#there's also something to be said about the “realism��� of this show lmao

[lauraisakilljoy]

obx spoilers ahead!!

I'm so conflicted about the season 4 ending because on one hand I get it. life is unfair, it's unrealistic to give all of your characters happy endings, especially if said characters are constantly putting themselves in danger. it makes sense that not everyone survives four seasons of near-death experiences like being held hostage, getting shot at, almost drowning etc. on the other hand I can't help but be bitter that the person who had been abused/mistreated their entire life and who was clearly suffering was the one who had to die. at the hands of his biological father, may I add. I’ve seen some people say JJ was annoying this season and I get where they’re coming from, but all of his impulsive decisions and everything that happened at/after the town meeting just made me sad. he was struggling so much that he didn’t care what happened to him or if he lived or died. all he wanted was a future where he could live with his friends in their own little paradise without a care in the world. with the money from the crown and shoupe’s promise, it seemed like he was so close to happiness and inner peace, but they didn’t let him have that. so yeah, I get why they did this, but that doesn’t make it less upsetting.

[mal3vol3nt]

What are ur thoughts on natla?

i definitely have…. thoughts lol

but let’s start with the positives first i guess

i really liked the special effects and cgi. i thought the bending looked pretty neat, particularly the earth and fire bending (which isn’t surprising considering hollywood has spent decades improving the realism behind fire and explosion effects). the water and air bending looked cool too, but definitely didn’t look as realistic in my opinion. which isn’t a bad thing. it didn’t break my submersion or anything. tbh i thought the air and water bending looked more like they came straight out of a really enhanced video game

i liked what they did with the 41st division plot line. having that division be the crew on zuko’s ship was a really nice change from the original and humanized zuko’s character even more in my opinion. though i find it hard to believe that ozai would’ve allowed a freshly banished zuko to travel in such close quarters with a division he literally saved (something something about soldier loyalty wavering and army coups blah blah blah)

the scene of kyoshi possessing aang and getting rid of the fire nation soldiers on her island was honestly… amazing to watch. one thing about me is i LOVE watching the avatars go full avatar mode and give it to people, so that scene had me jumping in my seat cause she looked so damn cool (but i also have other thoughts about that scene and everything that led up to it that aren’t entirely positive lmao so not a complete win)

the casting for aang made me so happy. it’s no secret that aang is my baby, so if they did him dirty in casting i wouldn’t have even made it past episode 1, but gordon actually did such a good job with what he was given and i really wish the writing would have given him the chance to actually be aang. cause he has aang’s adorableness and goofiness (that we see from bts) so idk why it wasn’t utilized, but this isn’t the section for me to start talking about that

aang sending zuko away on the boat after the blue spirit rescue was everything. idk but it was done so gently and in a way that was just so aang that it makes me wanna scream

koh the face stealer. i don’t even think i gotta explain this one, but they did good with koh

so now lemme talk about what i didn’t really fw about this live adaptation. the negatives, if you will

(disclaimer: i have no issue with adaptations straying away from the original source material to make some changes or add some twists. in fact, i love it when they do. but the changes should add to the story and characters, not take away from them!! and that’s a short lil synopsis of my issues with this show)

them getting rid of sokka’s sexism. the reason the show got rid of this was because the creatives didn’t understand that the og show never presented sokka’s sexism as a good thing. he was constantly and immediately humbled when he said something stupid, and his thought process made sense for his character because he’s a boy who has never ventured outside his tribe. all he knows are the gender roles within his own culture and we see that throughout the show as he mets other people, he starts to realize that way of thinking is wrong. them removing this aspect of his character also got rid of the tension between him and katara. sokka undermines katara a lot in the og and it’s clear that that kind of underestimation is one of the fuels firing the burning anger within her. and it’s that anger, provoked by sokka’s sexism, that leads her to releasing the avatar and driving the whole show in motion. because they got rid of this, sokka and katara don’t really have any huge issue to work through, so they had to add in this weak older sibling vs little sibling conflict instead. katara blowing up because he treats her like a little kid does NOT have the same punch as her blowing up because he treats her like she’s incapable. and it also muddies the real dynamic between the two considering they’re both constantly taking care of each other due to them BOTH having to grow up quickly

sokka and suki’s development was done DIRTYYYY. again, because they got rid of his sexism, they had nothing for suki to challenge. he never questioned her legitimacy as a warrior. instead, he was immediately impressed and felt a lil insecure at how skilled she was. and she just immediately liked him cause he’s attractive ig. the whole sequence of them training together (which he didn’t even wear the kyoshi warrior outfit during DINT GET ME STARTED-) is literally just a few long minutes of them stopping to catch their breaths every couple seconds cause they’re so insanely attracted to each other. that’s all it is. suki thinks he’s cute and eyes him up and down (????? literally why), and sokka does absolutely nothing but stand there to attract her to him. SUKI??? the insanely talented warrior who humbles him multiple times, and who sokka literally begs on hands and knees to train under so he can work for her respect, was watered down to “pretty girl who likes pretty boy”

katara. literally just katara. what did they do to my girl? HOW DO YOU MAKE THE KATARA OF THE SOUTHERN WATER TRIBE BORING?? first off, water bending is not a struggle for her?? aang just gives her a very confusing pep talk where he says basically nothing, and suddenly she’s able to make a perfect water sphere without even really trying. nevermind the fact that before aang got there and spewed nonsense at her, she could barely make a ripple in the water let alone pick it up. she was also just handed the waterbending scroll—literally handed—and got insanely good off of that. no master needed, she just picked it all up no problem. the og show makes it clear that while the scrolls can teach you the basics, they do not compare to a real master. in the og, katara fights tooth and nail to get her hands on the scroll and then to later get a master. she’s so determined and works so hard to perfect her element that when she finally reaches mastery level, it feels like a reward. it feels right. but in this show, she literally doesn’t have to work hard AT ALL and only needs to hear a few encouraging words from other characters to become a master. there’s no real development in her skill. one day, she can barely make a ripple. the next? she’s sending ice spears at pakku like it’s nobody’s business. where was the development? it wasn’t there. and because she’s so good at water bending already, she has no real motivation or purpose. she’s not driven by her desperate want to learn how to waterbend under a master. she doesn’t have any real reason to be driven by anger cause what is she so angry of? sokka doesn’t undermine her. she’s already insanely talented at bending with no real training. sure, pakku won’t let her fight but that’s a stupid conflict. a stupid conflict that’s the result of them making her too skilled for a master. cause instead of her frustrated that he won’t teach her, she wastes time trying to get him to let her fight in the upcoming battle. but why does she need his permission to do that in the first place? it’s not like he’s gonna try stopping her? he and everyone else will be too busy trying not to die to care if she’s out there slicing people with ice. so really, katara is just there. she has no drive, no personality, no reason. and it feels insane to even be saying that about katara cause she’s literally katara. but natla fucked up with her and i am not about to forgive them for that

aang. i could scream. natla aang is not aang. it’s literally identity theft. where is the joy? the whimsy? the child-like qualities that make aang aang? he’s so fucking serious all the damn time. he’s 12 years old, freshly out the ice, and already behaving like he’s been at this avatar gig his whole life. he doesn’t play around or get easily distracted like he does in the early books of the show. every pitstop they make on their way to the northern water tribe isn’t the result of aang wanting to have some fun, but because people are literally telling him “hey, you should go to *insert location* because they need help and you’re the avatar”. in fact, their whole reason for going to the northern water tribe isn’t because he or katara need to learn water bending (she’s already so good and he just doesn’t feel like learning??), but because kyoshi took his hand and explained to him that something bad was about to happen and he needed to be there. literally every decision he makes is the result of someone repeating exposition we already know and telling him what he needs to do. the show literally walks the audience through everything that happens. it literally even explains to us countless times that aang is a really goofy kid who likes playing airball with his friends, but we never see it?? he never goofs. he hardly even smiles im not gonna lie. he just introduces himself as a super goofy person and we’re supposed to just take his word for it. why is he already so intense, man? not even book 3 aang was that damn serious all the time. them eliminating his joy and optimism and childishness literally makes him a shell of a character and it PISSES ME OFF. not to mention his dialogue is written like he’s always on the brink of breaking out into song. no shit i thought this show was a musical for a good few seconds cause i fully expected him to start singing when he was venting to appa 😭

aang’s “running away” scene. don’t piss me off. this show was so afraid of giving their characters any actual flaws that they got rid of one of aang’s biggest sources of guilt: him intentionally running away from the air temple. no instead, he was just clearing his head up in the sky “where everything makes more sense” and just happened to get trapped in a storm

kyoshi yelling at aang. this one goes hand in hand with the previous one, but i’m giving it it’s own bullet point. in this scene, she yells at him for running away and tells him that he better not ever do something like that again because now the world’s gone to shit and needs its avatar more than ever, essentially placing blame on him for 1) something that literally isn’t even his fault—unless they get rid of roku admitting his involvement in the war beginning—and 2) didn’t even happen?? aang didn’t run away in this version of the story. he just went on a ride with appa and got caught up in a storm. so why is kyoshi acting like it was intentional when the show makes it clear that it wasn’t?

the death of the moon spirit. the plot point about kuruk’s knife was so stupid LMAO i’m sorry it was pointless to me. and why did nobody do anything while zhao was attempting to murder the moon spirit. everyone just stood there 🧍 like hello??? more importantly, why didn’t aang do anything?? in the cartoon, he tries talking zhao down and zhao plays along like it worked, setting the moon spirit back down into the spirit water before killing it anyways. in this version, zhao never pretends like he isn’t about to kill the koi fish. and nobody makes a move to do anything until after it happens im crying 😭

aang becoming the ocean spirit. my main gripe with this scene is that it’s framed in a way that’s all about vengeance and just pure rage more than anything. but aang becoming the ocean spirit has always been, to me at least, a depiction of grief. it’s pain that the ocean spirit is expressing as it washes away the fn soldiers and ships. it’s done in a way that is, yes brutal, but also graceful and conscious. the ocean spirit is mindful of what it’s doing. it’s intentional and emotional. it’s not just striking anything and everyone out of pure rage, which is how this scene was choreographed and shot in my opinion

[quodekash]

guys jokezo just made out and now they have to share a bed together. just chew on that for a bit.

NO, DON'T GIVE ME THEM SITTING ON A BUS

GIVE ME WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THEY HAD TO SLEEP IN THE SAME FREAKING BED IMMEDIATELY AFTER THEY MADE OUT

👀

(they made out last night btw)

(just in case anyone forgot)

(and then they had to share a bed)

ass x7

also zo is fully just not doing anything lmao

everyone's pushing with all their might and zo is just 🧍‍♂️

FUIWEBSDGIOUVEWJBOGD

oh the desperate thigh grab

yeah, im with him on this, they need to talk about it. especially about how they had to slEEP IN THE SAME FREAKING BED AFTER THAT

welp. I guess joke's day was just ruined in a slap to the face disguised as a few words

AND THE WAY HE TAKES HIS HAND OFF ZO'S THIGH AFTER THAT????? OUCHHHH

I must say tho, this is really giving episode-6-of-bad-buddy

its very patpran-post-rooftop-kiss-core

the vibes be gay and yearning and very very sad

OKAY, THE MOTHER, FINALLY

a few things to say about her

1. she's gorgeous

2. DAMN she is SHORT

3. I was rewatching the first four episodes yesterday and today because I could, and I noticed in the first episode, zo asked his friends to not tag him in photos they took at the bar, because "I don't want my mum to see"

but my question is... why? he's just out drinking with friends, he's an adult, he's not being irresponsible or anything, so why doesn't he want her to see the photos?

is it something to do with what his mum thinks of him? is she overbearing? does she have high expectations of him? does she kinda suck?

she's probably lovely though, and ill end up adding her to my list-of-fictional-parents-to-get-adopted-by (it's a very long list)

I guess we shall find out today as the episode progresses

oh, honey, you're so queer

the amount of times ive done exactly this

she's so short its hilarious omg

also: ive decided I love his mum

she's so sweet

and neither of them know how to use a stove and I think that's so hilarious and endearing

HSDHSHFSHDHHS

(also: this scene is making me think of akkayan at aye's house having a meal with his mum and rhbgdhjgb)

he's putting two and two together

the few braincells he has that aren't dedicated to debating are whirring in his mind

I can practically hear his thoughts

"he kissed me back... he wants to talk about the kiss... we went on two dates together at his suggestion... he showed up at my house and charmed my mother... he says I have secret admirers..." cmon sweetie youre so close

"WAIT, DOES HE LIKE ME?" omg honeybun you did it!

or maybe he didn't do it

maybe he was still shuffling the pieces in his brain but hadn't put them together and then his mum said something and distracted him

either way: that was hilarious and I want to high five dunk for his acting there

HIGH EXPECTATIONS, I KNEW IT

still love her tho

high expectations suck but she seems wonderful so far (obviously my opinion will change if the circumstances do (like if it turns out she completely sucks) but for now she's made it to the adoption list)

brb, gonna go cry real quick

well now their thumbs are making out

you see, I understand the things he's saying. and I honestly agree with him. if I were ever somehow put in his position, id probably say the same things.

HOWEVER, I just want my bl boys to kiss again and be happy and together and I appreciate the realism over the usual fantasy kinda situation we go for in bls, but I just want them to kissssss

this is very good advice

I hope that jokezo kiss again this episode

also AAAGBRDHFKBG JENGPOK CRUMBS

YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHO'S LOSING THEIR MIND OVER JENGPOK AGAIN

BERIUFDJKGBEORPVFD

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

SHUT UP

SHUT UP SHUT UP

IM NOT CRYING YOU'RE CRYING

FHEWSDGFVESDV

THIS IS TOO FUNNY

im gonna start crying soon

its so funny

help me

girl is worried

I know this is what jeng told you to do but is during debate club really the right moment

im so certain that she ships it

awwhhhhh

HE SAID IT

HE SAID THE THING

AAAAAAAAA

hell yeah

GOUERJLHDGOBIERVLDNF

AAAAAAAAAAA

IM SCREAMING

THATS IT??

THAT'S THE END OF THE EPISODE??

THEY DIDNT EVEN KISS

OR ADDRESS THE FACT THAT - and I can't stress this enough - THEY SLEPT IN THE SAME FREAKING BED AFTER FULL-ASS MAKING OUT

omg next episode is gonna be amazing

I can't wait

gekjrdsbfd I love them so much

im like 70% certain they're gonna kiss next episode so fingers crossed

ALSO NITA DEFINITELY SHIPS IT

anyway. that was good. I should go to sleep now

[glassvines]

Now that it's been a little over a week since the finale was released, I'm going to give some of my final thoughts on Murder Drones.

While I'm going to miss this series a lot, I really do think it's for the best that it ended here on a high note, as all the mysteries being setup throughout the series concluded in ep 7/Mass Destruction.

Absolute End was twenty minutes worth of satisfying wrap-ups.

Thoughts/comments in order:

⋅ Nori and Uzi briefly interacting at the beginning of the episode was great. LOVE that there was a little semi-realism here: no sound can be heard in space. Nori and Uzi having to find ways to communicate was clever.

⋅ N finally getting to pilot a spaceship :').

⋅ The VERY CUTE convo between N and Uzi that they are, in fact, dating was perfection. While they're falling through the atmosphere. While on fire. This was so good you guys. They are such a great main couple. Have loved their slow burn throughout the show <3.

⋅ V IS BACK. Was already 100% positive Lizzy's "secret friend" was V, so this was not a surprise.

⋅ Now, while I was hoping for J to see the light in the final episode, I was happy with what we got instead. Confirmation that she knows what has happened to Tessa, and that she has ultimately taken the cowards way out. She won't fight the inevitable.

Love the brief hint that she has TRIED to make things right with V in the past; warn her about Cyn's plans.

"If I promised you anything, it tricked me too."

:(

Also props to Shara Kirby here. J didn't play a huge role in the series, but the few lines she did get in the finale were great.

⋅ Legit my favorite part of the episode is that corny bit N and Uzi do while they're still falling towards Copper 9. Uzi blasting Cyn with the solver (null-solver? blackhole-solver?), THE WINK, Uzi and N: The Drone Killers, and the final sunglasses pose.

ABSOLUTE DORKS ILTHEM SO MUCH.

⋅ I also love that they are IMMEDIATLEY completely fucked up beyond belief by Cyn moments after this. That was devastating holy shit.

⋅ CYN IS SO SCARY IN THIS EP. Cannot believe how good the "call back ping" scene is.

⋅ N has never had problems with panic attacks throughout the series, so I can only assume this is due to him having access to his own memories now? Cyn could keep his personality intact by, as Uzi put it in ep2 "turning his memories to soup".

Which gives me the impression that he could potentially go comatose without Uzi there to hold his hand.

JFC.

⋅ V's heartfelt confession that everything she did was to keep N safe was a fantastic scene too. I went into this episode assuming 99% of the cast would survive, but I was definitely panicking here.

Me: "Do something N. DO SOMETHING."

N: *does something and is immediately ko'd*

Me: "NO, NOT LIKE THAT!!!"

⋅ Khan was redeemed early on the series for me, given how much effort he immediately put into trying to be a bigger part of Uzi's life after the pilot episode.

That being said, it was nice that he managed to come through in a clutch and save N :).

⋅ "Weirdly hot robots" Uzi lmao. Further confirmation that this entire show really is YA/Twilight spoof.

⋅ "I think dumb things are figgin' cool and I. AM. FREE." Yeah no, I can understand why this is a very niche show. The humor is very. Um. Look, I love her so much, this was so funny to me. The final message of the series is literally "be your dopey, cringe self - get the guy" hahaha. Teenage-me would have made this series my entire personality. Or, I would have at the very least appreciated the message.

⋅ BOSS BATTLE!! It's insane how good this scene looks. This was an absolute joy to look at. Adored the addition of Nori's ipod nightcore mix as the main battle song.

⋅ Allanah Fitzgerald is a riot actually.

⋅ I was not fooled by the N fake-out death lol. Good setup to further prove the trio are absolutely in sync now though. Probably my favorite part of the fight scene.

⋅ The fight against Cyn ending in a very grounded way was...interesting? Literally just Uzi making an appropriate strategic decision in a split second.

⋅ Tessa's ribcage oh my God.

⋅ Nori still being infatuated with Khan is so funny.

⋅ Uzi not coming out of this scot-free makes sense. The setup for that reveal was great.

V: "Oh, she's still a cringelord it's her UGH".

⋅ N twirling her around and squeezing her and crying into her shoulder omfg why are they so cuuteee.

⋅ Uzi coming full circle from the pilot scene presentation, complete with an updated "protag/heroes journey" slide:

"Forget about all of this insanity. Get tunnel visioned on spooky corpse robot reveal. Work backwards from there."

LMAO

⋅ Khan excitedly cheering about the fact that Uzi essentially decided she should have never gone outside. Blink and you won't notice that Nori is with him, but she iiisss.

⋅ Final classroom scene and end credits were fun:

- "THAT'S MY GIRLFRIEND!" - N is learning to draw manga (from one of those awful Western "how to draw manga" books from the early 2000s) - V is very affectionate/proud about this - V and Lizzy are very close now - Doll's body is for some reason there too (??) - V is definitely drinking from a dead worker drone in this scene lmao - The group shots of Lizzy, V, Thad, Uzi and N together were cute - J is STILL ALIVE. Why is she obsessed with leaving via the ship...? - Gin Rummy game finally happened. Also Nori again. - "Pog in chat!!" Why. - Doll's funeral (or well - memorial presentation by Lizzy) at the prom. I love how pissed N and Uzi look lmao. - V playing chess against the sentinel

⋅ AAANND we get the final confirmation that Uzi is in fact, permanently stuck with Cyn/the Solver, as it can speak to her. I'm not buying the "everything's a hologram and everyone's actually dead" theory because the show is simply not that cynical. But I do love that this certainly leaves the audience with questions at the final moment.

Again, I'm gonna miss this show and these characters. Would love to see them explored more in the future *emoji eyes at Glitch*.

Cannot wait to see what Glitch has in store, in terms of new shows. I'm shocked at how high quality indie animation has gotten in the last half decade, and I'd like to see more of it.

[prosciuttulipa]

RAAAAAAH i want a match ngl LMAO

Jjk match because Im a fucking simp, and a guy bcs I am in fact a straight woman thanks

I'm a big nerd. Like, a very big nerd. I do math for fun and I am not ashamed at all when I interrupt someone to correct them (I have autism and ADHD, how could you tell?)

I'm relatively closed off, and most of the time, insecure. I'm shy and I barely ever make the first move (unless I've had a couple of drinks or a lot of eyeliner). I think what people most define me as is the "old soul, young body). I'm like the mom of the group, though I am absolutely reckless when there's another mom in the group, since it takes the responsibility away from me.

I hate going out, and it's really hard to get me to go to the beach, for example. I think my best quality personality-wise is that I'm down to earth and realistic about my goals. A problem is probably how much self-doubt I have, since people constantly tell me I am capable of achieving more than I think I can. I don't settle for seconds, but I'm not too excited when I rech first, because there's always a new competition.

Oh yeah, I'm competitive. Very.

I'm a pessimist, though I like to say it's realism, because why be positive, hype myself up, only for it to go wrong and the disappointment hurt me? As I said, emotionally closed off.

My personality is the infamous black cat, and I think (though I'm not sure), that a golden retriever boy is what would fit me best. (even though I simp for other black cat guys)

For hobbies, I'm boring, though I do have many. I play the guitar, do martial arts (krav maga), draw, sing, write absolutely filthy smut, and, most important of all: do math and study. Yeah, my main hobby is studying.

I'm not sure how I show my love? I don't, usually. I can love someone unconditionally and be absolutely lovesick, but only after a very heavy emotional session, may it be a fight or drinks, will I tell soemone how much they mean to me. I spent the last four years with my best friend, and only after a day's worth of drinking and crying did I tell her how much she meant to me.

I'm a bit icky with physical touch, but if I trust them, I'll let them cling to me. Initially push people away and only after knowing them do I let them hug me, kiss me, cuddle me. I am awful when dealing with compliments, and I cannot take a gift. So probably quality time is my love-receiving language when generally speaking. A boyfriend/husband would probably work with physical touch and words of affirmation, though.

I dont think there's any big turn-off or turn-on in relationships? Maybe not giving me enough attention and helping me emotionally, because I'm easily falling into insecurity, feeling like I'm not enough.

I have like medium curly dark hair and dark eyes. Eyebags, and a lot of moles all over my face. My body is relatively fit? I have a bit of fat ngl but I also have muscles. A bit of a tummy and thicc thighs (they do, in fact, save lives) that double the size when I sit (insecurity alert!) I'm pale, though I am a mixed baby. I dress in all-black most of the time, and all the color variations are like red or dark blue. (I AM NOT EMO). I wear eyeliner from the moment I wake to the moment I sleep and I have pierced ears. I also plan on getting nip piercings and plan on getting

I think i need more songs to listen to, so I'm going with the three songs he associates wit me.

Congratulations! You have been matched with...

Choso Kamo

When people see you and Choso together, they immediately assume that you're just another average emo couple, quick to place stereotypes. But under the heavy eyeliner and dark clothes, are two people who are just trying to figure out life in their own way.

Choso is fascinated by your contradictions: insecure yet quick to correct others, pessimistic but burning with a competitive drive for more. Where some people may see indecision, he sees something much more real and human in comparison to the single-minded characters he's met during his time alive. Living is hard, has experienced it for himself, so he doesn't shun you for your contrasting perspectives. Instead, he wants to learn about the world alongside you, unpicking the way you think, wondering about your insecurities. Although he's been through a lot, there's something inherently innocent and simplistic in the way Choso sees the world. If you're an old soul in a young body, then he's a young soul in an old one. Perhaps by meeting somewhere in the middle, the two of you will get closer to unravelling the mystery that is life.

Choso doesn't mind that you don't like going out, but you often find yourself tagging along as he explores the world in small ways. A trip to the convenience store may as well be a museum visit, with the way he asks you about the products, eyeing them with confusion. He also admires the fact that you study math—to dedicate yourself to understanding anything in such depth is no small feat—and he's happy to sit next to you while you work, occasionally asking questions about your interest in the subject. His most common form of affection is just leaning his head against your shoulder, watching silently as you work.

Dates with Choso are pretty laid back, since he's happy to take the lead on whatever makes you comfortable. It doesn't matter to him where you two are. For him, understanding your mind (and falling in love with the way you think, the way you are) is what matters to him the most.

The Matchmaker's Gift:

Contrary to popular belief, Choso's music taste is rather soft. This song reminds him of the inherent dependence that comes with being connected.

Offering you this song with a curious tilt of his head, Choso asks you if this is how your pessimism feels like.

This is the song Choso uses to confess to you. His feelings are one of the few things he has to his name, and he wants to share them with you.

[darklinaforever]

If we are all idiots who don't know what grooming means i guess idiot is also Emma D'arcy since they literally said that. Gonna cry? Yall reaching again cause GRRM never ever stated once Daemon loved Rhaenyra. Neither Matt, they called the relationship odds, weird, strange, never love. GRRM only said it's the way to see his sides cause obviously in S1 besides Viserys, there's Rhaenyra who interacts with Daemon who has actually some kind of weird bond,also toxic, but it's not love, girl. Wait till Daemon's horizons will extrnd lmao Im going to check your blog to see your meltdown and laugh my ass off. Bye for now 😘

I literally did an article explaining why Emma D'Arcy was talking shit when she called this relationship grooming back in the day. As far as I know, Emma is a human being, right ? Isn't Emma D'Arcy a god who is right about everything ? In fact, in this same article where Emma was talking about grooming, also claimed that Rhaenyra was 16 years old (it seems to me) in episode 4, when in reality her character was canonically 19. Rather funny to take the word of an actor as gospel when the latter is immediately deceived about the age of his character. Also, Emma D'Arcy literally already said he would read Daemyra fanfictions... Crying about it ?

Also, I don't know what cave you lived in, but the daemyra relationship was definitely described as love by Matt Smith. He literally said that Daemon would give his life for Viserys and Rhaenyra. And also, it seems to me, designated Daemon as definitely loving Rhaenyra, even if yes, it's strange, except it's another world with other morals, not to judge with our modern vision what you stop acting like the idiots you are. Also, I don't have to justify over and over why Daemyra isn't in the grooming book or show. I literally made a huge post about this, as others have. It's not my place to educate you and in any case you are someone who voluntarily wishes to remain in ignorance on this subject in order to boast of a two-franc moral superiority.

Also, small compilation of moments where the writers / the HOTD team talked about love / romantic aspect / or something more powerful than tat, for Dameyra that I found. Hey, it's free :

[Sara Hess] does believe that Daemon and Rhaenyra are meant for each other, although of course, it's complicated. “Saying they 'love’ each other seems almost too simple,” Hess says, “it’s more that they have a profound, primal connection that nobody else understands.”

“Daemon and Rhaenyra — they're together at the beginning of my episode. Part of the thing that we felt was important was to believe that they were in love with each other. And not just believe it, but feel the electricity. I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I am very much in love with my husband, and I still have a crush on him. And when I see him, I still get chills. And I wanted to see that, I wanted to feel that from them. Because this was a delicate fleeting moment, as you know having seen the episode. We needed to feel the realism of that. And so the two of them [Matt and Emma] had a lot of conversations — even without me — where they were building their relationship, and building the chemistry. So I was really pleased when we got to shooting their first scene together, where Rhaenyra says 'I need to go back home’ — just the way he looked at her… I just love that.” - Geeta Patel.

[johnslittlespoon]

It just makes so much sense that you were writing in 2013, you have the unhinged vibe that the golden fics from that era had.

I'm just here to compliment you really lol, mostly because I am giving a try to write a lil something for the first time and god I can only dream of ever being able to write as good as you. I've been writing poems and music for years now but i find writing actual coherent storys with characters and dialogue so so hard.

I was wondering if you have any tips, or like little rules you follow when you write.

all the love, xxx

🌷

I'M GONNA CRYYYY this was the sweetest thing in the world to wake up to wtf wtf <333 thank you SO much, i really appreciate this wahh my heart :'))) but also you are SILLY. don't compare yourself to others!! if we all did that constantly we'd never get anything written!! there are SO many authors i adore on here that will always have me chasing the "i wish i could write like that" feeling and it's a great motivator but alsooo at the end of the day. you gotta fall in love with your own words and characters and stories <33

and i feel that so much!! we are twinsss, i also started out writing poems and music and then realized i had stories i wanted to tell that wouldn't fit in shorter form, then discovered fanfic in middle school in the early '10s and it was all downhill from there LOL. truly such a golden era tho oh my god. growing up reading the hat fic and borderline illegible wattpad stories was certainly... formative!

yapping ahead vv (i don't have much advice bc i'm still just learning as i go but hopefully some stuff i picked up on can be a bit helpful!)

i have zero method to the madness when writing so it's a relief to know it doesn't come off that way LOL but i do have a few little things that i follow and i always look for them when beta–ing as well! they're pretty small technical things and they're generally up to personal preference, but some of them come from authors i admire and i think they can really take anyone's writing up a notch <3

i don't feel qualified to give advice because i'm just raw–dogging everything lmao i've never taken classes or anything, so take all this yapping with a grain of salt bc it's just what's worked for me!

– i try to use descriptors like "the man" or "the blond" or "his friend" etc sparingly. i wish i could remember the source, but i read a great piece about why it's better to just go with the character's name 99% of the time, and then i went through so many of my works to edit them and i felt so much more confident in my writing afterwards– it made a big difference in readability (imo).

ofc there are exceptions, like if the name of a character is unknown, or if there are too many names being thrown around in one sentence and a "the man" or "the soldier" etc just sits nicer. i definitely still use them occasionally! but it does sometimes put some distance between the reader and the story when those descriptors are used too often instead of names, so it's a good thing to keep an eye out for when it comes to flow. sometimes less or more or whateva ??

– sorta on the topic of less is more, i love challenging myself to show vs tell when i can! whether it's by keeping dialogue short and letting actions speak instead (can add to intimacy/realism– we communicate so much through body language yk), through metaphors (literally how my whole '#john egan is dog coded' fic was born LOL), or describing feelings rather than spelling them out (his heart ached vs he was sad, his pulse raced vs he was scared, you get the gist). you said you've been writing poems so i feel like stuff like that would already probably come easily to you tho! <3

– this guide on ao3 is great for smut writers! whether someone's a beginner or just looking for ways to elevate the filth, i found it really helpful, it's a fun read as well lol. it calls out stereotypes/cliches and teaches you how to reword them, gives lists of slang and reactionary words, do's and don't's, etc. i don't follow everything in it but that's the beauty of writing; we all have things that work for us and things that don't and that's so okay. :-)

– in the same way that artists use references to practice and find their style, you can do that with writing too! i know a lot of writers have a doc or note where they jot down stylistic things they find while reading that they'd like to emanate, or words they want to use, specific phrases, descriptors, etc. if i'm reading a fic and find an auditory descriptor i like, i might take note of it, stuff like that. sorta like a text document version of a pinterest board!

– thesaurus.com is my best friend truly. often going with the 'simplest' version of a word makes for smoothest reading so someone isn't taken out of the story being like wtf does that word mean lol but sometimes things can feel repetitive, or like there just needs to be a little bit more spice; i probs go back and forth btwn my doc and thesaurus a dozen times an hour tbh.

that's all i can think of rn and ik those are pretty basic so i'm sorry about that!! i really do just kinda write what evokes emotions in myself, and then i hit post and hope it translates over to whoever is reading too :') drawing from your own experiences if you can/really sitting with what the characters would be feeling in whatever scenario you're writing is probably the most powerful way to present what you see in your mind.

i have a hard time writing about emotions/things i haven't personally experienced, so i usually stray away from it out of fear of not getting across what i want to, but some people are great at winging it and putting themselves in unfamiliar shoes so!! it's again just personal preference really.

and alsooo be kind to yourself! i'm an anxious wreck every time i post any of my writing, i am very much not confident when posting new fics and i agonize over my docs so much and trash a lot of works, but i know at the end of the day i can't grow or learn if i don't get the words down, and i can't get feedback or gain confidence if i don't post. becoming your own hype man and giving yourself the opportunity to improve is essential <33

sooo much love and best of luck!!! lmk if you end up writing smth, i'd love to read it (◠‿◠✿)

[torialefay]

Thank you for saying what ive been thinking omfg.

Chris does everything he can. There's very few people in kpop that exudes the vibe that they love music and making music as much as he does. Being an idol is what he worked so hard to get and im pretty sure hes implied time and time again and even explicitly said that he wouldn't want to live if he couldnt be an artist (and that bleeds into shy he loves the kids so much, but thats veering off topic). Im just constantly baffled how many people want him to throw it all away (bc idk how harsh jype would punish him), you know, just tossing out his reason to live, to talk about the war. Yes, absolutely. There are so, so many people dying because of this war, and its truly horrifying, but how many people screaming at him are willing to do what they're demanding of him and the kids? I always see people talking numbers and statistics, but rarely do i ever see someone talk realism. There are plenty of people who could spend their time going out to find ways to help Palestine instead of going online to yell at 8 men who got famous for their music and anyone who supports them. Some of yall have never listened to "antivist" by bmth and it shows.

Yeah, Chris looked so tired in that recent clip and just in general tbh (same for the rest of the kids). Everytime i see a clip of Chris when he said "im going to protect every single one of you" or when hes being super flirty and trolling or recently when he said he cant fix all of their problems, i just think "this man is going through what i went through, just 5 years later than i did." I literally have done all that, but instead of to a massive fanbase, it was to my friends, lmao. Being fiercely protective and wanting your friends to feel comfortable enough to lean on you, especially since they've been so good to you, but its turned into exhaustion bc you met some people who took mad advantage of your love and now youve gotta set some boundaries and limits. Unfortunately, he's an idol, so setting hard boundaries can be difficult without someone saying he's too cold and uncaring with fans or something bc we know just how fair the media can be when it comes to Chris🙄 i aint know him personally and never will, but if my interpretation of those clips are true and if this trend continues, he'll hopefully find peace and a decent balance with mental health in about 5 years time🥲

i really REALLY hope so. i'm not gonna lie, it surprised me like a week or two ago when chris said on bubble: "i feel like my enfj is slowly becoming intj hahaha". literally going from what is supposed to be one of the most expressive & involved mbti's to one that is most associated with being less interactive and more reserved/cold when meeting people. i don't want to say intj's are hardened, i don't think it's like that. but maybe that they just have a harder shell. which makes me really sad. it makes me think he's getting so burnt out by being the one that's always there for everyone that he's slowly needing to draw back to himself.

i hope that whatever happens, he's becoming his most genuine self. but i also hope that he isn't turning one way or another simply because of what's been expected of him. he's so good to us & it hurts to think that he'd have to change bc of stays. but if it's not due to that, then i'm happy that he's doing what he needs to do & i hope he can feel okay with setting boundaries for himself 🫶🏼

[olfoartz]

Now thinking about it I shoulda replied to those comments will less words (so they could understand what I’m saying) and instead shoulda replied with “blud thinks I care” LMAO 😭 I honestly don’t care about hate comments towards me or my art but some times they get to me.

In the past when ever i showed people my drawings they had mixed feelings and it pissed me off.

The earliest i remember was before I actually starting drawing my stuff. I would color in color sheets. One time I had been coloring in a Bambi color sheet in our local silly park (I don’t live there anymore) and a person I had considered a friend-ish had come up to me and “oo that looks cool” or something like that. Her sister came outside and then she switched to “that looks horrible” and so I left the park. Before my mom died and I had to move in with my aunt and uncle I never colored infront of others besides my mom.

After the accident making me and my sister move into my aunt and uncles home I had started to draw my own stuff (8 yrs old, started drawing wolves) because I was just starting out my drawings obviously looked horrible.

My uncle would always say (even if he found my drawings laying around) “it looks like a pot belly pig” “that is anatomically incorrect” “why does it look like that” and let’s just say even today (16 going to be 17 in March) I practically never showed / show him my drawings anymore. And I make sure to keep them far away from him.

After was summer camp, at the time I loved drawing and fr couldn’t stop for some reason 😭 I had brought a book to a summer camp and showed some of the people I shared a cabin with. At the time I was trying more realism-ish stuff bc of what my uncle had said in the past. The people who saw my drawings all pointing at a part of one of my drawings closer to the back legs and asked “is that its penis?” A girl who had brains said “no.” Because IT WASNT A FUCKING PENIS. Now i draw alone and only post stuff online. Even my sister and cousins don’t like my drawings but thats bc they’re incredibly anti furry.

The only ppl that like my drawings are 4 ppl at my school, online friends and my followers. Technically without y’all and those other people I mentioned I would have already stopped drawing, so thank you to friends, followers, and ppl who like my posts / comment. It motivates me to still draw. Ive seen videos of people asking “would you still draw if it meant no one would see them?” No. Its not bc of the likes or views but it’s bc of motivation. It would also be pointless to do art if no one ever saw it imo.

[ikjun]

omg al darling pls give me your queen of tears thoughts i’m really behind and need to know if it’s worth finishing <3

tbh i am also behind but i keep up with spoilers and episode recaps for everything i am watching bc i don't really care about getting spoiled. with that being said, where do i even begin? i would have loved if the show ended on a melodrama note in the second half, with the hong family having lost queens group but recouping that through baekhong's work as a lawyer and ceo respectively and with them rekindling their relationship (without marriage or another kid) while hae-in would, well, die due to some bout of medical realism that has to remain here, but with the two of them choosing each other in their lifetime, roll credits, fin. i am putting a read more from here on in bc this is sort of my thoughts on the show in general but also the second half, since describing the second half doesn't really work without talking about the set-up of the plot. plots? whatever is happening here. (also! spoilers ahead!)

of course we did not get a well-polished plot, something as sensible as this couldn't fly with the deranged fans this drama spawned like you wouldn't believe. so in a way this fanbase deserved exactly what they got lmao. this show has been crazy from the beginning bc as much as i love hae-in, people kept acting like she didn't treat hyun-woo like shit for most of their marriage when she did. he was only marginally better off, but my one big issue was that hyun-woo has to apolgize for everything he ever did, for wanting to divorce in the first place, while the show depicted right away how awful his marriage was. so now in the second half we, of course, get hyun-woo doing everything for hae-in to make up for all his audacity, like the good kdrama male lead he is (where is moon gang-tae when we need him? kim soo-hyun can act with some fire in there, so why does he not?) hae-in keeps getting worse and he is by her side, so whoo for tha ti guess and she does apologize for how she treated him after 10 eps of grovelling lmao. anyways.

they grow closer again while hae-in stays in the hospital for her treatment, but in comes mister i-still-want-to-be-cooked-over-an-open-fire-like-a-rotissiere-chicken eun-sung. i do have to say i love park sung-hoon in this drama? not as good as the psychotic bully-slash-killer-slash-second-woman he plays in the glory, but really good. it's giving kendall roy in sucession s2! it's giving this is why rich people tax middle class families until tax evasion or murder become lifestyle choices for those families! it's giving the rite of passage creepy high school boyfriend straight women go through amped up to the max! he is so good at being evil and he shines here, somehow, in all his creepy despondency and obsession with hae-in. at one point he swipes in and tells hae-in, who is losing her memory, that he saved her life and then he does it again, using the times hyun-woo's saved her as his cover story. he keeps rocking brown three-piece suits and a crazy-good blowout and side swoop while he does that, which might be the worst thing. hyun-woo punches him in the face, which is the saving grace of this entire second half of the show. he runs over hyun-woo with a car in the PENULTIMATE episode for the hell of it, because he can't see hyun-woo and hae-in be together again. the man is batshit insane and he stands by it.

as for the plot:

the head of the hong family (hae-in's grandfather) has a slush fund, because that is the second most realistic part of the show. eun-sung and his mother scrounge around to find it to take the rest of queens group, but well, i honestly don't care much about this plot. yang-gi (hyun-woo's best friend and divorce lawyer, who is apparently barred twice over in korea and can also hold up with business law and attorney work in court lol) helps lower hyun-woo's crazy ass charges, so he lives to see another day while everyone is looking for the goddamn slush fund. eun-sung and his mother found it first btw. hae-in keeps mistaking eun-sung for hyun-woo, her memory loss gets worse, we get it. several people working for eun-sung keep trying to kill hyun-woo over the span of the last five episodes. we get another reborn rich cameo from kim shin-rok, which at this point is the only thing keeping me from tuning out of this whacky ass drama. the hong family grandfather kills himself and all of kdrama twt and mdl are mad that the raised rating wasn't an explicit scene between baekhong but seeing an old man die (i kid you not). they keep trying to convince me kim soo-hyun was in the marine corps and i keep not believing it. german hospitals apparently can do life-saving surgeries on non-german citizens, which is unheard off in this neck of the woods but alas. hae-in has to trade in her memories to have that surgery, so that is our 11 o clock moment. or something. hyun-woo gets arrested by interpol right after, so there goes that dream. soo-cheol ends up with his wife again, which i care about as much as a tree cares about a leaf falling in a forest. big yawn. hyun-woo employs yang-gi again to beat the interpol charges and they do (yippie!). eun-sung keep acting like he's hae-in's husband after her memories disappeared and all of us know it's so deeply joever but the death bell has yet to strike. in comes the car crash bc we go two for two on car crashes in this show. eun-sung is now, after 15 episodes of washed up nonsense, pursued by the police bc nothing screams real crime like vehicular manslaughter in a kdrama. tried and true to the very end he goes!

haven't checked into ep 16 yet, but i know it ends with a montage of hae-in and hyun-woo together for more years, marrying again and having a child, and then hae-in dies. hyun-woo as an old man visits her grave in germany (potsdam doesn't allow graves on the grounds of sansoucie so i wonder where they supposedly put it?) and then we get a fade in of young hae-in leading now-deceased and young again hyun-woo to heaven in a field of lavender, goblin style minus the good writing. hyun-woo kept apologising for things until the end but don't ask me what it was about, i stopped caring. i assume that eun-sung lands in jail or something for his five billion crimes and all the times he wore light blue ties in this show. fin.

[captainbobbin]

Hi- I have somehow survived the depths of completing a whole game in one sitting, grinding for the talents of a character in another game, and completing one of 3 endings for undertale as well as attempting to art. So how are you? <3

Also would love to make you aware your Saix/isa, Xemnas, and Terra are the reasons I question if I'm truly AroAce because of the FOUL, down right HEINOUS things I want them to do to me.

Also, I was going to ask this on Retrospring but I have no idea if the ask button was either tricking me by looking like it was doing nothing or if it just wasn’t up to doing its job, but, I scroll through the Saix tags often and there was this one post that pointed out that he has a hourglass figure and I could not for the life of me tell if you draw him with one too or not so, are you aware of this? If I’m wrong about him having that figure or if you do actually draw him with one then you can just ignore this.

Also, finally looked at your twitter since I don’t usually use it and there was this one thing you said and while I can’t exactly pinpoint what it was I know it was enough to make me audibly gasp and then mentally agree. Anyways that’s all, have a good night or morning I’m still trying to figure out time differences. (Also if I ramble too much feel free to tell me I’ll gladly shut up a bit….maybe- I can’t even trust myself to remember to breathe actually so- nvm)

long response so -

ayyy I'm glad that you've been doing okay lately bud - its always satisfying to complete a game that you've been sucked into, and I hope you had a fun time with it!

You know. You'd be surprised how many aro and/or ace people have said such things to me/are actively in my chat encouraging me to make more nsfw content regarding my blorbos lmaoooo I actually had a message on retrospring the other day regarding my portrayals of certain characters making people question their orientation and I'll put what I responded to them here - 'there's a post that I love and its like. If you are really into something and are passionate about it, you will accidentally convert others to enjoying it. By making content where you genuinely show how much you love a certain thing and you project your headcanons onto it and display the depths of your inner love about a certain concept, character, body type, topic, etc, that people will see it and connect with it whether you mean for it to be convincing or not hahaha. Sometimes just really loving something inspires others to love it and see it your way too.'

Saix undoubtedly has a pretty curvy silhouette, yes lmao there is no way I wouldn't realise that hahaha - Its harder to see it in his KH3/Unreal Engine model due to the stylistic overhaul but his original (and superior imo) model has notably wide shoulders and hips compared to a small waist, yeah. All of the original Org members had really distinct shapes so you can tell who is who, even with the hoods up. I do tend to draw Saix with fairly muscular thighs and broader shoulders, but in general my artstyle is what I would say is 'not very anime proportioned' in that I try to have a decent amount of realism in my anatomy/shape rather than super lean or angular bodies. I don't ever want my blorbos to appear emaciated or for them to have the 'ideal standard' body, if you know what I mean, I really enjoy drawing my faves to look like real people that have folds and bulk and 'imperfections'. I do typically try to draw Saix as fairly broad, with a balance between topheavy upper arms and chest and a more rounded hip area compared to his waist. (some examples below, including a super super old sketch I did to visualise lfotr isa and terra's size difference). I do try and make all of my usual blorbos have identifiable yet still human proportions; I tend to draw Xemnas slightly softer and chubbier around his middle but he is still broad and powerful. Saix is curvy but still noticeably strong and while not entirely lean he has a sleekness to him. I draw Hendrik with a lot of padding, hair and with much more unique facial features. Sylvando is probably the only character I draw that has a body close to the canon source - he is lean and muscular and tbh the only character I really draw with pronounced ab muscles, the same way that in canon he is shown to be very cut - but in all fairness he's a gymnast/acrobat/performer/contortionist/dancing clown so drawing him as noticeably and suprisingly ripped tracks imo. Plus I sprinkle on so many of my own headcanoned features regarding his hair, skin tone, freckles, etc that it doesn't feel too weird to me haha. so tl;dr yes I do draw Saix with somewhat of a curvy shape (when I do fullbody draws of him, its been a little while) however I think my version is pretty masculine and doesn't read as disproportionate or exaggerated.

Anatomy and stylization are things I always want to push myself on and develop more - my biggest fear is having 'same face syndrome' or for my work to feel like my love for the characters don't come through haha - though by the sounds of it, the way I portray my blorbos is definitely doing something for you, so I must be going in the right direction haha

oh I yap about all kinds of bullshit on twitter lmao I use it as a place to talk about my blorbo thoughts often :p for those who don't follow me on twitter, you can find me here, although I'll warn you that I do most some n/s/f/w stuff there that I do not post here. Let me know if you find out which post I made that vibed with you, I'd love to hear which thing I said resonated with you and why haha! I am somewhat more active on twitter than on here/I tend to share more of others work and do general updates on twitter just because its easier, but I think interacting long form with others is a lot easier on tumblr for sure. Long asks and chats like this area always nice!

[satorisa]

i am.... speechless. i am SPEECHLESS *proceeds to say a lot* JFMDNDJSSH JHO :( JHOOOOOO. do have any idea how i had to take breaks while reading to note my favorite parts because there's no way i would leave it unsaid? man you are such an excellent writer. hell, To Infinity, Forevermore could be a story of its own rather than a mere fanfiction. it is that good. and let me tell you that not all fanfiction could do that. even i, as a fanfic writer, couldn't write something that could stand alone as a separate story from the series i am writing.

i cANT STOP LAUGHING AT THIS DOSJFWJEJWJ i can hear them saying the "oh mama" and "my word" in their minds!! i can see it in a manga panel!! and oh hell i am gonna do that sooner or later <3

and my most favorite part is how you managed to depict satoshi's eventual spiraling depression ENTHRALLED me almost the way he was in love with risa.

the anxiety, the messy home, the unhealthy coping mechanisms, even the subtleties of emotions such a small frown, a lingering stare, a look of trepidation—ALL OF IT was portrayed with such grace and realism. you know, even without the elements of dark being the forgotten one, every person who experienced having a relationship w/ someone who still has lingering feelings over their past would be able to resonate themselves in this story, in satoshi. that's why i want to reiterate, again and again, that this fic would be able to stand on its own even without the elements of DN angel. this brings me to ask, do you plan to create a story of your own? do you have original stories in your lawn? i bet they would be as wonderful as this one if not more.

i also want to express sheer appreciation over risa's eventual maturity. i remember the anime highlighted her maturity towards the end of the series, but it wasn't highlighted any further than dark's comment. this was cathartic for me, in a way, because you were able to show me how would that maturity manifest in post-canon. i think i've said this before, but i feel like it needs to be reiterated again: you always nail their characterization. it was like you had a meeting with sugisaki-sensei before writing them 😭

it is also rare for me to come across a fanfic of a stoic character being an emotional emotional mess that wouldn't give me an ick. i easily cringe whenever there's an out of place emotion to a character who was deemed to be too emotionless for their own good, but you just managed to hit the nail, as always, that satoshi's vulnerability and raw human-ness *if that's a word lmao* is something i hold with deep love.

honestly, i want to be greedy and recommend you all the classic anime series i've loved since i was a child, then make you love it as much as i did, then eventually convince you to make a fanfic for me 😭😭😭 HAHAHAHA. i'm really glad to meet u and read your work. you are and will always be the person that i wished to have when i was 10 years old and reeling with love for dn angel.

okay, i think i'm saying too much at this point. sorry for word dumping, but even after saying this much, i still don't think it's enough to portray my appreciation over this fic. to think that it was dedicated to me fills me with so much warmth. thank you so much. :)

Thank you for your patience!

I literally only remembered I had yet to respond to this because of that ask I saw of you answering that person about the difference between showing and telling...so many, many apologies for that hahahaha

Thank you so much again for your kind words! I think the canon leaves a lot of interpretation for both Satoshi and Risa, so the basis of how I write them is based on both Fanuilos' characterization of them in Interesting Developments and heavily mired by own personal life (oops). I wouldn't be surprised if that might be why this fic in particular can stand alone even without the canon inspiration just because it's something that, outside of the remnants of Dark, can read as just another short story because the heart of it is rooted in reality.

Most of my writing journey has also been me attempting to finish my original story ideas as well, so I'm more used to writing out of my ass (for lack of better words) than using canon as a crux.

I do have an original story that I'm currently attempting to tackle! It's a story about three sisters, told in four parts with very different inspirations per part, that focus on the theme of "home" (and belonging by extension) using an Asian-American lens. You're more than welcome to privately message me about it through if you're more interested!

Again, thank you for your kind words! Satoshi and Risa have always been two of my favorite characters to write, mostly because I'm most comfortable writing them, so I'm always glad to hear that people like how I've characterized them!

[solomons-poison]

The year is 2024 and I am currently sitting in my bedroom re-reading the Motonari Mouri piece you wrote for me for what seems like ages ago (It's been twelve days xD). First of all, I find it impressive how you were able to summarize the relationship in the game into the first paragraph OAO I'm already on someone else's route (whispers Kanetsugu Naoe :3) but reading that brought back all the memories of when I first played his route (you literally gave me an anime flashback lol).

My fav non dialogue line would have to be 'You tried to fight the smile that was tugging at your lips, but of course your sharp-eyed lover could see through it'. (Excellent use if micro expressions :D!) Which was then immediately followed by one of my fav dialogue lines ("What ideas do you have growin' in that flower garden of yours, huh?") It also made me laugh out loud because you got his vernacular down pat >w<!

Best moments in my opinion are when each person is showing care towards the other (reassurance/reaffirming boundaries and gratitude/offering an act of service in return). The bathing process was very interesting to digest (I was surprised to see mention of rice water but the more I think on it, the more it makes sense… if that makes sense XD?) Omg, the kiss scene swoons >A<~ Thank you again for writing this Tarren ;w; It was a beautifully intimae (and steamy) snapshot that I would fully believe you if you said it actually happened in a side story or limited event because it was so in character and your writing is more than on par with the OG writers of the game :'> hugs Hope 2024 brings you everything you want in life <3

Lynn I am SOBBING cause your feedback is always so incredibly sweet 😭😭

I am so glad you liked it!! I had to do some research about what people used in place of shampoo in ancient Japan and most resources cited camellia oil and rice water, which I found very interesting! But the reasoning behind it made sense, so I thought I'd incorporate it for a touch of realism lmao.

One of my favorite things to write is expressions, because a person's expression can say a lot about something. And Motonari can be really observant, especially when he's feeling nervous, so I feel like he'd be watching everything carefully out of instinct.

Haha I'm glad you liked the flower garden line. Since it's one of the things he says the most to MC, I figured I had to stick it in there somewhere. I do like Motonari a lot, he is a tough character to warm up to but I did enjoy his route a lot (and your prompt actually put me in the mood to read his route again, I'm currently halfway through!). But sometimes I feel a little shaky on his mannerisms and what he may like or dislike. But I knew touch was his biggest thing that he had difficulty with in his route (asides from general trust issues), so I wanted to give him something fluffy and reassuring.

I'm very happy that you enjoyed it, and thank you as always for your sweet words and taking the time to send me your thoughts about what I wrote, it means so much to me! May you have an amazing 2024 that brings you much good luck and joy!

[caitlynxviolet]

Having Vi develop overt feelings for Caitlyn in the context of hunting her sister down is like... SO STRANGE! how does she move past that?

When you phrase it like THAT, yeah it is strange lmao

Here's my little brain-rotted idea as to how their relationship will develop from the finale.

Initial shock of what happened. Mixed emotions. Anger from Caitlyn, maybe. Confused sadness for Vi. Vi will want to support Caitlyn because she almost lost her and realizes she cares a lot. Also Caitlyn's hurt, her mom's probably 💀 and Jinx fucked off after dropping a literal bomb. Vi has nowhere to go at this point. She'll follow Caitlyn.

Journey to Piltover as Caitlyn recovers and processes what happened. More anger from Caitlyn, maybe, but it'll start to morph into sadness. More confused sadness for Vi. Time will pass. Time skip? I dunno.

I suspect drama between Jayce, Caitlyn and Vi, if he survives (which he almost has to, come on). This will demonstrate how protective Caitlyn is of Vi still, and how she doesn't want anything to happen to Jinx. Vi will love that. Caitlyn advocating for her is necessary.

They figure out Jinx is in danger. Vi doesn't want her sister to be thrown in Stillwater to rot or be killed. Caitlyn doesn't want Jinx to die either. Caitlyn is a peacemaker in this, so I believe she will advocate for Jinx as well. Might take a bit of time or loaded conversations, but she will get there.

Both of them will hate Silco and blame him a lot and maybe that will be what they'll have to come to terms with together. He's not the only reason Jinx is the way she is or Zaun became what it is. The Council had responsibility and they failed to protect their citizens. Or something in that regard.

In their quest to find Jinx and the events that will follow, Caitlyn and Vi will be a team. They will have known everything about one another and will know how much they care about the same things. One another, and the greater good. All that.

Even if it doesn't happen exactly like this (it won't), I'm sure their relationship will be central to the plot of season two (I think Christian Linke even said so). It's how we will be rooting for Jinx's redemption along with them. Caitlyn will ultimately show mercy for Jinx after everything and it will be major for Vi. They will both be going through a lot and it will make them stronger.

All that being said, I don't expect their relationship to be overly sweet or romanticized in the context of what happened, especially at first. I may be expecting more emotional realism than what will be delivered, but I trust the final product. I know it'll feel realistic no matter what.

[canmom]

Animation Night 139: Hiroyuki Okiura

Hi friends, running late so please accept a brief writeup today - on a subject that deserves a lot more, but probably best done after the film. I'm also planning a followup film night for the rest of the 'Kerberos Saga'.

So remember those 'realists' of the 1990s? I speak about them now and again here, leaning hard on the writing of Matteo Watzky and, now and again, Animation Obsessive. It's the latter who gave me the material for this night, in their article The Anime Realism of Run, Melos!.

'Realism' is a subject that demands endless examination. For there to be a 'realism', you need something that is not real, and then to bring it 'closer to' realism in some respect. I've talked in the past about Matteo Watzky's The Purpose of Realism in Animation, where he looks at the three realisms of Takahata, Kon and Yamada, which each go to different purposes. To these we could add many more takes on the idea in animation: the Disney 'realism' derided by the Zagreb School, the HDR hyperrealism of Shinkai.

And we can tie that to a discussion of 'realism' in literature. Psychological realism, sci-fi/fantasy verisimilitude, magical realism... or in art, socialist realism and all that. It's a term that is polyvalent as fuck.

My mum recently asked me what sort of animation I'd want to create, and oddly enough it turned out the examples that sprang to mind often weren't the realists. Alongside clips from Tokyo Godfathers and Ghost in the Shell, and James Baxter's scenes in The Prince of Egypt, I pulled up much more stylised bits like the transformation sequence from PMMM: Rebellion, the chase from Tekkonkinkreet, a fight scene from Fog Hill of Five Elements... I didn't show her Aeon Flux because lmao but it would have been fitting too. There's many dimensions beyond realism, e.g. the choreographed and theatrical.

So why realism then?

The easy and not very helpful answer is that 'realism' in its many forms is a device that can be used (well or badly) to different purposes. 'Realism' in animation is especially challenging, and thus by default prestigious, or perceived as such - a sentiment that's evident in the recent 'chainsaw man vs bocchi' discourses lol. Yet there's a certain intrinsic, intuitive appeal in realist animation - it's one of the first things people move to praise.

The longer answer, to try to go beyond what Watzky wrote... I'm still thinking about.

All that said, let's go visit Hiroyuki Okiura! Alongside Toshiyuki Inoue, he's among the best known realist animators, with a list of amazing credits including the spotlight chase scene in Akira, the spider tank scene in Ghost in the Shell as well as (nsfw) some astonishingly 3D-like animation in the opening sequence, the 'everyday life on Mars' opening credits of Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, the running scenes at the climax of Your Name, the lotus eater scene in Magnetic Rose, a groundbreaking fight scene in The Hakkenden... I could easily keep going. It's a very traditional sense of realism, reliant on extraordinary solid drawing and carefully observed movement more than fancy compositing effects.

He's worked as a director as such twice, but he's also worked as animation director in a few other cases. One of these is Run, Melos! (1992), a relatively obscure work which I'd never have heard about if not for AniObsessive's article. As such, I'll let them introduce it:

Run, Melos! adapts a short story by Osamu Dazai, a Japanese author from the 20th century. By the time this film premiered, Dazai’s original was already a near-universal reference point in Japan — the kind of thing that everyone had read in school.

The gist: a rural peasant named Melos is sentenced to death by the ruler of Syracuse. Melos begs to be allowed to attend his younger sister’s wedding back home before his execution. As collateral, his friend Selinuntius (shortened to Seline in the film) gets put in his place. If Melos doesn’t return in time to be executed, Seline will die.

It’s a classic. But Masaaki Ōsumi, who wrote the screenplay as well as directed it, took liberties with the original short story. He wondered, “Why did Seline become a hostage so easily?” In Dazai’s version, it’s unexplained. Ōsumi wanted more realism.

And thus he brought in Okiura, who had just previously worked as animation director on Record of Lodoss War (1990) and animated on Roujin Z (Animation Night 118). They took scouting trips to the Mediterranean and made a point of trying to draw their characters looking Greek rather than Japanese. A young Satoshi Kon followed Okiura, and anecdote has it that he would drink until the early morning, ranting about the anime and manga business. Mitsuo Iso, not yet the star he would become after Eva, animated a very carefully grounded horseback fight scene. The result is sometimes animation by figures like Inoue that feels 'more real than live action film'.

We can compare the 'realism' demanded of the animation with the story. Although Ōsumi hoped to expand on and flesh out the characters and motivations, it's adapting quite a brief parable, and this tends to be the sticking point. I want to see what purpose the realism serves though, and regardless, I'm sure we're going to see something beautiful.

At the end of the decade, Okiura got the chance to direct his own film, courtesy of Mamoru Oshii. As well you know, Oshii is well known for his near-future scifi animated films like Ghost in the Shell and the Patlabor series, and of course he's come up on canmom.gov before, e.g. Animation Night 38 (which currently mistakenly credits Jinroh to Oshii) and 39 and 115, and Toku Tuesday 39. Back then I talked briefly about his 'Kerberos Saga', which is as best I can understand, about an alternate future Japan ruled by the Nazis. The first two films in the franchise are The Red Spectacles ('87) and StrayDogs: Kerberos Panzer Cop ('91), both tokusatsu; there's also about a million spinoffs.

Anyway, despite all appearances at first glance, Jin-Roh was directed not by Oshii but Okiura. Oshii had hoped to do a sequel for a while, and the success of GitS made it possible, but conflicts with scheduling his other works forced him to give up directing the film to someone else.

That someone else ended up being 'allergic to computers' Okiura, judged the most promising of the studio's younger generation and eager to direct a serious drama film. Okiura made many decisions that Oshii wouldn't; his take on the story put a bit more emphasis on the romantic relationship, and he ambitiously decided to do a film with no CGI whatsoever at a sprawling 80,000 cels.

By all accounts, he succeeded. His film is heavily in an Oshii idiom: very slow and contemplative, morally ambiguous, set in the near future, about cops. Its story tells of a member of a counter-terrorism unit in the context of widespread protests, who decides not to gun a girl who turns out to be a suicide bomber, and later encounters someone who claims to be her sister. There's infighting among the security arms of the fascist regime and its main character Fuse performs increasingly inhuman acts for the sake of preserving his unit, all framed through a metaphor of Little Red Riding Hood.

It became a well-regarded classic (at least among the small segment of people who have heard of it), and now if you introduce Okiura it's usually as 'director of Jin-roh'.

I've long aspired to watch Jin-Roh in the context of the other two Kerberos films, to finally come up with my own answer on the whole 'what is it doing with all that fashy imagery' question. There certainly isn't time for that tonight, but I think it might be possible over the weekend. So for this reason, we'll save further discussion of Jin-Roh for now...

Okiura returned to key animation - I'm not sure why! maybe he just liked it more - and it would be another 12 years until he'd direct another film. That film is A Letter to Momo (2011), about a grieving girl who encounters three yōkai who have been transformed by divine punishment, who are tasked with protecting her as she comes to accept the death of her dad.

Although the premise is fantastical, visually it has a lot of the feeling of one of Takahata's very grounded films like Only Yesterday, with astonishingly naturalistic movements drawn by the hands you might expect - Okiura himself, Inoue, Shinya Ohira, Takeshi Honda and Masashi Ando. In a way it's kind of the realists reuniting to make a 90-style film once again, but there's also shades of the experiments we'd see the next year in the Animator Expo. It sounds like it's gonna punch me right in the heart in terms of 'anime about grief', but maybe it's going to be exactly the film I need to see.

So here's the plan for this week's Animation Night entertainment: tonight we'll visit Run, Melos and A Letter to Momo. On Tuesday I'll follow that up with a one-off special Toko Tuesday in which we'll watch the two live-action Kerberos films and Jin-Roh. And at some point I'll try and write something a lot more substantial than this brief intro.

It's 10pm now, but at least Run, Melos! is very short, so we won't be too late. Animation Night will be going live now at twitch.tv/canmom, hope to see you there!

[starlingflight]

2022 Wrapped

Post the top 5 works you're most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular)

ty for tagging me, @ashesandhackles and @lanaturnergetup​

Sands of Time - I wanted to scream from frustration when I got ‘sand’ and ‘chocolate frog card’ as prompts. I wanted to scream in excitement when I figured out how to work them into a fic. Also, my first foray into Jily

End of the Road - Founders Era is way out of my comfort zone and I really enjoyed exploring it. Also I accidentally made Rowena Ravenclaw my own favourite character lmao. 

Those Left Behind - I’m really happy with how captured some difficult emotions in this. I want to write more from immediately after the war but I find that period pretty intimidating because of the intensity of the circumstances/atmosphere. 

Let It Linger - I have said this previously on discord, but I used to be a total James Potter Anti and I’m low-key proud of myself for not being too rigid on my opinons and allowing myself to be swayed (thank you, @lanaturnergetup​). This was my first time writing James’ POV and I felt like I had a breakthrough with him.

Auld Lang Syne - I really enjoyed exploring the Marauder dynamics for the first time but I’m mainly including this because @hinnyfied​ said this was her favorite thing of mine and I live to please her. 

your top 4 current WIPs that you're excited to release in the new year

I wish I could give a list but I can’t because I don’t really have a plan for this year. 

I did Nanowrimo in November and wrote 70k of an original story - I’m excited to edit it in the New Year and figure out if I’m ever going to put it somewhere for people to read. 

I’m planning a fic about Cho and her life post-canon, I’m also planning a follow-up to A Bad Idea (a George/Angelina one-shot) and maybe something Parvati & Lavender focused with @lanaturnergetup​ which will be the MOST fun if we actually get time for it. 

your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year

Allowing myself to just write without worrying if it’s good and knowing I can edit later - something that really helped in nanowrimo. 

I think I’ve got better at Show Don’t Tell but also knowing when telling is actually necessary. I think I have previously been a little too scared of exposition. 

A weird side effect of depression (for me) is that it makes visualising scenes much more difficult - this has been frustrating but I think an unintended consequence of it has been that I have focussd a lot more on description/scene-building (for my own benefit more than anyone who might read my writing) and my descriptions have improved because of it. 

your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year,

I have really shied away from drama in favour of ‘realism’ previously, thanks to taking other people's advice way too much to heart. Sometimes drama is fun and exciting, which is what storytelling is about. I’m going to allow more drama into my writing this year and not worry about readers rolling their eyes at me. 

I’m going to pay more attention to characters I’ve previously written off. @ashesandhackles​ is my life idol and she has really nuanced takes on almost every character so I’m going to be more like her. 

and your number 1 favorite line you've written this year:  

‘However, rules, in James’ experience, were meant to be broken.

“It’s late. We should get back to the common room.”

Just not tonight.’

Okay, that’s three lines - the last line is my favourite but a tiny bit of context is needed. The way I evil grinned to myself when I wrote this. The way my evil grin spread when @lanaturnergetup​ beta’d it and left me this comment: 

Tagging: no one bc I'm super late to this party. If you haven't done this and you want to, consider yourself tagged.