#the rest of this story is really fucking weird but these are just some highlights

[fruit-teeth]

A collection of weird/stupid things that happened in an Invader Zim fic I wrote when I was thirteen: (without any context whatsoever)

- a great deal of the conflict in this fic happens because Zim accidentally sets his alarm clock for 6 PM instead of 6 AM one day

- a group of dangerous shape-shifting aliens (called ‘Heightens’) takes up residence in an abandoned church. Zim and Dib sneak inside the church to spy on them together but get caught. The Heightens take the two to the church’s basement, where they lock them in a gladiator-style arena with bloodthirsty alien dogs (????), however Zim and Dib outwit the dogs and escape. Yet the Heightens are implied to only have been at the church for about a week, meaning that they either a) built an entire arena within the span of a week and put alien dogs in there, specifically for the purpose of killing anyone who came snooping or b) this church already had an arena in the basement, for some reason

- Dib randomly monologues about how he doesn’t like mushrooms and it goes on for a while while having no purpose whatsoever

- Tak comes back and there’s an entire chapter dedicated to her buying cinnamon rolls at Walmart

- Gaz can telepathically communicate with her dead mother, also Dib can do this as well but there’s literally never an explanation as to why and I don’t think I ever thought it out all the way through

- Okay so this fucking weird sequence of events happens: Ms. Bitters is writing something on the board and her chalk breaks but I guess she doesn’t keep spare chalk in her desk (????) so she sends Tak to get more chalk from some supply closet for some reason. Tak walks to the closet but is distracted because she keeps thinking about her friend Keen who died earlier (more on him later) which causes her to bump into Gaz. They get into a fight but then a hall monitor sends them to the…nurse I think? And the nurse is just like “nah man don’t fight each other that’s uncool” and then everyone just goes home (I think 13 year old me based this off of an actual fight I saw happen at school but my memory is foggy)

- Dib finds his mother’s old journals and starts reading through them. One of the journal entries is an extremely detailed transcript of an argument she had with one of her coworkers

- Keen, one of the OCs I included in this fic, is already dead when the story begins so most of the scenes that include him are flashbacks. He was Tak’s friend but he was also Zim’s friend at one point I think? But he and Zim had a falling out after Zim hit him over the head with a trash can and gave him brain damage or something. Keen is also one of the sweetest and kindest characters ever which I guess is why he had to die

- One of the Heightens actually used to be Irken but she sold her soul to the Heighten Lord and became one of them (because sure why the hell not). Also she’s Zim’s long-lost mother and when he discovers this he’s just like “wow you sold your soul? That shit sucks” and it never gets brought up again (although I think it was supposed to at some point but I never did end up finishing this fic)

[ladyvialana]

Very much enjoyed the first season of The Dead Boy Detectives.

It was fun, with great characters, interesting storylines, good pacing, and a fantastic ability to balance light-hearted storytelling with some pretty fucked up content at times.

Episode 1 was a little clunky and exposition heavy, but it's only really in that first episode (unlike fucking Wednesday!) and it's pretty easy to look past once they get into the main story. The rest of the episodes are much smoother.

Character interactions are great and all of the characters feel rounded with an actual backstory that influences their interactions and distinct personalities and traits that affect their actions. They're not just plot devices or vehicles for narrative.

Before going into any more detail, I'll just say I really enjoyed it. It's probably not as sophisticated or polished writing or style-wise as The Sandman, but it's still a really good spin off. I'd almost put it in the same vein, tone-wise, as The Umbrella Academy, though perhaps not as irreverent. Much better than similar Netflix teen supernatural dramas like Wednesday or Sabrina (and probably more mature and sophisticated, storytelling-wise than those shows).

I really enjoyed it, am looking forward to/hoping for a second season, and will definitely be watching again.

*

More detailed spoilers under the cut for those interested in my opinions about a few specific storylines/characters/episodes:

*

SPOILERS:

I am honestly surprised we don't have more people hitting on Charles. He is genuinely charming and charismatic as well as kind of open and sincere. Like, Edwin's a standoffish Edwardian public school boy with weird interests and zero people skills. I adore him. But he has negative charisma, especially compared to Charles' eyeliner and grin. Like, why is everyone chasing after Edwin? It's a role reversal I can definitely get behind, but no one is trying to get up into Charles' personal space aside from Crystal? Really??? And even she probably wouldn't have gone for it if he hadn't made it obvious he was interested in her first. Like, I really do get what the writers were trying to go with here, but it's one of those choices that kind of stretch narrative believability a little.

In saying all of that, I'm kind of a sucker for queer pining arcs that could go either way. So the not-so-subtle reveal of Edwin's feelings was both beautiful and painful in the best ways.

Episode 7 was a highlight for me. I'd been waiting for the pay-off from Edwin's backstory and the hellfire sword hanging over his head. But the flashback to Charles' death was probably my favourite scene in the series. Everything about that episode was fantastic, from the tension to the individual mini character arcs in the episodes (Nico coming in clutch with her reading comprehension skills! Crystal finally kicking David's ass!), to the beautiful release of the confession in Hell. I loved all of the insight we got into all of the main characters, knowing the truth of the kind of people they are. Knowing that, yeah, these are all good people who would do anything to help, and who love fiercely. But also, that doing what you can for the people you love sometimes involves meat cleavers and Molotov cocktails.

[mikerickson]

Lifting my self-imposed embargo because I'm weird and don't like posting on social media when I'm on vacation.

I'm at a point in my life where I can financially justify at least one international vacation a year and figured I'd finally cross off the Great White North from the bucket list. I'd never been and Andrew hadn't been back in a very long time despite having dual citizenship. Anyways, just got back, and a bullet-point breakdown of the highlights is after the cut:

I wish every international flight was under two hours; EWR to YQB was almost comically fast.

Had my first French conversation with the very nice lady at the car rental counter for about ten minutes. She complemented my pronunciation and grammar, and wished me luck on the trip. Every French interaction after this point was a linguistic battle for my life that I lost (Toutes les Québecois parlent trop vite pour moi).

We had some time to kill before the hotel check-in so we went to a mall in the suburbs just so we'd have a food court with some options. Turns out shopping malls are not only alive and well but fucking thriving in Canada. I haven't seen a mall that packed with people outside of December since the nineties.

Quebec City was very dense with old architecture which made it feel very European. It was also apparently built on a fucking cliff with streets at 60 degree inclines, which also felt very European.

Took a tour of the Quebec Parliament building (beautiful structure), and apparently they used to be bicameral, but voted to abolish their Senate in the 60's and they were the last Canadian province to do so. What a concept.

It's one thing to know on paper that Canada has about 1/8th of the population of the US, but I was not prepared for just how empty the countryside felt. For someone like me, living in the northeast my whole life, the idea that cities in close proximity to each other not having continuous stretches of suburbs and other smaller cities connecting them was completely foreign.

On the highways I kept thinking I was speeding because I'd look down at the dashboard and see the number "100", but 100 km/h is only like 62 mph, which is nothing.

Similarly, I kept getting sticker shock every time I spent money, and kept having to remind myself that $1 CAD was like $0.73 USD while we were there.

It was really cool to see that the complex for the 1976 Montreal Olympics is still maintained and actively used (we stumbled upon a skateboarding competition and I did not feel cool enough to be in that crowd). Sometimes you hear horror stories about Olympic villages bankrupting cities and falling into disuse afterwards, but that's definitely not the case here.

Montreal is apparently known for their local bagel culture, but their bagels have enormous holes in the middle of them, so you have less cross-sectional area for spreads and they don't really work for sandwiches. My faith in NJ/NY bagel superiority remains intact.

Every city we went to had dedicated bike lane infrastructure and young families with kids, but Montreal definitely had the most of both. Tons of parks, too. Simultaneously felt like a larger and smaller city than I was expecting.

Poutine is okay, but I wasn't prepared for the cheese to squeak when you bite into it. Very odd sensation.

The main Parliament building for the federal government in Ottawa (Centre Block) is stunning, but closed; apparently it's been under renovation since 2019 and isn't expected to be reopened until 2032! In the meantime, we took a tour of where the lower House of Commons is currently meeting. We learned that their electoral districts are routinely re-drafted by a non-partisan committee and that they occasionally add new seats to the legislature to account for changes in population. I had to seethe jealously in silence for the rest of the tour.

Also toured their Supreme Court building (way more Art Deco than I was expecting). We learned that there's currently a vacancy because a Justice recently retired because they're required to step down when they turn 75. I had to seethe jealously in silence for the rest of the tour.

Every single city had automatic/self-serve parking garages where you didn't have to interact with a human (which I was very thankful for), but in Ottawa they have this little jingle that the machine sings at you when you take your ticket, which I found very amusing.

On the drive to Toronto we took a quick detour into the Thousand Islands (yes, like the salad dressing) and visited Boldt Castle, which is technically in New York state. After seeing it in practice, the idea of living on your own private island is more appealing than ever.

Toronto feels like an exercise in what happens when a nation's largest city is allowed to grow without being hemmed in by ridiculous geography. As someone who grew up in NYC, this is another concept foreign to me. The GPS did get very tripped up navigating a particularly gnarly interchange however.

Toured the Ontario Legislative Assembly (yet another beautiful building). At this point we were really good at asking tour guides stuff like, "so if happens, do you guys have a plan?" To which they would reply, "well, no, but let's just hope that never happens!"

I now understand why the Great Lakes are effectively freshwater inland seas; you really cannot see the other shore, and Lake Ontario isn't even the biggest one!

YYC to EWR was under an hour. That's definitely going to spoil me for future trips going forward.

[mdhwrites]

thoughts on camila?

So I've talked about how she is just as a character before. I think as a character, she's as sweet as a saint and I like her in isolation. However, and this is what I want to focus on more because of an element I'll get to, she's a bad character in the context of The Owl House for the same reason King and Eda are: What is she doing in this story? How does she add to it?

Camila makes Luz look a fucking terrible as a human being. Almost EVERYTHING we see in the human frankly makes Luz like a terrible human being because that's the genre that The Owl House is a part of: Modern Isekai. Like most Modern Isekai, it's a story about a nerdy person who has no real prospects in real life and would rather live in their fantasies getting to go do that. Luz has a power that no one else has, gets to be with the prettiest, most popular, richest girl in the new world. She gets to stand up to a corrupt system but it never actually bothers her so she can just have fun shenanigans for the vast majority of the run time. She even fights an Evil Emperor which is almost as generic as a Demonic Lord as far as fantasy villains go. Honestly, TOH being isekai is probably a large part of why it was green lit (and frankly, same goes for Amphibia) since while it's not critically acclaimed, isekai is still one of the most popular genres of anime out there and the popular ones have made money hand over fist.

For most stories in this genre, they A: stay in the fantasy realm, TOH isn't fucking special people but also B: have a terrible home life in part to justify that desire and decision. There's also elements of wish fulfillment to its target demographic which is actually kind of important here. That your life sucks so you deserve to escape from it, just like this person. That terrible homelife in turn turns into a payoff for the audience because it can be used to highlight just how much better this world is and how much better off for everyone the MC is in this new world.

Camila doesn't really work for that though, does she? Something the show itself acknowledges with Yesterday's Lie. "You had it good." Hell, in that episode we have Camila wanting Vee to keep Luz's stuff because she knows those things are important to her daughter. Even in the first episode, Camila just wants Luz to make friends. She could fail to learn ANY life skills and stay just as weird at the camp (which she presumably needed to go to to not be EXPELLED for what she did) and Camila would happy if she was in a new Discord group with some friends. That is how low the fucking bar is for Camila's expectations of Luz and somehow THAT was too much. That was, as Camila will apologize for, multiple times, pushing her daughter away or repressing her.

That doesn't function for a Modern Isekai story... It functions for an old school isekai like Amphibia is. Old school isekai after all featured a lot more character growth, a lot more of the other world being an abstraction of problems the person was facing in the real world and had to learn how to deal with. As such, they usually ended with the main character going home a better person and putting their fantasies behind them. Not admonishing them but recognizing that staying there isn't what's best for them.

Camila's character for one of those is AMAZING. Like it could genuinely have led to one of the best deconstructions of the modern isekai protagonist. It's like the ass hat protag from Far Cry 3 (not saying this is handled well btw in that) who still wants to be bigger and more cool and seen as strong by those around him while he already has a smoking hot fiance, lives his life doing dangerous stunts, is really attractive himself and could just coast for the rest of his life. It doesn't fulfill his image and fantasy of what a 'man' is so fuck all of that, I need to go kill people and take over this native tribe! Which hurk, again, it's not done well, but it was trying to deconstruct this sort of fantasy. This sort of escapism that says the image in your mind is ALWAYS more important than those actually around you.

It could have highlighted how things are never as bad as they seem and wanting to escape always hurts someone and always is selfish... But for that, the show would have had to be willing to say one needs to learn to respect reality over fantasy. This could either be done by Luz learning that treating everything like one of japanese animu is a bad thing or they could do it through doubling down and showcasing after Yesterday's Lie that Luz is a genuinely terrible, selfish person who only views the promise she made to her mom as requiring her to give up the world she likes, not the damage she did to her mom.

Which I phrase because they literally did that. They changed the ending promise scene of Yesterday's Lie from being about their complex relationship to just being a summary of the stakes. "Come home, never come back." It's a narrative cheat to welcome anyone back from the mid season hiatus and that is frankly the BEST way to read it for Luz's character because otherwise she changed a conflict mostly about the pain she inflicted on her mom purely to the consequences and that's not really a thing a good person does.

But then the series ends with her having both worlds, getting to literally be Azura finally, quoting the damn book and just ENTIRELY admitting that it's not an OC, it's her replacing Azura, and it's all just fucking awful. In part because, like with the Liar Reveal stuff I talked about with TOH, it's a subversion without a new payoff. They try VERY HARD to give a new payoff but it's not earned. People adore the "I just want to be understood" moment but it ONLY functions in that moment from a meta perspective of it being a neurodivergent girl seeking understanding because who, especially of the people Luz cares about, hasn't shown her understanding in the past SEASON? SHE HAS A GIRLFRIEND WHO IS WAY BETTER AT IT THEN HER!

And so Camila is just this contradictory sore spot that goes right back around to "Man, our target audience would really love it if their parents would tell them explicitly that they don't need to grow as people or even try to understand others or how they may hurt them, literally but instead that their comfort is all that matters." It goes right back to being all about modern isekai's worst element: Wish fulfillment. Bland, obvious, pandering wish fulfillment.

And I COULD end the blog right there... But I said I had a reason to wanted to answer it like this. Admittedly, it expanded from what I expected so sorry for the long blog but here's the real tragedy: The moment of Luz recontextualizing Yesterday's Lie's promise should have been AMAZING to me. After all... It's the part of Luz I loved writing the most.

Yep, more of that celebrating ten years of writing stuff to talk about one of the elements of my TOH writing that I genuinely am very proud of: Luz being a scared, anxious teenager who doesn't read the world correctly. One who is held back because she thinks if she isn't scared, she'll be hurt or, more importantly, hurt others.

I know a lot of people will tell me that TOH didn't do that and like... gestures at everything above and SO many other elements like how Luz has two token moments implying she's been traumatized from bullying that doesn't read with how she was for the entirety of the first season, or up to those points in the second for that matter, AT ALL. She doesn't actually have that sort of fear or anxiety. She's too selfish and self serving for it. Her needs always come above others and that's not the compelling part of this to me, nor is the self protection element.

No, it comes from the fact that you have to actually care what others think for it to torture you, like most teenagers do. That disappointing someone would be essentially the same as stabbing them. In The Power of Love, I got a lot of people to go from "This is cute" to "Okay, you have my attention" with chapter 3: Ru-Luz (which reading back... Some of my transition lines are not working there. Why did I think they did? Brain moving too fast I suspect like usual or trying too hard). Despite the pun, it's not a fun chapter. It ends with her listed rules that are actually nice, like telling her to be herself, but a final rule that, so as to keep the voices in her head, the things others have told her, quiet she must follow. "Treat Amity like anyone else, even if that means breaking other rules." And one of those voices is said to be Camila's.

I don't leave it there though. Through complications, it's very explicitly revealed that, well... Luz is a teen. Everything is world ending for her. That she's taken small comments or momentary frustrations, or just straight up misread things, so as to have them attack her and form her view of how others perceive her (along with having been genuinely bullied). That her mom does adore her and would accept any part of her but she can't believe that, not with how she is now. And that leads to really highlighting an element of Lumischa that I've always loved: Boscha as Amity and Luz's rock. Someone who is honest enough that neither worry about if she's holding back on her opinion. And you know what happens?

Luz and Boscha get multiple chapters of Boscha providing the wake up call she needs. Of her chipping away at those fears that others may be secretly hating her because here is bad bitch Boscha telling her to shut up because she's better than she thinks she is. It's blunt enough to actually make an impact, harsh enough that it still addresses the fuck up, and is something no else would do. Not even Amity because Amity is her own ball of anxieties who's worried about the wrong move upsetting people. I would have ADORED this element actually being a thing for Luz and you know, maybe leading to a Power of Friendship moment with all of them backing her up and giving her the confidence she needs for something. Instead we get her ignoring what she's claiming to be worried about (making mistakes) and then getting a power up when her mom tells her that she should have quite literally never criticized anything about her daughter which is not what a good parent does. Even my Boscha will still call out that Luz did make a mistake if she did, just then also point that she's being over dramatic about it because no one hates her because of it.

I also want to give a shout out to this essentially being an element of my Luz for Ruff Secret as well (original version too) as an essentially tragic element to the majority of the story. Camila clearly accepts parts of her daughter in that story that their wider community doesn't but Camila is also critically still a part of that community which is Christian. She's very devout even, going every week to church. There is nothing except coming out to Camila that will ever make Luz not just assume that being gay will not get her disowned because of the fears in her head and because of those same fears, she'll never come out of the closet. She has clearly never even been willing to approach the topic with her mom about it. It does payoff in the end though with Camila freaking out WAY harder about Amity being a werewolf and the danger that puts her daughter in than of Luz being gay because why would you judge something as incredible as love?

It's not new, I've seen some other things take similar approaches, but it uses the age of the character and society to actually amplify the emotions and make the angst more justified. Make what normally just be "I can't confess, what if she says no?" more dramatic while also managing to tie the two romantic leads together in their conflicts since Amity is dealing with something she sees as a curse, as a primal sin that could only ever hurt others, just like Luz is. And just like Luz, it's actually in repressing and rejecting that side of her that Amity does end up hurting someone but that someone is herself.

All while still managing to be one of the funniest stories I've ever written. I ADORE Ruff Secrets. Crises Girlfriends may be my most personal story but I still think Ruff Secrets is my best story. Period. Which is frankly a miracle since it was a snap start based on a joke a someone made.

So yeah, I like Camila conceptually. I think there was a lot you could do with her. Any direction though would have required TOH to be at least as grounded as Amphibia, let alone ANYWHERE near as grounded as the fandom thinks it is. As is, she's a subversion that doesn't add anything and actively hurts what is a very normal fantasy story.

As such, she's a bad character because what you add to a narrative does matter to that metric unless you are actively ignoring that part of a character's purpose for existing. That's just less useful to a writer though because it means you add a tool to your toolbox without understanding how to use that tool which is always dangerous as any professional mechanic or engineer may tell you.

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I will admit that I fidget at praising myself so much like this. I know I've used my own works as examples in the past but it always makes me feel awkward. It especially never helps that it likely comes across as, justifiably, saying I could have done X better. There's a big difference though between "In this context I DID X better" and "If I had made X, I WOULD have done it better." Situation, context, and just the creative process can always muddie things and doesn't even mean the same writer will always tackle the same subjects as well every time. It's just a part of the process.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[plusvanity]

Alright so, I wouldn't have finished this so soon but some of you showed interest in my silly ramblings sooooo... here are some of my headcanons for Larry's 'aloof' personality.

Asperger Syndrome

-Since he was a small child, there were a few behavioral differences between him and the rest of the children.

He never really knew how to properly communicate. That might be very common in children BUT he literally had struggles trying to explain anything. Sentences like: 'I want that' or 'can I have that?' were never on his tongue and lots of time he'd get upset at himself/ people around him for not being able to read his mind and take care of his demands. This kind of behavior crosses a bit into 'anti-social' tenancies. (Hard time to communicate, preferred playing alone, very poor social skills, etc) Shortly, his 'forever-upset' personality resulted in children excluding/ isolating him from their games and plays.

-Larry didn't know why nobody wanted to play with him, why everybody avoided him like plague and gave him dubious looks. Throughout his kindergarten and early-school years he never made friends, never had any significant relationships except with his parents.

Why did nobody see these signs and act accordingly?

We're in the late 90's. There's no such thing as ‘diagnosing kids with mental illness’ unless they've got some kind of schizophrenia that really makes them act out. Parents had little to no information about mental health, let alone autism and how it manifests in children. Rough times but that's how they were.

-Growing up lonely, Larry found his refuge in drawing and writing silly little cartoon stories. Solo hobbies are extremely common in the autistic spectrum, especially when they come in package with die-hard fixations/ obsessions.

-Sensorial sensibility: he can’t stand bright lights in his basement. That’s why he always keeps a small desk lamp on and nothing else to see around him.

-In school, he did poorly. The motto was: it’s either you’re the only one who gets it and nobody else does OR everybody else gets it and you’re the only one who doesn’t. No way in between these two.

-The internal struggle of 'Why am I like this? Why do they hate me? What's wrong with me?' never left his brain. Now, communication was absolutely required no matter if he liked it or not. That's school, you're supposed to answer stuff, use your brains to solve problems and get through the day.

-Firstly, he did what his autistic mind told him to do.. he went fully fucking honest and blunt. With every occasion when he got asked about something, he innocently pointed out everything that bothered him/ seemed wrong or annoying without any fucking filter whatsoever. Needless to say, his true-nature approach didn’t escape punishment. His mother was called, the teachers complained that he’s ‘too mean and arrogant’ , ‘never focused’ , ‘too lazy and selfish’ etc. Everything while Larry looked like a fucking deer in the highlights telling his mom that he didn't do nothing wrong.

-When he finally understood that ‘being honest’ wasn't the key for normal human-communication, that's when his mind began searching for other ways to go by.

-Masking-

Masking was the second option.

-He watched, heard, studied, learned and taught himself the Fine Arts of mimicking normal human response in social situations. Now, that's how he mostly made it work.

-As a chill but tragically misunderstood child, he had finally learned how to make friends. It started with Ash and Maple (alternative music and general outcasts) and later in middle-school, Ash presented him to Todd. (Now, I'd rant about Rob and their 'brother from another mother' dynamic and friendship but that's for another long post if any of you are interested)

-When his father abruptly disappeared from the family frame, it just.... made everything ten thousand times worse for Larry (This is gonna be another post if you're interested)

-All in all, now with a select group of friends he’s still aloof, weird, too loud or too quiet sometimes BUT at least he’s not alone and miserable anymore.

Normally, he's a laid back dude, a stoner (autism and substance abuse is another headache of a post..) a metalhead and maybe just a little delinquent sometimes after 8 pm because of teenage rebellion and all that stuff.

-His ‘masking act’ falls sometimes when he talks about painting, video games, music and basically everything that interests him. Asperger in boys is a lot different than in girls. Girls tend to keep their ‘masking act’ better than boys as boys often don't realize when they slip and start talking miles and miles about their favorite hobbies/ subjects without noticing if the person they're talking to completely loses their interest or gets angry for being talked over and interrupted all the time.

His friends find him a bit annoying at times cause… fuck, who like being talked over? but they’re so used to him that it’s just common and gets easily forgotten.

-When the sudden chronic-insomnia hit him, the fatigue and lethargy didn't go unnoticed by Lisa. Finally, she managed to drag him to a doctor that surprisingly or not, completely missed to diagnose him with autism. The shrink blamed his insomnia on weed (another rant here) and …. ADHD?. Larry took the classic DSM-4 test (oh boy, gotta love the 90′s..) it came back negative on symptoms, confirming everybody that he didn't have ADHD. (Now, I know that the two behavioral illnesses often came in package but with Larry it wasn't the case) After that, nobody did anything.

-Now, he lives freely his teenage years hanging out with Sal, regularly smoking weed, getting deeply offended by the un-true belief that he might have ADHD, still trying to figure out what's actually wrong with him that no shrink or DSM could tell and ultimately enjoying his hobbies and little shenanigans him and his best amigo do.

-The ‘masking act’ has long become an automatic behavior, an unconscious switch for normal social situations so, now he’s most definitely not aware that he’s doing it. 

Sal highly suspects him of being autistic due to the fact that he had far more contacts with doctors and psychiatrists in his entire life that he knows VERY WELL the red flags or autistic behaviors. That and because of their first interaction when Larry was like ‘Sup, you like metal? You GOTTA like metal!’ it screams autism from a fucking mile.

This post is embarrassingly LONG and useless.. and I'll shut the fuck up now for real. BUT If anyone feels like asking questions or going deeper down this rabbit hole, feel free to text me <3 as I love waffling about psychology and pretty much anything lol.

Sorry for my bad English, I did my best in trying to explain all that's written above. These are just some of my little silly headcanons and possibly?? more in-depth explanations for some of the things that go on in my SF fanfic.

Ko-fi l  DeviantArt

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

“MaXXXine” movie review

Short review:

As a love letter to horror and B-movies, I can’t hate it. But still, I can’t deny that the script felt very uneven.

6.5/10 (okay, I’ll be nice and round it up to 7/10)

Long review:

I have a feeling that Ti West is a huge fucking horror/B-movie/grindhouse nerd. Because as someone who loves shitty horror movies (I say that affectionately), this felt like a love letter to the genre. It’s weird, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie about Hollywood that is centered around horror movies. Usually, if a movie is about glamorizing Hollywood, it’s about the more “refined” genres like musicals or dramas (La La Land comes to mind). So I really appreciate the movie’s focus into this side of Tinseltown.

While I’m on the topic, this whole movie feels nostalgic. Of course, it’s obviously trying to replicate the 1980s aesthetic. But as someone who grew up on horror, you can feel the love that the creators have for the genre. I mean, there’s literally a character who’s a horror nerd in the movie. So I can’t hate this film on principle. For all its shortcomings, I can’t hate it because of the passion behind it.

Now, I’m not saying this was a bad movie. It’s definitely entertaining and manages to hold your attention from beginning to end. It may not be a scary film, but it’s oddly mesmerizing to watch. The movie is so slick and stylish that it hooks you in, and the mystery behind the killer is enough to keep you engaged.

If I had to make a comparison…forgive me if this is too obscure, but it feels like the Phantasmagoria games. Those games may be cheap, cheesy, and not very well written, but they’re oddly engrossing because of the style. Same with MaXXXine, the style/direction is truly the highlight of the movie.

All that being said, I can’t lie. The movie does fall apart on one major aspect; the story. Even though the movie keeps you hooked in with its campiness and style, the story doesn’t really hold up. If I had to pinpoint what the main issue with the story was, it’d probably be the unevenness of the plot.

The movie has one theme that they repeat over and over; do whatever it takes to become a star. Maxine is a pornstar who wants to be an A-lister, so most of the movie is about her struggle to be taken seriously. And that’s completely fine as a premise! The problem is that when we get to the final act, the story abruptly shifts into a different theme. When we figure out who the villain is, the theme is suddenly about the evils of pornography, horror, and Hollywood. That Maxine is a corrupt soul who has turned her back on God, yadda yadda yadda.

Again, the morality angle is not a bad premise. In fact, I liked how the movie deconstructed this trope by setting up the villain as a Satanic serial killer, only to be revealed as a Christian fundamentalist cult. It’s a nice reversal of the evil cult trope. The problem is that it doesn’t work with the rest of the movie.

Let me explain it like this. When the movie revealed who the killer was, my reaction was, “Wait, did the story just change? We’re doing THIS now?” Before the villain reveal, I legitimately thought the killer was going to be some failed actress or the #1 actress trying to protect her spot. Yes, I know that’s too close to the previous movies, but still, that’s what it felt like the story was building up to. So the final act ends up being both the best and worst part of the movie. It’s the best since it’s the most exciting section of the story. It’s the worst since it highlights just how disconnected the climax is from the rest of the movie.

But even with the climax not being justified by the story, the rest of the movie still feels uneven. There’s not enough focus on the actual serial killer. There’s too much focus on the private investigator. The flashbacks to Pearl don’t really go anywhere, especially since the climax has nothing to do with Pearl. Maxine is sorta just reacting to the events that are happening around her, not really knowing what to prioritize. The Christian fundamentalist stuff, which was just background noise for most of the movie, is then suddenly the focus of the climax.

So yeah, the story needed a lot of editing. It’s too meandering and listless that by the time you get to the climax, it feels unearned. Which is a shame since the movie is well made. Anyways, I’d recommend at least seeing the movie once, especially if you’re a horror movie buff.

[akane-kurokawa]

Chapter 147 thoughts!

Ruby not recognizing Kamiki is weird and disappointing tbh. The man looks literally just like Aqua, Akane spotted it at a glance. She’s been acting against Aqua pretending to be this man for months, it feels so contrived that she doesn’t recognize him.

Speaking of contrived, this entire conversation feels so out of no where? No one’s been talking about any of their thoughts this entire arc, but once Ruby steps out with (from her perspective) some stranger, she unloads everything on her mind.

Some of his responses are a bit interesting, I’m curious to learn more about his perspective, and how he feels about his children (especially since the writing keeps baiting the idea of Ruby being a future target) but I can’t get over how forced and out of place this whole scene is.

This isn’t confirmation that he’s attempting on her life to me, solely because I REFUSE to think Kamiki is that dumb. In broad daylight, in public??? On a whim??? If Kamiki is the 5d chess player the story is trying to make him out to be he can’t be doing goofy shit like this.

Oh hey Akane, we thought you were dead.

Seriously I’m glad to see her again, and I’m even more glad that she was actually doing something while in off screen purgatory. I’d like to get more information next chapter on what she’s been up to and what (if fucking anything) she’s managed to learn from her backslide from Private Investigator into stalker.

Also Nino! She was just like… hiding away in the rain during the earlier scene ig, but I’m glad she’s here. If she, Kamiki, and Kaburagi have some evil alliance or whatever I’ll be so thrilled, that’s hilarious.

Confirmation of Aqua’s plan! If this had been said near the beginning of the movie I would’ve said that I called it, but honestly, this contradicts Aqua’s actions this entire arc in my eyes. Aqua goes out of his way in both the writing and acting to portray Kamiki as sympathetically as humanly possible, to the point where even the real world audience of Oshi no ko feels for him. He’s been humanized even more than Ai, who was the one this movie was SUPPOSED to humanize.

And wow, there goes the rest of filming I guess. We ended up not going in order after all, which makes that line about chronological filming only more confusing. There goes the big “forgive or not forgive” moment that had been built up since the beginning of the arc. Whatever.

With the filming arc over, I wanted to give me thoughts on it in specific, at least my current thoughts. Many in the server are planning a reread and I’ll probably do one as well.

First, the good. I think the artwork in this arc has been some of the best in the series, especially during the filming itself. Ruby’s breakdown as Ai and Frill’s performances as Airi are my biggest highlights.

I think there’s a lot of compelling setup in this arc, Nino is a fantastic character and im thrilled that her chapter we got before won’t be the end of her relevance. I also enjoyed meeting Ai’s mother, even if it was briefer than I would’ve liked.

I have two main problems with this arc that I think mostly come down to its structure. While a lot of it was strong setup for later arc things, despite being the longest arc in the series, it hardly had substance of its own. We set up the incest arc, set up Kana getting marketed differently, set up Akane’s big stalker adventure, set up for Aqua’s entire plan, set up for Kamiki’s entire plan.

What did we resolve this arc? Kana’s jealousy? Not really, she just lashed out about it and Ruby said “Nuh uh” and it was done. It feels like we spent all this time doing nothing, in an arc that had so much worthwhile material to cover that it chose to skip instead.

That said, I believe the FILMING is over, but we’ll probably have to do test screenings and marketing and so on. I’m hoping that we’ll be expanding on those skipped scenes and lack of character thoughts on them in the future, but this arc has just been a series of me going “oh they skipped that? That sucks, I hope they do it later” and while I suppose they can with some of those things, I doubt it’ll be getting closure on EVERYTHING I’ve said that about.

Either the next arc will be another really good one, paying off all the setup from this wet blanket of an arc, or it’s the beginning of the end and the conclusions won’t live up to the mysteries that have been dangling in front of us all series.

Regardless of which it is, I plan on sticking it out until the end. I may have to start lowering my expectations I think, I was expecting more from this series than an arc like this. I wouldn’t be so harsh on it if it didn’t have as much potential as it does.

[polyhexian]

you pointed out nova storm being yellow now and it's going to haunt me wondering if ciro neili (did some of the character designs) did that as a friggin' monkey team reference

okay so the thing is Nova Storm is a rainmaker. a character that barely exists but IS from G1.

the yellow one. but the thing is that even though the rainmakers are like, quite popular, since they are seekers, and have been referenced in fanon for decades, this character did not get a name until 2015. From Ask Vector Prime. So the rainmakers are Acid Storm (green), Ion Storm (blue) and Nova Storm (yellow.)

Obviously Nova Storm (yellow) is very confusingly similar to completely unrelated character Sunstorm. The other yellow seeker.

Apparently some old fanon staight up asserts Nova Storm is just a miscoloured Sunstorm? god. who knows. Also, to be clear, despite the fact Sunstorm's name ends in -storm, he is NOT a rainmaker. completely unaffiliated. coincidental.

this is where shit gets weird

so in 2015 Nova Storm gets a name. okay, solid. We have agreed the yellow one is named Nova Storm.

Three years later in 2018, Cyberverse airs. This is the new Nova Storm.

Purple

Girl

why girl? why purple?

"well nate," you say, "isnt more girls better? why would you question that?"

well because this is slipstream:

Why are they so similar????? Both purple, both girls. like, really similar purples, too! Theres different models for the girl and boy seekers.

so this is Cyberverse Acid Storm, another rainmaker. due to, I believe, a miscommunication during production, some episodes use the female seeker model for Acid Storm and some use the male. Addressing this on twitter staff has owned up to the mistake and instead of getting defensive, rolled with it and said hey, well, its in there, so its canon! Acid Storm is genderfluid lol. And I kind of love that.

In any case you can see distinct differences in the models, so like. if Nova Storm used the male model, at least it would be different from slipstream. as it stands purple nova storm, for some reason, is one of the most frequently appearing background seekers, so it ends up, imho, being VERY confusing. especially if you arent like me and the rest of us freaks and you cant recognize every character by a picture of their ankle.

so like, to be clear, I'm pretty sure Cyberverse is actually the first time any actual STORY used the name nova storm. I think the only thing predating cyberverse is the ask vector prime. at the very minimum this is the first major use of the name, for the purple female character. at this point the connection to the yellow rainmaker is.... tenuous??????

but then we drop the card game:

which says she, so i guess... girl?

nova storm also apparently appears in idw 2019 where, again, apparently, girl? but look. yellow. YELLOW. all yellow. rainmaker.

so THIS:

this is the art attached to the ask vector prime post. what even the FUCK is that. sorry the art is nice but what IS that. is that a SEEKER? WHO is that. that PRIMARILY black with gold accents. thats not the rainmaker design or even the purple one we'd get.

i genuinely hate referencing this but the only other appearance of nova storm is as an angry birds pig costume and while its still mostly yellow i DISTINCTLY note the black cannons and yellow and hands like. thats. thats from the ask vector prime design.

...right?

this is the Iron Factory third party Nova Storm figure from their rainmakers set. this was revealed in 2019. the angry birds costume is from 2020. 2020. i genuinely think it might be possible iron factory put their foot down and said "the black and gold design fucks" and everyone forgot hes suppsoed to be neon yellow

now HERE... HERE FINALLY.... is EARTHSPARK NOVA STORM

holy shit. look at this. we have nuked the yellow from this design. she's now PRIMARILY black with gold HIGHLIGHTS. who IS this. i guess nova storm has actually now been female in MORE appearances than male????? and as far as I can tell, the gold and black design traces specifically back to deviantart user bdixonarts who has virtually no industry credits OTHER than creating the modern design for Nova Storm???? she, uh, crushed it, i guess

also an incredibly fun note i didnt know until just now: do you know who voiced earthspark nova storm? any guesses?

Nicole Dubuc. nicole fucking duboc plays her AND skywarp. nicole dubuc is the head writer. she wrote rescue bots. and final side note, tfp ratchet's catchphrase "I needed that!" came explicitly from her scripts lol. god this is so funny to me she went from recording rescue bumblebee's lines before they were replaced with beeps to just straight up being Novastorm and Skywarp in a mainline show.

anyway who the FUCK is nova storm?

dude, who the fuck knows.

[zedxspacess]

My controversial wrestling take tonight is I liked Ospreay v MJF for what it was. Y'all say yall are sickos until its an actual weird/fucked up match up, and for me, I was always morbidly curious at what the hell kind of match their styles clash would create.

This got really long, but tldr; good match that could've used trimming and editing to get the point across.

I'm weirdly invested in a career long rivalry between MJF and Ospreay. I have a VISION, there's so much juicy character/story meat there that I don't think ppl realize (even TK, Ospreay, and Max) but I See It and go in detail in the read more, but that tldr is:

There were def points where the match dragged on, but I didn't notice until like 30-40mins in. Sure, they played to the crowd a bit much and lots of stalling with them rolling on the floor. Both of these guys' previous long matches were aided by the veterans they shared the ring with. So I'd say for a match they called on their own, they did pretty good all things considered--these guys are 28 and 31 years old respectively, like come on. Commentary said it was hot and humid as hell in that arena, so the fact they went that hard for so long is respectable. I also thought they wanted to challenge the idea of "Ospreay can't sell" by making it such a focal point, but imo they over corrected it at times to where it felt less believable the longer he sold the shoulder. If the match was shorter, I think they would've been able to hide it better or Ospreay could've remembered also selling the knee, but it is what it is to make it believable MJF could beat someone as athletic and powerful as Ospreay.

I think the beginning, parts of the middle, and ending wrestling moments were where a lot of the real meat of the story was that got buried in the downsides/all the stalling. I've seen some ppl say the match felt half MJFism, half Ospreayism, and finally a weird mix of both, and I think that's what they were going for: purposefully highlighting their staunch differences, the strengths and weaknesses of their respective styles, then forcing their opponent to dip into the others' style to meet in the middle. It's not just a clash of styles, but and ideological clash of what wrestling can be. Ospreay doing his athletic performance, but MJF being really pragmatic and countering in simple, creative ways. Max then gets too caught up in character, gets cocky, and lets his guard down where Ospreay's skill and power bulldozes him. So it forces Max to wrestle seriously and meet Ospreay on the mat and in athletics, while also forcing Ospreay to understand the way Max wrestles behind the theatrics, psychologically.

Also for Ospreay, its his ongoing story of "am I willing to bring out my darker instincts to win the match?" if MJF is willing to play so blatantly dirty. It's the conundrum with the Tiger Driver, but also with his matches with Kenny Omega and the Dog Pound Steel Cage match where he was pushed to an emotional limit where we saw a viciousness never seen before. I don't think they quite achieved this with Ospreay in AEW yet (minus the Kenny match), but Max as the top heel definitely has the potential to really get Ospreay down to his level in the future.

I overall liked all the highspots, MJF showing he could keep up with Ospreay's athleticism, Max's heelisms are missed, call backs to Cody/AJ Styles, the Ospreay/Ibushi landing on your feet spot. God, and Cole/Ricochet. Which btw, holy shit the connection between MJF-Ospreay tracing back to Max's friend and Ospreay's friend/mentor's legendary match; if we want to get real crazy, tag match between MJF-Cole vs Ospreay-Ricochet could be something.

Idk, I'm embarrassed to say it, but. I'm just personally super intrigued by the concept of Ospreay and MJF clashing--potentially for the rest of their careers--because of what they represent feels so diametrically opposed, they have to be at odds. But the irony in all of it is, at their cores, they are very similar.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: MJF is a pure acting, soliloquy-giving theater kid; Ospreay is the dance/choreography theater kid--which is a shoot, they legit have done those things irl, but it's also their characters. They care so much about story and emotion and performance. They go 100% in their preferred way of doing it and face heat because they do "too much" in their respective ends of the spectrum. As a result, they are so prideful and defensive about their favorite method. Max as a babyface was so extroverted, super loyal friend, outgoing neurodivergent kid and Ospreay's current character as a genuine, kinda dumb but passionate, golden retriever neurodivergent kid have similar energies. Both have the tendency to speak before thinking too. When you look at their heel characters, Max goes out of his way to embody all the spoiled rich kids of Long Island, while Ospreay tried to embody half chav-half spoiled rich kid culture in England. They're similar kids at hearts, it's just one of them had a diet of 90s Best of the Super Jrs+DragonGate, and the other had a diet of NWA territory+Attitude Era, and thus were sent on different paths.

The other main differences are Ospreay always had the United Empire with him who truly trusted him as brothers. When he left Japan, all the fans showered him in love, and arriving in AEW, fans continued that praise and acceptance. While Max never trusted anyone, even when surrounding himself with people. And the moment he did trust and tasted acceptance by fans, it bit him in the ass, got rejected by the fans, and it all only reassured his worst insecurities. Max is doing a lot of projection onto Ospreay for being accepted so easily, for taking his spot as top dog, for what he represents as his ideological opposite, for having it so easy. But Ospreay wears his heart on his sleeve because it wasn't easy for him, just watch the promo he did against Omega before Wrestle Kingdom. That fighting spirit has tempered him where he can handle the blows, he has the support system with him. He lacks the fear that makes MJF take on such an abrasive persona as a defense mechanism. Ospreay's genuine person, charm, outgoing energy is all what MJF could be or secretly wants to be--as seen on his face run--but was rejected. And he cannot stand it.

Personally, I think they should kiss fight forever about all of this.

[orangepeelshortbreadcookies]

So I'm seeing quite a bit of seething outrage in the tag and maybe I'm just adding fuel to the fire here but... the Netflix adaption was pretty good? It's not perfect, the modern storyline in the first two episodes are quite bad in parts (thanks a lot, Auggie 🙄). Some of the dialogue is also weird and clunky in the first two episodes. But it really, genuinely picks up the pace afterward. First and foremost, the visuals are beautiful. I like how the show expanded on the characters in modern times, adore the friendship between the Oxford Five, and I'm in delulu about Jin's and Will's ending (something something ships in the night 😭). Even Auggie has her moments in later episodes, and I find myself pretty satisfied with the end of her arc. The transition from page to screen is mostly effective, and I appreciate that they can just let the visual storytelling do the talking instead of just a lot of declarative statements for character introduction in the books, that could (at least to me) get tedious at times.

I find it to be one of the adaptions where the changes make sense. The diverse cast makes sense. The book takes place in China but it's a story about humanity. Plus you already have your all-Chinese adaptation (a few times as well). Widening the geographic scope to get a new perspective on the story is a pretty valid reason for an adaption. Plus, transnational adaptions happen All. The. Time. Taking shows and movies from other countries and putting your own national take on it is a pretty popular practice. China definitely does it.

The Netflix show has these intimate, quiet moments that are very compelling, and the besutiful music helps further highlight that. On the other hand, I can see where the white-washing argument from some of y'all came from. While I don't necessarily agree with it, I think it's a reductive and just not very accurate description for this show in particular, there are however certain scenes that I would dub Joseph Campbell-infected, which seems more fair and specific to me.

Something that's more baffling to me is the disagreement over Ye Wenjie's portrayal in the show. That she's a bitter, mental old lady in comparison to her counterpart in the book. Did we read the same book??? What did I miss? How was she not a bitter, mental old lady in the book? It's the whole point of her character. That she was a deeply lonely, traumatised woman whose repressed anger and resentment were indistinguishable with intellectualism and who mistook her cynicism for objectivity. Of course she was mental. She was in the midst of a silent breakdown, for otherwise an emotionally functional person would not have made the choice she did and DOOMED THE ENTIRE HUMANRACE TO EXTINCTION. Also her confession to Shi Qiang in the book? Where she believed that the Trisolaran would save humanity based solely on the fact that they are more technologically advanced? That was bonkers. She echoed the sentiment of many real people from her generation, people of invaded countries who look upon the historical colonialism fondly or as a desired solution, because the system in power has failed them. I know actual people like that in my life. They are my loved ones, and they enforce such beliefs on their children, us, like how Wenjie condemned her belief upon the rest of humanity. It's a complex, thorny legacy to carry, and it is insane that we have to carry it. Wenjie is a genius, she's a grieving, empathetic woman who could not access her emotions in a healthy way because she was fucked over in 100 different directions, AND she is an old, bitter, intergalactic war criminal whose mental state is definitely in jeorpady. She is all these things, and both the actresses in the Netflix show did a phenomenal job of portraying every facet of her character.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

reread the rest thus far of lackadaisy and there's the both v easy & difficult task of gathering a shit ton but only a shit ton of excerpts (like every single page is a highlight i'm not exaggerating)

and every single element is superlative and the way it all only becomes More So....already mentioned the way the like smooth gradient shading made the successful evocation of 3D Shapes more noticeable, along w/the consistent geometries of character design & details in fabric folds; the way Lighting & Coloring only goes on to become more prominent elements only enhances that further. the compositions, backgrounds, pacing, angles....everything is so dynamic & expressive, such as including the expressions which you know i also Love / absorbed

going "hell yes for people to discover this superlative comic" then having to occasionally refresh past site traffic overloaded server errors like "nooo" but actually yes

whilest clapping & cheering for the fun of everyone who's been here a minute. My God the invigorating reward when again i started reading in '07 & the concept of rocky & freckle on a "proper" run had only manifested via fun official bonus art, then a literal decade later as it was actually happening in the comic like screeeeaammm i can feel it coming in the air tonight oh lord etc....i've loved following it, again, if i see another new comic page. i am going to be Enriched

i also really was right on the ball myself this time around like okay okay yep i have picked up on Everything, at least to the degree i can lmao. i love the mysteries. i love how Character Focused it is too ofc and there's no characters i'm uniterested in / dislike. you gotta point to one of them, truly, and i have been a [pointing at freckle] enjoyer these fifteen years but fr i am a connoisseur of everyone, i love that so many characters are a weird mysterious chaos element story driver in their own right. i considered mordecai more intently than ever, love his like ultra mystery (and that we leave off on him doing some detectiving even) and truly fun that like, the source of the more Immediate problems he keeps having in every damn interaction isn't the like [wow mordecai with the just diving into the hatchet murdering] factor so much as it's that he's generally like "i am just standing here" and is not nt in any way that matters and people insist on fucking with him on that front. the peak tragedy of him in a bonus comic getting bullied into having to dance with someone to Be Polite like i'm so sorry i wish you could be that ficus too. anyways intrigued with the marigold &/or mordecai mysteries including that it's like, how coincidental is it that he talks about marigold having a thorn in its side & the savoys' nickname for him is peekon = thorn. there is so much to consider, love that for us truly. and i'm rooting for mordecai & nicodeme's dynamic out here, is another conclusion....very enriched by comparing & contrasting that serafine nicodeme mordecai triumvirate with the rocky ivy freckle one, to be sure. im enriched

i'm also enriched by every footnote that's got like historical facts / research notes / [this is inaccurate for xyz prioritization but here's the disclaimer] explanations. i Love information. and everything else like i loooove this comic it's Soooo Fucking putting my hands to my temples and inhaling at length through my teeth

[theatrevelyan]

Ok, I’ve binged the new ATLA live action and I have feelings about it so here are my incoherent thoughts! (SPOILERS btw!!)

I’m a fan of the original show and I approached this show with low expectations (namely the only expectation I had was “this can’t be worse than the movie, right??”) but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised!!

I mean sure some details have been changed to flow better in this rendition of the story but I’m fine with that so long as the heart that made the original special is still there and I know some people didn’t felt like it did but I had the feeling that it was.

Do I love absolutely everything about the show?

Nope.

I have some issues with the first episode being too stiff and some shots were outright weird?? Like the tilted camera when Grangran was speaking was a really odd choice??? Was it to signal that the world changed when the fire nation attacked? If so it missed the mark, it just felt weird… to be honest Grangran in general felt weird. Idk man, she felt like an exposition dump made flesh. Also I did like it better when it was Katara’s unchecked emotions that led them to Aang.

In general, the dialogues were… uhm, how to put it…? Too rigid? Not the acting mind you, but the actual script felt a bit stilted, I felt it more in the first few episodes but to me, the first episode is by far the weakest of the season in this regard which is odd since it’s your hook and most of the time you want to make sure the hook is if not the best at least a really solid opening.

I did not like Bumi, like at all. He was never a favorite of mine even in the original but still I found him annoying in this version and the fight in that episode was not the best to say the least but the rest of Omashu was good even if they changed it to include both Sai’s and Jet’s storylines. Too bad they didn’t include the loss of culture subplot for Aang but I get there was no time/place for it in this version of events and the rest was handled well… except for Bumi lol

On the more serious complaints… they butchered my boi HeiBai!!! That episode was all over the place in sense of scripting. I didn’t mind putting Koh and the owl there but we just forgot about the HeiBai plot along the way and we never got a resolution about it???? Like just two lines about healing the forest would have been enough, not good mind you, but enough.

Also I did not get why they changed the motivation for going to the North Pole from going there to train to go there bc of Kyoshi weird premonition thing or why Roku didn’t tell Aang about the comet????

Like ok the Kyoshi thing I can just wave it away like a minor change to flow better with the new structure of the episodes but I can’t ignore the fucking comet!!! That’s like a really important timeframe for the gaang to follow and maybe they will get to it next season since it was addressed on Ozai’s side of things but it felt still like a weird change.

Oh and why didn’t Aang learn water bending??? I mean I guess they probably wanted to elevate Katara’s skill level and have her be recognized as a master before she started teaching him besides him having still to come to terms with having to accept that he is the avatar and that he has to fight sometimes something that he doesn’t really do until the season finale and I can get behind that, I really can… but man… let him water bend just a little. Maybe in just one scene to show that he is picking up something from Katara even if she’s not his teacher yet. To show that despite all the doubts he’s actually trying to do what he’s supposed to. I guess this is a “wait and see” kind of change though so I’ll let it go… for now.

All that said, do I think the show is a good adaptation of the original?

Fucking yes.

It has its flaws for sure but there is also a lot of good things in it.

Sokka was the highlight for me. I really liked him in the original but i feel like he’s been elevated in this version of the story and the actor did a really remarkable job with him, despite my worry with the changes in his initial story arch they managed to give him another layer that I liked.

Actually all the actors did a very good job! Aang was spot on and Zuko had a lot more humanity in him from the start without losing his rough edges. And while I stand by that Sokka’s actor is the one that surprised me the most, Zuko’s was the one I had more fun watching. A really great performance in my opinion.

Iroh was a fucking delight and an emotional gut punch as always and while he was a bit more somber I really liked this version of the character.

They did Azula and Ozai justice showing how cunningly terrifying and utterly toxic they can be and I really liked that we got to see more of them in season 1.

Hell, even Zhao felt the right balance of unhinged cartoony villain and actual threat for the pov characters.

Katara was more of mixed bag for me. She’s my favorite character in the original (with Zuko being a close second) so I have higher standards for her and overall all she still feels like the Katara that I know and love but idk sometimes she felt too poised?? It’s more evident in the first few episodes to be fair and I don’t think it was the acting, the actress was great! Maybe it was the direction or the writing?? Idk man I still loved her, mind you, but in the original, Katara, while being kind and loving, was still a force of nature that you do not want to anger exactly like a raging river that can both be a source of life or a force of destruction. In this it felt like they softened her edges a bit too much. That might be a me problem though, as I said she’s my favorite so I have higher standards for her.

Ti be honest though, it seems that they softened everyone’s less palatable traits. Zuko isn’t as ruthless, Sokka isn’t sexist at the start of the season, Aang isn’t as goofy and so on. I didn’t mind it actually and most of the time it works really well in showing us new sides of these characters without losing who the are but idk man… while I still loved Katara it felt like she was missing something. And same with Suki! She looked fantastic and she was fierce as I expected her to be but she also felt more naive and love struck that she should have. Nothing terrible but enough to notice.

The bending was fantastic and it really felt… well real. Especially air bending! Appa and Momo were really well animated too! Big win for the VFX team!

The music too! It just felt right. And I’m still not over those scenes when you faintly hear leaves from the vines play in the background. Curse you and your great choices that made me actually cry my eyes out like a baby!

In the end I’d give it a solid 7/10. It was a nice watch and it brought me back to my childhood and I can see it’s potential to be something special on its own.

Mind you, this could still turn into a dumpster fire along the way. It wouldn’t be the first time it happened to a really promising Netflix show (I’m looking at you Voltron and the Witcher) but I have to say, I’m gladly surprised and mildly optimistic about this show!

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

more tales from the gas station propaganda! i personally would recommend checking out the web series as well as the books honestly - the books are a lot more detailed but the web series is still interesting! if you only read one of em 100% go for the books but they're still pretty neat together and also feature some differences (and an entry or two that didn't make it into the books)! it also felt more immersive to me to read the web series and then read the book, where jack talks about the blog/writing it. i personally started with the web series and moved onto the books afterward, and recommend doing that since it can drag a bit more if you read the books first (since a lot of the web series content is featured in the books). i found it most useful to read the web series + side stories, the books, and then the spinoff/side story bedside manor! the web series is more comedic than horror, though the books also lean more towards comedy in the first half.

anyway, in terms of actual propaganda - alongside the actual plot being really good, the characters are a big highlight! the prev propaganda went into it a bit, but the cast is endlessly fun. jack, the main character, has very dry humor and ends up kind of being "the straight man" of the more eccentric cast, but he's very fun bc unlike a lot of characters who fit that trope, he's JUST as weird and unhinged as the rest of the cast in his own way. his best friend (from book 2 onward at least), jerry (the blonde himbo) is the most chaotically hilarious character - deeply impulsive, wildly overly affectionate with everyone, weird fun fashion, unbothered by functionally everything, and basically just a human puppy given murderous tendencies. he and jack are also deeply pathetic (i say this affectionately).

there's also rosa, one of jack's coworkers in a later book with a massive crush on him (that he's fully oblivious to), is just a ball of sunshine and the only real competent employee; she's also fully unaware of the supernatural shit going on and is Very stressed over it </3 book 4 especially gives her fantastic characterization. o'brien is the local sheriff on gas station duty from book 2 onward (she basically cleans up any shit that goes on at the gas station) and is a little standoffish at first, but gets attached to jack and the rest of the crew pretty quickly (though she tends to show it more through endless nicknames and doing everything she can to keep the cast of idiots safe); she cares a Lot and actually puts effort into trying to keep the town safe and figure out what the fuck is happening

and that's just the main four characters! all of the side characters are also really good - spencer, the murderous stalker who has it out for jack, brick roscoe & brick roscoe, two agents of an unknown organization who cover up supernatural shit, benjamin, an insanely tough monster hunter/survivalist tired of everyone's shit, agatha, a cool old lady with a massive monster truck.. really, there's no shortage of fun characters

also! it's a pretty diverse series, with multiple canonically queer characters (even of the main cast, jack is ace + jerry is bi), physical disability rep, characters of color, and ofc mentally ill characters (again including jack himself) - alongside many people seeing jerry as coded (and potentially canonically?) adhd and jack as coded autistic

i will say that it's important to keep in mind there's a LOT of triggering content - alongside the horror stuff, which includes gore/body horror, unreality, paranoia fuel, torture, kidnapping, stalking, and more, there's also a LOT of discussion of abuse/child abuse and the series doesn't shy away from the bigotry the cast often faces (in particular warning for racism, ableism, and homophobia + slurs), and unfortunately there's also a decent amount of fatphobia in the series. i would 100% recommend the series, but do be warned that it's very heavy, especially towards the end

like the other person said the series is all available in audio format, both through audiobooks and youtube reading of the series! i'm not sure if the books are in any libraries but they're also all available to buy online, and obviously the web series is free to read on reddit and the tales from the gas station website. it's a bit of a long read (i get through books fast and it still took me a good week or two to get through everything even marathon-reading it) but it's worth it imo!

^

[stilwaterangel]

15 ANGEL JOHNNYY

15. Sharing a bed ; prompt challenge - set sometime during sriv, after johnny returns. 768 words.

“Hey,” Johnny is lingering somewhere in the doorway, his voice quiet but still cutting sharply into the silence of the room, “it’s getting late. You gonna head to bed anytime soon?”

Angel hesitates for a moment. He continues to stare blankly at his hands, turning his palms over and over and idly picking at the dirt under his chipped nails as the quiet settles over them again. Outside, a police siren wails in the distance, gradually getting closer until it passes, the red and blue lights illuminating the walls around him for a split second before the darkness returns.

Footsteps approach behind him, slow, coming around his side and stopping in front of him.

“Angel.” Johnny’s tone is stern but cautious, unsure, like he doesn’t know how to speak to him anymore–and isn’t that the truth of it all, really, the avoidant eyes and the repressed smiles and the hesitant touches like their hands will catch alight if they so much as brush by each other; things have changed.

There’s a dull purple light cast across one side of Johnny’s face, the remnants of a neon sign outside the window peeking in through a gap in the curtains, and the highlights settle a fuzzy pink along his cheekbones and nose.

“I’m not that tired,” Angel says, looking away as he scratches at the short hair on the back of his neck. He shaved it down a little while ago but he regrets it now, wishes it could grow out faster and look more like his old style, like maybe he could regain some sense of familiarity and normalcy along with it.

The bed dips next to him, mattress sinking as a weight sits at his side. Johnny’s thigh is an inch from his, the static of his pants brushing just barely against his own leg.

“Yeah?” Johnny starts, and Angel can somewhat make out the curve of his eyebrow in the dim light, “those bags under your eyes tell another story. And the fact you drank seventeen cups of coffee today, but fuck it, who’s counting, right?”

Angel huffs out a little laugh at that, easy. He doesn’t miss the way Johnny smiles softly in response, sincere and tender.

“Come on,” Johnny reaches a hand forward, stops, and then swallows. Something flashes across his face for just a second—nostalgia, perhaps, memories of times like this but better, when being in bed together wasn’t so weird and distant—and then it’s gone, continuing his movement and hooking a finger into one of the belt loops on Angel’s jeans, giving a small tug. “Lie down, at least.”

Johnny starts to shuffle back, getting comfortable with the left side of the bed, his usual side.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Angel asks. It comes across harsher than intended, a little sharp around the edges, but his head is reeling; he hasn’t shared a bed with anyone in months, not since Shaundi left him, and Johnny has been staying with Aisha.

“Not tonight,” Johnny replies, short but somewhat soft, tired, like he doesn’t want to argue, “just—fuckin’ lie down, man.”

Angel does, also not wanting to argue. He won’t say it out loud, but he is tired. He hasn’t had a decent night's sleep in what feels like forever, be it lack of comfortable places to rest or the nightmares or not even having the time or safety; but here, in his bed, back in his own place finally, and with Johnny, maybe he can settle.

He slips under the blankets on the right side, movements slow, and lets his head sink into the soft fabric of the pillow. Everything is still for a moment, calm, and Angel lets out an exhausted sigh. 

From behind him, the bed shifts, blankets moving, and a heavy weight slowly wraps around his torso; Johnny’s hand slides tentatively across his body, under his shirt, fingers gentle where they glide over faded burns and weathered old scars, and eventually his warm palm comes to a stop against Angel’s sternum, resting there. Neither of them speak, but Angel isn’t so sure he needs to, not when he’s positive that Johnny can feel his heartbeat pounding against his fingers, threatening to jump out his chest.

A moment passes, peaceful, and the weeks of rough sleep—or lack thereof—catch up to Angel all at once, a wave of tiredness washing over him. His eyes are heavy. Through the fight to stay awake just a second longer, he drags his hand up over Johnny’s and lazily links their fingers together.

He feels a gentle squeeze in return before he slips into slumber.

[voidsumbrella]

concerns about labor and weird precedents aside, i think ive managed to pinpoint the thing that bothers me about a lot of ai art- the majority of it has zero understanding of media specificity.

like, the way a concept is presented inherently changes the meaning; a plein air painting means something different than a photograph of the same location; a marble sculpture reads very differently than an identical pose made in chicken wire; etc.

it's why live action adaptations tend to struggle, since as with any other form of translation, you have to be able to get the meaning alongside the structure, and that's just really hard. ive said this before, but the lord of the rings movies did a good job of this: they highlighted things that can be conveyed better through visuals (the costuming, the creature designs, the scale of the environment) while reducing focus on the parts that wouldn't work as well (for all that i love tom bombadil, including that section would have severely bogged the pacing down while adding very little to the story). there's about ten bajillion les mis adaptations because no one can agree which parts need to be adapted or how to do that.

there are aspect of ai made/assisted media that are interesting and can be used as effectively, if not more, than other mediums. this is a good example- this same concept could be achieved without ai using photoshop. would it be more difficult? yes. would it be better? probably not! i still think the birds that don't exist thread is really cool. taking something that can identify and assemble common patterns without understanding the meaning or reason for any of them can have some really fun results, and can't be achieved by any other method, that's just not how human brains work. it's neat! it's effective!

but the bulk of serious ai art is just mimicking illustrations. image generation is pretty much just using text to try and force random chance to work towards your goal; you don't have any true control over the method or composition, you can't do anything with intent or purpose in the way that you can in other forms, and that's why a lot of it comes across as soulless to anyone who is familiar with how other forms of 2d art work. the process is treated as disposable in a way that is frequently detrimental to the piece and is inherently read as insulting to the people who have put in time and effort into actually developing the skill required for the process.

again, this isn't unique to ai/image generation and has been a conversation in art ~studies~ for ages and ages (insert rant about how much i fucking hate jeff koons here), but if you want something to be treated as a serious medium, it's going to be held to the same standards and criticisms as the rest of 'em.

[andromeda3116]

Hi! Sorry to bother you, but I recently discovered you on A03 through your Zutara fics and I must admit that I'm mesmerized by your stories. They are so wonderfully written—the structure, the development, the characters, the dialogues and the political aspects are so beautiful. Everything about them makes me want to dive in and read and explore the worlds you have created.

I'm writing this in the hope that you might be able to provide me with a little guidance. I really admire your work, and I wanted to know if you had any tips on how to develop characters, dialogues and conflicts, for every scene you've written contributes to the story in some way (it's really engaging and thrilling as a reader).

Without further ado, I hope this finds you well. Thank you :)

First of all, thank you for your kind words! And I'm flattered that you wanted my advice!

The only "trick" I can actually impart is: I've gotten a lot of mileage out of just reading my story out loud to myself, and seeing if it sounds good. And from there is a lot of "oooh, that sounds wrong, how about..." until you get something that works, or -- quite often, in my experience -- you just highlight the sentence to come back to later when you're less frustrated. And try again. (This is particularly useful with dialogue.)

But for the rest... I know this is going to sound trite, but the answer is to just write a lot. And read a lot.

Everyone has their lists of writing advice, how to structure stories and make them pop -- but ultimately, everyone has a different way of doing those things, and mostly, there isn't actually a correct answer. Finding your voice just takes practice.

Reading a lot -- and watching a lot of movies and shows! -- can teach you a lot of the wrong ways to do it, either because you cringe away from the screen/page for reasons you can't put into words, or because it all comes together so well that you try to mimic it in your own writing and you have to figure out why you couldn't do it like they did. Trust me, I wrote a lot of derivative shit while trying to capture someone else's lightning in my own bottle. I honestly don't think that's a bad thing -- everyone learns from someone else, and everyone starts off by mimicry. If anyone claims to have had their own unique voice from the start, they're full of shit.

Redwall taught me how to craft imagery, I can point you back to the FFX oneshot that taught me how to use single-sentence punches to gut the reader, Terry Pratchett taught me how to incorporate politics into a story in such a way that it doesn't feel dry, there was a brief period back on fictionpress.net (s/o to my other fandom olds) where weird single-sentence poetry (?) things? were super-cool to me and they taught me how to build emotion using syntax, Lord of the Rings taught me how build an engaging plot, the drabble and one-sentence challenges taught me how to use conservation of words to make what I did have count -- and so on and so forth.

I've been writing stories since I could hold a pencil, and sharing them, getting feedback on them, and actively engaging with them since I was 13 (I'm 33). It sounds like weak advice, but it really legitimately just does come down to "read something that sets your brain on fire, try to do something like it, inevitably fuck it up, try it again until you figure out why it didn't work, fix that, read something else that sets your brain on fire, try to do it, inevitably fuck it up --" ad nauseum, until you've figured out enough "yikes"-es that you know how to craft a story on your own that hits all the notes you want it to hit. Kinda like sculpting, you start with a shapeless rock and chip away at all the parts that don't work until you learn what does. And the statues you make get better and better the more of them you sculpt. They don't have to be good. A lot of them won't be. And that's a good thing! It's the process of learning how not to do it that teaches you how to get it right.

But other than that, I unfortunately can't give you a lot of advice. It honestly does just take a lot of practice, consuming stories and digesting them and pulling their pieces out to try and make something out of it all yourself. And accepting that you're gonna fail a lot. I failed a lot. I still fail a lot. There's never a point where you're done learning how not to do it.

Wanting to write well is the first step. Writing badly is the second.