#they know how to write characters well too imho

[gallusrostromegalus]

So, uhh, genuine question.

Do you recommend getting into Bleach, and if so how? Anime, Manga, a little bit of both, secret other thing? Your posts about it (and especially about AEIWAM) have definitely piqued my Interest, but I have pretty much 0 knowledge about the topic and heard very contradictory takes & reviews before, so I wanted to ask for your advice on the topic.

Cheers and have a nice day!

So a couple people have asked me this and I'm going to be as honest and fair about it as possible:

Bleach itself is mid.

...which is why the fan works KICK SO MUCH ASS.

My theory is that the ideal habitat for transformative fan work creators is mediocre series. It has to be good enough to be worth engaging with in the first place, but it's the plot holes and dropped developments and intriguing characters that don't get enough time and shoddy-to-unexplained worldbuilding that make nice little holes for fic authors and fan artists to crawl into and built a home, like sponges growing on a dilapidated subway car sunk into the Hudson river.

So yes. Bleach is mid. More under the cut:

It's also really two series: the manga and the anime. There's more anime than manga because bleach suffers from the late oughts horror known as "the filler arc" where the studio would make shit up while waiting for the author to catch up. Not ideal, but better than the current state of "cancelling a fully written five-season show after two because it wasn't making enough money for the oligarchy" but I digress.

To grade both the manga and anime on the Weeb-Ass-Shit scale:

Weeb: how familiar do you have to be with the tropes of anime/Japanese culture in general to be able to enjoy the series? This is one of the things Bleach does REALLY, REALLY WELL, in that you can go in knowing fuck-all about anime and have a good time, but the more you know, the more fun it is. My favorite thing Kubo does is that if you look up the meaning of the characters used in everyone's names, there is a TON of jokes, foreshadowing, themes etc. baked into every name. A+ work.

Ass: how much gratuitous fan service is there and how annoying is it? So. It's not the worst. But it's really, really obvious that Bleach is written and illustrated by a straight man who is hella into tiddies. As a bisexual, I can appreciate The Tiddy (and tbh, the men in Bleach have pretty great tits too), but there are a lot of humor bits about Kon being a perv/author stand-in, orihime has medically alarming knockers for a teenager and gets groped kind of a lot. There's also a predatory lesbian stereotype character in the early episodes, and some pretty awful transphobic caricature characters. The amount of horny isn't that much for a shonen, but it's pretty gross IMHO.

Shit: how well- made is this series?

Mixed. Both the manga and the anime (esp the recent Thousand Year Blood War arc) have some absolutely gorgeous art, banger character designs, and deeply entertainingly choreographed fights. It is really nice to look at.

Unfortunately, both also suffer really badly from pacing issues that are pretty much entirely the fault of the insane demands the industry puts on the artists. If you've ever read/seen a shonen manga/anime from the late aughts through early teens, you're familiar with this bullshit- fight scenes drawn out to absurd lengths, filler arcs while the animation studio waits for the author to catch up, repeated plot arcs, minimal focus on characterization, The Friendship Speech (TM) etc.

Pacing and repetitiveness are Bleach's main quality issues, but the art is pretty baller and the Japanese voice cast is pretty fucking great IMHO. (I have APD and have to consume shows by subtitles, so the sun is usually more legible for me than the dub).

If you are coming into Bleach from AEIWAM... You're likely to be a bit disappointed. I put a shitload of work into the worldbuilding because Bleach does not, I write almost exclusively slice-of-life character moments rather than big battles, and I have made some pretty fucking radical changes to some of the characters. An Elephant Is Warm And Mushy is an entirely different genre than Bleach, and that's ok, because fic usually is radically different than it's source material. But also be prepared.

TL;DR: Bleach is mid and that's ok! My fic is different than it and that is also ok! I still recommend it with the reservations of : it's prototypical of its time period and contains many of the gross tropes from that era. It is also very much a horror shonen, just to be clear. Fucked up shit happens on screen, mostly cannibalism! Which is great IMHO, but you should probably take a stroll through DoesTheDogDie.com for more specific trigger warnings before beginning.

[oriley42]

Serious question but no need to answer if you don’t want to

I see a lot of talk about Amber’s portrayal being sexist in the show, but I’m not quite sure why? To me her motives always seemed really well-defined (high pressure = “I’m only worthy when I’m successful”) so she puts on this sharky mask with a feminine facade so she is feminine enough to get a certain amount of approval but never shows how much she cares (which could be used against her but also could be used to undermine her “oh you’re too soft”). I thought the show did an excellent job of showing a mask for her

But a lot of people talk about 00s sexism and how it impacts her characterization. The sexism… Is it that she gets called a cutthroat bitch? Or how her story revolves around a man after she leaves House’s team? Is it the fridging?

Any of those could be it I guess but it just sounds like you and others are talking about something a little more fundamental to her personhood so I thought I’d ask if I’m missing anything.

Very interesting question! I think you're getting at exactly the trickiness of the issue, which is that sexism always operates systemically. It's not that any key aspect of Amber's character "is" misogynist, it's that every aspect of her character is automatically filtered through a lens of sexism.

In today's world where "bitch" has been very de-clawed, turned into a more casual and way less gendered insult that's used without cruel intention in queer slang, I think it's hard to understand just how violent the term was--and was meant to be--in the aughts. House in canon is not calling Amber a bitch in a cute, almost self-deprecating, friendly way (though I think it's valid to re-write it that way in fic to defuse the term!). He is calling her a bitch to contain and belittle and dehumanize her. We see the term mobilized this way against Cuddy in 5 to 9 as well: calling a woman a bitch was an extremely powerful rhetorical tool to turn any dangerously competent, brilliant, threateningly accomplished woman back into a harmless, debased, controllable object. So, "CB" reflects how easily the fact that Amber is the "female House" gets turned against her--it doesn't mean she's an eccentric genius like him, it means she's an evil copycat who needs to be put down. And this kind of structural logic applies to her whole characterization--it doesn't matter that House does it all more frequently and worse, if she does it, it's unacceptable because she's a woman. (There are parallels here with how racism means that when Foreman acts like House, he also gets the axe instead of the narrative bending over backwards to make what he did alright.) That's why she was fired, after all!

And her death. Woof. Classic case of killing a woman for man-pain. Everything supposedly about her death is actually about how her violent destruction can be used to fuel Wilson and House's character arcs. The narrative is occasionally conscious of this, for example, Wilson saying "none of you even liked Amber" is an almost metatextual reminder of how cruelly she was disenfranchised in every way (including the sexism of her trying to "defect" to the men's team early on, having no female friends, because unlike House who has so many people orbiting him, she is truly alone). Comparing her death to Kutner's is instructive: Kutner gets a whole episode that's about characters desperately trying to know him better. They trace their relationships towards him. Amber, on the other hand, is nearly absent from her own death. The characters trace away from her and towards the way male characters feel (Wilson's loss, House's guilt). Amber becomes just an imagined figure of House's guilt. Even her ghost is not her own. (Though I think many fans do a more feminist read and reclaim the way she haunts the narrative--but imho that would be a negotiated if not fully oppositional reading, to use Stuart Hall's decoding/encoding terms.)

One easy way to see that gendered difference is in how the show refers to these characters after death. Kutner is always "Kutner," never just "House's dead fellow" or rarely "our dead colleague." Amber is often referred to as "Wilson's dead girlfriend." Kutner is his own person, Amber rhetorically gets reduced to an object belonging to a man.

In conclusion: sexism operates structurally, which can make it hard to identify! And one of the funny effects of contemporary fandom doing so much good work to un-fridge women and give marginalized female characters richer personalities and more chances to grow is that canon's intended message of sexism gets obscured. Which, is awesome? Keep up the good work! Let's make misogyny unintelligible 🎉

[madamscream]

Many people think that the sloth is the slowest moving mammal on the planet. It’s actually me. Anyways, here's that list of erotic fanfiction I promised @trashy-corvian way too long ago. It's not complete but I've somehow become sort of busy and I figure I can always do a part two!

Since we’re talking about my favourites, there’s going to be a lot of Barbatos, monster-fucking, and dominant!reader. I Know What I Am About.

Will offer the pairing(s), a blurb, and information on reader gender if that’s relevant. As for kinks, please check the tags in any fic before reading, I literally have no way of accounting for everyone’s tastes and I enjoy some odd things. 

If a fic covers most of the cast but excludes some, I’ll list that instead of a pairing. None of the links have anything sexual with Luke, but I’ll still list him in the exclusions if I’m listing exclusions.

Lessons in Demonic Anatomy by Sexxica (tumblr)

MC has no gender, their genitals are not mentioned. Luke, Raphael, Mephistopheles, and Thirteen aren’t in the fic, but everyone else is.

One of my favourite, if not my very favourite smut fic because… I like reading about people jacking off, and this is basically a list of my favourite characters doing that. They are all amply aware they’re being watched, it’s all consensual. A+, have kinda wanted to write my own fic along a similar premise since reading it.

—

wear your independence like a crown by Koumine (thesecretsavant) on Ao3

Lucifer x MC

Written in second-person, the reader has a vagina, gender-neutral though Sir is the chosen title for MC.

I’m pretty eh on Lucifer, but people write some really tasty smut for him. A friend sent me this one, and they were correct to do so. By and large, it’s a collection of explicit scenes between the two that take place over time. It’s well written and the author has at very least done a lot of research into BDSM relationships if they don’t partake in them personally, which is always nice to see in a BDSM fic.

—

Mammon's First and Mammon’s Second by Avatar_Saiki

Mammon x MC

Gender neutral MC, no genitals mentioned for them.

Set shortly after the taming of Cerberus in Nightbringer. Mammon gets a blowjob. Genuinely really good characterization of the brothers and the MC is fun. The blowjob is nice, but I like the conversation between Asmodeus and Mammon ABOUT the blowjob best, because it’s honestly pretty cute imho.

Warm Inside and Out by HiddenOnyx

Gender neutral MC, implied to have a vagina in some of them. Luke, Raphael, Thirteen, and Mephisto are not included.

It occurs to me I’m sort of handing out a very public kink list. Anyways, this is a series of drabbles about cockwarming with the cast.

Kinktober: Obey Me Edition by InvertedPhantasmagoria (tumblr)

Possibly varied on the pronoun/genital situation, honestly not sure. Everyone but Luke, Raph, Mephisto, and Thirteen.

I will not lie, I haven’t read every entry because I just don’t like some of the kinks. The ones I do like are very good though! To no one’s surprise, chapter 31 is my favourite. They’re good at capturing desperation, which is something I enjoy GREATLY.

How do you like your tea? by wubzee

SolomonxBarbatos

I’m a sucker for aphrodisiac fics. Barb + Golden Hellfire Newt Syrup + Solomon’s a bastard. I’d say this is pretty non-con. It’s been a while since I read it properly, but skimming through… it’s pretty non-con.

carpe dick-em by wubzee

LuciferxSolomon (though I don’t think that ever happens actually)

Okay… so… to be fair… when I initially asked someone for the link to the Lucifer erectile dysfunction fic they mentioned, I was not actually aware of the clown fetish aspect. I like clowns just fine, but I am not personally horny about them. Despite the fact that there is next to nothing in this fic I would ever seek out, I did end up really enjoying it. And I’ve just noticed wubzee is on here twice so maybe I should read the rest of their stuff.

Arvandus writes really good Barbatos fanfiction. Also other things too, just… I have a particular area of interest.  As far as smut…

Of Love and Pacts the smut is great, of course, but I read this and my brain has not stopped riffing on the concept since. Making a pact mid-intercourse? Fucking amazing, no notes. Other things also, but it’d be kinda wild to put spoilers in my fic rec…

The Divine is fun because the first half of the fic is a date, deals with mortality, and made me cry like a baby. Then the second half hit me with some of the best-written smut anyone’s ever put to paper. Amazing. I wish all fics were like this… or maybe I just wish someone would pay Arv millions of dollars to write fics about Barb as a full time job.

Really can’t go wrong with earthliving, aka another-lost-mc

If I had to pick favourites… 

Angels at the Door tops the list. Something about characters listening to someone fuck the person they’re into and jacking off to it the next room over is entirely too lovely.

For Your Ears Only I don’t have any specific praises for this one, the whole thing is very nice.

Put A Spell On You I may or may not rotate the bit about Barbatos excusing himself around in my head More Days Than Not 

Got Milk? probably isn’t a favourite out of all their works for me personally but it did spark a very long series of daydreams and thus Must Be Mentioned

Human by getosubaru

Barb x MC, no pronouns but MC has a vagina

I asked a friend for their favourite fics and they happened to drop this one in my lap that I’ve been looking for for AGES. It’s pretty vanilla compared to a lot of the other stuff but it kicked down the door and made a home in my brain.

Various things by frenchfry_writes

Special shout out. They no longer write for the fandom, but they wrote good fic for a lot of very niche kinks that I like a lot and several that will make me tap out of a fic instantly. Often wrote AMAB or trans male reader. I’m not really warning for specific kinks in this list, but piss and vomit are a lot for many people (me included and I’m actively into omorashi) so like… they write for various watersports and emeto. Be aware of that. 

---

Special note: There’s one I skimmed my entire Ao3 history trying to find to no avail, to my severe distress. It’s largely about learning through experiencing how courtship works in the Devildom… Mammon leaves MC the heart of a big bird on their bed, then kills a guy for them. Levi kills a BUNCH of guys for them and they do the nasty while one of the corpses is floating in his floor-to-ceiling aquarium. If anyone knows where I can find that one again, I’d really like to have it back, it had some interesting world building :c I really hope it wasn't deleted.

EDIT: cosmicstarlatte comin' in clutch "the levi fic (you can then click the author for the others): https://archiveofourown.org/works/38520418"

[leandra-kinard]

Petty, bitter rant ahead. Maybe not 100% fair (but also not completely inaccurate, imho)

I LOVE how us BT shippers are handling this all (this is not the petty part). And it makes me once more feel kind of smugly proud, especially on contrast to what the BoBs have been doing for the past half year.

What did/do the BoBs do when they are dissatisfied with the storyline? Repetitive, ridiculous, mantra-like one-liners ("Bummy bones!", "Jumpscare!"), insults towards the cast and the characters ("He's ugly").

And when they try to engage with the media a bit more deeply, it's inane babblings about fridge magnets and tinhatting about "Buddie canon, confirmed!" at every turn. It's very reductive, very much crafting a reality around the single-issue point they need to confirm - which kind of nicely fits how the writing of the show itself is reductive and crafts the plot around a few points Tim wants to include, whether it makes sense in a grand scheme or not (it doesn't!).

Us on the other hand?

Some expression of our frustration and disappointment, even sadness, yes. But all of it based on and backed up with actual facts from the narrative itself, or what it technically should have demanded for but didn't follow up with. Instead of throwing tamper tantrums like the worst-behaved toddlers you remember from kindergarten, we have written well-worded criticisms, even essays and analyses on official and unofficial channels.

And while, yes, we need to express our disappointment, our anger and our hurt, most of us are doing something the BoBs were never ready to: we'll stop watching. (Or watch sometime later, more casually, and once we know where the stories are heading). We're not going to posts by Buddie shippers, harassing them over how stupid they are, how ugly and shitty their ship is.

We truly are the smarter, wiser ones, and I think we were too smart and wise for this stupid (and often very lazily, carelessly written) show.

Let the BoBs have this shitshow. We'll have fanon.

[threetrenchcoatsinatrenchcoat]

What is the three houses musical?

THANK YOU YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL

ok so Three Houses is a one-act sung-through stage musical by Dave Malloy, whom you may know for writing Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 or perhaps Ghost Quartet. i don't know the broadway scene super well, but he seems to be one of the few people consistently trying interesting things in musical theatre.

it's the stories of Susan, Sadie, and Beckett, each finding themselves suddenly, achingly alone at the beginning of the pandemic. alone with the parts of themselves they'd been trying to run from. their tales (almost) never directly interact, but they all end up helping each other heal. the way this happens is hard to explain but it's one of the things that makes me freeeeeak out about how cool theatre can be. and i really don't wanna say what literally happens more than that. you can click here if you wanna watch with no further spoilers, but below is a vague list of what i love about it...

i started out enjoying the orchestration and crazy harmonies, then got way pulled into the story where i was like i actually have no idea how any of this ends, then finished and was like i wanna live in this sound and just replayed it a ton, and now i'm having fun trying to unearth all the million symbols connecting each story. it has stunning glacial beauty interposed with observations and jokes that hit way too close to home. Dave Malloy always shows such deep love for every character he writes, but he's never written anything anywhere near as personal as this. this piece feels like he figured out how to heal his own soul and put it on a stage. to pitch this to you specifically, it's about as aesthetically different as you can get from Rent but is also very much about the sanctity of presence and fostering community during a plague.

it's got ghosts, vinyl, butterflies, the gecko emoji, fairy tales, undiagnosed ocd, Fleetwood Mac, a fish festival, puppets, a hurdy-gurdy solo, a retro jacuzzi worth 7,000 coins, wwii, zombie movies, drunk karaoke, irish mythology, lesbian yearning, "the birch trees stand like ghosts" "celtic monks and old Luke Skywalker" "answering work emails in slightly too poetic ways" "nothing beats alphabetical order!" "my heart broke and then the world broke and then my brain broke too" "and the birch trees stand like ghosts" "planktastic!" "all labeled by year (swoon!)" "maybe you should pierce an ear go full on midlife crisis" "so many nights i'd wake up with a scream in my throat swallow it down let my love sleep" "and the birch trees stand like ghosts"

more than that, it's got some of my favorite performances in anything, and more than that, it got a cast album that came out a week and change ago which is why i am going crazy only now, but even more than any of that, it's got that bootleg! if you have an hour and forty minutes to watch weird theatre, imho this is the best it gets

[castlekriegler]

Hello everybody! :D

Master Eckhardt, I have a confession! xD For the past two weeks I've been trying to get used to the remastered Kurtis. His new looks has been bothering me. Yes, me, one of the most obsessed people with Lartis and AOD. :( :( :( It makes me feel sad and confused. I was not sure if to write anything because I didn't want to be spoiling the ongoing party! Plus I didn't want to criticize in public too much because that would feel like back-stabbing all the people involved…

Luckily yesterday I realized that with some minor adjustments and rather small changes made here and there, he could be close to perfection and way closer to the original. ;D

Just to make myself clear: I have NEVER meant to bother or attack the creators and/or fans of the remastered version of Kurtis. I'm happy that many people love the new Kurtis' face. And I'm glad, grateful, excited and enthusiastic that TRAOD has got another chance to shine. (Even though we all know that there have been some quality and other issues mostly caused by the lack of time - which is unforgivable! by the people who caused it - AOD has always deserved more and seems to be cursed by the time restrains…)

Anyway I wasn't sure what exactly was bothering me about the new face in Kurtis' case, but something was definitely off to me. I couldn't put my finger on where the problem was, but yesterday I figured it out. At least I think. ;) I made these rough edits last week and et voilà - Welcome back, Kurtis Trent! :D (Sorry for the bad quality. I had only a very simple rectangular selection tool at hand, but you get the picture - I'm planning to make 'clean' versions as well when I have more time.)

(The pictures on the right are the edited ones.)

(The original picture posted by @angel-in-shadow: https://angel-in-shadow.tumblr.com/post/776308000718716928/soooooo-i-might-have-some-remastered-kuris-mesh)

The jaw and chin

The bony face shape from some angles (not visible here) makes him look much younger and even a little bit starving. xD But more importantly, PLS, get rid of the protruding (hag's xD) chin. It doesn't suit him IMHO. It changes a face a lot; it's completely different type of chin. I have a problem with the fact that the original face didn't have even a tiny hint of that face trait. Also his upper lip is does not stick out anymore and the lips are not so uneven now.

(The original picture posted by @minis-gaming: https://minis-gaming.tumblr.com/post/776146302680596480/the-demon-hunter)

The hair and his lips

I'd personally prefer his hair a little bit darker (not visible in the dark pictures in general) and the front hair shorter. I would also add more hair to the front - like overgrown bangs of a sort - more of it getting into his eyes (and covering his forehead more). I also flattened his hair on the top of his head. It looked almost like backcombed xD. Also the strand of hair thrown into the back the remastered Kurtis has - I have no idea how it could stay in place like that. xD The fringe-like haircut seems to be more practical and 'free' and without a need of adjusting it every minute. xD

The shape of his upper lip looks really weird in some angles. I made the upper lip narrower in the second pic. That was it. But to me the difference is HUGE. (The model seems to be okay though, so I guess it's more like a matter of textures or something… Sorry, I'm not very familiar with the 3D terminology.)

(Again the right picture is the edited one - I only made the original on the left lighter.)

I can recognize him now. I wonder if anyone agrees with me?

Of course, the original graphics (lacking in some ways for today standards) was leaving more space for imagination, so I admit we all could see the characters a little bit differently. ;)

Do I like the new remastered face? Yes - with some reservations. All in all, he has always been more than just a pretty face. ;) His appearance is important to me of course, but I especially LOVE his character. On the other hand, like seriously, look at the difference the edited pics make… *drolls* :D AWWW!!!!!! *crazyfangirling* I NEED THESE CHANGES! :P :D :D :D

Many people won't probably agree with me on several points in this post (PLEASE LET ME STILL JOIN THE PARTY!), but I'm just sharing some of my thoughts here. And wondering about your opinions. ;) And I'm also writing this to let the fans of the original model of Kurtis know that they are not alone. ;) :P Either way, the original is still here, so we all can be happy. A WIN-WIN situation, isn't it? ;D

PHEW! I have SO needed to get these thoughts out! You have no idea… I guess I'm too much into the issue; well, it's been a while since my obsession with AOD started, so please have patience and bear with me. xD We have spent a really long time with the original game… ;)

[silenzahra]

Hey there, my amazing spiritual twin!

Don't mind me, I just invited myself in to gush over your writing for a moment😁 You'd better get comfortable because this might be a bit lengthy. Here we go!

So that little snippet from your angsty Brothership wip you were kind enough to share with me in your answer to my ask? So good, I was basically reduced to a little happy dog, wagging my tail and all that jazz, because I'm just so excited to read, no, to DEVOUR the whole thing once it's ready! It's gonna be totally awesome, I already know it🔥

Your other ideas you shared with me in the past? Looking forward to those too! Take as much time as you need with them though, I'm happy to know I'll have so much Zahra Writing to read in the future, possibly and hopefully for years to come🥰

And "Without him", the story you wrote based on my art? Oh my goodness, even just thinking about it still makes me so emotional🥹 Not only is it inspired by my art and a wonderful birthday present for me (and that's not even the only one you gave me! The other one was a banger too!), but it was also an incredibly written masterpiece imho. I've been itching to reread it, and I think I'll do it soon!

And you've been writing shorter stories based on my art as well as others', too, and they also deserve love and appreciation! I'm so honored to be among the artists who inspire you🫶 I can only hope to continue to do so!

Now, I know that your Luaisy stories in particular mean a lot to you. I'm sorry that I'm not quite the target audience for those and can't match your level of enthusiasm for the couple😅 But you know that, at least to my knowledge, I've still read them all, just like the Mareach ones. They're all very nicely written, my super talented twin! I think you can write any kind of relationship well, and I would actually love to see more of father-daughter stuff from you about Luigi and your OC Violet🥰

I love how music, usually your favorite band Estopa's, can inspire your writing. I love how you write the Mario characters and especially the Mario Bros. and the relationship between them. I adore the way you portray emotions and thoughts of the characters making it very easy to connect with them. How you describe action, how you can build suspense and atmosphere. I admire and respect the fact that you write your stories in Spanish first and then translate to English, effectively doing both the typical writing + editing work AND translation on top of that. You are amazing, and I wish you'd believe it as much as I, as well as many others, do.

Also, in the light of my recently developed anxiety and problems with sleeping, the comfort aspect of your fics is appreciated more than ever... I remember when Biggest Fear was able to calm me down enough to help me fall asleep as you advised me to🥲

You are an incredible writer whose works I love to reread (as you know, and so does my phone's browser - remember?) and I'm very confident that what you write in the future will be glorious! Please, have faith in yourself, because you know I do❤️💚🫂

I hope you feel better soon! Now, it wouldn't be a complete Emotional Support Ask from your twin without some hug gifs, so:

I love you, okay? Please be kind to yourself☺️❤️

Mugi. My EXTREMELY BELOVED twin bro. I know you sent this ask a couple of nights ago and I couldn't answer it earlier, but as you know I screenshoted it and I've been rereading it over and over again... and it never fails to move me deeply 🥹🥹🥹

My inbox is your inbox, of course!! It ALWAYS makes me so happy and giddy to see I got a new ask from you 🥹🥹 And this time you sent a long one because you knew I'm struggling with my writing lately... Seriously, if I loved you more, my heart would BURST 😭😭🫂🫂

Okay, your words about my Brothership WIP have me wagging my tail like a happy dog 🥹🥹🥹 Oh, Mugi, it means the entire UNIVERSE to me that you enjoyed the snippet so much!! Dnsojgnsripsapkvsedlñ your words are seriously so motivating, holy cow 😭😭😭 I have to say, even if I haven't touched that fic in a while, I'm actually quite proud with how it was turning out. And... the climax of the story will be even MORE angsty than the snippet I shared 👀👀👀 I may or may not be feeling like going back to it TODAY thanks to your supportive and encouraging words, bro. I literally can't thank you enough for giving me the boost that I needed to resume that fic at last and focus entirely on it. You have this power over me and I just can't thank you enough 🫂❤️💚

I'm so glad that you remember all my ideas that I've shared with you!! 🥹🥹 I know I'm taking forever to bring them all to life, but awww I'm so MOVED that you want more Zahra Writing for the future 😭😭😭 Seriously, you loving my writing so much makes me wanna scream and kick my feet and warms my heart so much. I'm over the moon right now 🥹😭🫂 You shall have your wish granted, bro, even if I'll still take some time. But I'll do it for you 💚❤️

Oh my God, you still get emotional just by thinking of Without him??? 😭😭😭 I absolutely LOVED your reblog and I swear I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw you being so touched, bro 🥹🥹🥹 I'm HONORED that my story could make you feel this way, Mugi. I kept you in my mind all the time while I was working on it and I wanted it to be as perfect as possible since it was meant for you. I LOVED bringing two of your amazing pieces together and gifting the story to you for your birthday, together with the rewrite of An electrical aura. I'm looking forward to writing more stories for you in the future, and I just couldn't be happier that you enjoyed this first fic that I wrote inspired by your art. I'm seriously about to cry that you consider it a masterpiece, like WHAT 😭😭😭 Thank you SO MUCH, my twin 🫂🫂🫂 I hope you'll enjoy rereading it just as much as the first time you read it 🥹💚❤️

Aww yes, I absolutely LOVE writing short stories for some specific pieces 🤩🤩 Thank you for acknowledging them too, bro!! I know I haven't done it too often but I've 100% enjoyed every single time that I did 🥰🥰 As you can see your art continues to be VERY inspiring for me, and I'm so glad you've enjoyed the short drabbles that I've written so far!! Again I'm looking forward to doing it more in the future, and of course I have my eye on your art 😁😁 I have no doubt you'll continue to inspire me, bro!! 🥰🥰

Oh please, Mugi, don't apologize for not sharing my Luaisy obsession with me 😭🫂 I totally get that you're not into it, and you know I deeply appreciate that you still went and read my two Luaisy fics as well as the Mareach ones. It touches me deeply that you wanna read everything that I write even when it's not your cup of tea 🥹🥹 You're one of my biggest supporters, reading even what you don't fully enjoy just so I can feel your love and support. Believe me: I do feel them 🫂🫂🫂 And I'm so grateful. One of the greatest lucks in my life is having you as my amazing twin brother. You make me feel so good about myself ❤️💚

Also! I DO wanna write more content with Luigi being my little Violet's dad and them bonding together and all that 🥹🥹 Actually, ever since I listened to a certain song that someone showed me a few days ago, I've felt the need to write them together again very soon... 🤭 And OMG thank you for saying that I can write any relationship, that's also such a great boost for my self-esteem as a writer 😭🫂

... Okay, your next paragraph has me ugly sobbing, my twin 🥲🥲🥲 You basically praised ALL aspects of my writing, like... What if I CRY 😭😭😭 Seriously, I feel like printing it and hanging it up in my wall so I can have a constant reminder of what makes my writing so good. And why my beloved bro loves it so much. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU. Just, you're helping me remember why I love writing so much. Every single thing that you listed... I love it all. I love doing it all. Even the translation thing as much as at times I struggle, especially with idioms. But I still enjoy it, just as much as everything else. I... I sincerely don't see myself as being amazing, but I'll believe it because you said so 👉👈 I'm so honored that you and so many others see me this way. I promise that I'm working on it, and your words truly are helpful and helpe me believe in myself. I shall listen to my beloved and awesome twin bro. Thank you 🫂💚❤️

Oh, Mugi 🥺🥺 Believe me, I'd do WHATEVER I could do to fully erase the anxiety from your life. It's not easy at all to live with it... so I'm deeply moved and relieved that my fics can comfort you, especially Biggest fear. Even if I can't be physically there for you, my words can, so in a way it's like I'm actually there by your side. And it warms my heart so much 🫂🫂

Guabiedmnglksd there you go again, making me cry once more 😭😭🫂🫂 I know that you love rereading my stuff and I still get so emotional whenever I remember it 🥹🥹 Your confidence in me really is contagious, my twin, because you really make me feel like I'm capable of doing anything. Your faith in me is deeply appreciated, and I shall cultivate mine so I can continue to share more stories in the future that will hopefully be able to bring you more comfort. Just like you've done with me through this amazing, encouraging, and very touching ask that means EVERYTHING to me 🫂❤️💚

I love you so much, my dear brother. Thank you for everything that you do for me 🫂💚❤️

[nalyra-dreaming]

Do you have any quotes of Anne Rice talking about Marius? Outside of what she wrote in the books, I mean. In her own words, did she describe what sort of person she intended him to be, what impression she intended to leave on the reader?

I keep getting confused whether she made the Christian Grey mistake, where she as an author might have meant to write a perfect fantasy 24/7 S&M relationship to get wet to - but accidentally made it abusive by forgetting the added layer of setting the physically and verbally hurtful interactions between him and his partners within the context of consensual roleplay,

or whether she intentionally wrote an abusive, insecure red flag dom because her setting is horror and the point of horror fiction is to have morally grey people do problematic things, and that's okay.

To deescalate, I actually enjoy reading Marius. He was my favourite character for many years.

I just want to be clear whether Anne Rice was aware that his self assessment - as a calm, wise, benevolent scholar and generous lover - does not reflect how he acts towards the other characters?

:) I... am not sure. If she was aware about that I mean.

I have been through the Facebook posts that I could find, I have read what was shared from Tulane, and... I am not sure. I would like to say yes, but... I am not sure.

There is a short one about Marius here:

Anne was a subconscious writer, imho, and iirc she has been called that by others as well. A lot of the bigger arcs that map at times over the whole of the chronicles are not immediately imminent on reading one singular book, and I don't think she really "planned" them, I think her subconscious did that for her.

So with that said, I think that reflects on her characters, too.

Characters like Marius, David, they are introduced as the benevolent scholar, the mentor - and then, and then more and more details emerge, and the reader grows to realize a lot about them, about the self-image of the characters, about the way they delude themselves. Or how their actions hurt or impact others.

Anne was very good writing like that, in-character I mean, and a character with flaws. Her character voices are all distinctly different, and oftentimes you only arrive at a fuller picture over several of the books, when you have "seen" that character through other's eyes. Or have heard a bit more of their story, have seen them interact.

When some of what you have read... clicks into place. Like the ending of Blood and Gold, for example. Marius bringing Thorne there after having told him his tale... for an effect (sounds familiar, eh?^^^).

But I digress.

I think Anne's "love" for her characters cannot really be equated to her intention for her characters, or how she subverted their initial image in a lot of cases over the books.

Because as the author she created them, and so the abstract form of these characters was something she loved, no matter what else she gave them.

In the case of Marius that subversion is subtle, but it is there, and Anne wrote it. I think that cannot be dismissed, if subconscious or not - but Anne wrote the little nods towards abusiveness, the whipping, she wrote Marius wanting Lestat to become his pupil... and Lestat never really doing that, for example. There are a lot of reasons for that, reasons that are strewn throughout the books.

"Lestat" says in TVL that you "have to read between the lines" - and I think that is a good advice for Anne's books - there is a lot left unsaid, a lot only insinuated - a lot only reflected by characters' behaviors.

Insofar... I think a part of her must have been aware. Deep, deep down at least.

And it is a scathing reflection of our world, is it not, that the ones that claim to be the ones we should follow, the ones who claim they are in the know... are the ones who reveal themselves to have depths to them that repulse. And that we only realize that through time, slowly, and at times unwillingly even.

I find Marius a fascinating character. He is not necessarily my favorite - but I find him fascinating, because of the myriad of facets Anne imbued him with, the good and the bad.

Whoever will portray him on the show though... will have his work cut out for him :))

[forgotten-daydreamer]

"I hate how they're writing Damian in Batman #146, he can't be that dumb, he's so ooc."

I mean, they're writing him almost as if he were a literal child who wants, no, needs to believe that his father's ideals aren't as fucked up as his mother's, who blindly believes in the man whom he learnt to trust despite being raised with widely different beliefs and ideals for the majority of his so-far short life.

Almost as if Damian were a pre-teen, or young teen at most (because how old can he be here, 13? 14?) who desperately clings onto the belief, onto the hope that his father hasn't really abandoned him, because his father is Batman, and Batman always has a plan, doesn't he? Obscure, complex, but a plan nonetheless, and it (almost) always turns out fine, so Damian needs to trust him, he knows he can, he knows that Batman is safe.

Logically, everyone else is older; I think the one whose age he's closest to might be Tim here, who's about 18 as usual, I guess. But Damian is a child, he's a child who's overall relatively new to Batman's antics, and he's a child who (unfortunately) rarely saw the difference between Batman and Bruce Wayne, a child who rarely got to meet Bruce Wayne at all, if you think of it.

You (you readers, not the characters in the story - because it makes sense for them to be so lost in the plot of their world that they lose sight of things) cannot blame a child for being delusional for believing with his whole heart that his father is not an evil bastard who's attacking everyone, allies included, family included. Because again, Damian doesn't really have a clear idea of how Batman and Bruce Wayne differ, he rarely got the priviledge to be with his father, Bruce Wayne, and not with his work partner, Batman.

You (readers) cannot really tell me that you're putting the blame on a child for 'snapping out of it' so late.

Of course, everyone is free to have their opinions, and if you think that this version of Damian is ooc or whatever, it's a valid, let's agree to disagree. But from a narrative pov, you can't possibly deny that it makes sense for Damian to be acting like this. He's a child, a literal child.

Expecting him to regulate his emotions as well as his sibs do is messed up. Which, by the way, they don't. Dick is a mess but keeping it together - except for the whole "punching your father senseless" thing, but good for him, I'd have done the same there. Jason is a mess and doesn't try to hide it, Steph is baffled and Babs is exhausted. The others are nowhere to be seen (and I'd have done the same pt2). Tim's the only one with a plan that's actually somewhat good - hope he makes Bruce snap out of his fear-induced little gateaway once and for all.

I know not many are fans of this run, but honestly? I'm digging it, it's possibly one of my faves. I love the drama, love the angst, love the plot-twists, like Damian snapping out of it just for Zur to silence him? Backup Robin who grins suspiciously like Jason? Tim ditching his phone - which is ossibly the most shocking thing? I'm hyped as hell.

All of this endless yapping to say that, okay, feel free to hate this or whatever, but please be humble enough to admit that Damian is being written exactly like he should be. I get it, DCAU gave us "Damian who talks like an old man, who never smiles and doesn't understand his peers" and it's cool. He's a bit like that in the comics too. But newer comics have a (very welcome, imho) tendency to write him as 'awkward' while simultaneously keeping in mind that he's a teen. And it's the best thing ever.

I, for one, needed reassurance at Damian's age. I needed an anchor and that anchor were my parents - growing up, the dynamics shifted but it's not the point. At 13, 14, or whatever Damian's age is, you're just a child who needs reassurance, because you're changing, the world around you is changing, and you're disoriented as if lost at sea. Writing Damian like that makes sense, it's not even up for debate.

He's not ooc, and he's not dumb either.

He's just a child.

Feel free to dislike how they're writing him, feel free to dislike literally every single detail about everything, this is a free world. But please don't tell me that needing a parental figure to be there for you, and that siding with said parental figure no matter what because they're essentially all you got left (rip batfam I guess?) - is ooc for a child. Damian is a child, don't forget that.

[amiya-shirou]

Spoilers about Miquella and Marika's DLC Lore

Hate how there's so much black and white perspective in the Elden Ring community, especially regarding Miquella and Marika. Sorry if this sounds too much like an aggressive rant, it's not really my intention

"Miquella did fucked up shit which clearly clashes with his previous lore about being kind and compassionate, SOTE has bad writing" even in the base game he was already said to be the most fearsome of the demigods and it was kinda implied that he made kindness his weapon as he knew well how to make others love him, perfectly consistent with Ansbach's speech

"Miquella is manipulative so obviously he never really cared about Malenia" with all the things he did for her? is it so hard to believe he truly cared about his twin sister for the sake of which he went so far as to find ways to protect her from an Outer God's influence? with Malenia seemingly knowing about Miquella's plan and everything?

"Radahn loved his horse and protected people so he was obviously a perfectly good gigachad who could never ever agree with Miquella" he was among the forces attacking Leyndell. his ideal was Godrey - a conqueror, and the first Elden Lord. having an obsession with battle and war certainly doesn't sound like someone who could never do anything wrong, no matter how honorable he might be in battle.

"Marika did a lot of bad things and was a tyrant so obviously she never held any real love for poor Messmer or even Godwin and all she cared about was power." she made blessings to help Messmer specifically, something unique enough it's specified she never did such a thing again. 2 of these are dropped by Tree Sentinels protecting her home village which she bathed with Grace and clearly held deep love for. She went to great lengths to help him with his curse when she could have just killed him or imprisoned him where he coulnd't be of harm like she did with the Omen twins. she smashed the Elden Ring, literally sacrificing her position as queen as that action put her against the Greater Will and resulted in her shackling, which definitely doesn't sound like someone who cares about power and herself alone. And about that, if she's been imprisoned ever since before the start of the game with no one knowing about it, why are most people so easily assuming she voluntarily abandoned and ignored Messmer? she physically couldn't contact him if she wanted to. Like, it's debatable, maybe she did abandon him since before the Shattering, but it definitely doesn't feel that obvious to me, and Messmer misinterpreting her disappearance feels more in tune with the FromSoft style tragedy

all this sounds like those who insisted that since Ranni caused the Shattering then of course she can only be evil and manipulative all the time and clearly holds no real affection for the Tarnished and is only manipulating us as well. Which I feel completely clashes with her questline, narrative and characterization.

Kind people can still do evil, especially if they don't fully realize how bad what they're doing is, or if they think they're making a necessary sacrifice. Cruel, fucked up people can still love, and love might be the very reason why they ended up being so cruel. This is something the whole game is built on, and even before Elden Ring, a constant of the Souls series has been about fighting tragic individuals who ended up in antagonistic positions despite their originally good intentions.

imho Marika and Miquella are both better, more complex character than they would have been otherwise, and leave more to discuss about the game's themes and narratives, specifically because they have multiple facets to them. The hated Queen of the Golden Order was originally a victim. Her kind son who tried to fix his family's wrongdoings discarded so much of himself and did so many things to achieve his dream of compassion that he ended up being just as wrong as his mother. Isn't this much more interesting than putting out an entire game-sized DLC just to say "manipulative evil queen girlboss truly didn't care about anything and just wanted power!!" and "Kindly Miquella is so perfect!!! this surely fits our 'nothing is perfect or eternal and everything is ambiguous' narrative"?

[helluvapurf]

Welp, after a long... loooooong road of S2 to sift through in HB, here's my official review of the "Sinsmas" finale to wrap things up (*no Christmas pun-intended lol*):

NOTE: My thoughts below will contain some obv spoilers so you miiiight wanna skip this post if you haven't watched "Sinsmas" yet; also like with all my past reviews these are just my personal opinions alone (+fair warning that I'll be getting a bit rant-y later too), so... do remember to keep things civil if you disagree with anything here (and if not, welp... yall are free to block & move on, I guess lol 🤷‍♀️), thank you 🙏🙏

Loona continuing to show more appreciation & excitement around her dad/I.M.P. is great to see, and about time we finally got her joining in on an assassination gig again (which I don't think we've had since S1's "Spring Broken"?). I like her new Hellhound friends shown towards the end too, they look chill~

As much as I've lowkey grown a bit... disinterested in M&M these past few episodes (not to a hate-level or anything but they just don't really... "spark" for me, OTP-wise?), it is nice to see a return to their bloodthirsty-based couple fluff (aka: their lil Sinsmas-based playfight at the beginning), bringing me back a bit to the og pilot days (ex. "Oh Millie" ❤️). -Buuuut dang, who would've thought things would escalate to Millie turning out pregnant?? .o. I know there's been some controversy for Millie's less-than-happy reaction about it towards the end; but honestly I absolutely don't blame the poor gal if you consider: 1) She's a proud fighter & trained assassin who's always been passionate about her current line of work, and (depending on how imp pregnancies work) having this potentially putting her out of a job for a long while would make anyone stressed out imho 2) Imps are considered the lowest-of-the-low ranked species within Hell as it is; with not a whole lot of access to good paying jobs + medical coverage (given Blitz's struggle to get Loona her vaccinations). Imagine you were someone who found yourself expecting a child with a good chunk of Hell not considering you "high-up" enough in the food chain to care... wouldn't you get freaked out too? 3) Lastly, and this being among the biggest points to me personally... did her & Moxxie ever talk about having kids before? Given the implication that they rushed to get married so soon after dating (+Millie not even knowing about Moxx's mafia background til WAY after), I... can't say I'd be surprised if Millie's fear is partially based on how Moxxie would react (for better or worse). Kids are by-far among the biggest dealbreakers for any relationship, so while I don't necessarily think this'll cause something like a split between M&M... yeaaaah I wouldn't be surprised if this still caused some lingering-tension either way, regardless of if they go through with this pregnancy or not 🤷‍♀️ (On a side note; loved seeing Sallie May popping up to give that well-needed support to her sis on the phone, aww 🥺)

The side-story with the "karen" sinner and her ex-drama was... weird, all things considered? .x.;; Like, yeah I can see the importance of how this plays into Blitz's relationship woes & such... but, am I the only one who found it weird the writing going all "moralistic" with Blitz NOT going through with the job, solely cause he imagined his idealized family in Stolas (whom I'll cover in a sec btw-) upon spying on the target + his partner & kids? 🤨 Like... I know I've seen some argue that this is "character development" for Blitz, which I normally wouldn't mind seeing... but mind you, this is the SAME dude who was all-too-fine killing a bratty kid, a wife & her happy (albeit cannibalistic) family, a whole bunch of random college kids on spring break (all for the sake of some parking spot drama with Verosika btw), and not even two shorts ago some horny fangirl got met with the same fate by his hands (mostly due to getting caught up in her own fantasy world... and thats it lol). So I just... have a hard time buying into this being some grand "change of heart" moment for Blitz tbh, cause with this whole episode taking place during the winter holiday season (an already money-draining time irl as-is), I... can't help but find it a lowkey dick move of Blitz to rob his fellow employees of a chance to have some more cash on-hand (esp. after the events of "Ghostf**kers" and him draining the company's finances over his Stolas mope-fest, like come on dude-🤦‍♀️). Heck, if he really-really didn't wanna do it (and this target family seems innocent enough to potentially escape Hell if-killed)... couldn't they have just lied to the lady that they did the deed & take her money anyway (-instead of Blitz immediately punting her out the window 'cause she was bitching about Stolas' writing😑)? Again, this IS Hell we're talking about, so a bit of dirty-dealing doesn't seem far out of the realm of normal there lmao. Buuuut idk, that may just be me... 🤷‍♀️

We're back again with Andre leading the story as the "main" bad guy, and I'll admit his final confrontation with Stolas & the I.M.P. gang was pretty kickass~ From Stolas throwing the first punches at his smug-ass face, the action-increasing with the ice dragons & Loona going "feral"-mode, and even Octavia coming in to defend everyone from her uncle (with her own personal magic) was pretty rad! 🤩👏👏 One thing that's bothering me about it all though... where tf is Stella during all this going on?? 🤨I know the show's pretty much committed atm to making her as one-dimensionally dumb & evil as possible (not even giving her much substantial dialogue after her repeated "hiLARRRIOUS MUAHAAA~" lines 😒 ), but surely someone like her wouldn't miss the chance to see her ex (+affair partner) smacked down by her brother?? Especially once Via arrived, just imagine the juicy drama potential of seeing Stella having to force herself (+Andre) to call off their attack to appease Via (further adding in salt to the wound for her later decision to walk away from Stolas). Hhhhh Viv, why must u be so allergic to developing Stella (antagonism-wise)... 😔😔

Now, as far as Stolas himself is concerned... *-sighs-* I know I'm gonna get some flack for saying this, but I caaaaaan't with his dude anymore🤦‍♀️ Yes, I get he's going through a tough time losing everything + adjusting to a simple life now (along with implied-withdrawal symptoms from the lack of "happy pills"). But just... the way Stolas kept getting MORE & more whiny/unappreciative of Blitz (after all he's done to accommodate Stolas, defend him against other imps, giving him a job at I.M.P. on top of everything-), then never uttering a single "thank you" for Blitz's efforts frustrated tf out of me 😑😑. You expect to buy that these two are these "deep destined soulmates" at the end of the day, to the point of Blitz practically becoming a giddy cheerleader to boost Stolas at every turn... ...and yet, at the same time you're telling me Blitz has never asked about Stolas' eating habits before, nor Stolas ever asking about Blitz's love of horses?? That outside of their failed date at Ozzy's, they never once tried to actually talk, share a meal or hangout aside from their once-a-month hookups (pre-"Full Moon")? Sure, the show implies that Stolas has asked about Blitz's day before (via-some throwaway lines + blink-and-you'll-miss-it texts)... but if the audience never actually sees those friendly gestures on-screen, how am I supposed to buy them being in-love now?? -_- Like, to take a note from "Swan Princess":

Taking away their childhood memory of playing together for a day, the sexual chemistry, the grand gestures, them both having goth angsty daughters... what else IS there for Stolas & Blitz to love about each other, truly? Its one thing if you wanna show them starting over as friends first (awkward roommate-vibes aside), then hell yeah I'd be down to see their rebuilding bond as a more balanced, genuine pairing down the line (making moments like their big kiss + balcony dance 10x more impactful imo)!👍

...But, with how things are now with Viv & crew rushing to go full-romance mode already (regardless of either character's emotional well-being in the story), I... don't think I can see myself joining the Stolas/Blitz ship hype tbh, regardless of what's to come in the next couple seasons...🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Now, to cap things off regarding Octavia in all this... She. IS. A. STAAAAARRR😭🌟👏👏By far the best thing to come out of this finale IMHO; just seeing Via standing her ground as strongly as she did, both in-defense of her dad AND against him... goddd, that was powerful q-q💜 And before anyone mentions it, no I don't think Via was in anyway "wrong" for her reaction to Stolas (regardless of his efforts to reach her by the end). Imagine you're in her position; the product of an loveless, toxic marriage forced upon by a rigid society, living your childhood blissfully unaware & happy until everything comes crashing down in your teen years (through your father's public affair + your mother's rampant rage). All you thought was true is now a confirmed lie, you're stuck in an emotional mess dealing with your parents, and your beloved dad is constantly putting his booty call (+marital drama) a bigger priority over you (albeit unintentionally, but still-)...

Time & time again, Via's been let down by Stolas, the one parent she's always been closest to since the beginning... and to top it all off? Several episodes later, she's watching her father live on TV willingly ready to be executed in Blitz's place (without so much as a single goodbye message to Via, mind you-), effectively breaking his promise that he'd never leave her...

...So, really, how can anyone blame Via for simply being done with her dad, by that point? Stolas may be "trying", I know... but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter that he didn't "mean" to hurt her. What matters most is that... well, he did. More than he can imagine... 💔

------------------------------

...weeeeew okay that was a bit lengthy my bad- lmao. As a whole, I'd say "Sinsmas" was an... ehhhhh-kinda finale? Like yeah I enjoyed the Via focus we got (+her song💜), the ice battle & the improved M&M + Loona writing... buuuuut oof, am I just exhausted by the Stolas/Blitz-melodrama at this point, oml >>;; No shade to those who did enjoy the finale regardless though, yall are more than valid! 👍�� Maybe later on I'll give my overall thoughts on S2 (+the overarching story of HB) further down the line if I'm up for it... buuuuut yeah, hope yall enjoyed reading & thanks for sticking around my page~ (for any newer/older Hellaverse fans alike)!👋✨🌙

[anxresi]

Based on what I’ve seen and read, it would appear as though...

...Adrien is the SECOND most underused and underappreciated character in the show (after Chloe, of course).

How could someone, with SO much going for them in terms of relevance to the plot (his dad is the main baddie, him being the main love interest and co-superhero, his NAME being in the title for God sake) be so wilfully ignored?

Let’s just say, Fu’s words about Ladybug and Chat being ‘equals’ sounds awfully hollow when presented with the actual evidence in canon. 

From what I understand, he even spent the big S5 finale locked up with Kagami ROBBING VIEWERS OF SEEING HIM CONFRONT HIS FATHER AND DISCOVERING THE TRUTH.

Inexcusable from a storytelling POV IMHO, but so is having your only apparent agency in the show being Marinette’s arm candy and messing up a LOT during superhero duty so Ladybug can look good by comparison.

What are his other interests, besides trying to make her happy in and out of costume? What are his other personality traits, apart from being a pliable doormat to her every whim? None, as far as I see.

‘Girl Power’ isn’t intentionally writing male characters to be subservient to their female counterparts, it’s about making them EQUAL in terms of importance & relevance. In as far as what I’ve learned about Adrien on the show of late, it looks like they failed miserably on both those counts.

Bring this up with Astruc, and naturally he’ll accuse you of being a ‘sexist’ or worst a ‘misogynist’ (talk about the pot calling the kettle black) and say something along the lines of ‘you just don’t want a GIRL in charge’.

Well considering about 99.9% of the people who bring this up with him ARE female, I fear he may have got his wires crossed on this one. EVERYONE wants a more equal partnership between the two title characters, and suggesting if you do you’re some kind of bigoted chauvinist is gaslighting of the highest order.

(Mind you, this coming from a guy who recently said Ladybug was Barbie and Chat Noir was KEN, so we can’t expect too much from him)

I must say, being an absolute Chloe stan (as if you didn’t know) I was a bit out of my comfort zone during this short rant, but I think it ties in nicely with my problems with the show’s formulaic and contradictory writing in general, so I thought I’d give it a go anyway. Hope I did okay!

 (Don’t get me started on that ‘Marinette must learn a lesson in every episode’ bullshit, either)

Agree? Disagree? Feel free to get in touch. Oh, and one more bonus meme to add to the collection... 

...Hopefully, you’re beginning to see my point. :p

[altraviolet]

A Memory Called Empire- vocab

I just finished A Memory Called Empire. Here are the words I learned:

ecumenopolis, noun: a hypothetical concept of a planetwide city [real in the novel]

euphony, noun: the quality of being pleasing to the ear, especially through a harmonious combination of words

inimical, adjective: tending to obstruct or harm

referent, noun: the thing that a word or phrase denotes or stands for

phatic, adjective: denoting or relating to language used for general purposes of social interaction, rather than to convey information or ask questions (example: hello, how are you?)

encomiastic, adjective: especially in writing or speech, praising someone or something

acrostic, noun: a poem or word puzzle or other composition in which certain letters in each line form a word or words

hove, verb: past tense of heave

am delighted to report that the word "stentorian" was used and I remembered that definition from reading the Emily Wilde series 😄 learning works!

some of the above words had obvious meanings based on context, but some did not. my brain kept trying to turn "inimical" to "inimicable," which I am just now realizing I thought meant "inimitable." lol.

anyway!

things I liked about the book:

-descriptions: very nice, sometimes the author lingered on them just a little too long, but overall very nice and well composed

-the naming system: just cool :D

-the internal struggle of the main character with another main character(s): I'm not going to spoil anything but there is some very cool mind fuckery towards the end of the book

-the technology of the main character's culture: the big, main thing. if you read, you know

-the characters: generally likable and compelling!

-very interesting and alive-feeling setting. lush descriptions of flowers and color and how they interact with the local culture

-the golden-masked police force and how they interact with the city: hello??? more about this, please??? there are lots of instances of world buildy things like this that we don't see fleshed out. I really liked them (and would like to learn more about them)

things I didn't like about the book:

-politics: I'm just not a fan of politics. this is not the book's fault, lol. but I found that it felt very long because the main character was navigating political stuff

-repetition of certain phrases or concepts: the characters are constantly shrugging and every time a spoon is mentioned, a character "licks the back of the spoon." that sounds like a really weird complaint but it happened so many times. I really think an editor should've caught that

-repetition of ideas: perhaps also could be called "repeated mulling over thoughts." the main character constantly thinks about certain things over and over and over and over. I think a small lingering here and there is appropriate. but I found quite a lot of repetition. the book is 448 pages long and could probably have been cut by at least 50

-the characters do quite a lot of sitting around in between bursts of movement, in the same places and in the same ways. this can be a hard thing to fix in a limited setting, but the planet the MC is on is huge. exploration of other settings would've been preferable to returning to the same places several times

some pedantic complaints, I'm sure. but they are the things I'd recommend in editing, if someone wanted my feedback. the politics note is a personal preference and absolutely necessary for the book. the other things are editorial, imho

that said, though, I'd give it a very solid 4 to 4.5 stars! I do recommend 👍✨

[class1akids]

Nonnie asked: Is there a reason you’ve become so hostile towards Deku and Bakugou? Is it because the two main characters of the show get the spotlight main characters usually get? Or because All Might doesn’t pay as much attention to Shouto as he does to the other two, who have been set up from the early chapters to be his successors? It just seems unfair that ppl are hating the fact that Bakugou shared the title of ‘greatest hero’ when this has been set up from the start?

I've been hesitating whether to reply this bait question, but here it goes fwiw:

1. I'm not hostile to Deku and Bakugou as characters, but I have criticism of how the story handles them as of late. It's not the same. I think their dynamic was interesting until the apology chapter, but there was nothing truly interesting Hori managed to do with their dynamic after that, imho. They both had potential to have interesting dynamic with others (Deku with Shigaraki in particular), but in the end the writing remained pretty lackluster all around. 

2. I really really dislike interacting with the arrogant and entitled shipping fandom and have been making a lot of efforts to mute it / avoid it. That’s not the same as hating the characters. 

3. Btw, MHA has one MC - it's Deku. Then it has a main cast which prominently includes Bakugou, but also includes many other characters. Fans of those characters have also been given legitimate expectations (like the villains being saved, for example) for both spotlight and pay-off and have every right to criticize the story for not delivering on it. I’m sick of you guys pretending that every other character is “background”. 

4. I'm mostly laughing at the "greatest heroes" stuff, because it's not about the "set-up", it's about the delivery. I have a really hard time seeing in what way they earned the greatest heroes title especially in a chapter that talks about Deku failing his fundamental narrative challenge of saving his villain in a meaningful way, or engaging with his issues.

I can kind of stretch myself and see how the final arc brought together people whose lives he touched (or saved on EZ-mode like Gentle and Nagant) back in the days when he was a passable MC. 

Bakugou though? He was just one of a bunch of people who beat AFO. What makes him "greater" than Jirou who destabilized his quirks, than Tokoyami who smashed his helmet, than Endeavor who actually did kill him and forced him on the rewind, than Hawks, Mt Lady, Inasa, Camie, etc.? 

Everyone in this final arc faced threats they were too weak to face, yet they did it (Sero, Satou coming in to save Deku against AFO they have no hopes to survive) anyways. What makes Bakugou more exceptional? That he managed to die? Every single character pushed way past their limits (even if they didn't get the praise). 

Even All Might could only come up with "you are greatest because you saved my life" which feels a bit tone-deaf in a chapter where he also says "oh well as long as he wasn't crying anymore he’s saved - Tomura's actual life didn't matter that much". 

5. So I'm bitter, because I actually like Bakugou's character and care deeply about him and wanted him to be greatest in a satisfying way. But to me, his endgame felt seriously lacking. 

He's a charismatic character that could have inspired many and he's smart so he could have worked great with others. But instead, he had been once again made a damsel, his team was sacrificed for him and he barely acknowledged that and even this chapter says "yeah, he did all these awesome things, we don't really know how because it was all asspull, but isn't he magnificent?" 

So I deeply resent that the final arc made Bakugou look like the creator's pet the fandom always accused him of being. Lots of glaze, but actually very little substance. To me at least it wasn't satisfying. 

 6. As for Shouto - I honestly don't care about All Might anymore. I've always felt so-so about his character, but I was interested in the "deconstruction", for the story to tell us how his system was untenable.  Well, the final arc also destroyed any deconstruction his character and the society he built may have had, basically validating his reign as the Symbol of Peace and arbiter of Greatest Hero gold stars, as well as Most Important Life To Be Saved (tm). 

 Shouto's arc is about validating and affirming his own reasons for existence, defining what his power is and I don't need All Might to tell me that how great he is. I think his actions, as well as the hundreds of lives he saved speak loud enough.  I do resent shit like Hori offscreening him in Ch 422 only to offscreen him again for Bakugou in 423, but like I guess in the grand scheme of things, we don't really need a scene to know he'll support his friends to his last breath, because that's like a given for his character. 

 At this point, all I'm hoping for is that he will get a fitting narrative conclusion - even if it's just a hug from his mom, and not have another writing fumble destroy his character arc. Shouto will always be an icon for people who understand and respect his journey and his quiet heroism.   [Smile or comment on the answer here](https://retrospring.net/@class1akids/a/112534216876296276)

[kindlyre]

thinking more v3 thoughts. it wouldve been REALLY interesting if kaede didnt die in trial 1 and lived so she and shuichi could be foils to kokichi and rantaro, which would be interesting bc the main character always has a partner, but the rival never has. and the difference in ideology could split the group, but as it stands now the v3 cast treats kokichi worse than tbe sdr2 cast treated komaeda, and komadea was a THREAT since the beginning. for the most part, all kokichi did was lie a lot and be rude, so this animosity kind of feels undeserved. like, hajime had a lot more patience for komaeda's shit than shuchi does for kokichi's. so his interactions w the rest of the v3s seems kind of... underhanded and rude. they accepted an assassin into their group but not him, is all im saying.

and it just feels kind of undeserved until chapter 4 where kokichi goes off the deep end. like, before that, he DOES talk about liking the killing game and all, and is insensetive, but he by his own admission a LIAR- why do all the v3s assume the bad things he says are the truth? hell in chapter 2 he spells out MULTIPLE TIMES what his end goal is and what he's doing (trying to caution people from overtly working together because when they do, monokuma punishes them for it, so they shouldnt let on that theyre cooperating) and no one listens?? at all. like its just so blatant because ive been playing sdr2 and v3 side by side, alternating between the two frequently. try it-! the dissonance between how the v3 cast treats kokichi and the sdr2 cast treats komadea is VERY apparent. like sure they tie him up and arent NICEYS to him, but hajime makes a genuine effort to try and understand komaeda, especially in FTEs. shuichi does not extend that same effort to kokichi and imho thats really lackluster writing for the ultimate detective

it just seems like they were going for an ideology clash in v3 but in practice, kokichi is ostracized VERY early on for the crime of Being Annoying, and because of that is placed under a lot of undue scrutiny, with absolutely no one bothering to TRY to understand him. and this happens because he has no genuine foil for his ideology, so theres no ideological conflict, so the writers had to manufacture one by having everyone focus on his (largely just mischevious and at worst annoying) lies and repeat "but all lies are bad!!" unfixingly w/o trying to understand him. which is not really an ideological conflict, it's... kind of childish and they- esp shuichi as the ultimate DETECTIVE- never try to understand kokichi's pov and don't interact with kokichi's TRUE ideological opposition- that they can't trust each other. and kaede and him couldve been great foils in that regard, having the opposite ideological approach to the killing game, but kaede was fridged early on for a male character's development. so thats fine too i guess.

and shuichi and rantaro couldve been foils as well, both leaning hard into detective work but having opposite ideas on what to do with their respective findings- do they trust the group, or not?

also this is just a "hey this would be imo cool" aside, but if it was a kokichi/rantaro pairup.... IMAGINE THE 4TH TRIAL. imagine if it was ambiguous if rantaro was manipulated into killing miu or if it was a willing sacrifice. rantaro doesn't remember, but he admits before execution that, knowing himself, he feels like it was a willing sacrifice on his end, while kokichi insists he manipulated rantaro into it and that he's the true blackened. and we cant see rantaro's memories, so we don't know. and it could be a really tragic trial a la peko's, which would finally allow the cast to know more about rantaro and his true feelings on everyone and the game, in his final moments.

also the sting of the ultimate survivor reveal being so so close by, the tragedy of rantaro surviving a DIFFERENT KILLING GAME only to die in this one, so close to the end... and the implication that he survived his last game by being detached and secretive, only to die because of a connection he had with someone. but thats less meta analysis and more me going "goddamn wouldnt that be fucked up or what. anyway im tumblr user kinderlie"

[lazzarella]

Peaceful Property rambling incoming! I wrote it in like ten minutes, so it’s a mess, but I’ve been meaning to write this since ep 6 and I just wanted to finally get some of my thoughts out. This really is more for myself than anything I guess 😅

TL;DR I’m finding the writing in Peaceful Property really good and satisfying, especially when it comes to tropes I sometimes find frustrating or offputting or that are often poorly executed imho

The writing in Peaceful Property has been so good and so satisfying to me so far! The pacing in general is really nice, and there's been some nice misdirection/red herrings (I kept forgetting to write about this and now I can't remember what they were lol) and I think the pace of the reveals has been really good too. Like, if we knew from the outset that Peach was hit by a car and died for a while, I feel like it would've been easier to suspect Home's involvement? Similarly, if we knew that Home had been involved in a hit and run earlier, I don't think the audience would've sympathised with him as much (of course, some people have lost sympathy with him now, and that's understandable)

But the writing is also a good illustration of how tropes that aren't my favourite or can be frustrating for me can end up enjoyable in certain writers' hands. Obviously, this is just a personal preference, but I often find the 'person wants to confess something and takes their time doing it because they're nervous and then, when they're finally ready, the person they want to confess to finds out some other way with disastrous results' trope frustrating at times. But it worked SO well here! I think the frustration sometimes comes from it not fitting characters, but it fits Home and Peach so well and the setup worked well to make it believable for me too!

Like, Home has never had to take responsibility for anything ever. Of course he doesn't know how to own up to what he's done wrong! Especially not to someone he truly cares about! (Which also seems like a rarity in his life). Like, he literally has no precedent in his life to draw from as far as we know. And he has a family and he doesn't want to risk it and he wants the apology to be perfect. So, it makes sense to me that he would hesitate and take so long!

And, of course, Peach's devastation is believable, but him jumping to the conclusion that Home knew all along when he sees the video makes sense too! Yeah, he's learnt to trust Home, but seeing that video would just really mess you up, right? That the worst thing that's ever happened to you was done by this person you now see as family? I think it's easy to assume he'd known who he hit. And Home's family stepping in before Home can explain also makes perfect sense because they've done it before. So, yeah, where I can sometimes find this setup frustrating and annoying because it doesn't fit the characters or it's just sort of weak, I thought it was really strong here

(As a sidenote: I'm not necessarily mad at Kan, but really really curious about what's going on with her, so that's another nice piece of writing for me personally. I'm not saying she's not out of line, but she's so mysterious that, yeah, I'm just SO damn curious more than anything)

I can also go either way on the 'poor person rejects rich person's money out of pride, etc.' trope. But, again, I thought it worked perfectly here! There were a couple of other posts that went over why it made sense for them, and it definitely worked for me too. Peach is still very emotionally raw, he believes his friend—his family—has been lying to him all along, probably using the money to assuage his guilt, and now this attorney says he's there on Home's behalf, so he's reacting emotionally on some level. (I mean, we see him not long after sobbing on the bathroom floor) He feels used and betrayed and the money—even for the work he's already done—symbolises that to him. 

So, yeah, like a lot of the writing in the show, his rejection of return of the money is symbolic of severing ties with Home and rejecting what he sees as corrupt ideals, or whatever. He wants Home to know, without a doubt, that he wants nothing more to do with him. And, because Peach thinks Home cares more about money than anything else (and has good reason to believe so), this feels like a 'hit 'em where it hurts' thing to me too? 

But, yeah, sometimes I hate this trope, but it worked well for me here as well because of the way it was written

Anyway, I'm repeating what others have said, and I don't know where I'm going with this, but, in conclusion, I'm finding the writing SO satisfying. I could probably do a breakdown of every ep, but I won't because I'm lazy and also just parroting what's been said already haha