#the only thing i disagree with is improvisation

[pixeljade]

Dungeon Meshi characters and the music I think they'd listen to:

Laios - No real genre cohesion, but loves anything that he can imagine monsters to. He has extensive mental music videos of monsters doing cool things that he will set to songs which he plays on repeat. Probably has more movie and video game soundtracks than actual mainstream music.

Marcille - Florence and the Machine and Hozier are amongst her favorite artists, and she has a soft spot for ALL dramatic and romantic songs, especially with female vocalists. She guards her tastes very carefully, afraid of what others might think, but will gush to Falin about her interpretations of lyrics, and make her playlists all day long

Chilchuck - dad rock and certain folk punk tracks. He's been found in a puddle of tears listening to mountain goats songs about breakups, but he never mentions that when he lists his favorite artists because he wants you to THINK he's not fucked up over it. Will also listen to classic blues.

Senshi - A jazz lover if I ever saw one. He doesnt really listen to it except in the background while cooking or working, but he likes it because it reminds him of the improvisational side of cooking, and how it keeps him moving while he works.

Falin - I think Falin likes a lot of pop but has a particular soft spot for vocaloid, j-pop, k-pop and chiptune. She's just deeply autistic about the artists she likes, doesnt particularly "stan" anyone because she doesnt approach it like that, but she does try to get Marcille into it all (with mixed success)

Izutsumi - the meow mix jingle (breakcore remix) [10 hours]

Kabru - The widest range listener, because he'll gladly listen to and learn about any of the artists people around him listen to. He specifically keeps up with top 40 entirely so he can have an idea whats in the zeitgeist. If you ask him to put on something and he doesnt know your tastes he'll default to a "safe option" like chillhop beats to study/relax to

Thistle - This one I'm not super sure but Linkin Park for sure is a regular listen for him. Will cry-sing along with it. Probably also delves into other teenage angst music ranging from pop punk to emo. Would write his favorite lyrics in sharpie on his ragged converse

Shuro - All classical. He was raised to have extremely refined tastes and can play several instruments himself, but he doesnt have much interest in music really.

Namari - I dont know why but I feel like she'd have an eclectic mix of classic hip-hop artists like Missy Elliot, riot girl music, and old school heavy metal. Also probably has a soft spot for certain pop songs but refuses to admit it.

Mithrun - I want to say he'd be into Shoegaze but like, obviously does not seek out music, so he literally only listens to whatever those around him put on.

Fleki - Psych rock, psy-trance, trip-hop. Do i even have to explain

Lycion - All Hardcore. Loves the energy and will actively mosh.

Pattadol - An absolute Swiftie.

Cithis - The sort to listen to indie pop and then EVISCERATE you for your opinions on music online. Hates Swifties.

Otta - Loves mainstream hip-hop/pop music. I feel like she'd really love Doja Cat.

I think thats every main character. If you disagree with my thoughts dont be mean! We're all just trying to have fun here

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Hello! Reading your comment about Gr@mmys, I thought of something that makes my head spin.

Was it what happened with J!m!n and F@CE that got us out of the OT7 utopia “seven exact and equal slices of the pie” for each member? I expected to see differences, problems or competitions during this stage but I feel that F@CE was a before and after, at least for me. Now, I could yell at my "me" from the last concert in Bus@n, how naive and overly positive I was being.

I understand the factors that made this reality. I don't know the internal agreements between them and their company. For me Jungk00k's debut only shed more light on topic (he's not the villain of the story, blaming him is just easy way out) Family = seven = equal. Wasn't that the driven narrative? From my place I see how the members go out of their way to demonstrate healthy competition among themselves but the label does not accompany them with their actions/decisions. Actions that make me see company as inexperienced. Did they really have no way to avoid these conflicts? Shouldn't they take care of every detail of career of the artists they represent?

This has nothing to do with the decisions of each member. Some armys force too much -members decide everything- speech and frankly to me it feels like a re-victimization and the removal of responsibility from their representatives. Even if we look at this as a team it seems like someone isn't doing their part. May I disagree? I'm a different person. If everyone says that BH is a great company, I will tell them that it should be even better. The company where my father works has often not fulfilled its duties as an employer, but he will tell you that it's the best job, and I proceed to respect it. Just like that i feel

Whose responsibility is it really that everything has gotten to this point? From company and its silences, from fandom that allowed solo stans to grow, from everyone? Is it just the natural course of things?

There is something in this chapter that gives me the feeling of improvisation. Or was I just too used to everything being calculated and perfect in the B/T/S world?

If you had to give a prognosis for the next chapter, what would it be?

***

“Family = seven = equal. Wasn't that the driven narrative?”

No, actually.

Listen, I hear you and I get you completely. OT7 literally means love the members equally right? And that’s the agenda the company has been pushing and should show right? Well, not exactly. What I’m about to say is going to be very unpopular, but it’s genuinely what I think.

People have a very narrow idea of how many things can look, and when they run up against a reality that looks very different from how they expected it, many people don’t know how to deal with that very well. And oftentimes what happens is that they turn to vilifying whoever they think is responsible for preventing them from getting that imagined outcome. It never once crosses their minds that maybe they had the wrong assumptions to begin with. It’s always the thought of maybe someone is gaslighting them, rather than, you know, maybe they were just wrong. For that context and for that group’s actual goals.

There’s one post I wrote a long time ago that I think made me fairly popular with Jimin biases here, it’s the one where I talk about some of the ways Jimin contributed to BTS that might not seem obvious at first. I prefaced that post by saying many in the fandom underestimate Jimin not because they dislike him or anything, but because they have a narrow idea of what ‘meaningful contribution’ looks like for a group like BTS. All I did in that post was point out things that perhaps were not framed in the right way to show how much Jimin contributes to BTS that’s more than songwriting, producing, or others. It’s the same thinking in recognizing that while SeokJin isn’t the strongest dancer or vocalist, he’s served as the stable emotional support in the group, he serves as the key hinge in maintaining the uniformity in their choreography, and that without him in the group, the members would certainly clash very destructively. It’s not ‘equal contribution’ in the way a lot of people envision, but I think it’s perfect for BTS.

Granted all I’ve said so far is in terms of contributions, not rewards which is what you’re talking about. You’re saying the company should facilitate things so that each member is meant to get equal rewards each time. Well, that would be dandy and possible for the company. Maybe. But it’s also not weird, bad, nor does is spell sabotage for a company to allocate different resources and use different strategies after consulting with the members for their direct input, and to pursue asymmetrical results for BTS at certain times. The understanding is each member prioritized will vary in different years and eras. And I’m personally looking forward to all of it. Since July 2022, all the members have put forward a good first step with their debuts. Jungkook is the member getting a solid push now and I love that it’s him. I’m secretly hoping he tours a bit too, maybe solo or with vmin, and maybe/not go to the military before 2025. Who knows?

A lot of things didn’t work right for all the members' debuts. Jimin’s performance was impacted by far too many though, and many were issues the company simply needs to get their shit together on. Period. BTS makes a shit tonne of money for that company and the least they could do is go the extra mile and then some. I’m convinced HYBE already does this for BTS (recall how HYBE navigated extracting BTS from that Jamboree concert disaster, though public opinion was also on their side), but they could always do more. And I won’t stop anyone from saying that.

But for anyone who thinks what they’ve seen so far is Jungkook / BTS / HYBE betraying their trust or going back on their principles or whatever, I want to say that they’ve done no such thing. This time around your bias wasn’t prioritized the way you wanted. That’s it. Am I being naive and delusional by thinking the guys are literally taking turns for this kind of focus? Possibly. But I also know there’s a Pharrell collab somewhere in the vault. Rina Sawayama too (her Le Sserafim remix is really good. Please listen to it). And that the guys have very grand plans. All of them. They’re focused and driven and will always get what they ultimately want. Every member is like this. They've put too much skin in the game to walk away for less.

Or lol, maybe I'm just being a company stan. I just hope it's clear I'm not dismissing your concern or care for Jimin, Anon, it's that I disagree with your conclusion. But I know I'm in the minority here anyway.

“Whose responsibility is it really that everything has gotten to this point? “

The fandom, mostly. For reasons that are very obvious. Such as most of the fandom claiming they actually like the whole group and trust their bias, but rather kinda see the other members as background characters for their bias. Fandom is like a pressure cooker, so nobody ever really stays 'normal' if they move too far off-center - people who heavily biases a member in an unhealthy way will never remain an ARMY, for example, they’ll eventually break off into fringe parts; people who dislike a member, only grow to further hate the member. Neutral is rare.

If BigHit wanted to make another try for a Grammy this year, Seven would’ve likely been envisioned with all the members as a project to pursue, because a win for any of them is considered a win for the group. Especially considering the competition this year. And given BH already had a formula with the PET, they went with that same mediocre candy floss of a song that’s guaranteed to get the nomination chances, as in the past. Experience has taught the company Korean tracks will likely not be given fair consideration soon. So they went with Seven. Also, after that Billboard hit piece, Jimin’s chances with Like Crazy are close to zilch. If by some miracle he gets recognition, I hope he wins. But yeah, that debacle with Jimin is one in which the fandom (meaning his akgaes, biases, and the wider/whole fandom) bears some blame. But at the same time, Billboard has never been a friend to BTS and they were likely going to change the rules again anyway. And that’s something they can keep doing.

"If you had to give a prognosis for the next chapter, what would it be?"

I have no real idea, tbh. What I want more than anything, is for all seven of them to be able to continue putting out dope, interesting music that they take joy in. Seeing Bangtan have fun has extended my life by several years I'm sure. That's what I want for them in the prognosis. I'm sorry I'm taking your ask about a serious topic and going all sentimental on it Anon, but rather than chart placements that they don't really need to prove, I want BTS to still be comfortable making the music they want to make. More Arson, Dis-ease, All Day, Change Pt 2, Snooze, HUH?!, Amygdala, Like Crazy, SMF Pt 2, Rainy Days, Seven, The Astronaut.

I hope the people who remain in the fandom core are able to last and tough it out while the fandom regroups. Because even though there'll be chaos and the number of solos will likely triple, they won't ever leave. Nobody who comes in contact with BTS ever really moves on from them. They'll say they're taking breaks, calling it quits or whatever, but give them 6 months tops and they're back. I see it happen all the time. And it makes sense tbh. I mean, have you seen Jimin? After knowing someone like him exists, how can you just go back to your regular life pretending he's not real? Like his existence doesn't mandate you looking at him and caring for him and his art. At least, that's how Jimin makes me feel. And the other members to varying degrees.

If we disagree please don't send me follow-up asks on this topic. It likely won't be productive.

[theamityelf]

number seven with kamuegi for the writing prompt requests, please! 🥺

7. "there isn't anything that i wouldn't do for you."

~~~

It was so peaceful.

The rising sun was starting to pour light through the dorm window, illuminating the different tones of brown in Izuru's long hair. He was still sleeping. Well, his eyes were still closed, and his face was very relaxed. His full weight was resting atop Makoto's body. His head on Makoto's chest, his longer limbs ensnaring the luckster in a snug, unyielding embrace.

Makoto had one arm free; Izuru had let him reach to turn off his alarm when it sounded half an hour ago. His other arm was plastered to his side by the curve of Izuru's arm.

"Hey." As it had now been a full thirty minutes, he decided it was time for round two of trying to convince his boyfriend that it was, in fact, time for him to get up. "Izuru, I've got to get ready for class."

Izuru nuzzled his chest in acknowledgement but didn't get up or let go. He was being hypocritical; when he had something he intended to accomplish in the morning, he vanished before Makoto even woke.

"You'll get bored of cuddling eventually," he tried again. Sometimes this tack worked, but at present Izuru seemed to disagree that he would do anything of the sort. "Come on. Taka's going to give me a hard time if I'm late."

"He will?" Izuru said, finally opening his eyes and fixing them on Makoto's face, to gather the subtext. He seemed to know that the statement wasn't meant to be taken seriously, but he still appeared to be deciding how seriously he would take it.

"Not a really hard time," Makoto qualified. "He's not as, uh, reactionary as Sakakura. He just values punctuality."

"Sakakura is the reason you've become consistent about wearing your Main Course uniform. Is Ishimaru the reason you find it important to be on time?" Izuru loosened his grip, sitting up and giving Makoto room to move. He seemed to be in thought, as Makoto took the opportunity to get up and head for the bathroom. "I could talk to him."

"But it's Taka," Makoto laughed. "You can't convince him not to speak up about what he thinks is right. It's one of the things I admire about him."

"Including the fact that he values punctuality and gives you a hard time?"

"I guess, yeah. I mean, he's my friend. Even the inconvenient things about him are still part of him."

"What would you say is inconvenient about me? The fact that I've made you late?"

"I'm not late yet! I can still make it."

Izuru got out of bed and started gathering Makoto's dispersed school materials into his backpack. "Based on your stamina, foot speed, and how long it takes you to eat a full breakfast, you will be late."

"Then I'll skip breakfast."

"You will not." He zipped up the backpack (leaving it, for now, on the desk) and pulled on his pants.

"Just half a breakfast?" Makoto proposed, leaning to the side to see out of the bathroom.

The only answer he received was the sight of Izuru exiting the room, in the direction of the cafeteria.

Makoto sighed fondly and started brushing his teeth.

He was beginning to get dressed in his uniform when Izuru returned with a plate for him.

"Hanamura made it," he prefaced with distaste, the implication being that Makoto needn't enjoy the meal too much (and perhaps shouldn't). "Since you're in such a hurry."

"Thank you," Makoto said, taking the plate once he'd buttoned his blazer. "Did you grab yourself something to eat, too?"

"I don't have class, so I have time to cook myself something better than Hanamura can make, once you've gone."

With a smile, Makoto said, "It doesn't have to be a competition. You and Teruteru can both be really good cooks."

"According to the experts, my technical skills far surpass his, but he has a better mastery of improvisation and intuiting the subjective tastes of his clientele." Izuru watched closely as his boyfriend took his first bite of breakfast. "Do you find that he's better at intuiting your taste than I am?"

"No. And I'm not some kind of food critic, anyway. I like the food you make me because you took the time to make it with me in mind. Because you're considerate. And also because it tastes good. But I don't have the refined palette your teachers have; I'm not really comparing your use of spices or anything like that."

"I'm considerate," Izuru echoed dubiously.

"And you're cute."

"When?"

"Now! And...well, all the time!" Makoto suddenly remembered to check his watch, and he startled at the fact that he'd been standing still for so long. "Oh! Could you pass me my bag, please?"

"There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you."

Makoto turned to stare at Izuru, who was gathering up the backpack, showing no signs that he knew his statement had been of a grander scale than most might have considered proportionate to the matter at hand. "Thank you," he said, taking the bag as it was handed to him. "I, uh..."

"You're running late," Izuru reminded him. And before he could turn away, Izuru placed his palms on either side of Makoto's face. "And you're blushing. Have a nice day."

"Have a nice day."

Izuru pressed his forehead to Makoto's. "If anyone does actually give you a hard time, let me know. I'll have a frank and civil conversation with them."

"There's no need for that," Makoto laughed. "I'll see you at lunch?"

"Actually, I might be busy at that time."

"Oh, okay. See you after school?"

"After school," Izuru confirmed.

Makoto left for class.

...

When school let out, Makoto was surprised to walk out and see, not Sakakura lurking outside the front door- guarding against, presumably, wayward Reserve Course students -but Izuru, watching the door from a reasonable distance. When he saw Makoto, he began to approach.

"Ooh," Sayaka teased. "Looks like someone's boyfriend was waiting for him."

"Perfect!" Hina cheered. "I remember his name and everything now."

"Good evening, Maizono. Asahina," Izuru greeted them.

(Makoto had been gradually coaxing him out of his shell since they'd met. He even sat at lunch with Makoto's friend group most school days.)

"Hi, Kamukura," Hina said proudly. "I noticed you're getting close to my record lap number."

"And I noticed you finally broke mine for speed. My teachers have recommended I cut my hair, as it drags in the water and slows me down. If I did, I could create a new record for you to break."

"Or I could just swim with a bedsheet tied around my neck," Hina suggested, like it was a completely reasonable alternative.

"Don't cut your hair," Sayaka added. "It would take forever to grow that long again, and having a signature look is something lots of guys would kill for."

"That's not something I consider important at all, but I won't cut my hair," Izuru said. "Makoto likes it."

"Th-That's not..." Makoto spluttered. "If you want to cut it, I mean, either way is..."

"Are you ready to go to your dorm?" Izuru cut in. "If not, I could wait there for you."

"No, we can walk together," Makoto said, still blushing. "Evening, guys!" he bade his friends.

Back in his dorm room, Makoto noticed that his casualwear, including his favorite jeans and hoodie, was hanging up on the bathroom door.

"You...washed my weekend clothes?" he guessed.

"I thought you might want to wear them tomorrow," Izuru answered mildly. "I know you find your uniform less comfortable."

"I wish, but Sakakura never seems to remember I'm Main Course if I'm not wearing my uniform. Probably because I'm so normal looking, heh..."

"Sakakura won't bother you. I had a frank and civil conversation with him, and he won't be bothering you again."

"You...what?"

"Of course, if you want to wear your uniform regardless, I won't push the issue. It does suit you."

"You talked to Sakakura about me?"

Izuru paused, tilted his head, and then merely said, "He won't forget your face again. You don't have to worry about him."

"Wow. Is that what you were doing at lunch?"

"No, at lunch I was presenting a case for moving your class's independent study hours to the morning, so you don't have to rush through your breakfast. The headmaster agreed that the morning was a better time."

"You spoke to the headmaster about me?!"

"Not about you specifically. Again, you can choose to arrive at the same time you always have, but now it's optional. Ishimaru can't give you a...moderately hard time about it."

Makoto marveled at the news.

"Did I overstep a boundary?" Izuru asked.

"No, you're fine! I just...It's like you've been doing stuff for me all day."

"Of course I have. I'm considerate."

Makoto smiled. "Your teachers must be so mad at me."

"Not at all. If anything, you're proving my ability to multitask." Izuru wrapped his arms around him, resting his cheek against Makoto's head. "It takes caring about something to truly test my talents."

It was at this moment, at this proximity, that Makoto noticed some bruising on Izuru's knuckles. "Hey, you're hurt!"

"Shhh." Izuru held tighter when Makoto tried to make a fuss. "Don't worry about it."

"Izuru, did you and Sakakura end up fighting?"

"The conversation was frank and civil...and in Sakakura's language of choice. I'm not hurt."

Makoto sighed.

"He scared you first," Izuru added flatly.

"You didn't have to do that."

"As I said, there isn't anything I wouldn't do for you. Now, we should have dinner. You finally have time to eat something Hanamura didn't make."

Makoto couldn't help laughing, but he still probed, "You don't mean that literally, right? That thing about doing anything for me."

"I think I'm in the mood to make curry," Izuru mused. "What do you think? Maybe I'll even make extra, so your friends can have some when they stop by the cafeteria."

"That'd be great! Hifumi loves your curry. But I was asking..."

"Don't worry about it. Come with me; you can watch me cook."

Makoto let it go, and they went to the kitchen together.

[goodluckclove]

These asks are fun!

Dear Scott, do you like improvisation or playing composed pieces better? And what is your favourite piece / Style?

(my guesses would be improvisation and woodland fairy music - I couldnt think of a more random ask but if an idea comes i'll send it!)

At some point my mom tried to teach me how to read music and I found it annoying and frustrating and distracting and generally unpleasant. She tried to say that reading sheet music would help me build a foundation, something something something - I was very young and my attention span was not great back then.

I ended up doing what I consider to be the far easier and more reasonable thing, which was to play every note of my family's piano one at a time, over and over again, and memorize them to their corresponding note. I did this for about two hours a day, every day, for maybe a year when I was five-ish. After that I was pretty good at learning pretty much any composition by ear as long as I could hear it on a loop for an hour or two. Mom brags that I have perfect pitch and I don't think she's wrong but I do think that's a weird thing to brag about to people.

Liszt is fine but really only interesting for one hand at a time. Something like Ryuichi Sakamoto scratches the itch but it doesn't really allow you to be as wiggly while you play as I end up being.

Ragtime is best across the board. Pretty much everyone I say that to gives me a look because the music I play with my old band is much more rock/cabaret adjacent, but that's because I compose based on lyrics and I'm a guy with strong emotions. If I'm just playing the piano for three or five hours straight, it's absolutely ragtime.

No one gives it the same credit as the complexity of classical or jazz because it's a form of complexity that's born out of a love for playing music.

Yeah, complex polyrhythmic compositions are cool. Literally everyone knows that and the only reason why they all aren't also delving into the creative milleau of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is because of either scheduling conflicts or a lack of access to quality instruments.

The ego of some of these people is infuriating. Oh, you're a master of alternating octave triads? Can you make music that people enjoy? Can you play piano to create a fun experience as opposed to get a bunch of strangers to fawn at how cool and talented you are?

Can people dance to the music you play? Can they even bob their head?

You can bring virtually any song on piano into the ragtime genre if you play the melody through octaves, add syncopation, and throw in a bunch of notes from the chord to fill space. It automatically makes every song better and anyone who disagrees is at best wrong and at worst very boring.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Do you have any games involving candles/matches/fire as mechanics? Ten Candles is the only one I know. Thanks!

Theme: Candle-lighting.

Hello there friend. I do have some games for you! Many of these games are very good at digging into your emotions and make you feel things, so I hope you enjoy perusing some of the options I’ve got here.

What Little the Flames Leave Us, by Kumada1. (@sprintingowl)

What Little The Flames Leave Us is an 8 page TTRPG played by setting your character sheet on fire.

Burn away pieces of yourself to fight the odds, and at the end a portion of your identity might survive.

This is a story about quests that you will not survive. Your characters are doomed from the beginning, and this is represented by burning away parts of your character sheet as you play. This game doesn’t need a candle exactly, but a candle will do just grand at holding a small flame for you to hold your character sheet up to. This is a game mostly played out through consensus, and destruction happens when one player feels like they should succeed in a case where others disagree. It’s a very thought-provoking and emotional game, and you should check it out.

BurnBright, by kumada1.

Three seasons ago, the Dimming came. It started in midwinter, where its effect was almost unnoticeable. But then spring came, and summer, and the days did not grow longer. Instead, the sunlight became thin and strained. The nights turned grim and inescapable. It is clear something is wrong, and it is clear that no one else has the means to stop it, so you have packed your bags and slung a quiver of torches over your shoulder and you have set out for the one place where the Dimming might be stopped. Candlehold is an ancient fortress, built on cursed grounds. Crops grown near it weaken and die. Animals in the woods that circle it wear forms lean and strange. And every night since midwinter, the top of  its tallest tower has burned like an earthbound sun.

This is another game about fate and doom. Characters play heroes exploring a fort in a world that has gone dark. The world is collaboratively built, and the players are granted two stats: Wick and Flame. Flame allows your character a better chance at success; Wick allows your player to last longer.

The primary resolution of BurnBright is blowing out a candle. If you blow out a candle in one breath, you succeed at your goal. If you fail, your Wick becomes shortened. Success is possible in this game, but it definitely comes at great cost. The designer also recommends some ways of altering the difficulty, in case blowing out the Wick is too difficult and the game wears folks out.

The Ghost Game, by amandalee.

The Ghost Game is a one session ttrpg for 4-5 players and a gm, inspired by abandoned places, found footage horror, and the improvised rituals kids make up when they're trying to scare each other.  You and the players work together to create a ghost and convince yourselves it's right there in the room with you.

If you want an atmospheric and spooky game, this is definitely worth checking out. You are playing teenagers exploring a haunted house, undertaking a ghostly ritual at night. There is one candle for each player, including the GM, and at some point, those candles will be blown out. A great game for Halloween!

Light to Your Heart, by Jacky Leung.

Light to Your Heart is game about building intimacy through candles, sharing, and the dark. Over the course of the game, players will learn about each other and possibly by the end, no longer need lights to truly see each other. There candles that separate you and your gaming partner, as the candles go out, the room darkens but that's alright, because you get to truly see each other by the end of the game. 

This is a two-player game that requires a deck of cards and eight candles. You will make characters who have no reason to be in a room together, but who will inevitably grow closer as time passes. The players line up the candles between the two of them and draw cards that represent questions that their characters will ask each-other. A question will spark a conversation, which must continue until the person who asked the question blows out a candle. This will represent an acknowledgement of what has been shared, an act signifying that you need less light to see the other person’s true self. All in all, a very touching game.

[icebluecyanide]

Alex Rider S03E08 Reaction

The last episode already!!! *screaming*

Liveblog

Oh Mrs Jones was John’s handler?? No Ash :(( 

Omg Alex finding out about the nanoparticles!! 👀 Love the moment of realisation

“I went in myself, undercover” oh they really don’t like committing to Alex joining Scorpia of his own free (misguided) will huh. Like not to keep comparing to the book but in the book it’s Blunt who lies to say that Alex was working for MI6 all along when Alex is still feeling bad about being with Scorpia and wonders if Blunt will tell the whole Cobra meeting what he did

Why did Jack even think Alex would be safe going back to Scorpia ahsldfhs

Love Alex not telling people he’s going to die, keep those secrets, Alex <33

Lmao they’re not even staging a breakout?

I feel like it really should not be that big a leap to work out that Julia Rothman wants Alex dead

Why does it sound like Alex is just improvising here ashdlfhs did they not come up with a cover story for how he escaped?? Did they not have budget to shoot the car crash ahsldfhs

I think Nile should have stayed to watch Alex get changed like in the books 😔

“We can get him out the moment I get there, get him clear” I mean I love Alex but like… if he’s dying there is also a whole city dying so is this really your top priority?

Alex’s Scorpia uniform lmao

Wowwww Alex is really not good at this undercover thing huh

No Yassen around anywhere :((( 

Lmao that was so easy unplugging that thing

Damn Nile, that’s some good whump

Oh, she’s running :(((( This show did Julia Rothman dirty tbh

To lose another child 👀👀

Ayyyy Nile escape!! Good on you, Nile

Ahsldfhs Julia Rothman’s poor info security leading to all the other Scorpia members

“I think it’s best all round if we put our differences behind us” ahsldfhslh

“That’s your resignation letter” lmaooooo love it

Ahsldfhs is Blunt gonna resign instead and let Mrs Jones lead the department? Because that would be wild 

Omg he did leave?? Ahsldfhds that’s really funny because Blunt was the only one I liked & this was actually the story he came out looking best imo

Awww Alex getting his dad’s medals 🥺🥺

Love the job offer after university 👀👀 Great set up for post-canon fics haha

Omg Yassen saving Alex from being shot!!!!! They’re both alive at the end!!! Yassen nodding at Alex!!!

Overall

Some nice emotional beats with Alex learning about how he’s going to die, and I like the parallel with Alex shooting past Nile the way John shot past Yassen. Also I really liked the way they wrapped it all up, love the idea that was set up of Alex working as a spy after university and of course the bit where Yassen saves him. Some really great set up for post-canon fics there and everyone I cared about is alive so loved it!

Thoughts

It’s funny how Alex’s age is glossed over in scenes like the art gallery on Malta, but then the Home Secretary is immediately like ‘how old are you’ because he’s visibly a teenager. In general it was kind of wild how she tried to shut the Department down, although I did enjoy the brief moment where Alex was arrested again. Loved Blunt handing her her letter of resignation letter at the end.

I think this show and I disagree on what’s important for a department like The Department, but I don’t think Blunt should have had to resign at the end there. I guess they wanted a nice resolution there and Blunt stepping aside made it easier, but everyone in the Department aside from Blunt was annoying me by how emotional and attached to Alex they got, so I was sad to see him go lol. Like, I remember there was a line in the book about how the SAS team attacking the church had been told by Blunt that the transmitter was their first priority and their second was Alex Rider and honestly he wasn’t wrong for that?? It was kind of wild with the way the team was talking about getting Alex out safely like they weren’t bursting in trying to stop a whole city from getting killed.

I wish Yassen had been in more of this episode, and I was expecting him to actually be around for Invisible Sword, but I guess he had nothing to do with it. Maybe he even went looking for Alex after all? But I love how he shot Nile at the end there, and I’m glad there was no last minute reveal that he knew about John all along. I love how it ended with him nodding at Alex and walking off (into the sunset) and I can totally imagine them meeting again down the line.

Not a fan of Mrs Jones being the one in charge of the stuff with Alex’s parents when in the books it was Blunt who seemed to have run John (with Ash as the point of contact). In general I guess it plays into the way they made Mrs Jones softer and warmer than in the books. For all that this show had them blackmail Alex, and it seems like a grittier take than the books, they actually lose a lot of the book’s edge, also when it comes to stuff like Alex actually joining Scorpia. Like, with the way Alex mentioned it and Jack mentioned it, I’m starting to think Alex really was just pretending to join Scorpia from the start, which I guess is a nice parallel to John, but it’s also vastly less interesting than him actually being manipulated into joining them.

Speaking of John though, I find it a bit hard to believe that no one went ‘oh okay Scorpia are still out there and they want revenge against the department and also remember that time John and his wife’s plane got blown up? In retrospect maybe that was them like Alex said’ and then they could follow that up with ‘if Julia knows about John and all of this is revenge, maybe she wants to kill Alex’. And even if they don’t know that, it’s still pretty dangerous for him to go back if Scorpia assume he has been turned and is working for MI6 now. Especially given how long he was arrested for. I can’t believe they didn’t even try to fake the escape but just had Alex walk out and call them.

Also Alex’s undercover stuff was so bad?? Like Alex I know you know that Julia Rothman wants to kill you but if you play along you could have had your hands free at least?? Though I suppose in fairness to Alex he was trying to distract her to delay things.

This show did Julia Rothman dirty tbh. They made it all about a personal revenge because she loved/was seduced by John and apparently gave up tons of Scorpia secrets and she had multiple male Scorpia members calling her mad for it, plus she didn’t even get to shoot the guard for trying to run away? I hate to say it but Mrs Rothman and Nile were both more fun in the book, though I do love the Nile casting. I really wanted Scorpia to have more of that ‘oh we’re all friendly but if you betray us we will kill you’ vibe.

Okay so enough complaining, here are some positives: Just about anything John and Yassen was very good, loved the Yassen and Alex scenes, and really that was what I was here for so I’m happy. Really good ending and I’m glad they seemed to know they weren’t going to do another season and actually wrapped the story up well. On the whole this season was so much better than I dared hope for, and I think it probably holds up pretty well if you are less into the book like I am. The show’s clearly not telling the same story and that’s fine, and I think it probably told the story it wanted to tell quite well. And I got my John and Yassen and Alex scenes and John/Yassen flashbacks so I’m happy.

[utilitycaster]

Oof, the first half of the episode is a little rough ngl. I like the second half with Aabria a lot more. The first group does get better as the episodes go on if that helps at all.

Also, to add a bit more context to Kollok: the creators - Hyper RPG - are filmmaking nerds and are mostly known on Twitch for their various virtual productions.

So Kollok has a lot of those post production visual effects and sound effects, which is them using their strengths to create a show, similar to CR and voice acting and D20 and improv comedy.

Obviously that's not gonna be everyone's cup of tea and it can get a little too much I admit, but it's not that bad of a show.

Hi anon,

I am...not sure if you read this in the necessary context (this provides some, and this some more, and if I'm being totally honest based on this I don't feel like you read my entire weird rant, which to be fair, it is long and weird but covers quite a lot of issues I have) but I am coming in with the premise of "I think heavy post production of actual play is a poor choice." It don't care that it's their strength; I think that if that's your strength you would do better to apply it to scripted works or to improvised non-actual play shows.

I will freely admit that I went in expecting it not to be my cup of tea for that reason, and with an added grudge of "being hyped up and cited as brilliant by Polygon's AP/TTRPG team, with whom I almost always disagree," but did genuinely want to give it a shot in as good faith as I could muster, instead of solely talking shit about. I hoped the acting, premise, and GM-ing might shine through even though the effects were unlikely to win me over and indeed were likely to annoy me.

That was not the case. I found the GM-ing (Driving?) style profoundly grating and pretentious (and I have a very high tolerance for pretension), the premise nothing to write home about, and honestly I don't know jack about sound mixing but I do know I have perfectly good hearing and had to crank my laptop speakers up to higher than I have to for CR or D20 for the prologue to the prologue only to subsequently hear some of the most irritating static sounds at top volume for the prologue, so I'm not even impressed by the production.

And to be clear: that's all fine. I think people are drawn to different aspects in actual play, and there's room for all sorts of shows. I might even finish this episode simply because if I were recommending something to someone else, and they quit an hour into a 3.5 hour episode, I'd feel a little miffed. But I really don't expect it to ever be my thing, and I watched it mostly because it felt uninformed to be criticizing heavy production in actual play without watching a notably deliberately heavily produced actual play show.

I do want to wrap up, and this isn't specifically directed at you but: when it comes to my opinions on a work, I'm not going to say I'm never going to be swayed by an anon ask because who knows, it could happen, but it's very unlikely. If I dislike something, I don't really care if other people like it - I'd never send anons or get on their posts or maintag something like the post I just made (and which I made nonrebloggable specifically to prevent it from spreading into fan spaces) but I hope that people who like something can show me the same respect and permit my dislike. If you're a fan I will not be offended nor resentful if you unfollow or block me or whatever you need to do, but I can pretty confidently say that new cast members or improved acting will not change the fact that this is extremely not for me.

[bluemidnightmelody]

lover/fighter - my favorite moments

[Little snippets from my Finnick/OC longfic that are stuck in my head]

From Chapter 44 - Neptune in 4th house

Finnick leans against the old wooden desk in the small improvised office and watches her as she purposefully stows all kinds of things in the designated place. "Isn't that too much for you sometimes? After you keep starting arguments with Donna because of me, so that I can get some peace and quiet at home, all you ever do yourself is work," he replies.

Rhea pauses and looks at him. "Those are two things you can't compare," she says seriously. "I love my work. I don't do it because someone else tells me to or because I have to. I never wanted anything other than this. This is where I grew up and taking care of the people around could never be too much."

It's exhausting and sometimes very draining but just as fulfilling for her. She could never imagine stopping. "We both know that you would also rather be at home looking after your people. If you could decide for yourself, you would never have come back here after your Games, would you? You'd be sitting at home in District 4 now, taking the boat out every day, going fishing with the boys, lying in the sun by the sea, eating dinner with Mags and Annie. You probably would have started working as a fisherman after all, like you wanted to, not because you had to, but because you are someone who gets bored easily when you have nothing to do. Maybe you could have become a teacher. I think at least that would really suit you, you're good at it and good with children."

"You think children should take me as an example? I think many at home would disagree," he replies with a smile, but there is a trace of sadness behind it. It's hard to listen to her talk about what his life could have been like, and he likes the picture she paints. Very much so and he has to realize that his comparison was really more than inappropriate.

"I think everyone should take an example from you," she replies seriously. "But we both know that what you do here in the Capitol is nothing but slave labor for Snow to get the most out of the Games. It's not work, it's exploitation, something completely different to my situation."

Not even the victors dare say that out loud, not here in the Capitol. Nevertheless, she simply says it as if it were the most natural thing of all, openly expressing her rejection of the president without a trace of fear. That alone calls for recognition, but in the same breath she is one of the few people who still sincerely believe in his respectable character even after the Capitol has distorted his image so much. He gets a warm tingle in his fingertips as his gaze rests on the floor.

When he looks up again, he has a gentle smile on his face that looks like it wants to become something more. But he doesn't say a word, he just looks at her with this unreadable expression on his face.

"What?" Rhea asks, a little flustered, her embarrassment rising to her head along with the heat. It's as if his eyes have some kind of magical power that allows him to do all sorts of things to you just by looking at you.

His smile widens a little. "Nothing," he then says casually, pauses for a few more seconds, then pushes himself off the edge of the desk and strolls leisurely back into the hallway.

Rhea can hear his footsteps as he descends the old wooden steps of the staircase, presses her hands against her cheeks and sighs. Why is this guy so intense? There's no other way to describe it, everything about him just seems too much to handle. She wonders if he's always like this by nature, or if it's also a bit intentional because he knows exactly what effect he has on others. Probably a mixture of both.

It's like a damn strong drink and when she's around him, she sometimes feels like she's in a daze. But because of the sweetness, you only notice the effect when it's too late and then you just want more and more. She's worried that she might do something foolish while she's under the influence or even end up becoming an alcoholic, so to speak.

She quickly returns to the task at hand to distract herself from these thoughts. Since she knows what's really going on in Finnick's life, that warm tingling feeling in her chest always leaves a tinge of guilt behind, because something in her subconscious says that it's taboo to feel these things, that he would reject having this kind of affection directed at him.

Links to all the chapters: lover/fighter - Chapter Index

fanfiction on ao3 and wattpad

[wisteria-lodge]

What are some ways for improvisational secondaries to study that work?

Hopefully this isn't too vague to be helpful. Obviously studying different things is going to be different, but these are things that have worked for people I know, and hopefully should get the gears turning - because getting silly and messy is a great way to study.

Gamify it. Any game is your friend. If you're using Quizlet, study with someone so the two of you can compete.

Teach backs/rubber ducking. Explain the topic out loud to a teddy bear/other inanimate object with eyes.

Play Five Clicks to Jesus with your terms. Bring up the Wikipedia page for something you need to know about, and you have to find a way to get from that page to Jesus’ page in five clicks or less. 

(NB - You can pick an end-game page that makes sense with the thing you're studying, or something you know a lot about/are invested in. Or if you REALLY need to generate some interest: 'oral sex.')

Use the material you're learning to tell a story. Or pretend that you’re a character who needs to use this information later for some reason. (Costume pieces can be nice.)  

Get emotionally invested. Find an article/video on something you’re trying to learn that you disagree with and can get mad at. Start writing down the rebuttal to what they’re saying. 

Frame it as an investigation. Start out with questions you have about the thing, and dig until you can answer them. 

Watch the movie version. Note down all the ways it is inaccurate. (Online guides help with this) 

Use puns/jokes/stupid connections to keep similar words straight in your head

If you have to learn something that absolutely must be memorized, memorize it while doing something else - walking/exercising/doing the dishes.

Make your notes aesthetic. Pretty notebooks, pretty pens, illustrations, whatever you need. And then you can post pictures of your pretty notes online.

Light a Study Candle. That is pretty and smells nice and you only light when you’re studying.

Sit Someplace Different. Go to a coffee shop, or a park, or the library, and do your work there. You can totally get a second wind just by physically re-locating.

Personally, when I’m learning something or teaching myself something, first I watch multiple videos/read multiple articles that say the same thing in different ways. Sometimes I have them on in the background while I'm doing something else. I write down/copy paste anything that seems vaguely interesting into one document. After I'm done with that, I arrange things in a way that makes sense. I especially like diagrams, arrows, and timelines.

And any Snake or Lion secondaries out there, please add on with what works for you.

[marcianoliterati]

# A MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING ADAPTATION WHERE THEY'RE STUCK TOGETHER DUE TO COVID LOCKDOWNS,BORED AF, AND ON THEIR PHONES 247.

A SOCIAL MEDIA AU. SORT OF.

claudio benedict pedro and tagalong little brother john are roadtripping

italy.

they pay a visit to their old friends' parents house, where hero and

beatrice are also holidaying.

hero and claudio have been heavily flirting online

beatrice and benedict have been fighting online for like a decade,

basically since they met

everyone who follows them but doesnt know them irl thinks it's just a

game and that they're actually dating

all of them are online but none of them are big influencers or anything,

no one has more than 5k followers

and their followers beyond friends and family dont even cross that much

they all post about different things outside of life stuff

only beatrice and benedict intersect, theyre the only ones who have a

lot of different active accounts and they follow each other on every

single one, from like lj to fb to tumblr to twitter to insta to tiktok,

they even regularly show up in each other's reddit posts for the sole

purpose of disagree,most of the time, theyre not even in the same

subreddits or fandoms

but their spats are amusing and a few bits have gone viral before.

but then you get a lot of late-twenty something stuck together, and

posting all the time, reviving somewhat dormant account, it's like an

impromptu accidental reality show

at first its just like games, from tag and hide and seek to passionate

games of uno and clue,tours of the place, building shit, improvising

stuff, and theyre constantly posting little snippets, and so on

benedict and beatrice both post the same thing like "worst person to get

stuck with" and at first people thing they went on holiday together but

now theyre just stuck at like a villa the parents rented

"oh so you just met up while on holiday. riiiiiiiight"

they keep posting, complaining about dumb shit the other is one, about

their disgustingly in love with friends, and so on.

their friends also post clips of them arguing, like during games where

theyre always rivals,and others of them always seeking each other out

a new account pops up something like beadick updates or something, that

takes the time of trawling through all the accounts to post compilations

and builds a bit of a timeline of them through the years

then a different account pops up that start sending them personal

videos, clearly some of their friends having fun

they also post about the group discussing b&b (crucially hidden from

them)

and later both bea and ben hearing the others discussing them and how

they react

cue compilations like "no women will ever tempt me" next to "but it bea

wants me im down" and ben dissing bea next to talking her up after, same

for bea.

it goes like that for a bit

the leak continues posting them acting awkward around each other, trying

to argue then running away, spying on the other,trying to do something

nice while seeming like they dont care

then theres some event theyve organised

a lot of posts of everyone looking nice

a few of people drinking

and then a livestream of dancing is interrupted by a lot of shouting the

sound of stuff breaking and what seems like a physical fight

and then everyone goes quiet

then it switches

the audience, which had been steadily growing, is left in the dark, the

fourth wall is broken when they decide to reach in and find out what the

hell is going on.

someone hacks the complex's cctv

the updates account posts different bits, claudio having a huge jealous

tantrum and starting a fight, hitting hero in the process

then b&b left alone in the garden, with confessions of love to follow

and then shouting and storming off "i will cut his heart out with a

spoon!"

"for you, i will defy covid and the goverment" promises ben before

leaving

the others try to pack and leave, but are stopped and so they hide in a

small cabin on the edge of the property, where they start drinking

it is there where ben finds them, smashes the bottles and dares them to

make it right or he will reign fire on them

claudio laughs at first going "but why is the rum gone?????!"

but then he gets actually worried

the audience witness this via cctv, they see ben through the grounds,

finding the cabin,hear the smashing and shouting

then they start looking back seeing if there is any back footage or if

its been deleted.

it hasnt

they find a treasure trove

not knowing how to contact them discreetly,beadick updates posts a video

of little brother john discussing sabotage plans with some minions and

they tag every account

the cctv is only outside for privacy reasons so they only know it worked

when they see john making a run for it, trying to climb the walls, being

caught by claudio and beaten before john pulls him off

then everyone reunites outside, when they see them coming up

hero goes up to john and hits him, then she goes up to claudio and does

the same

she spits at pedro and calls him a coward

claudio falls on his knees and begs for forgiveness

but she tells him he's clearly not worth her trust or love

everyone is feeling hurt and sore and not sure where to go now

pedro steps up and apologises

he shouldve known better than to trust anything john says, he's always

loved stirring up trouble for no reason

and they shouldve come to her not make a huge deal and ruin everything

claudio also apologises but more begrudginly, same as john

as they all just sort of stand there, their phones ping

and so pedro goes 'hey whats the deal with the video? who found it?"

before anyone gets an answer someone checks and gasps

the audience, stirring shit up, sends the video of them all plotting to

get b&b together, and laughing as they talked it all up

"so you do not love me? it was all a ruse?"

they both accuse each other and then turn to their friends, who in turn

took to look at the cameras in suspcion

their phones ping again. only b&b's first, which makes them both put on

pained faces of "what now?"

so then everyone's faces ping

it's a video compilation of b&b doing nice things for the other in

secret

bea spent an afternoon learning to make ben's favourite biscuits, and

then just left them in the kitchen for him to find

ben spent forever tracking something bea forgot, and then hiding it in

her room to make it look like it was just temporarily misplaced

bea finding ben's favourite movie and casually engineering things for a

watchalong

ben coming up with a thousand different ways to distract bea whenever

she starts to look sad or worried

they all watched, as it dawns on them that a) apparently, theyve had an

audience this whole time

and b)it was never a ruse

b&b were always in love, just too afraid or stubborn or emotionally

constipated to do anything about it

so hero turns to bea and goes "all this time? what the hell happened

between you two?"

beatrice and benedict look at each other and just shrug

"it doesnt matter. we're here now"

they kiss

beadick updates posts a playlist of several hours on yt featuring their

whole story, with videos of them as teens, shyly flirting, to a lot of

screenshots and clips of them arguing online, to the whole saga in

italy, ending in their big kiss

as an epilogue, the two post a video of them in the airport, they thank their audience, and say now they can travel so they will be going off together

[invested-in-your-future]

Ironwood should have never been the villain

Hot take but I disagree.

I think Ironwood is perfect antagonist to showcase how fallible and flawed humanity can be. He is well meaning and he genuinely believes in his mission and goals and the idea of Greater Good. But he's also someone who grew up in post-world-war times in a country that's 100% was the bad guy before and is in quite a fickle state. Its no wonder he would strive to be better and desperately try to prove himself, even at the cost of his own wellbeing (oh look the theme of self sacrifice again and the toxic notion of "heroism" based upon society's expectations). Writing him as rigid by-the-book General that is willing to do whatever is necessary to keep the fragile peace going makes 100% sense. But inability to change and improvise should also be his flaw - while Ironwood sees threats that Ozpin is blind to, Ironwood genuinely does not realize the consequences and issues Ozpin sees in him.

I am of opinion that he was always intended to eventually "cross the line" and do something genuinely bad out of desperation and circumstance. The type of person that, when situation goes completely out of his control, would end up with him making decisions that are hard or impossible to come back from. A tragic case of a good intentions leading to worst decisions. A case study of human nature and the effect division, desperation and self destructive impulses can have upon it. And a thematic allusion of the real world's tendency to abandon war veterans and soldiers to their personal hell with no regard for their mental or physical wellbeing, after their country exploited them to the ultimate limit.

The issue however, just like with pretty much EVERYTHING in the show, is absolutely ZERO ACTUAL PROGRESSION. Its true for character relationships - Yang and Blake never actually getting to solve the issues that have been brewing since V3. Its true for characterization - Yang, Blake, Ruby, Weiss - all of them basically were given less than breadcrumbs so far rather than proper character writing - it took YEARS to acknowledge that Ruby might be traumatized and even that ended up with writing off trauma and character progression as NOT NEEDED "YOU ARE FLAWLESS" nonsense and Yang still has pretty much ZERO development in terms of her trauma (And Blake literally exists only as character design). It extends to the world itself too - time in Remnant only seems to move when there's a screentime given to a location - Come Volume 20, Glynda will still be vaguely standing around Vale and Mistral will still be exactly identical place as the team left it.

So its no surprise that that's true for character alignment too - Summer is either Best Mother Ever or Filthy Dishonest Liar, Raven is either uwusadregrets or Worst Mother Ever How Dare She. Even Salem is not immune to this as she literally has TWO phases of her backstory - "omg caring wife" and "I literally want to murder the entire world out of spite", with the awful flashback episode flipping the switch INSTANTLY between the two states. And that's true for Ironwood - there's no character arc. There's no actual genuine exploration of "road to hell is paved with good intentions", there's no moral conundrum. There's just a flip of the switch as plot demands. Its a Game of Thrones-esque situation where the writers wanted to do specific thing with the character but kind of forgot to do the reasonable build-up, so it just happens. THE BELLLLLLLLLS.

What I think should have happened is that Salem's stupid fortress of DOOM or relics or Cinder or Salem's Evil Troupe of Evil should have never played a role in Fall of Atlas. It should have been ALL Internal. Just Kingdom of Atlas imploding in on itself as consequence of Fall of Beacon and the worsening situation in the world. Make Atlas story arc ALL ABOUT power plays within Atlas, with different people having wildly different ideas on where to actually aim the army at and different characters having different ideas on how to bring back order to destabilized country. Just have the team be stuck in a situation that is few steps away from world war with different ways provided to solve it. In the end, lines are crossed and Atlas falls apart from it's own sense of self-importance, grandeur, paranoia, classism and nationalism and Ironwood, misguided and tragic, falls with the country he sacrificed everything for. The lead cast are left to wonder whether there was any other way to resolve this, but they'll never know. In this situation, willingly or unwillingly, they played the role of being the ones at the center of a Kingdom falling apart. What do they do now? Where do they go from here? Does each of them question actions that led them to this point in time? Do all of them arrive at the same conclusion?

I think to sell this its important to have Salem side to NEVER lift even a finger. The Story of Fall of Atlas is the story of division of humanity and Salem's side already did all they need to do with Beacon for that. Humanity are the ones that, as lyrics go, train their heroes and build their armies, and then with single moment, single event, they turn on each other and burn.

[ihateliterature]

Sariel Route Review

So I finished Sariel's route yesterday and here are my thoughts on it. Obviously spoilers for Sariel, Clavis and Luke’s routes

A lot of people disliked Sariel's route for its apparent lack of romance, but I love it. Now, that's probably because I am in the incredibly funny position of being an aro playing otome games and making myself gag with how sappy they are, so for me the romance is not a part I enjoy in most routes, just something I have to deal with.

"Why do you even play then?" Says the clueless alloro.

For the characters, soft porn, one liners and, of course, the LORE! Give me a YouTube channel and call me MatPat cause I'm all about that lore.

Back to Sariel.

For me Sariel’s route was basically perfect, it had intrigue and suspense and didn’t stop the action in its tracks just so the characters can make googly eyes at each other for half the chapter.

First for the things I didn’t like. I don’t like Sariel’s backstory, it’s much too cluttered. They wanted to make him this super accomplished person before he came to the palace but also have him grow up with the princes. So they made him a famous 10 y/o gang leader. It’s so fucking weird and I’m amazed I didn’t see more people talking about it. It would have been fine if he had a group of five or six other kids and they were known in their own town for beating people with pipes and small robberies and the like. But the scale we are shown is just ridiculous, they could have fixed this very easily if they would have made him arrive at the palace just a few years later. A famous 15-16 y/o gang leader is still ridiculous but not as much as a kid that hadn’t even started his puberty yet. 

I liked the MC. She is smart, a quick learner, adapts easily and she’s a good improviser, all of this coupled with being really knew into that life and having little to no experience makes her pleasant to follow, she is probably my favorite MC, closely followed by Clavis’. She didn’t ride on her status as Belle and took her responsibilities as Sariel’s apprentice very seriously even if it was only a cover. I really liked that she proved herself to be not only a competent Belle but also a skilled Minister with the potential to greatly help the country in the future.

Hot take but I really like Sariel and MC’s dynamic. A lot of people hated it but I like it. I’ve seen people say that they felt like the romance kinda came out of nowhere at the end without any built up, but I disagree. There is definitely A LOT of pinning between them during the route, on MC’s part but also on Sariel’s. The reason why they only acted on it at the very end was because both of them, and the story, recognised that there was no time for romance and it wouldn’t have been appropriate.

Relationships between a superior and an employee in the workplace are complicated. Now, I’m no moral crusader and I would’ve adored to have Sariel fuck MC on his desk between lessons since Chapter 2, and frankly the whole game toys with power imbalance in relationships because that’s just the nature of royalty dating commoners. Unfortunately Sariel is not the type to abuse his position in that way (regardless of how hot it would have been, I should write a fic about boss!Sariel and secretary!Emma). Sariel was keenly aware of his position the entire time and acted accordingly. At the end MC becomes Sariel’s apprentice for real and they start dating but at that point I see them as colleagues more than master and apprentice, even the princes treat MC as a full on Minister by that point.

Here comes my favorite part . . . the KING.

I fucking hate the King. He is just like every pathetic guy I’ve ever met.

I think Cybird made a good job of portraying someone who is so shit, through the idealised lense of the one singular person who liked him.

Sariel had a toxic father-son relationship with the man. They’ve known each other since Sariel was 10 and the King was more of a father to him than to any of his children. But even keeping that in mind, Sariel still had to essentially care for the emotional needs of a man child, becoming his only confidant and carrying on his desires and hopes for the country alongside his own grief, because Sariel was the ONLY one that actually grieved for that man.

Look, I don’t like saying bad things about Jin’s mom, but she chose wrong. We are told that there were no complaints about the King before the previous Belle was chased out but I highly doubt this. We are told this by Sariel, who wasn’t there and has probably found out about this FROM the King. The man was also full of shit, he claimed to love the country but he never showed it. He let Sariel and his sons rule his country WHILE he was alive. I can understand the very end, when he was too sick to move, but there was Blood Stained Day. Not even an invasion motivated this man to get off his ass. The princes had to go and fight themselves and I don’t think that we, as a fandom, realise just how young they were. Most of them were in their teens, only Chevalier and Jin were adults, Chevalier, the guy who sacrificed war prisoners was 20 or 21 and Clavis, the mad man who ran to save them and almost died in a fire because of it was 19 or 20, only Jin could have been considered an actual adult at the time, and he was 22. And what was the King doing during all of this? Throwing himself a pity party, like usual.

He did this in basically every flashback, called himself incompetent and a bad King, and he was right. 

Not only was he a bad King and a bad father, but he was an atrocious husband. Anita is the clearest example of that. I can understand why he didn’t like the Queen and the other two marriages were purely political, but he wanted to marry Anita, this was something that he WANTED, no one could have or would have forced him to do it. Regardless of that he completely ignored her after she gives birth, he pitied her, sure, but he never extended a hand towards her. He saw how her mental health was going to shit and he cried when she died, for her and the twins, but he did nothing to prevent this, he could’ve but he didn’t.

The King was not a broken man, he was a pathetic one. He spent his entire life after his girlfriend was chased out throwing himself a pity party, ignoring his duties and hurting people. He was most likely depressed, yeah, but that doesn’t excuse abandonment, neglect and rape.

Oh yeah, let’s talk about the two giant pink elephants floating around in Sariel’s route, the two KNOWN sexual assaults inflicted by the King upon Leticia Lelouch and Luke’s mom. 

They are not mentioned, which is weird considering that two princes are the product of that and one happened WHILE Sariel was at the court. This man was utterly despicable. What he did to Luke’s mom can be argued as the King quite literally losing his mind out of grief and because she looked like the previous Belle (a stupid argument, but fine, I’ll take it), but what he did to Leticia was downright monstrous. He wanted to hurt her; he wanted to torture her; he did that out of pure malice, because a maidservant pestering him to have tea with his wife from time to time pissed him off so much.

Sariel is not stupid, it’s not that he is unaware of all of this, he is just consciously choosing to not think about it. He never tries to argue against it, he never tries to convince Luke that the King was “a good guy, actually”, because he knows what kind of man he was. When a loved one is proven to have done something horrible, many people are more inclined to ignore it, excuse it or deny it, because they love that person too much to abandon them, even after something like that. Sariel does the same thing, for him it doesn’t matter that the King was a horrible person, it only matters that he was good to him.

Sariel’s route portrayed this dynamic perfectly, it might have been infuriating, but I enjoyed this direction and the care the writers took to tell the audience just how shit that man was while maintaining just how dependant Sariel was on him, to the point of ignoring his wrongdoings any chance he got.

[raeseddon]

Had one of those "well *that* makes sense" moments the other day when I realized that the specific American cartoons I watched as a kid all but assured I'd adore Shounen and (some) Shoujo manga later in life-- I'm talking your YST/Ronin Warriors and your Pretear's and the like-- the ones that take time to really push and examine the psychological impact of being told "you are the world's only chance at survival, and for as competent as they seem, everyone else around you is winging it as much as you are."

(I tried, but couldn't get into Madoka Magica, it struck me as one of those shows that people were reading way too much into to justify liking something that was that dark and unabashedly misogynistic. There's deconstructing a genre, and then there's punishing your main characters because you think they deserve it for having certain feelings/beliefs that are stereo-typically associated with their gender.)

The American cartoons I've been jumping between watching are the D&D cartoon and Mighty Max, and man, the mid-80's to early 90's really had a thing for not just cryptic but borderline cruel "mentor" characters who's primary flaw was having planned things out sometimes thousands of years in advance in their heads only to become very flustered and upset by the main characters deviating from "the plan" -- a plan that more often than not said mentors never reveal in full because they know their protege' will disagree with it vehemently. (See: Dungeon Master in D&DC and Virgil in Mighty Max.)

I'm almost willing to give Virgil more of a pass than DM because there's genuine PTSD and survivor's guilt going on in Virgil's case, whereas DM has compartmentalized things so much the only time he shows any regret for how he treats the main characters is when they quite literally snap and tell him that's it, they're done, fuck it, someone needs to die. (It shows how frustrated with modern social media I am when it's actually refreshing to hear a cartoon say the words kill and die. God that's depressing....)

Virgil has watched his previous protege' sacrifice his life for The Cause and it's one of the biggest reasons he gets upset whenever Max "goes off-script" because literally everything he's planned up to that point has been about keeping Max, the literal child savior, alive...while at the same time forgetting he's a child and that kids can be really good at improvising on the fly. And where Virgil learns to trust Max's instincts in the end, there's nothing of the sort between Dungeon Master and the kids in the D&D cartoon-- he leads them around from one traumatizing situation to the next, relying on Hank's innate willingness to trust people who help him and play on his good samaritan streak--which is so strained by the end the only reason he continues to trust DM is because it's the only thing he knows how to do, and he knows it. So it's really, really hard at the end of the day to have a lot of sympathy for Dungeon Master, while Virgil at least works through some of his issues.

Come 1995 and of course I'm going to see the parallels between Mighty Max and YST/Ronin Warriors-- sketchy mentor characters contrasted with really bright, caring and trusting main characters (with a fantastically written female lead this time as well!)and later Pretear. In fact a huge part of me feels like Himeno and Max would benefit from being in group therapy together-- especially with the "everyone around me lied by omission almost right to the end because they refused to believe I would mature to the emotional challenge of handing The Truth" plot point.

TL;DR

American cartoons in the mid/late 80's and early 90's weren't quite as "dark" or edgy enough to catch the culture zeitgiest that anime later did--<i>but</i> if anime had taken longer to catch hold here in the States, you can absolutely see where American cartoons were stepping up to the same level of maturity, aging with their audience and filling the emotional need for more mature stories that had been growing the entire time Regan had his iron-fisted control of the FCC.

[astrologista]

the things that bruce has in common with four of his kids are

when it comes to dick, it’s understanding. they both understand what it’s like to see both of your parents killed in front of you at a young age, and others can certainly relate to that pain, but between bruce and dick it’s a bond and an understanding. bruce and dick are the MOST likely to not only defend each other on their crazy shenanigans but also to call each other out. they know by now that they are each the best judges of each others’ character. they understand when and why they do certain things out of pain when others may not understand it as clearly. and bruce always gives a heavy weight to dick’s criticisms of his character - case in point, when dick was yelling at him about jason? bruce didn’t just shut down, he fired back, because he knew dick was right. they understand each other much more and on a different and deeper level as partners than any of bruce’s other sidekicks. it’s a different thing

when it comes to jason, it’s determination. when bruce or jason set their mind to something, they can become extremely set on their goal and nothing can persuade them otherwise. bruce and jason share this quality very distinctly. this tunnel vision can on occasion cause them to go overboard, but it is also this quality that leads them to a very high success rate in achieving what they set out to achieve when pursuing the very high standards and goals that they set out for themselves, often holding themselves to moral and big-picture methods like improving gotham and eradicating crime completely.

when it comes to tim, it’s a very particular thing. i found it hard to put my finger on it. tim can be the opposite of jason in planning because tim is very easily willing and able to switch strategies during the chess game. this is not to say that jason never improvises, he does. but tim is much more... dynamic and flexible in where he allows his loyalties to lie. tim is more willing to “cheat” so to speak, even though he never truly “compromises”. he will work with the league of assassins. he will do things that nobody else would do. bruce and tim have a very distinct “trust” and understanding between each other that is different than that between bruce and dick. it’s something like, if the world were falling apart and the multiverse was coming apart at the seams, it would be bruce and tim who would come together at the very end of everything to save it because they are the only two people insane enough to think of what to do. and it’s funny, because generally they DON’T trust each other. they do and they don’t. they disagree and they agree. i guess bruce and tim are the most likely to think way, way, way outside of the box and then tell each other, “yep, that sounds just crazy enough to work” and then fully believe in the other all the way and then it works because they’re both brilliant. and when they work in tandem, forget it. you will lose every time

when it comes to damian, i think it’s... vulnerability. bruce and damian both play their cards very close to the chest, more so than any other members of the batfam. tim is not forthcoming with his true emotions in any way shape or form, but he generally lies strategically. damian lies because revealing his own vulnerability is acutely painful. revealing how much he cares about others is something that stirs his soul and frightens him. he doesn’t want to let on that he feels this way and i think bruce understands that perfectly and that’s why he’s very protective of damian’s feelings. they both understand what it means to have your walls up and why those walls need to be up and they can both sit together in silence for a long time and not feel uncomfortable now. they have an understanding between each other that the right time will come and until then, they are going to use snark to communicate.

disclaimer these are not all things that i think each batkid has some kind of exclusive hold on but rather that which i think makes each bond sort of unique in the most obvious way for each of them. like i’m trying to get to the essence of these to see why each mentorship “feels” different

[woennix]

Just a little qsmp discourse post, I've been thinking about it for a while and I just wanna share something.

I agree that everyone should have their own interpretations of characters and you don't need to keep up with EVERY pov to say what you think about a character, but I do think that people should be a lot more kinder with the interpretations they have of characters in general.

This comes mainly from seeing people talking badly about characters (the latest one qWilbur, but I've seen it time and time again, with characters I enjoy and characters I don't). This always ends up with people having more context for a character's actions than others, and others making a big judgement without seeing the whole picture, or people who actually try to listen and understand a character's motives but are still upset about it.

I do think disagreeing or even disliking characters is fair, I mean, I do dislike some characters, but ALL of them have motives and explanations for why they do what they do, and also ALL of them have done questionable things to eachother.

The thing is, if I try to, I can create a horrible narrative for EVERY character (I'm not joking, I'm pretty sure I can) where they are manipulative, self-centered, selfish, hypocritical... but telling everyone: ''This character is SO evil because of this specific one thing he did one time to my favourite character!!!'' when that was a cc having fun, or maybe a slip up etc, kinda kills the fun for the ccs. Something I feel some people not take into account is that this is minecraft improvised roleplay, where at the same time creators are meeting eachother and just playing and having fun.

Yes, lighthearted moments where people are joking around kind of are lore, but sometimes, ccs just wanna have fun. This happens a lot with qRoier, where obviously his joking attitude is integrated into the lore and his character is actually joking about a lot of stuff, but like, for example, him enjoying mines is like 90% the cc wanting to have fun, not his characters actually not giving a fuck about killing the eggs (just an example of some takes I've seen). Even though if we think about what he is doing realistically, it wouldn't be an absurd assumption to make that he doesn't care. Now, I think it should be interpreted as what it is,,, Roier enjoying and having fun in the server. What I mean to say is, is this lore? Yes it is, qRoier canonically enjoys mines. But also, are we going to overanalyze this and make assumptions on his character and actually apply real-life logic into how we interpret every interactions he has? I would say that's too much, and makes the server an only roleplaying server where creators can't just fuck around and have fun.

I will say to be clear, if someone wished to bring things into their interpretation of the character that are little details like these and make it a headcanon for themselves, thats completely fair! But that's not actually canon unless the ccs decides to make it canon, and it is important to make that distinction in my opinion.

Btw I chose the qRoier example beacuse I think it wasn't a very big deal (at least in my tl) but I do not mean to create or re-open a whole debate about his morality then if it was big, I am just using him as an example. And also I say this because multiple ccs have complained on some way or another about feeling a bit overwhelmed/upset with this kind of thing. Cellbit and Baghera complained about people misinterpreting their characters and projecting into canon things they didn't mean to do, and Roier has complained (albeit a bit jokingly) that things are too heavy and people are too intense with the lore.

Honestly if this didn't bother the ccs I would tell most people that even though I dislike what I see as mischaracterizations, you can go crazy lmao, but if it makes them not be able to enjoy roleplaying as much and being in general on the server, then yknow... It could be cool if we could find a way to criticize or say what we think about characters in a more contructive way that adjusts to the ccs' vision.

[stomp-that-ho-regard]

Well, friends, get a load of this...

Hey, I found your account by accidentally adding a space to my search query. I've read some of your takes and have a suggestion for you: I think you should consider taking a step back from discussing shipping with others. You've obviously had experience with warring ships in the past (something that I think is incredibly immature of those who participate), and judging by your posts, it has affected you quite a bit. I still participate in shipping with friends privately, but keeping discussions offline has been great for my mental health as I don't brush up with toxic people in the fandom. Also, just so you know, you come off as quite aggressive and antagonistic with your opinions, so it might be something to be aware of (it's the only reason I felt the urge to send you this ask). This being said, I do disagree with a lot of your takes, so take my opinion for what it is. I'm a gay non-binary person and have a degree in film/screenwriting, plus primarily direct queer media, yet I have not been offended or triggered by the cast's representation of queer characters or queer relationships since some instances in Campaign 1. I think the cast & company have made great strides in efforts to have respectful representations and are constantly improving. Call it both age and experience, but when taken in the context of an improvised D&D game, characters are going to fall in love with whomever they do, and it might not be the person they were first showing interest in. That's pretty normal in real life, and not all queer relationships are the same nor have the same dynamic. I rarely send asks, but since you're someone who openly debates others, I decided I'd pass my criticism along. I genuinely hope you're enjoying I/modna more than you enjoyed Beau/yasha, and congrats on being this passionate about something. Cheers.

You:

Me:

Thanks so much for the unsolicited advice.

You have a degree in filmmaking... Okay, you're one of those.

Do you think that makes your opinions more valid? Also, I don't remember ever bringing up anything to do with films or even queer media. What post prompted the sharing of this information?

That's another thing about this ask. You say you 'disagree with a lot' of my takes, yet don't even bother to reference which takes those are. Where are the specifics?

'Just so you know, you come off as quite aggressive and antagonistic' 'Aggressive' huh? Wow! Thank you for pointing that out! I had no idea!

Honey, sweetie, babycakes... this as a RANT blog. That's made CLEAR AS DAY in the blog description. You must be brand spanking new to Tumblr if you don't understand what a rant blog is. It is a space for myself and others to VENT. THAT'S THE POINT.

'Antagonistic' though? I've never been antagonistic toward any of my anons, or anyone else I've interacted with on here. I'm definitely being antagonistic toward you though, but only because of your tone.

'characters are going to fall in love with whomever they do, and it might not be the person they were first showing interest in' Sure. But Beau and Jester both ended up with the person they were first interested in (despite the FACT that those initial feelings were fizzling at various points). I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here.

'Openly debates others'? Um, where? I have never 'debated' anyone on this blog. Not once. Also, you're not 'debating' here either. This is a hit and run. You came across me 'accidentally' (which I have NO reason to believe), then decided to condescend, then run away.

Also, I'm really not inclined to take someone seriously (who clearly takes themselves incredibly seriously), who is willing to lecture (and psychoanalyze?) a person they randomly came across on here and not have the guts to do it with their URL attached.

Anyway, you will, more than likely, never even see this response. And honestly, I'm glad, because otherwise that would mean you've begun stalking my blog, which would be incredibly fucking weird.