#the story was like weird and weak imo
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atopvisenyashill · 7 months ago
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I am wired to develop hatred against any character the author doesn't only favour but tries to shove down our throats, which is why I will always hate Daemon, Tyrion, Bloodraven (Blackwoods in general). It helps that all these are despicable men with very little redeeming qualities. Then there is Arya who as a whole is a hero, despite her progressively darker nature, but I don't hate her because she is a child, I just don't give two fucks about her.
i get it but also EYE am a fantasy enjoyer i like the weird tomboy who identifies as both a wolf and a girl who has wolf dreams where she guards her mother’s bloated and decaying body from being nibbled on until the magic fire zombie nearby can come and kiss her mother awake! like, yes i DO like that benjicot blackwood with the fun sigil and the cool pagan religion experiences being responsible for death for the first time and rises to the occasion even as he’s continuously hysterically crying over all the death he himself has a hand in, to the point that he keeps the bones of a man he loved from that man’s brother for years because he can’t let go of the terror he had a hand in.
like i definitely get you, we all know i have bitched about tyrion being overwritten ie just relying too much on his pov to move the plot along so the scenes can get repetitive (how many scenes do we need of him and shae fucking and feeling weird afterwards) or how some of arya’s time at harrenhal drags a lil bit but imma be honest i don’t quite understand when people are like “he made this character too cool so i’m gonna spite hate them” like everyone’s so mad about how there’s no way we should know what dialogue was exchanged before daemon and aemond died and meanwhile i’m over here rambling on the phone to my cousin like “and then daemon did a sick backflip offa caraxes’ neck and had his sword angled Perfectly to get aemond right through his good eye it was awesome” aksjdjd I like to laugh at how obvious his favorites are but it’s HIS story i think it’s ultimately fine if he thinks tyrion is cool as fuck or wants to give me like 5 chapters in a row where arya is just chillin in braavos, if it bothers me i put my audio on 2x speed 😎
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feralthembo · 2 years ago
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POV YOURE OBSERVING ME AND I JUST FINISHED THE NEW WAR
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randomness-is-my-order · 10 months ago
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from the start, i’ve mainly been praising the show and have spoken against the minor nitpicks but i think some constructive criticism won’t go amiss. i’m always going to advocate for praise + critique but since literally all my posts praise the show (character-work, writing, directing, cinematography, literally all aspects) i’ll focus on the main issues i have with it for this one.
i’m only saying this because i do think there is merit to the conversation: yes, i agree with many other people saying the show has a very real lack of tension. the stakes are established, potential horrific consequences are alluded to, but the instances in which the action needs to take place falls short. i wanted to see percy and annabeth and grover SHOWING their inexperience through stumbling on traps (which would automically raise the tension in both medusa’s lair and the lotus casino), i wanted them to make mistakes and quick-think their way out of it. sure, there’s something to be said about conveying annabeth’s intelligence but aunty em was a great way of highlighting percy & annabeth’s dyslexia by having them be unable to read the signs. the statues could have been removed from the yard–a move that would show medusa’s intelligence instead. similarly, the fun of the lotus casino was about the creepiness that slowly and steadily builds on the backdrop of this harmless kid carival like setting. percy, annabeth and grover’s intelligence and knowledge has already been built in other obstacles so seeing them actually fall for well-set traps seems to me like a much more nuanced portrayal of the kids, their capabilities but also their weaknesses. speaking of, i was waiting for one moment of annabeth making some mistake, showing some flaw. i think it would have been cool if she was the one to lose her drachma given that she was undoubtedly jostled hard while clinging to the cerberus. grover already felt like he messed up after the lotus casino and having percy reassure annabeth after her drachma screwup would really nail in that yeah she’s intelligent and wise but she is also just 12 and she can be a bit reckless too.
honestly, i’m a sucker for flaws. i love my emotional percabeth bits to death but would i have rejoiced just as much had both of them been a little more unempathetic towards each other and been at each other’s throats for a few more episodes? yes.
i love show grover and his earnestness and savagery in manipulating a god but do i love my little coward goat boy who slowly but surely proves himself to be capable and brave? who keeps asking for food at the most inopportune moments but really has percy’s back at the end of the day? who is severely unconfident but slowly learns to trust himself more? yes! i just feel like the grover we have now was my imagining of grover in book 2-3. we never got to see his major flaws so i’m just wondering what kind of upward arc will he have and will it be as impressive as the books.
i really really appreciated that percy’s impertinence was actually something he paid a price for. it will make his continued rebellion against the gods that much more intentional. that said, i would have liked percy’s relative ignorance of the mythic world to still remain. having sally make him so prepared that he sometimes manages to know obscure greek stories sort of blends their roles in the trio. yes, each one of them is layered and there is no one super rigid position they must adhere to but this is storytelling on television at the end of the day, the characters should have unique traits to distinguish themselves. for me, percy’s intelligence was about his presence of mind and deductive reasoning which the lotus casino scene in the book beautifully portrays. similarly, his knowledge was less about facts he knew and more about the street smarts he had acquired. in some way, annabeth and percy have a weird overlap in characteristics (show annabeth feels as sassy as show percy which is not the book dynamic imo).
i don’t see these as minor nitpicks btw – i think show portrayals have changed these characters through small changes and while that is okay, it also leaves room for improvement before it is too late. there are many considerations to be made–percy’s grief, annabeth’s tackling of complex feelings about the gods, grover’s guilt, ofc. but it’s, i think, a valid critique of the show that the main trio’s dialogue and actions could be made more faithful to the books.
also, i think the direction can be more dynamic, especially in exposition-heavy scenes. there are ways to make info-dumping fun and i’m sure the directors are more than capable of exploring these options moving forward.
there are many more smaller things i would point out but i don’t want to make this longer that it already is. many people handwave alot of the critique saying that the show is for children to which i say: children’s media doesn’t mean lesser quality media–the books were literally made for children yet on tv, many scenes are sanitised, very little left not on-the-nose. i have myself mentioned how certain scenes could be impossible to film with 12 yr olds (medusa beheading) without harming them mentally in some way so i appreciate the clever sanitization there. but the action sequences do need much more edge and that’s okay to acknowledge. the show we have now is great but it is absolutely not without flaws and normalising discussion about the flaws is only going to benefit the show moving forward.
and lastly, rick might be the author of the books but there is no rule that once you like an author’s work, you will have to like all of that author’s writing. just because rick made some final decisions does not take away the fandom’s rights to question those decisions and critique the screenwriting. there is seriously no use putting him on a pedestal–and i say this as someone who adores his writing in pjo.
let’s let the fandom breathe a little. let the mild, politely conveyed critique become commonplace as much as the ardent praise because i think that’s the balance we need to ensure that season two delivers on all the fronts that season one was unable to.
that’s all. thanks for reading lol. have a nice day. :))
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notmyprey · 1 month ago
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Annon sent me an ask with a lot of NinjagÂș sfw vore prompts, and this one caught my eye specifically, and I want to dedicate a post to it.
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I dont have time to draw much, but yall can have a short story-
(Also, wanna preface this with: no, I dont ship Lloyd and Kai. They have a sibling bond imo, and idk it'd be kinda weird with the age gap for a lot of the show. But I'm not gonna send hate to those who do see it like that. Just know this is written with a sibling bond in mind.
Also, this is written abt Lloyd after he grew up and matured a bit. So like- season 5+ Lloyd)
Click
The sound was faint, yet Lloyd knew exactly what it meant. Drop, cover, and prey to the gods it wasn't aimed towards you. Not even a moment after he dove behind the nearest bolder did he hear the thundering boom followed by the bright flash. Wind rushed past him, throwing ash and debris his way. The deafening sound echoed through his very core. It never seemed to end, his body left still shaking minutes after it was done. The cavern bounced the noise, rolling it off one wall and onto the next. It felt like it lasted ages within the few minutes it actually occurred.
The fighting, the punching, the swords, and the guns, all of these never fazed him. But explosions? Those were his weaknesses. His mind would always race back to his past and, consequently, his father. Lloyd didnt know exactly why it reminded him of his dad, but the fact that, like his father, an explosion would hurt anyone, even those on its own side, seemed to be a part of it.
The cavern soon quieted down, but his fear did not. The images of his father still fresh in his mind. He shook his head, trying to snap himself out of the haze he was in.
Him and Kai had gone into a cavern alone since there were 3 diverging paths. Up until now, we had only encountered arrow traps and small pits. But this? This was a new threat.
Was it over, the blast? He wondered, slowly inching towards the edge of the rock. He turned his head, looking for the brightness that would signal it was not over, yet all he was met with was dark.
He peered his head around the bolder, scanning for any sight of Kai. The smoke and ash coated his vision, making it ever more difficult to locate him. After a moment, though, he spotted Kai's fiery red suit. No matter how quickly he wanted to rush over to him, he needed to keep low as to breathe in the least amount of smoke, and he needed to scan for any more explosive traps. So, as such, he slowly inched his way along the cave floor.
By the time he made it to Kai, he could see Kai was in bad condition. His breathing was uneven, meaning he probably breathed in a lot of smoke and ash, and although he didn't seem to have any burns, he still had a lot of cuts and bruises from flying rocks.
Lloyd turned his gaze upward once more, showing the smoke had mostly cleared now. Normally, he would call Cole, Zane, or even Kai over, and one of them would be able to swallow whoever was hurt down. But now, there was no one else but him and the now injured Kai.
He forced his head back towards Kai, who had now opened his eyes. "Hey," Lloyd started, unsure of how to even approach this, "uh... how are you feeling."
A small smile tugged at Kai's lips, even through the pain. "I-", he devolved into a short coughing fit but slowly gained his ability to speak once more, "I have been better." He had to stop to take a breath after every word, something that worried Lloyd further.
Lloyd nodded and continued to fumble over his words. "I... I think it's maybe best... maybe if I..."
"It's ok, do what you have to do, kid." Kai gave a weak but reassuring smile, which gave Lloyd that little extra confidence he needed to continue. Kai knew what had to happen, and Lloyd did too. Kai couldn't stay on the ground here, and Lloyd couldn't carry him either for fear of hurting him further.
Taking a deep breath in, Lloyd stretched his arms out above Kai, holding his palms down, and his fingers stretched out as well. He softly recited the words taught to him. He himself had only done this twice before, but both times were in a controlled setting, and neither times had he actually been the one to eat the person that was shrunken down. Green light fluttered down from his palms, brushing downward with grace. As he finished, he saw Kai quickly start to shrink down.
Soon, Kai was a bit shorter than Lloyds hand from top to bottom. It was strange, seeing Kai so small and fragile. In his mind, Kai was his stronger older brother, the one who had always taken care of him. And now, Lloyd had to be the one to take care of Kai.
He pried Kai off the ground, gently rolling him into his hands and carefully curling his fingers a bit to create a barrier so Kai wouldn't roll immediately off his hands. He lifted Kai to his face, prompting a small groan to come from Kai, who was probably in a lot of pain now that the adrenaline was wearing off.
Now that he was face to face with Kai, Lloyd felt the need to say something. Cole and Jay normally said some sort of joke before eating someone, and Zane normally comforted them, but Kai, he would say something motivational. Perhaps that's why Lloyd always gave so many motivational speeches before missions.
Right now, though, as he thought on what to say, he found that he couldn't really say anything. He was speechless. He couldn't find the words to say to make Kai more comfortable. So he didn't. Instead, he gently brought Kai to his chest, giving him a sort of hug, and held him there for a moment. Kai's breathing slowed, and just for a moment, it felt as though everything was alright again.
Lloyd brought Kai back up to his face, smiling once more before gathering up the courage to open his mouth.
He maneuvered his hands, allowing him to slowly slide Kai onto his tongue. Immediately, Lloyd tasted blood and ashes on Kai's suit. He had to stop himself from gagging. Fighting every instinct that told Lloyd not to eat Kai, he slid him further into his mouth. Finally, only Kai's feet remained outside his lips, but due to how small his mouth is, he couldn't slip them inside without beginning to swallow Kai first. No matter what he did, Lloyd couldn't seem to get any saliva on Kai, his mouth joining in on telling him not to eat what his body must think is poison.
Regaurdless, he took a loud, thick swallow. Although it didn't do much, it did succeed in sending Kai's head into his throat and Kai's feet into his mouth. He promptly clamped his mouth shut behind him and desperately tried to get any amount of saliva in his dry mouth to coat Kai with.
It was horriblely uncomfortable having just a small portion of Kai in his throat. It kept triggering his need to swallow, but he couldn't yet. He knew he needed Kai to be at least lightly coated in drool to get him down, as learned from Jay not doing that once and nearly choking. Finally, after what seemed like too long, his mouth decided to cooperate, drenching Kai in thick goopy saliva.
He gave in to the instinct to swallow, almost happy to get rid of the unpleasant feeling of having someone on the edge of his throat. Kai slipped deeper into Lloyds throat, his muscles idly helping him along. With each gulp, Kai slipped further out of his mouth until finally he was gone. Now, a great lump sat in the middle of his throat. As he continued swallowing, Kai drifted deeper and deeper within him. When Kai went past his heart, he couldn't help but stop breathing for a moment.
After a bit longer, Kai drifted even further down and now was nearing his stomach. Lloyd braced himself. All of his brothers had told him this was the strangest part, but what he felt no amount of his brothers describing could ever replicate. At first, the feeling was sickening. A sudden bout of pressure built up inside his stomach, and it wasn't exactly pleasant. But after that initial sickness came the feeling similar to a hug.
He could feel Kai pressing against his stomach much more than he had originally thought he would have been able to feel. His stomach stretched a bit to accommodate for Kai's presence, and it didn't feel unnatural. As the last of Kai finally slipped into his stomach, Lloyd brought his hand up to his middle.
Gently, he pressed where he felt Kai, and to his surprise, Kai, although weakly, pressed back. This small pressure sent a strange shiver up his spine. He was able to keep Kai safe, ever so so safe. Nothing could get to Kai without going through him first. All those years of Kai helping him, he was finally able to start to pay him back.
Not being able to help the small smile that tugged at his lips, Lloyd got up, continuing on down the cave in search of their mission.
So yah, sorry I kinda took the turn of, whether Lloyd wants to or not- but yeah I still loved this prompt and idk I may make more stories based off of this prompt alone lol.
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2stepadmiral · 4 months ago
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Hardly a hot take, but I didn’t like acolyte. It’s the first Star Wars show that was legitimately bad (book of boba fett, Mando season 3, and Obi Wan I would consider guilty pleasures at worst). Overall, it had a lot of bad writing, cringy acting, and poor storytelling. Yes, there were some good parts, like Qimir’s character, the fight choreography, onscreen debut of cortosis, and Sol (until about episode 7), but for me, they weren’t good enough to make up for the lacking areas.
A few highlight critiques I have:
I hated the overall theme of anti-Jediism. Not because I don’t believe that the Jedi should be criticized, I just think that the way it was handled was nonsensical and idiotic. The flaws of the Jedi by the clone war were primarily complacency to a degree that they are basically puppets of the Senate, and stale teachings that haven’t changed in however many centuries or millennia that lead to Darth Vader. These flaws are issues that the Jedi should’ve recognized and tried to address, but they don’t warrant a total demonization of the institution as a whole. That’s the tragedy of the fall of the Jedi, the fact that they could’ve prevented their fall if they had simply been self critical and introspective. In acolyte, you have what effectively feels like real world political issues and criticisms forced into this universe and forcibly applied to the lens of the Jedi flaws. It isn’t explained why the Jedi being an institution is in and of itself a characteristic of the order, let alone a flaw, except from the perspective of the stranger, who sees himself as a victim of the Jedi because they won’t let him be a galaxy conquering Sith psychopath, which is a pretty weak argument.
Too many of the main characters are obnoxious and completely unlikeable. Neither mae nor osha feel like actual characters with actual arcs or development, just caricatures who make poor decisions and throw temper tantrums at anything they don’t like. Yord is an inflexible rule stickler who never develops any character besides rigidly following the rules and expressing bland disapproval at anyone who doesn’t follow his lead. Indara and Venestra were like Yord on steroids; they both reminded me unpleasantly of Luminara in TCW, but somehow with less personality. Sol, Jecki, and Qimir were the only characters that were interesting and somewhat likable.
The lightsaber designs are bland and boring. Before now, lightsaber hilts were always unique and had a profound or at least noticeable elegance to the design (Rey’s yellow lightsaber and Ezra’s blaster hybrid lightsaber are exceptions, those two were bland or ugly designs IMO). Pretty much every lightsaber in acolyte looks like interchangeable foot long pieces of discolored pipe with different cuts at the emitters, but apart from that, they looked pretty interchangeable.
The witches are cringe and poorly written. If these witches are supposed to be dark and creepy and potentially evil, why are they not just night sisters? If they’re supposed to be benevolent witches, Why did they act so night sister like? They play too small role in the story to be an entirely new kind of witch, and trying to blend nightsisters and other tribes of Dathomir witches was just confusing. We don’t understand their motives, and if we’re supposed to sympathize with them, it’s made very difficult by the fact that they’re pretty openly cultish and their intentions, for the twins seem pretty sinister. Overall, their inclusion just felt like a very weak and forced attempt to quickly add layers of demonization to the Jedi, and most of their time on screen countered that intention by making them cringy (that ceremony was beyond weird) and frankly unsympathetic due to their openly controlling and not so subtle Sinister undertones.
The ‘twist’ made no sense. Torbin was so homesick after a mere two months in the field doing drudge work that he thought bringing these girls would get him home? And he felt guilty to the point where he willingly and knowingly drank poison as atonement because
 Sol understandably struck at one of the witches when she started turning into a shadow demon? And seemed to be attacking one of the girls they were there to save? And the witches, in retaliation/defense, tried to kill him? And then possessed a Wookie Jedi to try and make him kill them? And then they all died when they were expelled from Kelnacca’s mind? What? ïżŒ
I hated the bleeding scene. I love the concept of bleeding kyber crystals, and previous executions, like in Jedi survivor, and in the Vader comics, were freaking awesome. But in both of those instances, you had fallen Jedi having the focus all of their rage and pain into a crystal that was actively fighting back, and as a result, success usually meant in explosion of Force energy. This may the concept fuel more like a tragedy when a crystal was bled, and it made it seem like even building a Sith light saber was in of itself a trial. Osha casually and unintentionally bleeding Sol’s crystal while strangling him makes bleeding seem ludicrously easy or makes it seem like she is casually more powerful than Vader, even while he was using a Darkside Nexus, and then the light saber blade changing color while active after she bleeds it trivializes the whole process.
The fact is that the vergence thing does raise questions about Anakin’s unique nature in the Force. They could have said that Brendok might have some kind of Nexus in the Force, and that the witches were able to use this potentially unnatural focus of Force energy to affect the artificial conception and birth of an unusually powerful being, and could’ve left a clear implication that while the twins together might have been almost as powerful as Anakin, even together they would have been less powerful. Using the term ‘vergence’ immediately implies that they are on the same level as Anakin in strength, as well as in unique nature. It’s sort of like Kyp Durron in the early EU, randomly introducing a Force user who is such a prodigy that he easily outstrips even master Luke. It strips beloved characters of their importance.
It also raises questions about how unique Plagueis’ work is. I haven’t read the book yet, but from my knowledge of Darth Plagueis, his obsession with immortality is what led him to learn how to influence the Force to create life. His whole pursuit flew directly in the face of the Rule of Two, Which is part of what made him interesting. Now, the implication is that he stole the idea from the witches, which robs him of some of his appeal and makes his work seem like a cheap knock off instead of a bold and desperate gambit that fleshes out his character and further contributes to Palpatine. Yes, they may remedy this in future seasons if it is renewed, but for right now, it’s raising questions.
Basil. That rodent annoyed the hell out of me every time he was on screen after episode 4.
Overall, the show had potential, but I feel like poor choices in writing dragged it down and ruined the execution. At the end of the day, I literally just want to watch an enjoyable Star Wars show that I can get into, and acolyte kept dragging me out of it with these and other issues.
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twst-hottest-takes · 4 months ago
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I have a hot take. I don't think Azul should be insecure about his weight. I do understand that some people are insecure about it (me being one of them), but imo it doesn't bring anything to his character.
Spoilers for book 3, book 4, and the Halloween event:
In book 3, Azul overblots because he was bullied for being overweight, and the only way he feels he can have any control in life is to make deals with others and use his magic. So when Leona destroys his contracts, it's pretty obvious Azul's losing his mind. However, Azul's weight, insecurities, and even the soft side he has doesn't really shine through.
I mean in book 4 after all of that was "resolved" he's the same person he was in book 3. He's a cunning business man, who wants the best deal possible so he can be on top. We even see this through the rest of the books.
If someone skipped book 3, they literally wouldn't have missed anything. Unless they were to play the Halloween event in which this happens:
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I'm sorry if some of them are too small. If you go to the end of the first Halloween event, and click on chapter 8 (I think it's called "He'll Be All Right"), you should be able to find it.
In conclusion, though, I think Azul should have overblotted for a different reason. Like maybe he wanted to be a shady business person like his mom, and destroying his contracts means all his time and effort were wasted. Idk literally anything other than he was bullied for being fat, and he's insecure about it.
There is a reason I put Azul at the bottom of the Overblot ranking.
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Forgive me though, I am going to have to push back on this one a bit, but trust the process!
Note: If this element of the character (Azul having been chubby/fat as a kid) is simply a narrative note that doesn't hit for you, there's not a problem with that and you can go about your day. You just really got me thinking and now I have to ramble out some details!
Azul wasn't just picked on for his weight. He was otherized for being an octopus as opposed to the more conventional fish-folk, and his issues with his body image reflect that. He was treated as stupid and slow and weird because he couldn't do things like all the other kids because of how his body worked. As a result, he decided to hone his magic to take advantage of others' weaknesses and distance himself from that image of his past to prove he wasn't what they said he was.
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Azul Overblotted after losing the contracts because they represented (literally and metaphorically) the power and control he had over others' strengths and weaknesses. Losing that control and being overwhelmed by the fear of returning to the version of himself that was most vulnerable is why he overblotted. The connection is made clearer still when you take into account that he avoids returning to his merman form as much as possible because it is that much closer to the version of himself he can't stand the most. Likewise, he would be trying to avoid weight gain because that was a part of that version as well.
Azul's schtick was erasing the past and I think his body conscious tendencies inform his character very well.
IN CHAPTER 3!
Like a lot of things in Twisted Wonderland, Azul being body conscious is something that gets left to the wayside for pretty much the rest of the game. Unless you are an Azul fan who collects all of his cards and reads all of his vignettes you wouldn't see the other subtle nods to it like this:
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Azul's Birthday Card Year 1: Screen transition line 3. (Azul justifies being able to be self-indulgent with food on his birthday.)
So in summary, I DO think that Azul's weight insecurity adds to his character and informs on the person he is in the current story. However, it has to be taken into account that it's just one small bit to a much larger and more important piece to his character. If you take it on its own, it doesn't have the kind of impact an overblot reason should, and they don't call back to it enough to remind you why it's actually important.
(There's me trying to set the record straight for maybe an oversimplified view on Azul, but I maintain his position on the ranking.)
Thank you for your take!
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thecreaturecodex · 1 year ago
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What's your options on bugbears in Golorian being all serial killers or atleast obsessed with fear? I think that has room for, improvement. Definitely feels weird for them though.
I love it.
It's one of my favorite lore changes between D&D and Pathfinder. It makes bugbears feel less like "goblin, but giant". And Paizo has made it clear that some goblins mutate and just grow to Medium size, so you can have giant goblins if you want 'em.
@monstersdownthepath suggested that bugbears have a demonic taint to them. Despite their CE nature, I'd suggest sahkils instead. Bugbears are the Fear of Marauders, of Banditry, of Murder. Only they're mortal. But I bet a lot of their souls end up in Xilbaba when they die.
I imagine that small groups of bugbears are somewhere between bandit gangs and terrorist cells, roaming around and striking for maximum psychological impact as much as to get material goods. Larger communities would be like Halloweentown, only much less friendly. With running competitions for "most blood drained in a single evening". And adopting more terrible monsters into their numbers as Honorary Bugbears. Life's no fun without a good scare! If the Thing Hiding Under Your Stairs and The Shadow on the Moon At Night really wanted to kill you, and then looted your supplies and took over your village until the well runs dry or next year's crop doesn't plant itself. That's a bugbear clan.
I also love the implication in Ironfang Invasion, through characters like Scarvinious and Scabvistin (great naming convention too, IMO), that some, but not all, bugbears are envious of hobgoblins. They like the idea of civilization, of order and rigidity. And so they enlist. And because of their strength and power, they can succeed. If they "beat the bear" out, in Scabvistin's words.
So if you want to give bugbears another hook, here's my alternate, but not necessarily incompatible take. They're brood parasites. Because what's scarier than a baby that's not yours taking over your life?
We know that in Pathfinder canon, goblins and hobgoblins are both communal breeders (thanks to nursery locations in both Rise of the Runelords and Jade Regent). A mother bugbear sneaks into a goblin creche and leaves her baby behind, after killing one of the young and either eating it themselves or feeding it to Junior. The somewhat addlepated and mutation-prone goblins won't notice or mind a slightly hairier infant, right? And then the bugbear baby takes more than its fair share of resources, maybe knocks off a few of the other kids, and then either leaves the goblin colony at a young age in order to find more bugbears, or stays and muscles his way into a leadership position.
Doing the same to a hobgoblin community is riskier. The hobgoblins are much more in tune and observant. But in this case, it becomes more of a mutualistic relationship that could tip into parasitism on either end. Maybe the bugbear can get along in the hobgoblin village by learning discipline, or be content with the role of scavenger or brute. Or the bugbear could try to take over, if the hobgoblins are weak. And if the bugbear doesn't have the resources to survive and thrive, the hobgoblins send them off on a suicide mission.
And even though they only rely on other goblinoids for raising their young...most of the time, there are rumors that they do this to other peoples. Even if it happens once in a hundred years, everyone will know the story of how the Munson boy got very hairy and very big very quickly, and then slaughtered and spit-roasted the family dog when he was only 4? That kind of fear keeps the bugbears powerful. And makes the bugbears very happy.
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gizkasparadise · 11 months ago
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2023 wrapped: cdrama edition!
taking a page from @dangermousie and doing an overview of all the cdramas i watched this year (i'll do one for kdramas later)! listed in order of least favorite to most favorite. favorite =/= objectively best/most well-made. just the ones i had the most fun watching.
15 have a crush on you. oh dear lord. this drama should be a case study for what happens when a bad drama has charismatic actors and they keep you trapped hostage. i watched this whole damn thing hating every minute of it on behalf of the poor female lead who definitely deserved better. the ending? absolutely batshit, and not in a fun way. one of the weirdest, worst endings ive seen since with you
14 back from the brink. too kitschy for me, i didn't last long on this one (i think 2 eps lol).
13 gone with the rain. i wanted to like this one because i love sean sun and troll general is exactly what i want out of life. but i didn't like the weird daydream asides, constant animal noise sound effects, and i found everyone kind of off-putting in a non-watchable way, so i peaced out really quick--ep 4ish
12 here we meet again. i love janice wu. i continue to try out her dramas hoping for something to grab me again. this one was pretty boring/too focused on the work element and not the rest of it.
11 exclusive fairytale. i have a secret weakness for youth-to-working-life dramas, so tried this one out. flat, not a lot of chemistry, and very color-by-numbers. the show was clearly made to vehicle jun, and that's okay, but not my thing
10 the starry love. i wanted to like this one because the side characters were fun and i loved the male lead/prince of heaven and all his awkward "please leave by 9" energy. but it bored me overall and unlike most folks i had no interest in the demon secondary ship. i dropped around ep 10
9 my journey to you. it kills me to rank this one so low because it was my most anticipated cdrama this year, but i just couldn't get into it. the pacing was too slow for me, and i couldn't stand how everyone talked to each other (long. pauses. and then. staring. and then. whispers. always the. whispers). i dropped this around midway
8 the love you give me. the chemistry between the leads was cute and it was a decent modern romance. started losing me around the midpoint when the paternity reveal hit and the ML got way into boundary crossing because of it
7 circle of love. objectively not a good drama. in fact, a toxic and batshit drama that has probably made me a worse person for watching it. but gd did my messy ass enjoy the trainwreck.
6 road home. you really got to be in the mood for this one, but it's a nice, understated and slow melo romance. but def not a bingeable show since it takes its time with everything
5 wonderland of love. another drama that i dont think is objectively great, but two competent schemers/martial artists trying to one-up each other is like ship catnip for me and this was a show that lived or died by its ship. surprisingly tame for the screenwriter, and had a happy ending! popcorn watch.
4 till the end of the moon. me and this drama were in a bad romance, which i suppose is thematically appropriate. i hated parts of it, i was super invested in others. the post-dream human arc was giving wuthering heights tragic obsession incredibleness. even with its flaws, i think most of cdramaland is in agreement that lyx/tantai jin stole the ML competition this year. great gowns, beautiful gowns
3 story of kunning palace. i adored the characters in this drama! even when the plot was losing my interest, everyone was cast so well and had so much charisma that i stayed pretty hooked from ep 10ish on. absolutely loved the mean high school theatre director wreck that was xie wei, as well as the other (imo) true love interest of the show, princess leyang. the desperate speech about being like iron is gonna live rent-free in my head
& then 1&2 are way ahead of the others for me this year/a very close race between them!
2 a journey to love. i love this drama so much!!! i have not skipped or speed watched a single scene which for me is a huge feat! great character work across the board -- even the side characters have a lot of nuance and interesting dynamics between them. beautiful fight scenes. great ost. one of the best, most balanced main couples ive seen in a show. it's gonna break my heart in a few eps when it ends, but i'll be happy about it
1 lost you forever (s1). this drama came out of NOWHERE and the vicegrip it had on me while it was airing!!! my favorite FL this year (although a journey to love's ruyi is a close second), and just a ton of fun while also being quietly devastating in parts. i loved how lived in and tired the FL felt, enjoyed the various flavors of mess from her love interests, and enjoyed how extra it could go while still giving us really grounded and complicated characters. this drama gets extra points for converting me on several actors i did not think that highly of before the show.
overall, despite how many i dropped (lol writing it out made me realize i dropped so, so many), cdramas delivered for me this year! my top two are on my short list for favorite dramas, period. everyone go watch a journey to love and lost you forever if you havent yet!!!
AWARDS
Favorite ship: definitely goes to ruyi and yuanzhou from a journey to love. it's just nice to see a couple that mutually supports each other's murders
Favorite FL: xiaoyao from lost you forever with ruyi from journey to love as a very close runner-up. i am here for this year's theme of competent, jaded ladies trying to reclaim their lives
Favorite ML: objectively, tantai jin from till the end of the moon should win this, but story of kunning palace's xie wei was just so entertainingly grumpy, petty, and unhinged which is a winning combo for me.
Favorite 2FL: princess yang ying from a journey to love. she's doing amazing and im proud of her!!
Favorite 2ML: technically third male lead, but xiang liu from lost you forever was my favorite to watch and had the best tuxedo mask exits
Best Cast: a journey to love, i literally adore all of them, even the ones i hate
Best Blood Cough: tantai jin, you beautiful bastard who needs a bib
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bthump · 1 year ago
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What are your thoughts or analyses on the phallic imagery in berserk? Less so the more obvious ones like seen in Casca’s nightmares which are obviously pointing to her sexual trauma, but like we see with the vagina-esque monsters and how Guts’ sword is alluded to being like a penis in some cases. Sorry if it’s a weird question lol
Sorry for the wait on this lol, I was on vacation for a while, and it's also a topic I wanted to spend some time on because I love it and I wanted to be relatively thorough. Thanks for the ask!
So yeah, disclaimers out of the way, Freudian analytical theory is very silly, very gender essentialist in ways that can often be transphobic and misogynist, and as far as I'm aware pretty much wholly unrelated to real psychology. Back in the 70s and 80s you had film theorists who took it seriously as a genuine glimpse into the subconsciousness of humanity or whatever, but now it's pretty much just a readily available source of sex and gender related symbolism that's easy to understand.
And in Berserk I do genuinely think it's a valid lens to view the story through because Miura is often quite heavy handed in utilizing it as symbolism. I mean, Guts literally gives someone an orgasm by stabbing her at one point. Some of this can definitely be a stretch, taking established symbols and running with them, but some of it is also almost certainly purposeful. I'll leave it to you to decide what you see as legit and what you see as stretching believability here.
This is very long lol
So yeah, it starts off strong in Berserk with Guts' oversized sword. Swords are dicks, ie sources of masculine power, especially in Berserk
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and in the context of the story the dragonslayer is Guts overcompensating imo. And it's not compensating for a small dick lol, which would be more the purview of comedy, but for a loss of masculinity, ie Guts' childhood abuse from Gambino, and rape trauma. It's about his need to prove himself because he was made to feel like he had to, imo.
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And it's not just the size of his sword, his obsession with it is also a major factor. He has a grandiose speech about how his sword is like a part of his body (hmm) and that it's been at his side through everything and he's always relied on it. The dream he lands on is to be the best and strongest sword fighter ever. He's currently having a breakdown over not being able to hit someone with his sword. He has a recurring tendency to break other guy's swords lol. At one point Casca screams at him that he essentially cares about his sword more than her. etc etc.
In the story dreams are at odds with emotionally healing human relationships, and dreams are represented by swords (Guts' sword obviously, Casca becoming Griffith's sword, Griffith calling the throne a sword while taunting the king in the dungeon as well as his vision of himself throwing him a sword and pointing to the castle in chapter 72).
So through a Freudian lens, Guts' sword can also be said to represent emotional isolation, positioning masculinity as emotionally isolating. Which, yk, fits with Griffith also equating dreams and masculinity in his Promrose Hall speech (a man must achieve a dream before he can have a family or lover) and, I suppose lol, Casca getting "softer" and more feminine as she falls for Guts, as femininity is therefore the opposite: emotional reliance on and support of others.
So if swords are dicks, then it follows that wounds are vaginas, ie yonic symbols. Also pretty obvious when you read some of the lines during the Guts and Casca sex scene lol. "I too want a wound I can say you gave me." These can represent weakness and victimization (I did warn for misogyny lol) and/or (often sexual) relationships and emotional openness.
So you have the relationships - "licking wounds" with Casca; Guts letting Casca stab him when he thinks about abandoning Griffith; the Beast of Darkness calling Casca the wound Griffith left so Guts can keep feeling the pain Griffith caused; Griffith scratching his own shoulder where Guts' sword pointedly didn't wound him; Griffith being out of reach of Guts' sword post-Eclipse; "let's give him a heap of raw iron;" and Farnese grinding on Guts' sword while possessed and Slan directly treating being stabbed as sexual penetration for the most obvious examples...
Also I'd argue that any time Guts gets his ass kicked in a fight it functions as an echo of his rape trauma symbolically and subconsciously to Guts. Both kinda obviously at times, like eg when Slan overpowers him and tears off his shirt while wounding his chest, and kisses him after the stabbing, causing Guts to feel a burst of fear
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or when Rosine stabs Guts through the mouth as another enemy who flirts with Guts mid-fight. And of course the first duel with Griffith in which Guts unilaterally sets the stakes to sex slavery because he's projecting.
But also a little more subtlely, such as when Zodd is given the same position as Nightmare Donovan in Guts' concussion nightmare after he kills Adonis, or all this consistent imagery that rapists and apostles tend to get.
Or, interestingly, the way the Berserk armour functions as self-harm as Guts fights by penetrating Guts to "heal" him.
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Something that solidifies its hold over Guts and makes him lose more and more of his positive humanity to his urge to kill.
So yeah, from a Freudian angle I'd suggest that Guts is driven to fight to reclaim the sense of masculine power he was stripped of when he was raped, and every fight can be said to be a repetition of his rape trauma in which he (usually) successfully fights back, but also continuously retraumatizes himself rather than healing.
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I'm going to delve a little deeper into how phallic and yonic symbols intersect with the characters' relationships now that we've outlined some of the preliminary symbolism, starting from the Golden Age.
The first duel between Guts and Griffith is rife with Freudian symbolism, very overtly. Griffith stabs Guts and then Guts proceeds to have a nightmare about his rape trauma. Then he projects that trauma onto Griffith when he assumes Griffith wants to fuck him and adds sexual stakes to their duel. Then, yk, he takes Griffith's sword into his mouth lol.
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Griffith winning by dislocating Guts' arm can be easily taken as a symbolic unmanning/castration, nicely introducing us into Guts' three years of growth towards prioritizing relationships instead of aimless sword-swinging to prove himself. It's also suggestive of penetration when you're primed to look for sexual symbolism (and if Guts offering Griffith his ass and then biting a sword doesn't prime you for it, what does?):
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And the two of them losing their swords in the course of the fight and resorting to unarmed combat can also be taken as a telling symbol of the conflict between dreams and their relationship with each other. They lose the symbols of their dreams and contend only with each other, in a more positive contrast to the second duel that ends their relationship, in which they fight only with swords and never touch each other.
Wounds come into it when Griffith nearly gets killed rushing in against Zodd to save Guts, leading to the most impactful moment of their relationship, where Griffith admits he did it solely for Guts' sake and had no other reason. Griffith also points out how wounded Guts is after that fight, in what I'd call a nearly flirtatious way:
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And if you follow these symbols completely strictly this scene suggests Guts retreating into his defensive masculinity in his sword exercises after being defeated/emasculated by Zodd and accused of not valuing his personal relationships by Casca, and finally finding a new, more constructive purpose for his sword after Griffith essentially confesses his devotion to him.
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Dedicating his sword to Griffith in return for the wounds Griffith suffered for his sake, with, it has to be noted when the topic is freudian symbolism, his sword held at exactly crotch level.
In the second duel Guts destroys Griffith's sword before leaving, a symbolic castration which is most likely intended to represent and foreshadow Griffith's subsequent loss of power when he throws his life away and ends up tortured in a dungeon for a year. More interestingly imo, is Griffith tracing scratch-markes on his shoulder after sleeping with Charlotte and while crying over Guts - the same shoulder Guts' sword didn't quite hit when he won the duel, drawing attention to the lack of a wound by Guts' hand, a wound he created himself and traces in his devastation.
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You have a nice... I don't know what the comic terminology is lol so I'm just going to call it a match-cut here, with Griffith and Casca both getting penetrated by the same number of arrows/skewers, to signify Griffith and the Hawks' fall from power, in contrast to Guts' growing phallic power as he pursues his sword swinging. Power which he demonstrates when he returns and saves the Hawks and Casca and Griffith by swinging his sword a lot and defeating a lot of powerful enemies and, if I'm gonna be crass, healing Casca's suicidal despair with his dick lol.
Interestingly though, before he does that he lets Casca stab him while experiencing the guilt of having driven Griffith into a torture chamber by leaving. It's a wound that highlights his emotional connection to Griffith and vulnerability to those emotions, even as he tries to deny them. He then manages to successfully deny them for a little while longer after having sex with Casca.
In this Freudian context, Guts and Casca's sex scene is an affirmation of a relationship, but one which is emotionally uneven, with Casca ready and willing to emotionally rely on and support Guts, but Guts still dedicated to his sword-swinging dream, inviting Casca with him but only as long as she doesn't get in the way of what he wants to do. This does fit with phallic symbols being associated with emotional distance and yonic symbols being associated with emotional closeness lol. (Also fittingly, the one way he does open up to her is about his rape trauma after a flashback.)
It's worth noting that in this disconnect Casca erroneously assumes Guts fought the hundred men and "bled" for her, making her want "a wound" from him in return. Guts fighting those hundred men is much more reminiscent of his fights against apostles, the fights that revolve around replaying his rape trauma to make himself feel better. Casca assumes they already have an emotional bond due to Guts' wounds, but she's wrong - Guts specifically thinks to himself during the hundred man fight that he's not doing it for Casca.
This is reflected in the Wyald fight when Guts insists on fighting Wyald, again as part of the whole reaffirmation of masculinity thing I outlined at the start of this, when Casca just wants him to run away. The Wyald fight is pretty overt about being about Guts' rape trauma imo, moreso than most fights in the story. Wyald's rapiness is made a point of from Guts' point of view when he sees him wielding the torso of a woman sexually impaled on a pike and gets extra angry, and when he literally cuts off Wyald's dick when he's about to rape Casca, and then has his pointed line about needing to "settle the score with him... with them... by his own sword."
SO ESSENTIALLY to sum up this subsection, I think you can argue that what prevents Guts and Casca from being an equal relationship is Guts stlil being hung up over needing to prove his masculine power through sword-swinging, rather than embracing his emasculation (which, remember, tends to signify positive relationships in this context) and coming to terms with it ("immersing himself in sorrow" as Godo says much later.)
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Like, to return to Griffith, it's fitting that after Guts destroys his sword and he goes through a year of torture and is thoroughly emasculated, he's able to recognize his feelings for Guts and understand that Guts is more important to him than the dream, the "sword called the throne."
But he doesn't quite come to terms with his emasculation either. This symbolism is one explanation for the wagon scene where he propositions Casca - a desperate bid for some form of power. Not the strongest explanation imo, but since we're currently in the business of actively looking for this symbolism, it definitely fits. Casca's rejection and pity reinforce Griffith's emasculation, and overhearing her tell Guts to leave again is the final straw. Relationships are a bust, swords are now his only recourse, as we see when he has a vision of himself throwing him a sword and pointing to the castle.
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You could take the nightmarish vision he has of a life with Casca as Griffith rejecting emasculation, but an alternate way of taking it is Griffith regaining a form of phallic power, and the emotional isolation that goes with it. After all, it's implied that he has a child with Casca, while totally withdrawn and emotionally isolated.
I once said in a different silly essay that Griffith choosing the dream is, in a way, Griffith choosing another version that nightmare, and that take also fits here.
And hey, it's another reason for Femto to rape Casca lol, if we want to ascribe meaning there, and of course we must in this kind of analysis. In the wagon Griffith essentially offers sex to Casca for the faint vestige of masculine power it could give him (emotional isolation and a child); in his nightmare he imagines that life and it drives him to suicide; and after becoming Femto he forces sex onto Casca and then continues on to embody emotional distance and masculine power.
This power is painfully demonstrated through the rape of Casca, but also subsequently through his pure untouchability (often in pointedly sexualized contexts); through his phony relationship with Charlotte and ascending to the ultimate patriarchal role of king/emperor and taking that sword called the throne; and I guess also through his actual sword lol which he still uses.
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An example of sexualized untouchability - check out the positioning of that third thought bubble, in this scene where Griffith lords his invulnerability over Ganishka.
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And look at all those pillars, I'm js.
And I'd be remiss not to point out the most recent confrontation with Guts where Guts tries many times to hit his naked body with his giant sword, completely fails, and then Griffith kidnaps Casca. More very on-point emasculation symbolism, it might as well be Guts trying to fuck him but unable to get hard lol. His breakdown afterwards doesn't do much to disabuse you of that notion either.
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Anyway, back to post-Eclipse Guts. There's not much else to add that I didn't cover at the start, but in brief:
Guts has lost his arm during the Eclipse, which is an emasculation - he loses it while watching Femto rape ~his woman~ so it's like the most traditional symbolic castration there is lol. And of course he replaces it with a bigger, better, and more overt phallic symbol: a canon. And like the first thing we see him do with it is shove it into the mouth of a monster he's banging and blow her head off. So yk, there's that.
And there's Puck, who exists to help bridge Guts' emotional distance and essentially serves as the feminine counterpart to Guts' masculinity for a while. From his magical empathy, to his tiny size, to his lack of genitalia (note that in Freudian theory the lack of a penis is an indicator of femininity rather than specifically the presence of a vagina), to his connections with female characters Theresia and Jill, even arguably to his introduction where Guts saves him from a bunch of men throwing phallic knives at him by skewering them with his own (bigger) projectiles, this is consistent during the Black Swordsman/Conviction arc era.
Chestnut Puck is a lot more boyish, with his particular humour, his cameraderie with an annoying teenage boy, and now having his own feminine counterpart in Ivalera, but that's fine because his thematic job as a feminine influence on Guts is over after Guts starts collecting more friends.
And as far as the RPG group goes, there are a few notable instances of phallic symbolism for them too. Farnese and Serpico are an obvious example, with Farnese sexualizing the wounds Serpico voluntarily suffers for her, when she demands he duel for her honour a bunch of times.
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Farnese brandishing the end of her whip at him doesn't hurt the freudian power dynamic symbolism either lol.
In the Conviction arc Farnese wielded a sword she was incapable of using, suggestive of her true femininity under a brash masculine surface, and when she softens in the Millenium Falcon arc she becomes a caretaker with only a small dagger for self-defense. That said, she does get that epic moment of stabbing a tiger in the eye with a long silver pole (candlestick) when she rejoins Guts' crew rather than becoming a housewife, so she still gets some badass phallic weapon imagery lol.
Serpico wields a thin rapier in the Conviction Arc, which Guts easily grabs in his hand, and in the Millenium Falcon arc he switches to a... limp feather duster lol. Serpico is very feminized compared to Guts and his weapons fit as part of that, but they're still effective weapons. You could maybe argue, within this Freudian lens, that this is indicative of Serpico's healthier relationship with masculinity. He's not compensating for anything, he's at peace with himself.
And god I gotta say something about Guts and Serpico's duels. In the first one you have Serpico delaying Guts while Farnese steals Casca from him, and part of that delay is to force Guts into a fight where he can't wield his sword, a parallel emasculation to Casca being kidnapped.
Then you have their confrontation after Farnese's no good very bad night, which is just incredibly suggestive lol.
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You cannot tell me this isn't Guts getting blueballed when Serpico leaves after one quick exchange. Particularly coming in the same chapter featuring possessed Farnese grinding on Guts' sword (which Guts was much less interested in, incidentally). Also: wounds as sexual imagery again. Guts licking the blood off his cheek? Come on.
And finally you have their fight in Farnese's basement, in which Serpico attempts to hinder Guts by surrounding him with giant pillars, which Guts smashes through as he dodges around them. Another neat illustration of Guts' pure phallic power and Serpico's much more effeminate style.
One final note to address part of your ask, which didn't naturally fit into the rest of this lol: I would interpret vaginal imagery in monsters as mainly castration anxiety, yk, vagina dentata vibes, the fear of sticking your dick in a hole you can't see into. There's actually a lot of interesting stuff to consider in terms of the feminine as the unknowable other when it comes to Freudian theory, but that's like, not something I would expect Miura to lean into first of all, and also it would take another essay of explanation. If you're interested in that kind of Freudian analysis though I'd recommend the books Men, Women, and Chainsaws by Carol J. Clover and The Dread of Difference, edited by Barry Keith Grant. I took a course on women and horror films ages ago and read chunks of those, and it was very fun, and iirc both address Freudian imagery in horror.
Okay! So that's the rundown of like, all the examples of Freudian imagery that interest me at least lol. This isn't exhaustive ofc, Berserk is long and not stingy with this stuff, but this response is already so long and meandering lol, so I'm going to wrap it up here.
To sum up, phallic imagery often represents masculine power as well as masculine flaws (like emotional isolation) in Berserk, while yonic/vaginal imagery tends to represent feminine weakness as well as feminine virtues (like emotional connection and vulnerability). As a general rule, the more phallic imagery someone violently swings around, the more fucked up they are. Phallic violence is used to compensate for past trauma, but it only continues the cycle of violence. The way to break that violence is to accept one's wounds and focus on them, to heal, rather than trying to distract from them.
I don't think this is always the best way to interpret Berserk lol, but it adds another dimension that very often complements the surface meaning and thematic resonance of the story, sometimes purposefully, sometimes likely incidental. And either way it's a lot of fun to read into!
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thesinglesock · 17 days ago
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Jay vs Nya fight was kind of a disappointment tbh... :(
Or, the fight itself was fine, my main problem was their dialogue. Jay just saying "I'll always love you" in the flashback and then "I'll always hate you" at the end of the episode? I see what they were going for but that's weak. maybe Jay is known to say exactly what he feels but Nya?
Nya is infamous for saying anything but "I love you". Even in the most dire situations the best she can do is "we make a good team", "thank you", and the classic "I never wanted to be part of your boys' club anyways". If she's going to say "I love you" you should make it a THING.
Like, in the flashback, have them be corny and weird. Have them exchange silly quips that no one else thinks is funny. Then have Jay blurt out "I love you" because that's what he does. Then have Nya deflect it because she can't ever just be earnest, can she?
Then, in her head, she plays every "I love you" left unanswered on repeat. Show how this has been weighing on her since the Merge. And when she sees Jay, it's the first thing she says to him.
The rest plays out similarly to what happened in the episode, but let's have Jay be more quiet. I know that's ooc for him but the way he just blurted out the whole story Raz gave him during the fight was so boring :( he's not acting like himself anyways I think he's allowed to be a little less chatty when he's Evil. He doesn't explain that he lost his memory. Nya has to piece that together by herself during the fight.
Nya is confused and emotional, Jay is confused and defensive. Otherwise the fight is the same.
After she wins, she still tries to talk to him, and she can't stop herself from saying one more "I love you" but he just leaves without an answer.
It would be a more fitting parallel imo to have Nya confront how she never really returned his words of affection, and now he won't talk to her.
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atopvisenyashill · 9 months ago
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why do you think jonsa is happening tho? jonerys is different bc they are going to be enemies, but i don’t see what jonsa does for the story
so let me first lay out roughly what i think is going to happen should jonsa become canon. I personally love going down meta and graphic spirals, so I'm including links to other people’s theories/explanations/graphics of events too - also I would like to shout out @istumpysk because half these metas and gifsets were stuff I found on their blog initially, and also was the one who really convinced me that jonsa is less of a crackship and more of a contender for an actual canon theory, and from there i really found my niche in this fandom. specifically this meta about jon being the mummer's dragon is what pulled me out of my "we're never getting twow and if we do it's just gonna be that stupid dany has jon's magical baby while tyrion watches, then they all die theory" slump and lit my brain on fire again. let's goooo:
The Ashford Tourney Theory - Something Shady goes down at the tourney Petyr has planned that requires Sansa to make a quick getaway, and likely causes her to run into Brienne while fleeing. This theory for me is about hinting at Sansa's romantic future, allies, and how she's getting the hell out of the Vale: both the dark haired, Not Targ Looking Targ Prince that is the son of A Great Prince That Never Was being her romantic endgame but also it's about Brienne (/Dunk) getting her the hell out of there and becoming Sansa's number one ally and protector (with Sansa's number two being Bronze Yohn!! But he's not fleeing with her - if he helps her get out of the Vale, it'll be to cause a distraction or a fight so Sansa can slip away unnoticed. Bronze Yohn is coming with the knights of the Vale later to help defend his girl!).
The Girl In Grey - Out of options on where to go, Sansa & Brienne makes a long, fast, and dangerous trek to the only family she knows is still alive: Jon Snow at the Wall. No, I don't think Alys Karstark is the girl in grey on a dying horse; I think she's a red herring, the same as the scene where Sweetrobin destroys the snow castle, and that the real girl in grey (who slays the savage giant) is Sansa. Melisandre says that she sees "Jon's sister" but doesn't specify more than that, or how she knows it's Jon's sister, even - why would she assume Alys is Jon's sister and not some random Northern girl? Why was she so sure that it was his sister? It's because Alys isn't the girl in grey, it's Sansa, her horse dying because she's traveled halfway across the continent with Brienne and Pod, desperately trying to keep ahead of the dozens of people hunting her down.
The Blood of Winterfell - Sansa and Jon will reclaim winterfell together. This one is similar to above; just like Alys was a red herring, the scene where Sansa rebuilds the castle has a lot of foreshadowing (imo) but that isn't the moment in the prophecy Arya hears. The Savage Giant is Littlefinger, the castle of snow is Winterfell, and Sansa is going to liberate her home alongside Jon and what's left of the Northern lords.
Stone and Snow Remains - THIS is where Sansa and Jon will fall in love while fighting for the North. This is also the part where you lose a lot of people, because they think the evidence is real weak sauce but like, I also think the Jonerys "evidence" is weak af too (and no wonder, we have at minimum 2k pages left to get through!!). There's several believed foreshadowing points to this one, bare with me for this weird ass formatting because I can't do sub bullet points on tumblr:
1. Sansa's linking of snow with love and affection - "drifting snowflakes brushed her face as light as lover’s kisses, and melted on her cheeks...She could feel the snow on her lashes, taste it on her lips. It was the taste of Winterfell. The taste of innocence. The taste of dreams." along with her snow maiden and snow knight.
2. Bael the Bard and the Rose of Winterfell - the chapter where Sansa gets her period for the first time, Cersei refers to it as “flowering” a dozen times, linking being a maiden (a young girl, not quite of age or just barely of age) to flowers and several people refer to sex as ~plucking. Also notice the one who stole her from KL is Lord BAELish.
3. Aemon the Dragonknight & Queen Naerys - Sansa compares herself to Naerys, Joffrey to Aegon, and wishes for an Aemon, among the many similarities between her life and Naerys'. Jon not only calls himself Aemon, he has a deep connection with a different Aemon Targaryen. And if you’re thinking “Sansa isn’t Naerys, X is Naerys” I would remind you that Sansa as a character existed first, George purposefully had her compare herself to Naerys, and parallels don't belong to just one character.
4. Jenny of Oldstones and The Prince of Dragonflies - there's honestly a lot of parallels between them but like the Aemon/Naerys parallel, the Jenny/Duncan one stands out to me.
5. Janos Slynt - I mean. Iconic. This was the scene that made me first think about what their relationship could be in the future and there’s a reason Jonsas fixate on it. It’s about Sansa being desperate for a hero and the hero she dreamed about being Jon the whole time. 6. Societal Alienation - There's the bastard parallels here, the "it would be so sweet to see him again", the "Winterfell belongs to my sister, Sansa." It's about how Jon, through circumstances of his birth, finds himself alienated from the rest of society and reconnects with his prim and proper sister Sansa, who finds herself alienated from the rest of society as well but for vastly different reasons.
Robb’s Will - Howland is going to show up in the North, along with Maege and Galbert, with some WILD news about why Jon can’t rule Winterfell. There’s a lot of contention around this. Bran probably shows up around this time too, and Arya gets to the Riverlands to discover Lady Stoneheart and give her the gift of mercy. This is where all the inheritance stuff is going to happen and I have no idea how it's going to go down besides it's going to be messy as all fuck.
The Pact Of Ice And Fire - Jon & Sansa get secret married bc they’re in love, not siblings, & jon is the only man she trusts not to steal her claim. This isn't the only possible foreshadowing instance of a marriage either - some believe the Sandor/Sansa scene during the Battle of the Blackwater is foreshadowing as well (personally I feel that's a bit of a stretch but I wanted to include it anyway).
Jon As An Envoy - I talked about this in my "what's Jon's ending" a little but I believe Jon will act as an envoy for either Sansa or Bran to Aegon VI, essentially playing out a similar story that he does in the show with Daenerys. By which I mean, Jon is not the King because the ruler themselves do not go as an envoy, that’s stupid and dangerous, but he goes as an ambassador for Sansa or Bran, to treat with a new claimant to the Iron Throne that is gaining support - Aegon VI & Jon Connington. They will probably clash, Jon will probably have yet another identity crisis, there had BETTER be gay incest subtext, then Aegon dies, and Jon has his sixth quarter life crisis in a row.
“King” of the Gift - again, something I touched on in my Jon meta is that I think he’s going to have a hand in resettling the Gift. Personally, I think it's likely that Jon leaves to protect the claims of his siblings (see: Duncan and Jenny) and goes to the Gift to help resettle it to keep out of the way. This ending is typically referred to as the "bael the bard" ending but i like to think of it as the "brandon's gift" ending instead - though he is not physically with his family, Jon feels fulfilled having confirmed his family loves him through reclaiming Winterfell and marrying Sansa, being reunited with Arya, and being given the Gift by Bran. Sansa claims her children were fathered by a wolf.
So
what does all this do for the story?
Well, in my opinion, several things.
I think the main barrier here is that most people in the greater fandom describe Sansa's story as ~growing past childish wants~ and Jon's as ~rejecting love~ and I do not agree with either of those takes even a little bit. This is where (imo) the dividing line between Jonsas and the rest of the fandom is. I don’t think the answer to Sansa’s question “will anyone ever marry me for love” is going to be “nah" - that's not just a sad story to me (wanting to be married isn't childish! craving intimacy and understanding isn't childish! it's also not wrong for a child to be childish!), I think the idea that Sansa (or Jon) will not find another love just doesn't line up with how George approaches his story. Who Sansa's husband will be has been such a big question, and her story is so heavy into the more romantic tropes like courtly love and chivalry and the line between politics and love and identity, that the question of Sansa's hand in marriage will be plot relevant. I also think it's kinda naive of people to pretend like George isn't very interested in the sexual dynamics of the characters he writes about (yeah, sure, no woman needs a man but "needing a man" is not what this is about. look at everything this man wrote in F&B and tell me he is going to write a female character that longs for sex and desire and doesn't get it!).
After AGOT, nearly every time Sansa thinks about marriage involves her longing for love but believing she will never get it because a man will only ever love her for her claim. Giving her a man - like Jon - who not only will not steal her claim and in fact has defended it twice over already, who will love her for who she is and not what she can give him, is a really important aspect of her story in my opinion.
As for Jon, I am even more firmly against the opinion that his story is about rejecting love; Jon’s story is about wanting to be a good man, to measure up to his father ~despite~ his bastard blood. When Aemon asks if Ned would choose honor over love and Jon stubbornly says yes, Jon is wrong and it’s important to not forget that. Ned has never once in his entire life chosen honor over love; he chooses his daughter’s life over his honor, he chooses his sister & her son’s life over honor, he chooses Arya & Nymeria over honor, and on and on!!! Ned chooses love at almost turn but none of his children know that just yet - look at Robb choosing Jeyne’s honor over his own and how upset he is at the idea that Ned would be disappointed despite the fact that Ned would have understand Robb’s decision! Jon's whole arc is tied up in realizing that it is not wrong or dirty to feel and choose love, passion, and desire and if he never has another romantic arc again, I think you lose the second part of that lesson which is "you are responsible for how you act when you feel love but that doesn't mean that simply choosing love makes you a bad person."
There's also the fact that George has talked a lot about "who lives, who dies, who gets married" and yet we have not one marriage at the end of the show AND there's not a lot of guesses at what "who gets married" means besides Jon/erys (and even if Jonsa doesn't happen, I simply do not see Jon/erys happening. they are not similar enough, they will not be in the same space for long enough, and they are on wildlly different trajectories for their story, they are not getting married let alone having sex). I think Jonsa fits that bill very well.
These various theories - from Sansa being queen, Jon living in exile, The Ashford Tourney Theory, the secret marriage, every one of them - are ideas and themes that I have really been thinking about for about 12 years now. I think Jon and Sansa's relationship could fit with the themes in their stories, the overarching themes in the books, and my own personal opinions. I think it gives George a great opportunity to delve into the courtly love aspects he enjoys so much, as well as delve into inheritance, legacy, legitimacy, honor, incest (yes, that too), and above all, what George himself has said the whole series is about - love. The human heart in conflict with itself is what I think Jon and Sansa as a romantic couple does for the series.
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prettyinpwn · 2 months ago
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Weird thought that crossed my mind yesterday, I was 50/50 with the fact in The Book of Bill about him being born with an eye mutation that allowed him to see the third dimension. I mean, knowing Bill this might be a lie, that was the thought that was a bit weird for me.
Just to make it clear, the little I know of the book it’s because of analytics posts and clips that shared screenshots of the book. I haven’t bought it yet so my knowledge is limited.
Anyway, honestly, I took it at face value that he was born with a mutation and that’s why he connected to Ford, but in the romance section of the book where he talked about vulnerabilities, Bill said that you need a sob story to have your “partner” eating from the palm on your hand. And while Bill used that trick by sharing the speck of dust from his home dimension, I wonder why he didn’t use the truth of his eye mutation and whatever hardships he went through because of that to manipulate Ford.
If I’m right by remembering this part of the book, in the section of the lost pages of Journal 3, Ford talked about Rudolph, wondering why he didn’t kill his bullies when he saw the Christmas movie about him. And if Bill saw this memory he might’ve thought that exploiting Ford’s resentment against his old bullies would be a great idea to have him by his side. Making him believe he “related” to Ford because he was also “bullied and ostracized” because of his eye mutation.
This has gotten a bit too long but I’m curious to know what you think đŸ€”
Yeah, it's hard to tell with Bill what's real and what are lies. He manipulates so much that he's pure unreliable narrator, imo. I personally think most if not all of The Book of Bill - at least the parts with Bill as the narrator - are a lie or heavily warped by the way he as a character sees himself; I can't say which parts are real, which parts are just lies as a play for sympathy, which parts are just Bill's self delusions, which parts are accidental slips of truth, etc.
It is odd that he didn't use the "I have a mutation, too!" thing to draw Ford in more, like you said. I almost wonder if it's because whereas the whole "my dimension is gone" story is something that makes Bill look like a tragic hero (which is easy to do when he leaves out that little part where he destroyed it himself), whereas admitting the mutation would be him admitting that something about himself is "off", so to speak. Sort of like admitting a weakness.
The "my dimension is gone" is a half-truth, the "I have a mutation" is a full truth (once again, assuming he is truthful about that), too; telling a full truth would require vulnerability from Bill to tell. And based on how he's faring in the Theraprism, er... he's not so good at vulnerability and honesty. Plus, if Bill found himself relating to Ford, that might nip whatever little tiny bit of conscience he has - if he even has one left - that says, hey... maybe I can empathize with Ford? And that would be a wrench in his plans. He can't manipulate someone he feels empathy for. Or maybe he can and just does it anyways because he's that twisted?
As for the part of the book where Ford talked about destroying his bullies... I think it's similar to my point up above: if Bill admitted he was also a picked on kid, that'd be admitting a "weakness". In Bill's mind, he's the most powerful thing in the Multiverse. He's a walking embodiment of ego gone horribly wrong. He's trying to sell to Ford that he's some grand muse come to inspire a once in a century genius, so it'd break his image if he admitted his mutation/picked on childhood (once again, assuming even those parts are true, because everything Bill says needs to be taken with a grain of salt imo).
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motelroomjesus · 4 months ago
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love sea ramble
The ending of episode 6 has me weak in the knees. This show is definitely using sex to tell a story and show the progression of character relationships. That last NC scene was definitely Rak's way of showing Mut that he does have power in the relationship and that there are feelings there, that it's not all just transactional. It's been made so painfully obvious that Rak is just not ready to face the emotions and reality of love head on, but I think the ending of ep 6 was an indication that Rak is opening up and is willing to experience those feelings because Mut has put in the work to gain his trust. And because 1) u don't just do casual consensual somnophilia with someone u don't trust and 2) u don't get into face fucking with someone u don't trust! Especially when we've been shown how Rak is! He's always the one calling the shots and telling people what to do, the fact that he submitted to Mut like that is sooo significant.
I've seen some criticism (imo a lot of it is just ppl coming for the NC scenes aka purity culture) but like you fr cannot make me hate this show ! 😭
idgaf I love good NC scenes. They can totally add to the story or characters. Are there scenes that are done in poor taste or that add nothing of value? Yeah duh (gratuitous nc scenes eat sometimes tho NGL). But a lot of people are simply weird prudes who refuse to view sex as more than just a physical connection. Like c'mon guys, let's get into analyzing and reading between the lines with this stuff.
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discordantwords · 11 months ago
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20 questions for fic writers
I was tagged by @khorazir and @raina-at. Thanks so much for tagging me!
1. How many works do you have on AO3? 47 (how is it that many?!) 29 for BBC Sherlock 18 for The X-Files
2. What's your total A03 word count? 897,533
3. What fandoms do you write for? Currently only BBC Sherlock
4. What are your top five fics by kudos?
(Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea
White Knight
Incidents with Dogs, Curious and Otherwise
Another Auld Lang Syne
The Dead Detective
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try to! I'm not always the best at keeping up, especially lately as my schedule has been erratic and I can only steal a few minutes here and there for fandom activities. But even when I don't have a chance to reply, I do read and treasure each and every comment.
6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I guess maybe The Pillar upon which England Rests has the saddest ending of anything that I've ever written, but I don't really consider it a sad story. It's set immediately post Reichenbach, told mostly through flashbacks as Mrs Hudson shares the story of how she met Sherlock with John. Sherlock is still "dead" when the story comes to a close, and John and Mrs Hudson are both grieving, though we as the reader know their loss is temporary.
I have a few shorter fics with ambiguous endings that lean in the angsty direction:
Nothing Happened in Belarus deals with accidental time travel, with grief-stricken S4 Sherlock finding himself briefly in the care of S1 John. Alas, the reprieve is a short one, as neither Sherlock nor John become aware of what is happening in time to take advantage of the opportunity.
At the end of Leaves Sherlock and John have either triumphed over the hallucinogenic vines that have invaded 221B
 or they haven't. (I have my own theory, but you are free to interpret the ending however you choose.)
In EXECUTE John inadvertently deletes Mary from existence. He gets his happy ending, but has to live with the uncomfortable knowledge of the choices he's made.
7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Most of my fics have happy or at least hopeful endings. I like leaving the boys in a good place. I guess it depends on the flavor of happy you're looking for. But I'd say that these are probably the happiest:
(Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea
Inscrutable to the Last
White Knight
Another Auld Lang Syne
Whirlwind
8. Do you get hate on fics? Thankfully, no. A few weird comments here and there, but nothing too bad. The vast majority of my interaction with others in the fandom has been absolutely wonderful.
9. Do you write smut? Most of my sex scenes stay in R rated territory. But I tend to roll with whatever the plot demands of me.
10. Do you write crossovers? I've done quite a few fusion fics, but not crossovers. Crossovers aren't usually my cup of tea.
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Once, sort of, but I don't believe it was done maliciously and I don't wish to call attention to it.
12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! I'm always flattered by requests to translate my writing.
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? A friend and I used to write together quite a bit in high school, but nothing that has made it out into the world.
14. What's your all-time favourite ship? Sherlock & John and Mulder & Scully.
15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Crime Writer is a Sherlock/Knight Rider fusion that ran out of steam a while back (although it was intended to be episodic and IMO doesn't feel too horribly unresolved where it ends, so don't let the unfinished nature of it put you off if you're inclined to read it).
I'm still optimistic about most of the WIPs in my WIP folder, heh. I guess we'll see what next year brings.
16. What are your writing strengths? I like to think I'm good at writing complicated people with complicated feelings that don't always resolve neatly.
17. What are your writing weaknesses? I don't think my smut is particularly inspired. And I have a very hard time writing fluff or domestic situations without having some angst to drive the plot.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I personally wouldn't attempt it. I'm not fluent in any other languages and there's far too much nuance to leave in the hands of Google Translate. :)
19. First fandom you wrote for? X-Files! (Unless you count unrefined and unposted scribblings from my younger years, I definitely went through a phase where I was trying to fix the Terminator time loop in a way that allowed Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese to live happily ever after.)
20. Favourite fic you've ever written? Oh, this is always such a hard question to answer. The Pillar upon Which England Rests is the first fic I wrote for the Sherlock fandom, so it has a special place in my heart. I'm really proud of the cases and complex plot in Out There. (Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea is the one that seems to resonate with the most people. And White Knight is the fic I'd most like to see turned into an episode of the show. :D
I'll tag @thetimemoves @insistentbass @lololollywrites @arwamachine @naefelldaurk @clueless-mp4 @totallysilvergirl and anyone else who would like to play along!
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adoremexxs · 1 year ago
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Zohakuten’s blessing
I would recommend listening to Hatachi No Koi - Lamp while reading this! The vibes just fit the story imo!
no warnings!
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Zohakuten was spending the day at Rui’s place. They were actually just going to the city but he told his brothers they were going to stay at Rui’s place.
He needed to escape from this house. He had enough of Sekido’s yelling, Aizetsu’s sobbing, Karaku and Urogi’s carelessness. He couldn’t stand it so he went to escape with Rui.
Zohakuten could finally drive. Rui’s father, Muzan, bought him a car despite all of his attempts of saying no.
Muzan just really likes Zohakuten.
Zohakuten left after saying goodbye to Sekido who was glaring at him. Sekido always seems to know when Zohakuten was going to do something bad.
He just swung his car keys around his finger and hurried out of there.
His car was nice, he loved it. Zohakuten climbed into the driver’s seat, pulling down the mirror ot examine himself. A bandaid was on the bridge of his nose and a patch on his face.
Of course, Zohakuten got into a fight. It was with that stupid Genya kid. He pisses him off so much and is annoying.
He wore a wifebeater underneath his letterman jacket. His jacket was black and has white stripes on his collar and on his arms. The back of his jacket said “Zohakuten” in purple with a dragon on the back. He designed that jacket himself. His pants were simple sweats and his shoes were nike blazers.
His shoes had little spots of blood on them from the fight that happened earlier this week. He didn’t bother cleaning them.
Zohakuten went to close the mirror but he paused, looking at the polaroid photo he had. It was of him and Rui at the skating rink.
It was a shameful photo for Zohakuten because he was clinging onto Rui. He had no idea how to skate and Rui was laughing at him! But to see Rui smile and laugh made his heart swell. He likes when his best friend is happy.
Now he couldn’t wait to hang out with him even more.
.
.
.
Rui stepped out of his house and started walking to Zohakuten’s car.
Zohakuten couldn’t help but examine his outfit to see if they were somehow accidentally matching like they usually end up doing.
Rui was wearing black pants and nike blazers but his shirt was a white sweater with a cat on it. Zohakuten loves his best friend. He is the only one who has shown him such kindness even though he was so rude to him during their first meeting.
Zohakuten hopes that they would meet in another lifetime. He wants Rui to be his best friend in every single life that he lives.
He hopped in, a small smile on his face. “Hey, Zoha.”
“
Hey, Rui.”
“Did you hear that Obanai and Mitsuri broke up?”
“Good! Obanai was so fucking annoying!”
“Zoha!”
.
.
.
They were finally in the city. Zohakuten had parked in some random parking lot. They would just be walking around really.
They walked around a bunch, going to stands to view the items.
“Look, Zohakuten. It’s you and me as bunnies.” Rui pointed at a black bunny plushie and a white bunny plushie.
Zohakuten thought it was funny how different they were but yet so alike. Zohakuten always admired Rui. He was kind, gentle but yet weak and fragile. He, on the other hand, was harsh and mean and a lot stronger than Rui physically and mentally.
“Do you want it, Rui?”
“No, it’s okay, Zo. I just thought they were cute.”
“
I’ll buy them.”
Rui didn’t have much of a choice because Zohakuten bought them. He had said, “if not for you, then for me.” So now Rui hung onto the white bunny plushie for dear life.
Rui thought it was funny how everyone thought Zohakuten was scary and mean and weird. He knew that his best friend had been born sick with a strange unknown illness with purple vein-like cracks under his eyes, he just thought it made Zohakuten look even more beautiful.
His best friend is the kindest person in the world.
.
.
.
“Oh my God! Move out of the goddamn way, you old hag!”
Maybe not the nicest

Zohakuten was annoyed about that crowds. It made him extremely anxious and set him into fight mode.
Rui just looked up at him, hugging his bunny plushie close to him still.
“Rui, these people are pissing me off!” You can practically see the steam coming out of Zohakuten’s ears.
Rui didn’t say anything but just grabbed the sleeve of Zohakuten’s jacket, leading him away from the crowds.
They stopped by a nearby lake and Rui plopped himself down on a bench.
“Sit down, Zo. Relax.”
Zohakuten frowned for a moment before taking his seat next to Rui. He sighed out in relief, finally feeling like he was able to breath. He still had his bunny plushie in his arms and he just squeezed it closer.
The cherry blossoms trees around them were beautiful. Rui loved cherry blossom trees. No wonder why he dragged Zoha over here.
Zohakuten glanced at Rui, his face was flushed with excitement from the trees. He almost scoffed when a petal fell in Rui’s hair.
“What?” Rui looked over at him with a raised brow. He was caught off guard when Zohakuten brushed the petal from his hair.
“You got petals in your hair, idiot.”
“Must you call me that?”
“
Yes.”
Rui just rolled his eyes playfully at him, enjoying the spring air and how quiet it was where they were.
The silence wasn’t long though.
“Did you enjoy today?” Zohakuten asks, a tremble on his throat. He wanted Rui to have fun and not miss out on anything in life. He was scared of somehow disappointing him.
“Hm? Of course I did, Zoha. It was fun plus now we have matching bunny plushies.” He held up his white bunny plush to Zohakuten, a smile on his lips which seemed to make Zohakuten relax.
“
You know you’re my best friend, right?”
“Zo, I’m your only friend.”
“Tch! Whatever! I was going to be nice to you but you wanna be a brat!”
“I was joking!”
“So was I.” Zohakuten chuckled a bit, turning his head to smile at Rui.
“Thanks for coming with me, Rui. I really needed this.”
Rui stared at him with wide eyes, the smile on Zohakuten’s face had him frozen. He just blinks before embracing Zohakuten tightly.
“Of course, Zohakuten. Anything for you.”
For once, Zohakuten felt happy as he wrapped his arms around Rui. He felt pure happiness.
With Rui, he felt safe.
Rui was his escape from his terrible life.
Rui was Zohakuten’s blessing.
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bookofmirth · 9 months ago
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I feel like Sarah’s latest projects Acosf Hosab and Hofas have felt kinda different from the og acotar books and the throne of glass series, tho i don’t know if it’s maybe just me connecting them less. I was entertained with all three. Especially with acosf which I don’t think it suffered as much as the cc books. But in all three Sarah’s writing feels off.
Now I’m no specialist in criticising English books in depth but I think you said once you’ve studied literature and that’s why you make mostly analyses of the text.
So I was wondering what’s your take on this, if you’ve noticed it too or not and if yes why or how you believe the writing is off
I've been having a lot of conversations about this with people and we had different ideas, though none of them are certain.
I think that the crossover played to Sarah's weaknesses and took away from her time to write to her strengths. I think that she's at her best when she is delving into characters and emotions, and at her least effective when she's trying to do all this big plot and world stuff.
The points in her series where you can see people starting to wonder what the hell is going on, is where you can see her trying to manipulate the plot in order to set up other stories she wants to tell. The best examples of this are acowar and the acosf/hofas arc. acotar was originally going to be a trilogy and then she manipulated acowar to set up more stories. CC was going to be a trilogy until she came up with the crossover and decided to set up more stories. If she could just stick with her original plans, everything would go much better. The points at which she decides to expand the world or plot or characters, those are the places where she begins to falter. (Some people I think would include HoF in this, but I do not.)
Sarah's writing style is to not outline - she is on record saying that she does not do extensive world building, that she isn't good at it, that she doesn't outline, that she let's the story take her where it will. All of those are fine, valid ways to write! However, they make it nearly impossible for her to pull this crossover off successfully. You absolutely cannot go about such a massive undertaking and just bang out 100k words in a week, or whatever ridiculous pace she worked at this time, and have it make sense.
She is also on record saying that the crossover came to her while she was writing hosab. That means she was thousands of pages into acotar and hundreds of pages into CC before she decided to do this huge, series-altering thing. That's... not just poor planning, it's a recipe for disaster. This is why there are inconsistencies, the weird pacing, and dropped plots from hosab. It was too much and she's not the kind of writer who can take on those sorts of tasks and make it still compelling and cohesive. She just isn't.
One of my big concerns about the crossover was the genre shift - CC being urban fantasy and ACOTAR being high fantasy meant that it wasn't going to fit together. There was going to be some friction, no matter how good a writer took it on (and imo a better writer would have known that and not done it in the first place). It's not that it can't be done, it's just that both series need to have an equally strong foundation to work from. The world building in CC was much more intense than it was in acotar, and so trying to fit those two together was trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
ToG never suffers from this because Sarah never tried to make it something it wasn't. She always had a clear vision of what kind of person Aelin was and why, and even though she doesn't outline, I would bet a lot of money that when she started writing ToG, she knew that at the end, Aelin was going to end up happy and on the throne of her own kingdom.
Also - and I'm sorry, I know that I am babbling haha but since your question was about acosf/hosab/hofas specifically, I do think that urban fantasy is not Sarah's genre. She clearly reads it, but... it's not the genre for displaying her strengths as a writer. All of the swearing and sex and drug use had me rolling my eyes constantly because she was just beating us over the head with how hardcore and adult the characters are.
So there are a couple of things, really, that made those three books feel off in comparison to the rest of them:
urban fantasy is not Sarah's genre,
the crossover took her energy and attention away from her strengths (emotion, character) and made her emphasize her weaknesses (plot, world)
It feels like we are watching her become a worse writer, and not better. I'm going to chalk it up to her experimenting a little bit with hofas and it not panning out. Optimistic!Lele says that now that this is out of sjm's system, we can go back to our regularly-scheduled emotional journeys with some magic stuff sprinkled in. Pessimistic!Lele doesn't trust sjm farther than she can throw her.
All of this has made me really nervous to read anything ToG-related that she might come up with in the future. I would love more ToG content from 2016 Sarah. 2024 Sarah? I'm honestly not that interested in more canon ToG stuff from her.
Sorry this got long, and I'm not even sure how cohesive all of this is, it's just been on my mind since I finished hofas!
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