to undo their mistakes and show respect in their depictions of american natives

They still fuck up

boy do they

but they're at least trying, and I'd say Dawntrail so far has been quite well executed

so yeah, look forward to more insane rambles like this one I guess

[dreamcast-official]

seiya

rubs my evil hands together. thank youuuu for giving me My Guy

First impression:

to be honest i dont remember what i first thought of him. ive been into saint seiya for a very. VERY long time. im pretty sure i just assumed he was another generic shonen protagonist and im soo happy i was proven (somewhat) wrong

Impression now:

MY BABY BOYYYYYY I WANT TO STUDY HIM LIKE A BUG i want to know what sort of problems hes gonna have in his brain because of everything hes been through :3c

Favorite moment:

honestly i think its the scene in the sanctuary arc right before the aphrodite fight where he leaves shun behind. because that scene really speaks to seiya's emotional maturity and how its evolved since the start of the story. his realizing that shun isnt weak, his realizing that he really does care about shun so strongly? i think that really works in his favor as a character (i.e.: admitting that hes wrong and admitting he really cares about someone, both things he struggled with very intensely at the start) and it also highlights his friendship with shun which is always going to be so special to me

Idea for a story:

i!!!! want to see him rebuild his relationship with his sister!!!! its true that seika lost her memory but i dont think seiya would leave it at that! i think him trying to rebuild his bond with her could be really interesting! lets be honest even if seika didnt lose her memory it would still take a lot of work, theyve been separated for a long time. but hes spent so long missing her and looking for her i really think he'd give it his all to rebuild that bond - or even build something entirely new. i dont know. this boy's entire motivation is reuniting with his sister i think we should get to see what happens when he actually gets to do that.

Unpopular opinion:

i dont think hes stupid. i think hes very smart, actually. and he has very valuable insight to share with his friends since he actually grew up in sanctuary. i think he should get to show off his smarts more.

Favorite relationship:

i'm torn between it being saori or shun. i think both really play into how he is as a person and how he shows affection, only one is from a romantic angle and the other is from a platonic angle. i really love his friendship with shun (and the fact that in a lot of sources theyre stated to be each other's best friend is very sweet to me), like i said in the favorite moment section i think his friendship with shun was a starting point for seiya learning how to let people into his heart again and admitting he cares about people again. but his relationship with saori is so good for both characters. i could write a seisao essay. i think one day i straight up will. they make me crazy.

Favorite headcanon:

i like the idea of him being half-brazilian :)

[nomattertheoceans]

ok what is this 3% show? cause you seem to like it a lot but i've never heard of it before

Non’, you have no idea how happy this ask made me!!!!! I’ve been dying to get people interested in this show so the fact that you want to know more makes me super happy!! this is gonna be long I’m sorry lmao (but really I’m not I could talk about it all day)

So, 3%. For the basics of where you can watch it, it’s a Brazilian show produced by Netflix (so if you have Netflix you should have it), it’s in Portuguese but if you don’t speak Portuguese and you don’t want to watch with subtitles, there also are English and Spanish versions!!! So it’s very accessible ^^ The show just released its final season, so you’ll be getting a full story with no threats of cancelation, which in my book is a very important point hahahah

NOW FOR THE INTERESTING PART!!!

It’s a post-apocalyptic sci-fi show

3% is set in Northern Brazil far in the future. More than a century ago, the entire society collapsed, leaving the population to survive in the remnants of a city situated in the middle of a desert. They have no ressources, barely any water or food to survive, almost no electricity or technology. This place is called the Inland.

Far in the ocean, an island called the Offshore is still thriving, everybody gets to live with basically everything they need, it is said to be a perfect society without crimes or misery (you won’t get to see it until season 2 though so here’s a little preview ^^).

There is a catch though. Only 3% of the population gets to access this paradise. When they’re 20 years old, every young person from the Inland is allowed to enter the Process, a series of tests to select the best, the 3% that will be allowed to get to the Offshore. The rest of them, the 97%, are left in the Inland, living in poverty and misery, hoping that their children might one day pass the Process and get to live a better life.

The show starts at the beginning of Process n° 104. The protagonists are 20 year-olds who enter the Process in the hopes to pass (for various reasons which I can’t get into without spoiling you, but you get clued in in the first episode haha).

It’s hard to tell you more of the plot without spoiling anything so I will leave it at that, and hope I managed to get you interested!!!!

Why did I like the show so much? Of course, if you don’t like post-apocalyptic stories, or science-fiction, you might not like it. But if this is your kind of media, I would really advise you to give it a chance!!!!! The story is very well driven, the character arcs reach a satisfying ending (thanks to the show not having been canceled before its natural end, a big plus for me), the worldbuilding is really good (you get the information that you need at the right time, you never get too much, you rarely get too little). The characters are all very different but very interesting, their relationships between each other are complex but in my opinion very realistic and compelling.

And of course if you start watching, you are welcome to come talk about it in my inbox because I looooove this show!!!!!

[low-budget-korra]

The first text I made was over 2,000 words so I’ll try to summarize it.

First I'm going to talk about what I think is Bury Your Gays and poor writing of minorities.

For me, Bury your gays is when certain productions kill the lgbt character for the sake of shock value, often in the most stupid ways possible. A famous example of this was what happened to Lexa in the 100. When it feels like the character only died because he is gay.

And for me, poor writing for minorities (poc, lgbt, people with disabilities ...) can be characterized as:

1. Productions that want to portray the image of progressives and put a poc or lgbt character (which are the most common cases) without personality, unimportant, without development ... Character that are just there for decoration

2. When they even create an interesting character but soon create a reason to kill him to shock the audience. Kill them because they are poc.

And for me having a poc or lgbt character (since these are the boxes where I identify with) interesting, important ... this is the word: Important! whether it is important directly in the plot as a protagonist who carries the story or a supporting role with a good role on the story and a good development, it is much more significant than a character forced only for certain productions not to be accused of racism, sexism or lgbtphobia.

Of course, each case is different. I will now comment briefly on Atomic Blonde, The Last of Us part II and The Legend of Korra.

In Atomic Blonde we have the death of Delphine, a lgbt character who has generated some discussions about being a "bury your gays". I don't particularly agree because I believe that if she were a man or straight, she would die anyway. Since the protagonist's other love interest had died in the beginning and he was a heterosexual white man, and because the character of Delphine, despite being a spy, did not belong in that work or life style . Something even commented by herself. She was an inexperienced agent in the worst possible scenario to be one . But i now understand and why some people still think It was bury your gays.

In The Last of Us part II I saw many people complaining about the death of Jesse, Yara and how Lev was just a supporting character. The Last of Us part II .... a game that is not afraid to kill loved characters without any ceremony simply because in that world, one mistake can cost your life. Regardless of gender, sexuality, age, skin color ...

Jesse and Yara played Asian American characters and died. Mel, Joel, Owen ... were Caucasian, cishet characters who died too. None of them die because they are asian american or caucasian, they die cuz that world is fucking ruthless.

And about Lev not being important just because he is an supporting character... First that he is for Abby what Dina is for Ellie, both of them are extremely important support for the protagonists and Interesting characters with their own internal struggles and development. I think it is very unfair to throw this away with the argument like: "ah, but he is not the protagonist so it is not important"

And still about The Last of Us part II we are talking about a game and for those who do not know the gamer community is toxic, full of sexism, racism, lgbtphobia ... And the game developers had the balls for not only make two protagonists women outside the steryotype of femme fatalle or defenseless love interest(still very present in games) and one of them a lesbian, but also introducing an important trans character in a mainstream high-budget game.

People, until recently the only image we had of women in games was that of a busty model running around, made purely to please male players, good and important black, asian and lgbt characters was really rare or just didnt exist at all.

And today we have characters like Ellie, Lev, Kassandra (AC Odyssey), Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield who were reimagined more humanely in the remakes of Resident Evil, Lara Croft herself in the 2013 Tomb Raider remake, Max and Chloe(Life is Strange), Lee and Clementine(TWD from telltale), Marcus (Detroit Become Humam ), Connor (AC3) ... I know, there is still a long way to go until we have achieved the equality and representativeness that we want in the world of games but we are advancing. They may be a baby step but they still are steps forward. We should continue to support this initiatives and demand better representation.

Now about The Legend of Korra ... Reading the comments in the post i get the feeling that people were much more angry with Bryke for being cishet than with questions related to the narrative.

It bothers me the fact that it seems that whoever made the posts (originally from twitter) did not watch avatar or simply watched without paying attention. It was NEVER about Korra needed suffering but about finding Meaning in suffering. And yes, they are two different things.

When in the end Korra is talking to Tenzin, about understand the why she had to go through all that , for them be abble to be more compassionate of others. That shit is real. When you have a panic attack , for exemple, you become more abble to help someone who also suffers from that. Or when some people lose someone for a disease or acident and choose to become a doctor to help others, wanting no other person had to go through that pain... In this case, the person didnt have to lose someone to be a doctor but maybe after saw all the fight that the doctors put in to save someone and the pain of losing someone may have made the person spend the rest of his life saving people. Get It?

And in Avatar, both TLA and TLOK, people have suffer.

Aang: Cast aside by his friends when people discover he was the Avatar. Runaway and lose all of his people. Had to see the devastation for himself and find the bones of his friend and possible father figure. Almost die a few times. For many years had the weight of been the last of his people. And in a part of the journey, lost Appa.

Sokka and Katara: Lost their mother. Their dad leave to fight and possible die in the war. Sokka was only a teen when he was the man responsable for his tribe. Katara had the weight of being the only waterbender of her tribe and be the only one that could calm Aang once he was in Avatar State.

Toph: as a blind kid, her parents think of her as someone unable to do anything. Had to choose between save Appa or save the others in some point of their journey

Zuko: When i start with him?

Azula: oh Boy...

Iroh: Lose is only son. Had to see his brother burn Zuko's face. And Zuko betrayed him, kind of, in the end of book2.

Asami: Her mom was murdered , maybe even in front of her. Her dad was a evil genius. She probably suffered with Korra in those 3 years.

Mako and Bolin: They grow up as orphans on the streets...

I could go on and on, dude, even the cabbage man had suffer from losing his cabbages over and over.

But all of the sudden, Korra now had to have plot armor or else Bryke is wrong and are terrible people.

Everybody loves to talk about how perfect Zuko's arc and development is. Zuko, who was one of the characters who most have suffered in the show. But for him all was necessary, had meaning, perfect storytelling and structure but with Korra.... "She cant suffer cuz she is brown"

And its not like Bryke was making something up outta nowhere just to torture the character. All she face it was a consequence direct or indirect of her actions and actions of other people.

Amon and the Equalists? Aang didnt kill Yakone nor put him in prison for life, just took his bending. Yakone was a terrible father, and one of the reason Amon hate bending (even himself been a waterbender) so much to the point of him do what he did. The same to Tarrlok. He turn his sons into monsters. And the triads only help them, because they use their bending to rob the non benders.

Vaatu? Look up The Beginning epsodes because this one is more complex.

Unalaq? Look, the worst villain of Avatar. But he took advantage of things that happen as consequences of the ending of book1

Zaheer? Direct consequence of that happen in the finale of book 2.

Kuvira? Direct consequence of things that happen in book 3

Again, i could go on and on and go deeper on all that. But this is already getting to big.

But what pissed me off most is ... Look im years in this fandom. As a Brazilian i saw and read stuff from the fandom here in my country and the fandom here in Tumblr. And in those years i read so much about how Korra journey help people overcome their struggles with ptsd, anxiety, depression...myself included. How much Korra was important to lesbians and bissexuals girls, especially girls of color.

And them we have those few people throw shit on all this and "cancel" you for not agree with them...

The Legend of Korra ended 2014, 6 years ago and still is so loved, so important to so many people, for the most diverse reasons.

For a cishet, Bryke did a amazing job creating this amazingly beautiful universe. With the most diverse inspirations, coming from places that are forgotten on western media. But i guess its easier criticize, and cancel them and the show than do what they did.

I know that sometimes we just wanted a scape from our difficult reality but seriously, if you Just want a movie/tv show/book...100% happy, rainbow and sunshine with no suffering at all, stick with the fanfics because even romcons sometimes have their among of "i you make you cry and suffer" kind of shit.

Suffer is present in our life and what a lot of movies/tv shows/games/books...try to do is bring our struggles and our suffering into them. Why? Its easier have simpathy for characters who look like us, characters who had been through the same stuff as us.

Is so difficult talk those things in another language. I always feel like i didnt express myself right. And im really sorry if i offended anyone, it wasnt my intention.

[hope-for-olicity]

Fabulous Olicity Fanfic Friday - July 5th, 2019

Happy Friday! So this is my attempt to both thank awesome fanfic writers for their amazing work and offer my recommendations to anyone who is interested. Here are the fantastic fanfic stories I read this week! They are posted in the order I read them. This and all previous Fabulous Olicity Fanfic posts can be found on my blog. There are many great stories out there that I did not read - such as anything from S7, you should check those out too!

Forget Me Not multi-chapter WIP by @mindramblingsfics - Felicity was presumed dead after The Gambit was shipwrecked and she went missing. As the one year anniversary of her death approaches, a miracle happens and she is found. Just when Oliver thinks the universe has given them a second chance, he learns Felicity barely remembers him and the memories of their love together are gone entirely. Oliver and Felicity’s journey after they reunite prove to be a tough road ahead, and then they learn that Felicity’s accident may have had a more sinister motive behind it. https://archiveofourown.org/works/18392291/chapters/43556987

Fun in the Sun by @laxit21 - During the post-s3 roadtrip, Oliver and Felicity go to the beach, Fun ensues. https://archiveofourown.org/works/19396564

ONE | (Oliver the Footballer) multi-chapter Complete @someonesaidcake - Felicity Smoak had a plan; to save enough money to kick her monotonous job and start up the company of her dreams. She made good plans, solid plans, attainable plans. He was never part of her plan. His name was Oliver Queen, the reclusive Brazilian football star with a broken smile and a story to tell. He'd never planned on her either. https://archiveofourown.org/works/15005402/chapters/34779542

Lights Will Guide You Home multi-chapter WIP by behindblueyes72 - Warning "Lights Will Guide You Home" will be an intense story that will take you to some emotional places. It will be one hell of a ride but our Olicity will land in a beautiful loving spot. https://archiveofourown.org/works/19209877

Helplessly Wrecked multi-chapter WIP by @cruzrogue - A very smart, passionate, woman. Worked to get her dual masters from MIT, it may have taken longer being a mother of triplets but at least she has her mother’s support. Oliver Queen still has a yacht incident and was marooned for shorter time frame on a real deserted island. He never flunked out of his Ivy League schooling and is a very sought-after bachelor. His relationships never last more than half a year and is known to throw himself into his work. His motto ‘work hard play harder’. https://archiveofourown.org/works/19194103/chapters/45628978

seemingly impossible (but not untrue) multi-chapter WIP by @alexiablackbriar13 - Young genius historian Dr Felicity Smoak unknowingly and accidentally calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript within the Oxford Bodleian Libraries - a book that has been lost for centuries. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Felicity wants nothing to do with magic, despite her unruly and powerful abilities. But her discovery of Ashmole 782 sets the world of creatures stirring; with a mystery afoot and new, dangerous magical abilities manifesting for her to navigate, she is approached by the enigmatic vampire biochemist Professor Oliver Queen, who seems to have a deep interest in both the manuscript… and her. Based on A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. https://archiveofourown.org/works/16224353/chapters/37923743

Ride or Die multi-chapter Complete by @someonesaidcake - They say that life is a series of events that we can neither predict nor control.... And then there is him. He’s a bit of an enigma. ~*~*~*~ Young CEO Felicity Smoak is just trying to make her mark on the world, yes she's a little high strung and stressed, but it was what is was... until he came along. With eyes a girl could lose herself in and shoulder-tapping hair made for hanging on to Oliver Queen was reckless and carefree. Also, he rode a bike. He was everything she wasn't and he was a sucker for those sinful red lips and everything that came with them. https://archiveofourown.org/works/11800128/chapters/26616567

Providence multi-chapter WIP by @so-caffeinated - Will Queen has struggled in silence in the year since he was shot. But when a shadowy crime lord known as Domino targets the only woman Will’s ever truly loved, fate forces him to confront his demons in ways he never could have imagined… Whether he wants to or not. Amelia Prescott has fought to take control of her life since learning two years ago that her personal and professional worlds were manipulated by others. But nothing can prepare her for just how hard she'll have to fight to set her own course, especially when her heart belongs to a damaged man and a crime lord threatens her every professional move... And her life. Destiny brings them together, but as chaos reigns and personal demons haunt Will and Amelia both, it may also threaten to tear them apart. https://archiveofourown.org/works/17919056/chapters/42308753

You Can't Afford Him multi-chapter WIP by @quiveringbunny - Oliver and Felicity, still strained after returning from Lian Yu following the takedown of Slade Wilson, take on roles that challenge their buried feelings when they go undercover to investigate a dangerous arms dealer. A Macau casino. A luxury suite. Suspenders. Lucky red panties. What could go wrong? https://archiveofourown.org/works/18338246/chapters/43413185

little wonders (twists and turns of fate) multi-chapter WIP by @alexiablackbriar13 - Oliver and Felicity's drunken mistake of a hook-up in the bunker comes with unexpected consequences in the form of a... souvenir. Deciding to remain romantically uninvolved, the two of them will have to battle all the trials and tribulations of maintaining a platonic relationship while Felicity is pregnant and the two of them are living together, coping with all the emotional baggage that they both bring to the table - and dealing with the fact that they are still very much in love with each other, but scarred by the events that broke them apart in the first place. https://archiveofourown.org/works/19436164/chapters/46256896

Time for a Story multi-chapter WIP by @smkkbert - This fic shows Olicity and their life as a (married) couple with family. Although Olicity (and their kids) are the protagonists, other characters of Arrow and Flash make appearances. YOU NEED THIS STORY IN YOUR LIFE. https://archiveofourown.org/works/3912157/chapters/8757172

My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark multi-chapter WIP by @tangled23works - This is a collection of scenes I've written but will probably never have the time to publish as part of a larger fic. Sometimes, there are stories that need to be told no matter how short they are. Anyway, each chapter is inspired by a song. https://archiveofourown.org/works/18804658/chapters/44618395

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished multi-chapter WIP by @kuningatarmirka - Felicity wanted to do good. Her virus was only supposed to be used for noble causes. But things don't always go the way you want. University AU inspired by Wicked the Musical. https://archiveofourown.org/works/19452214/chapters/46299487

Mothers Know Best multi-chapter WIP by @smkkbert - Since they have been kids, they have been best friends. Since they have been friends, their mothers wanted them to be together. After coming back from the east coast, Felicity takes over a position at Queen Consolidated, the company her best friend will soon take over from his father. Their mothers still jjpush for them to be together, and they seem closer to that goal than ever because wedding bells are ringing. The only problem is that they both plan to get married to someone else. https://archiveofourown.org/works/18921118/chapters/44918146

Worth a Thousand Words by @laxit21 - While on their roadtrip after defeating Ra's, Felicity learns about one of Oliver's hidden talents. Prompt: Romantic Sunsets https://archiveofourown.org/works/19476925

When Did It All Go Wrong multi-chapter WIP by @wrldtravler - After a mission with A.R.G.U.S. goes south, agent Oliver Queen learns something he shouldn't about Director Amanda Waller. Sent on the run when A.R.G.U.S. turns against him, he’s forced to seek out the one person that never wanted to see him again but whom he trusts with his life: his ex, Felicity Smoak. Putting their past behind them, the estranged pair come together along with John Diggle and Lyla Michaels to stop the looming threat. However, the past never stays buried for long. With their renewed connection comes great strength. But where there is strength, there is also great weakness – one that may cost them everything they worked to prevent. https://archiveofourown.org/works/19019845/chapters/45169432

// @emmaamelia95 // @mel-loves-all // @oliverfel4 // @green-arrows-of-karamel // @coal000 // @miriam1779 // @memcjo// @captainolicitysbedroom // @tdgal1 // @spaztronautwriter // @lalawo1// @quiveringbunny // @wrongshipper // @thebookjumper // @vaelisamaza // @myhauntedblacksoul // @lovelycssefan // @laurabelle2930 // @laxit21 // - let me know if you want to be tagged or untagged!

[fulcrumahsokaamidala]

Saturday Spectacular #12

Happy Saturday!!! So this is me thanking awesome fanfic writers for their amazing work and all the time they put into their fics. ♥️ I want to recommend spectacular fanfic stories I read this week! ♥️ They are posted in the order I read them. All posts will be tagged #saturday spectacular fic rec

When Did It All Go Wrong by @wrldtravler | Arrow | WIP

Summary: After a mission with A.R.G.U.S. goes south, agent Oliver Queen learns something he shouldn’t about Director Amanda Waller. Sent on the run when A.R.G.U.S. turns against him, he’s forced to seek out the one person that never wanted to see him again but whom he trusts with his life: his ex, Felicity Smoak. Putting their past behind them, the estranged pair come together along with John Diggle and Lyla Michaels to stop the looming threat. However, the past never stays buried for long. With their renewed connection comes great strength. But where there is strength, there is also great weakness – one that may cost them everything they worked to prevent.

“Time for a story” Drabble Series by @smkkbert | Arrow | WIP

Summary: This fic shows Olicity and their life as a (married) couple with family. Although Olicity (and their kids) are the protagonists, other characters of Arrow and Flash make appearances. It started as a drabble series, but developed more and more into a full domestic AU.

Providence by @so-caffeinated | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Will Queen has struggled in silence in the year since he was shot. But when a shadowy crime lord known as Domino targets the only woman Will’s ever truly loved, fate forces him to confront his demons in ways he never could have imagined… Whether he wants to or not. Amelia Prescott has fought to take control of her life since learning two years ago that her personal and professional worlds were manipulated by others. But nothing can prepare her for just how hard she’ll have to fight to set her own course, especially when her heart belongs to a damaged man and a crime lord threatens her every professional move… And her life. Destiny brings them together, but as chaos reigns and personal demons haunt Will and Amelia both, it may also threaten to tear them apart.

(i want to) save that light by @callistawolf | Arrow | WIP

Summary: What if one little thing changed in the history of Arrow? What if, instead of going to Laurel’s apartment after discovering the extent of Merlyn’s plans for the Glades, Oliver stayed at the foundry and talked to Felicity instead? This series of short vignettes explores some of the ripple-effect changes that could take place throughout the next season as a result of this one, fortuitous change.

Semper Fidelis by @oliversmuse | Arrow | Completed

Summary: Oliver Queen is a member of the Bravo Squad, a team that specializes in search and rescue, covert infantry and translating foreign documents. He is known as one of the best and even though he is one of the youngest recruits he advances quickly. While serving he meets Lance Corporal Felicity Smoak, a young woman with skills in hand to hand combat. Despite the fact they butt heads they fall in love and soon start to talk about a future together. However, when her plane disappears on a mission in China and she is presumed dead, Bravo Squad searches frantically for her, only to find her plane and her bloody dog tags. Five years later Oliver runs into “Megan” at a coffee shop near that gym he has been running with his friends. She has lost her memory from the plane accident but has had dreams of Oliver and the Bravo Squad. With the help of his friends and team mates, can he help her reclaim her past and fall for him once again?

grade 2 right shoulder subscapularis strain by @alexiablackbriar13 | Arrow | One-shot

Summary: Oliver Queen is an Olympic archer with a shoulder injury who hates sports therapy with a passion. Dr Felicity Smoak is his new physiotherapist. Sparks fly. Perhaps Felicity can change Oliver's mind.

Aftermath by @realityisoverrated-fic | Arrow | One-shot

Summary: Malcolm Merlyn has laid waste to the Glades. Laurel Lance is dead. Moira Queen is in jail. Thea is hiding away in her brother's nightclub. Oliver is licking his wounds, who knows where. Tommy would like nothing more than leave town and never look back, but someone needs to stick around and be accountable for his father's murderous undertaking.

Mothers know best by @smkkbert​ | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Since they have been kids, they have been best friends. Since they have been friends, their mothers wanted them to be together. After coming back from the east coast, Felicity takes over a position at Queen Consolidated, the company her best friend will soon take over from his father. Their mothers still push for them to be together, and they seem closer to that goal than ever because wedding bells are ringing. The only problem is that they both plan to get married to someone else.

Alpha by @oliversmuse | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Oliver Queen was a powerful vampire that was captured by a group experimenting on hybrids. Turned into a hybrid that is half vampire and half wolf he is strong, fast and deadly. While in captivity he meets Dr. Felicity Smoak a hermatologist who is called in to monitor his feedings. All Oliver wants is to be free, away from the experiments and being in a cage, and strangely he feels he can trust Dr. Smoak. There is also an unspoken attraction between them that is forbidden. Can he convince her to set him free or will her attraction to him tempt her to keep him close?

Artemis by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When the Queen’s Gambit sank, two people were stranded on Lian Yu. Five years later, four came back.

Daughter of the Demon by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: What if in 1988 while traveling through Las Vegas Ra’s al Ghul bumps into a nice waitress named Donna Smoak and they have one-night stand together? A little bundle of joy named Felicity Smoak is the result. In 2014, the Demon Head becomes aware of his youngest daughter’s existence.

The Ravager by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Slade Wilson’s plan for revenge against Oliver took time, money and no shortage of lives to pull together. His plan didn’t anticipate Felicity Smoak. How will his plan change now that his lost-lost daughter is working with the very man he’s trying to destroy?

Felicity of Themiscyra by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Years ago, Donna Smoak left the island of Themiscyra and her sister Queen Hippolyta behind to live in man’s world. She never told Felicity the truth about where she came from. As a result of the Undertaking, Felicity discovers some of her Amazonian abilities and makes an interesting new friend: Diana Prince.

The Daughter That Was Left by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Before the Gambit, Oliver Queen met QC intern Felicity Smoak. When he boarded the Gambit, he left something behind. Now, five long years later someone is waiting for him.

I Scream But No Sound Comes out by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When Oliver returns from Lian Yu after five years, he comes back different. What happened there damaged more than just his body. How will his friends and family deal with this new Oliver?

| ONE | (Oliver The Footballer) by @someonesaidcake | Arrow | Completed

Summary: Felicity Smoak had a plan; to save enough money to kick her monotonous job and start up the company of her dreams. She made good plans, solid plans, attainable plans. He was never part of her plan. His name was Oliver Queen, the reclusive Brazilian football star with a broken smile and a story to tell He’d never planned on her either.

Did I Forget to Mention That My Dad is a Supervillain? by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When Felicity told Oliver about her father, she wasn’t lying per se. She wasn’t completely honest either. It’s just that ‘my dad left us’ sounded better than the truth.

Or: A Series of one shots in which Felicity’s dad is a supervillain and we see how Oliver and the team finds out.

little wonders (twists and turns of fate) by @alexiablackbriar13 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Oliver and Felicity's drunken mistake of a hook-up in the bunker comes with unexpected consequences in the form of a... souvenir. Deciding to remain romantically uninvolved, the two of them will have to battle all the trials and tribulations of maintaining a platonic relationship while Felicity is pregnant and the two of them are living together, coping with all the emotional baggage that they both bring to the table - and dealing with the fact that they are still very much in love with each other, but scarred by the events that broke them apart in the first place.

Winds of Change by Nerdofmanytalents | Arrow | One-shot

Summary: Tommy finds an unexpected visitor hiding under the bar. [This segment takes place before the events of "Whats the Matter, Baby."]

The Road Not Taken by @oneofthosecrazygirls-fics​ | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Canon divergence/fix-it AU. Everything that happened in the series up through 4x11 happens as it did in the show and this fic diverges from there.Direct sequel to “Swear This One You’ll Save” and “Have Your Cake (And Eat It Too)” so make sure you read those first before reading this one.This fic is part of the What Should’ve Been ‘verse.

A Hidden Life by @realityisoverrated-fic | Arrow | One-shot

Summary: It's Oliver, Felicity, and Tommy's first Thanksgiving together. Their plans for a shared meal are upended by the unexpected arrival of Donna Smoak.

The Cat, the Canary, and the Dinosaur by stick2theplan | Arrow | Completed

Summary: Nyssa and Sara are visiting Oliver and co for the week. Of course, this means they'll at least have to endure a semi-awkward pseudo-family brunch. Fighting bad guys is easy compared to answering awkward questions from Oliver's too-perceptive son.

ink stains and dumbbells by inlovewithimpossibility | Arrow | WIP

Summary: "Hey Dynasties, Oliver here coming at you with another video!"

"Hi guys, welcome back to Ghost Fox Goddess, I am Felicity Smoak."

When one half of YouTube duo, Queen-Merlyn Dynasty, lands himself in hot water with Principal Wilson due to failing grades, Oliver knows that he needs to step up his game. The principal recommends a tutor but little does Oliver know that she's also a successful YouTuber. The two of them set out on filming a collab but neither anticipates how popular their videos will be or the insane reaction the sight of the two of them on screen together will gain from the fans.

[zethirdmind]

The Realism of Solitude

There are two recent films made on the idea of solitude and its effects on human life made in the independent scene. These are the brilliant Brazilian film ‘Araby’ (2017), and the seminal Polish-French work by the great auteur Krzysztof Kieslowski called ‘Blue’ (1993). The overarching topic that both of these stories deal with are those of solitude and loneliness, and how the protagonists find different ways to deal with the same issues.

Araby is a film that starts with a diary entry and tells the story of a labourer who in his youth had gone to jail for two years, and comes out a reformed man who wants to change his life and live an honest living. He goes to his cousin’s tangerine farm, where there are several instances of his destitution and depression, as he mentions how he eats tangerines so that he doesn’t have to spend money for food. The oppression and problems he has with the owners of the farm makes him decide to leave the place and go to work as a roadside construction worker where he finds that he can’t make any relevant friendships. He longs for someone he can actually talk to and share his feelings with. The road works become too hectic for him and he ends up shifting again, this time going to a factory where one of his old jail buddies had called him.

It is here that he meets a girl who changes his life. She is a site supervisor, and his daily visits to her to submit reports and other paraphernalia blossom into a romance and they start seeing each other. This companionship is described as a very peaceful and happy time in the entry of the labourer and he wishes he can go on to make things even better for the both of them. As in every beautiful thing, this too comes to an end in a heart wrenching manner. The woman announces to the labourer that she is pregnant, but the labourer believes that he isn’t ready for such a responsibility and that they should not continue dating like this. Thus, he breaks up with her and goes to another factory, where he lives a lonely life that corresponds with the lonely life of two children whose parents are always travelling outside the country and leaving them in the care of a nanny. In the end, he dies as a lonely man with no one to look after him when he succumbs to a factory accident.

The film Blue related to the concept of liberty, as it is part of a trilogy of stories called Blue, White and Red, all inspired by the colours of the French flag and the ideals that they represent. However, how this is expressed is through a study of solitude. It is the story of a woman who loses her famous composer husband and her young daughter in a car crash that she herself survives. She inherits a ton of money, and yet according to the conventions, we as an audience are supposed to feel that she has lost all will in life, what with after losing her husband and daughter at the same time. However, the film turns into a tale of liberty as the woman discovers during her journey of grief that the deaths have in fact given her a new lease of liberty that she had forsaken after her marriage to a famous personality and after the birth of her child. She uses this new-found freedom to reinvent herself and relocate herself in her life. ­This journey shows us how, in complete defiance of the story of Araby, solitude and loneliness often lead to a kind of liberty of our souls and that we can find happiness even in the face of the utmost grief and sorrow. Araby, on the other hand shows us how we can also be depressed and sad in the most normal circumstances which might not seem like they have any problems.

When it comes to which of these films has aspects of Material Realism and Psychological Realism, it is not easy to put them into groups. However, after looking at the essential purposes of making the film that the directors may have had, Blue can be categorised as a film about psychological realism whereas Araby is the one that can be characterised as a film about material realism. This is possible to say because Blue deals with an in-depth cinematic study of the state of mind of a person after a great personal tragedy, and showcases subtly how her outlook towards life itself changes so dramatically, and yet with such grace and elegance. The film does not rely on the viewer to have had the same experiences in life to understand it, but it also appeals as a way of showing people who may have gone through such a tragedy how to deal with the grief and negative feelings that they may feel afterwards. On the other hand, although Araby is a very cerebral film, the fact remains that to entertain the story, the viewers do not need to have the same emotional connect with the protagonist, nor the same experience of the labourer to understand the feelings that he is going through because the film showcases this feelings very explicitly through the words of his diary entry and specific descriptions of his descent into a maddeningly depressing solitude.

To categorise the two films as film and cinema, we can go back to our earlier analysis, and come to the conclusion that both the stories are pieces of cinema, because they both are the medium of their director’s to communicate to the audience. They do not end simply after the credits roll, but stay with you even after you leave the theatre, with ideas that they implant in your mind to germinate and take a long time to create even more supplementary ideas with your own soulful diction. The directors also use the films as a medium to showcase their specific creative talents. The directors of Araby, for example, are documentary filmmakers, and in this, their first fictional tale, they showcase their documentation talents, because of which this film becomes not a story, but a ‘document’ of our times that will survive to the end for our future generations to see it and savour or maybe look back with contempt at the world we live in now. Kieslowski in Blue uses his astounding talent of cinematography and understanding of colour to display the mind of a person in the visual form of poetry. This enables him to document not a time, but a person, and to us, 27 years later, she is an example of a person who lived in a bygone age, dealing with her problems in the old fashion, something which is both relatable to us, and yet not quite achievable in the same way today as it might have been then, in 1993.

These two films have become pillars of my very being in recent years, especially as I grow up to become a person who has come to enjoy his solitude and embrace it. They give a person like me hope that things are always better when they could have been worse, and that even in the face of tremendous tragedy, one can find great optimism, to grow, reach out and flourish. They should be compulsory viewings for people, especially of my age, and are representative of the very best of the 20th and 21st century.

[inanismortem]

1, 13, 17, 25, 28, 43, 44, 48, 49, 50 !! Yeesh That's A Lot but. gotta know

HAHAHA UNDER THE CUT BECAUSE SUPER LONG (SORRY I RAMBLED)

1. Your first OC ever?

Phoenix Hathaway.

Before he was human, didn’t have a last name and was most definitely not immortal. He was also around sixteen? 

13. Do you have any troublemaker OCs?

How about all of them Dark, Geraldine, Ashton, Lana and River, Locien, Mirima would be my main sources of trouble but I mean, at one point, everyone causes chaos. Oh yeah, and @fairyfairypie‘s favourite and my main antagonist, Kade.

17. Any OC OTPs?

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY I HAVE

Rivnix which is River + Phoenix (they’re my most complicated and headache inducing otp because HOW DO I WRITE YOU TWO. H. O. W.) also, angel + fairy

Lirima which is Locien + Mirima aka my comedy otp. Very easy to write, very hard to take seriously at times

Drewlancey which is Drew and Delancey which is my uhhhh… Well they heal each other? They’re not a soft fluffy otp but they’re not angsty

Arphellason which is Arphenion and Arbellason aka my two very closed off individuals who fake dated for a bit and then got married but have been in love since… forever

Hayabusa + Kimberly my dumb and dumber otp and one of my oldest otps and one I need to revise

Lana + Nora which is my weird vampire and warlock pairing, they’re the ones who don’t take shit in any way but they strangely fit together

Mist + Nicholas which is a interracial pairing in which they balance each other out and act like best friends but wow the arguments are to die for

Kyle + Natalie, I don’t know what possessed me to put them together, ultimate meme couple, ultimate pranksters

Dark + Alaska which is my contribution to the enemies/rivals to friends to lovers trope but they’re very fun to write

Ashton + Andre + a couple others, it’s a polyamory relationship, with both females and males and it’s something I’ll start working out eventually

Kazamir + Zach my slightly kinky otp I’ll leave it there and go to my corner of shame

Emilia and Zane who are seriously more of a brotp but they’re cute, I don’t think they play a huge part in a lot of things

Roxanna + Cameron which is an otp who has super good chemistry but doesn’t work out in the end due to internal and external conflict and my dose of ‘the world is not perfect’ in my original works

Geraldine + Wren, one of the later otps but a hunter + fairy and another w|w otp I have

Quinn + Cyrus, a side otp but an otp regardless, sorta of funny 

Kiera + Sebastian, another side otp but Kiera is the sensible and she routinely tears Sebastian a new pair because he’s not the nicest person

Briar + Finn, one I’m working on but warlock + shapeshifter, one is just running a coffee shop and the other is a doctor who has a rotten personality

I mean, I probably have more but these are all I can remember off the top of my head hahaha rip me this is never gonna be finished.

25. The OC that resembles you the most (same hobby, height, shared like/dislike for something etc?)

Ehhhh, Roxanna, Geraldine and Leah are basically me split into three and then further developed but Geraldine would be the one that is closest to me atm because Leah would be 5-8 year old me, Roxanna would be 9-13 year old me and Geraldine would be current me. 

Leah is into fashion, being pretty, being popular and having friends while not really caring about others and such as well as thinking LGTBQ was unnatural and not good and that was my mindset as a kid.

Roxanna prefers to isolate herself away from anyone if she can, reads all the time and tries not to argue even she is right and everyone else was wrong and she’s just not happy, actually a little shameful of who she is which was me in that age phase. 

Geraldine still likes to read and but doesn’t have that much time, draws and writes for fun, rebels against people she thinks are incorrect and is more confident and accepting of who she is. 

All my characters have little pieces of me but these three are special to me even though I kill one lmao

28. Your most dangerous OC? 

It would be a tie between Drew Ng and Kazamir Volkov because neither will go down easily and they’re very driven individuals who seem nice, Drew more than Kazamir but they could quite literally decide who wins a battle by taking a side. 

Drew also has this demeanour that makes you feel safe but he’s capable to committing mass murder, get away with it and then destroy your life to the point you don’t really even am sure about anything anymore and the one upside is that people anchor him nowadays so he’s not as bad as he could be.

Kazamir is half demon so he has unnatural forces behind him, can basically do whatever he wants can intimidate just about anyone into doing something beneficial to him but detrimental to others and he’s not one to specifically care that much.

43. Do you have any certain type when you create your OCs? Do you tend to favour some certain traits or looks? It’s time to confess

I love making ocs that have suffered, will suffer and are suffering. Also, their backstories usually contain something that could destroy their current lives and everything that they value.

44. Something you like about your OCs in general

They’re complicated. Not copy and paste, not easy to figure out, not easy to know inside out, I don’t even think I know some of my ocs inside out yet and although some of them are similar in some aspects, they’re all different (and diverse I hope)

49. Which one of your OCs would most likely enjoy memes

Say hello to Dark who spends half his time on the web because he’s basically so good at his job he has to wait for others to catch up to him. Also why not he’s half human it’s in his blood.

50. Give me the good ol’ OC talk here. Talk about anything you want

WHAT TO TALK ABOUT???

Hm, I guess we could go through how my characters transitioned and how developed they are?

Team Kastor, the fairies and the elves have been developed the most, little details that need to worked out here and there but they’re pretty much ready to be written.

The angels, the werewolves among some others are super undeveloped save for River because I really haven’t given them much thought yet and they’ve remained unchanged since I left them in grade eight or seven.

CHARACTER TRANSITIONS.

Literally all of them were white at one point and I guess that was why I was always super annoyed with my stories so I started changing them after grade eight but serious changes were not cemented until end of 2016.

Phoenix has not changed that much compared to others, really just changes to his powers, a little change to his appearance

Mist went from Misty to Mist, straight to bisexual, white to half African American and I gave her more development as well as a more prominent role in the stories and she’s fiercer

Dark hasn’t changed that much either other than the fact he’s half Brazilian and wear glasses now, his appearance has changed a lot but not his attitude. Guess he was always a little shit

Cam used to be Lily, cis to genderfluid, still a medic I guess but more skilled and less battle orientated, half polynesian.

Leah used to be the youngest out of the three, but I guess her attitude hasn’t changed that much either and she’s still straight.

Geraldine went from antagonist to one of the protagonists, straight to lesbian, nicely dressed to rebel and punk like appearance but has a good heart.

Roxanna is not different in terms of appearance and personality, she’s the most unchanged out of them all but she’s non binary, asexual and pansexual so she’s changed in that aspect.

River is just generally more sassy, more dangerous, and pansexual but he was gay beforehand. Also, he’s more of an outcast now I guess and doesn’t fit in with the others.

Team Kastor and the elves are fairly new so they haven’t changed drastically.

Thank you for the ask!

I love rambling about them although I may never finish writing about them

[cryptodictation]

Wagner Moura and Ana de Armas star Sergio Vieira de Mello's biography

Love story between Carolina and Sergio one of the arcs of the film (photo: Netflix / Diivulgao)

The Brazilian Sergio Vieira de Mello was one of the most important figures in international diplomacy. He was the first Brazilian to reach the high scale of the United Nations (UN). The Carioca was at the forefront of peace missions in world conflicts in places like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lebanon, Bsnia, Rwanda and Timor-Leste. He died in one of them, in 2003, in Baghdad, after refusing to go four times. It is believed that if he had been alive he could have been the successor to Kofi Annan in the post of UN secretary general.

But it was not just the enviable curriculum in the world of international relations that made the history of Brazilians inspire the film Sergio, which debuts today in the Netflix. It was personal and political values ​​that led Wagner Moura and other producers thinking about the idea that came from the American Greg Barker, responsible for the homonymous documentary about the diplomat launched in 2009. “We were trying to make a film about Sergio for the same reasons, because we see the world and the politics of very similar way, ”says Wagner Moura in a telephone interview with post office.

In addition to news materials and Greg Barker's own documentary, the cast featured images, photos and even access to Carolina Larriera herself. “It was an honor to meet her and share a few hours with her. She was very excited to share some stories about Sergio with me and Wagner. She still feels that loss. She was very supportive, ”recalls Ana de Armas, who plays the vivid in the feature film.

In the film, which has Wagner Moura as the protagonist, the tape goes through important moments in Sergio's diplomatic life, highlighting his work in Timor-Leste and Bagd. More than being a portrait of the facts, the feature film seeks to show who the Brazilian really was, exposing the feelings that arise through the love story of Sergio Vieira de Mello with Carolina Larriera, Argentine economist who joined the UN in the mission in Timor-Leste.

Values

“I think, honestly, if I could summarize what the film is, I would say that it is about empathy, that a value that, practically, at this moment is absolutely lacking in world leaders. And Sergio had this, he had a lot. But he was very complicated, it was this James Bond guy who was trying to save the world. At the same time, he had a very complicated personal life, ”says Wagner.

The actor also points out that, following this path, the story gained balance and more cinematography. “I think the way Greg balanced that: the importance that Sergio had at the UN with and, of course, the relationship with Carolina. I think this is very important in the sense that, first, cinematographic. I know he's brilliant in the movie, but most of all, because really, when he met Carolina, he found some kind of balance that he didn't have. He was really in love and about to get married. She was changing his life. He refused to go to Iraq four times. He had to be convinced by George Bush, because that was not the purpose of his life at that point. This is a very strong thing. You have to think about what is really important in your life. I think that was what was happening to Sergio, especially after he met Carolina ”, he adds.

(photo: Netflix / Diivulgao)

The figure of Sergio Viera de Mello came to be defined by the bigrafa Samantha Power, author of the book The man who wanted to save the world: A biography of Sergio Vieira de Mello, as a mix between James Bond and Bobby Kennedy, which the cast made a point of commenting on, mainly because Ana de Armas, who plays Carolina in the feature, is part of the cast of the next 007.

“The perception I had that people today, in Thailand, Jordan or India, especially in Rio de Janeiro, always have a story about Sergio. Everyone knew him. Even women talk about Sergio in a way, about the flirtatious way they loved. He was very charismatic. And he used it. This was one of his tools for negotiating and working on missions. I think he was more brave than James Bond. He had no lethal weapons or modern technology to protect himself. He was out in the country taking care of people in need, trying to find peace, ”says Ana.

“Honestly, I wasn't thinking about James Bond when I was working on the character. But I remember that there was something about James Bond. He was a unique guy. He had a strong intellectual background. He was trained in UN camps. At the same time, he had this intellectual thing and was a country man. So, I can understand this comparison with James Bond ”, completes Wagner Moura.

Diversity

Because it portrays the story of a diplomat who lived in different parts of the world, the film was filmed in different locations and a completely different cast. Starting with the protagonist duo with the Brazilian Wagner Moura and the Cuban Ana de Armas. “A film about the people of the UN. So we always wanted to have different accents. I am very happy that we managed to do it with actors from different countries. Ana from Cuba. Clemens (Schick, who lives Gaby Pichon) from Germany. Bran (F. O'Byrne, who plays Gil Loescher, a character who compiled from people in Sergio's life) from Ireland. And we have actors from Iraq, Jordan, Thailand, Angola. The experience of making this film is something that I imagine is similar to being in a UN meeting ”, comments Moura. There were also extras in the actors of East Timor and Iraq participating in emblematic scenes.

The Brazilian also points out the importance of being a narrative that is not on a stereotyped path of a character from Brazil. “When I decided that I was going to produce films abroad, the only way to do that was if this idea had some kind of politics in the background. I think that the Latin people are underrepresented in American films, not just in the number of characters, but in the way they are represented. As soon as I met Ana, our conversation was absolutely going to that issue. The fact that Ana is soon to be like Marilyn Monroe in theaters, this is a very important thing for all of us, we are not going back to old representations, the sexy latina or the violent latin. When I see Diego Luna doing Star Wars with the Mexican accent, this is really cool and politically important ”, completes the actor and producer.

The post Wagner Moura and Ana de Armas star Sergio Vieira de Mello's biography appeared first on Cryptodictation.

from WordPress https://cryptodictation.com/2020/04/17/wagner-moura-and-ana-de-armas-star-sergio-vieira-de-mellos-biography/

[astroswriting]

OVERCOMER: How Christian Movies Distort Reality

Being raised with a huge Catholic influence (64,6% of brazilians are catholics according to IBGE in 2010), but by a family that believed that religion should compliment their lives, not be everything on it, I believed for a long time that was no problem with the Christian repercussion and that everyone should learn about Christ and that the default should always be “you believe in it, you think about it from time to time, you go on with your life”. I had friends who were Spiritist, Protestants and from different Catholic Nominations, and I truly believed they were all christian pals that lived the same lifes and were all to heaven. And then my mother converted to a Presbyterian Church, my life and my beliefs about religion and the amount of harm done in the 21th Century by it changed completely.

And that’s how I got to see Overcomer on the theaters.

“White Cis Male”

This is, by far, the thing that bothered me the most.

The movie is written by Alex Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick. It is not based on a true story, it’s a purely fictional work that happens to be written by two White Cis Males. And, instead of what it’s commonly believed by the big Boomer demographic, that’s not inherently a bad thing. Yes, White Cis Males, do not fret! You can still write works of fiction! The problem happens when stories about POC, and even more with WOC, become solely about how the Courageous Big White Saviour saved their lives. 

According to Wikipedia (again, I’m just a person sharing her opinion, but you can still read the articles linked on the page), a white savior is: 

“a cinematic trope in which a white character rescues people of color from their plight. The white savior is portrayed as messianic and often learns something about themselves in the process of rescuing.[9] The trope reflects how media represents race relations by racializing concepts like morality as identifiable with white people over nonwhite people.[10] White saviors are often male and are sometimes out of place in their own society until they lead minorities or foreigners. Screen Saviors: Hollywood Fictions of Whiteness labels the stories as fantasies that "are essentially grandiose, exhibitionistic, and narcissistic". Types of stories include white travels to "exotic" Asian locations, white defense against racism in the American South, or white protagonists having "racially diverse" helpers.[11]” 

And I don’t know what you think but… “a white cis male coach of basketball, whom, because of the amount of people fleeing the small town, has to teach cross country to a black cis teenage woman with asthma and eventually leads her to meet Christ and His Word, making her regret and stop with her kleptomaniac tendencies and become a better person” sounds pretty white saviorish to me. And, most of all, the protagonist is played by the writer and director of the movie, that clearly intended that the story would be about how it was hard for him to understand christ until he met the girl and her dad, and he learned that by saving both of their lives. 

The story was never about Hannah. The movie didn’t even bother to give her a personality.  She only spoke when a question was placed. She didn’t have anything she liked to do. We never got to actually meet Hannah. We know she stole things, but why? We never got to see her using them, selling them or needing them. Hannah stole only because she did, because she wanted to, but we never got the why. We only got her giving it back and being hugged by the good coach. Hannah was never making active decisions, the world was only happening around her, only contributing to the “good obedient black person” stereotype. Do you want a easiest way to unhuman a character?

“Dangers of the World”

I believe that this is the most common theme on christian mainstream media. The big Scary ™ dangers of the world. How people will get you pregnant, and treat you badly, and offer you drugs. You’ll always end up with a horrible life and extremely unhappy because you haven’t met christ yet, and how could you be happy without Him? 

The only problem is… This is not how the real world works.

Not everybody who’s “in the world” is doing drugs, having sex all the time and hurting people. And, at the same time, no one does right things all the time. Specially not christian people, as much as they try to.

What happens in “the world” is that people are only trying their best. We’re all the results of cycles and traditions of all the ones that came before us. And we’re the result from their pain too. The common belief amongst christians is that we do things only because we’re bad, but people are taught to behave the way they do for survival. It is said that every generation gets worse, but today, in 2019, women have the right to vote, there are many activists fighting for the environment, there are laws against animal cruelty. People are always fighting for what they believe in, and it’s honestly disrespectful to assume that all of those people who are trying their best to overcome the generations before them can only do worse.

In the movie, specially, there are not much people who are not christians. You don’t get the “other perspective” side of things. Not until you meet Hannah’s father. He was from the world. He was an athlete and he did drugs, and he turned this good girl (Hannah’s mom) who had a christian friend (the director from the school) into a bad woman, pregnant and doing drugs. And then the girl died. And then, to top all of that, he let Hannah to live with her grandmother and ran away, only to magically reappear on the hospital sick and believing in Christ 15 years later.

Other than that, we, as an audience, never get any more glimpse of “the world”. One can argue that Hannah’s grandmother is “from the world” and that’s why she wouldn’t accept that Hannah would have a relationship to her father, but, again, she still believed in God, she still prayed, she was only working things out. When, in a movie that is supposedly a representation of “our world”, the only glimpse of a reality is made by villanising it, with no nuanced view, it leads the viewer to believe that it’s only mirroring the thoughts of its own creator, and shows a lack of understanding of a part of his own society that flabbergasts me (though, I grew up around this culture, I know what the excuses are for not get to knowing certain people).

“All My Problems Are Gone”

This trope absolutely complements the last one. Everything is solved as soon as I met the Lord. It’s a common thing to hear in real life too, don’t get me wrong, and it’s not nearly as problematic as the other first two topics, but it’s so simplistic to turn everything into a “Jesus is a easy fix to your life. Follow Him, and now you’re going to forgive your dad, he’s gonna become great, your grandma will become a better parent figure, you’ll finally win a race and it will me much easier to turn everything you stole back”. I’m not getting theological here, this is a pure movie review, but what a way to diminish the hard work that every person goes through!

I think that most of what I wanted to say here has already been said, but I’d like to remember that changes, and I mean actual life-long changes, come from knowing yourself, and knowing what you want, and lots and lots of therapy and hard work. You’re wired that way, and it’s very difficult to break the cycle.

Harmful Messages

I tackled here three main reasons of why is this movie harmful, but I never actually explained it. Why? What’s the harm in one movie? What’s the true harm that media can cause? If they don’t reach a broader audience, not much, I admit. But, even though this is not a blockbuster,  it is still made by Sony Pictures, and it still reached the movies of my humble Brasília, so it still has the power to reaffirm and convince people of those dynamics. Most people, who, in fact, don’t understand what harm come with those ideas. So I’m here to explain it.

Hannah’s problem: If almost everything on the movie is happening to her, why not give her the main part? Making everything about her coach just falls into a narrative where she’s silenced, and being a WOC, who’s better to tell their own stories but themselves? The coach doesn’t understand her reality, nor showed it properly. He didn’t had much interest in the girl at the beginning of the story, it doesn’t make any sense as to why this story should be about him. And even though he’s almost as passive as the own Hannah, only reacting at what’s happening, and not changing anything, at least most of what happens, happens to Hannah, and not to him. Making her so passive, at the same time, only worsened the problem. She only talked when a question was directed to her or at the end to talk about her revelation. As an author, doing those decisions only strengthens the idea that People of Color are not protagonists of their own stories, using them as tokens, or only to show how the White Man is so good, after all. When this is repeated over and over, it just sustains in people’s minds the idea that they should not have more power and are not capable to change their lives by themselves.

Dangers of the World:  This is a huge part of christian culture. How the world always makes thing horrible, how people are going to mistreat you. Far from myself to say that the world is perfect and everyone wants specifically your happiness, but as turning everyone who’s not a christian into the enemy, stopping relationships into forming and ideas into being exchanged. This idea helps to perpetuate the fights we are having in our society nowadays, that include so many christians fighting non-christians politically (and non-politically too). It’s dividing people without necessity.

No problems anymore: People truly believe this. People truly believe that, as soon as they turn into church X, everything will be solved like magic, and then get disappointed when that doesn’t happen. Whether you believe in God or not, for anything to get truly better, it takes work and time, and when movies like Overcomer turn everything into a “easy fix”, it just makes this utopian idea more believed and disseminated.

Conclusion

 I was going to make another part talking about Minor Storytelling Mistakes, but honestly? They’re simple flaws, it’s not going to change anything. I wouldn’t say it’s a technically good movie, but I believe that technique can be followed or not and art is subjective, so I’m not here to bash on plot devices or narrative works. I don’t like the movie. I simply don’t like it. It’s not my kind of genre, I believe that it’s very insensitive to a wide range of people and it had no real meaning or was entertaining to me.

As always, you are allowed to like what you do, but be aware of the mistakes that what you’re consuming. As someone obsessed with Disney, I know the company has its fair amount of mistakes, sometimes terrible, that mirror the thoughts at the time, but it still is reluctant to change with its demographic. No piece of entertaining is perfect, and should be taken with criticism.

Alas, if you dismissed everything that was said for me being a woman, a brazilian woman if it makes it worse, I say to you: “so long, fucker”.

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

Speaking of Twilight, did anyone else feel like Meyer really had it out for Leah Clearwater? Her fiance dumped her for cousin, she turns into a wolf and gives her dad a heart attack, due to her turning a wolf she is infertile, all of her pack members see her as burden and are completely unsympathetic to her, and she gets no happy ending. She was the only person in this whole book I felt for. If Meyer was a good writer, the book would be about Leah but she isn't so we got the Mary Sue from Hell

Yes. Leah Clearwater is the opposite of what Meyer considers good (or: white, fertile, gentle, feminine, meek, and Dependent On Her Man™ ). She’s also the best character she has ever written, mainly because she’s none of those things.

Nevermind that everyone in the books is a complete hypocrite towards her. So she’s heartbroken because her fiance dumped her for her cousin, Jacob is WORSE with the whining about Bella and nobody gives him any shit for that, and they were never even together in the first place. 

Meyer is a complete hypocrite because despite the fact that she makes romantic love to be the end-all of every character in her books, I (the reader) am supposed to believe that that applies to everyone BUT Leah. 

So Bella Swan has a “hole in her chest” (*shudders*) after her boyfriend (who she’s known for six months) leaves, she ignores her friends, worries her father sick, fakes friendship and interest on a guy younger than her all so she can whine and allucinate about said bf in peace, but Leah is an ugly disgusting bitch for being bitter after THE GUY SHE WAS ENGAGED TO, HER BOYFRIEND OF THREE YEARS WHO SHE’S KNOWN ALL HER LIFE DUMPS HER WITH NO EXPLANATION FOR HER COUSIN!!!!!!! (and may I add that they were both really close, ‘like sisters’? because yeah). Then, said cousin has her face ripped off by this same guy. So…yeah, I’d be a “bitter harpy” if that happened to me, too.

Honestly, Leah Clearwater is the realest character Meyer has ever written, and I’m supposed to think that she’s just another Scary Sue. 

The books SHOULD have been about her. It would’ve been far more interesting, tragic, and the protagonist far, FAR more simpathetic. Meyer’s treatment of Leah is appaling. Like, she should just stick with writing white characters, because her racism is so, SO bad and blatant it gets out of the page and shoves a broom up my nose (not just with the Quileutes, also with Laurent the previously black guy who became white when he was turned into a vampire and Max the black guy from Breaking Dawn who gives Bella the lawyer’s address, AND with latinxs: Maria the bleached mexican vampire, the Savage Amazons™, the Brazilian Servants ™, Nahuel and co., etc).

Mod A.

[fulcrumahsokaamidala]

Saturday Spectacular #11

Happy Saturday!!! So this is me thanking awesome fanfic writers for their amazing work and all the time they put into their fics. ♥️ I want to recommend spectacular fanfic stories I read this week! ♥️ They are posted in the order I read them. All posts will be tagged #saturday spectacular fic rec

Felicity of Themiscyra by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Years ago, Donna Smoak left the island of Themiscyra and her sister Queen Hippolyta behind to live in man’s world. She never told Felicity the truth about where she came from. As a result of the Undertaking, Felicity discovers some of her Amazonian abilities and makes an interesting new friend: Diana Prince.

“Time for a story” Drabble Series by @smkkbert | Arrow | WIP

Summary: This fic shows Olicity and their life as a (married) couple with family. Although Olicity (and their kids) are the protagonists, other characters of Arrow and Flash make appearances. It started as a drabble series, but developed more and more into a full domestic AU.

All At Sea by @realityisoverrated-fic | Arrow | One-shot

Summary: Oliver joins Felicity and Tommy aboard the Sunnybrook. They say that they've forgiven him for leaving them, but he's never felt so alone.

I Miss You and I love You by @oliversmuse | Arrow | One-shot

Summary: Oliver has to return to Earth 1 on a mission for the Monitor. He convinces him to give him one hour to check on Felicity and Mia but he cannot let them know he is there. While outside playing Mia see's a man that looks like her Daddy watching Felicity through the window and approaches him. This is their conversation and shows how a parent and a child's love is never-ending.

| ONE | (Oliver The Footballer) by @someonesaidcake | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Felicity Smoak had a plan; to save enough money to kick her monotonous job and start up the company of her dreams. She made good plans, solid plans, attainable plans. He was never part of her plan. His name was Oliver Queen, the reclusive Brazilian football star with a broken smile and a story to tell He’d never planned on her either.

Semper Fidelis by @oliversmuse | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Oliver Queen is a member of the Bravo Squad, a team that specializes in search and rescue, covert infantry and translating foreign documents. He is known as one of the best and even though he is one of the youngest recruits he advances quickly. While serving he meets Lance Corporal Felicity Smoak, a young woman with skills in hand to hand combat. Despite the fact they butt heads they fall in love and soon start to talk about a future together. However, when her plane disappears on a mission in China and she is presumed dead, Bravo Squad searches frantically for her, only to find her plane and her bloody dog tags. Five years later Oliver runs into “Megan” at a coffee shop near that gym he has been running with his friends. She has lost her memory from the plane accident but has had dreams of Oliver and the Bravo Squad. With the help of his friends and team mates, can he help her reclaim her past and fall for him once again?

Providence by @so-caffeinated | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Will Queen has struggled in silence in the year since he was shot. But when a shadowy crime lord known as Domino targets the only woman Will’s ever truly loved, fate forces him to confront his demons in ways he never could have imagined… Whether he wants to or not. Amelia Prescott has fought to take control of her life since learning two years ago that her personal and professional worlds were manipulated by others. But nothing can prepare her for just how hard she’ll have to fight to set her own course, especially when her heart belongs to a damaged man and a crime lord threatens her every professional move… And her life. Destiny brings them together, but as chaos reigns and personal demons haunt Will and Amelia both, it may also threaten to tear them apart.

(i want to) save that light by @callistawolf | Arrow | WIP

Summary: What if one little thing changed in the history of Arrow? What if, instead of going to Laurel’s apartment after discovering the extent of Merlyn’s plans for the Glades, Oliver stayed at the foundry and talked to Felicity instead? This series of short vignettes explores some of the ripple-effect changes that could take place throughout the next season as a result of this one, fortuitous change.

Alpha by @oliversmuse | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Oliver Queen was a powerful vampire that was captured by a group experimenting on hybrids. Turned into a hybrid that is half vampire and half wolf he is strong, fast and deadly. While in captivity he meets Dr. Felicity Smoak a hermatologist who is called in to monitor his feedings. All Oliver wants is to be free, away from the experiments and being in a cage, and strangely he feels he can trust Dr. Smoak. There is also an unspoken attraction between them that is forbidden. Can he convince her to set him free or will her attraction to him tempt her to keep him close?

Find Some Peace by @smoaking-greenarrow | Arrow | WIP

Summary: In Star City 2040, William recognizes that something about the future feels off. Believing that things can’t get worse than a world without superheroes (or their parents being together), William and Mia travel back in time to find answers.

and we’re somehow caught up in a web of lies by inlovewithimpossibility | Arrow | WIP

Summary: After their encounter with the Count and Moira’s release from prison, Thanksgiving is upon the residents of Starling City but when an article arises in the gossip magazines that throws both Oliver and Felicity under scrutiny, the two of them somehow find themselves caught up in the most elaborate lie they’ve told. What was supposed to be a relaxing week at the Queen cabin in New Hampshire for Oliver and a week celebrating Hanukkah and Thanksgiving alone for Felicity turns into a week at the cabin of acting, the Queen women and bubbling not-so-platonic feelings.

Did I Forget to Mention That My Dad is a Supervillain? by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When Felicity told Oliver about her father, she wasn’t lying per se. She wasn’t completely honest either. It’s just that ‘my dad left us’ sounded better than the truth.

Or: A Series of one shots in which Felicity’s dad is a supervillain and we see how Oliver and the team finds out.

Artemis by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When the Queen’s Gambit sank, two people were stranded on Lian Yu. Five years later, four came back.

Daughter of the Demon by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: What if in 1988 while traveling through Las Vegas Ra’s al Ghul bumps into a nice waitress named Donna Smoak and they have one-night stand together? A little bundle of joy named Felicity Smoak is the result. In 2014, the Demon Head becomes aware of his youngest daughter’s existence.

The Ravager by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Slade Wilson’s plan for revenge against Oliver took time, money and no shortage of lives to pull together. His plan didn’t anticipate Felicity Smoak. How will his plan change now that his lost-lost daughter is working with the very man he’s trying to destroy?

The Daughter That Was Left by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Before the Gambit, Oliver Queen met QC intern Felicity Smoak. When he boarded the Gambit, he left something behind. Now, five long years later someone is waiting for him.

Paging Dr. Smoak by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When Oliver Queen gets into a car accident, he meets Dr. Felicity Smoak. He had no idea how much a chance meeting would change his life.

I Scream But No Sound Comes out by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When Oliver returns from Lian Yu after five years, he comes back different. What happened there damaged more than just his body. How will his friends and family deal with this new Oliver?

[fulcrumahsokaamidala]

Saturday Spectacular #4

Happy Saturday!!! So this is me thanking awesome fanfic writers for their amazing work and all the time they put into their fics. ♥️ I want to recommend spectacular fanfic stories I read this week! ♥️ They are posted in the order I read them. All posts will be tagged #saturday spectacular fic rec

This week I read the gifts from the @olicity-fanwork-exchange (OFAE). I will mark which fics are part of the exchange.

Ride or Die by @someonesaidcake | Arrow | WIP

Summary: They say that life is a series of events that we can neither predict nor control... And then there is him. He’s a bit of an enigma. ~*~*~*~Young CEO Felicity Smoak is just trying to make her mark on the world, yes she's a little high strung and stressed, but it was what is was... until he came along. With eyes a girl could lose herself in and shoulder-tapping hair made for hanging on to Oliver Queen was reckless and carefree. Also, he rode a bike. He was everything she wasn't and he was a sucker for those sinful red lips and everything that came with them.*main story complete, now snapshots*

Always by @icannotbelieveiamhere | Arrow | One-shot | OFAE

Summary: Felicity and Oliver talk after being rescued from below the bunker after Adrian Chase set off an EMP which disabled Felicity's chip.

Did I Forget to Mention That My Dad is a Supervillain? by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When Felicity told Oliver about her father, she wasn’t lying per se. She wasn’t completely honest either. It’s just that ‘my dad left us’ sounded better than the truth.

Or: A Series of one shots in which Felicity’s dad is a supervillain and we see how Oliver and the team finds out.

The Road Less Traveled by @oneofthosecrazygirls-fics | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Canon divergence/fix-it AU. Everything that happened in the series up through 4x11 happens as it did in the show and this fic diverges from there. Direct sequel to “Swear This One You’ll Save” and “Have Your Cake (And Eat It Too)” so make sure you read those first before reading this one. This fic is part of the What Should’ve Been ‘verse.

Broken Bones Lead Me to You by @spaztronautwriter | Arrow | One-shot

Summary: After an unfortunate incident involving a slippery slide and a toddler's snow boot ends in a visit to the ER for Oliver Queen, he's pretty sure he might be having the worst day of his life. Until he meets an intriguing blonde with a broken hand, that is.

Broken Bones and Porcelain Dolls by @tangled23works | Arrow | One-shot | OFAE

Summary: Felicity Smoak met Oliver Queen during a visit to the ER. Twenty years later, her brother's guilty conscience and a dislocated thumb lead Mia to a fateful meeting as well.

Home to You by @the-shy-and-anxious-fangirl | Arrow | Completed

Summary:  Oliver Queen has never done what his family expected of him. He took a gap year after high school instead of going to college right away. He quit his fraternity sophomore year to join the student newspaper, switching his major from business to journalism. He became a photojournalist for a wire service instead of taking a place at Queen Consolidated. He went missing after six months instead of coming home for his sister’s twenty-first birthday. He survived five years of captivity in a war zone when everyone thought he was dead. He came home. But home didn’t have a place for him in it anymore. His parents were both dead, casualties of their own mistakes and a city they had turned against them. His sister was all grown up, the CEO of Queen Consolidated with a fiancé and a dog and a life of her own. Oliver didn’t belong in his old life, but there was nowhere else for him to go. He was a man without a home, without any way of finding one, until he stopped by the IT department of his sister’s company to get files off an old, battered memory card, and found a woman with curly blonde hair and bright, intelligent eyes chewing on a bright red pen and swearing at a computer screen.

Airplanes, Coffee and Deadlines by @hope-for-olicity | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Felicity begins working at a national newspaper where she has always dreamed of working. On her first day, she meets a very interesting photojournalist. The two will eventually work together but sparks fly immediately.

The Microchip Chronicles by CSM | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Post 713. Follows the next nine months of Felicity’s pregnancy.

and we're somehow caught up in a web of lies by inlovewithimpossibility | Arrow | WIP

Summary: After their encounter with the Count and Moira's release from prison, Thanksgiving is upon the residents of Starling City but when an article arises in the gossip magazines that throws both Oliver and Felicity under scrutiny, the two of them somehow find themselves caught up in the most elaborate lie they've told. What was supposed to be a relaxing week at the Queen cabin in New Hampshire for Oliver and a week celebrating Hanukkah and Thanksgiving alone for Felicity turns into a week at the cabin of acting, the Queen women and bubbling not-so-platonic feelings.

The What If Harassment Alternative by portlandborn | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | WIP

Summary: What would have happened to Peraltiago And our intrepid detectives, if Amy had reported her mentor captains ugly behaviors?

Three Generations of Smoak by @spaztronautwriter | Arrow | One-shot | OFAE

Summary: A look inside the minds of the three Smoak women when they are each twenty years old.

Semper Fidelis by @oliversmuse | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Oliver Queen is a member of the Bravo Squad, a team that specializes in search and rescue, covert infantry and translating foreign documents. He is known as one of the best and even though he is one of the youngest recruits he advances quickly. While serving he meets Lance Corporal Felicity Smoak, a young woman with skills in hand to hand combat. Despite the fact they butt heads they fall in love and soon start to talk about a future together. However, when her plane disappears on a mission in China and she is presumed dead, Bravo Squad searches frantically for her, only to find her plane and her bloody dog tags. Five years later Oliver runs into "Megan" at a coffee shop near that gym he has been running with his friends. She has lost her memory from the plane accident but has had dreams of Oliver and the Bravo Squad. With the help of his friends and team mates, can he help her reclaim her past and fall for him once again?

Paging Dr. Smoak by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When Oliver Queen gets into a car accident, he meets Dr. Felicity Smoak. He had no idea how much a chance meeting would change his life.

Mint Chip by @smoaking-greenarrow | Arrow | One-shot

Summary: Three times Oliver comforted Felicity with ice cream, and one time she comforted him.

| ONE | (Oliver The Footballer) by @someonesaidcake | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Felicity Smoak had a plan; to save enough money to kick her monotonous job and start up the company of her dreams. She made good plans, solid plans, attainable plans. He was never part of her plan. His name was Oliver Queen, the reclusive Brazilian football star with a broken smile and a story to tell He'd never planned on her either.

Providence by @so-caffeinated | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Will Queen has struggled in silence in the year since he was shot. But when a shadowy crime lord known as Domino targets the only woman Will’s ever truly loved, fate forces him to confront his demons in ways he never could have imagined… Whether he wants to or not. Amelia Prescott has fought to take control of her life since learning two years ago that her personal and professional worlds were manipulated by others. But nothing can prepare her for just how hard she'll have to fight to set her own course, especially when her heart belongs to a damaged man and a crime lord threatens her every professional move... And her life. Destiny brings them together, but as chaos reigns and personal demons haunt Will and Amelia both, it may also threaten to tear them apart.

(i want to) save that light by @callistawolf | Arrow | WIP

Summary: What if one little thing changed in the history of Arrow? What if, instead of going to Laurel's apartment after discovering the extent of Merlyn's plans for the Glades, Oliver stayed at the foundry and talked to Felicity instead? This series of short vignettes explores some of the ripple-effect changes that could take place throughout the next season as a result of this one, fortuitous change.

"Time for a story" Drabble Series by @smkkbert | Arrow | WIP

Summary: This fic shows Olicity and their life as a (married) couple with family. Although Olicity (and their kids) are the protagonists, other characters of Arrow and Flash make appearances. It started as a drabble series, but developed more and more into a full domestic AU. Although some chapters are still drabble-like, there are longer storylines by now.

Love and Little Cupcakes by @christinabeggs | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Felicity loved sweets so much that she paid no attention to her love life. Until Thea Queen came into her store wanting fabulous cupcakes for her sixteenth birthday.

[fulcrumahsokaamidala]

Saturday Spectacular #10

Happy Saturday!!! So this is me thanking awesome fanfic writers for their amazing work and all the time they put into their fics. ♥️ I want to recommend spectacular fanfic stories I read this week! ♥️ They are posted in the order I read them. All posts will be tagged #saturday spectacular fic rec

| ONE | (Oliver The Footballer) by @someonesaidcake | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Felicity Smoak had a plan; to save enough money to kick her monotonous job and start up the company of her dreams. She made good plans, solid plans, attainable plans. He was never part of her plan. His name was Oliver Queen, the reclusive Brazilian football star with a broken smile and a story to tell He’d never planned on her either.

The Year Of Good Things by wordscreatereality | Arrow | Completed

Summary: Oliver and Felicity are finally together and are determined to live life to the fullest and have promised to make the next twelve months good for each other. The criminals of Starling City and the Bratva have other ideas. This is the final installment of The Ties That Bind trilogy.

Can’t Help Falling in Love by @smoaking-greenarrow | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Collection of fluff fics based on Tumblr prompts! Some are angsty, but most of this is fluffy. Enjoy!

And So the Adventure Begins by @mindramblingsfics | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Felicity spent her first year of college focused solely on her studies. In year two, with the convincing of her best friends Iris and Sara, she lets her hair down a bit. Oliver spent his first year partying with his wingman Tommy and living up to the status that came with his last name. He realizes he should buckle down focus on the most important part: actual school. Oliver and Felicity meet, and even though they are on different ends of the spectrum, they soon realize that they can each bring out hidden parts of one another.

“Time for a story” Drabble Series by @smkkbert | Arrow | WIP

Summary: This fic shows Olicity and their life as a (married) couple with family. Although Olicity (and their kids) are the protagonists, other characters of Arrow and Flash make appearances. It started as a drabble series, but developed more and more into a full domestic AU.

Semper Fidelis by @oliversmuse | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Oliver Queen is a member of the Bravo Squad, a team that specializes in search and rescue, covert infantry and translating foreign documents. He is known as one of the best and even though he is one of the youngest recruits he advances quickly. While serving he meets Lance Corporal Felicity Smoak, a young woman with skills in hand to hand combat. Despite the fact they butt heads they fall in love and soon start to talk about a future together. However, when her plane disappears on a mission in China and she is presumed dead, Bravo Squad searches frantically for her, only to find her plane and her bloody dog tags. Five years later Oliver runs into “Megan” at a coffee shop near that gym he has been running with his friends. She has lost her memory from the plane accident but has had dreams of Oliver and the Bravo Squad. With the help of his friends and team mates, can he help her reclaim her past and fall for him once again?

The Roommate by GameOfOlicity | Arrow | WIP

Summary: AU. Where Oliver is a cute nerdy guy going to MIT and finds himself having a beautiful blonde as his roommate. Oliver and Felicity become really good friends. Oliver is soon going to find out how hard it is not to get attached to his blonde friend.

Alpha by @oliversmuse | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Oliver Queen was a powerful vampire that was captured by a group experimenting on hybrids. Turned into a hybrid that is half vampire and half wolf he is strong, fast and deadly. While in captivity he meets Dr. Felicity Smoak a hermatologist who is called in to monitor his feedings. All Oliver wants is to be free, away from the experiments and being in a cage, and strangely he feels he can trust Dr. Smoak. There is also an unspoken attraction between them that is forbidden. Can he convince her to set him free or will her attraction to him tempt her to keep him close?

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by @allimariexf | Arrow | WIP

Summary: He is waiting for her on the other side.~~~Post-7x22 Olicity Reunion!~~~

Artemis by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When the Queen’s Gambit sank, two people were stranded on Lian Yu. Five years later, four came back.

Daughter of the Demon by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: What if in 1988 while traveling through Las Vegas Ra’s al Ghul bumps into a nice waitress named Donna Smoak and they have one-night stand together? A little bundle of joy named Felicity Smoak is the result. In 2014, the Demon Head becomes aware of his youngest daughter’s existence.

The Ravager by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Slade Wilson’s plan for revenge against Oliver took time, money and no shortage of lives to pull together. His plan didn’t anticipate Felicity Smoak. How will his plan change now that his lost-lost daughter is working with the very man he’s trying to destroy?

The Daughter That Was Left by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Before the Gambit, Oliver Queen met QC intern Felicity Smoak. When he boarded the Gambit, he left something behind. Now, five long years later someone is waiting for him.

Felicity of Themiscyra by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Years ago, Donna Smoak left the island of Themiscyra and her sister Queen Hippolyta behind to live in man’s world. She never told Felicity the truth about where she came from. As a result of the Undertaking, Felicity discovers some of her Amazonian abilities and makes an interesting new friend: Diana Prince.

I Scream But No Sound Comes out by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When Oliver returns from Lian Yu after five years, he comes back different. What happened there damaged more than just his body. How will his friends and family deal with this new Oliver?

I wear high heels (she wears sneakers) by @mogirl97​ | Supergirl | WIP

Summary: “Lena. It’s not just about football.” Kara waved her hands around emphatically, “It’s about school spirit and hanging out with your friends—“ Lena didn’t want to bring up the fact that she didn’t have any friends to hang out with. “—and watching me obliterate a bunch of guys’ egos and going out for celebratory Big Belly Burger afterwards.” ~A Supercorp High School AU~

Love and Little Cupcakes by @christinabeggs | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Felicity loved sweets so much that she paid no attention to her love life. Until Thea Queen came into her store wanting fabulous cupcakes for her sixteenth birthday.

Did I Forget to Mention That My Dad is a Supervillain? by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When Felicity told Oliver about her father, she wasn’t lying per se. She wasn’t completely honest either. It’s just that ‘my dad left us’ sounded better than the truth.

Or: A Series of one shots in which Felicity’s dad is a supervillain and we see how Oliver and the team finds out.

Providence by @so-caffeinated | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Will Queen has struggled in silence in the year since he was shot. But when a shadowy crime lord known as Domino targets the only woman Will’s ever truly loved, fate forces him to confront his demons in ways he never could have imagined… Whether he wants to or not. Amelia Prescott has fought to take control of her life since learning two years ago that her personal and professional worlds were manipulated by others. But nothing can prepare her for just how hard she’ll have to fight to set her own course, especially when her heart belongs to a damaged man and a crime lord threatens her every professional move… And her life. Destiny brings them together, but as chaos reigns and personal demons haunt Will and Amelia both, it may also threaten to tear them apart.

(i want to) save that light by @callistawolf | Arrow | WIP

Summary: What if one little thing changed in the history of Arrow? What if, instead of going to Laurel’s apartment after discovering the extent of Merlyn’s plans for the Glades, Oliver stayed at the foundry and talked to Felicity instead? This series of short vignettes explores some of the ripple-effect changes that could take place throughout the next season as a result of this one, fortuitous change.

and we’re somehow caught up in a web of lies by inlovewithimpossibility  | Arrow | WIP

Summary:  After their encounter with the Count and Moira’s release from prison, Thanksgiving is upon the residents of Starling City but when an article arises in the gossip magazines that throws both Oliver and Felicity under scrutiny, the two of them somehow find themselves caught up in the most elaborate lie they’ve told. What was supposed to be a relaxing week at the Queen cabin in New Hampshire for Oliver and a week celebrating Hanukkah and Thanksgiving alone for Felicity turns into a week at the cabin of acting, the Queen women and bubbling not-so-platonic feelings.

When Did It All Go Wrong by @wrldtravler | Arrow | WIP

Summary: After a mission with A.R.G.U.S. goes south, agent Oliver Queen learns something he shouldn’t about Director Amanda Waller. Sent on the run when A.R.G.U.S. turns against him, he’s forced to seek out the one person that never wanted to see him again but whom he trusts with his life: his ex, Felicity Smoak. Putting their past behind them, the estranged pair come together along with John Diggle and Lyla Michaels to stop the looming threat. However, the past never stays buried for long. With their renewed connection comes great strength. But where there is strength, there is also great weakness – one that may cost them everything they worked to prevent.

[fulcrumahsokaamidala]

Happy Saturday!!! So this is me thanking awesome fanfic writers for their amazing work. ♥️ I want to recommend spectacular fanfic stories I read this week! ♥️ They are posted in the order I read them. This is something that I want to continue moving forward, and all posts will be tagged #saturday spectacular fic rec

| ONE | (Oliver The Footballer) by @someonesaidcake | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Felicity Smoak had a plan; to save enough money to kick her monotonous job and start up the company of her dreams. She made good plans, solid plans, attainable plans. 

He was never part of her plan. 

His name was Oliver Queen, the reclusive Brazilian football star with a broken smile and a story to tell.

He'd never planned on her either.

Surprise Children by @icannotbelieveiamhere | Arrow | One-shot

Summary:  Oliver has just let William leave with his grandparents. He wants to protect William and keep an eye on his son but he needs help from an old friend in Central City. Felicity is acting strangely after her phone call.

His Girl Wednesday by BlueBayou | Arrow | Completed

Summary: Missing her interview for a position in the IT department of QC, Felicity Smoak meets Oliver Queen, son of the CEO and future CEO himself. Only Oliver doesn’t take the company as seriously as he should and after yet another fiasco with his assistant, his mother decides to take matter into her own hands and select one with more qualifications than long legs and deep cleavage. In an effort to get her off his back, he pretends he already hired one: the blonde nerdy girl he met a few minutes ago.

Or when Arrow and Ugly Betty crash in my head (except we all know Felicity could never be ugly). It is mostly Arrow, I borrow a few plot ideas/characters from Ugly Betty.

The Cuff Links by @realityisoverrated-fic | Arrow | One-shot

Summary:  On the day of Robert and Oliver's funeral Moira gave Tommy a pair of Robert's cuff links that were always intended for Oliver. Tommy finds the perfect occasion to fulfill Robert's original intentions.

Workouts and Babbles by ElasticMonk | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Oliver comes to the rescue of one cute blonde at his gym just as Felicity stumbles upon one handsome mayor at her gym. They both have something in common, but will it bring them happiness?

He's Just The Nanny by @oliversmuse | Arrow | Completed

Summary:  Oliver Queen has been working as a Nanny for the last 5 years when suddenly the family he is working for is transferred to another city. Open for a new assignment he is sent to the home of Smoak Technologies CEO Felicity Smoak and is hired on the spot to watch her three year old daughter, Ellie. As the weeks pass, feelings start to develop and things get complicated and Felicity and Oliver learn very quickly how love can change everything.

The Proposal by @spaztronautwriter | Arrow | WIP

Summary:  When Felicity Smoak finds herself in a bind, she enlists the help of her assistant Oliver Dearden to help keep her from being deported and losing her job. The problem is, in order to do so, they kind of have to get married...

The What If Harassment Alternative by portlandborn | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | WIP

Summary:  What would have happened to Peraltiago And our intrepid detectives, if Amy had reported her mentor captains ugly behaviors?

"Time for a story" Drabble Series by @smkkbert | Arrow | WIP

Summary: This fic shows Olicity and their life as a (married) couple with family. Although Olicity (and their kids) are the protagonists, other characters of Arrow and Flash make appearances.

It started as a drabble series, but developed more and more into a full domectic AU. Although some chapters are still drabble-like, there are longer storylines by now.

Do you remember by @smkkbert | Arrow | WIP

Summary:  Eight years after Oliver and Felicity became teenage parents, they have everything they could have ever hoped for and more. They have a good life in a nice house. Their marriage is happy, and a second baby is on its way. The calm they have settled in is interrupted abruptly when a stalker starts terrorizing Felicity.

Arrow Out of Context by @smoaking-greenarrow | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Collection of prompts using Arrow quotes.

Airplanes, Coffee and Deadlines by @hope-for-olicity | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Felicity begins working at a national newspaper where she has always dreamed of working. On her first day, she meets a very interesting photojournalist. The two will eventually work together but sparks fly immediately.

The Ravager by @laxit21 & mewmew666 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Slade Wilson's plan for revenge against Oliver took time, money and no shortage of lives to pull together. His plan didn't anticipate Felicity Smoak. How will his plan change now that his lost-lost daughter is working with the very man he's trying to destroy?

Artemis by @laxit21 & mewmew666 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When the Queen's Gambit sank, two people were stranded on Lian Yu. Five years later, four came back.

The Daughter That Was Left Behind by @laxit21 &  mewmew666 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Before the Gambit, Oliver Queen met QC intern Felicity Smoak. When he boarded the Gambit, he left something behind. Now, five long years later someone is waiting for him.

Semper Fidelis by @oliversmuse | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Oliver Queen is a member of the Bravo Squad, a team that specializes in search and rescue, covert infantry and translating foreign documents. He is known as one of the best and even though he is one of the youngest recruits he advances quickly. While serving he meets Lance Corporal Felicity Smoak, a young woman with skills in hand to hand combat. Despite the fact they butt heads they fall in love and soon start to talk about a future together. However, when her plane disappears on a mission in China and she is presumed dead, Bravo Squad searches frantically for her, only to find her plane and her bloody dog tags. Five years later Oliver runs into "Megan" at a coffee shop near that gym he has been running with his friends. She has lost her memory from the plane accident but has had dreams of Oliver and the Bravo Squad. With the help of his friends and team mates, can he help her reclaim her past and fall for him once again?

Daughter of the Demon by @laxit21 & mewmew666 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: What if in 1988 while traveling through Las Vegas Ra's al Ghul bumps into a nice waitress named Donna Smoak and they have one-night stand together? A little bundle of joy named Felicity Smoak is the result. In 2014, the Demon Head becomes aware of his youngest daughter's existence.

Felicity of Themiscyra by @laxit21 & mewmew666 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Years ago, Donna Smoak left the island of Themiscyra and her sister Queen Hippolyta behind to live in man's world. She never told Felicity the truth about where she came from. As a result of the Undertaking, Felicity discovers some of her Amazonian abilities and makes an interesting new friend: Diana Prince.

I Scream But No Sound Comes out by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When Oliver returns from Lian Yu after five years, he comes back different. What happened there damaged more than just his body. How will his friends and family deal with this new Oliver? 

And So the Adventure Begins by @mindramblingsfics | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Felicity spent her first year of college focused solely on her studies. In year two, with the convincing of her best friends Iris and Sara, she lets her hair down a bit. Oliver spent his first year partying with his wingman Tommy and living up to the status that came with his last name. He realizes he should buckle down focus on the most important part: actual school. Oliver and Felicity meet, and even though they are on different ends of the spectrum, they don't realize that they can each bring out hidden parts of one another. 

Emerald Archer Martial Arts by @alexiablackbriar13 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: In May 2019, a tired Oliver Queen and four months pregnant Felicity Smoak retire from their vigilante duties and move to the redwood forest town of Bloomfield with their son William, to raise their family in peace.

Along the journey, they build their own successful companies, increase the size of the Smoak-Queen clan by a couple more, train their kids in self-defense, and live out a blissful existence.

This is the story of 7 years of their happiness and family antics, after 7 years of crime-fighting and hardship to save their city.

Providence by @so-caffeinated | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Will Queen has struggled in silence in the year since he was shot. But when a shadowy crime lord known as Domino targets the only woman Will’s ever truly loved, fate forces him to confront his demons in ways he never could have imagined… Whether he wants to or not.

Amelia Prescott has fought to take control of her life since learning two years ago that her personal and professional worlds were manipulated by others. But nothing can prepare her for just how hard she'll have to fight to set her own course, especially when her heart belongs to a damaged man and a crime lord threatens her every professional move... And her life.

Destiny brings them together, but as chaos reigns and personal demons haunt Will and Amelia both, it may also threaten to tear them apart.

I wear high heels (she wears sneakers) by @mogirl97 | Supergirl | WIP

Summary: “Lena. It’s not just about football.” Kara waved her hands around emphatically, “It’s about school spirit and hanging out with your friends—“ Lena didn’t want to bring up the fact that she didn’t have any friends to hang out with. “—and watching me obliterate a bunch of guys’ egos and going out for celebratory Big Belly Burger afterwards.” ~A Supercorp High School AU~