#the main female characters who ended the show in relationships had all of their depth removed because of those relationships

[yourhighness6]

It's funny to me when people insist that "ATLA was really feminist" as if there wasn't really only one feminist message which was the very generic "girls can fight too" spiel that every 2000s show had going on whenever they briefly tried to jump on the feminism bandwagon or whatever

[carlyleandco]

okay my fellow Cdrama fanatics, I’m in need of some recs as someone who is still fairly new to the scene…

Historical Cdramas I’ve enjoyed

Story of Minglan ~ this show is my Roman Empire…like I don’t go more than a couple of days without thinking about it. Love how much depth there was to the characters and their relationships. I got so much satisfaction from watching Minglan run circles around every one else using her intelligence and wits. Every time Gu Tingye popped up in the background as her backup support I lost it! Talk about power couple.

Love Like the Galaxy ~ first historical Cdrama I have watched and apart from Minglan, I think it has ruined the rest for me. This drama has so many layers. Niao Niao is an intelligent, and opportunistic female lead. She is unabashedly herself, and the story is not afraid to depict her as unlikeable at first instance. I deeply appreciated the focus on female relationships and family. And Ling Buyi has ruined all other antiheroes for me lmao

Destined ~ I thought this one would be on par with Minglan at first, but it did lose its way in the latter half. I felt the female lead was relegated to the background, which was frustrating as they built her up to be this shrewd businesswoman and then we never get to see her in action. I did appreciate how wholesome and untoxic Jiu Si was as a romantic lead. I thought her relationship with the SML could have been drawn out more, however.

Romance of Tiger and Rose ~ I don’t think this drama is anywhere on par with the above three, but I still enjoyed it. Definitely a fun and unserious romp. Zhou Lu Si is just so likeable in all her roles.

Xianxia I’ve enjoyed:

Love and Redemption ~ I literally fell down a hole with this drama. I could not stop watching. Even though the female leads starts with that token immaturity Cdramas are known for, it’s explained in-world and she goes through a noticeable growth/stepping into adulthood arc. I also LOVED how powerful she was and how often she got to use her powers. Also the romance? Sifeng?!!? Yeah I was a mess. However, one thing that irritated me was the lack of agency Xuan Ji had toward the end of the show.

Eternal Love ~ it’s a classic for a reason. I loved Bai Qian’s resolve, steadfastness, and maturity. Her relationship with Ye Hau blossomed naturally, and they had different obstacles to face as a couple as opposed to what I have seen so far.

Love Between Fairy and Devil ~ speaks for itself, and I love enemies to lovers.

Extra: points if the female lead is powerful, or is on a journey to realising her power. Whether that’s through her intelligence, empathy, or in the case of xianxia, actual mystical power. Bonus points if she’s a character like Xuan Ji who can go supernova and destroy everyone lol

Historical dramas I have not enjoyed:

The Sword and the Brocade ~ I didn’t even finish this one. My overall impression was, having already finished Minglan prior, eating cardboard after having been to a 5 star Michelin restaurant. Everything was so bland and dull, even down to the cinematography.

Princess Silver ~ I dragged myself to the finish line with this one. The plot just became so utterly ludicrous and relied on the audience being invested in the main leads without actually letting them spend screen time together. I also hated that we had glimpses of the female leads power but that she never got to fully realise this. Just overly contrived and trite.

Xianxia I did not enjoy

Ashes of Love ~ this was the first xianxia I ever watched some years back. Given I was new to the genre, I think I found some of the characteristic features a bit jarring and I stopped watching Cdramas as a result. If I watched it again I may be able to make it through. Ultimately, I just could not stomach how naive the main female character. I understand this is typical, but it was another level of nauseating that I have not found an equal to since.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

How do you feel about Felix?

Canon hasn't given Felix enough consistency or core elements for me to have feelings about him. Every time he shows up, he's basically a new character, meaning that I have no idea who he's supposed to be which makes it pretty hard to summon any feelings beyond confusion and occasionally annoyance.

I'm not the sort of person who delights in taking a drop of potential and shaping it into a full character in the context of fandom. I save that stuff for my original fiction. While I do a lot of fix it content, my main draw to fandom is still playing with the established characters/lore/world and so on. I want to create stories and takes on these characters that feel genuine to other fans. That's the fun and the writing challenge. I can't really do that with Felix. Canon has given me nothing solid to work with.

Let's quickly contrast him to Nino since I recently discussed how badly canon has handled Nino and how I had to do a lot of redesigning to make Nino work in my stuff. The core of my Nino redesign comes from canon because it's all firmly rooted in the fact that this guy is supposed to be Carapace, The Protector. Add in the fact that he's Adrien's best friend and Alya's boyfriend - two characters with pretty strong core characterizations - and I'm good to go. Those are strong anchors to work with!

If you removed those elements and Nino was just Adrien's best friend, then I'd probably have no idea what to do with Nino because that's a pretty nebulous role. This is Felix's problem. You can go almost anywhere with his character because nothing about him gives him a clear role in the narrative!

Does Felix care about Adrien? No idea! He's done nothing to help Adrien or make his life better, so my guess is no, but Felix is a good guy now so maybe???

Does Felix actually love Kagami? No clue, their romance is based on nothing of substance. As best I can tell, he just decided that all humans save for his mom were worthless and the show is heavily heteronormative, so he obviously wants a girlfriend and Kagami is kind of his only option unless he makes himself a sentigirlfriend. It's a very weird way to write their relationship. If I were writing this, he'd contact Kagami for some greater plan and fall in love as they worked together, but nope! We get deeply confusing insta love that starts with stalking leading to a kidnapping and ending with them together because this show is incapable of showing healthy romance!

Side note, but with how poorly they've handled Marinette and Adrien's crushes, can you imagine theses writers trying to write a setup where the male lead was actively trying to trick the female lead into loving him (which was the set-up when Felix was the lead)? I think that PV Felix would come across even worse than our current heroes do!

Is Felix okay with people using the peacock? I thought that the answer was "no," but he's happy to use the peacock for pretty mundane things, so who knows? I seriously can't tell you what Felix's attitude towards sentimonsters is. I thought that he was a freedom fighter after that moment in Strikeback where he apologized because I thought that he was apologizing to Strikeback, but now I'm thinking that he may have been apologizing to Ladybug because he was about to betray her??? I don't know, my new best guess is that he only wanted the peacock for protection and that he cares about no one outside himself and those he's deemed worthy. Most sentimonsters are just tools to him. He's basically lost all depth in this area because that would mean treating the sentimonster thing seriously and the show isn't going to do that.

Did Felix care if Gabriel destroyed the world? I don't think so. He didn't really help with Gabriel's "defeat". Felix spent the entire season knowing everything, but didn't tell anyone until it would personally benefit him. That benefit had nothing to do with a fear of Gabriel or even a desire to be a hero like one might expect since he's apparently part of the team now. We didn't even get Kagami making Felix want to be a hero who defends the world or even just a hero who helps his cousin. It was Kagami and Felix wanting to be together more openly and nothing else. Who cares about protecting the world or helping friends? We just wanna be able to go on dates and make out a bit, so can you fix that for us, LB? It's not like you've got anything else on your plate right now!

What a deeply selfish and unheroic motivation for both of our supposed heroes. Remind me, what has Kagami done to earn her miraculous? Because - as far as I can tell - she's really not suited to being a hero anymore. Season five made her look like a selfish, gullible fool.

While we're on the topic of how "heroic" Felix is, I'll also point out that, after this big reveal, Felix disappears. He doesn't help with the final fight or anything like that even though he has all the information on what was going on and a god-tier power set that could be used to free the people being controlled by the rings. Not sure if this is supposed to read as him not caring or just the writers pretending that Felix doesn't exist because letting him fight would undermine Marinette's role since Felix's powers are so much stronger than hers.

Is Felix some sort of genius mastermind? The show seems to want me to say, "yes" to this, but they've never actually written him as all that clever. Much like Lila, his plans really only work because the plot makes them work. For example, he didn't get the miraculous due to clever plotting. He got them because of shear dumb luck. Ladybug could have wielded the dog herself and he'd have been screwed. Same goes for her taking the dog back after he was done using it since he was by no means needed after they took down Risk. I still don't understand how Gabriel was able to open her summoned yo-yo or why Felix waited until the train to check if he had the real miraculous. Basically, the writers really had to warp the show's logic to make Felix's win work.

So who is Felix? No idea! The only thing I can say for certain is that he loves his mom and that's really not enough for me to work with if I want to write a Felix that feels true to canon. Almost any take on him feels true to canon at this point because he's a nothing burger. He has all of the substance of unset jello.

I was briefly excited about his character when I thought that his season four role was setting him up for something big in season five, but then he showed up in Emotion and my excitement died. What even was that episode? It's written like a mental breakdown, but it was foreshadowed in Destruction, so was it a mental breakdown or was this seriously the best plan that Felix could come up with after several weeks of plotting?

To put this in perspective, Gabriel came up with and created the Alliance rings faster than Felix came up with and created with Red Moon, a sentimonster that took him all of two seconds to create. I am unimpressed.

[summerongrand]

Just wanted to say I appreciate your take on the whole white man/woc imbalanced power plot issue. This is something that I had a big problem with in season 4 and others definitely seemed to pick up on the same when all the storylines were Wesley, Nolan or Tim centric, and Nyla, Angela and Lucy were seemingly left as the 'other'. However I feel like I saw the issue be forgotten in the fandom a little. It seems this show has consistently favoured highlighting the male struggle and treating female storylines as trivial and unworthy, other than that of Bailey, the then newly introduced and now main cast white female character. I thought this would change with Lucy's story now being written consistently in s6 but it's clear that Tim's potentially the more favourable storyline. Now I can't speak from a psychological standpoint on what Tim did to Lucy but from a plot pov it's definitely making the white man vs woc power issue glaringly obvious. He is the one that gets to start or end their relationship. He's the white man with issues that is allowed to feel what he wants and grow his character while the asian woman is left behind despite her own depth and trauma. Let's hope that Lucy is given the same grace of dealing with her issues and growing as Tim, and Lucy gets her power back.

Hi Anon!

Thank you for your kind and thoughtful message. And thanks for patiently waiting for my response. I agree with everything you said. I believe the post you’re referring to is this one and possibly this one too.

It’s clear that the show has favored male storylines, particularly those of Wesley, Nolan, and Tim (and Bailey a non-WOC), while sidelining WOC ones. And even though the focus here is on Lucy and Chenford, I’m equally happy and willing to talk about race through the POVs of Angela/Wopez and Nyla/Jayla too.

I don’t think the actual act of Tim breaking up with Lucy has a racial dynamic to it other than the obvious. Them being of different races is just who they are. But their overall relationship (TO/Rookie, mentor/mentee, sergeant/gofer, friends, couple, etc.) does. And Melissa, bless her heart (affectionate), codes so heavily as Chinese in her mannerisms too and this gets projected onto Lucy. But that’s not talked about very often either. I say all of this to agree with you, Anon, because the “white man vs woc power issue” as you described has existed the whole time.

Let’s look at S5b and S6. A WOC masterminded the career progressions of at least two middle aged white men. One of them derailed her career progression. The other one broke up with her. Both broke her heart in very different ways. We did get some of Lucy’s character development and growth in S6 on the front end of the season. But even within that, her storyline has been about the 5 player trade (made to benefit Tim primarily) and Tim not being comfortable with her in UC. Tim gets demoted but he has a cushion to fall on because Lucy trampolined him into the Metro clouds and now the show’s able to use what Lucy did to benefit Tim again and use that to give him room to fall back on. This is part of the whole ‘using a WOC as a plot device to further a white man’s story’ which I’ve shared about in regards to the breakup (which is different than the act of breaking up) and you've detailed out too. We’ll see what happens to her story in the next few episodes, and I too hope that Lucy is given the same grace and that she does get her power back. But no matter what happens in future episodes, that trope was used so the genie’s already out of the bottle.

You did bring up the fandom, so I am going to talk about it a little more. This next part may be hard to hear, Anon, but … I have received negativity from Chenford fans for talking about Lucy and Melissa O’Neil’s race. This shows me that this topic is so worth talking about because there are people who feel a certain way about seeing race-related discussions about Lucy (they don’t want to be anywhere near it) and I do believe it’s unhealthy for the fandom to have these beliefs about a WOC. Others in the fandom have also encountered negativity and pushback when discussing this topic. Maybe it's even happened to you. People have shared their fandom experiences with me privately, but you’re the first to do it Anonymously which is great because that means you’ve given me the opportunity to respond to you publicly. 

Challenging this negatively held belief within our fandom and embracing Lucy/Mel’s racial and cultural identity is a worthy endeavor so let’s move the dial on that. It starts with talking about these topics in the context of The Rookieverse and keeping an open mind if these topics are unfamiliar to us. I mean, Mel wants more of that too.

Thanks again, Anon!

[limeade-l3sbian]

I think the socialization part shows itself a lot more since most romance manga(and in cases of manhua and manwha, the chinese and korean equivalents) are written by east asian women, whom obviously live in a place even more patriarchal than the west. not to say the things these women learn to accept from “love” makes them less or even unusual, i simply want to reiterate that it’s more pronounced there due to how even more constricted their societies are in regards to the treatment of their women.

anyway. now that the disclaimer is out of the way!

i’ve grown up reading a lot of manga of many different genres but i’ve especially used to have had some intense shoujo phases. shoujo is basically manga created for the demographic of girls and young women. not to say others can’t read it, but it’s simply where they tend to be marketed.

shoujo romance especially shows this issue a lot that i wanna talk about. the male leads will 9 times out of 10 be rich, extremely emotionally stunted(this can show in the form of intense rudeness, complete lack of emotional depth, no expressions, stoic to the extreme, downright abusive) and handsome. Those are the three traits they almost all have. Now obviously I get the want for a handsome or beautiful lead, whether it’s female or male, it is after all just fantasy fulfillment to an extent. The same with wealth. But i think the emotionally stunted side speaks of the women and girls’ who read the mangas socialization a lot. We have these male leads who often make the female leads go through hell, whether it’s due to his own actions or inactions. Sexual assaults have gotten less common in more modern manga, but it was only like ten years ago where sexual assaults in manga by the male lead towards the female MC would be a common place for him to show his desire for her and despite it often being portrayed as bad on the MC’s end, she always did end up forgiving him. The same with however else he treated her.

Made her to all the heavy lifting emotionally of the relationship? He’s forgiven, because suddenly he’s gotten a “tragic” backstory of a lonely, lonely boy being neglected in his massive mansion from childhood. He’s absolutely vile towards women? His mom was probably a horrid woman who either cheated on his poor dad and left or maybe she was simply so overbearing he now feel suffocated and dates new women every week like it’s some kind of game to dangle others feelings at his fingertips. Way into the romantic relationship having started with the MC he’s suddenly revealed to have a arranged fiancée or a very mean spirited but extremely beautiful childhood friend who the main character now how to basically fight off him with a stick while the male lead does not much else in most of these stories besides being useless. if we are lucky we get him talking the fiancée/childhood friend that he actually liked this new girl(MC), but extremely rarely will he actually go out of his way to truly set boundaries. he will passively essentially invite scorn towards his current gf. and these are just SOME of the examples of repeat patterns in behavior in the romantic male leads.

time and time again in shoujo romance male leads will make life much harder for the female main character. she will often be put down to her face for scoring such a rich hottie(even though we are at times 50+ chapters in and feelings on his end still seem finicky), she will have to bear the emotional heavy lifting and basically mother him/be a teacher to him on how to express himself, despite the fact that he usually changes very little. she will forgive any and all transgression he commits, even if it breaks her heart, because he is the main male lead and therefore he can do nothing truly wrong to not end up with her. and in the end of the mangas it’s usually somehow made clear in some way that SHES the lucky one. despite her carrying the relationship on her back. She should be grateful. And women and girls in east asia, and obviously also very much outside of it, eats it up. Yes! Give us a borderline abusive or at least emotionally neglectful man! We can forgive! We can forget! Let us be his doormat!

Not manga but it’s also so obviously in most romance kdramas i’ve seen. It’s such a common trope, these handsome, rich, utter asshole male leads and then these utter angel for a female lead who absolutely tolerates getting walked all over.

And while i’ve not read any of those books, it’s not like it’s not visible in the west. When authors like Coleen Hoover has basically built a career off of emotionally stunted but hot guys treated their gf/wife like utter garbage but it’s okay!!!! so romantic!!!!

women all over the world have such bottom of the barrel standards when it comes to emotional maturity in men. in some mediums it’s certainly more apparent than others, but it’s visible all over.

I do wanna be 100% clear that not all romance manga is obviously as I described. I’m simply talked about popular tropes, and i mean EXTREMELY popular, as in its more common to see at least one of them than it isn’t. That’s all.

!!!

[ladyhawke]

we should have gotten a show about two factions of the same family lead by two ambitious women fighting for the throne but instead we got a reductive good vs. evil game of thrones prequelTM that still doesn’t know how to write interesting female characters

detailed under the cut if anyone’s interested i just need to vent

aging down alicent and creating a relationship between her and rhaenyra was the show’s best decision, it added depth and emotional charge to the story but what’s the point of creating a wonderful backstory if you never get to the actual story? they refuse to allow the two of them to actually break apart and have something rotten sprout of what once was love and friendship and that compromised the whole show. the fact that they clearly wanted to keep the two of them interacting resulted in two of worst scenes of the show (especially the first one cause god that was unbelievably cringe)

i liked that they made alys rivers a weird witch instead of the obvious hot seductress

i love mysaria possibly being a agent for the smallfolk, it’s one the book’s most important themes “when the lords play their game of thrones it is the common people who lose” and if she understood that and is just using her position the help them would be amazing but i’m not very optimistic about that

helaena being a dreamer was also nice and i liked that they gave her neuroatypical traits but hated the distance they put between her and her dragon, her being neurodivergent should make her even more attached to dreamfyre if anything. i understand her not wanting to fight in a war and kill people but she doesn’t even ride? bullshit

mostly i hate how they refused to let their main female characters be bad, rhaenyra is a perfect saint and not a bit spiteful or rancorous and alicent was just a dumb bitch with no agency and permanent downturned lips. having aegon as king was a misunderstanding and she wasn’t even aware of the green council until it began, they should have allowed her to be ambitious especially because it would fit the young alicent so well!!! the girl who always followed the rules and did everything right didn’t get rewarded in the end while rhaenyra who was always being transgressive never faced the consequences, remember “Where is duty? Where is sacrifice? It’s trampled under your pretty foot again.” it would have been incredible to see her going “well i’m gona do whatever i want now cause apparently that’s how it works” and them drive herself into a tragedy, but at least a tragedy *she* chose, doomed by herself

blood and cheese was terribly written and shot, seriously what the fuck was that?

nettles is the doubt over whether or not targaryens are the only ones who can ride a dragon but since the show made the velaryons of all people black i don’t think she would have had the same effect. i still think they did it to soften the connotation that would come with super pale white people obsessed with blood purity btw

i tried not to give into the “targ stan” argument because i quite dislike the targaryens so i know i’m biased but now seeing that even people who are team black are complaining that the show killed all nuance by making it greens = bad and blacks = good i have to agree

this is truly a show for daenery’s widows (the last episode shamelessly confirms it) they were constantly forcing this rhaenyra and daenerys connection and that really annoyed me (syrax being the mom of dany’s dragons confirmed by a director or producer is so ????)

actually all the connections to game of thrones annoy me deeply THAT FUCKING DAGGER!!!!!! the prophecy thing is so boring and simplistic (and when you consider the travesty that was the long night in the series i really don’t understand why they want to remind the audiences of that) i really dislike all the cheap fan service scenes

it’s still the same issue they had with got, this epic-ness complex, they didn’t have to tie this so directly to daenerys and the long night. all they had to do was tell the story of the dance, with good consistent characters and themes and good writing and of course cool action and dragon scenes but i guess that’s not interesting enough for them

also what’s with the rhythm of this show? season 1 ended on a cliffhanger that went nowhere since we didn’t see angry rhaenyra seeking vengeance at all and now the we spend several minutes of fun and laughter at essos with tyland in a season finale? that once again ends with the promise of conflict? and what conflict is that if alicent just gave away everything?

[bloodpen-to-paper]

Movie Review Blurbs: The Super Mario Bros. Movie

The Highlights

-The brothers were the most endearing part for me, they had a wonderful dynamic that not only made me like them as a duo, but as individuals (from the Mario media I know, there wasn't much focus on their personality so it was nice watching something that gave them more character)

-Jack Black got to sing his silly songs and honestly that's all that matters

-The movie making fun of the egregious Italian accents in the beginning was a good gag, especially considering the two are still Italian in the movie and are given more accurate accents (also I love that they're canonically from Brooklyn lmao)

-Mario was a fucking crack head before the isekai and I enjoy that fact very much

-Yoshi avengers end credit scene

-Surprisingly decent voice acting, they all delivered (especially Charlie Day and Jack Black)

-The penguins, the Dry Bones, SHY GUYS

-Toad is a fucking criminal apparently who helps outsiders break into the castle and goes outside the Mushroom Kingdom to do god knows what

-Off the top of my head, my favorite part of the movie was Luigi running from the Dry Bones and ending up in Luigi's Mansion; great horror scene for a very PG movie

-Whatever the fuck was going on between Kamek and Bowser

-SHY GUYS SHY GUYS SHY GUYS SHY GUYS SHY GUYS-

-Mario and DK's frienenemy relationship was great, especially with how they butt heads but also understand (daddy issues) and respect each other (they're a good ship ngl)

-I liked Cranky Kong as a character, I feel like he was a character made to appeal more to an older crowd now that I think about it

-The implications? Of Bowser's entire fucking ship coming to the human realm? And totaling the city? Magic is real? What's gonna happen there is the U.S. government gonna try and harness the power of the magic realm and capitalize on it like there is so much left unanswered

-simp bowser lmao (many dudebros were mad about this one which automatically makes it the best plotline in my book)

-Mario and Peach weren't shown to have romantic feelings for each other, giving them time to actually get to know each other first

Criticisms

-Ok so let's address the main issue; the pacing. The movie severely lacked transition, bridging and buildup, and it felt less like a movie and more like a bunch of individual scenes thrown together (cause it kinda was). It was frustrating cause the movie was genuinely very engaging, and there was some real lost potential with how rushed it was. It definitely needed to be longer; I think the people working on it were on a time constraint, and it showed

-Pigging-backing off the previous note, a lack of build up to big moments made those moments feel like they came out of nowhere. it also lacked an after math period for those big moments, which makes them feel unsubstantial

-Ok rant time: I saw people having this concern for Peach being a dull #girlboss character that lacked substance, and... yeah, it happened. I think the issue of female characters being sidelined and not given any character depth is being acknowledged, but in a way that still doesn't give them depth. Basically, male creators have realized they've been making female characters useless love interests in the background, so they're fixing this by making said characters hyper-competent, and in the forefront of the fight. However, its had this adverse effect where these hyper-competent characters are now just serving as plot devices to push the narrative rather than being given their own character narrative. They are at the forefront, and fight, but are still lacking in depth and development (what's worse is they still just serve as aides to male leads most of the time, just now in a repackaged way that usually would be held by a side male character). The Mario movie was rushed so none of the characters got much development, but Peach in particular was not given any character development, only plot development (she got isekai'd and is wondering where she's from, but we don't see how this idea effects her emotionally or drives her because... it really doesn't. She's just kinda like "oh hey I'm from another universe... ok cool! Anyway-"). So yeah, that needs work. Male creators need to humanize their female characters like they do the male ones, and actually give them flaws and struggles (Peach literally has a gag about being so perfect she mastered the super hard parkour course they practice on in one go, while we see Mario work on it and improve over time; its lazy ass writing cmon now). Hence why I like consuming media that's actually by female creators, and I encourage all of you to do the same

-Mario and DK were great but again needed more fleshing out, they had this whole bonding moment about their daddy issue but it happened so fast that you couldn't really stew in it much

-Mario/DK's daddy issues were not handled the best, they only got their father's approval when they did something cool and not for actually being themselves; didn't like the messaging there very much

-Though I mentioned Mario x Peach didn't happen, the movie still very intrusively pushes the idea in your face by having side characters comment on it; I imagine this is what homophobes think they're experiencing when queer character exist in media, except this movie didn't even try to be subtle with the push

-Why did Toad just decide to help Mario find Luigi? Why did Peach decide to train Mario so she could take him with her to Donkey Kong Island? Just cause he's a fellow human? And why did she just decide to take Toad along too? Again, pacing

-Rainbow Road being a "secret path" that was literally out in the open and Bowser found it almost immediately lmao (it was also never narratively explained how Bowser found the path if I'm remembering correctly)

-The Luma gag was overdone imo, but the "finally, mercy" part was very funny

-no bowuigi sex scene -∞/10

Final Thoughts

Overall, the movie was very fun, but the time constraint really did bring it down from being a better ranked movie. Its frustrating because the movie had so much to offer, I wanted more from it, and that's why the pacing is something I'm hammering on so much. And for anyone saying "its a kid's movie, who cares?"... sorry I want kid's to have good movies? And not just the kind of drool that comes from Minions-type productions? Movies are art, and art should have the people behind it putting the best into their work that they can, kid's movie or not, so if something is bringing down that art (a time constraint for example) it should be criticized in my opinion. Plus lets face it, a lot of the people going in to see the movie were teens/adults who grew up on Mario.

Despite all this though, I genuinely enjoyed it, and my low expectations for what is an Illumination movie were pleasantly subverted. There was clearly a lot of love put into this film, and I can't wait to see if there will be a sequel. Thanks for reading!

[a-sea-with-no-shores]

The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty notes for any other latecomers like me:

I liked the parts of it that I liked very much, including the main relationship. There are a handful of good female characters that rotate in and out. The fight scenes are mostly short and semi-realistic, light on the lightness skills (pun intended) and lacking anything more fanciful than that.

Women in armor, even if it's only a small amount of the time: A+++ (this is in the opening animation; that's not a spoiler).

You should have some tasty food on hand over the course of the series, including at least one bowl of noodles, or you will be Very Sad.

It's set in 1478 CE (the Chinese name is literally 成化十四年, 14th year of Chenghua*). Thus you get what you'd get in a show set in another region in a similar era: nasty attitudes about nations adjoining distant borders, deals made in fancy brothels, etc. etc., and I'm not going to write up all that because I expected it going in. Are there current political aspects involved? Yup. (Like, was that bit about exiling someone to Xinjiang historically accurate? I don't think the Ming actually had control of it well enough for that during this period!) But that all goes over there in the box marked General Historical and Modern Social/Political Problems With Everyone's (Quasi-) Historical Shows Everywhere.

(if you don't want to know ANYTHING more about the show before watching it, don't continue, although I've tried to avoid real spoilers.) *not everything in that article that's stated as fact is accepted as fact, though that should be a given with brief histories of any era whether on Wikipedia or anywhere.

Some things I was NOT expecting:

I was not expecting for Tang Fan to be such a cringey brat. I honestly wasn't sure I could deal with him at first. But underneath the (gestures) everything, as it turns out, he's remarkably strong even in a show full of steel-willed characters. I don't know exactly what caused all the (gestures) everything, but I have some guesses.

Holy shit, so many instances of people ending their own lives! I literally lost count. Generally for "I got caught and there's no way out" reasons but whew. Genre-appropriate but like. A lot. It wasn't triggery to me in the least but if you're bingeing it becomes a little ridiculous. (And there were two instances in which I was mad about it.)

ACAB: One main character is a judge/clerk/DA/public defender, kind of. One is an army veteran/cop/enforcer/investigator, kind of. One is a secret agent/spymaster, kind of. They are all deeply enmeshed in the machinery of power and have different relationships with it, which change over the course of the show. (Though they are all never more than one breath away from being crushed by it.) For the most part the overly idealistic/rigid pair change for the better, though there's a moment of what felt to me like real abuse of power over marginalized people that I think is mostly excused by the narrative as being done in the grip of panic (and love). But it also felt like it was written in a way that indicated there would probably be consequences? If so, they didn't come up. (I'd have to rewatch to really analyze it.)

I meant it about the food.

There are clearly good/evil characters, complex/morally grey/ambiguous characters, and then there's the third main character in this show, who's like ... a third, secret thing. Like, utterly amoral in pursuit of his own ethic? I would not want to live in the same time zone or decade as him.

Unexpectedly, there's a case that involves (sigh) an Autistic EngineerTM. I can't comment on this character or storyline in depth but over several episodes they managed to make the handling of the whole thing both better and worse multiple times. The ending made me mad but I don't know enough about the depiction of autism in Chinese media to say if even this kind of storyline was a positive or negative in that sense.

Actually, for both the above and the handling of Sui Zhou's PTSD, I can't say if the translation made things better or worse. That kind of vocabulary is pretty well beyond me. That said, I don't think "mental illness" is necessarily the best translation every time it showed up in the English subtitles.

Character ages make no goddamn sense. When I try to imagine that Wang Zhi is the age they claim he is, my brain just breaks. (I don't remember how old the real Wang Zhi was during this time period, though since the other two MCs are fictional it doesn't really matter.) I suppose it's a miracle that they let Consort Wan be played by someone who's 3 years older than the actor who played the emperor, even though in real life she was more like 15 years older (I forget exactly).

Gender/crossdressing: One male character wears a woman's clothes/makeup/etc. as a disguise and gets thoroughly laughed at by one other male character (others are surprised or matter-of-fact about it) but it's unclear whether the laughter is deliberate manipulation, mockery, delight, or a more complicated gender thing given who's doing the laughing. There are a couple instances of female or AFAB characters presenting as men as a disguise and/or as their daily life. I think in all of the cases these characters have some degree of agency when there's the inevitable (because it's a drama) revelation. Honestly in one case I was pleasantly surprised because the character continues to present as male. I honestly have no idea what the character's gender turns out to be, which is fine! The subtitles do change their pronouns to feminine but I can't remember from the spoken dialogue if there's any actual change in address.

I've only watched the show once and my memory is not that good so forgive me if I got anything wrong here. None of this is really criticism, just personal observations! I'd like to read the book eventually. (I've already begun to investigate the fanfic. I see that while the show forgot about Tang Fan's side hustle pretty quickly, fic writers certainly didn't lmao)

[bellaaldamas]

@the-rodent-of-shalott

I hope you do not mind me responding in a separate post to your comment to my reply to your ask box message. In a place where I live any discussion of non-straight relationship can result in a jail time and a hefty fine and it is not the main theme of our discussion of the Daria canon anyway. So here goes:

Everything you mentioned about the statements from the show creators reinforced what I have been thinking and concluding for over two decades about this show.

Namely: the creators were always writing a misogynistic, ageist, ableist, subliminally racist narrative promoting the "not like other girls" culture. The nostalgic memories of multi-dimensional characterization can never negate the fact that the show was as sexist and bigoted as it could possibly be, even by the MTV standards.

That brings me to the point you mentioned: that the producers do not read our rants on Tumblr or elsewhere and never will. The only effective way to influence problematic media which has been plagued by misogyny from both the dudebros/Alphas and the "progressives"/Nice Guys is to vote with the remote and the wallet. Fact is that the producers and the writers do NOT think as in depth as we, media consumers, do. Thus, if it looks like the writers are opposed to certain characters and storylines for bigoted reasons it is because they, sadly, are. But they'll never admit that and will keep framing their bigotry as "progressive and feminist".

Disney is a good example of that. Ever since Frozen, they stopped advocating for women's agency and right to pursue independence and went on to promote an idea that the society "knows better" what a woman wants and needs. From a franchise that celebrated woman's right to break free from oppression and abuse and gain her own independent experiences the Princess Franchise went on to reinforce one of the most patriarchal and misogynistic ideas that women/girls are "too hormonal and shallow" to understand their own minds. That they need wealthy Disney producers, anti-social sisters and equally anti-social ice-harvesters from the mountains AND Snowmen to tell them/us what they/we really need and want.

That if a woman dares to act on her feelings she just makes an "easy victim" out of herself and if she ends up being used and abused it will be HER fault, not the male abuser's who takes advantage of her.

That's the same repackaged patriarchy we observed in Daria.

That's the reason Disney does not even get WHY their Mulan remake which removed one of the most multi-dimensional and interesting male leads - Shang - ended up being a flop. They do not get why women consider it important to see men and male characters who support woman's defiance of social norms and social pressure as being a part of female protagonist's life.

Modern/mainstream feminism caters only to the overly privileged women who can AFFORD to exclude men entirely from equation. Whereas us, regular women, have no such option. We have to include and interact with men (not necessarily in a romantic way but within the professional, personal, medical and domestic sphere). Back in the day Disney acknowledged that and had it's male characters acknowledge the importance of being women's allies as well.

The only instance when modern Disney came back to acknowledging that was the TLM remake. The latter ended up being successful for all it's flaws and some of the changes to the original animated movie that should have never happened (particularly the Ariel ascending to the surface on Eric's birthday and, thus, linking her major act of defiance against her patriarchal father to another man, Eric; and the kiss amnesia which removed Ariel's romantic agency completely and gave all of it to Eric, a man).

However, despite all the aforementioned issues Disney still preserved the original message and the empowering nature of Ariel's story while attaining the purpose of making the movie diverse and compelling - and that's why it was well received by the TLM fans. Even those who, understandably, do not hold other remakes in high regard (especially the Cinderella 2015 and LA Aladdin which missed the point of the original stories entirely and came across as patronizing and pseudo-"progressive"; the actual well constructed LA Remake of Cinderella is the 1997 version starring Brandy - now, THAT was a true subversion of misogyny and Disney's modern pseudo-feminism).

The TLM remake was the deviation and a temporary break from the pseudo-"progressive" pandering, unfortunately. The impeccable casting (particularly the main couple's unmatched chemistry) mixed with the compelling and well written love story between Ariel and Eric, in both the animated and the LA version, is the reason it stands out.

But Disney executives, having bent to misogynistic anti-princess narratives, will never admit that. They'll keep releasing low quality content like Tangled the series (Tangled: Before Ever After) where the entire basis of the main couple's relationship will be bastardized, the male protagonist will be turned into a one dimensional comedic relief and the third parties/new characters will "know better" what the heroine wants and needs. All of that culminating with pseudo-feminist pandering twists such as Rapunzel growing out her hair AND cutting it off on her own (because the armchair critics complained about the abuse victim needing help and support to break free from the life long exploitation in the original film).

Given everything that has been said and released about the Snow White remake we are in for another misogynistic narrative about how women are only worthy of acknowledgment if they have ability, class or other privileges that help them confront their abusers.

TLM remake never glossed over the issue of Triton's patriarchal oppression - it even went as far as to highlight LA Eric's mother (a woman) had more power than Eric (a man) did due to her Queen title. That's why the real growth needed to be attained by King Triton and the Queen because Ariel and Eric never actually did anything wrong, in either the animated or the live action version. In the animated version the growth is attained by Triton and 1989's version of Grimsby who attempted to suppress Eric's freedom of will (before Ursula/"Vanessa" came around and committed her ultimate act of taking away Eric's agency and then made an eerie and predatory remark about it with her "so long, lover boy", in both movies).

Both versions and situations are important to address. It is a prime example of how a remake and the original can complement each other. And the only example, unfortunately, as far as Disney goes.

It is interesting that you brought up the issue of Sailor Moon because Usagi's relationship with Mamoru is a quintessence of the same pseudo-"feminist" misogyny that media has been promoting since 90-s. It would be a mistake to assume pseudo-feminist culture is the "new" media trend because it has been in goes since the loathsome Whedon's shows that presented themselves as a more "empowering" alternative to the "shallow" stories for teenage girls and housewives about women sacrificing for love and for men.

So, the "feminist" alternative was to have women sacrifice everything, including their interests, hobbies, plans and feelings (and even their friends and family), for the Greater Good TM and the mission imposed on them by others.

Because women are always expected to sacrifice and to understand - that's what's "profound".

But women like Ariel (both the animated and LA) are somehow "shallow and selfish" because they dare to prioritize their own needs and emotions over the goals and priorities their surrounding and their society imposes on them.

The treatment of Usagi on part of SM narrative is heinous and sexist. It is the prime example of the 90-s misogyny where woman's desire to live her life the way she wants to is framed as an example of "shallowness" and "selfishness" that she supposedly needs to "grow out of". Meanwhile, Mamoru, a 21+ year old, picking on teenage girls because he has "valid reasons" and "emotional struggles" to feel the way he does is framed as "understandable" and "justifiable" as long as he makes the "superficial, juvenile and selfish" Usagi more "mature and giving". Even though as far as season 3 Mamoru hasn't come remotely close to Usagi's level of emotional maturity. Or even that of Chibi Usa for that matter.

Never mind the fact that Usagi would die time and again for her friends to survive and be happy. According to the narrative, she should never value happiness and life of her friends over the imposed Greater Mission TM because it is an example of the aforementioned "immaturity" and "selfishness". Woman's "growth" is about to recognize she is a sacrificial lamb in the name of the Greater Good - that's what the "progressive" culture and Whedon say, after all.

And that's the thinking Daria producers were perpetuating as well.

It was a mistake to believe they were somehow more "aware" and more "self critical" than the misogynistic media mentioned above. They were not.

The entire narrative of Daria was about celebrating rather than criticizing the "not like other girls" misogyny which has found it's triumph in the modern media. That is why the issue of Brittany's struggles that you mentioned was never addressed either - because Brittany was framed as "unworthy" of having her experiences recognized. Like Usagi, she was one of "the other girls", as she DARED to prioritize her goals, comfort and feelings over the goals imposed on her by the society.

Daria could have been an excellent story if it was a deconstruction of the "not like other girls" stereotype.

If it had Daria acknowledge that it were not the "other women" who were one dimensional and prejudiced - it was SHE who was that way.

At some points she even showed signs that she could come to that conclusion, especially when she interacted with Trent.

But the writers were always misogynistic and bigoted. And that is why the show's direction was misogynistic and bigoted as well. That's why the writers "never liked Trent" - it was never about him anyway. Trent was just a part of the misogynistic stereotype where Daria struggled with her "not like other girls" misogyny but because the writers supported said misogyny they never allowed her to grow out of it.

All we can do is to show awareness and try to be better than that.

[whitelilyvoyage]

recommendation + review: “how do we relationship”

review + recommendation (spoiler free)

9.8/10 - i cannot recommend it enough

This is my favorite GL of all time. Every character feels so human and even the side characters are all well fleshed out and have traits and circumstances that can be relatable to anyone. The relationship between the two main characters is a bond that is truly one-of-a-kind. The development of their relationship as well as their relationships with others is so well written and feels so natural.

I also feel that this manga handles a variety of difficult topics very well, ranging from sexual orientation, internal and external homophobia, self-esteem, gender, depression, and sex. The focus of this manga is romantic relationships but it also showcases a variety of familial relationships, friendships, sexual relationships, and the relationship that one has with oneself.

All in all, this manga feels very genuine and human in a way that few other manga series have been able to replicate and I highly recommend it.

review with spoilers

As much as I love fluffy romances, I am much more a fan of realistic ones and this manga DELIVERED in that aspect.

The main girls, Miwa and Saeko, breaking up was one of the most heartbreaking arcs I have ever read in any romance, simply because of how invested I had become in this couple as a result of the author showing deeply personal, intimate scenes involving the two. We learned about how they came to terms with their sexual orientations, their relationships with their family and friends, and more importantly, how they viewed themselves. Everything leading up to their breakup was realistic— it made sense for them to break up. In fact, it was for the better. Still, knowing this, it made me so incredibly sad.

That said, like how the sad scenes made me feel miserable, the happy scenes made me feel ecstatic. Miwa finally finding someone who liked her back and wanted to date her made me tear up. Yuria and Saeko cuddling had me kicking my feet and giggling and shit.

Also shout-out to Usshi, loml!! I loved their chapter (ch 14) which I believe implied that they may be either on the nonbinary spectrum or the aroace spectrum (or both!) and I appreciated the extra depth added even though they’re a side character. Shout-out to Rika as well because I love annoying bitch characters! I didn’t expect to like her at first but yeah I appreciate how she’s written, I guess? Oftentimes female characters who are sexually open have some kind of backstory or sad reason or whatever as to why they have a lot of sex and the author subverts this trope in the Rika-centric chapter. Fatherless allegations denied! I think she’s a good example of a flawed but likable character.

also she’s cute

Miwa and Tamaki make me so sad. The sex scene in volume 10(? I think) made me feel so upset. I can sympathize with Tamaki but also pushing Miwa to have sex with her in that situation was NOT the move. The breakup scene made me so sad as well. Part of me wonders if they’ll get back together because of how the volume ended (Tamaki running away from the breakup) but at the same time I don’t think so because the way that Miwa spiraled into self-hatred during that sex scene… Either way I honestly hope they don’t get back together because I don’t think they’re right for each other. Still, I was so happy when they got together so this makes me so sad.

But anyway Yuria and Saeko!! I love them so much, if they ever break up love is not real and romance is truly dead. (Okay tbh I feel like they’ll break up because of the dreams conflict but let me be delulu…)

And can I mention Miwa with longer hair because wowow

she is so fine beautiful wonderful hot

[chocolatte-del-lago]

The LanOpi appreciation post no one asked for

Today we'll do an in depth annalysis on the weirdest illusion i've ever had (And I still have to this day), today we will rock you talk about LANSELOT HAMILTON and the FEMALE OPINION LEADER relationship and yes, I know no one ships it, and i also know i've embarassed myself once about this ship after being too shy to the point of writing it in japanese in hopes of converting more people to this thing (it failed), and I'm also 100% sure i will be stupid AGAIN. Please enjoy this stupid essay (I 'm already taking too much time writing this thing).

Note: I've got no money to buy a switch and the silly unicorn game

DISCLAIMER: I DIDN'T CHECK IF THIS WALL OF TEXT IS WRITTEN CORRECTLY AND IT'S FULL OF SPOILERS, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK !

BEGIN!

One could ever wonder "why would anyone ship this thing" and i would answer "because we are silly".

First, let's talk about the obvious here, the Female Opinion Leader has no name, no history and no importance to the plot at all, since because 1. The game doesn't show anything happening inside the Revolutionary Army 2. Ogre Battle 64 confirmed that the main character is Destin Faroda (the Male Opinon Leader). And right now you're probably thinking "What do we do with this information?" nothing! We are about to headcanon the whole thing! *cheers*

The beggining of this silliness

IT ALL STARTED WHEN IT BEGAN, most people who i've seen that ships them it's mostly because Lanselot was 4 levels ahead of the main character, creating the illusion that he was a strong guy that could easily wipe entire houses with a swing of his sword (they do this again in Tactics Ogre) and because of this he was always used in the frontlines while creating a weird scenario where he would protect the opinion leader from an atomic bomb, and then you ask me "Warren was level 4 too-" an then I will answer: IS WARREN A HOT 36 YEARS OLD MAN WITH TRAUMA???????? he's a mage with two dogs and not a knight with silver armor voiced by DIO BRANDO (Takehito Koyasu... on the saturn version), the whole helmet thing covering his face.... aaaaaah. Now let's go to the other topic....

The INTERACTIONS

EXHBIT ONE!

The first interaction between Lans and Opi (I will call her like this now) happens during Castle of Warren (the training stage), he's the first unit to join you in the game. The weird thing starts right at their first meeting...

this fucking weirdo says that her eyes are beautiful???? ON THEIR FIRST MEETING????? Before you start saying "he says this to Destin too" fuck it, if you ship Lans with Destin just swap the female leader name on the essay and you will get the same thing (LANSELOT HAMILTON BISSEXUAL KING??????)

EXHBIT TWO!!!!!

WE ARE GOING NOW TO THE END OF THE GAME !!11!1111! (WOOOOOOOW I LOVE BEING A THE MARCH OF THE BLACK QUEEN FAN! ONLY 3 INTERACTIONS OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS!!!!!!!!!! LET'S GOOOOOOOOO)

We'll now analyse each one of the endings of the game AND see how can we interpret this as PEAK ROMANCE.

(Thanks video game museum for the pics! (Ending for Ogre Battle-World End (Super NES) (vgmuseum.com))

WORLD ENDING

This one is savage, this is where we see how Lans don't like Tristan and gossips with Warren! "If I weren't a royal knight, I would be tempted to stay with Opi" JUST GO LANSELOT, YOU CAN DO THIS! FOLLOW THE RED HEAAAAAAD

EMPRESS ENDING (Emperor if you like gays)

Notice how he doens't give a damn about the Opinion Leader reigning over Xenobia? Bet he loves thinking about her as his queen...

MOON ENDING (AKA THE LANOPI ENDING)

First of all, fuck you ogre battle saga wiki, spreading misinformation about this ending only being acessible with Ashe! What an insult to the LanOpi fandom (we are 3 people)!

Lanselot then pops out of nowhere and asks if the opinion leader left... and Tristan answers that she went away! That's Lans reaction:

(footage was taken in my tablet from my gameplay from 3 years ago because NO ONE DOES THIS VERSION OF THE ENDING)

Second, this ending is so cute oh my god 😢, the way Opi leaves thinking that she isn't important to Xytegenia anymore and Lans going after her right after... he wants to protect her so bad 💔💔💔 Tristan probably already knows about Lans' devotion to the leader and.... and... GO AWAY HANGED MAN! NO! NO! NOOOOOOO

HANGED MAN ENDING (THE ANGST LANOPI ENDING)

They then decides to kill her-

This was my first ending... I remenber that it was an afternoon and my reputation was 0 and my ALI probably 60+...

Look, not to sound like an psychopath, but this is one of the endings that define LanOpi (AND MAKES TRIOPI LOOK WEIRD 🙏). The way it starts with him and Tristan talking with each other... Tristan knew Lanselot was the closest person to the Leader but also his most loyal knight. When faced with the decision of killing her, Lans was in shock, he didn't want to do this, but when Tristan said that if not him, himself would do the job. Lanselot probably promissed that hewould never let anyone kill Opi, he didn't want to break this promisse so he decided to do it himself... The way he reacts after killing her, he's certainly crying about what he just did, asking God to forgive him...

Even worst is that the epilogue implies that Opi was easily forgotten by the people, Tristan probably burnt everything that belonged to her and all that Lans could do was to watch. The fact that she's never mentioned again, probably Lans still has to hide her existence to the world, having to only mention Destin to others, he has to carry the burden of being one of the few people who saw her helping the kingdom, but also being the one who got hid of her for the sake of his selfish king...

I can't guys... I can't do this no more...

(dubbed Saturn version on NicoNico: 【アーウィンド行軍記】伝説のオウガバトル【HANGEDMAN 】 - ニコニコ動画 (nicovideo.jp))

Tower Ending

There's nothing much to say about this ending, Lanselot only appears to tell Tristan that Rauny is fighting Opi's evil troops, he's just a placeholder here...

High Priestess Ending (Anti-LanOpi and... TriRau? Ending that actually.... huuh, i will explain this)

The TriOpi ending, the one where the most shitty character of all time in Ogre Battle marries the second hottest Ogre Battle character (The first place? obviously it's EMPRESS ENDORA!!!!! (Deneb ain't even the top 5)). Before you say that the reason I think it's a 10% LanOpi/TriRau ending because I like cuck porn (no, i hate this genre), it's because for some reason, Rauny (the canon woman who married Tristan) pops up in the wedding and says "Oh wow! We did it..." and for some reason, our token knight Lans appears and says "It's been years i've been here!"

we all know that after this wedding these two went to some tavern to cry because of TriOpi.

CONCLUSION!!!!!!!

i hate myself, no one is reading this shit 😭 but if any of you wants to see more about LanOpi... just check the tag or ask me! hahahahahahhahahahhahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahhahahah

[nebulouscoffee]

Ok for the series ask game thingy I shall ask you… TNG and Enterprise

Ooh, this should be fun! Thank youuu :D

TNG

Favourite character: ahh this is legitimately hard! I love all the main seven leads so much. Maybe Deanna? I think she's heaps more interesting and complex than she comes across at first glance- I love her difficult relationship to her Human and Betazoid halves, I love her complicated dynamic with her mom, her state of cultural drift, her very nebulous sense of self that she's always just a little too afraid to confront head on, her compassion, her self-awareness, her warmth, and of course her occasional barbs that just never miss

Second favourite character: gosh this is even harder!! I feel like it's either Data or Geordi, but then I remember Worf. I adore Worf... but then there's also Beverly.... Okay, okay, I'm reasonably sure it's Data. I just really love his arc, his multifaceted relationships with the other characters, and the complexity of the questions his existence and chosen life raise. Some of the series' best episodes are centred around him. Not much else to say- I just love the guy! (And I am laughing so hard picturing your face while reading this. Sorry Fancy! Lmao... Unfortunately I am a Data girlie😂)

Least favourite character: uhhh maybe that Okona guy from 'The Outrageous Okona', I haven't actually rewatched that episode in sooo many years and I think he might be why haha (also every single guest character in 'Code of Honour' though that's not so much a case of me hating them as wishing the writers had never come up with them)

The character I'm most like: None of them!! They all joined the space military lmao I would never join the space military!! Also they're all very smart, like top-of-their-fields smart. TNG where is the representation for us mediocre dumbasses. I demand more mediocre dumbasses on the Enterprise! (OKAY if I had to pick, it would probably be Geordi but only when he's goofing off- or Riker when he's rejecting a promotion so that he can remain with his besties)

Favourite pairing: Beverly and her lamp🥰 okay, okay, Troisha from the non-canon ships, Troi/Riker from canon

Least favourite pairing: Deanna/every man she was ever sent to single episode romance hell with, special shoutout to that one dude from 'The Price' for making me watch that looooong as hell foot massage sequence *strained laughter*

Favourite moment: Gonna be a cliche and say that poker scene from the finale. Yup, they actually managed to end the show on... my favourite scene from the whole show. Good job, TNG! (If I'm being honest it's everything from the climax with the three Enterprises working together to Q's line on how exploration is not about conquering or charting territory but discovering new depths of the soul (good stuff👌) and the gang vowing not to let themselves drift apart like they did in that possible future. This is where TNG ended in my heart tbh! Every other appearance is like schrödinger's canon to me; it's canon when I need it to be, and fanfic generally lol

Rating out of 10: Objectively, it's a 7.5/10 from me. Its highs are SO high, but its lows are just so hilariously low- it had a rough start, there's no getting around that, and it's frequently clueless about the inherent imperialism and colonialist undertones of its premise, plus it almost never lets its female characters shine the way they deserve to. However this show also turned my life around so it gets a 100/10 by the power of the blorbolense😌 thank you for existing TNG!

Enterprise

Favourite character: Hoshiiii we love an overworked gifted child prodigy who grew up learning to speak soooo many languages but never had anyone to talk to, only now learning to relax and make friends and figure things out as an adult on the ship of the unhinged

Second favourite character: I mean it's gotta be T'Pol! She is far and away the most interesting character on the show imo, and despite the constant terrible horrible so-bad-it's-funny attempts to objectify her she manages to surpass the material and contain so much depth. She's an alien among humans and a deeply scandalous weirdo and pioneer among her own people, and I love her struggles navigating those two spheres throughout the show <3

Least favourite character: the ever-present air of post-9/11 military propaganda. And if you're going to argue that that's not an actual character on the show, I beg to differ. Straight up had more lines than Travis Mayweather!

The character I'm most like: Maybe Phlox? I'm not much like anyone on this show honestly, but in general he's a chilled out dude just doing his own thing. I feel like that's me right now

Favourite pairing: T'Poshi hell yeah!!! I know the characters barely interact in canon but it really is actually that deep you guys. I love it! For some reason all my favourite ships seem to involve these eager young super smart friendly compassionate officers falling for much older buttoned-up aliens who are obviously culturally isolated, and then connecting in a way that reveals the older alien (who might have a drug problem) is actually a social outcast in their own society whose superiority they won't shut up about and the younger officer actually has a more complicated relationship to their culture than first apparent thanks to an overbearing family, and they are strikingly similar shades of lonely. Hmmm....

Least favourite pairing: I don't think I have one lol! I don't feel strongly enough about any of the canon pairings and fanon ships don't affect me because I don't really engage with that side of Enterprise fandom (not saying this like a snobby thing, I'm sure it's great! I'm just not interested enough in this show that way hehe)

Favourite moment: T'Pol's speech standing up for the crew to the Vulcan High Command stands out in my memory... I'd probably have to rewatch to answer this question properly tbh

Rating out of 10: gonna be generous and overlook the nightmare of its place in history and all the ensuing xenophobia baked into its very premise and give it a solid 6/10. These characters deserved to come into their own, and the show is often good fun!

[reganisdefinitelyprobablyhuman]

When an Episode about a French Gorilla and a Brain in a Robot Pulls at the Heartstring (MAWS episode 6 review)

Following the dramatic and controversial events of episode 5, the next episode “My Adventures with Mad Science” has been highly anticipated. With grievances still between them, mostly from Lois, Clark and Lois team up to search for a missing Jimmy. Meanwhile, Jimmy has been kidnapped and about to be executed by Monsieur Mallah, the superintelligent French Gorilla and his German robot lover, The Brain. However, despite their initial suspicions he is a spy that will bring danger, Jimmy strikes an unexpected friendship with the Mallah, who is delighted to show an excited and fascinated Jimmy around his lab, which reveals the world’s wild conspiracies are real. 

The continuation of the next storyline is strong. I like how they further developed Lois’ character and her shaken trust. On one hand, it’s important for Lois to understand that Clark hiding his secret identity is valid, yet it’s also valid that she would question everything, including Clark’s feelings towards her. This revelation about Lois’ thought process adds more depth to her character and makes sense considering her past with her father, a deceptive figure in her life. Nevertheless, he reaffirms his feelings through his act of bravery where he wasn’t sure if he was bulletproof but knew she wasn’t. 

This act of bravery also gave a lot of audience the fanserve of shirtless Clark, which further reinforces how MAWS has a prominent female gaze. The camera briefly gawking at Clarks’ abs and chest is a nice change after the several instances male gaze in superhero media, and in this case it's not even that gratuitous.

This episode further gives justice to Jimmy. While I haven’t read a lot of superhero media, I am aware that Jimmy Olsen has been a more minor character compared to Lois and Clark. In this episode, they give him more development by addressing his third-wheel status among the three. Furthermore, this episode proves he isn’t just a conspiracist, he’s a competent one. The narrative fills a plot hole where one would question how would a conspiratorial person NOT pick up his friend as a superhero alien, and the answer is that he notices, like, immediately. In a fun twist some fans predicted, Jimmy knew about Clark’s Superman identity all along, yet his decision to wait for Clark to reveal himself lends further dimensions to his character. He could’ve used Clark’s powers as real proof for his Flamebird project, but his friend was far more important to him. 

Mallah and the Brain are also super wholesome. Their sweet desire to find a place where they can love serves as a clear allegory to queer relationships, which is then extended to Clark’s identity as reconciles with his feelings of shame and confusion. Furthermore, because of said identity, he is seen as dangerous and hunted down. Another strong choice in terms of representation is that the couple received their happy ending. I saw some people predict the Brian and Mallah would have had to sacrifice themselves to save the main cast during the episode’s climax. However, they didn’t fall into any literal or literary black holes and stepped into (hopefully) a better world.

One moment I hoped for but didn’t see (yet?) is for Lois to recognize and apologize for her entitlement to people’s secrets. In the final scene, she still demands that Jimmy should’ve informed her about Clark. However, this episode was filled with other great moments like uncovering Clark’s fears about how people will perceive as an alien. I don't mind that this part was resolved. Because Lois’ relentless and flawed hunt for truth is such a major character trait, I think her realizing the boundaries pursuing the truth should be a more detailed arc. I think there could be one storyline where Lois witnesses how secrets can be a form of protection, and reveals could do more harm than good. 

The final scene does well to heighten the threat. The General (Lane) is on their tails with a now vengeful Ivo on his side. The ending fills me with dread of what is in store for characters later on but it seems with the next episode it will take a lighthearted break before the finale of the season.

[dykesynthezoid]

No bc the more I think of it the more I’m just. floored at Tory of all people being the mirror of Johnny in her relationship with Kreese whereas Sam is the mirror of Daniel in her relationship with Karate I guess? But then Sam is also Johnny with her privilege and Tory is Daniel in having to be the new kid and. I’m sorry I love KC but they dropped the ball on Miguel being the main character, or even Miguel and Robby being the new deuteragonists. And maybe that’s a bad thing, that the show kinda lost who it’s supposed to focus on. I love Miguel and Robby, but I am more compelled with Sam and Tory idk. Their relationship is Lawrusso but different and similar and lovely and.

anyway all this is to say I love your writing and it makes me have Big Feelings about everyone idk idk idk sorry for the rambles

Ahhh tysm and don’t apologize!!! Bc literally you’re so right, like. The focus on Miguel and Robby really stops making as much sense after season 1. Bc in season 1 you have the obvious parallels between Miguel and Daniel and Johnny and Miyagi (and to some extent Robby and Daniel and then Daniel and Miyagi), but after that, the story has grown and progressed in ways that doesn’t really make sense for having Robby and Miguel be The Rivals of the series.

They try to draw certain parallels like the fight at the party in 1x09, which is supposed to remind us of Johnny and Daniel meeting on the beach, but it doesn’t really work bc Robby already knows who Miguel is, lmao, and already has a reason to dislike him. Any attempts to make them seem more like Daniel and Johnny after that just sort of inevitably crumble bc their rivalry/antagonism is so clearly different than what Daniel and Johnny had going on.

Meanwhile Tory and Sam are like. So fucking representative of things coming full circle, of yin and yang, of just!!! Everything!!!

But like. Giving their story the full focus it should have would mean the show would have to admit that they as girls are like. Full people and may even have more interesting inner lives than some of the boys, which; can’t have that, right. (Also, god forbid they have to admit that Sam is actually the strongest fighter of the teenagers, practically and ideologically; bc if she’s the strongest fighter and Tory is about-or-almost on par with her, what does that mean for the guys).

And like, the tension that exists there surrounding female action heroes is not new. It’s been a thing since female action heroes became popular. (I’m literally reading about this rn in Spectacular Bodies: Gender, Genre and the Action Cinema by Yvonne Tasker, actually). There’s a push and pull between wanting to create a female hero for your show/movie bc of what they represent (and the female audience they bring with them) but then there’s a simultaneous inability to fully engage with them, to treat them with the same focus or depth or respect the male heroes get. There’s a tension, an anxiety. They can never just Be. (And it’s an anxiety that is like. Notably still invested in hetero-gender-normative-male supremacy and is basically gnawing on its own arm trying to have its cake and eat it too).

(I should say race is also quite a factor and that characters of color end up getting a similar treatment, which is a problem CK has pretty damn often, but ofc that is its whole own can of worms)

Anyway. Ur totally right to feel that way (much as I love Robby and Miguel). Honestly at times they remind me more of Daniel and Chozen than Daniel and Johnny. And meanwhile Sam and Tory are not only better parallels, but like; their rivalry, their story, is so much more unhinged and intense and overwhelming and feral and just fucking rabid. Miguel vs Robby peaked with the school fight, but bc of the consequences of said fight, their rivalry just kind of. Becomes more cold-and-bitter than the balls to the wall insane shit Sam and Tory have going on, which ofc also means Sam and Tory completely steal the show (especially once Hawk and Demetri have made up).

Overall I think they absolutely could have still focused on Robby and Miguel heavily as characters without inadvertently missing how narratively important Sam and Tory’s Whole Thing is. And that in and of itself is a good reminder that just bc the show chooses to focus on something or someone doesn’t mean they’re getting handled well (oh, Johnny, my man). But yeah. Samtory are just so on their own level tbh

[rndyounghowze]

NYC-22

Bettye And The Jockettes

Written By: Christie Perfetti Williams

Directed By: Sara Thigpen

Presented By: Retro Productions

We were just talking about wanting a nice show with a clean happy ending. It’s nice to see a hard hitting drama or topical piece on current events. But then sometimes we’re a sucker for sappy rom-coms. It's also great to see a funny female centered drama that feels like the drama or the comedy isn’t forced. Bettye and The Jockettes by Christie Perfetti Williams are D for “All of the Above”. Directed by Sara Thigpen Retro Productions is on the air and ready to make you laugh.

Closed Door Meetings

There’s a certain amount of genius that happens when you’ve been writing for so long. Williams (who has been writing for 20 years) found a very great solution to a problem we’ve had for years. We hate when we feel that there’s an invisible “play on the other side of the door” that the plot relies on. Williams gets around this by having characters talk in the sound booth while we watch through the glass. It means that the characters can still have their “closed door meetings” but we’re clued into what’s going on.

Kept The Plates Spinning

Black boxes are sometimes the hardest but most rewarding stages to direct for. In each corner of the stage there could be multiple parts of the stories going on at once. Thigpen had to keep two or more storyline plates spinning and make sure that blocking and business never had performers running into each other. Also she had to draw our focus where it was needed. She found ways to draw our focus to booth or stage right or left when needed. Thigpen knew how to keep the plates spinning and create wonderful stage pictures in such a short place. Making a tiny space like that look large is a huge talent.

So Much Out of So Little

This was one of our favorite sets we’ve seen this year so far. Barber created a set that had depth and a life in such a small space. It also felt lived in and fatigued. Ricky used to design and build small sets like this so they recognized the hustle required to make so much out of so little. Yet it’s so highly functional and makes so much out of so little.

The Happy Ending The Works Best For Them

In a world full of plays that end on a very “meh” note it was beautiful to see a well written story with well-developed characters that has a happy ending. Happy endings aren’t anathema to good storytelling. More importantly women-centric stories are allowed to have a mix of characters of all shapes and sizes. They are all allowed to get what they want. Their happy endings don’t have to be romantic either. They get the happy ending that works best for them.

NYC-23

Redemption Story

Written By: Peregrine Teng Heard

Directed By: Sarah Blush

Presented By: The Associates

“What is normal to the spider is chaos to the fly”. Morticia Addams said that. We’ve all heard how the Hollywood machine can chew young hopefuls for breakfast and spit them out. This is not a question. No matter how bad it is now it used to be much much worse. Peregrine Teng Heard brings us into the parlor of Connie Lee, a washed-up Hollywood star who takes in baby-faced Billy Jay. Directed by Sarah Blush this story of Hollywood in the 70's will make you want to binge some classic Noir movies...and then take a shower.

A Predatory Hunger

This story centers on Connie’s mutation of Billy from the good boy from Astor to a Hollywood shill. In that plot, we feel a predatory hunger. That is somewhat mirrored and echoed in Billy’s other relationships (Except for Eva). Yet the other characters seemed to pull away from instead of supporting Connie and Billy’s main thread. For example, as the parallels between Billy and her son Harrison deepen our understanding of Connie’s pathology, we don’t feel Harrison needs to say a word. There is something more substantial about him as a looming threat than a real human being. When he finally speaks we thought he was a figment of Connie’s drug-fueled imagination.

Silence Spoke Volumes

Directing for alley staging is no easy feat. The stadium-style seating creates a chilling challenge, If one side of the audience sees what’s going on does the other side miss it? Or does one side get the big reveal sooner than the other? Blush handled all of this as if it were second nature. Due to no fault to Blush, some of the entrances and exits were clunky. However, that could be an occupational hazard of working on a stage like this.

Blush’s direction was mostly seen when characters had to break and become part of the crew telling Connie’s story. There’s a choreography to these scenes played mainly in silence that spoke volumes.

LORT Quality

We know how hard it is to design sets for a black box space on a budget. We know it’s almost impossible to create a set that looks LORT quality in a black-box setting. It was minimal and versatile. He created a realistic diner/apartment that allowed the performers to move around freely. Qiu’s lighting design felt like it came directly from a Noir movie. The most masterful lighting designers seem to work with shadows instead of light. Qiu’s lighting played with shadows and highlights bouncing off the glossy and leather surfaces. It enhanced that mysterious effect. We must mention the big spotlight that would occasionally invade the stage. It created a surprising and stark contrast to the rest of the staging. It immediately put us in a different world.

Containing Multitudes

These were the best performers for the parts. Each performer was able to embody the complexity of the roles. None of these characters are surface-level. Each of them is multi-layered and contains multitudes. They were able to access this complexity. They could plumb the depths, chart the expanse of these characters, and interpret them onstage. The performance is the key to this story. Each of these performers was our handhold throughout.

[milquetoast-on-acid]

Milquetoast watches: Babylon 5 "the parliament of dreams"

1x06

So far the show is only meh. It's kinda slocky which surprised me because "the gathering" was a fascinating start. It has depth and intrigue that so far most of season 1 is lacking.

This show doesn't do comedy very well and it was better when the storyline was serious. Sci-fi can absolutely do comedy and get a great balance between that and drama. See DS9 and Stargate SG1.

I see flashes of really good stuff in tiny doses. Mostly personal character moments. Which I'm hoping that the show will build off of. This is a cult sci-fi classic so I'm gonna stick with it and watch it until the end. I'm sure that it will get better. TNG was terrible in season 1 after all.

Anywho...the one thing this show does really well is adults flirting. I just watched this scene with The Commander who isn't Bruce Boxlightener (I know that's not his name but I can't remember it) and his ex-something. And OMG sex through a tv screen! Holy shit!

The music I love the music. It's just soft space inspired synth but it works perfectly.

Reptile-Garius is such an interesting character. Garak inspiration for sure.

So far it's been six episodes and we've barely seen the telepath lady. She could be an interesting character and I want to see her get inside the head of some of the main characters. Plus that whole thing that we learned about Lt Cmder's mother. I want to see more of that, like how the telepath is going to effect her.

Reptile-Garius really throwing himself into the role here!

Oh, I thought that was her kid! Delen's kid.

So they weren't married but they hookup and then... Run away? They never had an actual romantic relationship. Just booty calls they know could be something more. Interesting...I didn't expect this kinda of a relationship.

Wow their chemistry is HOT! Imagine what they could really do with Benson and Stabler but they are such pussys. Babylon 5 doing sex really hot without actual sex scenes is such a unexpected thing. Like I would not have expected this. Sex on sci-fi, procedurals and episodic TV usually suck. If the show doesn't get better (I'm sure it will) then I'll just watch for these hot sexy scenes!

I got to say I really could care less about the A plot of the story. I really don't care that somebody wants to kill Reptile-Garius. The romance is far far more interesting. There's more emotion behind it than the murder plot. It's crazy but there it is.

Ope alien with glasses! I love it!

The female characters on this show are all far more interesting than the men.

I know Reptile assistant lady just beat the shit out of Reptile-Garius but I think she's playing the assassin. Her being the assassin is the obvious twist. Her playing the assassin not so much.

I was right.

And She definitely enjoyed it.

Festival. There was a festival!?

Too bad we're not going to get a nice romantic storyline between these two characters. As I know that The Cmder won't be on the show for much longer.

Brooo! That was a very sexy romance. 🙆🏻‍♀️ I want more!

Um... Why is he introducing them to a bunch of religious people? Like what's the point... There's diversity 🤷🏻‍♀️.