#they don't have to be so one dimensional jfc

[comicalarchitect]

Samantha Reads Comics: Digressions on David #9

Bruce what the hell is wrong with you

SPEED PRIEST is the breakout character of the century

god she's so right

Bruce is kind of horrifyingly clever at wife-stalking

I don't have a comment here, this panel is just very good

I swear to god with this fucking guy

Not to glorify the Catholic Church too much, but when they're telling off the military-industrial complex, I do like to see some sisters with attitude

god what a great little moment

Bob McLeod was really one of the best inkers in the game, huh. This panel is just so rich with texture and dimensionality.

Love to see David sneaking his own adaptational fancasts into the issue

Broken record and all, but jfc Bruce is awful

lmao

hell yeah, fuck him up Rick

[thenugking]

Really bugs me when people (primarily Belos stans) are willing to redeem Belos but NOT Odalia, and even make her an antagonist for him to stand up to. Even though it’s pretty clear that while Odalia obviously made her own decisions, his coven system also contributed to her toxicity, as did Odalia’s obsession with joining the emperor’s coven (that she projects onto Amity) and how she is blatantly nervous around Hunter because he represents Belos’ authority. Odalia did way less than Belos, as horrible as she was… But sure, Woobified AU Belos! Go show that woman whose toxicity you contributed towards with your own system since her childhood who’s boss!

Oh my godddddddd. I mean I totally understand disliking Odalia. Like, yeah, she abuses her family, tries to murder a kid, and is cool with genocide. But: *GESTURES AT BELOS*

I don't tend to read Belos redemption stuff so have never had the misfortune of encountering this myself but??? making Odalia into the bad guy for Belos to redeem himself with?? jfc. Not entirely surprising though, this fandom sure does have a Misogyny problem with the way it treats its villains.

Tbh, one of the main reason I started writing Family Jewels was that I was bored of seeing Aladarius content where Odalia single-handedly destroys their relationship and Alador is forced into marrying her. It's like.... oh so fandom is still doing "lets turn the woman who's in the way of our manslash ship into the Literal Devil and then have her Suffer Horribly Forever while the boys kiss uwu," just a bit more subtly. I'm not saying don't have Odalia be a villain here--she sure was abusing Alador and their kids! But like, she can also be a person with her own feelings and ambitions and problems, not just a one-dimensional caricature sitting on top of a pile of money and cackling maniacally. And Alador and Darius are a lot more interesting when they can make their own bad decisions and ruin their relationship themselves, instead of just being Sad Boys tragically torn apart!

(I know I had Odalia contribute to the breakdown of their relationship in my own fics, but it was very important to me writing Take Me Back To The Start that Alador makes the choice to stay with her and put his ambitions ahead of the relationship Darius wanted. It’s just boring to put all the problems onto The Woman, regardless of her overall morality!)

The fandom does this with Terra Snapdragon and Adrian Graye too. They’re both terrible people who hurt the main cast and are the main pro-Belos coven heads, and both very fun as villains… but Terra is one of the fandom’s most hated characters, while Adrian is The Funny Hot Guy. (Nevermind that Terra is funnier and hotter than Adrian could ever be.)

Anyway. Villains are great, but Belos has been given Too Many Rights. Give some to shitty evil women instead.

[slaughtergutz]

Yeah, I really didn't like the way the Fishman Island arc was handled either. The royals do nothing and it's framed as if everyone should just stop being mad at humans even when they have legitimate reasons.

Like hody was a bad villain, but alot of it comes down to oda writing him like a completely one dimensional evil dude. And sometimes doing so clashes really badly with other stuff we're shown.

I get so mad when hody says that humans did nothing to him to earn his hate and its presented as true--that his hate is empty and unreasonable. Even though we see that in flashbacks as a small kid he grew up under constant threat of being kidnapped or killed by humans and adults in his district were killing themselves to take out slave markets. But somehow that's nothing and empty? What because he wasn't personally a slave or killed by a human?

I mean it would be interesting if it was shown that he only says that because he doesn't want to look weak, like humans could traumatized him or hurt people he cared about because they're supior but it's not framed that way. It's just like yeah, he's just being crazy and hateful for 0 reason.

And the prince is like, yeah, we should have worked on ourselves. We were wrong for being mad that humans attacked and enslaved us. Hates not the way--we should just stop being upset. Even though we see no evidence that humans have changed since we still need our home protected by a human pirate so we don't all get killed and shipped off as slaves like before.

Like I'm happy we got more arlong, but dang the message in the arc was handled badly.

yeah the arc in general was rushed af. I think it's probably one of the shortest we've gotten since like, the east blue.

I do kinda like Hody as someone whose never personally been victimized by humans (most probably avoided the Fishman District by the time Arlong was an adult, he was taking care of a lot of em during that time I imagine), bc there really are people who just like to cause havoc in the name of an ideal but not having any real meaning and just wanting violence for violence sakes. In that way I think Hody is fine, but jfc, yeah to everything else.

Also the other two brothers are so fucking annoying. Ah yes let's make sure Shirahoshi is never allowed to feel sad ever, so she can grow up to be an adult unable to process her emotions properly. What could possibly go wrong?

[snellyfish]

(duck) THOUGHTS!! THOUGHTS ON EPISODE 10-11!! NOW!! I AM SHAKING YOU VIOLENTLY PLEASE TELL ME

OHOGHGOH MY GOSH OK OK OK you know how funny it was for like 2 days straight after we FINALLY caught up i just kept saying "i have to go write out my thoughts on drdt and feed my anons (mostly with you in mind)" every few hours with nothing but "i thought you already did that??" in response, cue me being like "no but like for real this time"

I also give my best wishes to the creator of DRDT, you've given us such a fun story with fun characters and I hope you the best on recovering, resting, and focusing on yourself. If we never get another episode that is a-ok, I'll be very sad but only because I truly appreciate the art and writing for a wonderful story that you've given to us all for FREE. Thank you for that<3 For clarity and reference, this whole ramble is written with the intention/presumption that we will get more chapters, though I'm not getting my hopes up

!!!!! DRDT EPISODE 10 AND 11 SPOILERS BELOW !!!!!

Also just an insane wall of text in general, jfc, you have been warned

Ok so first of all, I'll say what everyone's really here for:

Sorry, I personally fucking LOVED the twist, no significant complaints with it; it's a character trope I ADORE and more than I ever could've asked for to come from such a blorbo as David

Sorry, yes, I am also unfortunately down bad for him, HOWEVER-

Extremely happy that David wasn't the killer because we get to see more of this little freak in action in the next chapter, I can't even tell you how excited I am for his character omgomgomgomg I love horrible fucked up manipulative freaks so much. I also don't blame anyone for not enjoying his character anymore (especially if you liked the trope of his preconceived notion of a character) but like, me personally I can appreciate any character no matter the morals (the less the better imo) as long as they're written in an interesting and compelling way.

The way David is so horrendously straight-forward about everyone else just being a funny little pawn to him with absolutely no remorse (genuinely hope he never gains any empathy or I'll be a little upset ngl (well…depends on how it's done I GUESS!!)) makes his seemingly multi-layered character into….. something one-dimensional (/pos /GEN!!! one-dimensional is NOT a bad thing if it's a cool dimension that causes fun character conflicts) but the WAY they introduce this static ruthlessness to him is just;;;; CHEFS KISS. He's still a layered character, sure, two-faced freak running the long con, but his true self is just so reprehensibly remorseless it's hard to see ANYTHING under it

We were also both dying of laughter in the first episode how David had a really long horribly winded speech about fucking,,,,,,God knows what,,,, And no one acknowledged it and me n my bestie were just fucking whale eyeing each other like "SO IS NO ONE GONNA TALK ABOUT THAT? WE'RE JUST GONNA STEAMROLL RIGHT OVER HIS MINI PSYCHOTIC BREAK? OK" Not to be salty but GUYS.. Anyone who genuinely believed David was a good person and were shocked with the twist I…I'm sorry …… I'm sorry that we did not watch the same character introduction …. I've been on team two-faced David from the start that's my manipulate mansplain manwhore right there, babe! If you don't love him at his X you don't deserve him at his Y

Erm erm erm also thought it was hilarious when David was droning on after his big real reveal because, even though I was having a great time with it, I was also just repeatedly muttering "the fish…..?" looking around like the john travolta gif "the fish? the fish? guys, the fish? can we talk about the fish? im dying to talk about the fish" AHGHGAGAHA AND JUST GETTING SO FRUSTRATED WHEN EVERYONE FINALLY BROUGHT UP THE FISH AND WERE LIKE "OH EM GEE THE LIAR IS LYING ABOUT KILLING AREI??? DAS SO CRWAZY" Old school Danganronpa feeling of screaming at the characters denseness, so nostalgic, I DID ENJOY IT, IT WAS FUNNY, I HAD A GOOD TIME HAHA I loooove characters who lie for no good reason only to benefit themselves and have a good time while others suffer (Kokichi doesn't count + I don't like him (also stop comparing David to Kokichi you guys are insane and don't understand character nuance SOWWY))

My apologies I'm still like keeling off [MULTIPLE SUBSTANCES OF VARYING LEGALITY] so DON'T tell me if this is incomprehensible or not because I'm speaking straight from the heart and the heart says I won't him. This reminds me that for the entire time he was having his MAIN psychotic break (especially in the animation) my best friend wouldn't stop fucking muttering in distress "I WANT HIM I WANT HIM I WANT HIM" I had to tell him to shut the fuck up even though I was also internally very much not normal. We should both be shot.

Still think David and Hu should kiss. I think now more than ever they should kiss. Maybe make out.

Actually do you know how many times I said "Shut up, Hu." during these two episodes?? It was at least 5 I was getting SO mad at her for like no good reason, I don't even remember WHY exactly but I think her mom friend energy was getting TOO motherly and I'm no longer appreciating the particular WAY she mothers people, i.e. picking favorites + taking accountability for said favorites + defending them blindly and naively but in weirdly elitist way etc etc etc.. Very typical of Snellyfish to ship toxic men with female characters they don't like. Maybe I should look into my soul for this one, doesn't seem like,,,healthy, or something. I'll write my own callout post for me on that one dw.

Also I'm not necessarily saying Hu has bad writing or a wholly unlikeable personality at all btw, I am interested to know Why she's like that, I just gotta get over the hill of disliking her rn. Uber sweetie characters like that can just get on my nerves is all. She's also definitely got the secret motive for having multiple Attempts, huh? Give us your backstory queen,,,, I promise to like you a little more if you can bring a lil tear or two to my eye,,,,,,, I think my main thing with her is that she's like the most NORMAL of the group LMFAO

Either way, Huvid real. Sorry, but it shouldn't be surprising, I'm a Verturo shipper after all, it's in my natur-

SPEAKING OF VERTUROOOOOHHHH MY GGOOODDDDD I ATE SOOO DAMN GOOD. NO CRUMBS LEFT, I WAS GOING CRAZY. GOOD GOD CHRIST ALMIGHTY. The way that Veronika was the ONLY mf defending Arturo and he was like "girl you're making me look BAD" was so fucking funny, I am so horribly obsessed with their dynamic it's unreal

Not to "omg as a veronika kinnie-" for the millionth time but GIRL-- the way that I've said in the past Multiple Times that I hope both Arturo and David get worse and worse in an irredeemable way (mostly David, I kiiiinda want some nice Arturo content maybe one day 😳), and to have Veronika in like the same episode (I think) pivot back and forth towards both Arturo AND David in a "ohhh you're horribly fucked up I hope you never get better because I want in your brain NOW!!! let me IN!!!!!! THE TOXIC FUMES ARE CALLING TO ME LIKE A SWEET SWEET SIREN!!!!!!!" I think all three of them should also hold hands and kiss and--

OH. OH OHH. ARTURORRROOOO God as a general fuckin stan of all three Arturo + Veronika + David I ATE SO DAMN GOOD IT'S BEEN CRAZY TO CONTAIN MY THOUGHTS LMAO, had to stew on this one before writing it all out y'see. I definitely want to rewatch this chapter sometime because I know I've consumed it pretty mindlessly and a lot goes over my head. EITHER WAY.

Arturo backstory real??? Arturo's breakdown about his sister and how it's not his fault?? Not your fault in what way? Blushes and bats my eyelashes and holds your latex glove hand. plink plink. <-- sound of me batting my eyelashe.s. I was also incredibly normal when he straight up pulled a scalpel on Eden Kai Satou style, really really sane I didn't make monkey sounds or ANything like that, you guys. trust me.

In general I try not to give too hard of a time on DRDT's writing because it's like,, a passion project, obviously not professionally done, just a happy little writer writing their happy little characters AND I APPRECIATE AND RELATE TO YALL SO MUCH FOR THAT;; But I do have to finally properly mention how I frequently face the problem of a very consistent flow of characters being very straightforward, telling instead of showing, and making things just very awkward seeming? I bring this up mostly because of the Eden/Arei scene. Don't get me wrong I LOVE that dynamic and I LOVE what could've been between them in their friendship (🌈?) but I also wish that they didn't write Arei to so boldly claim like "I've been a manipulative bitch" or something like that, I guess I just don't feel that it's the kind of thing someone (especially like her, even with her breakdown-breakthru with David) would be able to articulate so clearly, and accept so honestly in such a short timeframe; I dunno. I've felt this way with a lot of dialogue even just in the prologue/introductions sections, wherein characters speak like they're Just Characters and know exactly how to word things like robots and just don't speak like Real people half the time. Whateva. That's my nitpick. I definitely think the dialogue has gotten better but the Arei thing ticked me off, but, I think her self-awareness might just be a crucial part of her character I'm not picking up on enough so,,,,augh, might just be me, honestly! I'm not the greatest writer myself so 🙏 feh!

Can't wait to figure out if I ship Arturo and J or not. Feel insane about it. Every time they talk I'm like DO I??? DO I SHIP IT??????? LOOKS AROUND AT THE AUDIENCE

GUYS I'LL BE REAL I'M STILL SO LOST ON WHO THE FUCKING KILLER IS LMAO!!!!!!! Entirely forgetting everyone's alibis right now so I can't really say who I'm leaning towards because they could be completely safe and I'm just dense and didn't pay enough attention. My b.

Even though Ace is one of my top fav characters I can feel myself getting steadily less and less interested in him just because all of his energy is going into the stupid Nico/Levi situation and I'm like SO sick of it Actual. I know it's mostly because I don't personally like Nico or Levi AND because this shit keeps getting brought up with no resolution nor any progress and it's like BRO.. I'M SICK OF IT. The amount of times they would bicker and I'd say "I'm sick of this drama." and then strategically zone out in self-defense was kind of funny. ACE DEFINITELY HAD SOME REALLY GOOD PARTS IN THESE EPISODES OUTSIDE OF THAT THOUGH GHGHHG HE KEEPS ME HOOKED, THAT DAMNED SMILE, as a chihuahua lover myself I can never stray too far from Ace's light, he's so fucking funny and I love his dynamic with David-- oh no, I love his dynamic with David........... Looks at my palms.

As always: Charles<3 I have such a funny relationship with him because it's like, he's not one of my top favs by any means, doesn't stand out the most for my particular taste, but I also have literally no reason to dislike him and he's just written GOOD, so whenever he shows up and has a nice scene or a nice line I just go "ah,,,,,,, charles<3" Not a single negative thought about him. He's like a sister to me. This isn't true I have many negative thoughts about my sister but you know!

I THINK THAT'S IT. THERE YOU GO. FEAST, MY ANONS, ASSUMING ANYONE HAS THE WILL TO READ THIS IN IT'S ENTIRETY HAHAHAHA. Time to go watch Demon Slayer Season 3!!!!!!

[morphogenetic]

Mediaposting 2024, #3: Chrono Trigger (DS Version)

Completed: January 13th (first run including sidequests) / January 20th (NG+/all endings/near-100% completion run)

Time spent: 35 hours (first run)/55 hours (NG & NG+)

Rating: 7.5/10

i'll get the easy critique out of the way first, and this is specifically a DS version issue (/maybe a steam issue too? not sure): oh my god why the fuck did they think adding the lost sanctum and dimensional vortex sidequests would be a good idea. neither of them add a single thing to the story and are literally like 15 hours of boring as hell sidequests. whyyyyyy did they add this this was PAINFUL to do as a completionist. jfc.

other thoughts under the cut because they are LONG but the TL;DR is: i enjoyed this game! i don't think it's bad at all and can absolutely see the influence it had on the genre! i think it's absolutely a game everyone who cares even a little bit about RPGs should play if they haven't already! i also don't understand why people think it's one of the best games ever made even though i think it's actually quite good in a few aspects!

anyway. continued below

i constantly had heard that chrono trigger had a very cool time travel story, and while aspects of this, absolutely, are true, there are particular parts of the time traveling that feel rather tacked-on to me. in particular, the future and extreme past eras are just....kinda there. and hilariously the same is kind of true of the present era, but that i can excuse to some extent. i don't think any of the eras are particularly bad, but the future in particular was not nearly as well utilized as it should have been, IMO, which kinda bums me out.

for me, the main issue is that it doesn't do enough with the actual 'influencing one era to cause changes in the other' thing until the endgame sidequests, and by the time you can do those, it feels a little too-little, too-late. that or there should have been a better way to space those sidequests out as you actually play the game, because they genuinely add a lot to some of the characters (FROG MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!!! and also lucca benefits a lot from her backstory). but making basically all of them only accessible in the eleventh hour felt very counterproductive to me. the plot is honestly mostly uninteresting to me until the zeal era, and that feels far too late for a game like this. idk. i like the world as a whole but some parts of the worldbuilding itself felt very minimal to me, like i wish the idea of a Nu was discussed AT ALL. or why its like completely normal for people to hang out with monsters/non-humans in 13,000 B.C. idk. just little things but i can tell it was probably more of a system limitation thing than anything else.

that said i think the main cast is quite solid. frog is the best easily, magus is a close second (though he also runs into the same problem where a ton of his character development is laaaaateeee), but i don't hate any of the other characters at all. ayla is fun (love a fun gimmick character every once in a while) and lucca is my favorite kind of weird nerd girl character. marle's playstyle annoys me until you have all of her techs and robo becomes kind of outclassed by frog but man. frog!!!!!! my man. hes so good.

basically no one is Not a fun character. is what im trying to say. i don't think they're all super deep characters, which bothers me a lot more than it probably should for a fucking 90s jrpg, but i like all of them a little bit, which is more than i can say for some games.

also, and this is more of a gameplay structure thing: i really appreciate how chrono trigger praises the player for being patient and for being kind. this is late game, but once you can unlock the chests i LOVE how you get upgraded rewards if you chose to not unlock them in the past. its so smart. that and the cases where your very small actions end up affecting things as minimal as the shopkeepers you can interact with? mwah. so good.

music: everyone always praises the hell out of the music and i do think there are some great tracks (CORRIDORS OF TIME MY BELOVED), but even for the era i dont think its truly exceptional in most ways. not bad at all and i know they had technical limits but.....still. still. corridors of time fucking sweeps them though. my god. what a good song.

art: okay yeah i dont have anything to say here. fucking amazing spritework going on in this game. enemies can be kind of whatever if they're not bosses but the fucking overworld/background art. the amount of emotion that is portrayed in a few pixels is astounding to me.

battle system: has aged so well and as soon as I started playing it i just went "OH THATS WHERE TWEWY GOT THE RELOAD SYSTEM FROM" because its almost a direct straight line of influence LOL. it really does force you to understand the mechanics and not just spam everything with your most powerful attacks. does get a little bit eh by the endgame once you're doing all-field-damage attacks out of necessity, but still. solid. not particularly unique by today's standards but if a game TODAY came out with this system i would have no complaints.

by this point you're probably saying "wow you wrote a lot about this for a game you think is a 7.5/10" and...yeah lol sorry. its just that i can see the influence and while i dont think its the BEST GAME EVAAAR i can absolutely see why people adore it so much. i think im just a slightly different time of rpg fan and this didn't quite scratch the itch for me in all the ways i was hoping it would, but there is no way in hell i can call it bad. i still think anyone who likes video games at all should play it. it just didnt scratch a very specific itch in my brain that i wanted it to (/it was less of a character story than i really like in my games), and so i cant quiiiite bump it up to that 8/10 i wish it so badly was. but theres a reason its a classic, it's aged incredibly well. just doesn't fit my niche enough.

that said. am i playing chrono cross after this? absolutely LOL. might take me a while but i am invested enough in this world to be interested in it. hopefully theres a bit more worldbuilding stuff bc the zeal stuff was SO GOOD but then it got crammed into the last 5 hours and hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i wanted so much more foreshadowing about it. god. anyway.

good game. not the best game of all time for me, but a good game. probably a great game to people who arent as picky as me LSGLSKDGH. just uh. dont play the extra DS content unless you're a completionist like me. lost sanctum MAYBE for the items but i would not bother with the dimensional vortex. its bad. lol

[yeetus-feetus]

scouring ao3 for a decent depiction of Ra's Al Ghul because everyone want to make him out as some super evil guy who does nothing but terrible horrible things.

Yes, he is a morally grey batman villain, but you don't have to do THAT to him! Jfc.

Yes, he's strict on Damian about his training. Because that's his sole heir! But he also loves his grandson, undoubtedly so. He loves his family. I'm tired of everyone making him a two-dimensional evil horror.

He is multi-faceted! He is more complex than "he's a terrorist and he does bad things". Grow up. And idk, re-evalue your fucking racist ways of thinking?

There is more to life than good and evil. A character can exhibit many traits that contradict each other. A character's feelings and actions can juxtapose one another.

Ra's methods can be morally wrong, he can do bad things, but he can also hold good in those same hands he uses to commit crimes. He can love and he can respect and he can care deeply. He can do good things too.

No one is one or the other. Nothing is black and white, and I'm tired of people flattening a character to one single trait.

I'm not saying Ra's is a good person, I'm saying he's not evil incarnate like some of you obsessively insist he is.

Ra's is a father, a grandfather, a widowed husband. An ancient being trying to do what he thinks is best for humanity, to save it, whilst also causing unforgiving destruction.

He is a Batman villain, but he does not see himself that way.

If you can see Jason Todd as more than a just a bad dude who kills people, because he's also a morally grey character, but you can't do the same for Ra's? That's extremely hypocritical and probably also racist because Jason is predominantly viewed as caucasian American.

also if you truly actually believe everything is black and white, that people can only be one or the other, and you're on the good side? You're a fucking asshole and you're bad at writing.

The world isn't black and white it's made up of colours you fucking idiot, and everything is a spectrum. Fuck of with your stupid binary sorting systems and purity complexes or whatever.

[llycaons]

ep13: oh, the misogyny

wwx is finding a way to DISCREETLY get the formation to rest for lwj, who is walking on a broken leg, and still jc is like 'what the fuck did you do now' like damn jc he can't do anything right. makes that post about jc hero-worshipping wwx and copying what he does and idolizing him even funnier

wwx and jc gossiping about wlj is so mean. of course she can't carry a sword, she never learned how! she was a maid. they're clearly judging her for sleeping her way into a position of power, but I see you wen chao I know it's more on you than on her

wwx falling down/out of/off things. first of many!

this is a really pretty shot ngl the water is lovely

wlj being positioned as the jealous, spiteful mistress using her power to harm a Good Woman is so shitty. they both were treated (in this arc) as one-dimensional tools to support the arcs of the men around the. wlj I know the writing did you dirty but you will always be a legend to ME for miss 'ghosts don't exist'

interesting moment - it's actually lwj who steps in to defend mm with jzx. wwx looks like he wants to, but jc shakes his head and wwx ultimately stays put. it's cool to see lwj and wwx trade off scenes that establish them as willing to defy authority and risk attack for the sake of protecting the vulnerable. it makes their ideals and goals feel truly mutual and balanced rather than wwx coming in and inspiring lwj to have a moral code (as is sometimes interpreted by fans)

this fight scene is genuinely REALLY fun and well-crafted. jzx and lwj have some sick moves, as do jc and wwx

WEI WUXIAN ICONIC MOMENTS. god I love it when he points out the hypocrisy of the great sects and the cultivation world. why is this scene never talked about! it's literally one of the best from him in this arc

again a TRAGEDY that this significant moment between them chalks up to an angsty subplot for wwx and lwj later on. it's a fucking good aspect of their relationship and it does compel me like lwj drunk-branding himself is INSANE and I'll never get over it but the misogyny 😭

wwx shot three arrows at once and took out wlj and mm's two guards without hitting mm herself LEGEND

she is literally the only wen with an understanding of how politics work

FAMOUS LAST WORDS. my dude you just locked the teenager who's going to torture you to death in a cave with the weapon he's going to use to do it

this is literally such a fucking funny joke. slept on. also wwx does take serious situations seriously but he also sometimes does this. I don't even blame jc for being like 'are you serious right now'

YOU ARE BOTH SO USELESS. SCREAM

of COURSE mm is the one to slip and cut her hand and release blood to awaken the monster. of course it had to be her

I'd say that she deserved better but honestly after this her arc really rules and she's one of the few characters to get a happy ending so I can't be too mad

this scene is wild. lwj jumps in and THROWS wwx behind him like 20 ft

jc yelling at wwx to be careful and promising to come back. aw man

also WHY ARE THEY ALL LEAVING. wouldn't it be much easier to kill the false xuanwu if they stay and work together? I don't think wwx even expected lwj to stay with him. he was really ready to stay there and fight it off alone and maybe die in the process. he's unwell!

okay this has always bothered me. WHERE DOES HE FIND THE STICKS THEY ARE UNDERGROUND

that underrobe is so beautiful purely on an aesthetic level ugh he has such good taste. also I like that you can see his bare skin under it like HOW hot was that branding iron jfc

EVIDENCE!!!! EVIDENCE for my 'wwx is intimidated by lwj's earnestness and his fears around commitment/the strength of his own feelings cause him to avoid his feelings because getting too attached/too serious is scary for him even tho deep down he craves it'

wwx casually asserting getting scars/being injured as a...sexy and impressive sort of triumph of masculinity (?) as a young teenager vs. his devastated expression seeing lwj's scars as an adult. he has so much to learn

this translation is so weird. just say inedia?

[writinggremlin]

!!

GAH-- Jfc you scared me!! Hi!! :D!!!!

This ask was sent in as a part of this ask game, where if you send me an ask with "!!", I will reply with an infodump about one of my ocs! I currently have no other requests and--... (turns to count)... 15 more ocs to go wild about. This doesn't include stuff about my worlds and magic systems, which I would also be more than happy to share!

So if you like what you see here and want to learn more about the lil blorlos in my head, feel free to send in an ask! I want it. I want you to. I know you want it too. Do it. You won't. No balls. (Expect me to take a few weeks tho- I'm not fast at all lmfao)

Now- don't get me wrong, I've been so fucking hype while typing this all out! But I might've also been procrastinating this out of fear of what people might think...

I think I have found the solution though!

...

(Chucks this violently at the dash)

(Heehoos away)

Cw (Starts at the origin story, below the Blorbo Blingo): Mentions of cults, religious/ritualistic sacrifice, death, and implied manipulation/brainwashing.

=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=

Introducing: Mist!

My beloved immortal, my first whumpee before I even knew what whump was, and easily one of my more powerful characters (though she has been nerfed and fiddled with quite a lot over the years).

She started out like many people's first characters do; as an overpowered self insert with a red/blue heterochromia because "oH nO!! oNe HalF iS EVIL aND iS oNlY mUrDeR!!!" (No shame to the people who have characters like that btw! That's not a bad thing! It's just something that I feel is difficult to write correctly, and I was definitely not able to do that lmfao).

Not only that, but I was a Warrior's kid growing up. Her original name was Miststar, and I decided that she was somehow the leader of Starclan. Yeah... I never solved the plothole of how or why a human would become a cat god besides just- dying in the area lmao.

I have kept many of the original things about her though, like her telepathy, the immortality, the "evil half" (who gets lightly mentioned in the backstory, and who I'll introduce next if I ever get more of these 👀), and even being a demi-god (technically). But I have definitely toned everything wayyyyyy down throughout the years, and I'm still messing around with her to this day.

As for today, Mist now feels (to me) like a humanized character who has been given a life of magic and power, where she still struggles with relatable experiences despite that (like Sabrina The Teenage Witch or Bewitched). And there's no demons that live in her head to occasionally possess her and murder everyone for no reason lmfao.

=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=

Stats/Bio:

Name: Mist

Nickname(s): Sunshine (only allows Ember to call her that)

Age: About 600 years or so

Species: She's adamant about being human, though technically she could fall under a demi-god type status.

Height: 5'8"

Gender/Pronouns: Woman, she/her

Sexuality: Pan (Almost never gets into romantic relationships. And no, that's not just because of the whole immortality thing)

Relationship status: Single (and that's not likely to change anytime soon)

Personality: Mature, wise, motherly, respectful, understanding, self-reliant. She seems willing to be open about herself, yet also rarely seems to let herself be vulnerable.

Powers: Immortality, telepathy, Shapeshifting (limited to a few forms), Portals (can be inter-dimensional), teleportation (quantum physics+magic), earth and water manipulation

(I may rb this later to go into much more detail about each power's capabilities and limitations and all of that. 👀)

Preferred weapon(s): N/A

Fashion vibes (casual): Cozy and comfortable. Sweaters, jeans, and sneakers are the go-to.

Fashion vibes (special): Extravagant and/or intricate ballgowns with a black, dark purple, and/or dark blue color palette, and a sparkly design, to mimic a twilight or night sky.

Hobbies: Art (drawing, painting, coloring, etc), reading, playing piano, adventure

Likes: Space, quiet moments, classical (or similar sounding) music, waltz music, tea, and almost anything that she will never be able to fully comprehend or understand will fascinate her

Dislikes: Cults (who doesn't), religion in general (though she respects others beliefs. It's just not for her), being placed on a pedestal, crowds, being powerless (literally), being powerless (figuratively)

Extras/Fun Facts: She is susceptible to a certain type of power being used on her. May go more into detail about that in a different character's intro (if I even get more of these, idk if I will lmao).

Because she's been alive for so long, I would just like to confirm that she has, in fact, witnessed the creation of classical music, modern electricity, phones, planes, etc. This bamboozled me when I first realized that lmfao.

And to end this part on a goofy ahh fact: She doubts her ability to drive, yet will willingly volunteer to fly a plane (and she's genuinely good at it). Also, afraid of spiders.

Blorbo Blingus (there goes tumblr, downgrading the image quality again smh):

=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=

Brief origin story (yes this is the brief one):

Mist was born in the 1400's, into a small cult group that lived in a village, mostly secluded from civilization (aside from the occasional trader). Her first several years of life were spent more secluded than the others; not allowed to see the outside world or even interact with the others beyond what was absolutely necessary.

It was to keep her "pure".

For you see, Mist was conceived and raised to serve one purpose, and one purpose only: sacrifice. To be an offering for their "god". Nobody really understood why this was needed, but nobody really asked either, which made His job much easier.

Things didn't go according to plan, however. Reasons and explanations for why this ritual failed were unclear; only spreading through rumours and speculation. Though, Mist had noticed that the person preforming the ritual on her was reciting the wrong words. Whether or not this was on purpose, will always remain a mystery.

Now she did die, as expected. What wasn't expected, however, was her somehow pushing the lid off of what should've been her coffin, before anyone even had a chance to nail it shut. People were surprised, to say the least. (It was around here that she began to slowly gain her other magical powers as well.)

From there, tensions rose. Some of the members, namely ones who harshly judged their "God" for this mistake, saw this as a sign to change their ways, and follow her instead. Other members were more loyal to the original, who was already condemning and shaming her for supposedly betraying him.

The cult divided. ("God" will remember that.)

Around this time, Mist started noticing a little voice in her head. A voice that grew louder and became more real over time. A bitter, spiteful voice, which grew more and more powerful, the more anger and resentment it was fed.

Mist eventually grew close to that voice.

The voice suggested that she run away.

She didn't.

It tried again.

She stayed.

It ordered her to.

She refused.

Threatened.

Ignored.

It said nothing to her, just silently planted a small seed of an idea into her mind.

She left that night, and never looked back.

[non-binharry]

Another person here who prefers reading bl (the most that is, I can read share/bh too, it's really just a preference.) Thing is though it's FICTION for a reason. I don't confuse or claim that what I read in fanfiction is what real life is like. Just like they're not real life vampires or pirates or whatever else xD Actually, I would say my opinions on irl H/L is very different from fic pref, it's based on what I've seen from the boys themselves and their dynamic. So I'm not speculating or (1/?)

(2/?) making up little fantasies on how I would like things to be. Anything else is simply THEIR LIVES and none of my business. I do agree that a lot of new bl-fics tend to be a certain way. Which have been a reason for me to go back to old favorites and lean more towards 'they kinda share that really'. They're just more in character. You can also feel a stark difference in how a bh/sub H fic, Louis is usually still the same sweet guy he always is and still maintain all his curvy features etc.

(3/?) He even bottoms in some scenes, there's a lot of powerbottom L/sub H out there. Give me ONE fic where Louis is a sub/Harry is a Dom and H bottoms? In even just a scene? I personally would love to read it, but it's not an easy find. But yeah, the problem is definitely people who claim their fanfiction as CANON when it's literally an AU. Where did the ultra feminine baby girl Louis even come from? If it's the clothes he used to wear way back in 2011-2012, then I still don't see it. It was

(4/?) camp and daring and GAY and I loved him being different like that, but it's nowhere near the way he's portrayed by some people. Also I feel like the same people say H was much 'manlier' or whatever when they were literally both little twinks back then (Twinks meant with love here.) I was here in 2012 and the way Harry acted even then, pirouttes on stage and just the way he moved around in general. The 'frat boy era' that came after does not count. Louis also changed here anyway and became

(5/?) more rugged/less flamboyant and we all know why so. 2013 was painful and I don't miss it even if some people seem to love it/miss it a lot. And even if Louis has worn eye-shadow on occasion or even panties (I just know of one time when it was actually confirmed with a picture) it still doesn't mean he's secretely wearing only femme clothing. Even straight guys can wear these things if they so wish and it doesn't have to change anything. Louis looking a certain way also doesn't make him

(6/6) the 'woman' of the relationship. Nor does it make him the little spoon. I'm a woman, on the shorter side and I love to be the big spoon, holding them close and 'jetpacking' them or whatever ;) Harry said he's the little spoon anyway and that is what truly matters. This became long, but just wanted to chime in on how not everyone who reads BL is a 'Blouie'. More Bl fics to the people! Just keep it in-character/don't make H/L into actual original characters and I'll be there! :)

[separatist-apologist]

What do you think of Nessian both ACOWAR and ACOSF? Personally I’m in a very hate nessian(mostly the Cassian part) phase that idk how I’ll ever get over.

Your feelings are valid, anon. I think Cassian was characterized very specifically in ACOWAR/ACOMAF as like, the other side of the coin to Nesta. If Nesta is a solid wall, Cassian is the wrecking ball. He knows precisely how to get beneath her skin because they are mirrors of each other in some ways. In ACOWAR (and ACOMAF to some extent), it felt like Cassian was doing this as a way to get Nesta to be honest- with him but also herself. Almost like a trust fall. It read to me as "I see you for what you are and I like it" and "You don't have to pretend around me".

And it was working. Nesta, who cannot make herself trust anyone, SCREAMS for him, saving his life. He is the only person who can motivate her to help when she doesn't want to. She takes up the role as healer almost in direct conflict to her thoughts of him on the battle field- if Cassian is the warrior, Nesta is a different sort of protector. His soldiers fall and he can bring them to her to be bandaged.

And while ACOWAR had its problems in their relationship, she demonstrates that she is literally willing to die for him, body covering his, trying to shield him from Hybern. It was reminiscent of ACOMAF when, shredded wings, unconscious, Cassian is still crawling across the floor to try and keep her from going into the Cauldron. They literally say "Until death do us part"

And then ACOSF took all of that and said "it didn't mean anything". Nesta is traumatized from the war and instead of finding a way in like he'd always done before, Cassian participates in the isolation in a way that felt deeply out of character. I don't believe for a moment ACOWAR Cassian would have left Nesta to fester like that.

ACOSF shows that Cassian is mercurial and moody and worst of all, DEEPLY insecure. He's had 500 years to deal with being a bastard and yet every time Nesta tries to make him understand how she feels, he throws that in her face or makes it the topic of conversation. Cassian seems hell bent on breaking Nesta done more than she already is, needling her unnecessarily and he gets a pass because men are allowed to react with rage and anger as acceptable emotions but women are not (which is why I think a lot of the Nesta criticism comes from a place of deep misogyny.). Nesta will say something mean "I hate Rhys" and Cassian will not take the high road "Well everyone hates you, too." Imagine hearing Rhysand say that to Feyre when she's suicidal. And we're in Cassian's head, so we KNOW he knows she's suffering. He just gets mad and says whatever he wants, knowing it will hurt her, and he gets all these passes from the fandom because these books are deeply heteronormative and the scripts for acceptable male behavior have been ingrained in readers.

Consider when Nesta tumbles down the steps. Azriel, at dinner, hesitates. "Did someone do this to you?" he asks, glancing at Cassian. It's not funny. We're in Cassian's head for it. Cassian knows Azriel thinks he hurt Nesta. He's not offended by it.

And if that's who Cassian is, then the book should have been them growing to meet each other in the middle. But Cassian's POV exists only to push along the plot and I think that's why he is the way he is. He's there to tell us whats going on with Koschei, with Hybern and Eris and the human Queens. Nesta, trapped in the house of wind, can't know those things so we need a vehicle to see all that stuff but like OH MY GOD who cared about so much of it? Briallyn was another one dimensional villain with no stakes because her personality was literally defined by "do crime" which is not compelling.

I'm writing a dissertation. JFC I have so many feelings. Like I understand why Cassian ended up how he did in some ways. The character belongs to SJM and I know people are like, you're arrogant for thinking you could do better than the literal author but I do think fundamentally SJM did not understand what made Nessian so compelling. They were so different from Feysand, their dynamic was rough and tumble and I think people wanted to see more of the man who joked around with Feyre but also went to war for her on that ice lake in Winter Court, and instead we got the worst boyfriend we'd all collectively ever dated.

And only ACOSF Cassian could make Neris a compelling ship. I think if ACOSF had been ACOWAR Cassian/Nesta, Neris would not exist like it does now

[bookofmirth]

i’m a feyre stan first and foremost so out of loyalty sometimes her hardcore stans make me feel like i have to hate nesta and elain or i’m an abuse apologist but then i think about it for a moment and

obviously i understand that sjm always has the main fmc have a tragic backstory but in this case it’s just so utterly ridiculous that 2 girls that are like maximum 3 years older than feyre sat on their asses and stared at a wall for 5 years and it honestly makes me hate them less. i feel like i can’t even be mad at them for not hunting because it’s so cardboard cut out evil older sister villainy that it’s honestly just funny like sjm didn’t even care to give them realistic reasons for not hunting because all that matters is they can’t hunt because it’s feyre tragic backstory

and it doesn’t even really fit in with their characters. elains a literal gardener and they live near a forest? i’m sure sjm couldve had her plant some vegetables. it doesn’t make sense that elain didn’t plant vegetables. i know sjm threw in that lame ‘but the soil wasn’t good’ excuse but come on 😭😭 and how is nesta so selfish to not hunt when like the second time we see her in acomaf she’s championing human lives to be saved?? obviously poverty and trauma does things to people but nesta doesn’t even find herself a husband to take care of her and elain when it’s literally what she was taught and raised to do

love sjm but i wish she fleshed out the beginning of acotar wayyy more.

Here's an alternative I was just chatting with some people about -

acotar should have been a trilogy and all this spin-off stuff shouldn't have happened without the foundation to support it.

Which, because Elain and Nesta were such fairy tale tropes in acotar, we didn't have a good foundation for them. Now, everyone is arguing about how big a bitch Nesta really is and how useless Elain really is, and a lot of it is based on content that was not supposed to go beyond explaining "here is what Feyre was dealing with before she went over the Wall". Nesta and Elain were written as if they would barely make cameo appearances in the rest of Feyre's life, but surprise! Now they are/going to be main characters.

I wonder if it would have been more believable if sjm had embraced the way she wrote Nesta and Elain, rather than trying to make excuses for them. idk. Gardening is hard (just ask my fig plant which just lost all its leaves, and I have time, knowledge, and resources to care for it!) but if Elain's whole personality is Good at Plants, why couldn't she have done better? Nesta was ready to marry the one dude, but she was also like 23 in acotar which is Old Lady status in fairy tale worlds, so why hadn't she done that years before? And obviously Papa Archeron was there. They just... they were such stereotypes, and now we have to try to understand them as fully developed characters based on those two-dimensional tropes.

It's no wonder we disagree with one another, but if we could just not be so mean about it, jfc. It's based on sjm being half-assed! Not any of us being bad readers! Be mad at her!

Don't let the fandom make you feel like you need to think or feel anything in particular, though! It's perfectly possible for us to like all three sisters. I know I wouldn't get along with them all equally irl, but I appreciate their characters.

[nevermindirah]

🔥 anything quynh related

I'm so glad you asked!!

Unpopular opinion related to Quynh but less about fandom than the grand scheme of mental illness research and treatment: complex PTSD is 100% a thing. I shit you not, I googled "CPTSD definition" just now to double-check something and google told me "did you mean PTSD". 😑 Anyway Quynh absolutely no question would experience severe long-term mental illness as a result of allllllll this shit she's experienced:

(ID in alt text and below the cut)

We don't know what her childhood was like but jfc she saw and survived and did so much violence for such a very long time before drowning constantly for 500 years.

CPTSD or whatever you call it can present in a lot of different ways (I'm not a medical professional just have a lot of research and personal experience with this stuff) and basically all bets are off in terms of what kinds of symptoms she might be experiencing in that 6-months-later and 2O2G.

It's totally feasible she's one of those traumatized people who lashes out at other traumatized people and would call Booker weak for being suicidally depressed over what she might perceive as a lesser trauma. It's also totally feasible that she'd be relieved to have someone who understands. She might very well cling to Booker and avoid the others — maybe out of shame, or if she sees them again it'll all have been real, or or or. Andy herself checks a shit ton of those trauma boxes and my personal read on her is a nihilistic depression and not CPTSD but lots of readings are valid, the point is Quynh might cling to Andy or avoid her or do that "leave me alone come back" thing or be angry that Andy can't heal her or spend more time comforting Andy than herself or any number of different things.

I'm down for all of the above, as long as the storyteller takes this shit seriously, understands that mental illness is never the fault of the person experiencing it, and doesn't let the text agree with shitty harmful things that flawed human characters might say or do even when they do them as a result of their mental illness.

Because of my own stuff I need to avoid certain depictions of romantic relationships between trauma survivors, so I basically can't read any significant Andy/Quynh angst. I'm sure I'm missing out on all kinds of beautiful shit as well as some things I'd have some arson-y opinions about. But speaking from what I have read (and real talk, what I've written, bc as much as I love Quynh, I don't think about her near as often as Nile or Booker), some of my, uh, lighter? unpopular Quynh opinions:

evil dragon lady trope is racist and it's absolutely necessary to avoid it — and it's possible and worthwhile to respectfully explore Quynh as a three-dimensional character who's committed a lot of violence, in her context alongside others who aren't targeted by the dragon lady stereotype but have also committed a lot of violence

her personality might be unrecognizable to Andy Joe and Nicky, and/or recognizable but upsetting or, even worse, repulsive to them. that would SUCK but that happens sometimes and it's worth exploring in ways that are considerate of all those characters

similar to what I talked about here with Nile, the way some people write characters named Quynh and Andy who have their faces but none of their depth in Before the Drowning fics 🤮

it's possible she was monogamous with Lykon for a while and/or not romantically involved with Andy and as much as I desperately need canon Andromaquynh in 2O2G there's an important place for these other depictions in fic (provided that they're motivated by exploring other Quynh ideas and not queerphobia)

ok actually on the lighter side! what if she's trans!! that could be fun and beautiful and not a source of trauma for her!!!

Quynh and Booker's hot girl summer is a fun joke or whatever but I WANT FIVE SEASONS AND A MOVIE OF THEIR FRIENDSHIP! throw Nile in there too, the potential for Quynh's friendship with Nile is so interesting! chaotic honorary-youngin' Quynh a three-dimensional character doing hedonism to cope my beloved!!!!!!

To wrap up this heavy post I'm gonna call myself out on a fun thing! Hot take @ Dirah: write that Quynh/Nile fisting pwp before 2O2G comes out will you!!!!?!??!??!??!

[ID: screenshot of the UK mental health charity Mind page about Complex PTSD. Text: "The types of traumatic events that can cause complex PTSD include:

childhood abuse, neglect or abandonment

ongoing domestic violence or abuse

repeatedly witnessing violence or abuse

being forced or manipulated into prostitution (trading sex)

torture, kidnapping or slavery

being a prisoner of war.

You are more likely to develop complex PTSD if:

you experienced trauma at an early age

the trauma lasted for a long time

escape or rescue were unlikely or impossible

you have experienced multiple traumas

you were harmed by someone close to you."]

[xhellodollyx]

The timeline of this chiffany back story in the show is very confusing. I find it hard to believe they were in Chicago less than a year before chucky was coined the lakeshore stranger and eventually caught. I seriously would've thought they loved there together for at least a few years before that, and he was killing people. Also, where's the voodoo paintings on the wall in his apartment we saw in the first movie? These continuity errors are making me crazy lol. Also tiffany always said that chucky was protective/possessive of her and I ain't seen any of that lol. & she said they lived together for a few years. Less than a year is a few years now? Don please watch what you make for the love of God, or at least reference a Wikipedia page or cliff notes for fucks sake. These things just seem so basic & simple to me. Jfc! I'm grateful for what we have and don't mean to be a bitch but lord.

Literally though!! I 10000% agree with everything you said. I worry that don is backtracking on Chucky and Tiffany's relationship so that way its easier in canon to have them end up separating for good (with chucky killing tiffany again for some reason and then she stays away from him for good). Its just so weird for him to backtrack on their relationship when, like you pointed out, they lived together for years and how he was so possessive. They so clearly loved each other in Bride and Seed, even with all their problems aside, and even at the end of Cult, so why would Don want to completely change that? Its like... everyone has been wanting flashbacks of them for years and we have seen no real development between them at all in those flashbacks, just them killing together and tiffany being upset he stopped killing with her, like thats it? 🤨 i think my whole problem with it is like... yes, we've established they both like killing and thats their thing and they both love doing it, but is that all they really have going for each other? Just their love of killing? Nothing more? It just seems so one-sided and, dare i say, one dimensional. Chucky when he was human seemed to be a killer on the side but also a thief in order to make money without ever having to work, because lets be real, that would never work out for him, lol. With how much killing he's been doing and with Tiffany too, you would think they both would have been caught and WAY sooner. And instead he was caught for kidnapping sarah?? Like what?

And from interviews I've seen with Brad and Jen, they definitely seem to have a better idea on what Chucky and Tiffany's relationship should be. I'd have to go back and rewatch the interviews they've done over the years, but apparently, the recent one I've seen for the show, both Brad and Jennifer were surprised by the changes made to the characters in the show. Which to me is not a good sign. Retconning the voodoo aspect in Bride (with the Heart of Damballah) i could totally get passed, and throwing Jennifer into the series was probably the best thing Don could have added, and that's why Bride and Seed will always be in my top 3 favorites of the series for that reason. The show has done an amazing job with representation, with the character development of each of the main human characters, and basically on every other front except for Chucky and Tiffany. I dont think im alone in thinking that. I love the show for all those other aspects but i just wish the backstories were done better and the relationship was done better, and their characters overall.

[guccifloralsuits]

Reid is my comfort character and I love mgg but tbh...I hope Reid isn't star of the show in the CM revival. I feel like after Maeve there was just so much Spencer content and at times it felt like he was the main character, even though shows like that shouldn't have a main character. Tara, Luke, and Matt are such amazing characters with so much potential and I'd love to see more of them should they come back. (Which I believe they are) and I don't want any more TRAUMA jfc like I know it's good tv but all the shit with Reid was honestly just trauma overload and that's not always the best decision. I have no idea what writers and producers are involved but I really hope they give the poc characters more screen time that they deserve. AND NO MORE CAT ADAMS

I love Reid I love him sm, I mean I would be interested in more storylines for him but ya know, less trauma and more kissing boys <3 On Cat Adams, UO I’m sure, but I actually want one more episode where Reid comes to see her execution and has to deal with it, come to terms with it, and move past it. I think watching her death would wrap up the story arc well.

Of course, I 100% agree w what you’re saying that it’s an ensemble show… & the poc characters deserve multi-dimensional characterization and more well rounded arcs than they got in the last seasons. There needs to be more balance, and they absolutely deserve more screen time.

while we’re at it, I also want more inter-team conflict. Nothing crazy, but something that made the earlier seasons of CM great was that the team didn’t always see eye-to-eye, and were often at odds with each other. Think: early power dynamics between Morgan and Hotch, Emily and Reid after Revelations, the pilot where Morgan & Reid argue about Gideon’s capacity to lead, Hotch not trusting Prentiss at first bc of ‘Politics’, JJ & Reid after Prentiss comes back in S7, Rossi and his Loner Thing™️ at first, Strauss bearing down on everyone, constantly, Garcia hating Alex Blake at first…

These inter-team conflicts were A) just interesting in general to watch play out, but B) also did a lot of work on the characterization front & C) were especially impactful when we could understand both sides of the conflict (even if we disagreed with one). We had a few attempts later in cm (see: Emily yelling @ Luke that one time) but it was out of left field, and generally they just….didn’t butt heads enough. Or when they did it kind of felt for-show/banter/for the sake of it without actual stakes. This lack of conflict between any member of the team at the end of the show left it feeling like something was missing, I think. I wanted more disagreement

[markantonys]

Hi! It's L'allieva anon!

Omg I was dying by the end of the season when Claudio kept leaving her stranded in the middle of nowhere 😂. You'd think she'd learn what triggers Claudio's change of humor but nooo she had the same shocked pikachu face each time.

You know, I thought I was the only one who started to like Ambra. At the beginning I didn't stand her, but toward the end of the season when she stopped being jealous about Claudio and Alice, the writers allowed her to be more than a one dimensional character. I was actually excited that she was pregnant! I really wanted her to stay and see her struggle to be the best while dealing with the pregnancy and questioning what she wanted in life. It could have been the start of a lovely friendship between her and Alice too ( because that woman befriends everybody!!)...but nooo they had to make her leave. Though later I found out that in the books Ambra lost her baby and actually died ( Alice investigated her death)...so it's better that they didn't kill her at least.

Speaking of bitchy rivals, I really enjoyed Beatrice in s2.

Jesus Alice's hair is disastrous in s2, as is her wardrobe! I don't know how they managed to make her even more child-like visually but they succeeded. She looks like a schoolgirl! They only positive change is Claudio's wardrobe! I love his new suits and the vests suit him so well! Somebody finally understood they have to keep that man in various shades of blue haha.

I feel you with the love triangles!

Well I'm not going to spoil you but let's just say Arthur is like an annoying cockroach that won't fucking die.

I too was stunned that they kept dragging that relationship untill the s1 finally...i was actually cheering on Claudio when he was ranting at her after the congress because she WAS acting like a teenager.

And Yes! Marco not being bi is a fucking missed opportunity because he totally gave me bi-vibes. I was like "get him a boyfriend! Or say he had a secret boyfriend and his family -beside Alice- didn't know about him" .So I am adopting your HC as my own! Bi-solidarity!

I love Alice and Claudio! Their bantering is so entertaining and it's the spice of the show! Though their communication issues are killing me...but they're improving season after season. I think Claudio is the one who grows the more each season, and it's beautiful to watch him mature emotionally and change for Alice. And this season is fun because we get a full on Jealous!Claudio 😁. Alice on the other hand, is slow with personal growth but I digg her professionnal growth! How she becomes more sure of herself, more efficient but doesn't lose the empathy and the willingless to help that makes her who she is.

I haven't seen non uccidere, it's on my list to watch because I LOVE Miriam Leone!

NICE i’m not the only one who grew fond of ambra! oh my god she dies in the books? that’s awful i’m so glad they didn’t do that!! if she had to leave i’m definitely glad she was just written out rather than mercilessly killed off damn

aww i like alice’s wardrobe haha it’s so cute! oh nooo i thought arthur was gone for good jfc are we going to get a love square situation with him and claudio and sergio lmfao most of the time i would make fun of the tropiness of every single person who meets the protagonist falling instantly in love with her but like. it’s alessandra mastronardi so i get it

yess the alice/claudio banter is the best! right now claudio is being annoyingly emotionally stunted so i’m looking forward to see him grow in that respect haha and you’re so right, alice’s professional growth is really nice to watch! i’m glad they actually pay attention to the fact that she’s a student still learning and developing her career rather than only using that as the setup for crimes and love triangles

and i highly Highly recommend non uccidere, it’s probably my favorite italian tv show i’ve seen so far (granted it’s also the only one i watched with professionally-done english subs so i also just understood it better lmao) and miriam is absolutely fantastic in it (plus matteo martari is there as the love interest so what could be better than that!)

[sofialasol]

Hey u triggered bout the recent Allura age thing? Who cares she's probably not even that much younger than shiro so it's not pedophilia there are some relationships that even I know are 10 years apart that's not pedophilia :p when you discourse get something you don't like immediately the writers are bad, just let them do their shit and leave them alone Jfc.

Uh, ok lmfao. I’m thinking you might be referring to a post I made about the writers being a mess™

And while that post wasn’t specifically about Allura’s age or pedophilia or any of the debates going on with the Shiro/Allura ship (because I’ve got an assload of reasons why I think the writing is messy tbh and most of them have nothing to do with character ages) I’d be happy to discuss since you’ve mentioned it.

Mild spoilers ahead for those who haven’t watched Season 2;And a lot of speculation and opinions :) 

I’ve been getting the vibes that the reason the writers are so vague about character ages is because they don’t really know how old they want these characters to be. I’m guessing they didn’t really come up with concrete ages prior to the show taking off because tbh they didn’t imagine it would matter; they didn’t think that Voltron would be nearly as popular as it is (which is no excuse, it’s still slack af if that’s the case). Not only would this explain the age thing but it would also explain why there are some inconsistencies in characterization.

Allura is a wonderful example of this. And them revealing that she is a “teen,” kinda emphasizes the disorganized writing because she was definitely written in a way that made her seem older than the rest of the group. She was typed similarly to Shiro in the sense that they were distinctly written as two of the most mature members of Team Voltron. Two very clear leaders amongst a group of lost teens who didn’t really know what they were doing or why they were doing it. So, viewers naturally assumed that Shiro and Allura were roughly the same age.

There’s also this fun post by @sheither that highlights a more concrete reason as to why Allura shouldn’t/can’t be a “teen.”

This adult-minded characterization of Allura is also one of the main reasons I wasn’t digging Allura’s headass reaction to the discovery of Keith being part Galra in Season 2. It didn’t really make sense for her character. Sure, sure. It could be written off, albeit weakly, as her not trusting the Galra because some of them totally annihilated her people. But after the writers had done so much to establish Allura as a headstrong, rational, and mature leader, her reaction to Keith’s background felt wrong and icky. Her distrust and disdain for Keith purely because he was part Galra just didn’t align with the way they had previously written Allura. Overall hatred for the Galra Empire??? Sure, maybe. But her mega contempt for to her very own teammate??? Too damn much. Too narrow minded and prejudiced and poorly written. It didn’t fit the character they had built for her in Season 1. She ultimately put her hatred for the Galra above her love for her teammate, and that just doesn’t make sense to me. It just seemed like a contradictory step backwards in terms of Allura’s personality.

And besides not seeming to have a clear vision of how they want to paint Allura’s character, strong characterization for everyone else besides Keith was lacking in Season 2. It was Keith’s season, which was fun and exciting but it also left me feeling like the rest of Team Voltron was kinda left hanging and mainly used for comic relief. I’m not sure if they did this because they ambitiously intend to dedicate entire seasons to each member of Team Voltron or what; in spite of that, I would have loooovveeed seeing more three dimensional character growth from other characters.

And, you know. In the grand scheme of things, I’m just out here voicing my opinions on a show about some damn flying robot lions; still, I wholly believe that as audience members, we are allowed to be critical of the material we’re consuming. Things that bother me might not bother you or vice versa. It’s the beauty of subjectivity.

So yeah, I think the writers are kind of a mess™ But lolz will I watch Season 3? Probs. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯