#this is essentially a one-shot premise

[active-mind-15]

Going back to headcanons of Akashi being lame, I have a headcanon that he doesn't know how to swing. He never got the chance since the many activities his father enrolled him in as a child meant he was nowhere near a park most of the time unless he was in the basketball courts practicing.

Yes, he probably had a playground in his elementary school that likely had a swingset, but if he never learned how to swing, I would bet he wouldn't wanna ask his peers either because he didn't wanna single himself out. So he just went his entire childhood not being able to swing on a swingset.

The next time he would find himself near a swingset is if maybe post-Winter Cup, the Teiko gang grabs food from Maji after a hangout sesh and goes to eat it in the park. After eating, Aomine and Kise make up a stupid competition to see who can swing the highest, and when Aomine keeps winning, Kise tries to enlist Akashi to help just to finally see Aomine get humbled. But to Kise and everyone else's surprise, Akashi reluctantly (and bashfully) admits that he doesn't actually know how to swing.

(They spend the rest of their time in the park teaching him. And when he gets the hang of it, they all cheer him on, and a little part of Akashi's inner child is healed.)

[maybeafrog-blog]

In Defense of Donnie's Gifts

I'm ngl I sorta think the shock collar was still just an odd writing decision but as far as PREMISE:

It CANNOT be a coincidence that this is the first time (and one of VERY few times) that Donnie's soft shell is referenced. Once, when Raph is hesitating to tell Donnie his gifts suck ass, and he uses the soft shell metaphor, and after that with Meat Sweats and his paprika, describing it as not just soft, but delicate. Weird, but he is a cannibal, so. (Side note, Meat Sweats never removed his battle shell? How does he know? Or did he take it off and replace it after the pound of butter? Is he using it to facilitate steaming and tenderness? Is it broken? I feel like it should have something in there that could break him out of the sausage links)

Then in that last little scene- "Forget it. You guys are great the way you are!" - we get the shot of Donnie from behind pre group hug, with his brothers facing the camera. (Idk if I'm making shit up, but I feel like this is a staple for Donnie episodes? It def happens in the Purple Game, maybe Smart Lair.) The framing draws attention to his battle shell. The battle shell even kinda matches the gifts, compared to the rest of their gear and even Donnie's tech, color coded and way more streamlined than stuff like the tech bo.

Donnie's soft shell is an innate, unchangeable part of him, a feature of his species, that he treats as a handicap. Probably MORE unchangeable than the character traits he sees as holding his brothers back, which they do sorta... not mature out of, but refine, rather, over the course of the show. Donnie's shell can't experience a character arc, but he sees it as holding him back. So he FIXES it.

The Mad Dogs don't really have a motivation for beating stuff up besides "Hero Time!!!" at this point. That's why it's so interesting how EARLY this happens, unlike with Mind Meld, he isn't trying to change his brothers to make them better at a task that he actually CARES about. Donnie in particular never gets a super intense moral compass besides stuff that threatens people he already cares about, and he doesn't have any grudges (no Purple Dragons) at this point in the series. Hero Goals are largely devices for him to hang out with his dum dum brothers. I'm not diagnosed or anything but my vibes are certainly... Spectrum-Adjacent, I definitely have trouble with literal thinking and reading people. One thing that happens sometimes is people will be using "task" as "reason to hang," and I will get a lot more fixated on completing said task than I really should, to the point of annoying people. I confuse "Successful Task Completion" with "Successful Social Interaction." It makes me come across as bossy and controlling without realizing it.

So, we got a Donnie who thinks Arbitrary Goals are essential to Hero Bonding, who has been treating his life like an mmorpg - armor upgrades, skill trees, grinding, sometimes fighting through random dungeons to hang out with his bros. He's probably even slightly better at Fighting Stuff than his brothers atp, he isn't dealing with a mystic learning curve and his special interest has been Weapons of Mild Destruction for years already. His brothers want to level up, take harder missions, he tries to get them there with his access to High Level Loot.

Of course, his brothers are all min-maxing, not trying to multiclass their purple ass out of squishy glass cannon town. So, it doesn't go well. Unfortunately, the lesson Donnie learns (besides brotherly affection) is that his brothers don't NEED fixing like he does. Mind Meld and Donnie vs. Witch Town sorta finish this arc out as best as the series can.

Where I would have liked to see this go:

A S2 Donnie's Gifts or Mind Meld style episode (Donnie tries to improve his brothers, to their dismay) where the motivator isn't goal completion, but protectiveness. We see a bit of the fear in Purple Game, a bit of the contingency planning with the escape pods in the movie. Maybe a more upfront "training montage" type scenario, a high tech robo dojo to develop their mad skills, or just a tense moment after a skin of their teeth Genius Built rescue.

The brothers confront Donnie eventually-- not just the passive conflict resolution of Donnie's Gifts. They get mad. Push Donnie to the point he's at in Turtle-Dega Nights. They get a rant about not wanting them to get hurt, of course, but also that he's already done so much to FIX himself, make sure he's not a LIABILITY, why can't they at least try to stay SAFE? The dangers are real now, and as far as Donnie knows he REALLY can't do anything about threats like the Shredder. His tech did nothing the first time. His brothers are the ones with the mystic mojo, and they don't even realize how SERIOUS things could get.

Anyway. Protective Donatello my Beloved. Let my boy go apeshit.

//I REALLY Like the 2003 episode where Leo is hurt and Donnie is fucking PISSED at Usagi. All Donnies should be allowed to enter a feral protective rage, as a treat.

//If anyone knows of any Purple Game Aftermath fics lmk. Like, going home, getting donnie out of the evil gamer chair, guilt, whatever. or just good Purple Dragons being Assholes content.

[bigskydreaming]

Imagine looking at a character whose entire premise is that in every stage of his life, he's made every version of himself into someone that inspires people to such a degree that EVERY SINGLE VERSION OF HIM has people wanting to literally follow in his footsteps in some way or another.....

And coming to the conclusion that like.....the most important things about him are the sum of all his trappings. His entirely homemade developed from scratch could not exist if not for what he already was and brought with him BEFORE crafting this newest version of himself trappings, with his greatest trait throughout all of it being his adaptability; his ability and willingness to roll with the punches and not try to simply weather any opposition or changes to his life but instead reshape himself as needed to better fit INTO whatever new shape his life and the world around him takes. All while managing to carry the most innate, fundamental and necessary aspects of himself from one version to the next. Thus every single version of himself is different but simultaneously every single version of himself is also undeniably the same person.

The strength of this character, to me, will always be that he can be so many versions of himself, he can become so many things, all without ever actually losing or discarding any of the aspects of himself he considers most essential, the things he's not willing to lose or give up just to keep going. Finding that road not taken by most, usually because most never even think to look for it as an option. But one that he's always able to find because the one trick he's mastered in his tumultuous life is threading that needle of not just digging in his heels in an unproductive way but rather being selective about when and where he makes a stand and decides "this is not a thing I'm willing to compromise about" but here are places and ways I can and will change and evolve and adapt in order to make it possible for me to hold onto these parts and keep them as they are.

And that's why its always so mind-boggling to me that so many writers can't seem to think of anything else to do with Dick Grayson other than invent some new reason for him to just....not be that person, or to like just take the character whose most basic fundamental trait he's NOT about to compromise on is willingly giving up his spot in the driver's seat of his own life.....and make him just a passenger in his own life and stories.

Dick Grayson at age nine....at age nineteen...at age twenty nine....the one core thread running through all versions of him is the only way he's standing back and letting you call the shots for him or putting him on the sidelines in some way is over his dead body.

HOW he goes about that, what that looks like, who he becomes and what aspects of himself he plays up at some times and what traits he lets fall by the wayside at other times when they offer less in service to his primary goal here....that changes constantly. He changes constantly.

But those changes are almost always (or at least they used to be/should be IN MY OPINION) made with the intention of keeping certain things about him or his life as consistent as possible.

That's the duality of Dick Grayson that I'm here for. The inherent contradiction of him that COULD allow for endless conflict and breaking new narrative ground in all sorts of ways if mined properly:

His eternal willingness to compromise....but only ever in pursuit of doubling down on the ways he's not willing to compromise.

Forever walking that tightrope in ways that only a kid born and raised in a circus could ever hope to.

[quillneriine]

I just spent a whole day writing (personal project, not related to fandom stuff) and you know what would make me feel better?

Yeah, that's right, more writing (this is what I get for making writing my hobby and also my side-career, but I love it so I'm happy).

Because I have too many ideas, here's a poll to see which one I should work on next.

Here's the basic idea behind each of them so you're not just wondering what they're supposed to be:

D-16 Applies to the High Guard (Sole Survivor Prima AU Divergence) - One-Shot

If you don't know what my Sole Survivor Prima AU is, it's essentially an AU where Prima survives Sentinel and the Quintessons' ambush in the cave but the other Primes don't. He's the sole ruler of Iacon. It has hints of Primatronus, and also D-16 is Primatronus' sparkling in this AU. Although, note that his personality is mostly based off of the Covenant of Primus and not the usual one you may see from others.

In this fanfic, I mentioned before that D-16 could have actually met Prima much sooner than in the actual AU. So this is a divergence from the actual plot of the AU. This doesn't really have OPMeg like in the original since in this one D-16 never met Pax and continued on to apply to the High Guard. He ends up meeting Prima because of his application.

SG TF:One - A Better World -- Multichapter

I need to make SG!D-16/Megatron suffer so bad /j Okay so essentially, I just wanted to write a fic where SG!Megatron ends up in baseline TF:One... but at the same time not really. I can't say what I mean by this cause it's a literal plot twist/spoiler. But yeah, that's the premise lmao. This will have possessive Optimus (because I love possessive OP).

I can't really say much about this since the actual premise is in itself a bit of a spoiler/plot twist. The focus here is OPMeg (obviously). It's actually supposed to be psychological horror/horror. The emphasis here is that he thinks he's in the baseline tf:one universe but well... let's just say he's not. Other than those hints, I can't really say more otherwise I risk giving away the plot twist.

Prima's POV (Sole Survivor Prima AU) - Multichapter

If you don't know what my Sole Survivor Prima AU is, it's essentially an AU where Prima survives Sentinel and the Quintessons' ambush in the cave but the other Primes don't. He's the sole ruler of Iacon. It has hints of Primatronus, and also D-16 is Primatronus' sparkling in this AU. Although, note that his personality is mostly based off of the Covenant of Primus and not the usual one you may see from others.

This is a long fic focusing on Prima's relationship with some of the other Primes (especially Megatronus), what happened during Sentinel's ambush, and the events that transpired afterwards. D-16 and Pax do show up like eventually at the end, but this mostly focuses on Prima (because he has somehow become a favorite of mine, at least Covenant of Primus!Prima lmao).

[ppeonppeonhan]

Spoiler-Heavy Battle of the Writers Review

The premise is definitely unique: 5 BL writers of different genres decide to anonymously write one together, because one of them has writer's block, and his hot editor is hounding him. Additionally, one of the junior writers is accused of plagiarizing one of the more well-known writers in the group.

That alone was sufficient plot. I even liked the way they shot the group chat as a live conversation, and had the actors play double duty, acting out the drama they were writing.

It started to get convoluted when it's revealed that the reason it seemed like the writers plagiarized each other is because they knew each other as kids, when the senior writer was temporarily blinded and the junior writer kept him company...after wandering into his vacation home one day. You know, just your average kid behavior.

That summer, they made up a short story together. But because the junior writer's family moved before the senior writer got his vision back, the senior writer had to find him by essentially creating a publishing empire in order to sniff test every writer he encountered. Meanwhile, the junior writer lost his memory of him because he witnessed his father unalive himself.

Truly a mess of a backstory.

On the spice meter, the series gets pretty spicy -- heavy on the seduction and teasing. But they kept reminding the audience that their love story started when one of them was a teenager and the other...was a child. A deeply unnecessary detail.

Instead of saying he pined for him since they were kids, they should've had them reconnect and see each other in a new light, and allow the senior writer to repay the kindness the junior writer gave him as a child. But it honestly just seemed like an excuse to play out a fanfic of: What would happen if two BL writers talked dirty to each other?

But if you're a fan of Tutor & Yim as a pairing, I imagine you'll be able to overlook the bad writing.

[moutones]

(yet another) new traffic series idea!

disclaimer: non-explicit nsfw references below

i realised that my griscott idea follows the same theme/premise as my limlife gritho from the other week, aka sex with feelings (about other people currently not in the bed) and now i'm thinking hey… maybe i'll turn this into a one-shot series?!

so! one fic for each life season starting with third life, focusing on the progression of desertduo's relationship. they'll each be written through the perspective of the person that's not-grian, so we get the outsiders' lens (though for third life i think i’ll write scar pov).

more under the cut!

initially, i thought it would be fun for them each to be smut-shots. one of my favourite things to read is smut doubling as character study (or the reverse, if you will), and i wanna try my hand at it. buttt i think some actually work better in my head as not-smut which is just as fun!!

these are my plans so far:

3rd life

scar pov

probably no explicit smut but some seemingly mundane but melancholic and sentimental scene?

you know, the whole complicated shebang of how desertduo came to be and manipulations and playing alongs but through it all, a genuine bond only deepening

this is all about showing how deeply the seeds for their Thing are sown

last life

smut - mumbo pov

i like the idea that there are romantic feelings between grumbo here, also because i am really loving mumscarian by extension

so grian has a crisis sometime early in because well, the end of 3rd life is hard to process when it involves killing one of the men you love and then you're thrown into another death game

grian teaming up with mumbo is very much a thing of comfort for him (in the beginning), so he spills his heart out one night and they basically have sad comfort sex

important: grian cries while they have sex

but it's ok! mumbo is here! and hes a little terrified because he doesn't fully grasp grian's feelings for scar's (no one does) but he talks grian through some things and then takes care of him

note: mumbo fully accepts grian’s whatever situation; he and grian have a stable relationship so there are no dramas with jealousy etc. especially as mumbo is also familiar with scar

oh boy this ended up being more elaborate than i planned

double life

smut - scott pov

as summarised in prev. linked post

re: no romantic or even sentimental feelings, just fwb - they’re both using each other to release general and sexual frustration

it could be fun if scar and pearl decide to stand in powder snow happen while this is happening - adding to the dissonant mix of emotions

undecided whether the sexual arousal will also be shared between soulmates here…

limited life

smut - etho pov

as summarised in prev. linked post

i think this one will have some important contrasts to the scott fic - while that one occurs towards the beginning of its respective season, this one is near the end. while griscott chat during sex, gritho are mostly silent

i want to highlight how grim everything kind of feels; the desperation of holding onto someone when you know the end is coming soon

secret life

now i'm not so sure about this one... it could be interesting to make it a solo grian pov? as he was alone for most of this season and i don't feel like writing him with etho again or cleo, maybe this could be a masturbation fic. idk!

or you know, it could be really interesting to write him with joel... there's that episode where they essentially become soul bound. i think their bond through the seasons is also very interesting. my brain is whirring

but i DO at least know that there will be reflections and thinkings of the good and bad times with scar. not so much crushing yearning or desperation or mourning like the previous fics, but something like the way to healing...

wild life

the healing arc be upon us!! i did write my first scarian fic RIGHT before the episode of them teaming up released so that was a wild (haha) day for scarian nation

will of course explore how exactly it progresses to them being (more) okay again, through wild life and also prev seasons (closure and all that)

maybe a grian pov?? TBC but that could be a meaningful full circle moment if we start off with scar’s pov in 3L

paralleling the third life fic, i think i’ll have this one be non-sexual intimacy. yay!

you know, now i'm thinking that i might even write it as a chapter fic instead of a multi-fic series. baby's first chapter fic would be an interesting challenge for my very messy writing process!! but i’ll keep thinking on it.

anyway, thanks for reading if you did all that. please let me know of any thoughts you have! would love to hear and discuss any input x

[nowimjustastranger]

Okay to warn you this is a DARK dark fic rec

It’s a fanfic basically about a Stan who was pushed through the portal and fell into the clutches of Bill.

And he basically hunts down Fords. It’s really well written but as I pre-warned it’s dark.

So far it only has three chapters but it’s a good read!

I’m recommending it because the fic uses a concept which is kinda similar to your Stcmo Ford!

Basically in the universe, it’s a 50/50 on who goes through the Portal between Fords and Stans.

So an organization was made to be basically like a Lost and Found for Fords & Stans.

One of the main Fords who started the originaztion is called “Origin” and he doesn’t know it but the Stanley who is hunting down Fords is HIS Stanley.

Here’s the fic if you want to give it a shot:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/49386823/chapters/124630234

However if that’s not your cup of tea and prefer a less dark but still angsty fic then I have the recommendation for you. Because there’s another fic made by the same writer called two coins facing eachother.

And basically it takes the whole “Two sides of the same coin” theory premise and was like Hey what if in one reincarnation cycle, the two souls (Bill and Stanley) have to merge again and become whole?

So Bills soul was essentially thrown into teenager Stanley’s body. And Stanley has to deal with the fact his souls are basically dogfighting and he has the strange urge to consume as much knowledge as he can.

Here’s the fic link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41689317/chapters/104577738

It’s actually one of my favorites!!!

OOOH! I will definitely give both a read! Such delicious concepts fr! I an excitement! Thank you for the fic recs!

Edit: I devoured both and I will never recover. Both of these are worth a read if you don't mind dark themes!

[maleyanderecafe]

May I recommend Deep obsession on itchio? It's 18+ tho, so heed the warnings.

Man... that sure is a r18+ game that I just played. That being said, there are some pretty interesting things after a lot of the smut parts were done. You can play the game here if you are interested. This is a game submitted to the Stained Red Yandere Jam which I will not only be participating in but also do recommendations from.

The story starts out with Hex on the news learning about how five reporters went missing after trying to go after a snuff streamer. Hex doesn't believe the news at first but becomes curious, searching into it. After some searching and getting a link, they log into one of the streams to see of course, a snuff stream. While horrified by the death of the lady on stream, Hex becomes entranced with their voice, something that they try to fight the urge to look to again. The next day, they go to the mall to get some snacks and hang out, only to have someone tap on their shoulder when resting. They find a chocolate in their pocket and presumably get their keys stolen (though they don't seem to realize this, believing they lost their keys) before going to sleep after the neighbors help them get in. After a restless night of what they presume to be sleep paralysis of being touched and watched, they get the morbid feeling of wanting to watch the snuff streamer again, to which they do. After jacking off and promptly falling asleep watching the stream, they wake up with a jolt, only to be kidnapped. Upon waking up, they find that they are indeed, captures by the person who they've been watching streaming. Hex actually gets quite into this, not only deepthroating but straight up asking the streamer to bite their thighs. They have various sexy times, with Hex seemingly into it.

If Hex is more or less chilled out, they will freak out when the streamer ends it stating that they will kill Hex. This turns out to be a lie, as the streamer actually keeps them alive as they like Hex. They reveal that their name is Victor. The last scene has Victor seemingly fighting his conscious as a mysterious person talks about how this will not last, how they are the same as the others, before he wakes up and coddles Hex to sleep.

If Hex screams, they will again freak out when the streamer states that he will kill them, though they reassure them that he will not. He also pretty much gets shot at, with the mysterious person, whose name is Simon, essentially recruiting Hex afterwards for something.

So far, it is a pretty interesting premise seeing Hex actually be into more of the snuff streaming things, considering how into Victor's voice they seem to be. I do like the kind of concepts where the MC is pretty messed up at least to this degree. We don't really get to know that much about Simon or Victor though. We know that Victor has been stalking Hex for a bit, considering I don't think it was sleep paralysis that was groping and watching them. And they seemingly know where Hex lives and even seems to know their name and probably gave them the chocolate while they were at the mall. Still, again, other than knowing that Victor is a snuff streamer, has no problems with killing people and likes Hex, we really know very little to nothing about him. Same with the Simon person who apparently hires us. I think it would be a cool twist that in the end Hex ends up being a snuff streamer as well, following in the twisted footsteps of Victor. The art style mostly consists of blacks and whites which is always a fun thing to see in terms of stylization. I'm not really into that kind of dark smut as much as other people (I'm more on the side of wanting to torture someone, but I know most people don't tend ot share that sentiment in the yandere community, so that's alright), but I think it can be appealing to those who are interested in that.

Overall, a short but dark story. Considering this is likely a demo, I am really hoping that they will flesh out more of the story for Victor and Simon since the start of it does seem to leave a lot of interesting pathways that might be nice to follow.

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PRELIMINARY ROUND - DC COMICS

PROPAGANDA

Cassandra Cain

1.) essentially her character premise is that shes more or less an unbeatable martial artist due to the way she was raised. in the comics, she's the second batgirl and had a very popular solo series from 2000-2006. However, essentially DC editorial really didn't like that a teenage chinese girl was a better hand-to-hand fighter than batman, and so mandated that she be turned into a extremely random (also remarkably racist, as she was more or less turned in a 'dragon lady' stereotype) villain, which completely derailed and destabilized her character enough for her to almost entirely disappear from comics for the next decade. this is a far more detailed write up if wanted: https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/pdue0e/american_comicsdc_comics_the_saga_of_cassandra/

2.) Following the events of One Year Later, Cass was turned into a homicidal villain who led her own league of assassins and wanted to force Tim Drake into murdering people. This was later retconned as her being drugged, brainwashed, and manipulated by deathstroke.

3.) Literally canonically a better fighter than Batman and probably most of the DC universe. Killed one person once and because of the way she grew up (never taught to speak, learned to communicate by reading body language, in order to make her the ultimate weapon), saw what he experienced as he died and then refused to ever kill again. Had an awesome initial run… And then got hit with "evil mind control" that made her go completely OOC, depopularizing her character so much that a lot of people don't even know she exists.

Barbara Gordon

1.) Was shot as angst value for Bruce and her dad, implied to be sexually assaulted in The Killing Joke with absolutely no respect for her long career as Batgirl. When Alan Moore asked if he could, the editor said "cripple the bitch." She became paralyzed from the waist down. THankfully, an actually good writer picked her up from there and then wrote one of the best stories ever written (Oracle Year One: Born from Hope). Was one of the most iconic disabled characters in comic book history, hell, as Oracle, she was definitely up there as one of the most iconic disabled characters ever as well as a fantastic character, period. There were a few moments where people kept trying to make things out of her disability and had her be shitty to other women for no reason but for the most part, she was awesome. During her time In 2011, Dan Didio and some other misogynistic/ableist comic book writers were responsible for "curing" her disability and forcing her back into Batgirl, despite her having shown absolutely no desire to do so, as part of the New 52. They also made it an editorial mandate that she couldn't have glasses, a cool secret base, and her time as Oracle couldn't be referenced. This was because those writers were nostalgic for the 60s Batman show where Babs was played by an actress they all had the hots for and couldn't accept she'd grown up and moved on. That was bad enough, but over time, she's been increasingly deaged and reduced even further to just Dick Grayson's on and off again girlfriend and a generic girlboss. Batgirl of Burnsides burn in hell.

2.) Famously fridged in 1988, which was so popular with misogynists it became canon. After almost 2 decades of being one of the only disabled characters, was rebooted to a younger, more fun version of herself whose only history is that she was fridged but not disabled by it.

3.) The Killing Joke is one of the biggest comic examples of a female character getting hurt to motivate male characters. Also tbe way different cannons will trade off who her romantic intrest is out of Batfamily is pretty disturbing ranging from Bruce Wayne in Batman the Animated series universe (ew) to Tim Drake in the Arkham games (ew). Not to mention DC now is not letting her grow out of being Batgirl taking away her legacy of other young female heroes taking up her mantle and her getting to mentor them instead forcing her into a Batgirl cycle of purgatory when she was always better as Oracle (Its a little more complicated in the new Batgirl book but its still not solving the issues in a way that feels meaningful enough to make up the damage).

[trekkiehood]

What the fic are you most excited about that you haven't finished yet?

I'm so sorry I literally begged for these and then took forever to answer I'm the worst

Anyway! I'm very excited for my current WIP that I still haven't named. I'm waiting for something to jump out at me and it's not happening lol.

I've talked about it a bit but it's about Buck being shot down and me making things way worse for him than necessary hehe. I'm hoping to have at least the first chapter out by the end of next week. For some reason I decided to finish the rough draft of the entire fic before editing and posting the first chapter, and I'm on the Epilogue. So, it's now down to polishing the first bit so I can post it (and coming up with a title hahahaha *sobs*)

It's mainly Buck whump and a set up for my stalag series "Throughout the Great War". One of those "in case you were wondering why he's acting like that THIS is why" fics that most people write as a prologue after having written other stories, but lack of continuity bugs me so I'm writing the origin story first so I can hopefully keep things consistent. I'm hoping people will still give it a chance even if there is very little Bucky in the initial story (sorry he's still in London/on the run from the Krauts for most of this and we see that in the show).

Now to ramble about a fic that is nowhere near done and not even started past an outline but I'm VERY Excited about. It takes place in the same universe as the above fic. Essentially, Bucky has been causing problems and the Krauts just cannot get that boy to behave. No matter how they punish him he will. not. listen. So they come up with a fantastic solution, don't punish him. Punish Buck. It's a really fun premise and I'm really excited to eventually write it. (It's supposed to take place around April 1944).

I'm thinking I might have to write the "they found the radio" fic first (March 1944) but I only plan on that being a one-shot but who knows. I'm trying to write at least the main canon in order but we'll see if my brain lets me lol.

Here is a rough timeline/upcoming wip outline

Thank you so much for asking and listening to my ramblings <3

[mdhwrites]

how would you have written eda's curse and Luz's time in hexside? Eda's curse supposed to be a stand in for chronic illness but not only did they get rid of it they turned it into her 'superpower'- I know a lot of people call that a bad faith critic but it bothers me and just because hexside is cool and magic doesn't mean it's separate from the rest of the BI's laws and darwinism plus Luz is neurodivergent and has no biological magic- she would have issues with bullying and learning like she did back on her world- things wouldn't be magically fixed and might even be worse?

Why is it that The Owl House has nothing interesting to be done with powerlessness? To turn one's theorized weaknesses into strengths? Why do they just have to become strengths?

This is one of the biggest ways in which I would argue TOH is brain dead. Most other aspects of the show I can criticize but I have to admit that they tried. That there's something there... But it's entirely missing here. Which the fact that in an adventure series, the show cannot challenge the protagonist when they have a SEVERE disadvantage like this is emblematic of how the show doesn't challenge anyone on anything.

Eda's curse is like THE plot point of S1. Its finale and S2's opening, and even Affearances, all revolve around how we have gone from being worried about using magic to not being able to use magic. It's a HUGE status quote, especially because it leaves these characters so much more vuln- Oh never mind. Eda has explosive potions and glyphs that outdo all of her magic that she did before. It's not a problem. Move the fuck on.

I talked to an author after Clouds on the Horizon about how Eda gaining a coven sigil means nothing. They argued back that she'd lose her magic then. I shot back that she already lost it... And they admitted, being a fanfic author for TOH, that they FORGOT EDA DIDN'T HAVE MAGIC.

But why would you even remember that? She uses more magic with the glyphs than she did without them. The one time the curse really got in the way was with Tibbles. Then it not just became a superpower, it had EXTRA POWERS! Like what we saw in Eda's Requiem. Her magic genuinely got more interesting and more devastating AFTER losing it.

And this paralleled with Luz. Covention is the ONE time her not having magic comes up as something that puts her in danger and the answer is just to have someone else do the magic, which is always the solution in S1 early on. Need to fight Bounty Hunters? Bring in Willow. Need to escape detention? Yo Gus, use that good good illusion magic of yours. My own unique personality traits, skills and abilities instead? Why the fuck would we use that when everyone is overpowered and that's SO much easier a solution?

And once Luz does have her full arsenal, she rivals ANY other mage we've seen below Lilith's level. Fight a Selkidamus? Sure, I'm better than the entire fucking boat and will solo this bitch after they fail and I only need them for physical strength. The Conformatorium is my bitch by the end of S1 despite no training or practice. I can just walk up to Warden Wrath and render him completely at my mercy with just slips of paper. After those two back to back moments, anytime Luz loses or is challenged is just narrative contrivance because we've seen that her power is essentially limitless. It doesn't even cost her energy since her stamina seems entirely disconnected from her spells...

Which Gus reinforces because when he picks up glyphs, even when nervous with them, they are bluntly stronger than any other version we've seen of those spells. The largest fireball in the entire show is when Gus nervously casts his first glyph. It's horseshit.

And as you point out, it has cascading effects. If you want boring combat because otherwise you would need to sacrifice time from character work, that's one thing. However, the show's premise is on Luz learning magic. Learning to be the best version of herself. Because magic is not challenged though, she does not have to improve as a person to improve her magic. That's why three of her four glyphs have nothing to do with moral lessons. Arguably, all of them, and that's not getting into how the combo glyphs happen off screen and you can't argue shortening because all but one combo glyph is gotten before the shortening took effect. As such, you're not doing character work AND you're not doing interesting, entertaining combat or adventures.

I think the most damning thing here, period, is that I've mixed these subjects because it's obvious. A depowered, master of magic working with someone who wants to be that master of magic to understand the world and their abilities. It should be a bonding point for them that they don't have magic or that magic comes hard for them. But... It's not. It literally never is. The closest it EVER comes to that is when Luz teaches Eda glyphs which is like all of two minutes between two episodes and that's in SEASON TWO. It's not a reversal of dynamics because the first dynamic just straight up NEVER HAPPENED.

But it's easier to just give them powers. To just give super forms or combo glyphs or whatever else the person needs in that moment. It's easier than exploring the complicated subjects of not having something everyone else has, even though shows for TODDLERS literally have done it for decades in single episodes.

How am I supposed to agree that this is the deepest show with the most complex writing when they could not bother even once answering the question "How does someone without magic win against that win against something that does?" And for a show with two of its protagonists entirely missing magic at different points in the show, that's downright embarrassing.

TOH would have to be more than just another isekai using fantasy elements for power fantasy elements to give a shit about that though. Shame to anyone who actually cares about those genres though, this isn't the place for you. See you next tale.

======+++++======

Before anyone tries to crack back with this btw: Putting a glyph on Belos WOULD count if not for the fact that Luz has to break every version of the invisibilty spell we've ever seen for that to have worked. Her magic just did what it needed to do. She wasn't smart, the show cheated, which is essentially the whole point of this blog. And for those curious: EVERY other use of the Invisibility spell includes making the entire person vanish which makes sense since it is connected to the breath of the caster. Then out of nowhere, Luz can do it to a single object that she's wearing despite no one ever making their shirt even accidentally vanish. That's not clever, that's bullshit.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[theteapotofdoom]

give me a pitch why should i watch severance whats the deal

Oh man, this is going to sound like a copout, but the best pitch I can give you is "bro just trust me" because I genuinely believe that you will have a great time going into it blind.

That being said, I fully accept that this might just be a "me" thing because I had some of my best movies/series experiences when I took a leap of faith and I went into the story with no idea of what I was about to experience.

So I'll still give you two pitches, one very vague and one more precise with just the premise of the show.

Vague pitch: An extremely original yet easily relatable concept treated to the max of its potential. The main idea is genius in its simplicity because it leads to a lot of crazy concepts that will probably stick with you for a long time. In a way, it's a very Lynchian series, not because it specifically refers to David Lynch's work, but because it feels like the people working on Severance grew up with Twin Peaks and many other of his projects. It's mundane yet surrealist, familiar yet alien, at times hilariously and at other times terrifyingly offputting. Beyond the concept and the great writing, the cinematography is also on point: the directing, the shots, the music, the colour palette... it all feels incredibly unique. The cast is also crazy good, you have some surprisingly big names who are at the top of their game, but also some lesser-known actors who shine just as bright as the other stars. Someone on Twitter described this show as "quietly devasting sci-fi" and I agree completely. Also old man yaoi.

Now a more detailed pitch under the cut (not big spoilers, everything I mentioned here is revealed in the first episode).

Did you ever wish you could separate your work self from your real self? Did you ever wish you could relax at home without thinking about your work, or maybe wish that you could go to work without being distracted by your real-life issues? This is the concept explored by the show. In a nonspecified near future (very Black Mirror in vibes) the mega-corporation Lumon developed a form of brain surgery that allows people to completely sever themselves from their life at work. Basically, they have no memories of their life while at work and they have no memories of their work while at home, essentially creating two separate minds sharing the same body. So one side is perpetually free from work, while the other is ... well, constantly at work with no contact with the outside world.

A very simple idea, but I think you can already imagine the crazy possibilities coming with it.

I'll be honest, as an aspiring writer, I'm deadass jealous of this show. That's how good it is.

And also did I mention old men yaoi?

[vanilla-rainbows]

Wreck-it Ralph AU - GUARDIAN

Ok, let me preface this by saying three (3) things:

English is not my first language. I’m currently incapable of writing fanfiction in a language that is not my own, so please forgive me. Feel free to correct me if you see any mistakes!

I welcome all kinds of feedback. Just don’t be rude, please TTwTT

This might get long and messy. I haven’t really planned out anything with this AU and all of this is 100% vibes, but I’m open to suggestions and might expand/change/delete things as I go.

The (quite long) premise of this AU is basically this: Turbo survived the events of the first movie (original I know) because he rewrote so much of himself into Sugar Rush that the game now thinks he’s actually part of it. So he respawns, but gets kicked out of the game and is forced to go back to his previous life as a gameless character in Game Central Station. Only difference, everyone this time KNOWS he’s alive and what he did (because Ralph and/or Vanellope explained the whole situation to the rest of the arcade). So everyone basically treats him like shit (more or less like Vanellope). He’s both shunned and mocked by the other characters, and is forcefully kept away from every game in the arcade, to prevent him from “going Turbo” again.

But the thing is, he’s actually powerless now, and can’t actually do anything dangerous anymore. He lost the cy-bug part of his code (sorry kcb fans but the tall menacing cockroach doesn’t exactly give out the pathetic wet cat vibes that this au demands) because of the reset, and even glitches between his Turbo and King Candy model at times. He’s hit rock bottom and he knows it. And obviously he blames it all on Vanellope and Ralph, and wants to take revenge on them. So, knowing how powerful his cy-bug form was, he decides to wait for a chance to sneak into Hero’s Duty and get himself eaten again by one of the creatures. THEN he will be free to wreak havoc on the arcade and happily destroy every single game in it (starting with Sugar Rush of course). And ABSOLUTELY no one will be able to stop him.

So naturally he gets stopped again. This is where I’d introduce the OC I’m planning for this AU. Her name is Luna and she is the titular protagonist of Luna’s Adventure (might change later), a fantasy adventure that resembles the first Zelda game in terms of graphics and mechanics (also might change later). Luna is essentially an optimistic, but not an hopeless one. Being one of the oldest characters in the arcade (she’s from the 80’ as well), she knew who Turbo was back in the day and is fully aware of the situation, but doesn’t really like the “let’s all laugh at him” mentality. So she mostly ignores/pities him, and makes sure he doesn’t try anything funny with her game. That is, until she spots him as he’s sneaking into Hero’s Duty during opening hours. She immediately takes action and follows him into the game. At first she tries to talk him out of it, but her pleads fall of deaf ears, as Turbo is too fixated on his revenge plan to even listen to her. He feels like he has no other options. He lost everything, again. In the eyes of the other characters, he’s but a pest. Better be feared than respected at this point. This desperate attempt (which seems more like self-destructing behaviour) is his last chance.

The heated back and forth between the two grabs the attention of a solitary cy-bug, which immediately attacks them. Luna quickly avoids the creature and safely gets to a hidden spot, but when she notices that Turbo has no intention of running away, on the contrary, he’s purposefully exposing himself like the snack he is, she jumps on him and saves him from the incoming cy-bug attack. So for a few minutes we have the comical situation of Luna continuously saving Turbo and herself from the cy-bug, and Turbo trying so hard to get eaten but getting saved everytime. Eventually the cy-bug is shot to death by Calhoun herself, who IS SO READY to blast Turbo out of existence with all of her arsenal, but desists when Luna explains the whole situation to her. Still, the sergeant has no intention of keeping the glitchy gremling in her game a second longer, and escorts both of them out. Turbo lashes out at Luna for ruining his ultimate plan, but before she can say anything back, the arcade opens. Luna leaves in a hurry, telling Turbo to behave while she’s away because she’s not done with him. So he’s left in the middle of GCS wandering what the hack she meant by that.

That night, all main characters from each game reunite to discuss what to do with Turbo. Felix, Ralph, Vanellope, Calhoun and Luna are all present. Turns out they have no idea how to handle the situation. They can’t let him run freely around the arcade. What would happen if he tried to infiltrate another game? Unsurprisingly, no one mentions Surge Protector. Someone suggests they could simply kill him. He deserves it, after all. Ralph is neutral, Vanellope is slightly against the idea, but Felix jumps up and firmly says that they are not going to kill anyone. If they did, they wouldn’t be better than him. Then Calhoun makes a proposal. Just like keeping the cy-bugs inside Hero’s Duty is also part of her, well, duty, someone should take on the role of a warden to Turbo, keeping him inside their game and out of everyone else’s. Obviously she can’t do it, neither Vanellope, so another character will have to.

The problem is that no one wants to have anything to do with Turbo. They may mock him during the day, but they really are all just terrified by him. The fear of getting unplugged is so strong that no one is willing to take the risk. No one, but Luna. While everyone argues, she slowly stands up and offers herself to be Turbo’s guardian. The room goes silent for a few seconds, but eventually everyone applauds her courage.

Now comes the hard part. Luna has to find a delicate way to break the news to her colleagues. They obviously have A LOT to say about it, but she is able to convince them. Sort of. Things might not be so simple after all. Even though she agreed to keep an eye on Turbo, she’s not sure how exactly this decision will affect her and her game. Was it really the right thing to do? What if he became really dangerous? She’s actually starting to reconsider, when an idea forms in her coded mind. What if… she were to teach him goodness? What if she offered him a chance, instead of treating him like a criminal? All I have to say is that Turbo will definitely take advantage of the situation and play along, all so that he can finally have his sweet revenge.

That’s all for now. I have a few ideas on how the story could continue, and a few interactions that I absolutely want to incorporate as well. Also I already have a finale in mind, and I hope to eventually get to that (the final scene is the one most clear in my mind right now). So, if you actually managed to read all that, thank you! Now I can go back to being a normal human being again (delusional).

[joegualtieri-blog]

From the DC Vault: Death in the Family- Robin Lives by JM DeMatteis and Rick Leonardi & Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo

Once again, DC's collections department fails the material. Only DeMatteis and Leonardi receive cover credit on this awkwardly titled volume. Despite that, in addition to the titular mini-series, it also reprints Batman # 426, 427, 429, and the “faux-simile” (their awful term) of #428 that includes the version of pages where Jason Todd survives being murdered by the Joker. This is not something like the Spider-Man: Shadow of the Goblin TPB, where one issue by Howard Mackie and Dan Fraga as essential a bonus to make the volume a little thicker; Starlin and Aparo are the creators for more of the volume than DeMatteis and Leonardi, they deserve equal billing. Putting on a retailer hat for a moment, not beginning the title with “Batman” is another perplexing choice. A lot of shops in my area strictly organize collected editions by company and then title. This series will not be placed anywhere the Batman volumes, and instead will follow the Flash. It's also reasonable to second guess the decision to include A Death In the Family (aside-- the original comic is titled A Death in the Family, but the 2020 film adaption drops the “A.” Is that why it's missing here?), and in particular #429. There might be someone who picks up this volume without having read the original, but it seems unlikely. It comes off as a way for DC to up the page count and price with a story that has certainly paid for itself many, many times over. The inclusion of #429 is a bigger issue. It is not edited to reflect the “faux-simile” version of #428, nor are the original pages of #428 included at all, which seems like a massive oversight. It makes for reading #429 after the edited version of #428 quite awkward, but that is not the end of the problems with #429's inclusion.

I ripped into Hickman's new Ultimate Spider-Man for violating its What If-style premise, and I'm unfortunately going to have to object (more mildly) to what DeMatteis does here. In #428 (both versions), the Joker becomes the UN ambassador for Iran, gaining diplomatic immunity in the process. In Robin Lives, DeMatteis immediately throws this premise out. The story opens with the Joker shot in the head, with Batman on the scene. A couple pages in, a flashback starts, to reveal how events got to that point. Jason Todd awakens from his coma, and the scene cuts Joker murdering his Iranian handlers after they have “second thoughts” and revoke his diplomatic immunity. At least DeMatteis pays passing notice to the situation from A Death in the Family, but he clearly has little interest in using it as an exact jumping off point.

Beyond throwing out part of the premise, Robin Lives works as a very DeMatteis What If-style story, which is to say, it ends with terrible things happening to the characters, and there's a noticeable emphasis on the psychology of the characters. Unfortunately, it has some problematic elements. The comic actually is narrated by a psychologist, Dr. Saraswati Dev (possibly named after the Hindu goddess of knowledge, language, and culture). After waking from his coma, Todd goes out as Robin over Batman's protestations, and receives a dose of fear gas from the Scarecrow. This causes him to flashback to his nearly fatal encounter with the Joker, traumatizing him again. This would seem to be one of several references to other stories where there Robin's death is a subject, as in Detective Comics #571, “Fear For Sale” by Mike W. Barr and Alan Davis, Batman overcomes fear gas exposure that causes him to see Todd's tombstone. At this point, Batman (as Bruce Wayne), places Todd in the care of Dev.

Meanwhile, the Joker, captured by Batman and Superman after he killed the Iranians, is being cared for at Arkham by Dr. Benjamin Stoner, a character created by DeMatteis during his run on Doctor Fate, compared in Dev's narration to Carl Jung. Neither the Joker nor Todd do well in their therapy. Batman tries to improve things by revealing his secret to Dev. Joker eventually escapes, of course, and Todd goes after him. Their next confrontation (punctuated with a reference to “Robin Dies at Dawn” from Batman #156) ends with Joker brainwashing Todd into becoming his own sidekick, Jokey the Clown. Todd breaks from his conditioning, shoots and kills the Joker, and retires as Robin. Batman similarly retires as Batman, with Dick Grayson taking up the mantle. Wayne and Dev marry. Dev's narration ends as Todd graduates from college commentating on him, ��making a positive impact on the world,” but there are two more pages where Todd dresses himself up as the Joker, revealing just how deeply he's been affected by the Joker. This ending contains elements of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, where that continuity's Tim Drake (who was essentially Jason Todd in all but name) is brainwashed into becoming the Joker's sidekick and is possessed by the Joker's digitized consciousness years later.

Leonardi's art here has a different, looser and more expressionistic quality than I'm used to seeing from him. It may be because he inks himself, some of it could be colorist Rico Renzi. The Joker's smile is colored like the smeared make up of the character in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. The changed style works, but it is a radical departure from the Bronze/Copper Age aesthetic of Jim Aparo in A Death in the Family, which again calls into question collecting both stories together.

Overall, this is a subpar comic from DeMatteis. Empathy defines DeMatteis's writing, and is why his psychologically driven approach works so well. His classic Spectacular Spider-Man really digs into why Harry Osborn, the Vulture, Vermin, and even Professor Power are damaged. The Joker is a character who defies this approach though; there is nothing to empathize with because the character is so morally repugnant. The character of Saraswati Dev is also deeply uncomfortable and problematic. As previously mentioned, psychologists pepper DeMatteis's writing, but Dev is no Ashley Kafka. Despite her narrating the story, there's little productive therapy between her and Jason Todd, a marked contrast from Kafka in Spectacular Spider-Man. And then there's the marriage to Bruce Wayne at the end of the comic despite treating him as patient. The narration elides the ethical breath occurring, and turns the character into a shockingly reductive one for DeMatteis; Dev is less a fully formed character than a plot device in the story to give Bruce Wayne a reward for retiring. Roger Stern created Bernie Rosenthal in Captain America, but DeMatteis wrote far more appearances of her. He developed her into one of the best female love interests in superhero comics. While no one would confuse DeMatteis with Chris Claremont, I still find it genuinely surprising that he wrote such a thin female character.

[zahri-melitor]

Hey, sorry to bother you but I was wondering, based on your latest post, if you have any Leslie Thompkins recommend reads? I'd like to read more about her but I don't really have the time to read everything she has been on and those are the only reading guides I seem to able to find. Thank you in advance.

Oooh, Leslie recs. Leslie is a Dennis O'Neil creation, which means a lot of her best stories are actually found in the period when O'Neil was head of the Bat office. A lot of his characters got expanded, made more complex and given more importance because Bat writers were suck ups respected Denny and liked to acknowledge his impact on the broader narrative.

Recs can be a bit hard, as she's often in the middle of other stories, and the additional context adds a lot, but for my mind, here's a bunch of suggestions (with explanations beside them):-

A bunch of the earlier stories are sort of repetitive, and pre-Crisis Leslie is not quite the same character as post-Crisis Leslie. If you want a taste, Batman #457, "There is No Hope in Crime Alley" gives you the initial premise of Leslie as the woman who was there to comfort Bruce immediately after his parents were shot, and who is a committed pacifist interested only in helping the community.

However, a better start would probably be Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #21-23. Mike Barr's essentially the creator of the concept of Leslie Thompkins' Clinic (it first features in the last page of his Batman Year Two), and this story both retells Leslie and Bruce's history together, but also wrestles with how Leslie sees both Bruce and Batman and their violence, and her desire to help fix the city in a pacifist, hands-on manner.

There's some good stuff in Knightquest actually but extracting it is a bit of a mess: you want Batman #505 and Batman: Shadow of the Bat #26 & 27. I'm a big fan of the Abattoir arc in Knightquest, which this forms part of, and this is about Leslie's work helping underprivileged kids in Gotham - in this case counselling some traumatised Wayne Foundation kids.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #118: This is a No Man's Land story set in Leslie's refugee camp where Alfred comes to tell stories to the kids. Just a good look at the work Leslie was doing.

Batman Chronicles #18 "Spiritual Currency": this is one of the stories I referenced. Set during No Man's Land, it's an argument between Leslie and Bruce over her treating Zsasz, who is badly injured. Probably my favourite encapsulation of Leslie's personal philosophy.

Gotham Knights #7: part of the 'Bruce interrogates his psyche and connections to those he's close to' arc that ends in Transference. This one's about Leslie and Alfred's feelings over caring for Bruce.

Detective Comics #791-793: I wouldn't say these are the best Leslie Thompkins stories in existence, but I will say the discussions between Leslie and Bruce in them are on point, and are part of the lead in to where War Games ends up. Enjoy them for Leslie's philosophy, sigh deeply at the inherent racism.

War Games, in particular War Crimes, are a massive part of the Leslie narrative but also where a lot of problems arise. War Games in and of itself would be okay, and her fight with Bruce while she's treating Steph is quite in line with the story immediately above; it's War Crimes that really contains the massive retcon that does a lot of harm to Leslie's character.

As far as post-return to Gotham preboot stories, I think the best ones are actually her appearances in the Hit List of Red Robin #15-16. Leslie's got the Cavalier working for her to protect the clinic! Her comments to Tim when he protests it are so Leslie.

New 52 Leslie is essentially a different character; she's premised as a social worker who works with Julie Madison and is assigned to Duke Thomas among others.

In Rebirth she's returned to being the Leslie of preboot. Her better stories are the following:-

The Victim Syndicate in Detective Comics #943-947: The first victims of various villains want to remove the Bats from Gotham. Leslie, Steph and Harper Row are quite interesting in this in terms of a narrative over different ways to help Gotham.

Detective Comics #964 "Dystopia": Leslie is involved in Lonnie Machin's premised underground anarchist commune for the underprivileged. Follows up on the earlier story.

Punchline #1 and The Joker #1-15: this is a long arc about Leslie and the Rows working to have Punchline tried properly in court as complicit in her actions. It's the backup story to the Joker and it's been published separately as a trade.

[willfreakbyers]

Why i don't like heartstopper

!!TW!! Opinions and brief mention of an eating disorder

this may seem a little out if context, but since the movie was announced today, I decided to share my opinions on mainly the TV show.

So heartstopper is very obviously a very popular queer tv that a lot of queer people love. And to preface this, I'm not here to shot on people who like the show or tell them that they're wrong, I'm here to share my opinions. Anyways, it's a beloved piece of queer media, but something about it has always felt... a little off about it.

Essentially, it feels like a queer show made by straight people and their guesses about how queer youth live the day to day lives. And yes, Alice Oseman is apart of the LGBTQ+ community, but it still feels poorly written in my opinion. The charachters are hard to distinguish personality wise, I think. They're all shy, timid and worry filled teens. Nothing wrong with that, obviously. I struggle with anxiety myself. But they just all seemed so scared and off put all of the time, and it was a bit redundant.

The basic premise of the show also felt like a piece of queer media that I've seen time and time again, and it was stereotypical. A shy, small boy whose been bullied all of his life for being gay meets the big, burly jock who looks like he'd bully him, but is actually super sweet and caring! And obviously don't forget the girl who gets in the way of the MLM ship that the whole famdom despises! I feel like I've seen that storyline play out so many times, and im sick and tired of it if I'm being honest. Sure, there are other charachters, but again. No distinguishable personality what so ever.

The overall feeling of the show honestly males me feel a bit off put. It's cheesy amd fluffy, which I'd usually be the biggest advocate to have a fluffy queer show where one of the main love interests doesn't die tragically. But the corby coworker music playing in the background and the constant reminder of nicks sexuality doesn't really help it stick the landing. The show is pretty good at tackling big problems (anxiety, eating disorders, etc.) But still, it just always feels corny and like a big back to school target ad.

One other thing about this show is that not a single fucking chatachter can be single except the aroace kid. There's no good representation of what it ciukd feel like being a single queer kid. If they introduce a new charachter and they're single, they'll pull another character out of their ass and pair them together, even if they have no chemistry at all. Hell, in the show nick and Charlie barely have any chemistry, in my opinion.

Now onto the movie that they announced early this morning. Onviously, if you took one look at my account, you would see that I'm a big fan of MLM ships (reddie, byler, solangelo,etc.) But what really irks me is that Netflix could've given us a great WLW film or something, not a movie about a show that already has three seasons under its belt. There's not many great WLW shows out there made by big corporations besides yellowjackets, and the rest are indie films or fan made most of the time. In heartstopper, sure, there are WLW side charachters., but I think I could count on one hand hiw many tv shows there are where the main plot is WLW.

Anyways, sorry for the long yap sesh, amd please don't come for me. I just feel like there's so many other great LGBTQIA+ shows with better representation out there, and yet heartstopper became the most mainstream one.