#they are so underrated it’s completely DESPICABLE

[incorrect-riordanverse]

um sorry but true love is when the most hotblooded scariest hostile warrior in camp falls in love with some hispanic boy who’s been completely discarded by whoever his godly parent may have been, thereby fuelling a resentment leading to him betraying the camp of which the warrior is extremely loyal too, yet instead of going after him when finding him at his weakest (abandoned and literally insane from the pain he’s in) she fights FOR him and does everything in her power to rehabilitate him because, through and through, she loves him still

[ashsirens]

Now that Oshi No Ko is over and the fandom is slowly starting to die down, here are three of my controversial opinions:

Aqua's ending is no surprise.

I know many were disappointed with Aqua's ending, but honestly it didn't really surprise me. I've seen a lot of revenge plots in the media, so when Aqua said he wanted to avenge Ai in episode 1, I immediately understood how this story was going to end.

Also, there were some foreshadowings in the season 1 ending and in some manga panels that showed how Aqua would end up. Of course, that doesn't mean the ending is well written, I just mean that the ending wasn't completely unexpected.

However, it remains cliché with the sadness pushed to the extreme that it is difficult to feel bad for the characters.

Kana's stans ruined her character for me.

Long story short, I knew a bit about ONK's plot before watching the anime via TikTok edits. I knew there was a love triangle and that Kana was the most popular character, but when I looked at edits about the other girls, especially Akane and Ruby's edits, there wasn't a single comment that said "Kana is better".

Then I watched season 1 and honestly her character didn't really appeal to me. Even after finishing the entire series, I never understood what was so great about her, other than the fact that her abandonment issues and insecurities were relatable.

The more I looked at the fandom, the more I felt like this Kana hype was cult-like. In fact, Kana fans on Twitter and TikTok are the biggest condescending gaslighters I've ever seen.

Always saying: "I feel like I'm the only one who likes Kana", "Kana is underrated", "She doesn't deserve all this hate", "Kana haters don't understand the story"... WHILE ABSOLUTELY NOBODY HATES KANA! On the contrary, you say a single wrong word about the best girl in ONK and you get blasted by @kanasolourfav who will write you paving stones about why you are wrong, how much he understood the story unlike you and how much Aqua loves Kana (when that is not even the subject).

This kind of behavior made me end up liking all the girls in the series except Kana. Plus, I absolutely hated how the fandom excused or even admired her despicable behavior at times.

I understand that her bitchy attitude is part of her charm, it made me laugh sometimes, but there are still times when Kana was really a bitch with a capital B for nothing.

Like that scene where she makes fun of Akane in front of the entire theater troupe. As someone who has already experienced public humiliation in front of my class, I really found that moment disgusting on Kana's part.

What I also find ironic is that Kana fans have often called Akane a pick me for imitating Ai, yet the time Kana made fun of Akane in front of everyone and bragged to Aqua that her relationship with him is special while reducing Akane's worth, is much more pick me behavior than simply imitating someone to survive on a reality show.

Because yes, today we use the term pick me to designate a woman we don't like, but the real definition of a pick me is a woman who pulls other women down so that men understand that she's better.

(if that's not pick me behavior, then I don't know what is)

In short, aside from the fact that her attitude is sometimes borderline, objectively Kana's character is interesting and relatable, but this girl really deserved a better fanbase.

In Ruby’s defense.

I know that after the reveal between Aqua and Ruby that they are Goro and Sarina, there was a massive surge of hatred for Ruby's character as she started to see Aqua in a more romantic light.

But I think many have forgotten that in her first life, Ruby died at the age of 12. Which is very young, and it is reflected in her attitude throughout the series. For example Aqua read complex books while he was still in kindergarten because he was an adult in his old life, so he has the mentality of an adult. Same thing for Ruby, need I remind you that she literally rolled around on the floor stamping her feet so that Miyako would pressure the music producer to give them a song.

Because that's what Ruby is: a child.

Also, since she was seriously ill to the point of not being able to move, her former family literally abandoned her and she found herself isolated with no one. Isolation causes great mental damage, so imagine in someone young.

With Goro being the only person who cared about her at the time, hinting that she might have a chance with him when she's 16, and promising her that he'll be her #1 supporter when she's an idol, I understand why Ruby changed her attitude when she realized that Goro was still alive through Aqua.

Ruby, in both of her lives, never grew out of childhood. Childish immaturity combined with Ai's death must not have helped her be reasonable about her feelings towards Aqua.

There's also this: a lot of people underestimated the impact Ai's death had on Ruby. Now, it's understandable because the show didn't explore Ruby's trauma as much as Aqua's, but Ruby also hadn't moved on from Ai, hence her obsession with becoming an idol. Also, Ai was the only person who gave Ruby some joy when she was lying in her hospital bed, she gave her a purpose to accomplish in life, gave her love and affection by being her daughter, she helped her surpass herself (the scene where Ai and Ruby dance together). Ruby lost all of that.

Imagine: your family abandoned you because you were sick, you died at 12 without having been able to realize your dreams, you reincarnate in the child of the idol who gave you hope when you were at your lowest but who ends up dying before your eyes, you try to find the only person who gave you affection in your life but you learned he is dead, but in fact no he is not dead he was your twin brother from the beginning, who ends up sacrificing himself to save you from your psychopathic father who wanted to kill you.

So yes it's true, we can blame Ruby for a lot of things, but I don't think she deserves so much hate, because in the end she's the one who suffered the most in this story.

[noirgasmweetheart]

Hotel Berlin (1945)

This might be the most underrated War Era movie I've seen yet.

Both the theatrical trailer and the DVD cover advertise it as a corny exploitation movie. It's nothing of the sort. It's as sincerely written and acted as "Casablanca," with far more direct references to the Jewish people, and specific concentration camps.

I legitimately ordered the DVD just to see Peter Lorre as a disheveled angst-ridden scruff-muffin; I had no idea the character was going to be so compelling, or the rest of the movie equally so. Several other characters also exploded beyond the old clichés I was expecting. The movie appears to be building towards a predictable, cheesy love story, but...doesn't. Another character who at first appears one of the most despicable opportunists in the movie...isn't. And the movie's nuanced look at an indoctrinated population being carpet-bombed while their tyrannical, antisemetic leaders flee to save their own skins is uh...timely, to say the least.

I'm sure it helped that I watched this movie during a rainstorm at night, which is the way to watch it. The timeliness of a story about

Spoilers Below!

Faye Emerson deserved that top billing.

According to IMDB, Andrea King was originally to be billed as the film's female lead, with Faye Emerson billed as a supporting character. When Emerson married the son of President Roosevelt, she was given top billing over King, to capitalize on her new fame. I find that ironic, given that by the end of the movie, Faye's character Tilly has, against all odds, proven to be the film's true heroine.

Introduced as a materialistic Nazi informer, dating SS officers and betraying a hiding resistance fighter just to get herself some new shoes, Tilly's reality turns upside-down when she learns that the lover she thought she'd lost is still alive. After an emotional breakdown over what her despair let her become, she defends her boyfriend's mother against a Nazi officer, and delivers the most powerful speech in the movie. It is her character who finally mentions the Jews out loud, after an entire movie and an entire genre dancing around the subject.

I've recorded the scene from the DVD and uploaded it to YouTube:

"Go on shoot me, arrest me, have me killed, I don't care! Why should I. I loved Max Baruch and you sent him to a concentration camp! You hung a sign around my neck saying I loved a Jew! And you paraded me down the street. They'll hang something around your neck someday, and it won't be a sign!"

Corny Romance is Just a Red Herring

My stance that Emersen deserved that top billing in no way negates Andrea King's marvelous performance as the film's faux female lead. Though we are warned right from the start that her character, movie star Lisa Dorn, is a Nazi and a master manipulator, the film plays her as the straightforward love interest for much of the film: helping the hero partially out of the hope that he'll save her in return, seemingly building a genuine admiration for his heroism...then completely subverts expectations by revealing her to be exactly what she she was introduced as: a Nazi collaborator out to save her own skin.

I was genuinely afraid at the end that the hero would find himself unable to shoot her, and we'd see her tearfully declare her love for him, and end with him forgiving her. Not so. She argues pathetically, trying to excuse her betrayal and convince Richter that she loves him, and he doesn't fall for it. Richter sees Sam Spade's "I'll be waiting for you," and raises him two gunshots.

Peter Lorre like we've never seen him before

Okay, maybe we have seen Peter angsting around and wobbling drunkenly a few times before. But this was the first time I saw him directly address the issues that so closely affected him (and his costars of course) in real life.

Peter Lorre died before talk about the Holocaust really became mainstream. But the emotion behind the lines he delivers as the self-hating German professor speaks volumes. The gleeful smile he wears in his first scene, while saying that the bombing is only what the Germans deserve; his bitter sarcasm about the achievements of German science in the concentration camps, and wondering where all the "good Germans" are now; his breakdown when Richter tells him of a mutual friend's murder at Dachau. Much like his frantic escape attempt in "Casablanca," Peter likely didn't have to fish too hard to dig up the needed emotions for these scenes.

This is also the closest I've ever come to seeing Peter cry.

Other PL fans have lamented that his role was too small. I agree that I'd have loved to see a hell of a lot more of Koenig, but it's not like many of the other characters had much more screen time, which all the different storylines running at once. Aside from maybe Helmut Dantine and Andrea King, most of the important characters probably only have a handful of scenes tops.

Edit: That said, knowing he had scenes indicating how he joined the resistance that were cut is very frustrating.

But the fact that Peter's character not only lives to the end as one of the heroes, but gets to read President Roosevelt's uplifting speech to the German people, definitely counts for something.

That speech packed a powerful punch for me, at a time when I sometimes need reminding that indoctrinated civilians in war zones are still individuals, and can't be lumped with their dogmatic leaders. I don't doubt for a minute that President Biden took inspiration from Roosevelt for how to address the Palestinian people in regards to stopping Hamas.

The Fugitive

I suppose I should also mention the film's lead: Helmut Dantine as Martin Richter, the German anti-Nazi resistance fighter who escaped Dachau Concentration Camp. Helmut Dantine played Jan, the Bulgarian husband in "Casablanca." The controlled desperation with which he gambled at Rick's roulette wheel as Jan serves well for his fugitive resistance fighter in this movie. The fact that Dantine was actually imprisoned at Rosserlaende Concentration Camp for his anti-Nazi political activism at age 19 no doubt also helped him in the role.

My only complaint is the makeup and costuming department failing to help him look the part. While Paul Henreid got a scar and a white streak of hair for Victor Laszlo, Dantine is done up to look like a particularly slick, clean movie star, standing out in a cast of disheveled and weary looking people. One could interpret this as a symbolic way of singling him out as the hero, but I found it distracting. I am not throwing shade on Dantine's acting abilities or natural looks, just how the people in charge had him presented.

I'm unsure how to close this review.

It's getting late and I have some more clips to upload, and cake to eat. "Hotel Berlin" is up there with "Casablanca" on my personal list of unironically great old movies. Professor Koenig is on my list favorite Peter Lorre characters, and I have a handful of new favorite actors.

I'll just finish by saying that this guy in the barrette looks noticeably like Robert Picardo, if maybe a "stretched out" version thereof. Voyager's EMH hanging out with a holo-Peter Lorre in one of Tom Paris's noir programs is something I never knew I needed.

[cannibalismyuri]

People aren’t obligated to reblog your fanfics if they don’t enjoy the writing. You don’t get as much attention because you’re not as known. You haven’t been publishing as long as the “big authors” you pretend to love but then bash them immediately afterwards. It sucks, but you can’t buy people’s affection. You pretend to be more humble than everyone else but then get pissed so easily because you don’t have bragging rights.

i never said everyone has to enjoy my writing. also the Thing is; these big authors have been publishing for longer yeah !! and their writing is absolutely marvelous and i genuinely adore them. but. they also are popular bc they're seen as Better than other creators and put on a pedestal. which is both uncomfortable for them and Highly discouraging for others. and this is due to a cliquey mindset. it Is. as much as u like to pretend it isn't, it rlly rlly is. people can be just friends. there is nothing wrong with supporting ur friends' work more or being more invested in ur friends' work. the problem lies in the fact that many people just disregard other rlly talented creators in favor of the already popular ones (who are popular for a reason. their art / fics / wtv Are really good and i read their stuff too! not trying to put them down here, just trying to lift other people up) which makes for a fandom that is going to die out. and dont u fucking dare bring my fics and my engagement and me into this. maybe i was petty abt that before and i acknowledge that. but i haven't made a single post abt how my fics are getting less engagement in Months. the post i did make and the one ur probably so butthurt abt wasn't even initially abt cliques. it was just saying that we need to rb more and be more vocal of our support of creators in the tags or - wherever. NOT underrated / underappreciated / smaller / less popular creators. i was Very general abt it. creators. period. the talk of cliques came into play when i peer reviewed someone's tags on that post. bc they were extremely real and the problem of less vocal support affects "popular" creators too! ive been noticing that they're also getting less engagement. but mostly the people affected by it are creators in the fandom with no prior popularity. and it is an actual issue. also when the actual fuck have i ever bought someone's affection?? im too broke for that, my dude, i struggle to pay rent most months. and i've Not acted humble or holier than thou. the reason i have so many moots and friends is bc im a genuinely nice person who wants to support and uplift EVERYONE in this fandom. i do have personal beef with people, but im civil to Everyone. thats the reason i have friends. unlike you, i dont send anon hate bc im butthurt over one (1) post <3 hope that fucking helps <3 also the post wasnt even abt ME. bc i genuinely dont give a fuck abt people seeing and liking my writing anymore bc i have Grown Past That and just... adopted a give no fucks mindset. the post was abt the fandom slacking and not appreciating creators (PERIOD.) enough. it was never abt me. also bragging rights? babe nobody's bragging abt how they get more interaction. that's rude asf and entirely out of the question. and those popular writers ur talking abt who Could brag if they wanted to DON'T. bc they aren't despicable human beings who love to put others down. i'm Friends, or at the very least, friendly moots w the writers ur talking abt. and im not trying to put them down. im trying to lift other people up, which is smth u just Don't understand apparently. i even contributed in a whole ass event to shine light on talented, less popular writers in the fandom. bylerficrecweek? u might ive heard of it. it helped, or i like to Think it did, with helping people branch out, but the problem wasn't completely solved. people who are equally as talented as the already popular creators have talked abt their experience with engagement in the exact same post that ur so pissed abt. im going to put tags from various people under the cut so that u can see exactly how much people are affected by the prominent clique problem in the byler fandom. hope u have a good day and u wanna kiss me so bad it makes u look stupid 😚

THIS is the post im talking abt in question, the og post along with denise @bylertruther 's tags. i'm going to be putting screenshots of people's tags on this post with due credit. (to any of the people featured here : if u want me to remove ur tags feel free to say so!)

via @holyvirgilscriptures

via @runninguplenorahills

via @unwisewizard

via @apatheticlexicographer

via @fireflywitch

via @hawkwidows

via @sandinmybed

via @katimanki2

ANDDDDD thats it! hope u fucking realized that i was speaking generally and also Many people face this problem. kiss my ass 💋

[demento-mori]

11, 13, and 16 for the ask game!

11. favorite and/or most interesting relationship (doesn't have to be romantic)

The evolution of Utena and Anthys relationship is one of my favourite parts of the show. There are so many little moments that make me want to explode. The only thing that gets a rise out of Utena in ep12 being Wakaba insulting Anthy, and Anthy in that same episode realising that she misses Utena. The moment in the black rose arc when Utena realises Anthy stayed up waiting for her. Anthy feeling guilt and responsibility for Utena's situation throughout the apocalypse arc, and trying to warn her even as Akio drives a wedge between them. The culmination of this in the cantarella scene, and anthy's attempted suicide. "Oh stubborn and reckless hero. You let me have a small taste of true friendship." THE COFFIN SCENE!! And "Wait for me, Utena." AAAAAAAAAA they make me insane!!!!!

Also, including this as an extra because it basically solely exists within my mind, but kozunami. Theyre everything to me.

13. character you think is underappreciated by the fandom

Ive gone on and on about this many times before but Kozue! Shes such a fascinating character, especially considering how little screentime she gets. Im glad shes been getting more love lately, me and my circle of kozue appreciators know whats up, but I still think shes very underrated within the wider fandom.

I also have to give a shoutout to Kanae. We dont talk about Kanae nearly enough.

16. character you relate to the most

I think I relate a lot to Nanami because her autistic swagger is off the charts. Fr tho, I feel like she really embodies the experience of being a teenage girl, and feeling like youre a complete freak for things that every other girl is experiencing, and trying so desperately to fit in to the sudden strict gender roles that have been forced upon you. The whiplash of being a child, and then suddenly being seen as a woman, and having to live up to that fucks. you. up. This is experience is only exacerbated by being autistic. I also heavily relate to her attachment issues, stemming from a place of neglect and loneliness. Having one person and being so so terrified of losing them because theyre all you have.

I also see a lot of my teenage self in Shiori. The ubiquity of being 15 and thinking youre the most evil, despicable person in the world and that everyone hates you is so real. Being a Shiori enjoyer really is the ultimate exercise in forgiving and loving your teenage self.

[stillness138]

As a companion post, i also redid my least favourite Gwent card art into a top 20, though i daresay a lot of the technical complaints are universal. I'll try not to be too mean.

Also under the cut.

My (but i am objectively correct) top 20 least favourite Gwent card arts:

They can't all be precious...

There's a certain amount of "why is she naked" or "why is she dead" or "why is she dead and naked" kinda art, but then Karol Bem rolled up and somehow made the card pool so much worse. At least Whoreson Jr. is technically impressive.

20: Ciaran aep Easnillen by Bryan Sola ...however i'm still allowed to not like it when my blorbos suffer on their card arts. Bryan is a great artist and i'm sure he didn't mean malice, unfortunately this is Ciaran's most memorable (read: literally only) scene. This is mostly personal bias.

19: Milva by Bartłomiej Gaweł To be nice! I like the tiled floor, that's a nice level of detail. I like her practical outfit in the spirit of the old minigame art, too. Heck, even the tragic irony of the scene wouldn't be so bad - she clearly shot before getting shot... If only this wasn't Milva's only card art for years and if she wasn't a well-explored book character with plenty of scenes to choose from. It could've been way worse too i guess.

18: Chapter of Wizards by Maciej Łaszkiewicz Listen. Maciej is a cool artist with a very distinct, also quite "classical painting" style. I like a lot of his pieces from the last card sets. But. Whose idea was to solve the question of representing a historically changing organization with a statue of its founders? Furthermore, who thought people are gonna be blown away by the in-game avatar this inevitably spawned? :D It's just funny more than anything. I guess I can appreciate the Lord of the Rings reference.

17: Mammuna, also by Maciej Łaszkiewicz This one is unfortunately not that funny. I'm not sure i can explain it; it's a Monsters card, offputting things are the name of the game. This is one of the artworks that definitely, or probably, fall under completely personal reactions, or at least i never heard loud complaints about it the same way say Coup de Grâce is widely considered one of the best Nilfgaard card arts. Maybe i don't like how the character design seems a bit random, maybe i'm tired of the tired witch=hooked nose trope, maybe it's the color scheme and weirdly unpleasant looking textures. I guess it's just very much not for me.

16: Selfeater by Alicja Użarowska Similar case as previously. I don't even mind a lot of gross art - the infamous Parasite (the parallels now that bg3 is out lol) isn't on this list - and the Monsters faction is there to go crazy with this type of stuff. And yet, i can't stand this little abomination, and neither can most of the Gwent playerbase. It's not even the toe-in-mouth that really makes it bad, at least for me it's the texture and stretching of its skin. It simultaneously looks like it's melting and about to tear apart. Just an overall no thanks.

15: Miner by Christof Grobelski Christof is my new, excuse the zoomer language, pogchamp, because i think he is severely underrated given the crazy impressive lengths he went into with card art like Vivaldi Bank and even Phooca, and Miner isn't really bad. Unfortunately, fear of depths.

14: Doppler by Bartłomiej Gaweł Bartłomiej loves himself some dirt and mud and wet beast wednesday, and i can appreciate that. But this one isn't it. The palette, the scene. This, beside Dudu's card art, is the only way dopplers are represented in the game, and that's a shame. Leave the poor soul alone :(.

13: Brehen by Oleksandr Kozachenko I'm sorry to say, this is the weakest Way of the Witcher art. I appreciate it's the one scene everyone knows Brehen for, but why must he look like the village lowlife parents tell you not to talk to? I mean, not that Brehen could be trusted with kids. He's despicable, but that doesn't need to be communicated by making him look unappealing. On the other hand, wouldn't his personality have more impact if he was comparatively good looking? Or maybe i'm a shallow bitch who'd rather some eye candy... To give some credit to the character design though, the fact the lady is wearing the opposite of revealing clothes is a welcome refreshment. And i quite like the shading on her clothes too.

12: War Chariot by Grafit Studio There are a couple of more fairytale-like, bright and whimsical card arts, and there are arts with smoother, almost glossy textures, neither is really my issue with this. What rubs me the wrong way is the scene itself. It comes off as showing the elves as something grotesque, the butt of a joke, and, sure, this is a Northern Realms card, but it still feels... unserious in the wrong way. Admittedly i am biased.

11: Toad Prince by Marek Madej It's again a matter of personal taste in the Monsters faction, because in essence, everything i don't like about it can really be justified by having the red faction sticker. But he still looks like a formless mass of vaguely green snot to me. And his comparably thin little arms look like he's wearing long sleeves that also got covered in green snot. Which, admittedly, was the case for the whole sewer in Hearts of Stone, so who am i to complain. It's far from the worst, maybe it shouldn't be this high on the list, at least this piece mostly fades into obscurity and Marek is an actually skilled artist. I'm saying this because Bem's time draws near.

10: Vilgefortz by Nemanja Stankovic Full personal bias. Technically very much fine between the different textures, little drama in the lighting and fire particles borrowed from Bryan Sola. Look at the crazed look in Vilgefortz's face, lore accurate. Then look at the gloves of the guy he's melting into paste. And then suffer with me.

9: King Radovid V by Nemanja Stankovic and Radovid: Judgment by Valeriy Vegera Ok, this is a special case. I'm lumping them together because my issue with them is the same; their metatext. CDPR has a very obvious boner for Radko and despite writing him to be a complete cringefail idiot, they keep pretending like he's the coolest mf this side of Yaruga. If they actually allowed him to be the 17yo grooming victim he is with some nuance and without the thinly veiled nationalism projected onto the worst possible candidate with no self-reflection, i'd hate his ass (at leas the Gwent one) a lot less. Also the second art is the stupidest decision in the last card drop. Calanthe died for this. Literally.

8: Saov Ainmhi'dh by Ivan Vilmant Price of Power's infamous outsourcing of card art led to this unfortunate letdown. The artist tried! You can tell. But, in a spark of bitter irony, the spectral deer ended up looking as plastic as the Hobbit movies it references.

7: Temple of Melitele by Karol Bem This should be higher and would be if i didn't have to go through some more "please don't do this, good artist". But trust, this is one of Karol's worst crimes against good card art. From afar it looks alright! Cute piece with maybe even a bit of an old postcard vibe. Then you look closer and it falls apart completely. From the top; some roofs have texture, some don't. Some windows and arches don't line up or have ever so slightly off perspective. In places that are unexplainably sharper or blurrier than others, it's apparent Karol used extra assets. And on the very left, the foliage just sort of blends in until it disappears, because Karol doesn't understand depth. As a cherry on top, check out the little wooden bridge making no sense. The more and closer one looks, the more of a mess it is. Karol, you bloody hack.

6: Savvy Huckster by Siarhei Hlushakou This one, surprisingly enough, is more bearable upon closer inspection, but something about it used to absolutely grate my nerves when i still played or watched the game somewhat regularly. I don't know if it's the odd use of its color palette, the kind of obsolete idea of a card to begin with or the weird rocks on the tray unpleasantly standing out, or all of the above, but i can't stand looking at it for too long. But again. At least the artist actually painted something. Right, Karol?

5: Kerack Cutthroat by Valeriy Vegera Technically alright, if only too dark and washed up. Then again, the scene itself is tired too. The "why is she naked and dying?" And actually, taking the premium into account, why must she be getting stabbed over and over infinitely? Y'all didn't think this one through, did you. I'm sorry Valeriy, i still love your art, but this one really wasn't it on pretty much any front. But, even for this one, like every other legitimate artist on this list, you get the honorary "not a hack" badge.

4: Saint Gregory and Rosa and Edna var Attre by Karol Bem These two don't necessarily have all the same issues, but i guess there isn't enough slots in the universe to describe Karol's astonishingly low levels of competence. St. Gregory suffers from Karol's lack of depth understanding, but moreso it's a good example of that thing he does where he applies atrocious amounts of noise or grain onto everything. Enlarge and look at the area of and around the center left guy in the forefront. I'm also really not a fan of the magic fire glow this thing has. Rosa and Edna deserved so much better. To get the carelessness out of the way, check out Rosa's thumb in the foreground. What. Both their faces are inhumanly smooth, someone said they might be 3D models painted over and i wouldn't be surprised. Even in such a detail as the texture of the wooden sword you can kind of tell Karol relies on outsourced assets and thelike a lot; he doesn't have that much of a personal style (other than the awful grain) so when a unique texture shows up, it's probably safe to assume he pasted it in. To top it all off, the lighting of this piece is atrocious.

3: Yaga by Bogdan Rezunenko and Lesser Witch by Karol Bem Fatphobia. Just don't. That's to Bogdan. You, Karol, quit trying to fit in with the cooler kids, and by that i mean you should've long since quit making Gwent art by the time this unfortunately saw the light of day. I did promise i'll try not to be too mean, but there really isn't much to say about these two. Bogdan is a capable artist who should maybe check his biases or maybe just think about whether the way too estabilished visual shorthands for evil are faulty (they are). Karol Bem wouldn't know believable illusion of perspective and good texturing if they smacked him across the face.

2: Artaud Terranova by Katarzyna Bekus Molegion actually tried to explain this one to me. And, sure, having terrible characters with terrible traits represented by doing terrible things is fine on paper. For once we got a book scene, too (god why are most of the book scenes in Gwent all the painful stuff), that's cool. Making the canon pedo fat, i think less so. It's otherwise technically a good artwork with merits, i like Ciri's hair, the textures in the columns and the color palette. The pose, as much as i hate it, makes anatomical sense (this will become relevant in a short bit). But i can't get over how in the premium Ciri has to wriggle around waiting for Geralt who just won't show up. In the end, did Terranova have to exist in Gwent at all? Since this was in the Thanedd drop, why not a Nilfgaard Isengrim card? That would've been cool. He actually has a few usable book scenes.

"Honorable" mention: Little Bird by Karol Bem Karol's worst tendencies: the card. A pile of assets, none of which are fitted, or in the case of the stuff hanging from the ceiling, even cropped well. Misunderstanding of depth, the hanging herbs are blurry but the guys under them are sharp, the items in the foreground are blurry again but way too much. Strands of the girl's hair straight up cut off in the middle and then resume again. And, of course, a noise effect to try to cover it all up. I swear to god Karol.

1: Vereena by, of course, Karol Bem I hate to hate it. Because it could've been another book-adjacent scene and the color scheme is actually a rare moment of brightness for Karol, because usually, Vereena is put in colder tones. But unfortunately, he bungled this one in a whole new kind of spectacular fashion. The leg. The leg is very obviously, undeniably, comically, anatomically...incorrect. The rest of her isn't very good either, the front hand looks awkward, her neck and shoulders aren't properly built. The foot is too small. Even the hair is made in a way that makes it look like a weirdly solid mass. The drapery doesn't make sense in the waist area. On a vibe or depicted scene level, there are probably pieces i loathe more than this one, but as an artist and a person with legs, the painfully obvious anatomy issue of this one earns it the title of worst Gwent art in my book. Karol Bem is a hack, which is why this happened at all. I'm willing to believe he's not a malicious person either, but he should probably stop seeking work in a field he clearly has to fake his way through. Perhaps he'd make a better graphic designer?

To add something more positive at the end of this list as a whole, Gwent has a card pool of, i believe, a little over a thousand and a couple hundred, and the strong majority of it are incredibly stunning works of art. The overall quality is of its own kind, and it's much easier to choose 20 amazing and impactful pieces than find 20 that are bad enough to be ripped apart online. The existence of premiums is cool, but the static art on its own is some of the best modern fantasy art to be found. That's really heckin cool for an obscure game set in a relatively obscure universe.

[trashendence]

i feel like the little hints they gave us about charlie’s mum liking eddie in the first half of 4x13 are one of the most significant messages about eddie and romantic relationships the show threw at us and yet, it remains extremely underrated.

she is despicable, a dark soul, the worst of the worst, but eddie’s warm light attracts her so much she starts making eyes at him as soon as he shows up, even if she’s still stuck on her balcony, scared and in pain. she likes him because, deep down, she wants to relate to him as much as he seems to relate to her, so naturally and easily. and it’s the undercurrent ‘suspicion’ of it all of course, the “nothing is like it seems” that leads very well into the last minutes of the episode, but it’s also more profound than that.

it’s about not being defined by what you attract - be it shitty people, natural disasters, unexpected losses -, nor by the cards you’ve been dealt. It’s about eddie being a great dad and still pulling into his orbit the exact opposite, which makes him feel used and stupid but also tells us one more time about his heart and what it desires. he instantly values charlie’s mum because she fiercely protects her kid and his comfort, despite needing medical assistance and, possibly, a break. which, you know, is something that has happened before in the show with eddie’s own kid being in need of protection, of someone who just wouldn’t give up. no matter how hard, no matter that they needed time, even just a minute, no matter literally anything.

charlie’s mum is also arguably the initial Wrench cracking eddieana up. eddie gets immediately defensive of a woman he barely knows when ana starts “snooping around”. ana isn’t like them, she wouldn’t understand. and let’s not forget the episode is called ‘suspicion’ and that’s exactly what starts forming inside eddie’s head when carla comes back and tells him to make sure he’s “following his heart” - honestly people, peak. cinema -. eddie is suspicious. of ana.

(kind of essential to the whole parallelism that is going on here is that buck too has experience of forming connections with women who are attracted to him and end up being someone completely different from whom he convinced himself they were. abby is not the stable figure buck needed and leaves him. ali does too. taylor reveals herself to be less kind-hearted than he first assumed and it is constantly implied that she doesn’t like buck enough to change herself in any way - which, as a general rule, is legitimate and something i personally support but the problem here is that buck is completely unaware of it. he’s in a relationship with a total stranger.)

and it’s precisely when eddie tries to put an end to the one situation he wasn’t able to see coming that he almost dies - protecting a kid just like his own (a kid who finally gave back what he received and is still the victim), planning on following him to the hospital. and exactly in a hospital, the arc comes to an end with the will revelation. suspicion never tainted that, it came a long time before any of this happened, but his heart still desires the same things and recognizes them way before eddie does.

so, thank you charlie’s Horrible Mum for this specific service, you can be forgotten now.

[paceypeternathanslawyer]

My thesis on why Josh Jackson is the greatest actor of all time...

Josh puts so much into ever facet of his acting. The words he says, the way he says it. But an underrated aspect of his acting is his ability to multitask. Maybe this is true of every actor and i’ve only ever noticed it with Josh but I don’t think so. I think this is unique to Josh. Josh will be playing Chef Pacey in Dawson’s Creek and he’ll be cooking while giving a stunning emotional performance or a charming performance depending on the situation. And I feel like some people would zone out of the cooking part and just focus on the emotion and the words they have to get out. Josh on the other hand looks like he’s preparing a whole ass meal while also giving equal focus on the emotion. (Edit: BTW I recently listened to and episode of Office Ladies where Jenna Fischer mentioned how hard it is to multitask while acting. So my theory stands. Josh is a fucking amazing actor)

This is also true of everything, whether he’s building a boat or undocking a boat etc. Josh is so good at working with props and I actually think he’s an actor who prefers to have a prop. Maybe it’s his fidgetiness... he always wants to be doing something with his hands. 

On top of that the way that he utilizes props is so seamless and a part of the character’s emotions. Not just like he’s holding something for the sake of holding something. As an illustration of what I mean, here is a gif of Pacey in the finale of Dawson’s Creek S3

He’s in the process of undocking his boat and he has, I believe, a piece of rope in his hand. Joey is starting to tell him that she wants to be with him and he is not completely listening to her because he believes she may just be coming to say goodbye... so he’s trying to work at a mile a minute to help himself not focus on that fact and then you can see in that gif that he is starting to get what she’s saying, so he slows down and then stop what he’s doing and just slowly tosses the rope to the side. It’s so subtle but something about it just feels sooo real and unique... and I don’t know I can’t fully put into words it just doesn’t feel like i’m  watching an actor it feels like i’m watching a home movie or something and this is just an average (yet extraordinarily hot lol) man.

Back to the cooking part, I think an aspect of why he was so good at that is that Josh is apparently pretty good at cooking for real life. Josh said in an interview how when the Jackson clan gets together he’s the cook of the family! 💖💖

Josh can do anything. He can cook, he can act, he can play the guitar, he can play the piano, he apparently played just about every sport in high school/middle school including Hockey, Baseball, and Football. He’s a good horseback rider. He can also pickup just about any skill. He learned ASL for his role on Broadway in “Children Of A Lesser God” and for the movie “The Skulls” he learned competitive rowing or “Crew” as Google tells me it’s called. 

Josh has a ton of range. Here’s a man who can make you cry one second, laugh the next. He can play likeable characters yet you can also give him someone like Christopher Duntsch from Dr Death and he can show you how despicable he can act. Dr Death is just a masterclass on acting. He played that character over the course of 20 years in 8 episodes. So here’s a 43 year old playing a 20 year old and the way he does it....un fucking believable. The way he carries himself looks like a young person, the way he talks. It is beyond words!!!

I could go on and on about every aspect of his acting but I guess i’ll end this 20,000 word thesis here and continue it another day lol. Some day I may make a post about what an incredible fake driver he is especially in Fringe and The Affair 😁😁

[fanficwritinggremlin]

Top three characters that you love from Narcos!

And the top three that you hate from Narcos.

Hello Love! Nice question!❤️

My 3 Faves:

1. Colonel Martinez. This is kinda obvious if you check my account. Reasons? Hot papa, protective father, great soldier... I hope these are enough.

2. Hugo Martinez Jr. I mean... How could anyone hate that cute cinnamon roll that means no harm? People are allowed to dislike... No! You are not allowed to dislike little Hugo! That's a sin!

3. Trujillo. The definition of both hot and adorable at the same time. He could be one of the best people for someone to befriend. He is also dangerous, so watch it.

Generally, I love underrated characters

Let's go for the despicable ones:

1. Captain Calderon. That bitch! That! Bitch! How to get started? He literally messed with my man Hugo, and the other DEA guys who just wanted to do their job and Calderon wasn't letting them.

2. General Vargas. I would gladly punch him in the face! I don't remember much of him but I know that he is a bitch too, like Calderon.

3. Escobar's mom. You may wonder why but... She was completely delusional! Of course, what she went through was Pablo's fault, but still. She didn't really see her son's crimes as a great deal and always undermined Tata.

[evildisneydorks]

ooh, can I plz have a number 003 wit ratigan?

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you

How I feel about this character:

Great villain, sadly underrated.

He just has that flair, that cruelty, and that absolute showmanship I enjoy seeing in a villain.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Basil, Cinderella (thanks to a friend), Lady Tremaine and Scar.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Bill Sykes. Bill is from New York, he would be okay having a big ass rat around his office.

They would totally scheme together, and become the most unusual yet terrifying criminal duo.

My unpopular opinion about this character:

Can't think of one at this very moment.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

I would have loved to see a little post-credit scene in which Ratigan uses his cape as a parachute and manages to land safely on ground, but still humilliated after his defeat and plotting revenge against Basil once more.

A hint for a sequel? An animated series? I don't know, but at least the rat is still running around.

my het ship:

Ratigan/Lady Tremaine.

Hear me out: Ratigan trying to woo Tremaine and sweep her off her feet. She acts like it's not such a big deal, but in the bottom she's flattered beacuse none of her ex husbands had ever tried so hard with her.

I would just love to see these two fancy bitches being completely despicable together.

my fem/slash ship:

Basil/Ratigan: It can go in so many directions and I love them all. Enemies to Lovers, Lovers to enemies, lovers to enemies to lovers again.

my OTP:

Rn is Ratigan/Tremaine.

my OT3:

A friend gave me the idea of this:

Cinderella/Basil/Ratigan (They can turn into humans)

The mouse and the rat competing to get the lady's attention but Cinderella is overwhelmed by all of this beacuse no one had cared so much about her before. And Ratigan and Basil also have feelings for eachother.

So it ends up in poly, as all love triangles should.

my cross over ship:

The one mentioned above

his kink:

Primal, BDSM, sado-masoquism.

a head cannon fact:

He uses a corset.

The same friend told me that headcanon and it has refused to leave my brain ever since,

[terrainofheartfelt]

"It's you, it couldn't be awful"

A Playlist For Dair Appreciation Week, Day 7 - Fave Quotes & Lyrics

I haven’t the faintest idea how to make gifs (seriously I think all of you are witches) so I made this playlist, because there is nothing I love more than scrolling through my spotify library and just projecting all over it.

Track listings and links with opinions & lyrics under the cut, because this thing is long, because I have no restraint.

(Note: I intentionally left off all tswift bc if I didn’t, we’d be here all day)

Section 1: The Bops

Little of Your Love - HAIM

A bop that embodies the energy of the 4b arc, and an energy of “Oh for crying out loud, Humphrey”

You’re just another recovering heart / I wasn’t even gonna try / you wouldn’t even give the time

Stop runnin’ your mouth like that / ‘cause you know I’m gonna give it right back

Hate That You Know Me - Bleachers

It’s “You owe me ten / You owe me twenty!” & “I was hoping it would go away / I was humiliated” & basically all of While You Weren’t Sleeping, tbh

Some days I, I wish that I wasn't myself / No luck! / And I hate that you know me so well

I Like Me Better - Lauv

Heavily featured in all y’all’s gifsets—and rightfully so!!! It’s also like the perfect counter to the previous song.

To not know who I am but still know that I'm good long as you're here with me

Sweet Talk - Saint Motel

It’s about Blair roasting Dan for filth and him being completely charmed by it.

when you laugh / I forget that it's about me / But it's alright / Yeah, cause being your punchline / Still is something

No Reason to Run - Cold War Kids

In the perfect version of the show that lives in my head, this is the end credits song that plays as the two of them frolic in Rome.

I have evolved like a fish growing legs / Woke like a lightbulb clicked in my brain

You Make Lovin' Fun - Fleetwood Mac

The song for the couple that fucked in an elevator. Bless the work.

Sweet wonderful you / You make me happy with the things you do

No Matter What You Do - covered by Jakob Dylan and Regina Spektor

The energy is “I have a lot of affection for you but you are so annoying.” And this is the obligatory post-breakup s6 song.

No matter what in the world you do / Hey, I'll always be in love with you

Don't Take the Money - Bleachers

I see so much love for tswift on this website (valid) but I feel like the world as a whole sleeps on her collaborator Jack Antonoff bc he is brilliant and his act Bleachers has some of my favorite songs ever. Like this one. Antonoff has said before that the title phrase is more metaphorical than literal, like an idiom that means don’t take the easy way and give this up, because it’s genuine. Real “I want to have a sleepover with you” vibes.

Somebody broke me once / Love was a currency / A shimmering balance act / I think that I laughed at that

In the Morning - Nina Simone

It’s about the domesticity! And the “Our relationship is our world”! And the “we’re young and still have so much life to live so everything’s gonna be okay.” did i title a smut fic with lyrics from this song maybeso.gif

Please be patient with your life / It's only morning and you're still to live your day

This Must Be the Place - Talking Heads

This is a canon dair song bc @mysteriesofloves titled a fic after this song, them’s the rules. But for real, this is such a good one. The lyrics are intentionally scattered, a little bewildered, like “how did we get here? how did this happen? who found whom?” and finally “who cares? we found a home in each other.”

The less we say about it, the better / We'll make it up as we go along

Cleopatra in Brooklyn - Frank Turner

Chosen for the title obviously, but the lyrics capture the royal/5b arc pretty well, I think. The narrator carries this tongue-and-cheek comparison of the woman he’s singing to to Cleopatra through the whole song, comparing himself to Marc Antony, and ending with this really earnest kind of declaration. I’m obsessed with this songwriter he’s a genius please give him a listen.

These people are adjectives to your proper noun

I'll come find you when your fortunes fail you / I'll die with you when the gods desert you

Morphing into Section 2: Pure Vibes

Walking on a Dream - covered by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness

The original is by Empire of the Sun (and omigod I just realized the coincidence), but I first heard it covered by McMahon, and he’s one of my favorite musicians of ever so I just love his rendition. And this song is sort of like...about finally deciding that the reality of love with someone is so much better than the idea of it.

Thought I’d never see / The love you found in me / Now it’s changing all the time

Wake Me - Bleachers

Jack coming for my life yet again. This song is so romantic but also so melancholy? Which is such a Daniel Humphrey Vibe.

And I'd rather be sad with you / Than anywhere away from you

All I Want - Joni Mitchell

I’m a white girl with a mother who grew up in the 60s, so I love Joni. And this song is so bubbly and joyful, but it’s also about a relationship between two imperfect people and wanting it to work anyway. Big “Despicable B” vibes!

All I really want our love to do / Is to bring out the best in me / And in you, too.

Dust to Dust - The Civil Wars

A friend in undergrad got me into the Civil Wars by showing me their live videos, and they have such incredible musical chemistry - like, the synchronicity of their ensemble is so good that it even comes through on their studio recordings and it makes these simple lyrics hit SO HARD.

You're just lonely / You've been lonely too long

NFWMB - Hozier

Ok, this had to be like the first ask I ever sent @bisexualdanhumphrey bc they wrote this fantastic meta post about Hozier and Derena but I said: “consider: NFWMB is a Dair song.” And they said, “You right.” I stand by it, and that’s why this song is on this list.

If I was born as a blackthorn tree / I'd wanna be felled by you / Held by you / Fuel the pyre of your enemies

Friday I'm in Love - covered by Phoebe Bridgers

This song - especially this cover - gives such Secret Friendship Arc vibes a la the end of 4x16...the inherent romance of eating pizza and falling asleep on the couch together

Always take a big bite / It’s such a gorgeous sight / To see you eat in the middle of the night

A Case of You - Joni Mitchell

Queen Joni again. Like! I am a lonely painter / I live in a box of paints. & The “You’re the star of Dan’s book” of it all in these lyrics!

I remember that time you told me / You said “Love is touching souls” / Surely you touched mine / ‘cause part of you pours out of me / In these lines from time to time.

Longing to Belong - Eddie Vedder

This is my thinly veiled attempt to tell more people about this: a song written and performed by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder on ukulele, that is actually the softest love song in the history of western music.

All my time is spent here / Longing to belong to you

Bones - Josh Record

Okay, so, that Moment on the Couch at the end of 5x02? That’s this song.

And darling, when your feet are cold / Wait up, I'm coming home / And all of you I will hold / My love will clothe your bones

Cinnamon Girl - Lana Del Rey

The song for when you reach the end of plausible deniability - One all consuming paralyzing thought & You need to go back to Brooklyn - and it scares the heck out of you.

There's things I wanna say to you, but I'll just let you live / Like if you hold me without hurting me / You'll be the first who ever did

You and Me - You + Me

You can be flawed enough but perfect for a person

Section 3: Songs for Dancing in the Kitchen with Your Lover at 1 am

Cigarettes and Coffee - Otis Redding

The “Dan and I have a real connection song.” It’s about the romance of commonplace things when they’re with the right person.

But it seemed so natural, darling / That you and I are here

I'd Be Waiting - Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats

It’s “I just want to spend the day with you” but in like, slow-dance, sexy harmonies format.

If you ever get lonely if you never did

Never My Love - covered by Jakob Dylan and Norah Jones

The “Words of Affirmation” love song they deserve, and an underrated love song from Laurel Canyon, imho

What makes you think love will end? / When you know that my whole life depends / On you

Dancing in the Dark - covered by Morgan James

Okay so these lyrics are such Dan lyrics to me, it’s charmingly self-aware and self-deprecating. And this cover by Morgan James turns this staple rock song into something ~sexy~

I'm dying for some action / I'm sick of sittin' round here trying to write this book / I need a love reaction / Come on, gimme just one look

Oh Me Oh My (I'm a Fool for You) - Aretha Franklin

They’re literally always making each other laugh! It’s about feeling safe enough to be uninhibited and unselfconscious in your joy.

To make you laugh / I would be a fool for you

I Fall in Love Too Easily - as done by Chet Baker

No one, but no one sounds as sweet or as smooth as Chet. I know it, you know it, Hozier knows it. And this song and it’s titular thesis is so Them, it’s such a central part of their respective characters, and one of the things that makes them compatible.

My heart should be well schooled / 'Cause I've been fooled in the past

For Me Formidable - Charles Aznavour

Due entirely to this fic (Part II of a god tier s4 au) This is the end credits song for their full feature length Nora Ephron romcom.

NSFW Honorable Mention: Dinner & Diatribes - Hozier

it’s the definitive “men get pegged” representation, iykyk

[monkey-network]

The Simple Beauty of Megamind

Bombastic. Energetic. Dangerous. Bald.

Megamind these couple years has continuously got enough smoke blown up the bum to where there’s not a lot I can say about it that Schaffrillas and others on youtube haven’t already addressed. It is that subversive take on the classic hero and villain story, a cunning take on nature vs nurture that the DCEU could only dream of making years after this film until Shazam finally arrived. Then again, I say there’s one element of this film that stuck with me more than its subversive elements and I believe explains why it’s popularity only struck big later than sooner. But first let’s talk Kick-Ass.

This underrated film came around the same time as Megamind, and is a more volatile, pretty meta, gruesome parody on the superhero. It’s Deadpool long before he became a thing. To quote a wise nerd, the brilliance of Kick-Ass, both the film and the comic it’s based on, is having the main protagonist be an average comic lover who the audience would almost exactly work in his timbs if they themselves wanted to be a hero. What makes the film also great is that it works like an animated comic book, colors, costumes, direction, the works. It’s a visual love letter that for all the high climaxes Marvel and DC films would make later, has a grounded sense of what it wants to be. Even with the absurdity that goes on in it, even when it’s considered a spoof, it’s a hero film through and through. One with heart, energy, and of course,

That really is what Megamind always was, regardless of what tropes it flipped on its head. It was never so much a parody of superhero films but one that reveled in its identity. A film that enjoyed the flashy costumes, the clever gadgets, the soundtrack that tells us exactly what it’s doing, and the campy nature of it all. Megamind’s not without its serious moments but they’re well-crafted contrasts to the otherwise loud and proud outlook of its characters.

We have an entire scene where Megamind puts on his badass and glossy “Black Mamba” costume and while it’s played up dramatics, it’s very poignant in how much Megamind played the game seriously. The film never feels ashamed of what it does and who it is, being up there with Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy where the passion of showmanship is front and center. Whether or not you claim it as parody, it was a vibrant superhero film, blue and all. Unfortunately, that was why it wasn’t impactful at the time. It wasn’t just because it didn’t travel well as a parody claimed Dreamworks’ Jeffrey Katzenberg but, and call this my theory, it was among a changing era in hero films. 

I brought up Kick-Ass because that and Megamind existed at a time where the campiness of superhero films slowly shifted to the desire of realism. Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy was well over, The Dark Knight hooked a billion’s worth of an audience, and the MCU was just getting its footing but Iron Man nonetheless sent the message that live action heroes can be real and can be good. Superhero campiness wasn’t completely gone, but it’s clear in the early 2010s that Hollywood wanted to go a different direction with heroes. Despicable Me, even when it existed around the same time as Megamind, was not so much a hero/villain film but a family comedy in spite of the similarities, that’s why it got as big as it did. 

Only to fuck up after the 1st film, but we’re not discussing that 

Again, Megamind's a hero film through & through, but released when I guess we wanted heroes to feel more serious. It didn’t help that most of the homespun idiotic hivemind that are the critics at the time couldn’t see the forest for the trees and lambasted it as a “been there, done that” film. As good as everyone now says about the film, the odds were stacked against Megamind from the start.

but who’s to say time worsens relevance

This equates to the real gem of Megamind. It’s not that we’ve come to see what it actually said after some time, what tropes it challenges, but understand why it works on its own. I feel the best comic book films, the best hero films, embrace what they are even when its goofy looking. Megamind is one of the few superhero films that truly loves being a superhero film. That’s why its popularity boosted as later as it did. After having our fill of both the MCU and DCEU, for better or worse, it was just nice to look back on a film that yeah, didn’t shy away from using common bells and whistles, but did it with such gusto that it’s really hard to say it was all just a spoof.

Looking back, I can wish that things were different. If released in, say, 2019 we could’ve gotten that sequel as its popularity would’ve surely been recognized. Probably wouldn’t have stood before Spider-verse I suppose, but give and take. Same time, I don’t mind that it released when it did cuz after everything, it earned its last laugh.

It made being bad feel so good

[mmikmmik2]

I think some of my previous posts may have put too much of the blame for violence against denizens on Simon, or overemphasized how important it was to make that distinction, but overall I do think he was more of a driving force there than Grace.

I have two arguments for why this doesn't make Grace too heroic. First, even if one of them were completely responsible for coming up with all of the bad parts of the Apex, the other one was still like "yeah that sounds awesome!!!" and happily went along with it, with no criticism and lots of encouragement. Grace has some culpability for everything bad Simon brought to the Apex; Simon has some culpability for everything bad Grace brought to the Apex. However much either of them contributed to the Apex's beliefs and practices that are violent towards denizens, both of them shared those beliefs and acted on those practices. They're both murderers.

Second, Grace clearly seems to me to be the driving force behind her and Simon's efforts to manipulate and brainwash the kids in the Apex and trick them into staying on the train forever, instead of just explaining about the True Conductor and how high numbers are good (i.e. the things Grace really did believe were true, based on an honest mistake) and the truth about exit doors and letting the kids make informed decisions about what to do next. Personally I think the harm she did there is underrated by fandom. Look at her in Mall Car. There is no way Jesse is better off on the dangerous Saw train than safe at home with his family he loves and misses. Grace didn't care. She tried to prey on a scared kid's emotional weaknesses and vulnerability to make him stay on the crappy train forever and betray his real friend who genuinely loves him and wants to help him, just so she could add one more kid to her crowd of toadies. She didn't think that's what she was doing, but that's what that was. It's despicable.

As for why I think Simon is more responsible for the violence against denizens... (1) his military thing (2) his emotional investment in violence against denizens - how he looks directly at them (and sometimes verbally mocks and dehumanizes them) as he's doing them harm, while Grace treats hurting them during raids more like another small component of the Look At Me, I'm So Great Show Starring Grace Monroe (3) Grace taking point on the occasions they do play along with denizens and her greater patience with train puzzles (4) this dialogue

Simon: I know you told me to loosen up, but we do have Apex procedures for something like this. Grace: Okay. Whaddaya got? Simon: When encountering a null that cannot be overwhelmed with force, nor avoided in its entirety, the null in question must be incapacitated. Grace: Hmmm. Now who could have written that one? Simon: (laughs) You know I don't like to take credit for things.

I mean, Grace is probably referring to the very formal phrasing, and I'm sure the rules are a formalization of the things they were already doing rather than the direct source of their SOP's, but it seems significant to me that the show took a moment to have them explicitly say that Simon wrote rules about how the Apex are supposed to deal with denizens.

We know that Grace at least contributed to the idea of wheeling denizens, the writing in Mall Car associates her with the idea, and it ties in well with what I said above about possibly her worst contribution the Apex being their recruiting practices, because wheeling denizens is associated with the attempts to recruit Jesse and Hazel and probably other recruitment that didn't occur onscreen.

Dream Hazel's dialogue at the start of New Apex seems really strange to me if Grace was more prominent than Simon in coming up with the wheeling idea, though.

Hazel: You killed Tuba! You killed Tuba! Grace: No, it was Simon! Hazel: He didn't come up with the idea to wheel denizens on his own! It's your fault she's gone!

Everything else Hazel says in this scene is so direct and so accusatory. She flat out says "You tried to control me!", she flat out says "You killed Tuba!", she flat out says "It's your fault she's gone!" I don't get why she would be vague and indirect about how Grace contributed to the wheeling idea if it were genuinely more on Grace than Simon. I mean, I guess maybe it's supposed to be bitterly sardonic? But nothing else in this scene is written like that. Everything else is 100% straight up Dream Hazel or Dream Grace hurling very direct accusations at Grace and assigning her the greatest possible culpability. I dunno, jeez, maybe Grace herself doesn't remember at this point. It's not like she knew how much it would affect her life when the idea first came up.

Ultimately all of this is really subjective and based on individual interpretation of very scant and ambiguous evidence. I would say there's probably some wrong answers haha (not your argument, you're making a reasonable case here), but not really any right answers.

[aftgficrec]

Yay I finally caught it!! Y’all are amazing and thank you for helping me find so many great fics <3 <3 but ANYWAY my ask: Can you give me some underrated heavy angst fics? Or any that don’t seem that great on the surface but are actually really good?? Thank you!!

It’s always difficult to say whether a fic is underrated, since so much of that depends on personal preferences.  So instead we’ve opted to showcase some fics (with various pairings) which would surely appreciate a few more comments and kudos.  Not all of these have happy endings though, so beware! - S

More heavy angst...

Heavy angst with a happy ending here

Heavy angst with a happy ending 2 here (please see top of post for an extensive list of previous recommendations)

Aaron with ptsd here

Inevitably, like a car crash, by unleaved [Rated M, 17936 words, complete, reposted 2020]

—you can't look away. This is a cautionary tale; you don't fuck with death, even if death fucked you over first.

tw: major character death, tw: car accident, tw: blood

lover lose me: the unbecoming of kayleigh day by ExyCherry, Fornavn [Rated M, 10247 words, complete, AFTG Reverse Big Bang 2020]

Kayleigh Day, an eager exchange student from Ireland, falls deeply and irrevocably in love with David Wymack. This is their story.

tw: major character death, tw: implied/referenced domestic violence, tw: heavy angst, tw: car accident

NB: Art prompt for this fic by @fornavn

the deal's done by lackingsoy [Rated T, 4091 words, complete, 2020]

"Does it hurt," Allison's voice was bleak.

"What do you think," Kevin replied, somehow managing to sound steady despite his closed throat.

Allison looked at him, eyes remarkably cool for someone who went toe to toe with Seth and other despicable players. "I think," she said, lips popping on the last word: "You, Kevin Day, are heartbroken."

Five fingers, one promise, and the end of a lifeline. Post-hotel scene, the long hours after but before Neil gets picked back up by the Foxes, wherein Kevin stares into the face of his wounds, Allison extends an olive branch, and Renee decides, in the privacy of her own mind, to stop playing mediator.

tw: implied/referenced violence, tw: alcohol abuse, tw: panic attacks, tw: implied/referenced abuse

The Broken Heart Syndrome by DeyaAmaya [Not Rated, 2263 words, complete, Aftg Winter Exchange 2018]

The snowfall. The rain right after. The black ice covering the roads and Andrew driving the Maserati back from Christmas shopping. The Maserati crashed against a goddamn tree. Andrew in the driving seat, looking like he's sleeping, not a spot of blood on him anywhere.

(Internal hemorrhage, Aaron had said, eyes hollow.)

tw: major character death, tw: illness

Pickaxe by s0ymilk [Rated E, 25493 words, incomplete, last updated May 2018]

Andrew did not spring into the world fully formed.

Most memories of his childhood make him wish he that he had.

tw: rape/noncon, tw: suicidal thoughts, tw: implied/referenced suicide, tw: self harm, tw: child abuse, tw: violence, tw: drug use

I Don't Feel Anything (Anymore) by cyberlowlife [Rated T, 527 words, complete, 2017]

A heavy scene from AFTG in Andrew's point of view.

The Heart and the Knife by orphan_account [Rated E, 50712 words, complete, 2017]

"Someone’s knocking on the door. He climbs into the tub and closes the shower curtain. He hunches over himself, covering his head with his arms. He remembers doing this when he was little, back when he still tried to hide from his mother. .... He’s shaking, shaking so bad. He remembers the way it felt to withdraw from all of the shit he’d been on, when Andrew had locked him in the bathroom at the house in Columbia. It feels sort of like that, but worse.

He’s biting his knuckles again. He’s distantly aware that there are tears on his face. The important part is that he isn’t making a sound. He isn’t even breathing loudly. He’d be able to hear it in the bathroom. Everything echos. But no, he’s not. He bites harder, but it’s not helping, and he’s not sure how to stop himself from gasping any longer.

He tries to touch his face and that’s when he realizes the tips of his fingers are numb. But it’s not just his fingers. It’s his hands. No, it’s all of him. Everything is numb, and he’s not shaking as bad anymore. ..."

tw: suicide attempt, tw: self harm, tw: homophobia, tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: violence, tw: drug use, tw: nightmares, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: major character death (alternate ending)

[marnie1964]

Karate Kid/Cobra Kai survey

i'm gonna consider myself tagged

It’s the year 2021 and you’re obsessed with The Karate Kid. How are you feeling?: an unexpected turn of events but it's passing the quarantine, i guess!

Did you grow up with TKK or are you new to the series?:  to be completely honest, i don't really like the movies? i didn't vibe with them as a kid and when i went back and tried to watch them this year i couldn't make it all the way through.* i think they're well crafted movies, but i've never liked relatable young boy wish fulfillment (i couldn't even get thru harry potter as a kid), and i think the first one is guilty of burying the lede twice over with regards to mr. miyagi and later the relationship between kreese and johnny. and lucky me--these are exactly the areas that cobra kai delivers on.

*except for the third one, which imo is a camp masterpiece and also genuinely heartbreaking. it's the only one that allows daniel to be an genuine pain in the ass. i think i've finally figured out what the target audience for cobra kai is: people who's favorite karate kid movie was tkk3 (me).

We gotta do the basics. Favorite character: johnny! what is a man but a miserable pile of bruce springsteen lyrics? or aimee mann lyrics? or mountain goats lyrics? or otis redding lyrics? or--fuck, have americans ever written songs about anyone else? i have an unreal amount of good will towards this man and his late-life struggle for recuperation. he's the heart of the show both in terms of his relationships with other characters and in terms of zabka's chemistry with the other actors.

my deep dark double secret fave is kreese. he makes me feel real anger in a way that's usually reserved for characters in vince gilligan shows. i'm a bit obsessed with him and his preoccupation with johnny and later johnny's teenaged son (I Have Thoughts). the show does a great job of making what he did to johnny--and all the years and years and years of fallout from that--feel really real, which makes him one of the most viscerally despicable villains i've ever come across . it's unironically among the best portrayals of domestic abuse i've seen, may god have mercy on our souls. the decision to pop out from behind a fucking cardboard cutout of himself to scare daniel in tkk3 was also a hilarious galaxy brain move. aspirational stuff.

also--shout out to daniel-san. the writers really had to work their asses off to make him into a character that appeals to me, and i think they did a great job of it. he's a cringey tool who's capable of displaying a surprising amount of integrity under the right circumstances! he's tom wambsgans! he's pete campbell! he's wonderful i love him!

Favorite ship:  johnny & daniel (what if mysterious skin was a sports comedy??)

Underrated character: the True and Correct answer to this question can only be aisha, although i don't think she was actually underrated by anyone besides the writers. chozen is also lowkey my favorite katate child because c'mon, he had everything (spear fights! ziplines! teen death matches! formfitting disco-era polyester button down shirts worn with gold chains!)

Underrated ship (don’t say therapy, lol):  uhhhh... the only teen couple that could have been interesting is tory/aisha. they were cute together and their friendship rang true to me. it's that thing where you're the new girl and you're conventionally attractive, but on the inside you know you're a freak so you immediately gravitate towards the most obvious female outsider. i lived it, bay-bey!

i also think there are interesting things to explore with carmen and johnny's relationship. i don't know if the writers are even aware of it (i lean towards no b/c men amirite) but the entire premise of carmen's character is that she chose to live in poverty to protect herself and her son from a bad man with power. she's thereby the exact opposite of johnny's mother, who (at least by his understanding) married hollywood film producer shmarvey shmeinstein to provide her son with a better life. so, there's a lot to unpack in his attraction to her. also they're super hot hur hur i like sexy nurse thing hur hur.

Wax On, Wax Off or Sweep the Leg?: i can't look directly at it, but sweep the leg. zabka what the fuck man.

Which of Daniel’s dumb little outfits is your favorite?:  i don't think i've seen anyone mention this one yet, but the football jersey with the sweatpants. it makes him look so small and huggable, i wanna pick him up and set him on my shelf or something.

Character from the films you most want to return, who’s not Terry Silver: bring back ali's lesbian girl gang!!! or else--dutch. he was funny and iconic, i loved his exaggerated offended reaction to everything daniel said or did in tkk. also, i'm tacky so i'm a sucker for aggressively bleach blonde hair. the SCANDALIZED wasp couple standing behind ali and johnny in the spaghetti scene will also do. or terry's secretary (an mvp--i believe the original actress has passed away so in my heart of hearts she's portrayed by j. smith-cameron).

Scene that lives in your head rent-free: the whole character development speed run that johnny does from sweep the leg to crying while handing daniel the trophy to getting strangled in the parking lot by his beloved teacher. i'm especially transfixed by that last bit--what's the thought process of a man who decides to publicly execute his teenage student via strangulation? why did none of the many bystanders call the police? johnny is the real kitty genovese, prison for everyone.

from the cobra kai series proper: daniel's decision to greet johnny with a big hug after not seeing him for 35 years and never actually being friends with him (I Have Thoughts), the heinously creepy scene where johnny is repeating the cobra kai mantra for miguel and his entire disposition completely changes (demonic possession shit), and johnny's tiny go-ahead-and-kill-my-abuser nod (his face is so stoney after being so animated at dinner) coupled with daniel's shaky little sign of relief (macchio is really the cutest when he looks scared).

it goes without saying that every johnny & miguel scene lives rent free in my HEART.

Will Anthony LaRusso ever be relevant?: anthony becomes relevant for one (1) episode next season when amanda and daniel finally get around to putting him up for adoption.

You live in The Valley and are forced into the karate gang war.  Which dojo do you join?:  i enter the cobra kai dojo decked out in all of my snake-themed clothing and jewelry (it's a lot). i approach kreese and explain to him that the open mouth of a snake, viewed head-on, is a yonic symbol. i am permanently banned from the cobra kai dojo.

(seriously though, assuming i'm a teen in this scenario i think i would have vibed with tory/miguel/aisha. dimitri and sam would have driven high school me up the fucking wall though. the cobra kai style looks like more fun/better exercise. do i also genuinely believe most young girls could actually benefit from someone yelling no mercy down their neck? maybe so 💖)

What’s your training montage song?:  50ft queenie - pj harvey (it takes place in the alison bechdel feminist karate dojo ofc)

It’s the crossover event of the century! Which TV show are you combining with Cobra Kai for an hour-long Saturday night special?: it's a full episode flashback to the time johnny got arrested in albuquerque, new mexico. johnny's court-appointed attorney is a weirdly hot babe who seems like a super straight laced killjoy at first, but soon reveals herself to be an unhinged woman. one thing leads to another, and johnny winds up in bed with her and her loser husband. there are lots of great themes about punitive justice, people's ability to change for the better (and worse), and what makes someone "good" or "bad" to begin with, but mostly it's just really hot sex. the husband tries to sell johnny a prepaid cellphone and johnny tell's him that cellphones are never gonna catch on, cause who want's to be bothered by people all the time like that?

better call saul. it's a better call saul crossover ep.

(fwiw think that greg 'hbo succession' hirsch should also be terry's cousin greg on the non-roy side. think about it--the roys are small people, but cousin greg is really tall?? and who else is really tall, and a blue eyed brunette to boot? terry silver. it all adds up! this never becomes relevant to the plot, in any case, i'm just considering it canon until the writers come to my house and explicitly tell me i'm wrong.)

Tagging: anyone who's interested 😘

[theonethatwatchesalotofshows]

Ranking every Teen Drama I have ever watched

(Updated)

The Secret Life of the American Teenager

+ young Shailene Woodley and Molly Ringwald I guess

- everything else. Even Shailene Woodley's and Molly Ringwald's performances weren't that great because the writing is just oh so bad. The background music is bland and repetative and it sounds like out of some teenager's YouTube chanel. The plotlines are ridiculous and convoluted, which isn't neccessarily such a bad thing, because it is a teen drama show after all, the problem is the show seems to take itself too seriously. Other entries on this list also have ridiculously convoluted plotlines, but I'm ranking them highed because they don't take themselves too seriously and don't claim to be realistic like this show does. Seriously, from the title it suggests like this was going to be a real, uncensored look into high school but it's the furthest thing from it. Not to mention how problematic it is- God forbid someone suggests that a 14-year-old pregnant girl gets an abortion or gives the baby up for adoption without being seen as a terrible and despicable person.

Otp: Marc Molina x a job somewhere far, far away from these kids

Notps: every single pairing on this show

Best moment: literally none

Weirdest moment: "I'm such a whore!" "Well, you're my whore." What were the writers thinking??? Was this supposed to be romantic??

We Children From Zoo Station

+the aesthetic, the casting of Christiane, Detlef and Axel

-this was such a letdown. Honestly I was so hyped for it after seeing the trailer since I've read the book and didn't particularly like the movie- I feel like it's hard to fit all of Christiane's story into 90 minutes. That's why I was so excited about this show. Christiane's story covers so much, so it's easier to make it into a TV show when you don't want to ommit anything and butcher the story. But they somehow managed to do it anyway. They changed so much for no reason and completely erased Christiane's childhood trauma, which was important in the book. Now, I know you can say that it's just a loose adaptation, so it doesn't have to follow the book word for word. But I feel like if you already decided to tell her- a real person's story- you should at least do it authentically. Imo they shouldn't have tried to make the setting vague. It worked with Sex Education because the story of Sex Education is timeless. However, Christiane's story is not timeless. It's a true story set in the 1970s. If they were making a new show from scratch, I would have liked it. But this is an already existing story and they’re supposed to be just retelling it. My last issue is a nit pick but I wish the actresses playing Stella and Babsi were reversed. It just would've fit better.

Otps: all those kids x sobriety

Notp: Christiane x Detlef

Best moment: Christiane's first time in Sound was pretty true to the book

Weirdest moment: when Detlef became a gigolo because he needed money for his dog. Who tf thought of that?

Pretty Little Liars

+ makeup, style, the theme song, the drama and mystery that always kept me guessing, the cliffhangers at the end of each episode that made it so addictive, Emily's coming out story, Hanna and Spencer had some good lines

- the mishandling of some serious issues (namely eating disorders), romantization of student-teacher relationship, the timeline not making much sense, these writers seem to put more thought into the characters' outfits than the storylines

Otps: Emily x Maya, Hanna x Caleb

Notp: Ezria

Best moment: Hanna and Caleb in the shower (the sexual tension was cuttable with a knife)

Weirdest moments: Aria asking Ezra out in the middle of a make-up test (it was supposed to be cute but it was just cringy), Spencer trying to block A's text messages on a laptop, in the middle of a park (what? Spencer, you were supposed to be the smart one!)

One Tree Hill

+ Brooke, the theme song, Chad Michael Murray

- the casual drinking and driving (I mean seriously these kids play a drinking game at a party and then casually hop into a car and drive home??), too much basketball and cheerleading (that's not a bad thing per se but I just don't really care about neither of these things), it just seems too stereotypical and kinda bland?? I couldn't really get into it

Otp: Naley

Notp: Peyton x Nathan

Best moment: Naley by the dock

Weirdest moment: "I guess I'm just a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside a bitch." It's not really a bad moment but a cringy line. I guess the writers though they were being clever but it just sounded bad.

Dawson's Creek

+ the clothes, the 90s aesthetic, the 90s soundtrack, many movie references, Pacey is a sweetheart, Jen is a feminist icon, dealing with mental health issues through Andie (it's rare to see in shows as old as this)

- the slutshaming of Jen really hasn't aged well, the storyline of Pacey being statury raped by his much older teacher was mishandled (it was either treated as scandalous, cool or in Andie’s case somehow shameful), same goes for Jen’s backstory- it was mentioned she was raped at 12 by an older man and then never brought up again, Dawson is the most unlikable protagonist ever and his friendship/relationship with Joey is codependent and possessive, the dialogue is sometimes pretentious and unrealistic, the timeline doesn't really add up- I can never tell what time of the year it's supposed to be, because it looks like it's always fall for some reason. And how did they sophomore year have two homecomings?

Otps: Pacey x Andie, Pacey x Joey (yes, both at the same time)

Notp: Dawson x Joey

Best moments: Jen helping Joey when that jerk was spreading rumours about her and then Jen and Joey locking Abby in the closet together (I love it when they stick together instead of tearing each other down), Pacey and Joey bickering

Weirdest moments: when Joey was upset because Dawson didn’t want to tell her how often he “walks his dog”, when Jen was about to have a treesome at a party and Dawson walked into the room and carried her out despite her kicking and screaming

Glee

+ funny, Sue Sylvester's iconic, great covers and a way to find new songs, the performances are aesthetically pleasing, lgbtq+ representation, tackling of serious issues, coming out story, a father who’s accepting of his son’s sexuality right away despite not really understanding it (it’s so rare to see, that’s why it’s so refreshing), the plotlines are ridiculous but at least the show doesn't take itself too seriously

-as I already said the 1st season was great but after that it just seemed like the writers made up a checklist of hard issues they should tackle and tried to tackle every single one of them while covering every single song and it just fell flat. Prime example- Quinn ending up in a wheelchair getting into a car crash to warn us from drinking and driving, singing I’m Still Standing and then suddenly being able to walk normally after. a few episodes Rachel and Finn got almost all songs, while other characters were criminally underrated and underused (Tina, Quinn, Mercedes). The teachers are questionable to put it mildly. Cringy moments- Finn singing You're Having My Baby to Quinn in front of her parents when it wasn't even his baby! Also no one except of Kurt looks like they could be in high school. And why are these cheerleaders wearing their uniforms 24/7??

Otps: Brittana, Sam x Quinn, Tina x Artie (unpopular opinion, I know), Mr Schue x unemployment

Notp: Quinn x Finn

Best moments: Quinn giving birth to Bohemian Rhapsody

Weirdest moment: Rachel's gross and painfully awkward crush on Mr Schue, Mr Schue joining the Glee club on the stage for a performance of Toxic and girls in the audience cat calling him (Ewww)

Euphoria

+ Zendaya's and Jacob Elordi's performances, tackling of serious issues such as drug addiction and overdose, anxiety and depression, abusive relationships and abortion in a better manner than most (if not all) teen dramas, the aesthetics, makeup and wardrobe, the musical number in the finale, the special episodes giving us insight into the characters' psychology, toxic relationships not being romanticized (which is sadly rare), teenagers sounding like actual real life teens (no "I reject reality" crap)

- lack of comic relief (why so serious all the time), sexualization of teen characters (I know this is something many teen dramas are guilty of but it's the most evident here), too much nudity (I know some of you are going to come at me with: "But it's realistic!" So what? It is realitic that teenagers get naked when they go into shower but does it mean we have to see it?? It seems to me like this show is trying too hard to be "boundary pushing" at times and ends up being scandalous just for the sake of being scandalous), these characters just aren't believable as high school juniors to me (they sound like high schoolers but they certainly don’t act, look or dress that way). There's no reason this show couldn't have been set in college.

Otps: Rue x sobriety, Nate x prison

Notps: Nate x Maddy, Cassie x McKay

Best moments: "You did this to me!" and the musical number in the season 1 finale

Weirdest moment: the fact that Maddy lost her virginity at 14 to a 40-year-old man being mentioned so casually because apparently she was "totally in control". Excuse me what??

Skins

+ style and makeup- each character has a signature trademark (Sid and his beanie, Effy's eyeliner, Cassie's soft eyeshadow), their British accents, I'm pretty sure this is the only teen drama that follows multiple classes, teenage characters being played by actual teen actors, the characters looking like average people you meet in high school and not as if they just walked off the runway, dealing with serious issues such as drug abuse, eating disorder, parental abandonment etc (yes, some people claim the show romanticized it, but I disagree. It's not the show that romanticized it- it's the fans. The show tried to portray the dangers of drugs as well as possible. Think about it- every time characters used drugs it ended in a disaster. In the pilot they thought that Cassie overdosed and ended up crashing a car while rushing into the hospital. In later season Effy hit her friend in the head with a rock because she was having a bad trip. That's not romanticizing drugs.), Effy is iconic and honestly the first episode was enough to get me hooked

- every single teacher being a creep and having a thing for a student at some point, the show can get too dark and unncessarily dramatic at times. Did that many people have to die? Did Chris's death really have to be this graphic? Timeline doesn't really add up- are 8 episodes supposed to cover the whole year? It would've made more sense if there were more episodes in a season.

Otps: Chris x Jal, Emily x Naomi

Notps: Sid x Michelle

Best moment: ooh baby it's a wild world

Weirdest moment: Chris's graphic death

The OC

+ more grounded in reality than many others on this list, the theme song, the love stories, Seth and Summer are funny, the friendships are believable and the whole group has great chemistry

- too many unneccessary fights, Luke is the worst, everyone is way too casual about drunk driving, these parents are WAAAY too chill (I know this can be said about many teen dramas but it's the most obvious here. How did the Roberts and the Coopers let two 16-year-old girls go to Mexico alone?? With no supervision?? What?)

Otps: Seth x Summer, Ryan x Marissa

Notp: Luke x Marissa

Best moments: the “oh no, there’s only one bed” in the Mexico episode, Seth and Summer's first kiss and that kiss at the yacht, Ryan and Marissa's first date by the pool

Weirdest moment: these parents letting their teenage kids go to Mexico alone. It's irresponsible when they're 16 but apparently they let them go there and party every year. What?

Gossip Girl

+ every episode having a clever title, the style, the makeup, the 00s soundtrack, the glamour of it all (it feels like reading a very gossipy magazine!), all the scandals, this show never pretends to portray the realitic teenage experience so it can pretty much be as far-fetched as it wants to and you can’t question it, it gives you a chance to live the fantasy of being super rich, living with a penthouse, riding a limo to school and going to parties in New York City every night

- the final reveal doesn't make any sense, just like with PLL these writers seemed to have put more thought into the outfits and makeup than into the plotlines, romantization of a toxic relationship, having every two straight characters date or hook up at some point, which just felt forced, mishandling of serious issues (Blair's eating disorder, Eric's suicide attempt and Serena and Jenny's sexual assault from the pilot being brought up when it's convenient but not really dealt with and brushed off at other times), sexualization of teen characters

Otps: Dan x Blair, Serena x Nate

Notps: Chuck x Blair

Best moments: the Thanksgiving flashbacks, Blair and Serena running around New York and taking selfies in stolen dresses, Nate and Serena’s first time (although it was better in the books) and then their kiss at the white party, the sheer scandal of "I killed someone", Dan giving Blair a plastic tiara to make her feel like a princess

Weirdest moments: Chuck's father returning from the death and then dying again, by yeeting himself off the roof

Freaks and Geeks

+ probably the most realistic teen drama there is, the characters dress the way I can see actual teens dressing, funny, but also heatbreaking at times, probably the only teen show that included an intersex character, the characters being a little stereotypical but self-aware at least, young James Franco and Jason Segel

- the bullying being a bit too much at times and it's a bit unrealistic that the teachers would do literally nothing about it, too short- I will never understand why this got cancelled

Otps: Daniel x Kim, Lindsay x Nick, Amy x Ken

Notps: Sam x Cindy

Best moments: Sam breaking down at the end of Garage Door, Daniel and Kim getting back together in the rain

Weirdest moment: Cindy doing a 180 and becoming super mean when she started dating Sam.

Gilmore Girls

+ so many movie, literary and music references, the quotable lines (what a great way to learn about new movies, books and bands! It’s so unique for a TV show to make you smarter), the witty banter, the comfort of the first few seasons (it really feels like wrapping a warm blanket around yourself while holding a hot cup of coffee, I can’t explain why, but it’s such a comfort show), the quirky small town with many unique festivals, many entertaining and snappy fights where everyone has a point, characters dealing with real world problems (seriously, how often do you see a storyline about termites? Or a teenager with zit cream on a teen drama show?), this is also one of the few shows where teenagers are shown to have rules and restrictions and curfews (finally some kids growing up with strict parents representation) and doing homework and studying and not just partying and drinking and having sex all the time and that’s so refreshing

- but while it is refreshing to see teenagers waiting to have sex and not doing it behind every corner, the show is kind of sex negative. Every single time a (female) character loses her virginity it ends in a disaster. Even when she loses it after she’s married! It doesn’t make any sense, unless the writers just really hated women. Also slutshaming (”I got the good kid!”) ewww. The money and budget doesn’t make much sense on the show either and the girls seem immune to calories. I know some people might come at me for this with: “But it’s just a show!” but I think it’s harmful to show beautiful, thin women eat nothing but tons of junkfood all the time and never excersize and then fatshame people who do excersize but aren’t fortunate enough to be blessed with amazing Gilmore genes, and then throw around tactless references to eating disorders.

Otps: Lane x Dave, Jess x Rory

Notps: Lane x Zach, Rory x Dean, Lorelai x Christopher

Best moments: Then She Appeared, Rory’s valedictorian speech, Lorelai’s graduation

Weirdest moment: Lorelai and Christopher getting married in Paris at 4am. That’s not how it works in Europe. Do Americans think every single Europian country works like Las Vegas, where you can just get married whenever you decide??