#there's about to be some very dead villains
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I wish they did the anime justice and covered or adapted the full manga as it was cuz I sure hated the anime. I also wish the mangaka gave us a better ending cuz honestly the ending sucked and there were too many plot twists at a very short time interval, he didn't even bother taking a little bit of time for the plot twists in-between and just added all at once forcing them down to our throats, good heavens.
Aya, restoring everything just the way it was (even better than things were) meant that all the strong emotions we felt for each characters just went to waste and also it just feels silly to have a forced happy ending like that, or have everything the main character's way. Like some people sacrificed themselves and it was better if it ended like that with those characters being dead cuz that sure created an impact but no, the mangaka had to do that "sailor moon" style of approach with the main character somehow overpowering the villain cuz she feels strongly about the people that mostly never cared about her and somehow made a "miracle" happen with everybody freaking being revived again.
God I'm so sick of the reincarnation bullcrap. Please gimme a break. Can't there be any magical girl series without the reincarnation crap and whoever that gets killed (regardless if they r main characters or not) just remaining dead???? Both magical girl site anime and manga could do better. And I'm saying that cuz this manga had the potential to do way better but no, the writer had to divert the story many times to focus on stupid characters that nobody barely cared about and then give us that ending (and he sure enjoyed giving a lot of pain only to Aya, the main character, like let's be real, we saw cruel twisted plot twists one after another, only for her, and barely for any of the other excessive characters that he added). Such a shame and disappointment. I had high hopes for this manga. No wonder why the anime series got shortened.
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Lateral vs Vertical Magic Systems
I… think I’m the only one to use these terms? What I mean by this is different than hard and soft magic, slightly.
Quick recap:
Hard magic systems have rules and strict definition for what can and can’t be done
Soft magic systems go more off vibes, magic exists but the exact mechanics are not important or don’t exist
—
I think you can have a lateral or vertical magic system that’s either hard or soft, and what I mean by this is:
Vertical magic is where everyone has magic of wildly different flavors but hones them all for the same specific purpose.
Lateral magic is where everyone has magic of the same flavor but uses it for wildly different purposes.
Here’s some vertical magic examples:
Percy Jackson: Nobody uses their demigod powers for anything other than staying alive, by and large, and there’s a huge variety of demigod power possibilities and very little overlap. Whether it’s physical combat or mental, these kids’ powers exist so they can fight gods and monsters.
Naruto: I have not seen most of this show so correct me if I’m wrong but, this is a world where ninjitsu is almost exclusively for combat. While there’s core principles, the heaviest hitters in the show all have wild and exclusive powers or special moves that only they can use that go far beyond skill in martial arts (except for Rock Lee).
X-Men: By nature of it being a comic book, the premise of the world is built in heroes versus villains and how they use their powers to beat the snot out of each other. In X-men specifically, mutants are persecuted and can’t use their powers legally, and have little choice beyond using their mutation to stay alive and “do good”.
Lateral magic systems might be something like:
Tinker Bell: You’re a nature fairy, by and large, and everyone gets their power from the same source, pixie dust, each using their flavor of magic to suit their niche purpose in the environment
Danny Phantom: Yes, he’s a superhero and must have fights, but all of Danny’s super-powered rogues are ghosts, with no exceptions, and everyone is limited to how creatively and uniquely they use the same basic ghost principles of possession, telekinesis, invisibility, and intangibility, + their special trait, but all also suffer the same issue that unites them more than once: They are dead, and good or bad, the living fear them.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Alchemy isn’t limitless, and its practitioners typically focus on one very specific kind of alchemy of their choice with the hard rule that everyone must follow of construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct, and get really, really good at honing it mostly for combat, but also in fields of science, engineering, etc. There is alchemy and only alchemy, and it has rules.
—
Last Airbender is both! Its bending rules are strictly limited to the four elements and how creative you can get with your element… but it is also a show that heavily features martial arts and how that bending can be used in combat, but it also built a world where bending factors into other jobs, arts, and the very fabric of society.
Why does lateral vs vertical magic matter?
When you’re designing your magic system, you have to think about how this magic would integrate into a world as if its always existed there. Is it hidden magic, like in most urban fantasy? Or is it baked into the fabric of society, like with bending? Does everyone start with the same basic tools and go wild, or does everyone start wild, and all chase the same aspirations?
Whichever you pick does depend on the story you’re telling. A lot of the media I mentioned is action-adventure, which means that all magic, lateral, vertical, soft, or hard, leans toward one thing in the end: Combat.
But beyond combat, how can your magic be used? Are people allowed to practice it without regulations or is it heavily structured by their fantasy society? If it has always existed, how would their would be fundamentally different than ours?
#writing#writeblr#writing a book#writing advice#writing resources#writing tools#writing tips#fantasy#magic system
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okay. HOLY FUCKING SHI-
Sun² (dark sun) looks like he's thriving LMAO 😭
Let me just say, THANK YOU MOON FOR BEING SO CURIOUS
I'm curious too, so this satisfied me so much
We got A LOT of information, and one VERY jaw dropping one
So.. sun² created a paradise for himself and others, most likely suns but not every sun. That- that honestly sounds so sweet 😭 I'm pretty sure by psychotic, sun² meant like- do things without thinking, go insane, kill for no reason ect ect.. since he doesn't like violence from what I've been able to gather. The violence he has probably committed, I am guessing was necessary because sun² thinks reasonably
But I wonder- do suns go there when they die? Like, heaven? There are already people there.. but are those people suns or random people??
His dragon is there to be a protector so, it's most likely dead suns I think..? To protect them? That'd be so sweet, I hope that's the case
Goliath died, oof 😭 I never cared much about him but that ONE THING he said to sun once;
"You..might be pathetic, but you're so much more than them."
The fact that EVEN goliath, someone so egotistical, sees sun's morals.. yet others cant and just see it as being cowardly
Our sun has been proven to be the most empathetic among all suns. He HAS done bad, but hasn't continued to do so, he tried his best to make it right. I love him sm I swear
But oh goodness. There is one MOST important jaw dropping lore we got out of sun².
Oh my fucking gosh.
Oh my.
The fact he chose this sun specifically.. BECAUSE HE COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT HIMSELF.
We already knew he was like sun, but moon broke him. Just like how it usually goes in dimensions, here's the thing, though. Even if he did the same back to him, he could NEVER kill him.
Now there's more space to understand why he did it. He couldn't do it, he wanted to give other suns a chance.
Holy shit. Holy shit.
This is too shocking for me I'm sorry
I did not think that SUN² COULDN'T KILL HIS MOON
I guess that was a thing that truly connected all suns before sun's² whole thing
The fact our sun was the first, THE FIRST WHO WAS ABLE TO AND THAT IT WASN'T AN ACCIDENT.
Finally. FINALLY IT'S BEEN PROVEN HE'S SPECIAL IN SOME SORT OF WAY
I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR SO LONG
The "I hate him, but couldn't kill him" thing reminds me kinda of my mother and I, just with different context 😭 like- I hate her but can't hate her completely. I have mommy issues QwQ
I literally sometimes get so mad at how she treats me that I hope she dies.
Although- lets not get into that
The point I was trying to make is, even when you swear you hate someone close to you... ESPECIALLY YOUR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD, you can never completely hate them.
That is only what I've been able to gather from other things like that
ALSO ALSO ALSO aLsOoOoooO
Why did sun² sound so unsure.. at that one part.
"I suppose nexus could sure try, if he was still around. Mumbles if he was still around..."
WHY DID HE SOUND SO UNSURE.
I wouldn't be surprised if he said it like that because he's seen how many times villains come back in this dimension ☠️☠️
LITERALLY I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED
But if nexus comes back, SHIT.
A part of me believes he will. It's after Christmas, and the new tradition is that shit happens after Christmas because the October takeover tradition ended
AAAAAAAAAA
I'll be kinda happy about it, ONLY BECAUSE THE ANGSTTT
YAYAYYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYAAAAA
Another also and another woa!! >:D
"why does EVERYTHING have to be US"
"you think I have that answer? Heh, even with my intelligence.. I can never answer that one."
EVEN SUN² ACKNOWLEDGES IT
Because the show runners need to feed us, that's the answer <333
Their lives are something else 😭 they have to deal with something new everyday. They can never catch a break
That would be all. BUT HAHSHHDD I LAUGHED SO HARD SEEING SUN² FLY HELPPPPP
He had his "I was a fairy" moment 🎀 NDNDJSJMS
okay now it's all :3
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
#dark sun tsams#tsams#tsams sun#tsams nexus#dark sun#nexus#nexus tsams#tsams dark sun#sams#sun tsams#moon tsams#daycare attendants#the sun and moon show
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Anonymous said: Someone kidnapped Todoroki, how does your muse react to a picture of him unconscious and tied up? (Hope this isn't too angsty <3)
Katsuki was fuckin' worried sick when Shouto hadn't returned any of his calls or texts. He hadn't even been left on read. He'd returned back to Endeavor's Agency after his patrol shift, but Shouto was nowhere to be found.
Then, he received a text from an anonymous number. He impulsively went to delete it but paused when he saw that a photo attachment was sent along with the text. He felt his guts twist into knots as he went to open the message.
Nothing could prepare him for what he saw. The photo showed Shouto slumped over and tied to a chair. There were Quirk suppressant cuffs over his boyfriend's wrists. Along with this was a message that read: "If you want him to live, come alone with 500,000,000 Yen." Alongside this was coordinates to their location.
Katsuki's face paled white as a ghost, and his eyes went wide.
Though, as panicked as he suddenly felt, nothing could overpower the unbridled rage that quickly rose within his chest.
"Who do these fuckers think they are?!" he growled.
His legs were already moving for the front doors. "Burnin'!" he yelled over to the side-kick. "Tell Endeavor his son got kidnapped! I'm gonna go kill these dumbass fucks!"
"Hahh?!" The side-kick gawked at him. "If that's true, you can't just barge in there by yourself! It's too dangerous!"
"Don't care who you send to cover me, but I'm not waiting around here for his permission to go after Shouto!" Katsuki snapped back with a scowl. He hurriedly sent Burnin' and Endeavor a copy of the coordinates. "I just sent over the location of these assholes!"
A sudden feral grin spread across his face as he continued rushing for the door. "I'M GONNA MAKE THESE FUCKERS REGRET EVER KNOWING MY NAME!"
#Katsuki replies#there's about to be some very dead villains#or at least villains getting their asses kicked#anonymous
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Idea, the actual Justice League members never knew. It was some people who work as their secretary to take calls:
*One day, a dangerous villain attacks. They gather the JL, JLD, AND the secretaries. The villains start summoning the Ghost King*
"Well, we obviously have nothing much to worry about, ghosts don't EXIST," snorts one of the secretary workers.
*Martian Manhunter, sensing ... something concerning, reads the secretaries' minds:*
😳
Ohhhhhh, dear.
*Batman, quietly as he can:*
Report.
*Martian Manhunter:*
*Shows his team the calls about Amity Park needing help*
*John, SLOOOOOWLY turning to the soon to be fired if not worse, secretaries:*
😨
"What have you morons DONE?" John breaths out, feeling VERY faint.
"Fair warning, WHEN the King finds out and attacks the ones ACTUALLY responsible Justice League Dark is doing NOTHING to save you," a JLD member warns the secretaries.
*Ghost King is summoned*
*Martian Manhunter:*
*Sensing the MASSIVE amount of rage, he works QUICKLY to correct the misunderstanding and offers up the memories he saw*
*Danny:*
😳
....
🤔
.......
😨
'I almost destroyed the wrong culprits!' he mentally exclaims in horror, making Martian Manhunter wince.
"I am SO sorry!" Danny frantically apologies to the heroes.
"Don't worry about it, WE'RE the ones who apologize," John shakily assures.
"THAT'S THE KID WHO MADE ALL THE FAKE CALLS! He got so insistent that we had to BLOCK his number! I sure HOPE you're apologizing, brat!" huffs a DOOMED secretary.
*Danny:*
*Quickly snaps his head toward the ones ACTUALLY responsible*
🤬👿
*Senses the equal rage coming from the heroes*
😈😈😈
*Starts stomping towards the DEAD idiots*
"Stop," comes the voice of Batman, quietly and frantically being shushed by John Constantine. "You don't have to kill them. We'll make sure they are properly punished for their actions and any deaths or destruction their neglect caused," he continues, ignoring the protests from the secretaries.
Danny Phantom is a red lantern oh no
Danny’s angry really really angry
About as angry as a dead teenager can get
Danny’s been slowly getting angrier over the last two years since the first time he called the justice league for help and he was told to stop making up stories
or stop freaking calling us kid
Or prank calls aren’t funny
or literally anything that they could come up with as long as it was not the truth
Because clearly Danny from Amany Park is a liar.
Because ghost aren’t real let’s not think about the justice league dark that exist but there’s no hotline to them
Danny just had to keep trying with the normal justice league he was stupid after the fourth time he should’ve just given up but he kept trying for over six months
And then his number is blocked
And that was the day Danny lost any and all faith that anyone would ever come to help
The next week Dan attacked
Two months after that Pariah Dark attacked
Two months after that most of his town was killed and destroyed
Two days after that he finally finds Tucker‘s body
Two days after that he’s breaking into a g I w base to get some of the people back and he finds Sam’s corpse
Approximately 40 minutes later he finds Ellie getting experimented on by his parents
No Dr. Fentons experimenting on his little sister daughter cousin
Approximately 14 minutes later the GIW base blew up
Approximately three days later Ellie was OK she looked to be about six months old and that’s a generous giving.
Jazz was also OK somehow she’s still very injured but nothing life-threatening
That was also the day Danny realize he had a ring on his finger
(A year and a half later )
Denny’s created free distinctive Lee different identities
Is Danny Nightingale A tragic orphan who managed to get his grades up after he lost everything but his sister and his daughter
Danny Phantom The ghost king fair is a calm kind of humans and would never heard any of them currently negotiating with the government for peace
And dawn The red lantern Who has a great deal against three things
The GIW and any and all sympathizers
Vlad Masters
And the justice league
He separated those free identities to the best of his capabilities with the help of all of his resources
Now with the GIW on their last leg and Ellie said to start preschool soon
And Vlad was taken care of relatively fast lift the object of his obsession being gone he was so weak
So if all that taken care of there’s only one thing left
Crush the justice league one step at a time
And who knows what he’ll do after that maybe he’ll try to figure out how to ruin Christmas forever or something equally villainess because that seems to be the path is going down (:
Whatever he’ll figure it out when it comes time
#Danny Phantom#DPXDC#Danny’s red lantern#Bad Fenton parents#Ellie‘s baby#Ghost King Danny#Justice League#Justice League Dark#John Constantine#I HAD to make this reblog because thinking of the Justice League being made into the bad guys who messed up THIS BADLY hurt#And my EVERYTHING wouldn't let me leave it alone 😭
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vague-posting about this here cuz i don't feel comfortable yapping about my su takes on twitter, but after everything that's happened the most interesting thing about the su fandom to me is that so many are 100% there for applying the "everyone can change and deserves a second chance" message to everyone, even the diamonds. except for one ☝️ she doesn't count. cuz she's dead.
#personal#very extremely delete later#ok cutting the vague post this is about a “whose the worst cartoon mom” twt post with pink diamond in the running#and a bunch of people pointing at her. the woman who died in childbirth and never got to meet her child. and she's literally next to#mother gothel. the baby kidnapper who kidnapped a baby#i'm always gonna be a pink diamond nuancepilled defender. she was a shitty entitled teen who grew up with a silver spoon in her mouth#then got self-radicalized and rebelled for both selfish AND selfless reasons#“this show is great because everyone makes mistakes and learns from them. except the pink one. she's bad and dead forever.”#anyways this is a crit towards the fandom not the show#“she had steven so she could selfishly escape her mistakes and put all her burdens on her child” or she wanted a child#“she abandoned her family” or she died during childbirth#“she started a war that got thousands of gems killed and mutilated” and if she hadn't nobody on earth would exist#the fact that some fans are more willing to jump to white diamond’s defense when talking about her reformation and redemption#white diamond—the architect and supreme ruler of a 10000+ year old fascist empire—has 10000% done worse more unforgivable things than pink#guys even blue diamond has shattered gems before. like not just kill them but permanently split their souls into pieces.#ruby called her a “SHATTERER.” she was INFAMOUS for murdering people. pink never shattered anyone#for fans of a show that explicitly says nobody's truly a villain you guys sure do want a villain really badly#anyways “we need more compelx female characters y'all couldn't even handle rose quartz” etc. etc. etc.
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Who had the worst time aboard the TARDIS?
TOURNAMENT MASTERPOST
#genuinely vote peri#i've not seen all of her stories but my god from what i've seen the 80s writers hated her#there are some stories where she'd probably be better off dead#she seems to be in a constant living torturous hell with 6 being constantly nasty too her#this poor woman#okay specific example#her first trip after her introduction (recounted from memory so some details my be wrong)#she and the doctor unknowingly touch a poisonous plant which will kill them slowly and painfully (but fast enough she almost dies by the en#so great they need to find a cure#which is horrendously difficult to find in the best of circumstances#but these aren't the best of circumstances#they get taken hostage pretty quickly and very nearly get executed by firing squad#they get rescued by one of the most unnerving villains i think in the entire show#he creeps on peri constantly#like he gets as close to assaulting her as its possible to depict on tea time telly#and peri can't do anything about it#her life is entirely in this guys hands#like most of the time i find caves of androzani the be so hyperviolent as to be funny#but jesus christ the shit they put peri through in it#anyway by the end she's so ill the doctor has to drag her near lifeless body back to the tardis#gives her the cure and then promptly regenerates#and now peri's nice friendly doctor is uhh tv 6#bad times: quarters
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Personal headcanon about the "you picked the wrong dellamorte" line, I don't think illario actually likes rook outside the context of them being someone close to lucanis. Like rook on their own isn't much to him, but when they meet it's yet another person talking about his cousin (why isn't he good enough for whatever job they're hiring for?) and on top of that they somehow bring him back from the dead (another whole can of worms for illario). Now he starts turning on the charm, but whether he's actually interested or this is just one more thing his cousin has that he doesn't and it gets under his skin, who knows. Either way, rook ignores illario, the guy who lives off his charm, and is instead interested in the guy who's never even dated before and thinks giving someone a knife is how to flirt. Infuriating
NO THANK YOU !! i am genuinely sorry if i have ever implied illario is into rook like i see some takes about it and unless it like ties into your rook's personal backstory i don't seriously think he's romantically jealous. at all. my enjoyment of that line stems from illario's pathological need to make it about himself and not see his strengths but what lucanis has, and therefore what he doesn't. he's annoyed enough to try and goad you in the middle of a fight about the 'wrong' dellamorte and completely blind to the fact that the venatori are at best, a stupid fucking alliance, and at worst, a cult that will devour the crows from the inside out and illario would have been the one to give them the keys. he sees lucanis make allies, needs his own, and instead of charming the other talons/houses as he should, he (probably spitefully) picks the venatori. or maybe he just thought it would be easier. ugh he makes me want to telekenetically throw him around
#and you raise a very hilarious point too LMFAO#not that he is jealous. just mad as hell its not working <3 I LIKE HIM VERY MUCH AND A NORMAL AMOUNT#to be clear i think his characterisation changed dramatically from wigmaker's job and a lot of his uh#very rash decisions about achieving power feels like they just needed a traitor character for lucanis#to really max out the use of spite. i really wish honestly that there was some canon support for illario#who would probably be a little more liked/popular than lucanis. bc lucanis is respected by the crows#but he's also a very distant 'dellamorte heir' figure. respect is not the same as being liked. so you know#there's the serious assassin with a rep for how good he is at killing#and there's a friendlier assassin with a rep for sweet talking#and neither of those reputations are necessarily true. but i know which one i'd be less afraid of#and i think illario would know that. and be able to use that. BUT WE DONT GET IT. WHATEVER.....#illario dellamorte#veilguard spoilers#answered#also we're introduced to an illario that understands being a crow. and has had all that drilled into him since childhood#why. would he. ally with the venatori.#why would he put himself into a situation that he couldnt control. other than 'the story needs a villain'#what im trying to say. is . there were the makings of a crow civil war here that ends with him tragically dead#if you asked me to expand on this i dont think i could. but like the main issue being the crows not standing together making#the antaam invasion worse (btw regarding this why the fuck were the antaam even invading) so lucanis' quest is#idk. something like uniting the crows together and potentially repairing his relationship w illario#or hardening him and convincing he needs to kill illario#this is me spitballing. dont even mind me#(glances at the 'illario mention' alarm going off in the background)#EDIT: AND ALSO IT JUST CAME TO ME#killing illario as an ending also makes lucanis first talon (oh we're really in the cycles now)#forgiving illario ends with illario becoming 'talon' tho he and lucanis work closely. like a ceo vs cfo#and ends with them repairing their relationship#in the ideal world lucanis would fully leave but im alright with crows making small steps towards becoming a bit healthier
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I never touched it but I feel like i only ever hear positive things said about song of achilles.. in (rough strokes at least) what makes it dogshit to you?
Okay it's been a while since I actually read it so some of this might not be spot on accurate. Sorry if at any point I say 'the book never does xyz' and it actually does once or twice but I think my underlying criticisms are accurate
-Patroclus is made into like this soft gentle tender quivering little yaoi boy. In the source text, he's shown as compassionate and moved by the suffering of his own men (and apparently having some medical skill, tending to the wounded in the camp), but very much invested n combat and very, very good at it (pages worth of descriptions of the guys he's killing left and right). In this, the arguably more complex character from this 8th century BC text is flattened into Being A Healer, he doesn't want to go to war he just wants to help people, he only goes because Achilles has to but he doesn't want to fight he's a HEALER he's a gentle lover NOT A FIGHTER who just wants to help he just wants to help everyone around him he HEALS while Achilles is a doomed warrior who is so good at fighting and KILLING its a DICHOTOMY GUYS!!!LIKE THE BEAUTIFUL SUN AND MOON DOOMED LOVERS SO SAD patocluse HEALER . (I Think he's specifically characterized as being BAD at fighting but might be misremembering)
-I don't remember much about Achilles' characterization I think it just makes him less of a jackass while not adding anything of interest and levels out into being mad boring.
-Not getting into the literal millenias old debate whether the mythological characters Achilles and Patroclus were being characterized as some type of lover by the original oral sources of the Iliad or its Homeric writers. We will never know. We don't even know what (if any) culturally accepted conventions of male homosexuality existed in bronze age Greece (we know much more about their descendants). But there are some interesting elements of their characterization in this direction, with how unconventional their relationship is WITHIN the text itself- Patroclus is described as cooking for Achilles and his guests (very specifically a woman/wife's job), Achilles chides Patroclus like a father, but there's also scene where Achilles' mourning of him directly echoes a passage of Hector's wife mourning her husband, Patroclus is explicitly stated to Achilles' elder, and is overall treated as his equal or near-equal, closest confidant and most beloved friend (to the point that pederastic classical Greeks would debate over who was erastes (older authority figure lover) and who was eromenos (adolescent 'beloved')- many took it as a given that this text depicted their present-day cultural norms of homosexual behavior but it existed so Outside of these norms that it had to be debated who was who). Their relationship is non-standard both within the text and to the descendants of the civilization that wrote them.
Basically what I'm saying is this book had opportunities to like, explore the unconventionality of the relationship (being presented here as explicitly lovers), explore the dynamics of why Patroclus wants to do 'women's work' (besides being a tenderhearted softboy), the weird dynamics where they take on paternal roles to each other but also roles of wives, how they feel about being this way, and just kind of Doesn't. Which I guess isn't an intrinsic fault (because it omits much of what I just talked about to begin with). it's just like.... Lame. This book takes jsut abandons everything interesting about the source text in favor of flattening it into bland Doomed Yaoi.
-The conflict that sets off the core story of the Iliad is Achilles and Agamemnon fighting over Briseis, an enslaved Trojan woman taken by Achilles as a war-trophy, Achilles spends most of the story moping because he was dishonored by his 'trophy' being taken. Achilles and Patroclus and everyone else are raping their captives, all the women in the story are either captured Trojans (or in the case of the free women within the walls of Troy, soon to be enslaved, and are slave owners themselves). Slavery as an institution and extreme patriarchal conventions are innate to the text and reflective of the context in which it was developed. You cannot avoid it.
But obviously you can't have your soft yaoi boys doing this, so the author has them capturing women to Protect Them from the other men. Their slaves are UNDER THEIR PROTECTION and VERY SAFE (and they might even Like And Befriend Them but I might be misremembering that. Briseis does though). Our heroes have apparently absorbed none of the ideals of the culture they exist in and the author seems to think "they're gay and aren't sexually attracted to their captives" would translate to them being outright benevolent (also as if wartime sexual violence is just about attraction and not part of a wider spectrum of violent acts to dehumanize and brutalize an accepted 'enemy')
In the source text, Briseis mourns Patroclus as being the kindest to her of her captors, who tried to get her a slightly better outcome by getting her married to Achilles (which probably would be the Least Bad of all possible outcomes for a woman in that situation, becoming a legal wife instead of a slave), and wonders what will happen to her now that he's gone. This is a really really sad, horrible, and compelling dynamic which could be fleshed out in very interesting ways but is instead is tossed entirely aside in favor of them being Besties. Like brother and sister.
All of the above pisses me off so much. If you don't want to engage in the icky parts of ancient/bronze age Greece then don't write a retelling of a story taking place in bronze age Greece. I'm not gonna get mad at children's adaptations of Greek myths or silly fun stories loosely based on them for omitting the rape and slavery but it is SO fundamental to the Iliad. If you're not willing to handle it, either fully omit it or better yet set your Iliad inspired yaoi in an invented swords-and-sandals setting where you can have all your heartbreaking tragic doomed lovers plot beats and not have to clumsily write around the women they're brutalizing.
-The author didn't seem to know what to do with Thetis and she made her just like, Achilles bitch mother who spends most of the story trying to separate our Yaoi Boys (iirc her disguising Achilles as a girl and hiding him on Scyros is made to be more about getting him away from Patroclus than trying to save her son from his prophesied doom in the Trojan War) until she sees how much they loooove each other and I think helps Patroclus' spirit get to the afterlife or something in the end?
-This is more of a personal taste gripe but it has that writing style I loathe where the prose feels less like a story and more like an attempt to string together Deep Beautiful Hard Hitting Poetic Lines that will look great as excerpts on booktok (might predate booktok but same vibe). It's all very Pretty and Haunting and Deep but feels devoid of real substance.
I really like The Iliad and The Odyssey in of themselves. They're fascinating historical texts that give a window into how 8th century BC Greeks told their stories, saw their world, interpreted their ancestors, etc. And genuinely I think these texts have 'good' characters, there's a lot of complexity and humanity to it.
WRT the Iliad- all of the main Achaeans are pretty fascinating, the one singular part where Briseis Gets To Talk and laments her situation is great, Achilles fantasizing that all of the Trojans AND the Achaeans die so he and Patroclus alone can have the glory of conquering Troy (wild), Achilles asking to embrace Patroclus' shade and reaching out for him but it's immaterial (and the shade being sucked back underground with a 'squeak' (the squeak kinda gets me it's disturbing and sad)), Hecuba talking about wanting to tear out Achilles' liver and eat it in a (taboo, exceptioally pointed) expression of rage and grief for his mutilation of her son's corpse, just one tiny line where the enslaved women performing ritual wailing for their dead captors are described as using it as an outlet to 'grieve for their own troubles' is heartrending, etc. A lot of grappling with anger and grief and the inevitability of death, a lot of groundwork laid for characters that could be very interesting when expanded upon in the framework of a conventional novel.
And Song Of Achilles really doesn't do much with all that. I know a lot of my gripes here are kind of just "It's different from the Iliad", I would have thought of it as mostly mediocre and forgettable rather than infuriating if it wasn't a retelling (and I DEFINITELY have strong biases here). But I think the ways in which it is different are less just a product of a retelling (of course there's going to be omissions and differences) and more a complete and utter disinterest in vast majority of its own subject matter, to the book's detriment. I think a retelling has a point when it EXPANDS on the source, or provides a NEW ANGLE to the source. This book doesn't Really do either, it just shaves off the complexity of its source material, renders the characters into a really boring archetype of a gay relationship, and gives very little else. Its content boils down to a middling tragic romance that has been inserted into the hollowed out defleshed skeleton of the Iliad.
Bottom line: I definitely would not be as mad about it if I wasn't familiar with the source material but I think it's fair to expect a retelling to Engage with/expand on its source, and I also think it's weak purely on its own merits. This book was set up to disappoint Me specifically.
#Sorry this turned into a 100000 word essay on The Iliad it can't be helped#I read Circe by the same author and thought it was like.. better? Definitely not great just less aggravating and kind of boring#Just rote 'you heard about this villainous woman from a Greek myth... Here's the REAL story' shit#It did have a few things I thought were good I remember it starting kind of strong and then just going limp for the remaining duration#I think part of it is that in that case she's expanding on a figure that Didn't have a whole lot of characterization in the source so#like. She had to actually Expand The Character#Again Silence of the Girls is the only Greek Mythology Retelling I have like....positive?.leaning positive? feelings towards#I've got BIG issues with it too but it does pretty much the exact opposite of everything I'm mad at SOA for and in some very#compelling ways (it's just that the author seems way more interested in Achilles and Patroclus than The Main Character Briseis#to the point of randomly starting to have Achilles POV interjections (which I thought were Good in of themselves but#really really really really really really really didn't need to be there) and then get kind of lampshaded by Briseis narrating 'I guess I#was trapped in Achilles' story the whole time lol!!!!!!')#It undermines the book on both a thematic level and just like. a construction level like it's real sloppy at times.#Also the Briseis POV sometimes has these like really out of place Author Mouthpiece Moments where she's very obviously#Stating The Point to the audience and it's like yeah we get it. We get it.#Wow in the scene were our mostly silent enslaved protagonist removes the gag from the mouth of a dead sacrificed girl as a#small but significant act of defiance and grieving in a book called 'Silence of the Girls' you inserted an ironic repeat of the line#'silence befits a woman'. in italics even. Thanks for that. I could not possibly have grasped the meaning of this scene if you didn't#spell it out for me like that. Thank you.#Actually hang on the only Greek mythology retelling I have unequivocally positive feelings for are the 'Minotaur Forgiving'#songs on 'This One's For The Dancer And This One's For The Dancer's Bouquet'. Fully love it. Like not just as songs I think it#does function well as a narrative and engages with and expands on the source in really beautiful and creative ways
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(arcane spoilers) im not really in touch with what 'the fandom' is saying but i have seen multiple people responding to apparently 'the fandom' being mad that Jayce tried to destroy the weird magic cult thing, which im just surprised at? I thought people didnt like weird cults. like i cant quite parse what was going on with that place but there was definitely some manipulation and mind control at hand (not even sure how much Viktor was even aware of it too)
i mean, i assume people are just sad he had to attack Viktor about it but like... weird mind control cult thing is ok as long as sad boyfriend is in charge? is that really it?
(or am i taking this too seriously and its more just a continuation of the 'Jinx has never done anything wrong and y'all should stop fighting her :(' mentality, in which case i agree but you dont understand that Jayce is literally the one (1) person who's allowed to fight him about this, for tragedy reasons)
#literally a continuation of my thing about villains and who's allowed to kill them#if Vi had got it in her head she needed to bring Viktor down it wouldnt have been satisfying at all#Jayce suddenly appearing out of nowhere with a mission to bring Viktor down is tragic and horrible and VERY satisfying#also Viktors not even dead because his consciousness has been like subsumed into the fabric of magic or whatever so like#we can still get a weird manipulative magic win here#arcane#also... vandran... like as much as i do love necromancers conceptually... he SHOULD have been dead#theres that theme of tragedy of people trying to keep alive someone who was dead and should have remained dead#like you finally got a chance to lay this man peacefully down to rest and THAT would have stopped some of the tragedy coming down the line#but also these girls are incapable of NOT trying to save him and thats the tragedy too
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did we ever get an actual answer for if robotnik is gonna be in sonic 3 or not. or are we just gonna find out when the trailer comes out in like a year
#assuming that sonic 3 is gonna be based on sa2 (which we still dont really know for certain either but it feels fair to assume that)#idk if getting rid of eggman would be the best idea? because hes a main character and his relation to gerald is somewhat plot relevant#and based on context clues we can assume shadow was created by gerald in the movie universe too#or at the very least that he was created by a robotnik. if they decide to make a new character for some reason#but idk im sure they could find some way to write around that. didnt agent stone overhear the conversation about project shadow#i like agent stone. ive seen some interesting takes on him as the main villain for the next movie#maybe if robotnik died for real (or stone just Thinks hes dead) stone can be really upset about it and trying to avenge his death#and releasing shadow is part of his plan for that#which would be a cool parallel to shadow's whole deal. assuming his backstory in the movies is similar to what it is in the games
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maybe bsol is that time jen tepper mentions when she was so upset about a review of a show of joe's that she broke a glass (&/or threw it out a window)
#could be anything ofc but i sure went sighhh i'll read the nyt review for science; i'm already assuming it's a piece of shit#(it was; thus predictably; a piece of shit. even the nyt rave for a show i liked was basically a piece of shit)#the only thing that makes raves higher quality is they might have actually bothered giving more info abt the show#& otherwise have devoted more thoughts & less space to just the critic's dogshit directionless griping. but barely; so#anyway i was like oh i can search twitter easily for a word as distinctive as bloodsong (except also a ship name for some videogame)#then i was like oh my god at a post from jenashtep about like oh it's the anniversary of two days in a row Events#first when the nyt bsol review was published second when i went to your apartment to make sure you weren't dead#(wait she didn't say To Make Sure You Weren't Dead she says Because I Thought You Were Dead....throw a glass situations)#like well damn also hmm....(also first thing the nyt would've covered at all i think. tbs never played in ny....or nj evidently)#one can only imagine. bsol is so [it does feel very christmas extravaganzay to me in ways. not the same lord knows but]#that like I'm riled fourteen years later finally listening to a boot which leaping into the arms of someone lifting up an Audio#same as xmas like sure i can't be like oh it's about this that the other precise moment though there are ones that extra rile me#can't say it's so obvious like i could Elevator Pitch explain to a rando why i Gasp or get weepy or just have some very special experience#plus i've never even gone lol. the way they can't stop the xmas show b/c it's a musical that just crops up a weekend a year lol#i'm so already like oh of course this is something i'm obsessed with forever now :) unsurprisingly & like it's so idiosyncratic god bless#(also unsurprisingly bloodsong seems to have been broadly warmly received; save by the Newspaper Of Note(tm) taking a dump & calling it a#day like will was saying abt tbs l.a. like oh audiences loved it local online coverage loved it just the less than halfassed review by the#Big Paper didn't & was like ''why isn't this a whole other thing'' called it a day)#anyway like hey I'm absolutely on fire for Outlaw for Not In Your Soul You Don't for Last On Land for Friendship Song to name a few#for what ended up being my proper angle of entry like oh that means a funny little villain then? (yes) like boy is that a banger alone#think thusly nominated for off bway relevant awards; got more than one nom....hey for one thing fourteen yrs later a rando can be obsessed#like that same rando cherishes the memory a livestream livechat interview where i said Black Suits Forever & they put that up onscreen so#joe had to pause like sorry i got distracted someone said black suits forever that's a line from the show & it's So that that show of mine#that never played in new york....like That's Right lol. i'm slamming the xmas fanart up to your window for year three joe Joseph the Show#(he did also see the bsol fanart which i more discreetly made a reply given he saw that Yay Krampusfucking reply last year lol)#anyway uh um. oh yeah wait also bloodsong is lifechanging sort of to me personally i'm just like. so relatively evenkeeled about it like#well of course :) & it counts as lifechanging when i get anticsful Posting. & it's lifechanging Any shows Any songs that are any kind of#impactful. speaking of like individual numbers in cabaret shows or the entire show or the album or concert or anything#as i reblog Outlaw again yelling or go god damn one Understands how last on land is the penultimate song on album#or i say to myself Whenever I Eat A Noodle; I Like To Think About The Hwheat That It Used To Belong To
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Very weird to be in that stage where a show is grabbing hold of your brain, but you haven't finished the show so you cant interact with fandom because spoilers, and you're watching it with someone else so you can't even just keep watching until you finish
#i am enjoying watching it with a friend and tbh having an assigned 'we'll watch it now' time is prob my best chance of finishing#on my own steam i'll probably burn out in s4 or something as per usual#but like its - i figured it would be a fun little zombie supernatural detective type thing#i thought it would be fun but was not expecting to start brainstorming fanfic ideas#granted who knows in advance what shows are going to be blorbos#but like! the charismastic asshole villain has amnesia! everyone is aware he has amnesia and are just kinda like#'we kinda pity you but you still suck'#and when he's just like 'okay?? why??' they were more than happy to give him an overview of the past two seasons#so now he's just like 'oh. okay. i. guess i am a serial killer that i cant remember. how do i deal with that?'#and idk how its going to end but i have a half-drafted plot of him getting his memories back steadily and is just like#'you know i didnt feel bad about it while doing it#but if you want to get some persepctive on your life develop amnesia and look at it from purely objective standpoint.'#or other plots like the time the love interest got arrested abd was being very very concerned about potentially starting an apocalypse#he didnt want to! he desperately didnt want to! but it was a risk#but yeah if i open a fanfic it'll probably say 'oh so how X died in the series finale' or something#and then i'll just have to accept X is dead
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Ugh. I’m struggling to make any real progress on my various WIPs and I’m pretty pissed off about it. So, I’m gonna do The Thing again. Send me a word and if it pops up in any of the monstrosities I’m currently trying to get off the ground, I’ll post a snippet here and maybe that’ll help me get the creative juices flowing again?? *shrugs*
#What is wrong with you Sam you should not be allowed to write#If you want a hint of any kind here's some vague details about some of the stuff I've been trying (and failing...) to write lately -#The first is a very silly goofball of a fic in which Hookhausen go to the friggin' beach motherfuckers#And then Jack and Anna show up to spoil their day like the villains in a 90s teen movie#And in a complete 180 from that the other is an EXTREMELY dark messed up dead dove fic based on that wonderful art of Hook tied to a chair#The Duality of Man/Sam#But I have a bajillion WIPs so who knows what words will pop up where#Hell I still have almost 5k worth of a Daniel/Julia fic despite the fact that literally no one ships those two but me#And if that's not audience-alienating enough it's about pe -#*gets hit by a truck*#These tags are out of control SAM STEP AWAY FROM THE KEYBOARD
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(runout of tags again I hate it here gotta bite the max ammount) #Also. I feel like Ward's perception of Oscar will be changing from now on #Yep. a bastard. a smart bastard. But let's be real. He can survive and get you out, follow him # Mhm. Cass I think I did mention that I was up for the story, because of what could possibly be in this story later # We reached the point where I open the door, close it from inside and throw the key in the window from 10th floor
Part 13 ;)
Oh no, they're roommates now?? Hope you're ready for the fluff, family dynamics, and chaos that follows~
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#OSCAR FLIRTING ON BOTH SIDES MMM#HOLLY BEING OKAY WITH IT MMM#I can't kind of see Oscar and Holly as a canon due to how they act and perceive things#I feel like Holly's character might accept Oscar as a working partner not as a “partner” ... I ended up thinking about gay drama after you#answered that ask guh pffht#Agree to let him hunt with them; get this badass suit#get Ward out of lab; get Holly with them#OSCAR'S HAPPY TURN WANTING TO EXPLEIN IT#Understanding that he will not like it PFFFHT#OOooh is this a little alien lizard#The rest time... look like some kind of room that is built like a sauna#EGHFGEHF HIGH RELATIONSHIPS welp you got it on yourself by making his brain this way. He definitely knows way#to measure her dumbassery#Oh Sculptor has been teaching her a few features huh. Was he some kind of teacher for her in the past? (And possibly still is)#HE DIDN'T KILL THEM OKAY. EXACTLY. WARD. YOU KNOW HE COULD SIT WITH YOU ALL OR BE DEAD#IT WOULD HAVE HELPLED YOU ALL OOOH SOO MUCHHH#I kind of... remember the characters that do talk villains to the extend where they stop killing anyone but I'm genuinely sure it might not#work with marmors (I keep wanting to call them marmons hhshh)#OH MY GOD THE COMPOSITION OF THE SAME PLOT WITH DIFFERENT POVS BEING EXPLAINED FROM THE SAME MOMENTS#I SO FRICKING OVE IT YOU HAVE NO IDEA SMOOTCH YOU#OKAY. THAT WAS NOT EXPECTED. I KIND OF EXPECTED THAT OSCAR IS PLOTTING SOMETHING BUT MMMM ECLIPTICA.#She is the ruler. Being dumb doesn't mean completely. Being dumb but not with the people. I love it.#GHSJFHGAAHGFAD MU***csd&*d** SFGASJH YESHJVMDX THIS SCENE F*** YES *THROW THE TABLE OUT* THE REFLECTIONOKAY#GOD YES. HE IS MNFGMVNMFN#I DON'T HAVE WORDS I JUST SIT THE STUPID SMILE BECAUSE IT IS. YES. HE IS A GOOD DANCER I AM CONVINCED. HIGH SOCIETY IS A CRUEL PLACE. VERY.#HOLDING A FACE AND BEHAVE IS ACTUALLY ALMOST A MENTAL TORTURE AND OSCAR IS BUILT FOR THIS#Ward... listen to him. He is currently the only way for the life not looking like a constant torture#Despite the fact that you all are roommates now#Also. I feel like Ward's perception of Oscar will be changing from now#inspiration
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back to hell (i been replaying fnv and have started Dead Money again)
#jk i actually FUCKING LOVE THIS DLC#I DON'T CARE IF THE GAMEPLAY IS TEDIOUS I LOVE IT UGH I LOVE IT SO MUCH LIKE I BEEN ACTUALLY WAITING TO PLAY IT#LIKE I THINK IS THE BEST DLC WRITTEN#i love it characters. i love its tropes so fucking much is insane#i love Elijah as a villain. like i love insane mad stubborn man AND even better if the man CANNOT be defended at all#i also cant stop thinking that hell if Elijah only wouldn't be so obssesed with this whole ahh slate thing he would be a real genius#like supposedly this man understood tecnology JUST by looking at it#and i think is very. very interesting that he was a scribe and somehow turned into an Elder#but yeah things didn't go well and stuff yknow what happened#then again i like to think about his relationship to Veronica. i mean in the way that like. Veronica def could be as smart as him if#they had a close relationship#but then christine happened#like. how would Veronica feel if she gets to know what Elijah did to Christine??? like damn it would hit since clearly she saw him as some#kind of elder figure#oh well i am basically rambling about how I LOVE how dead money and the main game interwines#like this of course doesnt only happen with dead money but theres something about the way dead money and the main game connects eachother#i just find it soo interesting and fascinating#also i fucking love the graffitis around Sierra Madre (i also love this name. very cool methinks)#these are the traces of the people there... and then also i think there was wayyy more planned about this but they cut it?#or i think they didnt presented fully like it was planned#also the suitcases that Dean left#ofc is mainly for the gameplay but man do i love when gameplay things are explained in lore#oh and also how literally everything about Sierra Madre is explained in the lore#the vending machines. the holograms. the ghost people. the cloud#i think thats cool as hell#also the lore is explained more in the terminals and i love reading terminals like yappieeee#also i love so much all the Pre-war story the post war and the present story#ALSO ALSO i love its themes soooo much#LETTING GO#AND HOW IT CONNECTS TO THE MAIN GAME OWN THEMES
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