#themes…but oh boy I do love vampire diaries | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

smolwritingchick · 10 months ago

Text

Forced To Believe Chapter 45- She Belongs To Us Now

Chapter Summary: Morgan returns but things seem to be off about her

Words: 2,000+

-------

'Ding Ding Ding'

"This contest is set for one fall, and it is for the United States Championship," Justin announced.

'Sierra'

'Hotel'

'India'

'Echo'

'Lima'

'Delta'

'Shield'

"Dean Ambrose, gonna defend the US Title tonight. It's been a while." Cole said as The Shield walked out and got in the ring. "Dean issued an open challenge in the locker room here tonight."

The Shield's theme faded and they waited for Dean's opponent.

All of a sudden, Mark Henry's theme comes on, and Dean makes a shocked facial expression, putting his hands to his mouth as Roman and Seth look amused. Mark Henry walks out with a grin while Dean looks on in disbelief.

"Oh boy, The World's Strongest Man, Mark Henry. A former World Heavyweight Champion." Cole continued.

"Dean Ambrose is thinking, take back, take back," King said.

Roman tries to give Dean some supporting words while Mark gets in the ring. After Justin makes the announcements for the match, Morgan's theme comes on as the crowd erupts in loud cheers.

'I've had enough, I'm taking you down, taking you down'

"Yes! She's back!" King cheered.

"I was wondering where she was!" JBL said.

"And Dean's night just gotten worse." Cole declared as The Outspoken Diva walked out.

She was wearing her Valentine's Day outfit with the 'Believe In Us' top. She proceeded to wear her dark makeup with the veins under her eyes more visible, similar to the vampire diaries.

She begins to grin at the crowd and tags some of the fan's hands before walking over to ringside. Her theme fades as the bell rings.

"Morgan! You're back!" King grinned as she sat on commentary.

"Yes, I am." She smirked softly

"How come you're out here?"

"I want a front row seat for this. This is going to be entertaining."

"Morgan, where were you?" Cole asked

"Home." she replied.

"What is going on with your eyes? Are you all right?"

"Why weren't you on Smackdown?" JBL asked as Seth and Roman glanced at one another and then back at Morgan.

She looked like she was still recovering. Maybe The Wyatts were just messing with them, to provoke them. Roman looked back in the ring and started to look amused at Dean.

"He's got him. He's got him!" Seth reassured.

Dean glanced at Morgan and was glad that she was okay. He thought The Wyatts had gotten a hold of her. Even if they did break up, he still loved her and wanted to make sure she was safe. He cared about her a lot and will continue to, no matter if they were dating or not.

"So Ambrose versus Mark Henry for the US Championship," Cole looked on.

Dean starts to look reluctant in the match which makes Morgan laugh.

"He amuses me so much. I really want to see him get his ass kicked." She said.

"Morgan! You don't mean that." JBL exclaimed.

"I do."

"I'm sure you two can work it out. You two just need time."

"I don't think so..." She retorted as Dean tried to lock up with Mark but he pushed him down. "Ha!"

"And there's the strength of Mark Henry," Cole said as he also mentioned Henry's left elbow being taped up.

Dean recovers and gets himself together. He tries to lock up with him again but Mark pushes him down. Ambrose slides out of the ring and recovers as Seth and Roman try to give him some support.

"So is it true, you've been hearing Sister Abigail in your head?" Cole asked.

"Yes."

"What is going on there?"

"She says that she is helping me."

"Do you agree with her?"

"I don't think I have a choice. She's been there for me and she tells me all these positive things and it makes me feel stronger. Mentally."

"I got a bad feeling about that..." King said with concern.

"You don't need to worry about me. I'm fine." Morgan reassured.

"You sure? I mean, you just broke up with Ambrose. And it was a nasty one." Cole recalled.

She sighed. "I'll overcome the pain and sadness. I just need time. I'll be okay."

Dean manages to hit Mark on his injured elbow but gets hit with a big boot. Mark throws Dean to the turnbuckle and begins toying with him around the ring. Mark throws Dean into the steel post while Morgan cringes at the sight. She felt concerned for Dean, even if she didn't want to admit it. She still cared about him after all this time

"You all right?" Seth asked Dean.

Later on, Mark throws Dean out of the ring as Seth and Roman help him. Mark continues to take control but picking Dean up and throwing his back into the steel post as he yells out in pain. Morgan shows a small look of concern.

"You okay, Morgan? You're quiet." Cole pointed out.

"Oh, I'm just enjoying this, while you call the action." She replied.

Mark begins to squeeze Dean's head off the steel post.

"He's squeezing his head like a grape," King exclaimed.

Dean slides back in the ring but Mark begins to stretch his body off the steel post.

"Oh, man." Cole chuckled.

"Well, your body isn't supposed to bend in that direction,"

Mark slides back in the ring while the crowd chants 'CM Punk'

Seth grabs a mic while Dean hits Mark with a DDT.

"CM who? Huh?" He asked the crowd while Dean began to take control.

"Are you serious?" Morgan asked.

"That's Dean Ambrose right there! That's the United States Champion!" Rollins yelled as the crowd booed. Seth walked over to the announce table and looked at the crowd. "That's the man, you wish you could be! And that's the man, all you ladies wanna be with tonight! Especially you, Morgan! You're in denial!"

The Outspoken Diva narrowed her eyes at him, annoyed that he called her out.

"Screw...you..." She retorted on commentary before he went back to ringside, next to Roman. "I am not in denial. I don't want him, anymore,"

Dean turns his attention to the crowd and blows a kiss as the crowd gets hyped with 'CM Punk' chants.

"Gosh...I just wanna hit him with a chair or something!" She exclaimed as she started to glare at Dean. "I am not in denial!"

"I dunno, Morgan. On the WWE App over 70 percent of the WWE Universe thinks that you are still in love with Ambrose." Cole mentioned.

"I'll show you tonight that I'm not in love with Dean, anymore. Okay? Will that shut you up? I hate him. I can't stand him!" She snapped.

"I don't think that's true," JBL said. "I am shocked by your words. Why would you say that? Can't you two stay cordial?"

"Nope. And expect the unexpected, cowboy." She retorted and put JBL's hat on his head, before looking at her nails.

"Someone's in an angry mood tonight." Cole chuckled as Mark got put in an arm submission by Ambrose.

Dean gets on the top rope but gets thrown off by Mark. Mark begins to gain some momentum and gives him a power slam. He throws Dean to the ropes and hits him with the World's Largest Slam as the crowd gets hyped.

"Oh! Is it enough!?" Cole exclaimed as Mark pinned him but then Seth broke up the pin.

"Gosh...every single time...every time." Morgan rolled her eyes as the ref called for the bell.

Roman and Seth begin to gang up on Mark but he manages to throw Seth and Roman out of the ring. Mark gets out of the ring and tries to go after Ambrose outside the ring but Seth jumps on his back.

"Get off him!" Seth shouted but got thrown off his back.

Mark turns around and gets hit with a spear as Roman roars.

"You all right? You all right?" Roman asked his team.

"Let's get outta here," Seth said as Dean got his belt.

"Dean Ambrose is still the champion but would he be if the other members of The Shield didn't get involved?" King asked.

"Nope," Morgan replied.

"I don't think so," Cole said.

All of a sudden, The Wyatt Family tune comes on as the crowd cheers. The lights go off.

'We're Here'

The Wyatts slowly walk out as the crowd cheers. "This is interesting," Cole said as The Shield stood at the barricade.

"They may clash in two minutes," King said.

The lights came back on and The Wyatts stood at the end of the ramp. The crowd chanted 'Fight!' and they got hyped once The Shield went back over the barricade and walked over to ringside.

"They're coming back!" JBL exclaimed as The Wyatts stared The Shield down.

Bray smirked and looked ahead of them. He locked eyes with Morgan and nodded, making her stand up at his command.

"Wait, where are you going?" Cole asked. "Wait a minute. Bray Wyatt just glanced at Morgan and she automatically stood up. Is she possessed?"

"I'm afraid so," JBL said, fearing the worst.

"Looks like Bray is doing some mind games."

The Wyatts began walking down to the apron. The tension was high as the crowd chanted 'Yes!'. The Shield got on the apron and moments later, so did The Wyatts.

"You can feel the tension," Cole looked on.

"No kidding. But I'm really curious about Morgan. Her facial expression looks emotionless." King said.

Roman got in the ring and the crowd got excited again. Bray grinned and got in between the ropes but got back on the apron as the crowd booed. Bray motioned Luke and Erick to get off the apron as Seth and Dean got in the ring.

"Wait a minute." King looked on

Bray laughed and The Wyatts backed off and began to walk backwards up the ramp.

"Come on!" Seth growled

The crowd cheered once Morgan got in the ring while The Wyatts stood in the middle of the ramp to watch.

"This is scary," King said

Dean narrowed his eyes at Morgan who continued to give The Shield a blank stare.

"What happened to you?" Ambrose asked, taking a step, but she remained silent.

Seth and Roman glanced at each other before looking at her.

"What's wrong with her?" Roman looked puzzled.

"Morgan, what's wrong?" Seth asked.

"What in the world?" Cole looked on, confused.

Her body language started to show some restraint but it wasn't enough. Dean decided to step up to her as the crowd cheered.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked while Seth and Roman were getting concerned at her demeanor.

Ignoring him, she kneed him in the stomach as the crowd ohs.

"What!?" King yelled in a high pitched voice while Dean clenched his stomach and fell on his knees.

Seth and Roman look at Morgan in shock

"What the hell, Morgan!?" Rollins yelled

"What are you doing!?" Roman exclaimed while Bray looked on in delight.

"She just hit Ambrose!" Cole shouted.

"I...I don't know what to say, right now...I just..." JBL was at a loss for words.

She picks Dean up for the backfire position and slams him down on the mat.

"No way!" King exclaimed while she rolled out the ring, as soon as

Roman and Seth tried to help Ambrose.

"Morgan, what are you doing!?" JBL yelled as she looked at The Wyatt Family.

Bray grinned and motioned her to come to her, before putting his arms out. She responded by taking slow steps towards him.

"Dean! You all right!?" Roman asked.

Ambrose held his head and looked at Morgan with The Wyatt Family. He started to glare at The Wyatts. But realization hit him as he started to remember her reluctance to attack him. The Wyatts did do something to her. Whatever type of supernatural spell or voodoo crap Bray did on her, he was going to make sure she gets out of it, no matter what.

Morgan stood next to Bray while he grinned. "We've found your weakness boys." He announced and placed a hand on the back of her head. "Make your move. She belongs to us now."

"I think Bray made her his puppet," Cole looked on with concern. "What is going to happen, now?"

#dean ambrose x oc #the shield #wwe imagine #wwe scenarios #wwe oc #wwe fanfiction #the shield 4th member #roman reigns #seth rollins #the wyatt family #the shield fanfic #dean ambrose #dean ambrose fanfic

6 notes · View notes

toolazytodecide · 2 years ago

Note

Hey! I like the fandoms you post about. Do you have any book recommendations? I need something to listen to while I file things at work but I’m bad at predicting what I’ll like because it feels like nothing I’m into has any Google-able overlap. It’s like, if I enjoy the author’s outlook I’ll love anything they make but I don’t care what the book is actually about.

I think about this quote all the time, esp when Netflix is all “you liked Buffy, you might like Vampire Diaries.”😒

“No one knew what Ganseylike was, even Gansey. Teachers and family friends were always collecting articles and stories that they thought might capture his attention, things they thought were Ganseylike. The well-meaning items always addressed the most obvious parts of him. Welsh kings or old Camaros or other young people who had travelled the world for bizarre reasons no one else understood. No one dug down past that, and he supposed he didn't much encourage it. There was a lot of night in those days behind him, and he preferred to turn his face into the sun. Ganseylike. What was Ganseylike?” — The Raven King

First of all you are absolutely correct. I had completely forgotten that Gansey quote but it really does summarise where recommendations fail so well.

My first thought was oh what do I like with similar themes or in the same category? But fuck that I'm just gonna tell you my favourites and a little about them and you can pick what interests you.

1. My FAVOURITE book is The Goldfinch. I only read it this year but it absolutely destroyed my brain and I havent recovered.

Basic summary: 13 year old Theo Decker survives a terrorist attack at an art gallery but loses his mother and in his shock accidentally takes home famous painting: The Goldfinch. First half of the story is him as a teen, second half is as an adult. Theres a lot of themes like drug abuse, internalized homophobia, PTSD and suicide. It's a great book if you love analyzing the fuck out of books. He also develops a mildly codependent (and very gay) friendship with another boy who later becomes a gangster.

It is very different to NHIE and TRC in that it's a lot more....negative? Like the plot resolves itself but you will not be satisfied by the ending. The characters are all very flawed, which I suppose is similar to characters like Adam and Devi but in different ways.

2. Six of Crows- have you read this? If you havent it's like a mandatory read. Its technically a sequel to Shadow and Bone but I read it first and it was fine.

Summary- 6 rag tag teens team up in a dangerous fantasy world to take on the heist of the century.

It's so good man. When I tell you Kaz Brekker is my favourite character of all time I am not joking. Also bonus points for a disabled main character as written by a disabled author. It's very found family with a lot of plot twists and lovable characters.

3. All for the game- this one is here because I love it but objectively I know it's an acquired taste with questionable writing.

All 3 of these so far show my love of a sneaky protagonist with an allergy to telling people about themselves. These books are absolutely bizarre and shouldnt work but they do!

Basic summary: Neil Josten has spent his life on the life from his mobster father after he and his mother escaped him. His mom just died and rather than keep hiding he allows himself to take the opportunity of a lifetime to go to college and play Exy (made up sport) for a team that specializes in taking those who have had rough lives and usually would be picked (e.g drug addicts, foster kids etc)

It's a surprisingly wonderful series about mental health, occasional murder and one of the best love stories I've read. This one is also really popular with ao3 so if you're after something that will give you a lot of wonderful ff this is the best one so far.

(There are a number of trigger warnings for this book I would recommend you look up beforehand.)

Bonus rec: Vicious by V.E Scwab. I need to go into work now but basically told from the supervillains perspective, but honestly I'm on his side anyway. Victor just got out of prison and has the ability to control pain. So he can either inflict pain or say hire henchmen that he pays by curing their chronic pain. (As someone with chronic pain I cant blame them tbh)

he also adopts this kid who can resurrect the dead and it's a great little supervillain found family. I havent read it in ages but there is a sequel I need to read and from what I remember it was very good.

#book recs #all these main characters are slytherins do i have a type #for protaganists not in women thank god #i did not proofread this bc i need to go into work hope its not crap

3 notes · View notes

steely-eyedmissileman · 8 months ago

Text

The Vampire Diaries, Ep. 1x12

Unpleasantville

the title of this episode is a fairly obvious play on a fifties idea of pleasantville. of course, mystic falls is not pleasant.

the pizza delivery guy is a vampire, very obviously. elena should be more conscious of inviting people into her house because she knows about vampires.

then i get another opportunity to hate damon. he's searching through his home library (or probably stefan's because i don't think damon knows how to read) and throwing books on the floor, like a fucking animal. damon and stefan then insult each other: ‘you’re pathetic when you’re fishing’ -damon, ‘you’re transparent when you’re deflecting’ -stefan

elena has saved caroline! caroline now has a necklace with vervain in it! she is safe from damon and other vampires! this is the best thing to happen to caroline thus far in the show! but, bonnie doesn't get a necklace? i think she should. unless she's immune because of magic, but there's no evidence for that. bonnie also makes a great quip about the adoption news: 'unless your birth parents are aliens... how bad could it be?'

later, bonnie goes to the grill with caroline and guess what, new white boy just dropped! i don't remember his name or really anything about him. meanwhile, caroline and matt are being awkward and pissing each other off. i'm really rooting for them, but they are doing their best to not get together.

jenna's outfit for the fifties dance is super cute. she is adorable! and she tells elena about the adoption. it's kind of a lovely story. it's also super fucking illegal.

stefan keeps offering to help damon with his 'diabolical plan,' but damon, very reasonably, distrusts the offer. however, stefan is willing to do anything to keep elena safe.

meanwhile, elena is in great danger and stefan is not keeping her safe. the vampire pizza boy from the beginning of the episode is in the house. the compass is going haywire. i'm freaking out. elena's not freaked out enough, i think. she goes downstairs, not being careful enough. stefan is at the door and she's relieved. the pizza man vampire jumps down from the ceiling. as this whole thing was happening, i was typing this in my notes, ' no no no no nononononononoonnononon, oh thank god stefan’s here.' and stefan did save elena. but he and damon are concerned because the vampire has been invited in. so they decide to go to the dance with elena, assuming the pizza guy vampire will attack there.

the dance is great! we hear a cover of every day by buddy holly, which is famous in my brain for almost being the theme song of the hit television show good omens. also caroline's hair is phenomenal! also, stefan is a surprisingly good dancer. i was so excited when elena started teasing him about dancing in the fifties. and then he does a silly little dance! i love him! also he mentions mccarthyism! it's rare to get a mccarthyism mention on a show like this. as in, i think this is the first time! a couple scenes later, i typed 'please please i’m begging you please do more dancing.' unfortunately, stefan has stuck to his guns on this one and continues to not dance.

meanwhile, caroline and bonnie have gone to the grill in their fifties outfits, which is only kind of weird. bonnie asks out nwgjd to prove that caroline should go talk to matt. so caroline goes to talk to matt, but she's already accidentally insulted him and then makes it worse to his face. later in the episode, matt and caroline kiss in the street. yay! i'm so happy for them!

back at the dance, we learn that homeschool girl from last episode is a vampire. which probably means that she specifically sought out jeremy to get this journal from him. however, he's already lent the journal to ht. because she knows about katherine, which means that this big secret (according to the brothers) is not a big secret at all.

and the pizza guy vampire is stalking elena. she is separately from the two guys who specifically came here to protect her. they're doing a bang up job of it. elena is then trying to run through the halls of the high school. unfortunately, her shoes have no traction and she's being chased by a guy with super speed. then she stabs him with a pencil! then she makes an excellent stake from a mop handle, which is a very buffy summers move. i was so proud of her. unfortunately, the brothers show up and elena didn't actually get to kill the vampire. and vampires look so gross when they die on this show.

then we hear from ht again. why does he have this ring? i thought the ring was full of vervain, but he was holding vervain in his hand, so that's not what the ring was. also, his wife is named isabelle... like elena's birth mom?

then it's revealed that nwgjd is a vampire?! and he's dating homeschool girl?! no! i was so excited for bonnie! (but also she can definitely do better than nwgjd.)

the last moments of the episode, mr. sandman starts playing! great! then, it's a terrible cover! no! (this explains a lot of how i react to this show.)

#the vampire diaries #semmwatchlog

0 notes

xxgothchatonxx · 2 years ago

Text

Can a vampire film be considered a good Dracula film even if on-the-surface (translation “i’m probably overthinking again”) it’s got nothing to do with Dracula? Fuck it, I’m going with it anyway - Fright Night (the 2011 remake)

(yes it is a remake - yes, I enjoy the original and completely understand why it’s a cult classic - I just prefer this version)

So, there’s no direct references to Dracula, Jerry isn’t revealed to be Dracula, but... yeah, this is a really good modern Dracula film, even though I’m 99% sure that was completely unintentional.

Rightio basic setup - there’s this kid Charley who has a new neighbour Jerry, Charley’s best friend Ed is convinced Jerry is a vampire, Charley eventually works out Ed was telling the truth, so he teams up with a Vegas magician named Peter Vincent to stop Jerry from doing his evil vampire shit.

So, I love this movie just as a standalone film. It’s got a nice blend of comedy and horror, the acting is really good, and the soundtrack is awesome.

In terms of themes... holy shit, this was ahead of its time. Ok, let’s talk about the context. It was released in 2011, when Twilight, True Blood and especially The Vampire Diaries were at its peak popularity. The modern sexy bad-boy (so it’s more a TB/TVD similarity here) vampires who are suave, muscular, and real ladies’ men. Fright Night holds up a mirror to those vampires and goes “yeah... these guys are fucking creeps”. Jerry is 100% a metaphor for sex predators. It’s not exactly subtle about it, either. Which brings me back to Dracula. Ok, so Drac in the novel was the Evil Foreigner Who Has Come To Attack and Corrupt Our Innocent Women, right? Jerry is the smooth-talking, good-looking white guy who can get away with being a creep who makes women scream in agony because, well, he’s a smooth-talking, good-looking white guy. The scene with Amy in the club is pretty similar to when Drac is attacking Mina in her bedroom. But it adds an extra layer of horror when it’s perceived by others as “oh yeah, it looks like she’s enjoying it”. Not to mention that scene with Doris in his den, oh my god! So, in summary, Jerry was a pretty good subversion of the modern sexy bad-boy vampire by presenting him as the creep that he really was.

Also I love Charley’s arc. He goes from being this douchebag who is trying way too hard to be Cool and realises “...ok being cool sucks, I need to pull my head in”. Even Peter Vincent learns a variation of this! He learns to stop being a dismissive cowardly asshat and becomes the badass he pretends to be on-stage. Do I wish the female characters got more development? Yep. But I can’t say they’re the worst-written, either.

So, while like I said this isn’t technically a Dracula film, I reckon the setup and the themes are pretty relevant to that story. Honestly, I would love to see an actual modern Dracula film do something similar to this. Hell, replace Charley with Jonathan and Mina, and boom- there it is! ...again, I may just be overthinking things 😂

If you haven’t seen it already, I do recommend it just as a standalone vampire film. It’s fun to watch, and it’s got a good amount of scares, both what’s literally shown on the screen and with what’s implied.

#dracula daily #fright night

33 notes · View notes

youngbloodbuzz · 2 years ago

Note

What are your fav YouTube channels in general? Do you have any recs for those?

oh yea for sure i definitely have some favourites. nuke's top 5 is already one of them I've watched every single video on there lmao but there's also

watched walker and wanderizm - both similar channels of the "walking city tour" genre that I put on to relax. both guys live in london and they go literally all over the place in the city, it's a wonderful way of seeing some place new and hearing life on the streets when you're stuck at home. there's so many channels like this in many cities that i def recommend

ur internet mom ash - reaction videos are also another favourite genre of mine, ash is hilarious and sweet with fantastic editing, I'll never forget her hill house and bly manor reactions

ZZAVID - another reactioner, except he's the gayest latino man on the planet with the dirtiest humour to ever exist. both him and ash truly have the best movies+sleepover vibes. i also frequently rewatch his videos

micarah tewers - how do i even begin to describe micarah...weird homeschool girl who makes "low budget costume/fashion tutorials" i say this in loose terms; she's incredibly talented and so fucking funny but her whole shtick is that her tutorials are very unusual and full of off topic rambling. she has a pet bird that she carries everywhere and once had her wisdom teeth removed and proceeded to film herself crying about the fact that she couldn't keep them and then pierced her own lip with a sewing needle while high as a kite on meds. i love her dearly

jenna marbles - self explanatory. god i miss her

julien - but also like i can't forget about best boi julen, jenna's fiance

unusual videos - unusual memes condescend into compilation videos every week. gr8 for a quick laugh to pass the time

taskmaster - british comedy panel show for free. the entire show. it's a comedic masterpiece of watching comedians perform insane demands

baumgartner restoration - both incredibly relaxing and also informative, long videos of a guy restoring damaged/old paintings

be kind rewind - incredibly fascinating documentaries about old hollywood actresses and films

drawfee - professional artists where they "take dumb ideas and turn them into dumber drawings" like drawing pokemon from memory or drawing disney characters as dark souls bosses

lindsay ellis - popular video essayist who reviewed, discussed, and broke down media to their essentials (unfortunately was run off the internet because the internet is terrible). her game of thrones essays are incredible but her duology of the omegaverse lawsuit is legendary

jenny nicholson - another popular video essayist who talks about and reviews garbage media in both a hilarious deadpan but also intelligent way. her takedown of the dear evan hansen movie is godly and yes i did spend 2.5 hours watching her explain the plot and lore of the vampire diaries

girlfriend reviews - wholesome couple makes videos about "what it's like to live with your boyfriend who plays video games." incredible editing, humour, and popular music with original lyrics, but also i respect them so much for their tlou2 video especially (which they unfortunately but predictably got a lot of hate for)

internet historian - what it says on the tin for the most part, a sorta satirical documentary channel but my god they way they do it is incredible. I've watched their "cost of concordia" video at least three times now and it's still not old at all. they've covered the disaster of fallout 76, no man's sky (which was very enlightening), kony, and a satirical covering of area 51 for april fools which was.....indescribable and a must watch

jacob geller - incredible video essays on various themes in video games like fear of depths and haunted houses, horror oriented

shiey - guy backpacks across europe including riding on top of trains and sleeping on roofs to explore abandoned places. he's gone to chernobyl and free climbs so many high structures and has delved into so many bunkers, it's wild

screened - video essays about movies and their themes, and listing them from specific genres, some movies I've never even heard of

lessons from the screenplay - more video essays breaking down themes and scenes from movies

ok i might of........gone a bit overboard lmao

#asks #anonymous #i hope you enjoy some or even one of these! i watch them all pretty frequently #resource

24 notes · View notes

theliterarywolf · 3 years ago

Note

Do you have the deets on Mattel's bones that aren't willing to publicly be gay yet?

They treated the person in charge of writing the Monster High novel franchise like absolute shit

They themed an entire media franchise (Monster High) around 'being different' and 'embracing your differences'... just to berate the character designers/concept-sculptors anytime they dared to give characters pronounced cheekbones or 'unfeminine features' (Mattel's exact words, not mine), characters with Afro-centric features (i.e.: textured hair) were often either whitewashed (not the tumblr definition but Clawdeen was literally whitewashed in several of her special releases) or given 'straighter, more manageable hair' (Clawdeen's younger sister Howleen originally debuted with an orange and yellow afro-undercut but, in all her subsequent releases, she was given long, straight pink hair because Mattel said it needed to be 'girl-friendly')

And, oh, let me just do a comedic recreation of my favorite little kerfluffle that we found out via the head character-designer's AMA a few years back:

Mattel: Alright, gang! Are we ready to launch the promotional material for our new collab with Lady Gaga to promote her new LGBTA youth organization?

Head designer: Yeah, um, about that. Me and some of the other character-designers were just wondering... Since we're working with such a big figure in the LGBTA community and how so many of our fans are in said community... If we could maaaaybe introduce a canon LGBTA charact --

Mattel: YOU SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU MISERABLE FUCKING HOMO-- I mean... We just don't feel like it's the right time to incorporate something like that into our brand, mmkay?

(Disclaimer, that was obviously a comedic recreation, but considering how so many companies treat the existence of LGBTA people... Is it really that unbelievable?)

Which is all the more ironic since... *deep breath*

Later on, it came out that one of the male antagonists in the franchise, a vampire named Kieran Valentine who would trick girls and women into falling in love with him and then break their hearts so he could feed off of their negative emotions, was originally planned to have an exclusive San Diego Comic Con doll (something that Mattel has done for a few characters, I myself even have a SDCC exclusive Ever After High Werewolf!Cerise Hood doll) with an included diary that would reveal that he was, in fact, gay.

But he kept constantly trying to force himself into fake relationships with women, feeding off of negative emotion, until he finally decided to be true to himself and seek out a relationship with another boy and found out that true love is much healthier for all parties involved.

... But Mattel came in and said 'Mm, we don't want to present the LGBTA community in a negative light, so... we're just going to discontinue this idea.'

The idea... that was written... By the one. Gay man. On the design team.

50 notes · View notes

one-boring-person · 4 years ago

Note

May I request Dwayne(Lost Boys) x human Reader where he discovers its the Reader's b-day though she never mentioned it to him or anyone so he wants to do something nice for his girl on her special day ^_^ Pure fluff lol which could lead or hints to nsfw/smut. Please and thank you so much! I absolutely love your writing! <3

Of course you can! Thanks for requesting, I hope you like this!😊💛💛💛 and thank you for your kind words!💛❤

Only Telling The Truth.

Dwayne (The Lost Boys) x reader

Warnings: implied sexual themes

Masterlist

Having been a vampire for so long meant that Dwayne had forgotten the significance of having a birthday at all. I mean, what's the point if you live forever? Age had no real impact on his life anymore, so it was only really when he finally found out that (Y/n) kept her's a secret from him for so long that he started to remember it.

She never told him, not explicitly, so he had to figure out for himself when the day itself was, having overheard her talking to her parents over the phone about trying to keep the celebrations to an absolute minimum. Confused, he'd thought about asking, but decided not to when he saw how frustrated she was when she returned from the call, the thought of her birthday clearly not something she wanted to think about at that moment. Keeping his curiosity to himself, he waited until she was asleep in his arms later that night before slipping out of the bed to look around, trying to find a calendar, or something similar, though he was unsure of whether or not this would hold the relevant information. Eventually, he found an old diary, dated as far back as her pre-teens, in which he quickly found what he was looking for: a concrete date.

Storing this and remembering it, he worked on trying to think up a way of celebrating without being too obvious, knowing that a party was probably not the way to go, whereas doing something mundane would not suffice, either. He ran all sorts of ideas by himself, finally coming to a conclusion when he considered the dates they'd been on before, recalling everything that she'd enjoyed, as well as everything she'd disliked, swiftly formulating the perfect night for her in his head.

Preparations were made and soon the day itself arrived, though it went mostly unnoticed by everyone, including (Y/n).

As she woke up on the morning of the day, she was greeted by the appearance of a crisp white envelope, as well as a single red rose, familiar scrawling handwriting signifying that the letter was meant for her. Having swiftly opened it, (Y/n) is surprised to find that there is only one line of text written on the pristine paper:

"(Y/n),

I'll be around to pick you up at 8pm, be ready.

D "

Frowning slightly, (Y/n) had initially overlooked the odd request, not recalling having told the vampire about her birthday, or anyone for that matter, and so convincing herself that it was just her boyfriend being romantic and sweet for her, and nothing to do with the day itself. Setting the rose in a glass of water, she continued on with her day, giving her parents a brief call just to say a quick "Happy Birhday!" but otherwise ignoring the significance of the day.

When seven o'clock came about, she started getting ready to go out, showering before pulling on some new clothes and sorting out her hair, grabbing a pair of boots from the cupboard in time for Dwayne to appear at the door. As the door opened, he smiled broadly at her, holding out his hand for her to take, giving her a swift kiss on the lips as she accepts, taking a jacket from the coat rack as she goes, surprised when he leads her to an open-backed truck, rather than his usual motorcycle.

"What did you do with your bike?" She asked, blushing slightly as he opened the passenger door for her, the vampire smiling at her.

"Nothing, I just needed something bigger for tonight." He reassured her, going round to the other side and clambering in, starting the engine with a swift turn of the keys.

"Oh? What're we doing?"

He grinned, putting the truck into drive as he responded.

"It's a surprise."

"A surprise? Since when do you do surprises?" She smriked back at him, giggling when he nudged her arm playfully.

"Since now." He clarified, "Where do you wanna get food?"

"Get food?" She thought for a minute, "How about the Chinese place you guys always go to? That's good food, right?"

"Sure, we'll stop off there."

Twenty minutes pass and they'd bought the necessary food, the warm bag now sat on (Y/n)'s lap as the vampire beside her drove them out of Santa Carla, taking a winding road up one of the nearby cliffs, driving in complete darkness except for his headlights, using his vampiric vision to locate each and every turn in the road. In minutes they've reached the top of the cliff, where Dwayne manages to find the spot he's looking for: an abandoned car park right at the edge of the tall structure.

Parking at the far end, closest to the edge, he climbed out of the truck and went round to the other side, opening the door for (Y/n) as she followed suit, accepting the small kiss she gave him as she passed.

"Thank you." She said, looking around at the surroundings, "Where are we?"

"We're just at an old outlook point. If you go over there, you'll be able to see why I took you here." Grabbing the food from the truck, Dwayne took a covered bag from the bed of the truck, too, opening it to reveal a collection of blankets and duvets, which he quickly used to cushion the metal base of the truck. (Y/n) made her way out to the edge of the cliff, looking out at the beautiful view, eyes widening at the sight of the lights of Santa Carla strung out like tangled beads on the dark expanse of ground beneath, marvelling at the very obvious line where the beach meets the sea, a voidless darkness lying over this particular point.

"Damn, that's pretty!" (Y/n) admired out loud, Only realising that Dwayne was stood right beside her until he took her hand in his and leaned against her, watching the view with her.

"Yeah, but not as pretty as you." He complimented her, squeezing her hand as he slowly started leading her away from the edge, taking her to the makeshift bed that is the bed of the truck.

"Aww, you're too sweet." (Y/n) blushed a deep red, looking away in the hopes that he didn't see her, though there is every possibility he did.

"Only telling the truth." He grinned, helping her onto the truck, letting her get settled before joining her, handing her her food as he started eating his own. Thanking him, she ate quietly, the two of them finishing up as quickly as possible, laughing and talking the entire time, both of them completely content with each other. Ridding themselves of the empty boxes, Dwayne moved up to lie beside (Y/n), wrapping an arm around her as she turned her head to kiss him.

Kissing back, he allowed his lips to move with her's, going sweetly and slowly at first, quickly getting faster and more passionate as time went on, small noises soon escaping (Y/n) as she moved her hands to his chest. Moving again, he let himself climb over her, not breaking the kiss the entire time, swallowing every noise she made, his hands moving to grip her body closer to his. He licked at her lips, slipping his tongue into her mouth when she opened for him, exploring and tasting every inch he could, pressing his body impossibly closer to her, his hips starting to roll against her's. A low whine escaped (Y/n) as he pulled away from her lips, going down to kiss and suck at her neck, fangs extending ever so slightly as he bit down gently on her pulse point, a dark mark forming from his ministrations, which he soothed with soft strokes of his tongue.

In the meantime, his hands moved to her waist, lifting her hips into his as he ground his against her, her shirt riding up with each movement, a moan or groan accompanying them too. Breaking away momentarily, Dwayne growled and tore off her shirt, before returning to her chest, where he kissed and sucked at the newly exposed skin, hands coming up to explore further. Licking a stripe back up to her ear, Dwayne purred one last thing into her ear before he returned to what he was doing, sounds of pleasure soon filling the night,

"Happy Birthday, (Y/n)."

#the lost boys #joel schumacher #vampire #david(thelostboys)#kiefer sutherland #paul(the lost boys)#dwayne(the lost boys)#santa carla #marko(the lost boys)#star(the lost boys)

75 notes · View notes

lenathogwarts · 4 years ago

Text

100 Followers Celebration

So, I’ve just reached 100 Followers on Tumblr today, and I just wanted to say THANK YOU! ♥ Thank you so much for supporting my writing - this really means a lot! 🤗

I would love to celebrate that milestone with you!

I created a list of dialogue prompts and if you want, you can send in a story request! Just send me the number of the prompt and the character pairing and theme (Fluff, Smut, Angst, Dark, Soulmate!AU, etc.) via an Ask or PN.😊

You can also combine different prompts! :)

Some additional info about requests:

Until now, I’ve mainly written for characters of the MCU and Ransom Drysdale (Knives Out) but I’m open to writing for characters out of the following fandoms: Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and Sherlock.

When it comes to RPF(real person fiction): I’m not completely opposed to writing it, however, I’ve never written RPF before😊

If you have any questions regarding the process of sending in a request, possible fandoms and character pairings - my asks and messages are always open! 😊

I’m so excited to hear from you and would love to get to know you better! ♥ Len

THE PROMPT LIST

1. “Alright, Mr./Ms. Lonely, scooch over.”

2. “I hate these devilish little creatures.” - “Babies. They’re called babies.”

3. “I beg your fucking pardon?”

4. “YOU made me do it in the first place!”

5. “Don’t you dare to say goodbye!”

6. “What is grief, if not love persevering?” (because how could I not add that to the prompt list?)

7. “You said forever - and I was stupid enough to believe you.”

8. “Do you really think that was necessary?”

9. “What. The. Fuck.”

10. “We are not talking right now.”

11. “Look at me.”

12. “Guys my age don’t touch me like you do.”

13. “You’re perfectly imperfect.”

14. “Darling?” OR “Liebling / Liebes?” (on the list because I would love to write something bilingual)

15. “I think - I think I’m in love with you.”

16. “This. This is my bad habit right here.”

17. “I’ve missed you.”

18. “I’d kill to hold your hand in public.”

19. “I can’t believe I’m sitting in jail. With you of all people!”

20. “Are you nuts?! You can’t hit him!”

21. “Can we go somewhere, where no one knows us?”

22. “I hate seeing you like this.”

23. “You broke me first!”

24. “I can’t be what you need.”

25. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

26. “We’re good together, you know?”

27. “It’s really not that complicated.” - “Shut it!”

28. “Not. A. Word.”

29. “Close your eyes.”

30. “I’ve missed the feel of your body.”

31. “Should I ... stay?”

32. “Stay.”

33. “Nobody said that it would last forever.”

34. “It would be inappropriate.” - “Then let’s be inappropriate.” (Quote from Scandal)

35. “I need to know that you’re safe.”

36. “That’s my girl/boy.”

37. “You can’t fix the fact that I love you.”

38. “I’m nothing. And you - you are everything.” (Quote from Scandal)

39. “I need you to give me another chance. I demand another chance! We’re worth another chance.” (Quote from Scandal)

40. “Good luck with the next one.”

41. “Ready?” - “Ready.”

42. “Love me like you mean it.”

43. “You don’t have to be gentle with me, I don’t break easily.”

44. “Are you wearing my shirt?”

45. “Kitten, don’t make me tell you twice.”

46. “Please? I’ll be good, I promise!”

47. “You know I don’t like to be teased.”

48. “Say my name.”

49. “Mmm, good morning to you too.”

50. “What did you just call me?”

51. “You look beautiful.”

52. “Just because I’m young doesn’t mean I’m stupid!”

53. “You don’t get to talk to me like that.”

54. “I’ll be by your side even if I’m not next to you.”

55. “Say you’ll wait for me.”

56. “As soon as this is over we’re booking that fucking vacation!”

57. “I really needed you today.”

58. “I don’t need to be saved!”

59. “I’ve had enough of you being the hero for today!”

60. “Okay.” - “Okay?” - “Okay!”

61. “You’re nobody ‘til somebody loves you.” - “Well, I call bullshit on that one!”

62. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

63. “You heard me. I still have 27 minutes of my lunch break left.”

64. “Just let me help you.”

65. “Care to dance?” - “How could I refuse such a charming offer?”

66. “I had only heard stories.” - “Stories of me?”

67. “What are you reading to my children?!”

68. “This is a strange way of meeting again, isn’t it?”

69. “Beg for it.”

70. “Oh. So it really is magnetic.” - “One would dare to think so.”

#lenathogwarts #100 followers #100 followers celebration #milestone #story requests #story prompt #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x y/n #bucky barns x y/n #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #ransom drysdale x y/n #ransom drysdale x reader #ransom drysdale x you #avengers fanfiction #harry potter fanfiction #len writes requests #lens 100 follower celebration

10 notes · View notes

letterstothemidnightsociety · 4 years ago

Text

THAT’S RIGHT BITCH! It’s October and I am still watching and inexplicably blogging about Supernatural - a dinosaur of a television show that’s been on the air longer than most children I know have been alive.

I know I’m An Old because I don’t think kids these days understand the struggle it was watching television before streaming. We had to wait for episodes. Hell, I don’t think kids these days even really have to wait for seasons. I mean, Voltron premiered on Netflix in 2016, capped off their seasons at 13 episodes a piece and, oh yeah - aired seasons 5 - 8 all in 2018. Was I mad about that? No of course not. Do I also say phrases like “kids these days? Yes, so who even knows if what I think is relevant anymore.

Alright, so speaking of seasons, last time I looked at pilots and pilot seasons and how the streaming era is changing everything we know about starting a TV show. But once you’ve got your pilot down, now what?

Not this kind of pilot. Also, based on the prerequisites for demon possession, we’re all agreed this co-pilot’s like, an alcoholic, right?

There’s a rule in TV (sort of) that the first six episodes (some might argue the first season entirely) should be a kind of rehash of the pilot. The pilot sets up your premise and once you’ve got your pilot down, your job as a TV writer is to re-establish that premise over and over again. You’re building your world, you’re writing it’s rules. You’re setting up a template, a formula for how your episodes are gonna play out. This helps your audience get to know the characters, get familiar with your world, get comfortable spending time with them. Essentially, you’re getting your audience to trust the show that they’re going to be tuning in to for at least the next 20-some-odd episodes.

I’d also argue that this is important so that later, you can break that format later. I’m not saying you should break the trust your audience puts in you, and that’s probably a real fine line of distinction. But if you break your rules right, it can hit the audience with a big emotional sucker punch. Or, it can stand out as a real breakout, tentpole of an episode - I’m thinking specifically about Ghostfacers! In season 3, or Once More, With Feeling, from Buffy. Those episodes work, really work, because they deviate from the formula, but they only work because we know the formula so well. And these aren’t big changes to the way episodes are done, they’re just shifted ever so slightly that they felt new again..

So what is the premise of the first four episodes Supernatural? What’s the formula they set up for the rest of the series?

Brothers. I said it in my last post, I’ll say it again, Sam and Dean/Jensen Ackles and Jared Jared Padalecki are what makes this show. Full stop. I think we could have gotten 5 seasons out of a show starring two other dudes. I do not think this show could have gotten 15 seasons with two other dudes. So from the pilot through Phantom Traveler, we learn that Sam and Dean have a sh*tty home life - their mother was killed by some mysterious evil thing and their father raised them to be little demon-hunting child soldiers while they look for the killer. Oh yeah, and Sam’s girlfriend died the exact same way which we will never forget because Sam’s gonna have a dream about it almost every episode from here on out. We set up the tension between the brothers - that Sam got to go to college while Dean stayed with their dad like a good boi. We learn that everybody hates each other probably because they are deeply and unhealthily codependent love each other so damn much.

Next we get the basic rundown of the season arc:

Dad’s on a hunting trip and he hasn’t been home in a few days. The Winchester brothers are looking for him and by extension, looking for answers as to what killed their mom/Sam’s girlfriend. We also get the basic rundown of every episode: dad is a mysterious and elusive sonuvuabitch, so every episode they go about, say it with me now:

“The family business.” I would also accept “Killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can,” but why can’t I find a gif for it?!?

Backtracking on this but you know what else gets hecking established with the Winchesters? Sam is the cute one with the people skills and the puppy dog face, so you’d naturally assume that he’s the soft one. No. Not the case. Dean is the Sofffft Boi. The SOFTest boi. Dean wants Sam to talk about his feelings, Dean wants Sam to not keep things bottled up, Dean is the one who desperately wants to keep a hold of his family and also is just deeply broken and traumatized on the inside and oh no, I told myself I wouldn’t do this but I did it anyway. Sorry not sorry. This watch, I’m really picking up on the fact that Dean is, weirdly, the Mom Friend in this first season. Like, he’s basically a Trailer-Trash-Teen-Pregnancy Mom who’ll give you spaghettios five nights a week and a shot of whiskey so you’ll quit yer bitchin’ and go to sleep faster, but he’s the Mom nonetheless. Later in this season and in other seasons, I think you even see him do his dumb-baby-best filling in as the Mom when John went off the deep end. Anyway, I have a lot of feelings and we don’t have time to unpack all of that so I’ll just move on.

RUDE.

Next we set up our Supernatural Bag of Holding - what’s in it? What are the mystical artifacts they use to kill those evil sons of bitches? First up is The Car. Damn, I am not a cars girl, but that 67 Chevy, it does things to me.

This car has some weird pavlovian trigger for me, it’s not NATURAL.

The journal.

John Winchester, you journal the way I imagine a psycho killer journals and I would just really appreciate it if you could be ANY MORE ORGANIZED THAN THIS.

The Trunk Full of Weapons - I love that in these first few episodes (and possibly the rest of the series???) they give this HELLA conspicuous look every time they open the trunk full of weapons. It’s hilarious EVERY TIME.

No, you’re not being obvious at ALL, guys.

The Fake ID’s - from credit cards to impersonating feds, these boys are not afraid to break the law to save some lives and I feel like that’s...that’s the theme of the show maybe? They’re here to save people and they’ll do what they have to to do that? In a world that clearly establishes a dark vs. light/good vs. evil dichotomy, the Winchester make it their job to live in a world of grey? Basically?

Next on the checklist for this first season of Supernatural - it’s spoopy. *Spoop mileage may vary.* I said it last time, but I’ll say it again: this first season aired at 9:00pm at night. That means it’s primetime stuff for the 18 - 25 year old crowd, but they don’t want to risk some 13 year old watching it and getting too scared before bed. 9:00pm is X Files time slots, Fringe time slots. 9:00pm says you’re gonna get something a little more gruesome and gory and shocking than at 8pm. 8pm is for Friends. Vampire Diaries aired at 8pm its first season. 9pm is for the real adult content (but not too adult because the audience is still mostly children).

SPOOP!

But yeah, let’s look at the real horror vibe that you get off of these first four episodes. We talked about La Llorona from the first episode - this is a legit ghost that they fight. The kids at the end that literally drag their mom to hell? Pretty spooky stuff. The Wendigo in episode 2 is a literal monster of the week and so for me personally, it’s not that scary, but it is a cannibal monster that eats human flesh. Dead in the Water has vibes from both Jaws and Friday the 13th. Everything from the lighting to the sound design let’s you know this is a horror show, or as horror as you can get on network television. Listen to the scenes just before somebody dies and you get a nice creepy “Come play with me” whisper coming out of the water. I’m a little spooked just thinking about it now. Yes I know I’m a chicken, and I’m OK WITH THAT. And if we go past my season 1 disc 1 into episode 5, Bloody Mary is STILL terrifying and I STILL watched that episode with half my face covered. That’s where I am these days. It’s 2020 and the world is a nightmare but imagining Bloody Mary creepin’ out in my mirror does not need to be a part of it.

SHE F*CKIN CLIMBS OUT OF THE MIRROR GUYS! I DIDN’T KNOW SHE COULD DO THAT!!!

Then we get Phantom Traveler and our very first case of black-eyed-demonic possession. Watching this episode now, it’s like watching someone’s home movie of their first steps as a baby. They’ve never even done an exorcism before guys! They have to read the exorcism rite out of the journal! It’s so cute!!! Let’s not think too hard about how they got that full sized bottle of holy water past TSA in a post-9/11 world. And try to ignore how poorly these special effects have aged - the smoke from the demon possession?? OMG! THIS EFFECT! I’m pretty sure I could make that effect with my first ever graphic design software on my, like, 2009 mac book pro. So cute and soooo good! I’m gonna leave that CG plane alone, they’re doing their best.

SO cute and SOOO good!

You want to know what my favorite established staple of Supernatural season 1 is? The extras. LOOKIT these guys -

Wendigo you have Cory Monteith who later goes on to star in Glee.

You have Alden Ehrenreich, Debatable Han Solo, doing a lot of face work with very little dialogue.

You have Gina Holden who is in SO. MANY. Spooky-type things! My personal favs are Blood Ties and Harper’s Island, but she’s in Fringe, she’s in the SAW franchise, she’s in the Final Destination franchise, she was in some deleted scenes on an episode of Teen Wolf! I LOVE seeing Gina Holden, anywhere she pops up.

And speaking of Harper’s Island, you’ve also got Callum Keith Rennie who played John Wakefield in Harper’s Island, a show that was A+ Great and I highly recommend if you like Agatha Christie and/or murder mysteries.

Honestly, Rennie looks like he’s about to murder a bitch in this episode of Supernatural, it is not a stretch to believe he’s a psycho killer.

Dead in the Water you’ve got Amy Acker, a regular in Joss Whedon and Whedon-adjacent type shows.

Good LORD, this wardrobe was SO 2000′s WB and it PAINED me.

And finally in Phantom Traveler, you have Jaime Ray Newman who also shows up in a lot of the shows that I like to watch. She was in Eureka, she was in Midnight Texas, both kind of terrible shows that I love because they are terrible, but she was ALSO in Bates Motel and Veronica Mars, which are generally considered to be more quality, so there’s that.

This still implies that they actually LIT scenes, which is a SURPRISE TO ME.

Point is, seeing these actors in Supernatural back in the early 2000’s felt like I was seeing the start of their careers. That may or may not have been the case, but as a viewer it was exciting to see them pop up again in other things.

So what about TV now? Do we still use those first 6 (sometimes more) episodes to re-establish the premise? Well, it certainly hasn’t gone away. Look at any network show that still produces 22 - 24 episodes a season and you’ll still see that the pilot season just keeps re-iterating the premise established in the pilot episode, specifically in anything that’s procedural - that’s you’re monster/problem-of-the-week shows. Think sitcoms like Brooklyn 99 or Superstore or dramedies like Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. The reason being that these shows play in the traditional model of television - on a network, once a week. They are not releasing episodes all at one time or relying on their audiences to stream a whole season in one sitting. These are shows that still assume that someone out there is going to tune in or stumble across their show one night while they’re surfing channels (lol) and need to be told, no matter what episode they’ve just turned on, what the premise of the show is. They need to be formulaic so that people can pick it up anywhere at any time.

But what about shows that don’t follow this traditional model? I mentioned in my last post that seasons are getting shorter and shorter, so when you’re writing a show that only has (8) episodes instead of 22, how much time do you really want to spend establishing the premise? Because of these short seasons, you’re also dealing with shows that are more serialized and less procedural than their predecessors - meaning, you’re dealing with a show that focuses on a season long story (think Game of Thrones or Stranger Things where each episode is an important chapter that you can’t skip) vs. a procedural (think the shows I mentioned above or any cop drama really) where each episode is it’s own contained story, neatly wrapped up at the end. These are shows where you can skip an episode and still know where you are in the show no matter where you start or stop watching. Supernatural is a little bit of both - procedural with their monsters of the week AND serialized with a season long arc. We’ll talk more on that in a later post.

Not only are we getting shorter seasons, but we’re also dealing with shows that are not released over long periods of time. A few streaming channels, like Disney+ and HBO Max, make a deliberate point to slow-drip their seasons, but most streaming channels will release entire seasons in one shot. You don’t need to worry about your audience missing an episode because they have 24/7 access to all the episodes all at once. And for the most part, they’re designed to be binged. They start at full speed and they don’t slow down to keep driving you to the finale.

Do I think the procedural is ever going to go away? No. As much talk as there is about dropping the cop drama from TV all together, I think audiences still love a good mystery series. And you can’t just think of procedurals as cop dramas either - a procedural also covers most if not all sitcoms. New Girl, Letterkenny, Parks and Rec, Superstore - these all have a premise that doesn't change from week to week. They may make tiny shifts away from what they set up in the pilot, but by and large, you know what you’re getting into any time you turn on an episode. I think we as an audience still like that kind of familiarity. We may be seeing a bigger swing towards more serialized content, but that doesn't mean that the procedural is dead and gone.

So that’s what we’ve got for Supernatural - two dudes, driving around in a car full of spears and hand guns, killing bad guys. Some day, they may even find that father that’s missing. What could possibly go wrong? A lot. Stay tuned.

#Supernatural #Supernatural Season 1 #Supernatural Rewatch #Sam #Dean #Winchester #Pilot #Wendigo #Phantom Traveler #Television #History of television #Dead in the Water #Jensen Ackles #jared padalecki

5 notes · View notes

writtenbyhappynerds · 4 years ago

Text

Unit 6: Making it Real

When we say realism, we mean capturing both the voice of the canon characters while providing an OC who realistically fits into the narrative. This can be one of the hardest things to grasp as a writer, and a fanfiction writer on top of that because the cards are inherently against you. While your OC is your own character and can have whatever voice you want it to, the canon characters (cast) are voices you have to mimic. They are not and will never be your own voice, just an imitation of someone else’s voice. Some of the best fanfictions capture the voice of the cast extremely well which is why their fanfictions work. Because we as readers see how they have interpreted the cast and find it believable. There are many tips and tricks we as writers can use to mimic the voices of characters. To start, we are going to discuss some of the easiest mistakes and how to correct them.

Just because a piece is a fanfiction doesn’t mean you can come up with ridiculous plot lines and reduce the cast to one-note personalities. It is very easy to rely on the most blatant part of a character’s personality to carry over their impression, but it isn’t enough to make realistic fanfic. In Harry Potter fanfiction, for example, Hermione Granger is often reduced to a clenched butthole who never stops screaming about homework. Hermione the canon character is a muggle-born witch who sees magic as an opportunity and wants to be the best she can possibly be, as well as a character who staunchly opposes injustice. She will not ignore injustice for the sake of academics, which is how organizations such as SPEW and Dumbledore’s Army were created. As a writer, it helps to flip back through Harry Potter and make notes for yourself on the themes of each character’s personality and flaws. For Hermione, instead of focusing on the academic, the writer needs to remember the bravery and the pursuit of injustice. They also need to remember how stubborn she is and how much she hates to lose or be proven wrong (See Harry beating Hermione in potions in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince). If you’re including characters like Hermione in your fanfiction, it requires some research, and having a cheat sheet will be helpful in developing a more realistic voice.

Some issues in realism also come from the writer having way more voices than what they know what to do with. This means that maybe you had one OC, but that OC interacts with a large group like One Direction or The Avengers. There’s an easy solution: Your OC does not need to interact and be best friends with every single character. That itself is unrealistic. Take your own friend group for example. There are some members of that group you text every day, there are some you only see at events, some you only see on weekends, and some who are around all the time. It is perfectly ok if you as a writer are uncomfortable, to have some characters back up and take on a lesser role at the start of a fic. As you grow more confident with larger groups, you’ll still have the option to reintroduce them, or you can even have a specific arc in the story with your OC and those background characters. What the Editor and I see all too often is groups being forced to stick together as a group. What happens then is that the watered-down personalities infect all the characters as a whole and decrease the value of the fic overall. Take One Direction for example. In these fics, because it’s so important for the group to stick together as a group, Louis’s personality is reduced to screaming about carrots. Liam screams about spoons. Zayn does it with mirrors, and Harry, his hair. Not only are these boys reduced to the bare bones of personality, but all the writer has also done is taken the most ridiculous parts of their personalities and made it represent their entire beings. It’s not realistic. What you can do as a writer is send them off to other places or keep them in the background. You have no clue how to write for Zayn? He’s gonna be on his iPad for this scene watching a movie. You don’t know what Louis would do during this part? He’s gone to the store or gone for a walk. The characters don’t have to be together all the time. The same is true for Avengers fanfiction, and I’d argue that it’s easier to do this for Avengers because you can be more creative with the excuses. Clint’s at the farm. Natasha and Steve are on a mission. Tony got dragged to some event with Pepper. Bruce is in his room- he asked to not be disturbed. There is no rule that says a group has to stay together at all times, and if you’re uncomfortable you can find ways for those characters to leave, or put them somewhere in the background where they won’t interrupt the scene.

Let’s talk briefly about love interests. The notes for the romance chapter are already horribly long, as the Editor and I have been discussing all the common mistakes and errors we see in romance fictions, but we’re saving that for after Exam 2 since I already have to apply a curve to Exam 1 for everyone who didn’t study. I digress. Love-interests can get just as bogged down as regular members of the cast. We’ve previously discussed how characters wouldn’t drop their entire personality the minute their love interest appears. That still stands because it isn’t realistic. Another thing that isn’t realistic, is amplifying a rival’s personality to make your pairing better by comparison. I see you people, and making a character or member of the cast more obnoxious or annoying so your pairing looks better is unrealistic and needs to come to an end. For example, say you’re writing a The Vampire Diaries fanfiction and your OC is madly in love with Damon. Fine, whatever, I don’t care. What I do care about is you the writer making Elena more obnoxious or more of a bitch to force your Damon/OC pairing. That’s not kosher. In the real world, relationships can fall apart and come together for reasons other than this person is suddenly super annoying and controlling and I don’t know why but oh look this new girl I’ve never seen is totally nice and super chill. Relationships are a partnership, and as a shortlist, they can fall apart because of: differing levels of commitment, they’re no longer on the same page, they’re afraid of being alone (yes relationships can fall apart because of this), someone compares their relationship to everyone else’s, someone tries to rely on their body language as a form of communication and as such, they don’t communicate, someone sees their partner as inferior, and so on and so forth. Another helpful way to naturally push a breakup is that in many couples who have been together for a long time, what originally were quirks and cute becoming obnoxious flaws that are too much effort to deal with. An example of this can be found in Neil Hilborn’s spoken-word poem OCD, where he describes how his ex fell out of love with him because his tics that were at first fun and cute became annoying and too much to handle. It’s sad, but it is more realistic for two people or two characters to break up over these reasons than one character waking up and turning into a complete nuisance. We will cover more of this in the Romance Unit.

We sometimes find an error in the Meet Cutes or the way in which the OCs first meet and interact with the cast. These can range from they came to the coffee shop I worked at to they saved me from xyz villains. However, if this story is taking place in the real world we’d appreciate a spoonful of realism. If a character is planning a trip abroad, they would not get to the airport 10 minutes before the flight leaves. That is a fun way to suddenly not have a trip abroad. It doesn’t build tension for the audience when things like this occur, it just sets up unrealistic circumstances and makes the entire scene less believable. The same is true for say, One Direction fanfics where the fan somehow miraculously sneaks backstage and meets the band. That wouldn’t happen in real life. I understand it’s hard to figure out how two characters can get into the same room, but you have other options. Going back to One Direction, a teenage girl becoming the personal assistant for five teenage boys is very unrealistic. I’m sorry, but you shouldn’t write those kinds of fanfiction. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t write One Direction fanfiction though! You just need something more realistic. You could have:

The daughter of an executive producer or choreographer or stylist for the boys who have to bring their parents something they’ve forgotten.

The store manager at a shopping mall who lets the boys sneak out the back of the store when they’re running from paparazzi.

They could be a musician who is trying to get signed to the same label as the band.

So long as your fanfiction is realistic fiction, I want you to lean heavily on realism. This does not apply just to One Direction fanfic. Every universe has a set of stakes and standards. We covered this in Chapter One. What we need to do now in realism is to apply those standards and make sure that when two characters meet, it feels natural. It feels like something that could happen and not something that was forced to happen.

Speaking of forced to happen, let’s delve into character flaws. We talked about in Unit 5 how some writers appear uncomfortable with seeing their characters struggle. What some authors fail to realize is a tougher uphill climb makes the view so much more worth it. Seeing your characters struggle is a fact of life: not everything comes naturally to you, so why would it to your characters? When I was first trying to force myself to give my character flaws I would scour lists online for “common character flaws.” There is an easier solution. Your character’s flaws can mirror the positive attributes of a character. For example, If your character is very loyal, they may be headstrong and unwilling to hear or believe criticism of the person or thing they are loyal towards. You can think of that in terms of a devoutly religious person who won’t hear criticism of their beliefs, or of a loyal friend who won’t believe the person they know did something wrong. A character who is very giving may not take time for themselves or would let themselves go without before seeing their friends suffer. A character who is romantic and loves to try and woo their significant other may be jealous when they can’t spend time with that person or may be needy, and struggle with being alone. As an easy trick, try and view your character’s positive attributes through a negative lens and see what flaws you can pull out, so like me, you can stop scrolling the lists online just to say your character bites their nails or smokes.

The best example of flaws and consequences of those flaws is Percy Jackson. Riordan makes a point for the heroes to have “fatal flaws” with Annabeth’s being pride and Percy’s being loyalty. You see consequences for these flaws throughout the book, and you see bad things happen to the characters because of their pride or loyalty. Annabeth wouldn’t have gone after the spider alone if it weren’t for her pride. She wouldn’t have tried to hear and survive the siren’s song. She makes mistakes and falls down and even lands in Tartarus because of her pride, which makes her a more realistic character. The same is true for Percy, whose loyalty to his friends and those he loves forces him to act recklessly and to even defy the gods in the name of those he cares about. You can see it in Nic DiAngelo as well because his grudge against the demigods is what kept him out of the books for so long. Until such a time where Bianca could tell him to get over it and forgive. Flaws are important to have and vital to character development, but we should also see consequences for these flaws otherwise we won’t know they’re there. Remember, we as readers can only infer from what you give us, and we’re not doing character bios anymore. So if you want your character to have flaws, the only way we can see that is by consequence of their actions. It’s okay for your characters to fail from time to time. It makes the victories better by comparison.

In the same vein of character flaws, let’s finally talk about Mary Sues. A Mary Sue is a character who can accomplish any task no matter how difficult with little effort and is adored by all. Depending on the story, we can see this play out in different ways. Often, we see authors try to disguise the character’s Mary Sue-ness by giving her some random flaw to prove she’s not perfect; however, that flaw doesn’t seem to impact her life in any way at all. For example, in Avengers fanfics, our Mary Sue has some vaguely defined powers that allow her to do absolutely everything imaginable but may have a flaw that was added as an afterthought like being bad at math. This flaw may later be ignored as in another chapter she could/would solve a physics problem that stumped Tony Stark. Her flaw had no impact on her ability to be better than everyone around her, and this makes her a Mary Sue. As a side note, when you give your characters superpowers, the character should have a consequence or rule for using those powers. The book Magic or Madness starred a family of witches, who had to use their powers because they would go insane without them. However, using those powers cost them years off their lifespans. In Mary Sues, we see characters who make themselves the plot, instead of joining or coming along for a storyline that they participate in. We see this happen a lot in Victorious with Tori Vega. Anytime something, all of the characters turn to her to magically swoop in and save the day. For example, in the Great Ping Pong Scam episode (season 1, episode 11), Robbie ordered way too much caviar and now they’re unable to pay their bill. Don’t worry though, Tori has this shit handled. We see her borrow Jade’s dress and sing her way out of that situation. There was absolutely no reason for that to happen; we know Jade is a talented singer, she could have easily done that herself. Make it mean something, and make there be consequences for these characters.

Another common trait of Mary Sues is a tragic backstory. The character might have lost their family, may have been abused, may have been homeless, had depression, been suicidal, or even all of the above. It’s not a bad thing to have a character with a tragic backstory. What makes that character a Mary Sue is when that backstory does not impact who they are as a person. The backstory is there for the audience to sympathize with the character, not as an internal conflict of the character herself, and more often than not the tragic backstory manifests itself in being closed off and, “refusing to trust people,” while still having a large group of friends like the Avengers or the cast of Harry Potter or the Heroes of Olympus. There are consequences for actions. Things people do and say can have lasting effects and carry on with someone for the rest of their lives. It can manifest in rational fears, and irrational fears and a character may have both healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms. If you write in a terrible instance that has occurred for your character, you need there to be consequences for the actions of both that character and those who hurt them. A good example is in Bill Willingham’s Fables: Legends in Exile in the characters Snow White and her sister Rose Red. The short and long of it is that Snow White was rescued by the prince, and abandoned her sister. Rose Red was eventually sent for, but only after a great deal of time had passed. This made her feel unwanted, and as revenge on her sister, she slept with Prince Charming and destroyed their marriage. Beyond that, years later, Rose Red still struggles with inadequacy compared to Snow White and still resents her for abandoning her. She can’t keep a stable relationship and feels she isn’t good enough for any of her potential love interests. Rose Red is a great example of a character still feeling the aftershocks of a traumatic event. She was abandoned, and she grew bitter, and she got the revenge she wanted but it still wasn’t satisfying and did more harm than good to her in the long run. To avoid Mary Sues, you need to make your characters have flaws, make them have secrets (beyond their superpowers that inevitably get revealed later in the story), make them have selfish moments, make them afraid, and make sure that if they experienced tragedy and heartbreak that it is something they’ve never forgotten.

The next few notes are not specific to one genre or fandom but are aspects of realism that need to be addressed. First and foremost, it is biologically impossible for boy-girl twins to be identical. This is because when two haploid cells make a diploid zygote, which is how babies are made. Identical twins are always the same sex because they come from the same egg, and all the DNA is copied twice, making them completely identical. Because they are completely identical, they are the same sex. Fraternal twins, which are also more common than identical twins by a longshot, are made when two individual eggs are fertilized at the exact same time. They then grow together in the uterus and make babies who don’t look exactly alike. All boy-girl twins are fraternal because it is biologically impossible for them to be identical since they can’t have a difference in chromosomes while still coming from the same egg. The biology major in me is really coming through in this paragraph, and I apologize for that, but what we’re trying to say is that you can’t have a set of twins that are boy-girl twins and describe them as looking exactly alike. That is unrealistic. Fraternal twins are way more common, and more realistic than identical twins. Give them a shot.

Song lyrics written out in their entirety are a very quick way to ruin the immersion and take your reader out of the story. Having a character sing to another character, very often it is in an unrealistic set of circumstances, and it comes across as cringy and extra instead of emotional. This is more abstract in terms of what is okay and what isn’t and it does go on a case-by-case basis. The good rule of thumb is if you the author have seen this happen in real life or it is something that can actually happen in real life, go ahead. But don’t put the lyrics of the song. Instead, while the character is singing describe how the character they are singing to is reacting. Romanticize the shit out of their surroundings, and make something that’s charming and sweet, instead of cringy. If you need help, our examples of good scenes that involve singing are:

Two people in love singing badly while they dance drunk around the kitchen.

A little boy or girl sharing their favorite song with a stranger to show the innocence of children.

Sports fans singing during a match or a game

The dying rebellion singing their battle cry only after loads have died as a means to try and reignite their hope.

The happy and alive rebellion singing at the top of their lungs because they’re young rebels with a cause and no one has died yet.

The old homeless man getting a guitar for the first time in 2 years and singing a cover of Creep that breaks your heart a la the Youtube video that will be linked below.

Nightmare musical numbers

Songs sung by two voices in two different time periods a la Bojack Horseman’s I Will Always Think of You

Sad reprises

If it can happen in real life, go for it. But don’t tell me what the lyrics are. If you’re worried the readers won’t get it, put a link to the song at the very end of the chapter. Or, if music is a big part of your character, make a soundtrack and put it at the end of the story. A memoir I read recently, Rustbelt Femme, the author Raechel put her mixtape at the end of her book because the music was such a big part of how she came into her own identity and discovered her sexuality. This was something she wanted to share with her audience so in the book itself she would mention the bands or songs in passing, and at the end of the book, she put them in a list for people to listen to on their own. I can understand wanting readers to grasp the importance of the scene, but let them explore that in their own time. Don’t force it down their throats by putting song lyrics in the middle of a story.

Next week we’re talking about crossovers. I am very excited, as I love a good crossover fanfiction. We’ll discuss how to make crossovers work, how some don’t work and why, and tie it back to both characterization and the Rules for the Universe. Xoxo, gossip girl.

Additional Reading (Listening):

youtube

Neil Hilborn’s OCD

youtube

Homeless Man Singing Creep by Radiohead.

4 notes · View notes

numberonepapermaker32 · 5 years ago

Photo

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus Vol. 1 Review

SPOILER ALERT!!!

01. All’s Fair

The opening story of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus Vol. 1. It was nice to hear/see Spike and Dru's dialogs, but there wasn't that much more to the story except it was another one of their adventures. I was kinda misled to believe it would be set during the Boxer Rebellion, but instead, the time of it was the Chicago World's Fair in the 1930s. It was short and not that fun, the theme of the crazy scientist with a wondrous machine was even a bit silly. I didn't much enjoy the artwork, either. Spike and Dru don't look like themselves from the show. All in all, a quick and somewhat fun read.

02. The Origin

I loved this volume!! I have yet to watch the Buffy movie, somehow I can't make myself. So keep in mind I read this without knowing the plot and the facts from it. Buffyverse Wikia says how this comic is ''considered the canon story that replaces the events of this movie,'' so it's fair to say it gives us the whole backstory of Buffy's life prior to coming to Sunnydale. It shows Buffy already fighting vampires and eventually finding out about her Slayer destiny. We get the complete info because, on the show, they glossed over that part: how Buffy was quick in adjusting to this new life, figuring out how in order to beat more vampires at once, she should seek a priest to bless water for her to use, etc. Just as with Melaka Fray, here we see how Potentials transform into Slayers, being quick on their minds and feet. Another important part was how she tried to talk to the school's guidance counselor about vampires and the dreams she'd been having, and he didn't even listen to her but instead talked about himself. This is indicative and shows some good foreshadowing for the show. It tells us at this very beginning how no one will believe Buffy to be a sane person when she mentions these ''shadow activities'' of hers. The word crazy gets tossed around a lot, which I strongly dislike. I hate the stereotypical gender roles that Buffyverse keeps on projecting. The girls are pretty and dumbsih, the boys want sex with the pretty girls. Other than that, I really enjoyed this issue. Very much so!!

03. Viva Las Buffy

Wow, this issue was excellent!! Really fast-paced and I read it in a single breath! It's a prequel with more of Buffy's backstory, but also Angel's and Giles's, which I loved! Randomly picked thoughts: 01. The only thing I HATED about this issue is Pike. I mean, he's utterly horrible! Again, Buffyverse displays some stereotypical gender roles, and those are painfully obvious in this story. Pike is constantly whining and worrying about how Buffy will not like him and how he's a nuisance when we know as well as he does, Buffy doesn't need that kind of crap in her newfound life as a Slayer! I mean, the dude tries to kill himself in front of Buffy and actually thinks it's a good idea and a valid way to help her because he's so self-involved!!! Thank the heavens he leaves at the end, urgggh. 02. Dawn is in this comic, which I'm not sure how I feel about, and it also contradicts the show and movie (as Wikia suggests). I don't like her as a character on the show, except for when she is there for Buffy emotionally. 03. There are many scenes in this issue, as well as the next one, where we get info about the marriage between Joyce and Hank. It's difficult to read, really, knowing what we know after we've seen the show. The strain is huge, and Hank is strict, cold, and distant. 04. I loved to see how Giles became Buffy's Watcher. The use of Dark Magics is also indicative and comes full circle in the episode about his Ripper days, The Dark Age. Oh, and Wesley and Gwendolyn Post are also here! :) 05. Angel's story is quirky, so to speak. He follows Buffy to Las Vegas to watch over her (as we learned on the show from his talk from Whistler). He calls himself Angelus for some reason... Like, doesn't that only happen when he's soulless? Whatever. Then he gets into this messy situation with the casino manager regarding his vampire factory and ends up going through a temporal portal that leads him back to the manager's backstory. It was so fun when he said ''...So would someone like to tell me why I'm the only thing here in color?'' LoL, way to be meta, Angel. This is a great comic and I would recommend it to all Buffy fans!!

04. Dawn and Hoopy the Bear

Oh my everloving lord, was this bad!!! Like, why would someone write and publish this in an otherwise great series!?? I'm only giving it 3 instead of 2 stars because the artwork is amazing. But seriously! Some guy who we don't even get to meet chants and calls upon a demon* to curse a teddy bear into killing the Slayer. A teddy bear. A. TEDDY. BEAR. Without knowing who or where the Slayer is. Dawn is just as irritating as on the show, yelling ''What about ME?'' All right already... The nice thing is that the bear protects Dawn because Buffy ran away to Las Vegas, so it's a lovely touch. The parents are getting more distant, so Dawn is kinda alone. Oh, but then?? The ending? The freaking ending?! ''...He came to life and became a real bear. But he turned out to be a naughty bear...'' ''Oh, Dawny, what an imagination you have!'' AND THEN: THE END!! And we see the bear sitting in a dark alley with a beer in his hand. Sorry, paw. WHAAAAAAT??! I mean, was this supposed to be funny?? It's horribly sad and wrong and why am I even thinking about this bear and why does this idiotic story bother me so much?? Omg... * The demon at the beginning looks a lot like the Asphyx demon that gave Spike a soul at the end of s06 of the show. I asked the folks over on reddit about it, but so far haven't gotten an answer. IF ANYBODY KNOWS ANYTHING, LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS :)

05. Slayer, Interrupted

Yeah, this is the best installment in the Omnibus vol.1 collection, mainly because it completes everyone's backstory prior to the show's s01, after they all arrive in Sunnydale. This volume is set around Buffy's time in the mental institution which we learned about in s06 of the show, this gives us details. Basically, Dawn being Dawn, the insufferable idiot she is, goes on and reads Buffy's diary which makes their parents decide to send Buffy to a mental hospital. She can't possibly be sane if she's writing about vampires, right?? Urghh, Dawn. Anyway, the doctors set a diagnosis of a ''severe neuroses paranoia'' and ''a Messiah complex.'' Then they go on to decide she should get medication prior to electro-shock treatment. OMG... Like, did they actually do that stuff in the 90es still?? Eventually, we find out that, of course, the asylum is laden with the supernatural. The head doctor turns out to be the Rakagore demon who sires teenage brides. Yuck, again with this gender stereotype crap. BUT! This episode does raise some interesting foreshadowing. Buffy's problem with authority and the almost complete lack of faith from adults in general. There's this scene where she describes her childhood with her father. He reads her Alice in Wonderland (of course, what else, geez) and she then felt safe. The symbolism is clear even for Buffy and she raises an excellent point of how the word 'crazy' is just awful and plain wrong. Random thoughts: 01. Giles's story of passing this super-difficult test by facing his inner demons, or rather his younger self was kinda weak. However, I was happy to see how he and Buffy have other things in common, here namely father figure issues. 02. We get this short glimpse of Sunnydale Hight with Cordelia and Willow and that makes me super happy!! I wish there was more! 03. There's a couple of scenes with Angel and Whistler that are completely unnecessary because they give us no exposition whatsoever. 04. There's this great foreshadowing at the end when Buffy visits Alice in the hospital and offers her a Doublemeat burger.

#buffy the vampire slayer #comics #review

6 notes · View notes

zalrb · 5 years ago

Text

TVD 3x03 Review

I’m skipping to 3x03 because me and initiumseries already did 3x02 in a drunk review even though for some reason I label it 3x03 (maybe I was still drunk when I uploaded it):

vimeo

1. I like that when Damon asks Katherine where she is and she says, “Staring out your window, pining away” this fool actually looks around. She isn’t there, Damon.

2. I didn’t realize how whiny Nina is as Katherine until now, my god.

3. “Details are all a blur.” “Well that’s a crying shame.” Translation: YOU DON’T REMEMBER US, STEFAN?

4. Yeah I hate it but in 3x03, when Stefan’s feeding on that woman in the car, Paul is slick there because as an actor he’s relishing the opportunity in being bad, it works well for him.

5. Rebekah’s introduction is pretty good. Just rolling up on Stefan, licking his cheek and talking about the date he just killed. This is why I never understood why when people think of Bad Boy Stefan/Dark Stefan and his partner in crime they go to Katherine, it’s Rebekah he’s the “bad boy” with.

6. “Chicago was magical.” “Yeah well I’ll take your word for it.” Legit Klaus’ utter look of disappointment when Stefan brushes off Chicago is hilarious. Omg, those two.

7. Oh look Damon just in Elena’s bed, she’s clearly uncomfortable and he’s making a sexual joke. Omg totally in love!

8. Oh Look Damon rifling through Elena’s underwear drawer.

9. Caroline’s dad’s logic doesn’t make sense considering that Caroline isn’t going around killing people for blood. She uses blood bags. She has it under control. He can’t turn her into a non-vampire so this entire process is a waste of time.

10. I will say the shot of her being tortured by the sun was good.

11. Damon forcing Elena to read Stefan’s diary is literally just him trying to knock him down a peg in her eyes.

12. I was going to say I find it interesting that as a ripper Stefan would continue to write in his journal but in the ‘20s Stefan doesn’t have his humanity off, he’s just off the deep end with his ripper nature so he’s manic, which means he does feel and Stefan probably feels things the most profoundly on the show so it would make sense he’d journal.

13. Stefan as a Ripper is also just a bro. Which I find funny.

14. “What is this?” *shows a picture of Stefan and Klaus.” “I told you, Stefan, Chicago is a magical place.” LOL. Be boyfriends.

15. HA. Yo I’m sorry man but Stefan grabs Klaus and pulls him around to face him, Joseph’s face JUST looks turned on. They can’t help this shit and it’s HILARIOUS.

16. They tried to recreate the Klebekah scene with Steroline but the latter felt flat for SO many reasons. First of all, with Klebekah, their victim is panting, which adds a really disturbing sense of eroticism to the scene. Second of all, Stefan starts touching Rebekah AS they feed on this woman. Third of all, Claire and Paul just had better chemistry.

17. “I’m bored, I want to go.” “Then go without me I’m not your girlfriend.” Says Rebekah to her brother meanwhile her brother and Stefan are eye-fucking the shit out of each other after Stefan and Rebekah were getting off on killing an innocent woman. Legit the three of them together are MESSY.

18. There is so much inappropriate tension in this scene.

19. And again, Klaus looks so turned on at Stefan committing violence, he STAYS adjusting himself, like omg.

20. This is the second Black female bartender that Damon’s flirted with that’s ended up dead.

21. I think what I actually enjoy about Elena reading Stefan’s ripper diaries is that she flips through it looking for hope (one of their fundamental themes) and she gets to the 30s where Stefan says the bloodlust is easier and Lexi’s onto her next project, which is getting him to laugh and she smiles, assured. I like it because she didn’t have to see that he was “cured” she just had to see that he was better.

22. The closet scene! AND their love theme plays. 3x03 is definitely not an underrated scene among SErs but I always like talking about how layered it is in terms of the characters and in terms of chemistry. I bring it up a lot because Lupita Nyong’o brought up a point about chemistry:

“Chemistry is something that you pray for as an actor because it is so hard to fabricate. It’s so much easier to just have it and then, you know, work on other things, on your intention and your action and all that. Trying to fabricate chemistry is just … it adds another … it’s a lot of energy.”

And I think a prime example of this is 3x03 because even the way Nina spoke about the scene, about how at that point, it had been the longest time she and Paul had gone without filming a scene together so seeing him really felt like seeing him for the first time and the feeling of the scene

And like I’ve said before, Elena being in the closet is Stefan’s past/his darkness and his future/his light converging in one space.

But also what I like about SE and the way TVD had written them is they give them mini tests within the relationship that they then overcome. For instance, Stefan is super far gone, he’s off the wagon, he’s been murdering people for months, is he so far gone that he’ll turn on Elena? And for a second it looks like he might when calls Klaus over but he doesn’t because he just gives him a vintage.

Stefan is drinking human blood, Elena doesn’t like it, is that going to be a choice that tears them apart or brings them together? Elena chooses to be in it with Stefan by giving him her vein.

There’s constant tension between Stefan’s vampirism and SE love and SE love always wins out.

23. “I had an hour to realize what a bad idea it was to leave you here alone, process it and move on.” Damon, you’re a dick.

24. Klaus is so in love with Stefan and I find it hilarious because this isn’t brotherly at all.

25. These stares. Get a ROOM.

26. Yeah see Candice is good at screaming when it comes to being tortured but when it comes to crying she’s adequate at best.

27. KLEFAN WHY ARE Y’ALL SO CLOSE?

28. Touching chests and shit.

29. Klaus: I forgot what it was like to have a brother.

Me:

30. It always bothered me that when the vampire use vampire speed in the show and slam each other against things like walls and doors, nothing dents or cracks. They do it in Mr and Mrs. Smith for godsake and they’re not even vampires!

31. That was a BAD shot of Ian, man, he looked old as fuuuuuuuuuuuck.

32. “Well I am torn, you see, I promised Stefan I wouldn’t let you die but how many freebies did I really sign up for? And clearly you WANT to die otherwise you wouldn’t be here...” Jo’s delivery is on point.

33. I’ve said it before but the, “You shouldn’t be here.” “Where else would I be?” and Elena’s head tilt like of COURSE I’d come after you, of COURSE I’m here, of course, of course, of course, is really just pure SE.

34. “When I’m done with him, he won’t want to go back.” Idc, the writers had to know that that the line was DRIPPING with innuendo.

35. “I don’t want to see you, I don’t want to be with you.” SE did this so much better than DE did because it wasn’t hyperbolic and the inflection in Paul’s tone, the shocked stillness of Elena is just done so WELL. And their circumstance is also SO MUCH sadder than DE’s was because DE’s issue was literally just that Damon was trash.

36. Aww Forwood.

37. Oh Klaus stabbing Rebekah because she wants to leave, I just wish they made them Cesare and Lucrezia. Go all the way. Cowards.

38. Klaus: Look guys, we’re an Ot3 again!

39. See when Rebekah throws over the casket, it should break apart.

40. Stefan’s hair really was stupid in the 20s.

41. “Have you seen these two people before?” “No.” “OK.” That’s it?

Alright guy, thanks for reading!

#stelena #klefan #stefan salvatore #elena gilbert #the vampire diaries #tvd review #tvd 3x03 #the end of the affair #tvd the end of the affair #the vampire diaries the end of the affair #the vampire diaries 3x03 #paul wesley #nina dobrev #joseph morgan #anti-tvd #anti julie plec #anti caroline dries

91 notes · View notes