#they would have just lost me as a viewer entirely lol

[loving-jack-kelly]

it is Extremely funny that the whole watcher thing just ended after one weekend of people being like hey this was poorly thought out and a terrible idea. lmao. cringe fail financial decision.

[hqlmsbury]

A good girls guide to murder tv show review

Haven’t been on here in a hot sec but I just really feel like venting about this show. I LOVE the books they are incredible and pip and Ravi are SOSO special. The tv show had all the capabilities to be a great adaptation, I don’t mind minor changes that make it easier for first time viewers but a lot of it rubbed me the wrong way. Here are some of my thoughts so spoilers ahead!

• nats character. What in the actual world made them decide to merge Nat with (Chloe? I think was the name) Andies other best friend. It changed Nats ENTIRE character. It lost that interest factor which made it seem like Nat really could be the bad guy, it felt unnecessary and disappointing to her character

• my pipravi moments. Why was there not one single Pipravi moment that was the same in the books. Literally not one. Pip doesnt share her location so Ravi has to go to Cara at the end. Ravi doesn’t go into Becca’s house at first because he’s scared, rightfully so but Ravi would never have endangered Pip like that! Ravi wanting to move away immediately after they figured out sals innocence???? The moments they got lacked the essential chemistry that all those little moments had. There was no reason for Pip to go into Becca’s house alone Ravi easily could’ve went with her just like in the book and we could’ve gotten the “real men wear floral while trespassing” line. Those small but important moments that make the characters and the relationship.

• Pip was not as smart as in the books. I sort of understand why they made it seem that way as they had to progress the show quicker but I think certain things were handed to her. Finding Howie was one of those scenes why was it so quick, easy, and almost painless. And later on he’s barely mentioned at all. Where was the blackmailing?!?!

• going of the last point why did Naomi tell Pip about Maxs secret instagram, again it made it seem like pip could not figure it out herself, there was no sneaking around and logging into Naomi’s computer. It was all handed to her

• the girl in Mr. Wards attic. Why did she know who she was lol? I think it unfairly made it look like Mr. Ward was more evil than he really was. In the book he really did think it was Andie and that he was helping her. Keeping this girl “trapped” in his attic because he told her he killed Sal was also an unnecessary part of the story.

• having Victor Amobi be suspected?!?!? What in the world was that. It added drama that was completely unnecessary to the story, Victor is such a great character and he is so special to Pip in the books. I feel adding that was something they tried to do to “spice things up” when sticking to the original storyline would’ve been a much better path.

• Barney’s death. I can’t recall if it was ever mentioned Becca was the one who killed Barney but again where was that suspenseful feeling? And also this was a purposeful kill when in the books Becca actually did release Barney and he was killed on accident.

• a couple of little things. I felt like the actors they cast for Pips friend group looked way older, however Asha who plays Cara grew on me and I really enjoyed her as Cara.

If they make a second season I will watch it and hope for better and hopefully they get more funding and Holly is more involved with the script. These are only a few of the things I was disappointed about because overall I don’t think it did the books justice at all. I enjoyed pip as Emma and think Zain did a good job with Ravi considering the script they had.

[sufferu]

Y'know re zero reminds a lot of umineko and higurashi. Stories where the protags are dying and resetting over and over again to fight against fate. For a chance that is "infinitely close to zero"(yes literal quote---thats how unlikely victory was) or that one dude from toaru that died 100 billion times, resetting through horrific worlds.

What do they have in common? The protags save/forgive/pity their torturers. WHDAA cast has every right to beat some sense into Subaru damn. I get the whole "understanding the heart of others" theme. I love it, but like--there should be a line somewhere that got lost in the corpses of previous loops. Especially, since most of the time they are redeemed because they have a tragic backstory. Like "ofc I forgive you for torturing me for 100 years because your parents are dead"

Penny for your thoughts?

God I need to watch Higurashi. Too bad I cant FIND THE DAMN SERIES ANYWHERE— also I’ve heard of Umineko but I have no idea what it is lol. Maybe I’ll check it out. Same with A Certain Magical Index.

And — honestly, to an extent I agree with you lol, cause even if I haven’t watched any of those series I am very familiar with the “all is forgiven” trope that tends to happen in anime a lot. I think it often tends to feel a little unbalanced, ESPECIALLY if the perpetrator is some sort of waifu character. Like — okay, there’s this anime that came out a few years ago called Ranking of Kings that I actually really liked for the most part, except the way they handled the main villain (a woman named Miranjo) was just BAFFLING. She did all this horrible stuff in the first half, but then the second half was basically just — everyone bending over backwards to excuse/forgive her simply because…that’s what the author wanted to happen. And the thing is? I was one of like five viewers (judging by those comments :/) who would actually have totally been on board with her redemption if they hadn’t done that. I thought she was a fascinating character, possibly my favorite in the series, and I even saw the potential for her becoming a better person if they were to go that route. But then they hammered it in SO MUCH because the author wanted the audience to like her SO BADLY that — it just RUINED her.

That’s what I think the problem often is: the hand of the author becomes too obvious, and as their actions get excused by the narrative practically bending over backwards to get the audience to like the characters, the characters get flattened down and all their edges sanded off. To be entirely honest it’s the main issue I have with how Rem is often portrayed in this fanbase, because — a really large subset of fans seems to have looked at that HOT MESS of a person and decided that taking her “perfect waifu” facade at face value was the more appealing option, lol.

—It totally makes sense for Subaru, though. As a character this is, it makes SOO much sense that he’s like this. And…I’m actually holding out hope that it’s gonna be addressed as an issue in-universe at some point, due to 1) some very choice descriptors on his part of all those horrible things being “good memories” that are VERY worrying and 2) post-amnesia!Rem very explicitly ending up in antagonistic role to her old self regarding how they each want Subaru to develop going forward.

As for my own react fic…yeah. Rem is. Rem is gonna be in some SERIOUS hot water. If I may: I think that a lot of react fics tend to gloss over her behavior a little too much for my liking, due to her being a popular character (or even a favorite of the author lol) and as such the fic goes out of its way to make sure that the conversation leads to everyone forgiving her one way or another. …I, personally, do not plan on pulling my punches one single bit.

;)

[jadehaven]

A summary of the thoughts as I slowly realized that #Elrondriel would indeed become a thing in the show:

(for context, ROP was my first introduction to LOTR, so this was my perspective as a viewer with no concept of the lore)

Season 1:

Who is this guy? Is he her friend? More? Oh she touched his face, maybe it’s like, unrequited? Am confused.

Is this how elves flirt? What’s the history here? Oh well, she’s leaving anyway.

*Enter Halbrand* HOT DIGGITY DAWG now THATS what I call a love interest 😏😏😏

*Eating up all the enemies to lovers tropes and swooning over Halbrand*

*Elrond and Galadriel scenes* Me: Nah get this nice guy OUTTA HERE where is HOT HALBRAND? (future me is aghast that I would overlook the literal loml Elrond, Gal and I are the same ig)

Halbrand: *Is Sauron* Me: What!?? Nooo! No no no no no this can’t be happening oh noooo

*Elrond saves Galadriel*

Me: Wait

*Forehead touch, tears, deep breaths*

Me: Waaaiiittt

*Gasps* Omg. Of course, he loves her!! They’re going to fall in love! It’s perfect contrast to the enemies to lovers story— a *slow burn, best friends, it’s always been you* kind of love? Right? RIGHT!? That makes so much sense! I’m 1000% calling it for Season 2.

*Sometime between season 1 and season 2, discovers the heartbreaking truth* LOL what?? She’s his WHAT??! 😭😭😭

*Still holding out hope, clutching my suspicions like they’re my grandmas pearls*

Season 2:

Holy sheet he’s mad. Ofc he’s mad. But he’s her best friend :c?? Pls don’t make me sad like this, you’re supposed to love each other!

“You were my friend!!” Mhm yknow they tend to use this word a lot

That’s… that’s a lot of hand holding there…

omg she put her hand on his CHEST OMGSJHDHFBF

“It was entirely of your choosing, the lost king blah blah” Ok but this is literally him saying he knows her type?

Hollldd up, I see what’s happening. Tension. There’s negative tension. I’ll bet if they stick to the trope, there’ll be a *moment* between them at the end that breaks the tension. There has to be.

*Galadriel gets caught by the Barrow-Wights* Wait for it babe, Elronds going to rescue her oh— yep, there he is. Saving her again. Because he’s the love interest.

“Promise you will put defeating Sauron over saving my life” Pfft hahaha miss Galady, our boy has it bad, there’s no way he’ll stay true to that promise. (For real though this sentence just showed us what the most important thing in the world is to him, it’s her y’all)

*Galadriel gets captured and brought out to the battle field* Ooooh yup. Look at his FACE when he sees her, the slow mo and everything wow. That’s his whole life right there. He can’t sacrifice her, he can’t do it.

Dang he’s gonna do it???

“Let me bid her farewell” Omg please kiss her goodbye haha but no they wouldn—

0/////o!!???

O/////O!!!!!!!

I CALLED IT I FKING CALLED IT ARE YOU KIDDING ME I AM SCREAMING

THIS IS THE MOMENT THAT BROKE THE TENSION.

Everyone online: iT wASNt RoManTIC

😐

Sigh. Of course it “wasn’t romantic”. THATS THE WHOLE POINT. That’s how this whole “forced to kiss” trope works. They don’t have feelings for each other yet, that they’re aware of anyway. It’s supposed to be an awakening. This is only the beginning.

*Continues to get gaslit by everyone and their mother including the actors and writers themselves*

Ok ok fine. Maybe I’m delusional about the whole thing. But every scene so far has been classic romantic arc set up. If they have a scene next episode where Elrond saves Galadriel again and maybe like, puts the ring on her finger all proposal style, then I’ll know. That would seal it for me.

*Episode 8*

*Speechless*

LITERALLY SPEECHLESS.

That’s it yall. If you didn’t pick up on that, then I’ll see you next season for all the slow burn tropes. I can see them already. LFG. #Elrondriel for life.

[sevensoulmates]

First off, i loved reading your analysis on the recent episodes of 9-1-1. If i may, how would you describe 7x04 and it being from bucks pov? I think he’s an unreliable narrator. I would love to hear your thoughts as i have many lol

A x account said this “ Okay but Buck never went to play basketball when Eddie invited him, he only went after he knew Tommy was going. Like? That really happened. Why do people continue to ignore what's right in front of their faces?

But like, he didn’t go BECAUSE Tommy went. He went because Tommy AND EDDIE were going. Again, we are told 7x04 is from bucks perspective. But yet, the only time we see him “getting his attention” is the air strip scene. That scene is weird because they could have easily shown us buck messaging him and their initial greetings. But no. We are given a few seconds before Eddies name is mentioned and when he comes in the frame. No where else do we see from “bucks pov” of him trying to get Tommy’s attention. What stopped buck from reaching out again to Tommy…. That’s the plot hole of the episode I’m still lost on. He was able to reach out once, why did he stop? The gym scene? You’re telling me, it was for Tommy? Because he wanted to see Tommy play basketball? If he wanted his attention, he would have hurt Tommy and not Eddie and the conversation with Maddie would be different. Did he have attraction towards Tommy? Sure. But we the viewers are never given any indications of him trying to get Tommy’s attention. To add, in 7x05, Tommy is confused after buck says he’s been trying to get his attention. Because, again, where was this.

Most of my thoughts on 7x04 are in my multiple-part meta here. Most of the stuff you're asking about, including the basketball scenes, the gym scenes, and more are all addressed there.

I agree with the people (and Tim) who said most of the episode is in Buck's POV. I've seen people saying that you can tell it's Buck's POV because of how light and beautiful and sunkissed Eddie appears, and I agree with that. I don't agree with the people who said Eddie appears more "straight" because Buck views him as straight. I just don't really agree with certain actions being "straight" vs. "non-straight". People can look and act super stereotypically masculine and "bro-ey" and still be queer. Just look at Tommy.

Absolutely Buck is an unreliable narrator, as is Eddie. I think this episode was pretty clear-cut about that given how confused Buck was the entire episode. All you have to do is watch any other episode to know that Eddie wasn't just ignoring Buck on purpose, but that Buck was being overly sensitive about it for a reason that still isn't clear to him.

Tim and Co. have said many times that there is no black-and-white answer to what Buck was feeling in that episode. He latched onto the first answer that made sense which was first "I'm best friend jealous" then "Oh I like Tommy bisexually" because it's easier to take the path of least resistance and just believe what's in front of you instead of soul-searching or looking deeper and possibly tapping into something you're not ready to address just yet.

In my opinion, Buck was confused, and continues to be confused, because despite his attraction to Tommy being real, underneath it all, most of the feelings he was experiencing were more so about Eddie, and he's not yet at the point where he can address that head-on. The episode is confusing to us viewers because Buck was confused, so in the sense, yes, the episode was very much Buck's POV.

[tethered-heartstrings]

Hi sorry if I'm bothering you, I just had a question? I noticed that in season three (the first part, with the Italian names) (Italian is my first language) the names are out of order. Like, S3E2 being called "Primavera" (Spring) aside, we have "Appetizers" "Second course" "Apéritif" "Side dish" "Sweets" and "Digestive". And that's not the usual order?

You usually have Apéritif late afternoon/early evening, then you sit at the dinner table and the courses are: Appetizers, Main Course (which is replaced by Spring, but I enjoy the allegory), Second Course with Sides, Sweets and lastly Digestive (or coffee lol).

So yeah I was wondering if you knew whether there was any reason for this change?

Again sorry to bother, also I love you blog. Thank you very much and have a nice day :)

V

omg you aren’t bothering me at all this is a great question!

Let me start off by saying I do not know Italian, but I have some ideas as to the naming schematic.

“Apéritif” is the first episode of season one, and from what I looked up, an apéritif is an alcoholic drink used to stimulate the appetite. As it is the first episode of the show, it is meant to entice an audience to watch the rest of the show, so it makes sense that this episode is enticing the appetite of the viewer. Also, the first glimpse we get of Hannibal in this episode is him eating a meal, and as the titular character who has a particular appetite, we are kind of appealing to his appetite as well. And the first meeting he has with Will also indirectly stimulates his appetite and interest in Will as a person and his involvement with the GJH case and his decisions to intervene. Hannibal wanting to “see what would happen” is his appetite being stimulated. “Apéritif” is also a French word derived from Latin “aperire” which means “to open” which makes a lot of sense as it is the opening of the entire show.

The first episode of season 3, “Antipasto” makes sense as it is the first course of a meal, and thus the first episode of the season. “Secondo” I take to mean a second course, so pretty straight forward.

I wonder if “Apertivo” (aka appetizer) is next because we kind of go back in time a bit to Will being in the hospital and truly seeing how thing occurred, and not his hallucination with Abigail being alive. Like going back “before” the meal. We also see Will back in Hannibal’s kitchen, going back to where everything went down, but there is a peace there as if it was before it all happened. And Abigail is there, too. Granted, Will “knows” she is dead now, but it still feels like before when she was alive. Like Will is trying to take little pieces of life before, little bites of something more savory than the reality he is in. It is also before Will really confronts Hannibal again, seeing and talking to him directly. So maybe the use of “appetizer” is more of this episode and events in it happening before other things. The events of this episode happening before the “meal” episodes as it goes back in time a little bit.

While “Dolce” and “Digestivo” are in the “correct” order, I still want to talk about them. “Dolce” meaning sweet is so perfect because of the Uffizi Gallery scene, because it is so tender and perfect. And “Digestivo” is also perfect, because digestives are supposed to aid in digestion, and Hannibal was planning to eat Will. And not only could it be interpreted as literally helping the meal digest, but also the aftermath of having killed and eaten Will, having to digest the reality that not only is Will dead, but that Hannibal killed him. And that Will’s flesh is finite, and eventually there will be nothing left of him, and soon even the taste of him, the feel of him between his teeth, will be lost to Hannibal, nothing more than a memory.

I also found that bitter digestifs contain carminative herbs intended to aid in digestion. There are a lot of herbs that fall into this category, but two of them being parsley and thyme, which are herbs in the soup Hannibal spoon fed to Will while he was drugged prior to his head being cut open. Hannibal even says the soup is “more for my sake than yours,” after Will comments on how it isn’t very good. And I know that it technically happens in “Dolce” but the end of “Dolce” and beginning of “Digestivo” overlap and blur together a bit like they do. And in “Digestivo”, Will even comments on how he doesn’t have Hannibal’s “appetite”, thus tying it all in together a bit.

As a side note, I also love “Primavera” meaning spring, because this episode is another stage of Will’s becoming and his growth, shedding an old skin. We see a new perspective of what happened in “Mizumono”, and I think “Spring” is a very fitting title for this episode!

thank you for this ask and hope you have a nice day as well!!

[anonymous-dentist]

i'm not sure if this is an unpopular opinion but omg i love that eggs die and feds don't keep them alive all the time, from meta standpoint. like yeah they're cute and everybody gets attached and they have cool personalities and canonically they could bring every one back but. it would get sooo insanely boring after a while. every time an egg gets killed i see viewers complaining about them being "forced" to stay in the fight (i've seen somebody on twt suggesting that empanada was forcefully teleported back to the fight by other admin or something?? what 😭) like it's fully against their will but come on. they're all admins, they play a character and they talk it out between themselves, if they really wanted to stay alive and safe these risks just wouldn't happen in the first place. they can't really kill off players in the same way so they need something else and eggs fill that niche perfectly. it adds tension, it motivates islanders so much, moves entire arcs forward, brings out the best roleplay. when something happens to kids you see their parents and other islanders still referring to it months later and it's shaping their lore so much. and islanders' reactions?? pure cinema, as a fanartist i cherish these moments, they live in my head rent free

Like it sucks every time- I had to get up from the dinner table when everybody had to say goodbye to Bobby (it was sooooo embarrassing for me lol)- but it serves a purpose

In every narrative, there has to be stakes. In the QSMP’s story, the players (usually) can’t die, and that’s important! With no actual threat to their lives, there has to be something else that can be used to pressure them. Enter, Eggs

A lot of people also just either weren’t there for or don’t remember the Code Attacks from April/May because those were BAD. Eggs couldn’t teleport, hence why NINHO had stasis pearls built in. Pomme somehow got like mind controlled to follow a butterfly right into the Code’s grasp during her Very Bad Day.

Yesterday was just like the day Tallulah lost a life to the Codes/Philza. Tbh we should just be happy Bagi didn’t end up accidentally killing her own kid like Phil did that day, that SUCKED

[tamelee]

hi tamelee!

I'm here to ask for a little bit of advice if that's okay (: about a month ago I bought a Wacom drawing pad so I could start experimenting with digital art. artists like you here on tumblr have really inspired me to start making art. but I feel kinda.. lost. I've been mostly drawing naruto manga caps and I'm getting better but I guess I don't know where to go from here. coloring and shading scares me lol. I'm using clip studio paint and it's just a little.. intimidating. I feel discouraged, like I won't be able to do it. how did you do it tamelee? did you watch a lot of tutorials, or did you experiment until you figured things out? any advice you'd have for a beginner artist I'd really appreciate.

thank you veryvery much for your time ^^

Hi Nonee! 🧡 Sure!

Oh I think that’s a very good place to start. As well as drawing subjects you like ^^! Hmm, tbh I’ve just experimented a lot, but I don’t think my way of having done things was the most efficient. You might want to follow tutorials step by step? You can try coloring only with flat colors until you feel a bit more confident with that as well as cell-shading (toon-shading/non-realistic, like in anime) instead of rendering further as that can all be confusing at first. I personally never truly understood shading until I studied cell-shading and made my art a lot more readable. A lot of Anime uses this; 

You see how there is a base color, a darker color for shadows and highlights? (Sometimes not even highlights.) 

When you start to study it from existing work you’ll start to notice things like color always being in the same area of saturation and when you suddenly have a color that is way more saturated than the other it can look off. (See example.) But this is a guideline, not a rule. In your own art you can especially use saturation and brightness to help aid you to direct a viewer's focus and even tell a story.

I LOVE ‘How to train you dragon’ and ‘Kung Fu Panda’ for this because their coloring is so inspiring and if you truly want to learn from professionals... well those are the type of media to look for of course! I have an entire folder to inspire me just based on those.

Do you see how calculated those color combo’s are?!?! Here you see both analogous and complementary schemes and it is actually through looking at the things I like that I learned it >< The orangey colors stand out and are bright which helps you to focus on that area whereas the complimentary scheme is used to bring characters together.

If drawing Manga-caps is something you love to do, then maybe for coloring you can study screen-caps from Anime or even other animated films. I’d recommend to take it step by step, though I haven’t really applied it myself, from the video’s I’ve seen and artists I’ve followed it is always advised to have an art-goal that you can work toward. Maybe you first want to focus on lineart and then laying down a base color where the colors are harmonious and next would be cell-shading maybe and then you can start adding another light-source etc- eventually you can decide to create more depth or practice with monochromatic coloring, maybe even greyscale to learn values. But right away that can all sound a bit intimidating doesn't it? Find things that you like and then maybe you can open them in your program and just study. Find a brush you like, put on some music or a show on the background and for a moment play around with it without needing to create a finished piece. This is also how I learned how things like adjustment layers work or what all the different kinds of tools do. I have to agree with you, CSP is intimidating for me as well >< so this is kinda how I approach it as there are so many add-ons and additions within it but I try to only learn what I need for that moment so I don't overwhelm myself.  I definitely try to find video’s that can help me with creating Manga though! ^^ There are plenty!  It'll get easier eventually, you'll learn the program and you start to recognize placements for shadows and you will get a feel for the coloring- no worries 💪 Learning something new will always stay intimidating, every time I open up a new document I feel it too. It's not easy at all, but you kinda have to allow yourself to experiment and even make mistakes because practice is never perfect. I have some beginner tips written here- I hope any of this is somewhat helpful 🌷🫶

[eldritchcreatureofwords]

So, your opinions on Arcane's finale?

Mixed. Strongly mixed. I adore a lot of what was given to us. I also feel like you could FEEL how much they had to cut out, leaving a ton of unsatisfactory plot lines and things that felt unresolved. Where the fuck did Jayce and Viktor go? Why was Ekko basically forgotten about except for his one little paper burning moment? They wrote Jinx going from 100 to 0 way too quickly imo, and the descent into suicidal depression just felt kind of out of left field.

Mel gave off huge creator's pet/sue vibes. Everything that happened to her happened in a bubble and then she just- pops back to reality, badass and super charged and she's a mage now??? But no one is even a LITTLE concerned about that??? There was zero (0) reason for Jinx to be written off/die. It felt like emotional manipulation of the viewer or that they thought if they didn't kill her off we wouldn't be satisfied. And yeah, I'm gonna say it- I don't think any of the LoL/LoR protagonists should have been killed off. It felt like it was purely for shock value. ZOMG, THEY KILLED WARWICK/JINX!!!!!! Hell, the entire kick-off of Viktor's villain arc felt forced and absurd; Jayce, without even trying anything else, just fucking kills Viktor? (Or tries to?) Sacrifices dozens of not hundreds of lives? Yes, I get he's kinda nuts at the moment but like- it felt very out of character.

I think my biggest complaint is that it feels like mid-way through they decided to give us a different show entirely then the one Season 1 set us up for. We went into a show about people, about their relationships with each other and mistakes, their losses and loves, and we ended on a show with a Gainex save-the-world ending where, honestly, very few of their actions or sacrifices mattered at all and everyone just kind of- lost the people they love for what felt like very preventable reasons. I'm also mad as hell that Vi's trauma was largely still unaddressed. They even had a Goddamn ptsd/bookends moment with her locked in fucking Stillwater and the most we got was a wall punch. ALL THAT SAID!!!!!! I did like and appreciate a lot of this season. Heimerdinger and Ekko and their little side-quest broke my heart. The 'Vi's death brings about a better world for everyone she loves' was just soul crushing, even moreso when you realize she would have happily accepted that if she knew. The shipper in me is THRILLED at all my 'yes's', even the ones that hurt, like Jayvik. The CaitVi payoff was fantastic. I loved watching Maddie get a fucking bullet to the dome. Served the bitch right. The fights, as ever, were fantastic. The music was fantastic. The animation was beautiful. There was a TON to love about this season, and overall BOTH seasons' strength far and away out stripped the flaws. If I went into everything I loved about the season, this would get even longer then it already is, so I'm gonna cut it here. But overall? 8.5/10 season, I'm not thrilled but it was good food overall.

[unofficial-cactus]

tbh i feel like youre right on the fanfic video & i am also a casual fan. he may not intended for the bullying but when he makes a video titled like “reading your DISGUSTING fics about me” you really cant help the bullying that’ll follow bc it IS public humiliation from an influencer. it just doesn’t feel ok for fanfic writers to be mocked in front of millions of people for their hard work– like you said, if it was a fan artist, then this situation would be entirely different.

i just feel like it’s unfair. these types of videos always made me uncomfortable bc the reason why they do it isn’t to appreciate the work fans put into them & their content and instead just make fun of them. i understand having fun with the content, but using it as a video tool just paints a target on the writer’s back and yeah

anyways sorry for the rant i just saw your post & had to agree lol hope you have a nice day

the rant is very justified.

the writer has now removed the fic and put up a response

all things considered, they've responded quite maturely considering how young they are

and something i missed that the writer pointed out - i only skimmed the video to see if the title would be misleading - and aside from his own 'joke' fic he wrote, tommy doesn't read any other fic - just this one author's and that amplifies the situation even more as this specific person has been singled out to make fun of. this isn't roasting viewers, this is bullying a single viewer.

something the writer also says which is very true - all the comments redirecting saying 'not all fic is like this' are missing the point that it's okay to make silly self-indulgent amateur fanfiction.

they don't have to be 100k works of art. your first clay bowl is a sloppy and lopsided and certainly no work of art, but it doesn't have to be. the joy in making it in the first place has value.

and then there's the whole conversation about fan Fantasy in fan spaces. capital F because in situations like this, fans are typically very aware of the fantastical nature of what they're writing, but stll enjoy it because celebrity fantasy is a normal thing and is very far from something new.

and something i feel is being lost in the current information age of no privacy share every aspect of yourself publically is the concept that people have conversations about other people, strangers even, when they're not there, and that's a totally normal thing to do.

it's the year 2007, you and your friend are walking along the boardwalk at the beach. you see someone very hot. once you're out of earshot you and your friend share your admiration for their appearance. perfectly harmless, perfectly normal.

and for a long time there fandom spaces were seen as those private spaces - those personal conversations out of earshot.

and the blurring of the boundaries of those private spaces is blurring - it's a two-way street at that - a lot more people are tweeting their private thoughts directly at cc's which is very not okay, and cc's are stepping into fan spaces and then throwing up a surprised pikachu face that fans are doing things in those spaces that are not meant for the cc to enjoy.

[coolerdracula]

my rambling thoughts about The Substance [inconclusive] [really long post] (spoilers; Symphony don't read etc)

sooo. hmm. I liked the blood and the gore and stuff. I like that this kind of thing is in theaters. I enjoy the color palette, and I think the opening shot was fantastic for conveying the major "weird thing" of the movie. the satirical tone came through very strongly, and there were a lot of really funny moments. trying to think of more things I liked... I did give it 4 stars on letterboxd, though I keep going between that and 3.5 . it's a fun spectacle.

I did have some gripes with the second and third acts, especially with the "fake-outs" they kept doing, but I'm also wondering if that was intentional, where they kept faking the viewer out in order to make you think that the final sequence isn't going to be real, either? but then it is, so you're like Ohhhh Fuck? idk. it did give me the feeling of "man, when is this movie going to end?" lol. and I get that it's a satire, but it was still pretty heavy handed with a lot of things. like, a lot of the flashbacks (either clips or voiceovers) that were meant to make you as a viewer go "oh, this part of the movie mirrors a prior scene!" made it feel like the movie didn't trust its audience to connect things and Get The Point. plus the scene where she sees the other substance user in the diner was very "hey! this is what you're supposed to understand about it!" irt them giving like 5 different clues that he was the 'same' guy as before. it's way too much handholding :|

in terms of themes ... it's mixed bc of how they approached her becoming "ugly." right. but more on that later. aside from the execution, and more just in terms of the concept, I think that it's saved by the last part (Elizasue confidently dolling herself up), but it's a tenuous save. bc, without that, it's "woman tries to become more beautiful in the eye of society; winds up liking herself less and is punished for this choice." and it comes very close. which ... like, yeah, it does happen to people. but using that dynamic as the focus of an exploitation film is weird to me? I could be wrong. bc it's not necessarily being endorsed by the movie, bc it's a parable, and movies are a social forum, not moral end-all-be-all's, but ... hmmmm idk. idk. it being made by a woman about her own experiences helps. ANYWAYS. the part that saves it from being entirely that dynamic -- the character arc of Elizabeth+ learning to like herself, no matter what she looks like.

I think that it's a good turnaround, conceptually. but the execution... hmm... muddled. bc, Elizasue is in a very unclear mental state, and it establishes that she's hallucinating, or imagining things, or etc. so she's not present in choosing to love herself, she's just lost in imagined grandeur where she is still "beautiful." the parts where Elizasue puts on makeup and earrings come across as more comedic than touching, which is....interesting....thought I might be misremembering, and would have to take another look at it to be sure. maybe it was serious, and people were just laughing because they didn't get that. idk. but then, the reason I believe in this arc even happening, is during the gratuitous bloodbath segment when her glued-on self-mask falls off (her finally dropping the notion that she must look a certain way?) she says "it's still me; I'm not a monster" or something to that affect. which brings it back some, since she's actively acknowledging that she's changed, but it's still her, and she is still good and lovable. idk. I'm mostly writing this in order to figure out my thoughts honestly. I did really like the final sequence where she turns into goop and oozes her way back to her star & becomes absorbed into it. it contextualizes the prior bloodbath sequence as the "moment of change" so we can then get the more straightforward "new normal" of the star scene. but I guess the moment of change was too drawn out and not serious enough to match what it transitioned into.....imo.....but I liked the blood.....hmm.... but I did like the symbolism of her becoming one with the object that represented the decline of her career. contentment & acceptance etc.

ok back to how they conveyed her becoming "ugly." I do think that ... the early stages (the first two, where it's first just her finger, then half her body) were more.. SHE thinks she looks 'ugly,' not the narrative itself. but even with that, it's still presenting her physical changes in a sensational way. so.. the viewer is supposed to be shocked and appalled. especially so once we get to the third stage where she's completely deformed. and I think that relying on that element of deformity of the human body as horror, it... feels icky......... even if what happens to her is not 1:1 with real-life conditions, it still is analogous to them. this is my core issue with the movie, in terms of critiques.

now for the plural aspect. I don't think it's much of a reach to interpret it with a plural lens, since she literally splits into two and then is continually told "you are one." so what does it say, plural-wise? I mean, it's like Fight Club, where this woman has a dissociated part of herself, which can affect change on the world (HER world) without her knowledge/consent, and is perfectly molded to fit society's standards of how her gender should be. they come into conflict when their shared life negatively impacts the protagonist, and then move into mutual destruction. this does imply some things. the core message is that functional multiplicity is not sustainable. we see this in Sue's refusal to respect Elizabeth's time/physical form, as well as Elizabeth's almost immediate resentment and hatred of Sue. if this were to be reframed as a real system situation, it would be a host that thinks they're more important than the rest of the system, and an alter that sees themself as too separate from the host to give a shit about them. this dynamic does happen IRL, but it's allllll we see in media that includes plurality, so I dislike seeing it. this wouldn't be as much of a problem to me if the narrative didn't affirm this dynamic as a universal truth, but it's mirrored in the affirmation of Elizabeth being "the matrix" that Sue cannot exist without, as well as it being the experience had by the only other substance-user in the movie (guy who hates his other self). there isn't room for implying that there's another possible outcome. there also isn't really room for questioning Elizabeth's importance as the Matrix (or the "Core self," a problematic theory irt DID), since that's established by the 'science' of the world (necessity of Sue's 'refills') as well as the film's 'word of god' (the guy on the phone). additionally, we really miss out on the premise of "you are one." how? when? when, except for the very short moment where Elizabeth regrets trying to terminate Sue bc she realizes that Sue is her source of self-worth? we barely see it even when she literally becomes "Elizasue." missed opportunity to explore that more imo.

okay I'm tired of typing lol. this is way too long bc I don't have the energy to distill the rambling into a coherent thought, but ... those are my thoughts. 👍

[antibrainrotcrusader]

Review of: Akudama Drive

Going into Akudama Drive, I did not know much about it other than: 1) It's set in a dystopian society 2) The art is killer 3) A lot of people I know love it So my expectations weren't very high. I went in for the pretty art and animation, and stayed for the pretty art and animation. And Swindler. And the creepy rabbit and shark TV brainwashing program. That's pretty much it.

First, I'll list everything I loved about the show. I found the animation to be super consistent. It never disappointed me, and that's why if I rated my anime based on the art purely, I'd be giving Akudama Drive a 10/10 without hesitation. I also loved the soundtrack, they certainly felt unique enough that I did not dare skip the opening song, and stayed until after the ending song multiple times. It's an interesting pairing with the anime itself. Had this been a slice-of-life, the pairing would make a lot more sense. I loved it this way though, it made it feel like the anime wanted it known that this story doesn't want to be "just action" or "just cool". The music gets a 7/10 from me.

I also loved how our main character is a girl in her 20's. She's an ordinary person, with no tragic past, and no specific character traits that would mark her for the danger she gets thrown into later on (other than her honesty and kindness). It was incredibly refreshing to see in anime. She was not sexualised, but she also wasn't bland in terms of her character design. I enjoyed the moments Swindler was on screen. It worked perfectly for (what I felt like) the anime was trying to tell it's viewers: anyone can fall into the "wrong" path easily. Allowing people to judge those that fall into darkness with such absolutism will probably ruin a society. Example from the show? The executioners.

Oh the executioners. The way I feel about them is very mixed. They were shown as typical "heroes" for the first few times they appeared on screen. And then that seemed to shift to them... being evil? I did not like it. It could've been done a LOT better. I think the producers themselves might have also had mixed feelings. There is a clear shift in tone where the show changes it's direction and goes off the rails. In the first half, the executioners were developed a bit more, and one of them (the young apprentice) seemed to have more growth waiting for her at the second half of the show. But, of course, there wasn't. And so we lost sense of who the executioners are and what they are. The anime just wanted them to be branded as the "bad people" and it was left at that.

The Kanto plot was also a bit of a disappointment for me. Surely the technologically advanced city of the future that literally does not care or need physical existence anymore can do better than... putting an entire virtual city inside the bodies of children....? Right? It felt extremely far-fetched. As Hacker said (SPOILER ALERT):

"What a crazy twist, right? A world inside a supercomputer... who would've thought Kanto would be some overused sci-fi trope?"

If only the show's awareness of it's own tropes went anywhere. Note to story writers: making a character break the fourth wall and voice the future criticisms of your viewers is NOT good writing and it is NOT going to make those criticisms disappear or be less relevant. Breaking fourth walls is in and of itself not always a great thing to do in a story so focused in it's own world and separated from the viewer.

But you know what? The ending makes everything worth it!! Not. There is a single scene that I LOVE, and it is Swindler's last confrontation with the executioners. They surround her and stuff happens and then she says "zamamiro", and I love it. I died fangirling, and then died trying not to be sad. Lol. It's stuck with me now, such an iconic scene. Other than that, the ending wasn't that great.

Overall, I enjoyed the show, but I wish I could've seen another Akudama Drive. The Akudama Drive the first half introduced seemed like it would be amazing, not only a must-watch for the season, but BEYOND that. The Akudama Drive I was left with made me feel glad that it ended so short and stopped wasting my time. 6.5/10 and not lower for Swindler <3

[issela-santina]

Götterdämmerung Opernhaus Zürich (Noseda, Homoki) first impressions

for context I stumbled into the same event's Rheingold and Walküre during their back halves and either Mezzo TV skipped Siegfried or I missed it during the weeks I was out, shame

the Norns looked very Targaryen coded for me and this is a narrative with a Targaryen analogue aka Siegfried who to me is like Taylor Swift and Daenerys Targaryen at the same time. I will elaborate later

it's one thing to put on a horse helmet and gallop around and it's another thing to do that and then realise that you forgot your weapon. my ADHD ass felt that

Hagen is a walking gothic spire with that fucking bass to match and he can pin me to the wall with his spear any day

the color coding between the Gibichungs and the lead couple is sending me. Gutrune rocks that shade of red like a diva

Waltraute's eyes scare me more than her account of what happened after Brünnhilde was banished

it pierces me (pun intended) to see Wotan catatonic ngl, not just a how the mighty have fallen trope but it's also that he's got no voice in this finale (congrats Tomasz you can rest now) which scares me because this is a daddy whose issues fucked him so bad that his daughters feel like walking on eggshells waiting for him to speak

the funny thing about giving Gunther a lob while both his sister and Siegfried have one is that Klaus Florian Vogt could just put on the ginger wig and it would still work; instead we have of course the Tarnhelm as a hood (ok this is nice) and then Daniel Schmutzhard coming in with a blank face like an egg ghost from the Korean exorcist drama Sell Your Haunted House possessed the man

why is Hagen surrounded by John Wick variants. why is everyone in black. Wave-Götterdämmerung-Treffen? Goth-erdämmerung? goddamn. I want to join

I am also just enamored in the most childish way whenever somebody wears a robe and it swishes when they move; Hagen and Brünnhilde and Gutrune you all have me in a chokehold

Gunther should have married Siegfried

it gets even more ridiculous because Walküre specifically dealt with twincest and now we have a pair of siblings who consciously don't want to do that and still get their asses bitten because they chose an inbred with a violently protective gf

if I were to explain this opera to people who don't know shit it's “how to exploit the bro code when the inbred boyfriend you godmothered against your daddy's wife's wishes cheats on you with a couple that specifically isn't interested in incest”

maybe Siegfried wouldn't have been too faithful either if he didn't drink that love potion; it stretches the story but it adds intrigue and a bit of realism because honestly, men, but still, runtime, and also, men

Gutrune acting like a coquette for over half the number she spends alone with Siegfried and then shagging him at the end is very fan fiction paced

Camilla Nylund, I love you

the reason I said Siegfried is like Taylor Swift is that both of them are likable especially when you're a white supremacist

Hagen and Brünnhilde make an interesting parallel because both of them have beef with their dads and that beef is just left to rot with only Alberich still alive at the end

the tree trunk has a face on one of its sides, I wonder if it's intentional

camera focus on KFV's hand as he lies lifeless at the bed kinda lost its power when later Siegfried is shown to reanimate again to give the ring to Brünnhilde (her death being shown as him taking her and the horse helmet by the hand to exit stage left is quite cute though)

as with Rheingold the look of the Rhine girls just being in pajamas sharing a bed while the rotating set is almost entirely white registers to me like either The Matrix or an asylum — though because Homoki made the concept really sparse it does let the viewer fill in those blanks in their head

lol @ Hagen's defenestration. lol

[blackquillchillin]

Posting separately because apparently the OP blocked me, or maybe tumblr is just being a butt, not sure. couldn't reblog it, even from my mutuals. (love you @sparkyblizz) Regardless, I have Simon knowledge! basically the original post was just asking why Simon is so freaking British and aura isn't, that's so weird lol, (I'm paraphrasing and it is a very funny oddity of ace attorney) But I have an actual answer!

basically, its because Simon was a pain in the ass to localize.

more under the link cause this is a long one.

In the original Japanese version, He spoke using a specific dialect, that had a bunch of cultural connotations. It was older, came across as rough, and would have given the player extra context on the character.

He also leaned into the tropes of being a Ronin, which is a specific archetype of Samurai that would have been clear to the original audience. I'm not clear on all of the details, I'm not part of the culture and don't know the short hand or the history involved, but I do know a Ronin is a Samurai without a master, and one who had lost their master, for example, when said master died, would be a Ronin. Its a subset of Samurai with very specific expectations, and the rough way of speaking is in line with that. Its also a tad old fashioned, no one meets Samurai just walking around these days.

All of this is great characterization and sets up the audience for better understanding of certain plot points.

But none of it reads to an American audience.

None of our dialects have the same cultural short hand-because we don't have the same tropes and expectations. We also don't tend to know the nuances of Japanese history, if an American knows what a Ronin is, it'll be in a vague, "oh that's a Samurai thing" (example, me.) and that will lead into American assumptions on what it is, but missing a bunch of context, because again, we have different tropes.

So. How do you localize a man whos entire being is tied into cultural expectations and short hand?

You change some things. They wanted to emphasize his ties to this master-follower relationship, they make him a generic Samurai, because that's understood in a culture that doesn't really have that dynamic, and so understands it from other media brought over. They make him aggressively British, because to the new targeted audience, that makes him someone deserving of respect, (Americans have some weird assumptions about posh British people, myself included) and they lean into Victorian British specifically, because again-Simon is old Fashioned. They also make him rude as hell, because the dialect has using now doesn't read as rude unless you make it rude. (I image he was probably still pretty rude in the Japanese version, but it would have been imbedded in how he spoke, and I have no idea how different that looks)

So we end up with a Simon who looks very different, but reads as close as possible to the original intent, because of the Audience he's played to.

As for why Aura isn't British as hell-simple. She didn't need to be. I don't know what they were going for exactly in the beginning, but I do know that the American version of a futuristic science lady who looks the part and is pissed off about this screwy justice system doesn't have to rely on the same short hand. there are already tropes in America she can utilize, and making her aggressively British, like Simon, would have changed an American viewers assumptions in a way they likely didn't want or need.

and, In case you are wondering, I do have a source for these localization struggles! There's a great interview on it you can read here! It starts with a bunch of trivia, but gets more into detail further down.

TL;DR, Simon is the way he is because the way he was wouldn't make sense, a problem Aura didn't have.

[lounaticm]

🍓

🍄 (yes I did this on purpose)

🍬 (yes I am enabling you)

☁️

🩷(not on the list just wanted to spread some love 😊)

🍓- How did you get into writing fanfiction? --- I kind of just... have always been doing so. From the moment I first started adoring certain shows or movies or books as a kid, I've been writing fanfiction. In fact, it took a very long time for me to even learn the term 'fanfiction' and realize "Oh. That's what this is. Neat!" (I believe I was very early teens when I first saw the term online.) From the moment I first started writing stories (which came about very shortly after I first learned how to write at all) there was only a short year or two time where I wasn't writing fanfiction. (Hell, my mom still has those short, one page stories I'd write back then. I don't know if it was simply a typo on my part or if I was just really morbid, but they almost always ended with 'And they died.'😂)

🍄- Share a headcanon for one of your favorite ships or pairings. --- (lol, of course you did. And for that, I'm going to give more than one heh~)

Well, I'm not sure if I've stated so here or not (I know I've certainly shared with my best friend over Discord) but I imagine the DA and Damien pretty much fell in love at first sight. And my rendition of the DA doesn't believe in love at first sight lol, yet still got steamrolled with it anyways, realizing what the feeling was just two hours after they met - but being in denial of it being anything more than a crush for months after. Clearly, Love At First Sight took offense to the disbelief lol

Damien's cane and mayor ribbon were a gift from the DA upon winning the election. The ribbon was just a cheeky joke, there was no thought or intent that Damien would go on to actually wear it beyond a few hours after having it pinned to his suit in congratulations by a grinning DA once news arrived that he'd won. Yet, he went on to wear it all the time - regardless of what few people moaned and complained that he was 'bragging' or the like. It came from his Little Monster, so of course he was going to keep wearing it.

As for the cane, it has a sword inside - but only Damien's close friends and family know of it. The DA gave it to him as a covert means of self-defense (though he never had any need to use it) as Damien learned swordsmanship growing up for fun. (Yeah, I'm not the first person to imagine that Damien's cane is a sword cane, I know. In fact, I used to not care for the idea, but it quickly grew on me lol)

🍬- Post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character. --- (Oh, I LOVE being enabled to talk about this ssfvsfvsfvf thank you! I don't know if this is actually unpopular, or simply not spoken of/depicted as much, but)

Dark is NOT evil, cruel, cold, or manipulative.

He is miserable and depressed and drowning in guilt over what happened to the DA (regardless of the fault not being his) and wants revenge on the Actor - though he's quickly lost most drive to actually track the bastard down.

Not once has he ever harmed the viewer character. He's been cryptic, yes, and a little creepy in Date (though I take that portrayal with a grain of salt these days, as he wasn't properly developed as a character yet, it being his first canonical appearance and all) but on that same point, he showed to care more about the viewer's feelings over having shot someone than Mark did. If you listen to his dialogue (or read a transcript) when he and Mark are trying to convince us who to shoot, nothing he says is a lie. In Heist, he seemed only to want to wake the viewer up to the nature of what was going on, stuck in the Actor's games. He nudged us in the right direction with the clues to be found at each ending.

And with the inclusion of the implications given at the end of ISWM, he may have set the entire string of events of AHWM in motion deliberately to get a chance to speak with us to try to help us. Why else would he very likely seemingly attach the warp crystal to that box, which we would then after go to try to steal? Why else would he then simply pull us aside - separate us from Mark - and speak to us, rather than use the opportunity to try to get revenge on the Actor, who was right there?

Being the "villain" has never been his goal.

☁️- What made you choose your username? --- Okay, so. My mom gave me the nickname 'Lou' when I was in my mid-teens. There's no basis upon my name at all for why she did so. Even she doesn't know why she gave me the nickname. (She's just rather silly like that lol) At first I hated it, asked her not to call me that, but it just kept happening and I realized that it would undoubtedly continue to happen - not maliciously, mind you - so I kinda just gave in and had the thought of 'oh, I could make it into a different spelling of the word 'lunatic'.' cause, yeah, edgy teen lol. And I became very fond of it, making it my username across many websites and accounts. I always pair it with either the number 13 or letter 'm', cause 13 is my favorite number and 'm' is the first letter of my birth name lol

~~~

Oh boy, I get rambly. 😂😅 And you are entirely too sweet. 🥺😊 Thank you so much for sending in all the asks that you do, I really appreciate it.

Tagging @kiwibubbles5 because I figure you'll wanna see me rant about our boy lol... again...

[princesssszzzz]

Question. Did you actually read the books? Or is most of your idea of Rhaena (she's fantastic), Aemond and Daeron who are more like that father of hers you hate than you seem to want to admit, based on fanon?

I never speak about Daemon outside of the occasional Nettles post or how he’s a bad father I’m assuming your talking about the latter. I don’t hate any characters but not gonna pretend Daemon is a good dad. Half the people following me are Daemon stans. They either agree or don’t care what I say about him bc he’s not a real person 😂I’m not on any team so I’m not going to hate or support a character based on which side they are.

Daemon is not Mufasa in the books either he was never winning fatherhood awards. Even Otto Hightower kissed his daughter on the head. But I don’t jump in and out of the book when it comes to Daemon. My opinion on him is strictly HOTD which is why I only tag post with him HOTD. Daemon is not Ned Stark in book or show. It’s his fans only making “the father that stepped up” memes. There’s no casual viewer that would ever call him an amazing father because he’s not. What do you lose by admitting Daemon is not a good dad to his daughters? You can’t claim to love Rhaena and Baela and say it’s ok for them to be treated like trash and neglected. You love extensions of Daemon (not even Laena) to conjure up a family image but you don’t like them. They don’t exist to make him look like a good person they are young girls not PR agents. But you don’t have to pretend to like them just stop telling me he’s a good dad. If Otto or Viserys treated Alicent or Rhaenyra like this we would never hear the end of it. You could at least chalk it up to bad writing but saying he's a good dad is just a lie. You’ve never seen me defend anything Aemond and Daeron ever did so...I’m assuming your talking about my fanfics? I never speak about Daeron’s book actions and I don’t talk about Aemond outside of his parallels to Rhaena or the occasional silly shipping post. I’m just writing random stuff + delving into Rhaena’s feelings about how she’s treated. I actually wouldn’t be writing any of it if the show did that so don’t be annoyed with me be annoyed with Ryan. Mr. Condal who also claims Daemon’s family is his “brother and niece.” The guy who wrote him not even considering his kids as his family so how do you get perfect dad from that. What I post about or write for Rhaena (besides obvious AUs where she’s out of character) comes from what I’ve seen in the show mixed in a little with her book personality. 100% show Rhaena includes Daemon ignoring her so if my writing her response to being ignored confuses or bothers you, it’s probably because you pretend he’s not ignoring her. It’s actually impossible to speak about Rhaena without talking about Daemon’s neglect because she’s lived with him her entire life. She’s always next to him. I’m not making anything up I’m just going based from the show. Like I said I’m not on either team so I have no partisan views on anyone. I don’t have underlying reasons to saying Daemon is not a good father it’s just the truth lol I’m not a Daemon hater. Aemond is also a piece of shit if you go through my post I have more content critiquing him than Daemon if anything. Maybe you assumed I’m an Aemond simp extremist bc I ship Rhaemond but I’m not I just like that they have a lot in common and I think their personalities are interesting together😂 If Daemon smacked the shit out of Aemond for what he did to Rhaena and Baela I would have been perfectly happy. I don’t care if Daeron and Aemond behaved just like Daemon they aren’t her dad so *shrug* Again I wouldn’t even have this blog or be talking about this if people weren’t lying and trying to portray her as satisfied to be treated like shit. Anyways to answer your question my idea of Rhaena is realistic Rhaena. Not lost on me that people love the idea of ‘sit down, shut up, pour wine, support us, smile and nod at these people’ Rhaena......you don’t really like Rhaena. If my dream Rhaena comes to fruition in season 2 you will hate her and will be posting rants about her. I’ve already seen some Daemon fans insulting her for the Hightower husband and “making him look like a bad person”