#the narrative is beating her ass rn

[mixedbag-o-beans]

i’m on season 2 of broadchurch can my girl ellie catch a fucking break???? oh my god?????

[zeephyre]

CRITICAL ROLE CAMPAIGN 3 EPISODE 85 SPOILERS

IM LITERALLY ABOUT TO LOSE MY MIND YALL

Where do I even ??? start ???

I haven't been posting c3 as the episodes dropped in...a while actually, like right before they went to the feywild. i have many thoughts and many feelings about so many things that have happened since then and I'll summarise them so I can get to THIS episode.

fearne and ashton - love their shard powers, they're literally royalty and terrifying, and i want them to make-out. i can't wait to see them go full primordial again in a real combat situation.

imogen - save her. literally save her. free her, even. i love everything about the call of ruidus when it comes to imogen on a narrative standpoint, but...God I get so worried that we're gonna lose her. I don't mean she's gonna betray the hells, but...ruidus could take her and then i would simply perish.

laudna - before i really get into wtf went down this episode with her and she who must not be named, i gotta say... im worried. very very worried. however, that fireball was objectively the best shit ever.

fcg - i can't even really remember anything stand out abt fcg except what Sam pulled last night so.

chetney - still the heart of the team, still my baby girl, still my favourite. love him to bits.

orym - i think laudna is going to beat his ass one of these days and im... even more concerned about that after this episode. his nana morri powers are cool as fuck tho... does that make him a warlock now? i know he isn't multi-classing but wouldn't that be cool

ANYWAY WE'RE ON THE FUCKING MOON AND WE GOT MOON LORE AND EVERYTHING WAS SHITTY THEN FUN THEN SHITTY THEN FUN AGAIN THEN REALLY FUCKING SAD THEN IT ALL WENT TO SHIT AGAIN.

the moment imogen reached out to ruidus and matt mentioned that she could sense where other ruidusborn were i fucking knew that otohan was high tailing it in their direction, and i thought they instinctively knew that too but they probably got so distracted.

we were travelling for hours and had a huge fight that almost got them captured (not to be confused with the OTHER two fights that almost got them captured) and I was begging and screaming and crying for them to get a long rest safely hidden away AND THEN THEY SPLIT THE PARTY WITH BARELY ANY SPELL SLOTS OR HIT POINTS AFTER BEING DRAINED FROM ANOTHER BATTLE WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM

(Sidenote, the willmaster really opened up the door to the further increase in moral pondering in a certain number of hellians. i do think using the harness is disgusting and hypocritical, but i don't condemn them for it, it just...makes me wanna vomit thinking abt what ludinus did with it. not to mention the HUNGER parallels between laudna and ludinus...its just not good yall. also??? objectively funny that fcg seemed weirded out by the idea of killing the willmaster, not just with the harness but in general, considering how many people they've killed up to this point)

idk if its just the inherent terror that an evil old hot lady can inspire that makes otohan so much more terrifying to me than ludinus. like, objectively, ludinus is a worse threat and could wipe them out EASILY but jesus otohan is like the damn reaper to me. it's the trauma from the laudna, fearne, orym massacre mixed with the underlying little drop from their uthodurn romp that let us know that resurrection spells are NOT working and idk if that got fixed bc of time passing or distance from the leylines but i really did not want to test that shit out in real time

thank...god that sam riegel is a damn genius player, that banishment of fcg and fearne was the ONLY reason fcg survived. and thank GOD FOR KEYLETH BECAUSE WITHOUT THAT CLOUD SPELL BELLS HELLS WOULD BE VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY DEAD RN.

God, "otohan has us. run." is going to haunt me just as much, if not more than the almost tpk. it just...shot me straight back to bassuras and the plan to run that just...immediately fell apart.

god fcg truly could have died there. and fearne would be captured. i know the hells would be too stupid and too brave and too loyal to leave fearne with otohan in their cloud form but can you imagine a world where fcg was gone, fearne was captured and the hells had to switch from recon to rescue... itd be stressful but pretty fun.

thankfully it didn't come to that and some good came from the shit.

ruidus is so beautiful. i was worried they'd end being trapped under ruidus while they explored (not that I wasn't on board with the detours, I wish this wasn't a time sensitive mission), but matt's imagery of the fossilized elven structure and garden made me sad but also happy that we got to see it.

i cannot believe that the stupid plan to shove fearne up a water hole happened AGAIN and it ended up with us FINDING A BACK HOLE TO RUIDUS GOD I LOVE THESE CHUCKLEFUCKS WHEN IS THE NEXT EPISODE MATT YOU CANNOT DO THIS TO ME. WHERE EVEN ARE THEY??? IS IT EVEN EXANDRIA???? WHAT DO WE DO IF IT IS EXANDRIA??? WHERE DID THIS HOLE EVEN COME FROM???? DOES IT CLOSE AND REOPEN??? IS IT STAGNANT?????? IS IT FUCKING STABLE?!?!?!?!?!

God...we could go back to keyleth and the others and actually invade ruidus without encountering the ruby vanguard. (that's if they're alright because otohan did go out onto the battlefield and we don't know what fhe fuck she did when the illusion fell through)

GOD. IS IT THURSDAY YET??? WE HAVENT EVEN FOUND THE RESISTANCE????

[curestaarlight]

ok finally watched the first ep of LINK CLICK LA and IT'S SO SILLY here are my notes:

cxs has tremendous loser boy energy here, like just the epitome of The Silly goofy guy

it's very much a reimagining of the canon donghua and a lot more typical in its narrative flow—by that i mean in the donghua we start in medias res, with cxs and lg's dynamic already being established, whereas in the LA we get a more typical hero's journey progression

first five mins of the show and la!cxs is getting his ass handed to him 😭 donghua!cxs rolling in his grave rn

in this, lg saves him from the guys beating him up and he's very handsome and mysterious about it before disappearing

ONLY to track cxs down and find the photo studio, fumble to ask for an ID photo he doesn't need, complains and deletes all the pictures, is asked to leave and has THE DOOR SLAMMED IN HIS FACE before saying "did you ever feel weird and different as a child?" which does get cxs intrigued

basically they're both losers <3

i also think it's hilarious how impolite lg is, he talks to cxs EXACTLY as would if they were long time friends (as it's implied in the donghua). it would make sense tho if this isn't the first timeline and lg (in his lg way of course) is overly familiar because He Does know him

qiao ling's actress is PERFECT for her omg think it might be my favourite casting<33

the ending song slaps in link click music we trust !!!!!

[watermelinoe]

Sorry if you've been asked this before, but I was curious since you mentioned manga - what are some of your favorite shoujo works? Thank you in advance and have a nice day.

i have been asked this before but you have no idea how desperate i always am to talk about shoujo 😭 so i'm gonna split my recs up kinda by genre and i'll note whether it's completed or not, i'll try to include some of the more recent ones i'm reading

my fav shoujo manga is kimi ni todoke (completed), i especially love the female friendships in this manga and it's an incredible coming-of-age story, i think this one is more well-known but it deserves it!!

another well-known shoujo with a great female protagonist is of course kamisama hajimemashita (completed), i would die for nanami

something that i love abt shoujo is that the female leads may not be physically powerful but their actions shape the narrative and they are shown to be powerful because of their qualities, i think for girls you want to see girls kicking ass of course but you also want to see that girls are not passive, that they will do what they can and that their actions are powerful

my fav isekai manga, kanata kara (completed), has a protagonist like that, it's a really underrated gem that does a lot of world-building and the female lead even has to learn the language of the world she's teleported to, she can't communicate with the male lead or anyone else at the start, and i love her she's so clever and resourceful and compassionate, it's one of those "good beats evil" stories

i am so behind on it but i also love akatsuki no yona, incredible world-building, intricate character relationships and growth, it's so so good i need to get caught up, but if you like this one i also enjoyed kusanagi's other work mugen spiral (completed, short and cute demon/shrine maiden romance)

other recs: watashi no shiawase na kekkon is a cute cinderella story, colette wa shinu koto ni shita (completed but not online yet ;_;) is a touching persephone/hades style story where the female lead finds new appreciation for her life and her skills as a doctor, sayonara rose garden (completed) is a historical shoujo yuri where you really root for the couple...

isekai manhwa recs (somewhere between shoujo and josei imo) :

for better or for worse (completed) is classic shakespearian romantic dramedy imo, the miscommunications are a genre standard, it's fun and the female lead is drawn with fangs like a rough and tumble anime boy and i love that for her the villainess is a marionette, closer to josei probably, kayena is a certified Girl Boss and hellbent on revenge and she has a lady squad backing her up + devoted pretty moid a wicked tale of cinderella's stepmom, female lead is almost 40, lots of focus on the daughters coming of age and who they want to be, "cinderella" not wanting to be with the prince the villainess flips the script, i just really love judith she's so funny and she's athletic and accidentally kills a guy not-sew-wicked stepmom, snow white story, deals with misogyny and disordered eating and also it kinda looks like there's gonna be yuri on the side rn ?? two female characters confirmed to be into women master villainess the invincible, our girl is so badass.... and the original heroine is also bloodthirsty and she rocks too, also i personally think the male lead is hot tbh and usually it's just some guy to me the crow's prince is just really funny to me, how did they make that crow so expressive... and if i had a nickel for every isekai where the female lead spends a good chunk of it as a bird i would have two nickels which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice but anyway the falcon princess is also a lot of fun with birds

and i'm also really into how to hide the emperor's child bc astelle is insanely cunning but the male lead does not deserve her at all

my anilist is miniblin and i have logged basically every manga i've ever read on there lol so if ur curious

[puzzled-pegasus]

Roasting some country songs i hate

i love country music or at least I love a lot of it but oh my God the number of incel anthems and just generally stupid messages there are if you just listen to a country music station 😭

Most of the genre is narrative songs so it's like a really infuriating scroll through AITA stories lmao

Break Up With Him by Old Dominion: Uhm sir, you do realize you are not the center of the universe. Just because you want to be with her doesn't mean that she's undeniably attracted to you. She's taken. Get tf over it. Why does she still have your number. Lose her contact info before her or her bf come over there and beat your ass

One Of Them Girls by Lee Brice: Ah yes let's just attempt to pick up a girl by generalizing a bunch of women and specifically going out of your way to bother someone who doesn't want to talk to you. Leave her alone. The hell are you doing.

Any luke bryan song. Why do people like him. Why. And why are his jeans so tight. Ew. Stupid voice, stupid lyrics. Some of his beats aren't bad tho lmao

Boy by Lee Brice: This song is cute until you realize...what if his son doesn't turn out exactly the way he's envisioning? And why does his future girlfriend specifically have to have blue eyes. What if shes not even white. What if he's gay. What if he's trans and not even a boy. What then. What then????

Like My Dog by Billy Currington: Well, it's great that you love your dog, but saying you want your girlfriend to treat you like your dog does is kind of telling on yourself. Red flag. Hope that girl runs the heck out of there. Icky.

Also the weirdly specific subcategory of songs that are like "oh girl are you going through something rn yeah I know he didn't respect you at all he's such an asshole, anyway want to kiss me on the mouth now since youre single" ew why do so many of them think like this there is 0 empathy there.

Also songs that are primarily composed of references to other, more famous songs. It was cute the first time. It's getting really old. And not in the good way.

[organic-guacamole]

this is a dumb excuse but last night I was showing my sister how to type with a Korean 10 key keyboard and then hit my phone stuck on it and that's why I'm late...

HSMTMTS SEASON 3 EPISODE 8 REACTION

yay jet doing the recap

before this disaster begins I just gotta say I love the background music at the start. the stringy rendition of shallow lake is so nice.

ON 3 OR AFTER 3!!!!! if this finale has any more callbacks I will not stop screaming

imagine if ricky did get a heart attack though...🤔

not saying he should but like, it would be original (unlike a certain recycled love triangle plot)

my best friend is old enough to vote now too and it's actually insane

but this isn't about me, BIG RED YESSSSS

how'd he come though, Ricky stole his car 🤨🤨🤨

JET

idk what's happening now, it would be cool if they fleshed out Jet and Ricky some more but they didn't so now it's awkward the way Jet is asking Red.

AND ASHLYN IS STILL JUST STANDING THERE? HUH? MOVE GIRL

EJ I love you.

"where's Gina" *punches pillow, mattress, wall, door-*

no wonder EJ his busting his ass to make sure the show is perfect. Ricky is the male lead and doesn't know the name of the kingdom in frozen? chile please

miss Jenn? do people not have other things to do in this show (me being petty about every little thing because I'm pissed about the storylines of this season)

why are all these elders jumping in the kid's solo smh smh

GO ASHLYN WEEEE

Channing showed up with like 20x more gay and he's so cute

why would they livestream this wth

shut up Richard, I'm so tired of his snarky comments this whole time

DUDE THE WAY THEY ALL TURNED ON EJ IMMEDIATELY I CANNOT STAND THIS SHOW

and then don't apologize for assuming he'd throw them all under the bus after the 2 weeks of him working so hard to make sure they excel I'm so angry I'm gonna cry

Nini? I'm not even surprised atp

she's not coming back.

"these things don't go away in a night" THANK YOU KOURTNEY

why is the crowd laughing so hard I do not understand (nitpicking)

thanks Channing 🧍🏽‍♀️

I know redlyn won't break up but it's scaring me.

not the sign saying no spitting in the middle of the emotional scene between Alex and Kourtney

SUPERNOVA GSHEGSHSHSAJBA I LOVE THEM

no Channing not now

why does Nini have to stand there, isn't it more conspicuous than sitting in the audience?

yes Gina beat that man to the ground

I LOVE KOURTNEY SO MUCH

I'm so happy rn.

bORN TI BE BRAVEEWE I KNOW WHO I AM INSIDE AND I WONT APOLOGIZE WOOOOOO

"we missed you so much this summer" literally no one thought about her (petty guac is back)

Channing is such a fun character, his dialogue is almost always hilarious

and now EJ has to witness THIS. seriously just twist the knife in his heart atp

I love Val why isn't she in season 4😔 (Actually no cuz then they'd ruin her character)

*marches down the path with lanterns and pitchforks* KILL CASH CASWELL KILL CASH CASWELL

EJ deserves so much more than they give him and I'm so upset that not only did he lose the girl he really liked, but also can't even get his dad to say something as simple as "you're not a disappointment"

seriously. born to be brave is just making me nostalgic for s1 and I can't handle that rn

Not Ms Jenn actually being in hsm, didn't Mr Mazzara prove that she wasn't? anyways um

just like that? Corbin switches sides? redemption?

why is miss Jenn pulling every 40 something man in this show

is it just me or does Ashlyn have the bi colours in her hair

EJ SIGNED AS ELTON IM SCREAMING

I hate the last day of camps like this, I've been to 2 and I cried so hard whole waiting for my ride, like those people you just spent days and nights with you might never see again but the bond is just so ✨

BRO LOOK AT THIS? WHEN THEY FOUND OUT NINI WAS THERE DID YALL SEE RICKYS FACE? HES NOT OVER HER (not in the sense of wanting to be with her still, but just not over that relationship and probably craving that feeling again. hence lily and now Gina? why why why should they be the rebounds for him and why is the narrative making it seem like a good thing.)

like this guy that has had his eyes on Gina and only Gina for months is not right for her! fine! but does that automatically make Ricky, the guy who is like the opposite of boyfriend material bc of where he is in life rn any better? no???

NOT THE TIME SKIP

I also just realized this is the longest hsmtmts episode to date, that's cool, literally what we've been begging for since s2 but sure.

no stop. that documentary is not complete within 1 month, no way. especially not after what they said about in a month the trailer will come out.

BRO CARLOS' DRESS??????

and can we talk about the meta-ness of this? what show am I even watching rn? hsmtmtsftmtd?

OMG EVERYONE IS SO HOT

"ok Ricky Bowen and you're watching Disney plus" *does the wand movement* ain't no way son

oh no it's gonna have the Ricky confession scene isn't it

oh jeez not the reality show edits

OMG WHY DID THEY DO THAT TO CARLOS IM CRYING

love how jet's own can't even be excused by some editing

this show has gone off the rails but the documentary trailer is killing me

the awkward shots of Ricky grinning at the camera while Gina says that she wants one thing I'm dying I'm deceased yes.

BIG RED IS BI WE KNEW THIS BUT ITS CANON NOW WOOHOOO (why he got an interview segment? no idea)

"good for him" so true

EJ my man... *shoulder pat*

oh Rina is still gonna happen?

hm

no jeez why is it always the girl confessing to Ricky

SHE DID NOT JUST USE PART OF HER BREAK UP WITH EJ TO CONFESS TO RICKY. IM BACK TO HATING THIS SHOW.

SHE ALREADY CONFESSED DURING THAT FLASHBACK SCENE AT THE S1 CLOSING WHAT WHAT WHAT

HES 18 TOO HOW COULD SHE USE THE FACT THAT EJ'S AN ADULT AND MOVING FORWARD AGAINST HIM WHEN RICKYS ABOUT TO DO THE SAME?? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHG

NO STOP ICKY EW GO AWAY

nonono, don't get me started

[funky-sea-cryptid]

chapter 3

i've had a red bull (gross), i have 3 hours until im watching pride and prejudice and zombies, lets do this thing

once again jo nesbo cuts from the action because ???

look, i like dramatic retellings as much as the next bitch this wouldn't be a problem if he didn't do it every chapter.

it's the next night apparently

anyways macbeth is relaying the story of how he and duff committed a literal massacre to a very enthralled (and very drunk) SWAT team

take a shot every time angus specifically says "jesus"

he says it a lot, actually, so disregard that unless you want to fucking die

angus is an edgy atheist which is why i think it's funny that he says "jesus" so much.

macbeth is retelling the events to his friends and then seyton shows up

seyton: did you really think duff would care about a bunch of dead bodies? macbeth: sir, this is a chilis.

once again duff portrayed as An Asshole. would be better if he was shown to improve, but alas. we can't have shit in this nameless town

okay another point to nesbo, i like the ping-ponging of the story between macbeth and duff telling it to different parties and both of them LYING

duff's like "hnggg does duncan like me" and duncan's like ":)"

lennox and caithness hiiiiiiii

take a shot every time duff is like "i gotta make linguistics an art" and discusses his word choices to himself

disregard that

cawdor mention hiiiiiiiii

me when i see people from the play: omg hiiiii <3

mention of The Stoke Massacre which does play an important part if you give a shit about this fucking book, which i dont

macbeth: we shot the bitch. but. it wasn't the bitch.

yeah sweno's still alive.

good for him tbh

duncan is COMING for duff's ass fr

it's kind of amusing because duff is such an irredeemable asshole in this book but it also makes me so upset because duff is - thats my boy, okay?

jo nesbo has NEVERRRRRRR engaged critically with this text fr

not to repeat my rant on how macduff is supposed to be a narrative foil and therefore morally superior to macbeth but

even if he wasnt the man has the straightest moral compass in the play. he's fully prepared to beat malcolm's ass and then go save scotland by himself because malcolm's like "i will be a bad king and fuck the entire country up" like the man is so good. how could you do this jo nesbo

duff calls duncan an "arrogant fool"? or is it sweno? unclear

duncan's worried about shit getting stolen out of siezed goods - THEN FIX THAT SHIT??? arent you in CHARGE?

real drinking game take a shot a woman is described as "looking less capable bc ulterior motives (sex) but shes capable tho!" . i do like the part where her whole face sparkles bc of a candle flame because i too like women

lennox is like "hmm today we're gonna casually discriminate against macbeth"

everyone's clowning on duff rn (for good reason though) augh jo nesbo what are you DOING to my BOY

banquo's like "macbethhhh stop lyingggg" and macbeth's like "what are you talking about aha"

LADY MACBETH HIIIIIIIIIIIIII

banquo HATES her thats misogyny actually

duff: i'm going to commit more crimes on duncan's dollar

her name is just. lady. just lady. what in god's name-

her name is GRUOCH

anyways macbeth is a total malewife i think thats cute

first mention of lorreal. oh boy.

LADY MACDUFF HIIIIIIIIIIII

me when women

she's doing her best rn

okay it's now revealed duff and macbeth are fucking lying bc duff shot the bitch wearing sweno's helmet without checking, so macbeth stabbed the other one to hide the evidence

"now i've paid my debt to you, duff." reoccurring motif here that duff and macbeth have Issues.

duff commits crimes and forces an interrogation in a hospital asmr

[juanitasupreme]

Whether amber or Depp were guilty doesn't ultimately matter for the UK trial as if should be overturned and redone

You can't realistically say that the victim isn't affected by credibility for lying under oath, not knowing who she is (that was scummy of the judge to dismiss the Coachella event), declare one side untrustworthy based on substance abuse (a problem most humans face rn) while straight up calling one a liar when they say they faced similiar, deny experts, claim metadata isn't challanged when experts to look at it are requested, take clearly photoshopped things as 2 incidents, state that audio/video shouldn't(and didn't) have a bearing on the trial because "not under oath in the courtroom", claim 2 cops are less useful as witnesses than an individual they knew because they didn't take a report (while using some of what they said as proof, like tf kinda bullshit)

The entire trial was a case that couldn't possibly be won, it was an extremely prejudicial case where the judge dismissed everything that didn't support amber's including her own testimony

Oh we have video of the defendant threatening murdering the victim the night before they turned up dead and one of them walking into and out of the room the victim was found dead in moments later "not under oath so that's not useful evidence to determine guilt" - this is the shitty ass logic nichol used to get his verdict and the fuxking appeal judges ALLOWED that shit

The HD trial in the UK didn't prove guilt for either party because it couldn't, what it DID prove is that the entire fucking system needs burned down and every case that's been tried in decades needs looked at, as it shows the appeals judges didn't give a shit about prejudicial treatment and that judges can and DO engage in it without a second fucking thought

How many people are in prison for this shit? How many people that the judges disliked have been fucking ruined on the basis of only allowing and caring about evidence that fits the narrative of guilt?

Depp coupd've won the UK trial and the entire fucking process if it was done in a similiar way would be disgusting and need overturned, when you allow prejudicial treatment by the courts you are saying you're fine with PoC being thrown in prison for life for shit they didn't do

That case was even more disgusting than the way the the park 5 was handled and those idiots should still see prison for the way they treated them.

Please for the love of god stop comparing Depp's judgement with wrongfully convicted poc. It's out of place. It's disgusting. It's not the same. You are out of line there. John Depp is a white man who lost a case in the UK about being a wife beater because he did in fact beat his wife in at least 12 different accounts. In no way or form it is comparable to poc struggle. It's a rich yt man who brought the case on himself and lost in a country known to be libel tourism as it is extremely easy to win when you sue.

Depp was unreliable because he had many blackouts due to his almost deadly substance use. He didn't believe that he did why he was accused of because he think that he is a gentleman from Kentucky. This was highlighted by the headbut moment when he is on tape saying "I headbuted you it doesn't break a nose". After you are writing a bunch of bullshit ao no needs on my part to comment.

Depp isn't a man living through an injustice. So stop comparing with poc struggles or any other case because at the end of the day he is a wife beater not a victim.

[omegawolverine]

hiya :D!! if you're still doing the fandom ask game, how about homestuck? that's another one i myself used to be super into :3

(and apologies for the cringe but i read your answer to the td ask too and one, your opinions are all so based and Two i greatly enjoy them (/gen) because you despise alejandro and courtney while to me they are my scrunkly unglydoople little tiepnsy cutsests. we are like narrative foils Poetic cinema even)

omg we are narrative foils <3 but honestly I respect al and courtney stans more than any other bitches bc half the fandom wants them dead and they just go about posting like they dont even hear em. power move, truly.

anyways, homestuck my beloathed <3

The first character I first fell in love with: dave ofc

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: holding eridans gross fish hands in mine

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: jane ig. she has her fair share of haters but im always amazed by how many people actually like her.

The character I love that everyone else hates: im not an apologist for any of these characters BUT vriska, meenah, cronus and, like i said, eridan. they all suck but they intrigue me. im studying them in my little troll studies lab. (also before someone comes for me i havent read homestuck since the 7th grade, i have very little memory of their wrong doings, i just remember i used to enjoy them a lot)

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: kankri...? i still enjoy him in theory ig but ive seen enough meta about him to know that 18 year old me would probably not like him as much as 13 year old me did.

The character I would totally smooch: dirk dirk dirk dirk dirk im giving him a big kiss rn

The character I’d want to be like: sollux probs?

The character I’d slap: girl like half the cast deserves to get they asses beat, im not choosing one

A pairing that I love: soldavekat (do NOT look at me) + pepsicola

A pairing that I despise: basically any jane pairing, also gamrezi for. obvious reasons lmao

[finished-ink]

The Last of Us Part II RANT

I’m normally a “moblie user only” person myself, but Part II took the fattest, nastiest shit on me I’ve ever had the displeasure and feeling through game, that I had to hop on my computer and type this. But before I get in to all the bad, let me start off with the little good in the game.

PROS: The Sound Design, the Animation and Graphics, and the Voice Work

Sound Design: The songs and music in this game were extremely well done. It had me moved to tears to sitting on the edge of my seat anxious about what was going to happen next.

Animation and Graphics: The animation truly seemed like a TON of time, energy, and love went into designing the characters and their surroundings.The graphics were just as awesome and truly made you feel immersed in the world of tlou.

Voice Work: Great work done my all voice actors involved. They, along with the graphics, made the characters really come to life.

OK, now done with the good, time for the fucking bullshit. I am mostly going to focus an the story and the characters. Because holy fuck, I know GOT season 8 was like a milestone in bad storytelling, but the goal wasn’t to do worse than that shitty ass season.

The Shitty Story:  I think the first thing that set this story up to be the fuck up that it is, was this lesson of “Violence isn’t the answer”. I think if the lesson was, “Your actions and choices have consequences” would have been a better theme to go along with this story. So, lets begin with Joel’s death.

I was honestly not surprised at all when I got to Abby at the beginning and someone was there to kill Joel. To think he would be able to evade the effects of what he did to the Fireflies would have been a bit ridiculous. I was even semi-fine with the torture of Joel, because I could see how that decision would force the player to really want to get back at Abby. Was it needed? Absolutely not because just killing Joel would of accomplished this. But if the torture of Joel was something Naught Dog really wanted to include then OK fine. We then come to the next extremely shitty part in the story, killing members of WLF and the game making the player feel guilty for it.

Now I know this is kinda a game play issue, but the issue being solved with a simple change in the game play would effect the story. And that is allowing the players to choose what the fuck they want to do. Do you want to just going in and slaughter everybody while their friends scream about their friends dying. That’s completely your choice. Do you want to quietly and tactically knock them out and leave them to live? Let that also be a choice. The could of even done it to where the more people you kill the more ammo and weapons you could collect, but it’ll be harder to travel because WLF will be sending out more brutes and harder enemies in an attempt to stop you. On the flip side, the more people you knock out, the less ammo and weapons you have, but the less WLFs there are to try and hunt you down because you’re not a bigger threat than the Scars. Then they could use dialogue said by the npcs to give the player an idea of how much of a threat they are to WLF. In a game where its trying to teach this lesson of “Violence isn’t the answer”, it sure forces you to resort to violence at every opportunity. You can even keep the intended message because in the game, violence isn’t always truly the answer. Bouncing off of this is my next change to the story, having the players make the choice about whether or not they want to kill Nora, Mel, and Owen.

Let’s get one thing straight, Ellie beating the shit out of Nora was not needed. An alternative to getting the info about where Abby was staying at could of been done through a series of little puzzle quests to give Ellie clues on where Abby was. This would be longer, but would not of had the same effect on Ellie’s mental state as beating the fuck out of Nora did. However, they could of kept the original scene as it played out. You get the info fast and you don’t lose out on anything major. Maybe some ammo and some pills but not enough to where it feels like you’ve lost out. But the choice now falls on the players to decide what they should do. The same applies with Mel and Owen. When you arrive at the aquarium, the player can decide to shot Owen to get Mel to talk, kill Mel to get Owen to talk, or grab Mel to threaten Owen to talk. The two kill options would be semi-bad because what played out originally with Abby would happen. But if the player decided to threaten Mel, Owen would talk, Ellie would release Mel but still holding them at gun point, and leave. However this would happen after another choice I think should of been implemented in the game. The choice to travel with Jesse to go and find Tommy.

When this happened even I wanted Ellie to just go with Jesse. It seemed like a great point to give the players a chance to decide what they wanted Ellie to do. Here’s how I would of wanted it to go: The player can either make Ellie continue to the aquarium, and the story would follow along as normal, or the player makes Ellie go with Jesse to find Tommy and leave. They leave and find Tommy after his encounter with Abby. You could even make another choice here where Tommy wants to try and go back to hunt down Abby, or go back to Dina with Jesse after he argues that they need to leave. If you go back with Jesse, Tommy follows with you, upset she gets to live, but moves on. From this they return to the theater, grab Dina and travel back to Jackson. This can then branch off to the future we see with Ellie and Dina, but there’s a scene where they travel to Jackson with J.J to see Jesse and his family. While there, Tommy approaches Ellie and says that he found Abby, and the player can decide what to do here as well. Go after Abby or stay. If the player goes after Abby, Ellie does find her and kills her, but it leaves Ellie feeling a bit conflicted because she doesn’t feel the fulfillment she thought she would feel. Cut to her traveling back to Jackson, visiting Joel’s grave and cue heart wrenching scene of her playing the guitar at his grave.

Now circling back, if the player decided to travel with Tommy to hunt Abby down in Seattle, Jesse reluctantly agrees, but tells them if they don’t find her by tomorrow afternoon, they all leave. This would then lead to the player finding Abby and Lev (because in my head Lev does run off but the boat he takes in the aquarium isn’t there and heard talk about the other boats the WLF’s use and takes off there, but Abby catches him in time to stop him from traveling to the island. This would happen after her encounter with Tommy) and Abby would tell Lev to run back to the aquarium with Yara. So its Ellie, Jesse, and Tommy holding Abby at gun point. Knowing a 3v1 isn’t winnable, she lays down her weapons and thus, another decision is allowed for the player. Kill Abby or let her live. Killing Abby has an effect on Ellie’s mental state and that can effect the game at the end. Not too bad that it ruins the ending, but bad enough that maybe there’s a cut scene of her having nightmares about killing her. If the player decides to not kill her, Ellie lets her go, she runs off, Tommy and her argue and Jesse tells them to drop it and get back to the theater. They do and cue to the ending I talked about earlier with everyone going back to Jackson. Now this leads me to my leads final story issue I would change about the game, Abby’s portion would be significantly cut down.

While the player would still play as Abby, the only flash back that would be included is the one about her and her father. Narratively, I don’t hate it. It allows for the player to understand why Abby wanted to kill Joel and drive home the new theme of “Your choices and actions have consequences”. However playing as Abby for, what, 12 hours of the game wasn’t needed. If the excuse was to pad for time, everything I said above would not have only extended the time, but would of allowed for players to want to replay the game. The player would still play as Abby with Lev and Yara so it can set up the players for how all the characters got to where they are by the time the player is given the choice to Kill or Let Abby Go. I’m on the fence about if the player would still be Abby and the theater scene would play as normal if you kill Mel or Owen. Kinda up in the air but what can you do. Anyways, while this would humanize the character to extent, it wouldn’t try to wash down her deeds like Naught Dogs tried to do. In my creation of this story, what happened in Santa Barbara would not take place at all.

All in all, there was some much they could of done with this story that could of made it worth playing. I have no more words for this grotesque torture p*rn game Neil and Naught Dogs decided to create. I wish I could fucking wipe my brain and get back to two days I wasted on this game. Fuck them and I hope Naughty Dogs fucking falls apart. I will finish my little essay with asking y’all to please not harass or go after the voice actors and the people who tried to make this game. Go after Neil , because ultimately this falls on him.

[trickstermelon]

Ace and Sabo! :D

Ace-how i feel about this characterevery day i just want to. hug him. he deserves so much better and also a decade of therapy, that funky little cowboy……  

all the people i ship romantically with this characterSanji- thank u animation team for that filler, they r idiots... . . flirtin... Marco- So kiss the misfits, dance with the punks, hug the junkies, dropouts and drunks, raise your fist up, scream all at once, and feeeeeeel alriiiiiightDeuce- it’s just that damn first mate/captain trope they’re just. ALSO speedrun enemies to helpless pining to lovers. really gay dudes. bros. lads

my non-romantic otp for this character *cracks knuckles* Bonny- THEY ARE. BEST FRIENDS BECAUSE I SAID SO, dine and dash gambling buddies, like to meet up, throw down and rob rich people every chance they getWB- You are my daaaaad you are my dad (boogie woogie woogie)  Thatch- *tries to say something but starts crying and can’t stop*Robin: oh god they would have gotten along  

my unpopular opinion about this characterhis fashion sense is atrocious. i adore it

one thing i wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon- i dont hate his death as a narrative thing but i just wish we really got to know him, he should have stuck around the whole alabasta arc in the manga, let him have some side-quests with luffy, get an earlier introduction to blackbeard n some of the WBP. let him hang w the crew the whole time on his way to beat ass_______

Sabo- 

how i feel about this characterhe’s the worst but in the oh fuck you’re legit kinda terrifying way. i love him he’s such a fucking nerd n got the actual fashion sense. carries all the brain cells none of the emotional rationality 

all the people i ship romantically with this characterKoala- asshole soulmates babey… Sanji- listen theyre just so similar theres a bunch of spring off here. too similar probably Marco: fight fight fight fi

my non-romantic otp for this characterRobin- sabo has a long rube-goldburg-style plan to get her to adopt himLaw- can u imagine. the chaos. the tom fooleryHack, Dragon, Kuma, Ivan- You are my daaaaad you are my dad (boogie woogie woogie)  Deuce: they have frequent like, 3 day writing lockdown sessions where they hole up in one house and come out looking like drunk raccoons

my unpopular opinion about this characteri dont think hes. always morally good on a small level?? very very big picture dude which i Respect, i need to read his stuff properly. but he’s grey af  

one thing i wish would happen / had happened with this character in canonbitches be shoppin and are perfectly fine rn– oda tell me where the fuck he and vivi arei want shanks to adopt him for some reason just seems like it’d be funONE DAY. ONE DAY I WILL DO AN ANALYSIS ON SABO N ACES PERSONALITY SWAP FROM CHILDHOOD TO ADULTHOOD N THEIR FOILED TEMPERMENTS… 

[qqueenofhades]

hello! it’s youngin anon once more in your inbox, i hope you’re staying safe rn! since quarantine has put a lot of free time in my hands all of a sudden, I’ve been reading more. so I was wondering if you have suggestions for books on medieval history (in general or ones good for beginners) I would also be open to any book recommendations in general. Hope you have a lovely day (or as lovely as they can get during quarantine) :D

My dear, please know that I am delighted to see you back and I hope that you are likewise taking care of yourself. I am... here, at any rate, though my mental health has really taken a beating recently and real life has been kicking my ass more than usual the last two weeks. So that’s that, but never mind. You are sweet to ask.

Anyway, as far as medieval history books go, I am (ironically!) not the best person to ask for recommendations, because I read almost nothing that is popular history, beginner level, or otherwise at all interesting to the average layman and/or woman. All my reading material on this subject is academic in nature, dense, highly footnoted and while you can take a hack at it, I have a feeling that it would quickly defeat the purpose. Chris Wickham’s Medieval Europe, published in 2016, was the core book for first-year undergraduates in my history survey courses a couple years ago; he is a decent writer as far as academics go, and it will give you a broad-picture sweep. I read it differently from how you will, but there’s that. 

If you would like things that will actually entertain you during lockdown, here’s a list of the things that I have recently been reading, rereading, or otherwise had stacked on my bedside table for an inordinately long amount of time:

YA:

The Mediator (6-book series) by Meg Cabot, a blast from my teenage past that I was struck with an urge to revisit, don’t judge me, we need coping mechanisms. Teenage girl who can talk to ghosts moves to CA, meets hot boy ghost, tries to survive high school. There is also Remembrance, published in 2016, which is a book in that same universe for adults.

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh, a retelling of Scheherazade from the Thousand and One Nights that I have not actually read yet. But mean to, since I really enjoy the webcomic based on it.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, she has many highly regarded YA novels and I very much enjoyed her Ninth House.

The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem’s Eye, Ptolemy’s Gate, aka the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud, another blast from my teenage past that I recently reread and was like “wow this explains so much about how I turned out.”

Fiction:

Crazy Rich Asians, China Rich Girlfriend, Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan, a trilogy of soapy escapist high-society romcom novels set among the ultra-rich of Singapore and Asia (you may have seen the movie based on the first book). 

The City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty, a trilogy based in a rich Middle Eastern fantasy world. The third book, The Empire of Gold, comes out I think at the end of June, which I am looking forward to.

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld, I have not actually read this as it is not yet released (also June I think) but it is a fictional version of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s life as imagined if she didn’t marry Bill and did become president. I have read American Wife by Sittenfeld, which is based on a fictional Laura Bush’s life, and enjoyed it.

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, speaking of fictional presidents, but do yourself a favor and read this if you haven’t already. The First Son of the United States falls in love with the Prince of England. So many shenanigans and Feelings abound. It reads like a fanfic. It’s great. I adore this book with my whole soul.

Reamde by Neal Stephenson. A giant, sprawling, techno-thriller/global crime caper/terrorist manhunt. I just finished rereading this book and I still find it to be one of my longtime favorites. If you attempt it, just settle down and accept that you’re in for a long and madcap ride. One of his other recent books that I very much enjoyed is The Rise and Fall of DODO, with Nicole Galland, which is about the triumphs and travails of a time travel organization secretly working for the US government.

Nonfiction:

Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow, the true-life story of the investigation that ultimately brought down Harvey Weinstein and other major sexual predators. So you know, a light and fun read. But important.

The Spy and the Traitor by Ben MacIntyre, Cold War intrigue that tells the story of senior KGB agent and double agent for MI6 Oleg Gordievsky.

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson, the story of a famous 19th-century murderer and manhunt intertwined with the invention of wireless technology; Larson is known for his excellent narrative nonfiction so you can’t really go wrong with any of his books.

Due to the plague, I have been furloughed from my part-time job at my local bookstore, which has put a terrible crimp in my habit of acquiring stacks of new books at ill-advised speed. But hopefully some of that looks interesting, and I hope you enjoy!

[soledadcatalina]

For the ask games: the beautiful Lady Rilla and Sir Damien

*sobbing* RILLLAAAAAAAA

Why I like them: she’s just really among the all time favorite podcast characters tbh i love getting to explore her headspace and thought process & how much of a driving force she’d been in the first season

Why I don’t: honestly this is more to do with general beefs abt the current season rn, specifically that like as much as i love olala i miss Her!!!

Favorite episode (scene if movie): moomin herman a Classic but the spiral sage/halls of helicoid eps were a really fun way to get the girls all interacting (as frustrating that can be at times lol)

Favorite season/movie: i mean see previously mentioned lmao

Favorite line: one of my favorite “rilla’s had Enough” moments: “I found him like this a few minutes ago. Totally out cold. Would be a good time to gather some data on a deeply, magically complex sentient creature, but… I want to go home and ending his little nappy sounds more satisfying. Materials for this experiment: a big stick and a week’s worth of malice. Testing… now.”

Favorite outfit: anything i draw her in bc her outfis in the early posters Aren’t It

OTP: BOUQUET, BABEY

Brotp: rilla & marc dynamic is so fucking funny

Head Canon: ive talked abt it before but she has a family “photo album” vis a vis her mother’s note books before her parents were exiled

Unpopular opinion: the “im not a scalie but im not a coward” goof is funny but the true cowards r ppl who sideline rilla in favour of damien/arum’s dynamic  🙄🙄🙄

A wish: PLEASE BRING HER PARENTS BACK I WANT A REUNION SO BADLY!!!!!!

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: poorly plotted character death or bouquet breakup honestly 

5 words to best describe them: podcast love of my life

My nickname for them: rilla, but als sobbed out like damien’s blubbering ass

ol honeysuckle

Give me a character and I will answer:

Why I like them: instantly delighted by his first proper introduction and that’s stuck with me since! also me, him, and arum r all on the same wavelength of loving rilla so he’s a man of taste

Why I don’t: fsdjfsdf there’s a lot to be said abt how this narrative explores the biases and attitudes of its characters so when damien’s a dick i get where they r coming at but if i knew his corny ass irl just. oh my god dude.

Favorite episode (scene if movie): knight of the crown/lord of the swamp always a delight to revisit 

Favorite season/movie: first season of sc, like re: my previous rilla talk and about this season as a whole, he’s taken way much more of a backseat and i miss him

Favorite line: the line that got me on his bullshit completely: “My Queen, I must speak my heart. Demons of sloth and idleness beset me. In that bed I will be victim to the torments of a thousand monsters-of-the-soul, corrupters which will surely place my heart within a pot and boil it until it beats no more!”

Favorite outfit: i would imagine he’s spent the majority of his screen time in his knight’s armour, and that’s making think about like as much as i love the rad bouquet union in the finale, it’s a heartfelt confession among what i would assume to be the three Grodiest smelling people in the moment

OTP: BOUQUET!!!!!!!!

Brotp: they dont call damien n angelo best rivals and best friends for nothing

Head Canon: fantasy vicks vaporub proponent 

Unpopular opinion: oh i always forget any controversial hot takes at this point but they’re out there

A wish: ...........more damien as papa moments pls kabert

5 words to best describe them: fat assed anxious poet knight

My nickname for them: dambien

[nerv-s]

thoughts on wizards

(spoilers obvi)

douxie good. i love him a lot actually, i didn’t expect to care about him at all. the toa writers are good at making heroes that i actually care about

i have like 5 new yucky ships, so i’d say that was a success

i was hoping for more stuff with akiridion, but it’s okay. i’m happy with the worldbuilding that my partners and i do anyway lmao

steve is bi as hell and that’s very powerful of him

cool that no one had excalibur in the end, i like that narrative beat

the ending overall was kind of lackluster but it didn’t make me mad, so kind of a wash. the rest of it was pretty good though, i enjoyed like 97% of it

disappointed that morgana got the strickler treatment re: her characterization, but i really liked her dynamic with arthur so i can forgive that she’s basically a completely different character/has characterization that swings wildly in different directions lol

her hair is stupid though. i really dislike it. gonna stick with the short cropped hair when i draw her tbh

really glad that the only romance shit we saw was jl.aire. i don’t care for jl.aire, but having a much smaller amount of it to sift through made the show MUCH more enjoyable than many episodes of th and 3b

the merlin and douxie dynamic is fantastic imho, even without the shipping goggles that i’m obviously wearing. very tender, very soft, 10/10

mmmm i love merlin lmao

I LOVE THE ARCANE ORDER. ALL OF THEM. their character designs are stunning and i’m just..... ugh, i love it

really enjoyed the snippet of Soft angor that we got

so much death??? it was extremely brutal??? they really turned up the darkness and i’m so into it

i love nimue lmao

AHHHHHHHH DEYA!!!!! MY FUCKING WIFE!!!!!!!! i love deya so much, i’m so glad we got to see her. she’s so fucking good

i love that freaky ass changeling design

that’s most of what i’m feeling coherent about rn, the rest of it is just vague screaming of delight

douxlin real

[roxannepolice]

But yah rey as a character is just so frustrating you know? Cause like, yeah sure she could be complex with a powerful arc where shes forced to come to terms with the fact she wasted years of her life on self-imposed delusions in a cathartic way, or she could be a flat piece of marketing cardboard which Disney is banking on vagina+superpowers=profit without having to go through that persnicty character flaw overcoming or the like. Because like you said, hearing shes a nobody (which ngl, her assuming she was a somebody wasn’t really ever supported in tfa, just that her family was coming back and she desperately wanted them to) is apparently the worst thing but it changes absolutely nothing, not her approach, not her demeanor , if vaguely sad is the absolute worse a character is gonna experience in a goddamn space opera then yeah, full offense ill take the l on Mary sue discourse but her character will definitely be a boring ass wash. We all make fun of whiny new hope Luke but him being a kinda nuisance to both the audience and those around him is what made is transformation into full blown Jedi knight so powerful. With Rey so far what weve got is badass perfect cinnamon roll finally get her due as such, which is clearly working for some people, but I fail to see how that isn’t spectacularly tone deaf to make a protag in this genre such. Operas about drama, not patting you on the back. Rey (assuming she remains as is) would’ve been fine as a protag s the only piece of Star Wars media we ever got was a new hope. But rn she a chosen one architype (and I know that bunch of ppl are gonna go but the series ‘but shes not the chosen one, Anakin still is, the new series isn’t trying to make her one!’ but lets not beat around the burning bush, if u got a character that walks on water and the reason why is because god said so, ur dealing with a chosen one trope and if a character is star wars is made ultrapowerful in lore breaking ways because force said so? Yeah were dealing with a chosen one.) when we had both the deconstruction and the reconstruction done. Shes a straight hero when the success of the ot rest on hitting the formula near perfect the first time. What exactly is Rey, the individual character, bringing to the table? What makes her story supposedly so important the a perfectly good ending had to be made invalid to tell it? A bunch of ppl will say heroines’ journey! But if that’s the case I gotta say, wheres all the feminine shit? Im serious, if the heroines journey is reintegrating the feminine and realizing ‘oh shit mom had a point’ there where is both the feminine skills/coping mechanism and the mom? I mean I saw some ppl arguing for leia in a ‘reys Persephone!’ meta (she isn’t, you can make a much better case for ben himself as Persephone to be quite frank, yall are focusing so much on the trees ((girl gets abducted by guy)) that u forgot the forest existed, the actually story ((girl winds up queen on the underworld, well gee whiz which character just took control of that after leaving the world of living and a grieving divine mother behind, it’s a mystery apparently) behind, it’s a mystery apparently) ((but seriously though even if we hope for dark rey does anyone assume its gonna be taking control of a dark/dead coded org at least partially at this point, do you, do you really??). but given the fact she had what, one line of screen dialogue that’s breaking ur arm with that stretch. As far as skills go I guess you could make an argument for scavenging, but if that’s the case dlf did a shit job of conveying that as female-coded. Everything about rey in tfa seems deliberately androgynous, and yeah, she had her hair let down/mascara moment, but that’s tied to her ‘failure’ on the supremacy thus something nw.SPEAKIGN OF FAILURES ON THE SUPERAMCY AND LACK THERE OF. I find it kind funny that bunch of reylo bnfs (you know who they are) are all ‘hur dur fanboys/antis are dumb and don’t get story structure.’ And then going, ‘why are yall asking how/assuming rey fucked up in throne room/climax of her story in the second portion/darkest point of her character arc? Why do you hate women/ur own ovaries so much?’ because it like walking into a prefurnished house and being told by the relator ‘HERES THE LIVING ROOM’ and having no damn couch. It’s a living room, I expect a couch here. And in a movie where it’s the low point of a character arc and they drag puppet yoda out to tell me the movie is about failure, I expect a damn failure in whats clearly the climax of the characters arc for this movie. As it stands now there are three possibilities imo. 1st, rey had no failure, she is the pure badass maid o light ppl want and every inch the boring cardboard she is accused of by fanbros, remains static, and is relegated to an also ran to benlo taking the most compelling character trophy this trilogy in 10 yrs2nd possibility and the one im hoping for, failure speech wasn’t just thematic explanation but also foreshadowing, rey fucks up big and dramatic in a way that makes her manage to stand out as unique with both her contemporaries and her predecessors(last part, if its ever to much lemme know pls im sorry i just gotta get it out) 3rd and most likely possibility, rey isn’t the main character, benlo is and that’s why his failure both moral in the throne room and logistic on criat take center stage for the last third or so of the movie. Rey is merely a pov character to tell the dramatic villain protag story they wanted and have their very marketable unproblematic Disney heroine cake too.

Ok, so this discourse kinda died down by now, but thanks to that it’s possible to maybe have a calmer look at it I’m totally not trying to justify my late response.

Anyway, the good result is that quite recently my brother, who’s not overly taken with Rey - or the sequels in general, for that matter - said something which really stuck with me as a possible crux of the problem: 

She’s neither comical nor tragical. Just bland. 

This neither comical nor tragical really struck me. And the more I though about it, the more it was appearing to me that this qualm really applies to the sequels as a whole. The thing is that DLF are essentially telling a straightforward story that they’re trying to make captivatingly convoluted. And not just make, but keep this appearance over four years. And this is... a narrative teeth crasher. Like, when you’re honest about the endgame (in the context of the most structural meanings of comedy and tragedy), you can maintain a decorum, though you can also play with it, of course, whereas when you don’t want to be honest about the endgame, you end up mixing the styles somewhat messily. You can’t break or discuss with the rules without acknowledging them, so to speak. Because the originals were honest about the happy/hopeful endgame (the first episode is title A New Hope ffs), they could allow themselves deeply tragic moments like Larses’ deaths, Han getting frozen, destruction of Alderaan, etc. Because the prequels were open about being a tragedy, they could allow themselves lighthearted comic relief for the sake of lighthearted comic relief. 

The sequels... badly want us to consider the possibility of FO winning and Ben dying unredeemed while simultaneously insisting we root for those things not happening, while appearing conscious we’re definitely not buying the former and the latter only somewhat. And it’s tiresome. Dishonest. And indeed, bland. If the story is a tragedy it will be a bloodcurdlingly real one, if it’s a comedy it will be a borderline grotesque one. 

But yeah, returning to Rey, I guess as the main character she’s a lens which focuses the above problems. A very bitter tragedy of what her parents did t her prevents her from being comfortably comical whereas whoohooos I like thats and prancing like a husky on red bull over idols and visions because it’s for children so it must be hopeful prevents her from being intriguingly tragical. So I guess the intentioned effect was tragicomism but, from pov of an engaged casual fan that is my bro, it’s neither. 

As far as Rey’s heroine’s journey lacking some of the usual elements, I blame it on Disney being... a bit too ambitious, maybe. I think they tried to make a heroine’s journey that isn’t ostentaciously seeped in traditional feminine/masculine traits, maintains the structure without what could be called accidentals. On the one hand, I would point out that hero’s journey has pretty much desexualised itself over time, we are rather accustomed to “shero’s” journeys, but on the other... maybe Disney set out on a too novel a territory and may crack their teeth on it, alongside trying to out-Vader Vader at redemption. To elucidate, “toxic femininity” in which a heroine is supposed to find herself in the beginning of her journey, in Rey’s case is uprooted from any of our usual concepts of feminine-masculine social roles (it’s space, duh). My interpretation is that Rey’s version of toxic femininity kind of exists in contrast with Kylo Ben’s version of toxic masculinity - and since the apparent focus of the story is the attitude towards the past/parent figures, toxic femininity would mean her clutching onto the past. Which is why I predict that some act of IX will find Rey inebriated with apparent success in masculine world, meaning she’ll be the one rejecting the old gods this time - and I would point out that panel in Poe comic where she shows herself more sceptical towards idolisation of past don’t mind me, I’m just expressingmy trash dreams for a proper sith lady Rey.

Then again, Rian Johnson said she already found perfect balance between Luke’s clinginess and Kylo’s rejection of the past, so... idk, maybe I’m giving DLF too much credit again.

As for the Persephone thing, I guess the rub is that this reylo reading focuses less on the traditional reading of the myth (where Demeter is the actual main character and Kore is a Princess Peach MacGuffin) and more of an interpretation of it as one of the eldest (at least in Europe) versions of story depicting a transition of a girl into a woman, making Persephone more of a protagonist. 

Like, y’know, this Persephone (D. G. Rosetti, source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proserpine_(Rossetti_painting))

I’m no expert, but myths can lose their original meanings because of power relations (anyone still remember about Dionysus, the god associated with excessive drinking, going through a very Christ-like death and resurrection?) and I think it’s possible that this is the case with the story of Persephone becoming a pre-scientific explanation of seasons changing over the year. So teah, that’s how I always understood the Persephone theme regarding Rey.

But yes, I must agree that I’m confused about Disney’s handling of the mother figure, which... Look, SW became a legend of a modern myth because of how epically Lucas handled the hero dealing with his very explicit father. So yes, I don’t understand what exactly is their game with Rey Nobody from Nowhere in this regard. It’s one thing that they had a cool idea with giving her no lineage, another that parent figures are an essential element of archetypal journeys and from symbolic viewpoint the case of a female character the biological relationship is even more crucial than in male’s. And I swear to all the ewoks and porgs in the galaxy, I do hope Disney’s idea of Rey healing the mother/daughter divide isn’t through her healing the divide between Leia and Ben. Again, this isn’t the idealistic sphere. Just... no. 

Anyway, I still maintain hope (this whole meta blog is built on hope) that Rey will indeed turn out to have a proper personal mistake which will make her stand out in the saga. I do have to admit, though, that I find your last theory very likely. I mean, even when I read all the reylo metas going oh, Rey is going to have such an exciting arc in IX, she has so much to deal with though of course it’s not going to compromise her morally, it will be sooo exciting, I just... f*ck’s sake, what you’re describing isn’t a dramatic character only a dramatised role model. It’s great if that’s your thing, but don’t claim it is space opera-worthy, in operas people drown themselves because of cursed sailors, kill over a break up, decapitate over a bad dream and get dragged to hell over a dinner, not persuade their fallen lovers to change their ways, let alone patienly wait for them the understand the error of their ways (and if they do it’s doomed to end in someone dying).

[voidvoyeur]

some phat ass meta nobody asked for that i cba to come up with a title for rn.

one of the best analogies i’ve heard applied to michael’s character is that he embodies a camera, and i don’t just mean this in way of his voyeuristic and invasive surveillance of haddonfield (established from the very beginning with the audience looking through his eyes), but how his character is directed in halloween as a personification of the cinematic make-up that serves the purpose of horror: setting, shot composition, editing, costuming, lighting & colour, all that film theory stuff. everything about the film is composed in order to cause suspense and ultimately terrify the audience, ‘everyone’s entitled to one good scare’  but the force of nature within it -- a.k.a. fear is directly projected through his figure by his recording of his victims, and in extension, his role as the embodiment of cinematic fear is exposed by laurie.

one moment where this is exemplified is when laurie sees him staring at her from her bedroom window and the camera shot alternates between the two characters, her face in medium close-up and his figure being watched from her perspective from a high angle. these shots remain the same as the camera passes the audience’s attention between looking at laurie, then laurie’s POV looking at michael, back at laurie ------------- then through laurie’s POV of michael no longer being within her sight, as if he was never there or even edits himself out of the shot. the reason i put that elongated hyphen is because michael disappears within that unseen space, and us AND laurie not being able to see that is where the fear & horror lies.

i also think this is why laurie is so successful as an empathetic audience proxy protagonist. while it is a trope that the final girl in slashers has a sixth sense for the foreboding threat of the slasher villain, there is another dimension with her in which she can recognise -- in her consistent visual recognition of michael -- the filmic devices of suspense itself, and her reaction to them is the same horror as the audience.

this is  what i feel distinguishes halloween from slashers that followed, in that it is so keenly self-aware of HOW it wants to achieve fear within a modern context, and it does this by not establishing michael in one solid interpretation but by enacting a symbol who represents a myriad of possible meanings (the most prominent in the film being loomis’ ‘he’s evil!!’ monologues, but on the meta level i prioritise -- as horror film devices itself). the explanation & exploration of michael having some kind of supernatural element (eg. curse of thorn narrative) never really worked for me, but neither do entirely pschologically based interpretations that consider him wholly human (rob zorb). i often find when writing him that i try to keep him in a space of objective ambiguity where his name as The Shape is enforced, in that he exists as a liminal shape.  

liminality is a concept i’m ridic obsessed with... the term itself boils down to what is ‘inbetween’  so like .. concrete analogies being purgatory or stopping at a service station on a road trip or the within of ‘within the blink of an eye’. often it’s applied to transformative experiences such as adolescence and coming-of-age narratives -- and the cast of characters in halloween being this age only amplifies michael’s function all the more. michael’s character only exists as a catalyst and dictator for other’s transformation. in most cases this in his taking of people’s lives, bringing them to their death, or in the case of laurie -- the perpetration of the trauma she suffers through and fights against, resulting in her breakdown at the end of the first film BUT THEN her triumph at the end of the 2018 sequel. 

what i love love LOVE is that we never see visual evidence of michael having this same personal degree of transformation -- only the smallest semblance through his mask. when he is a child, we are pulled out of his perspective when he is being unmasked thus witnessing his identity as a child who has murdered his sister. we don’t see him experience adolescence. the next time we see his face, he is now an adult and wears the white william shatner mask.. but we never see the actual process of him putting it on UNTIL laurie rips it off him. i like to see this as laurie unveiling his identity for the symbolic device of fear within the film that he is, but it is also significant in that only she, as someone who recognised his function (refer to paragraph 2 & 3) is able to offer him that. any sign that michael experiences a transformation is in the matter of a second, whereas laurie’s transformation carries through as the crux of the majority of the film’s run-time.

i think h2018 did a Pretty Good Job of addressing this theme, especially the mask in only relying on fragmented close-ups of michael’s unmasked face. and while it connotes a degree of psychoanalytical motivation in michael actively preferring to be perceived as a masked identity in a much more slow and deliberate way (masking at gas station). it’s less so in this film that laurie unveils him but instead, experiencing the trauma she has, her instinctive response when first seeing his face is to destroy its reflection -- making it clear that she wants to dictate the conditions of any transformation for him by destroying any potential for it  --- in retaliation to the way he dictated hers in the first film. 

halloween is as much laurie’s franchise as it is michael’s. the theme song itself, while it is primarily associated as a representation of michael, i see more as an emotive analogy for laurie. she is the empathy-inducing heart of the film, and the tempo of the theme is emulative of a fearful pulse -- even moreso is there a distinguished beat in the 2018 version. not only this, but the name of the tracks in the soundtrack that reversion the theme evolve into ‘the shape burns’, composed for the scene where laurie looks down at michael in the trap (establishing who has the higher ground in their dynamic that has been constantly shifting through the role of hunter vs. hunted, but solidifies who wins when it comes down to the end). michael is confined below laurie in the trap she has built because she choreographed the entire scene of his burning, fire representative of the transformative rite of cleansing and destroying, depriving michael of his function of dictating transformation, leaving him powerless and reclaiming it for herself. the last track being called ‘halloween triumphant’ speaks for itself :^)