#those showrunners hate every single character

[princess-from-another-galaxy]

Making Aegon a bad dragon rider is so fucking stupid. Not just because it ignore canon from the book, but because it ignores canon from the show itself!!!!!

In season 1 there's literally a line that goes : "you must hold mastery over your dragon as prince aegon has done with sunfyre.”

And you want to convince me that man is a bad dragonrider AND bad at speaking valyrian??

I need these showrunners fired so bad

[unknown7s]

Can I just say that I really fucking HATE how the majority of the Arcane fandom praising Season 2 is deeply in the mindset of Piltover in reality? Like, it's not even funny, and I don't know where to begin.

I'll just start with Silco because he's this huge metaphorical character who is clearly written as the embodiment of a long list of sociopolitical agendas in the real world. And before I start, pardon my English, since it's not my first language.

I know y'all in the Anglo-American sphere tend to focus more on classism, inequality and police brutality theme. But the way I see it, THAT and every single dialogue plus the specific word choice of Silco & Sevika literally SCREAMS of postcolonial discourse (I guess F. Fanon is most well-known to y'all) and even some part of M. Foucault's philosophy, etc. I'm writing "etc." because the list will go on forever if I describe all these creepy historical parallels between the depiction of Zaun's internal conflict and what real countries that have been (or still are) colonies went through, and what real colonizer propaganda looked like during that time—like how those characters who fight for the nation's independence are the big bad villain and psychotic monsters who need "redemption arc" therapy, while those who cooperate with the oppressors are the good-hearted familial heroes of this story.

So upon reflection, if this fandom were to be a collective intelligence, we should have asked ourselves, "Is this show truly not problematic for portraying such a character as villainous?" and thus, "Is this show thematically implying far-right propaganda?" even before Season 2 presented us with this insane plot that glamorized the militaristic fascist aristocrat proclaiming martial law as a 'romantic revenge arc'.

But what did the majority of the fandom do since 2022? They were so busy shitting on this dead villain, claiming he has done so much wrong that he doesn't even deserve to be praised as a character. So instead of trying to understand where this character's point of view is coming from, they blindly hate him to the point where they are now fabricating a list of crimes that he didn't even commit, editing false information on the fandom wiki profile.

What's more frustrating to me is that I thought the problem was media illiteracy all along, but oh no, I was being way more optimistic than the reality. Now that I’ve read all these interviews from the showrunner and main writer—Linke and Overton—I get the sense of why Season 2 turned out like that. The more they babble on about this show, the clearer it becomes that they don't even acknowledge how messed up their political views are, which are so far-right. Taking the seemingly-centrist line doesn't make you fair, you're just passively siding with the oppressors. And lesbian sex scene doesn't make this show "progressive", in fact, hiding oppressor fantasy behind a rainbow flag makes it even more treacherous.

So yeah, I think critical voices should be much louder than this, but watching the majority of this fandom neglacting problems only to praise the show? I think my hope for humanity kind of get lost more and more as time passes, lol.

[fordtato]

I've watched the "Death of the Author" part of your Ford defence video and I largely agree with what you said

"Things can get misconstrued, (and) interviews aren't perfect. There is no perfect science to condensing something down for brevity so I'm not going to take any of the interview clips that I read today as an extension of Alex's, you know, moral beliefs. And as such, I would like y'all to not take my opinions of these statements as a moral judgment on Alex."

Personally recently I've been seeing various takes on Tumblr that tends to hate on Hirsch because of whatever he had said about Ford, and even goes on further to denounce Hirsch as an ableist or an abuser enabler. They would also pull up the commentaries of him making offhand remarks like how Fiddleford should have hit Ford to stop the project. Or cite how Hirsch was surprised about Pacifica's bell being considered conditioning.

A friend I know have written another entire essay about how abusive relationships in fiction is not the same as real-life abuse and at the end of the day, one's moral views isn't reflective of what they write on paper or later said in interviews/commentaries.

Even Hirsch believes "the customer is always right", so anyone is free to disagree with his takes, especially his views on Ford. I just note myself that Hirsch's views on Ford became more nuanced over time.

I mean, I want to be clear that there are reasons to criticize some of Hirsch's comments. He has said stuff over the years that has rubbed me the wrong way, but I also think that when you have a fandom as keyed in as this one, a fandom making archives of every single tweet and IG story and spare thought you have, there are bound to be things in there worth criticizing, from ANY of us.

I can agree that a lot of people have taken what seem more to me to be off-the-cuff remarks and then give those remarks a LOT of weight, and then make assumptions about his character, or his life, or his political views, and I feel less comfortable with that.

I mean, he isn't above criticism, but he's also not an activist. He's a showrunner and a celebrity. I respect his work immensely (obviously), but at the end of the day, he is a writer I enjoy, and he does not need to be the voice of a generation.

As a rule, and with respect to Hirsch, we should normalize not giving random celebrities so much political weight.

I do agree, though, that Hirsch's takes definitely seem to have softened on Ford over the years.

[unrelentingforse]

Some of y'all really can't comprehend the idea of visual storytelling.

Sevika being given a seat at the council is not a solution to the classism issue. BECAUSE IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE.

She was not accepted. Because classism can't be fixed within a week or a month or even years. But her getting a seat at the council was the first step in reaching that goal. Obviously not everyone sees zaunites as equal people. BECAUSE BARELY ANY TIME HAS PASSED!

Some of y'all hate the idea of an open ending and it shows. Did you want to see a sickly sweet ending where everyone is happy and alive, every issue was fixed and there were no problems anymore at all? If you really wanted that - you need to watch paw patrol. Because this is an adult animated show. Not a single issue in our world is fixed fully without any unforeseen consequences. Why wouldn't that be the case for arcane?

Also I saw someone being mad at the fact that class issue was not fully fleshed out in S2. Really? Was it? What about the whole security checkpoint thing? About the brutality of enforcers towards zaunites who were jinx's followers? About the way Gerd acted when she was supposed to be searched? About the whole jail thing? About how hesitant zaunites were to enter the enforcers to protect the city from Viktors cult? My point is - classism is still very much a problem in piltover and NO ONE IS DENYING THAT.

Yes, in a perfect world the whole council system would be dismantled and replaced with...something better for both of the cities. But Runeterra isn't perfect. Our world isn't perfect. And even if that were to happen - you need to destroy the whole system in every possible country and city of this universe. And for that you would need another 10 seasons. Which Fortiche didn't have. They literally had only 2 seasons to work with from the start. With 9 episodes in each. It's literally not possible to fit THAT many plot points into 18 episodes.

Might I add that this is a prequel for League of Legends? You know, what was before the whole plot of the game, how the characters came to be themselves? They wanted to show the history of piltover/zaun war. And in the current lore they have a council. Which is led by piltover royalty. And is corrupt. And this is bad. It's supposed to be bad to create conflict in a story.

Yes, in this day and age we desperately need stories about the fall of the empire, change for the better, and the resistance of oppressed people. We want that hope. I agree that this could be a good ending. But like I said earlier - it is literally not possible to fit that many events into 18 episodes when the story was always supposed to be about the arcane, the magic within it.

I would love for Fortiche to have the full creative freedom and unlimited resources to create a compelling large-scale story about our favorite characters. I really do. I understand people who are mad about the ending. But I'm begging you not to get mad at the creators. Animators, writers, sound engineers, character designers, voice actors, directors, showrunners - all of those people deserve nothing but the praise for the amount of work they put into our beloved show for god knows how many years. For the masterpiece they were able to create under such pressure both from riot and netflix.

[cloudysarts]

All right I take the bait. Why do you believe Manel should have accompanied Pacifica at the party

AHHH THANK YOU IM SO EXCITED TO EXPLAIN MYSELF (in reference to this post)

ok. northwest mansion mystery is a great episode obviously. but HERES why i think the episode would've been even better if mabel was in dippers spot!!!!!! its kinda a lot so i put it under a read more

so this episode is sort of the middle-ish of season 2 i think, right before the ford reveal!! its not a super long show anyway so theres not a ton of pacifica appearances, anyway. BUT in EVERY SINGLE OTHER PACIFICA EPISODE, her energy has been bouncing off of mabel!!! from their meeting in double dipper, to irrational treasure, to golf war; they have been established as the main dynamic here. golf war is especially important here, because this is the very first step in pacfica's redemption arc! mabel saves her in this episode, the pines give her a ride home, and it seems like pacifica is going to start being a little more understanding of mabel because she had misjudged her, hence why she was treating her so poorly. it looks like theyre gonna establish a friendship between them!

and then. they dont. they basically never interact again. because the next time we see pacifica, she goes straight to dipper in northwest manor mystery. the cold open implies that the northwests wanted dipper specifically because of his knowlege of how to deal with the supernatural but IN MY OPINION that DOESNT EVEN MAKE SENSE because we NEVER see dipper fighting these monsters on his own? hes ALWAYS with mabel. at the very least, i think it shouldve been BOTH of them??? we see a brief shot of a newspaper clipping where dipper is fighting a vampire bat or something and i just. when did this happen. where is mabel

that would be a fine argument for it being both of them instead of just mabel so heres one of my bigger points thats gonna come back a lot in this breakdown: dipper. does not like pacifica. he STRAIGHT UP HATES HER. every single interaction theyve had has been negative!!! its even massively negative at the beginning of this ep!!!! though mabel often dislikes pacifica, she TRIES REALLY HARD TO LIKE HER. mabel has a lot of love in her heart, and if she could, shed want to be her friend!!! its always been pacifica whos been rejecting those advances!!! golf war was the start of pacifica understanding that about mabel, and it nmm wouldve been the PERFECT time to wrap up that arc, rather than leaving it!!!

and i would argue that could STILL LEAD INTO A DIPCIFICA ARC, if thats what the showrunners/fans wanted? most of why dipper hates pacifica to begin with is because shes so terrible to mabel. he only agrees to go to the party in canon because MABEL wants to!!! imo, i think the lead in to them being a couple would be a million times better if that massive problem in their relationship was solved first

i dont PERSONALLY like dipcifica but im trying to stay unbiased about this if you cant tell

i would also argue that like. dipper just seems really out of character. the reason i picked some of the scenes i did for my redraws, was because they were scenes that i think his behavior would fit mabel a lot better. examples:

why do the northwests have a suit in dippers size anyway. he literally doesnt even like wearing it sjkfhkj in a potential re-write of this ep, i considered that mabel would come in wearing her super extravagent home made dress, and it would 'violate dress code', so she would be forced to wear one of pacificas we could still have that cute dress-up expo scene that we do AND have some fun commentary/symbolism about pacifica being nervous about having her in the dress because its NICE and TOO GOOD FOR HER and she looked FINE BEFORE ANYWAY

mabels empathy is a recurring theme in the show. shed WANT to give pacifica the benefit of the doubt, and would be VERY betrayed when finding out her and her family already knew about the ghosts and knew what he wanted. i understand that dipper was so upset because it seemed like pacifica was changing for the better just to find out that she wasnt, but i think this fits so much better with mabel, because shes always WANTED to believe that shes secretly a good person. she would be glad to see her turn a corner, and would be upset when finding out she was 'wrong', and that she really was mean deep down. whcih would obviously lead to her comforting her later/finding out the truth about her etc etc. on the other hand, dipper literally never believed she had good in her. from the first interaction we see of them, he thinks shes as terrible as her family. he ISNT as interested in giving her the benefit of the doubt and if it wasnt a life or death situation i dont think he wouldve forgiven her. IDK i just think its more in character for her

the dancing scene!!! honestly this works fine as is (i can see both dipper and mabel being excited to make a mess on a fancy carptet) but idk i just think it carries so much more weight if its these two girls. silly moments for mabel!!!! pacifica getting to really be a kid and not just a sparkly prop!!!!!!! pacifica finally indulging in her sillyness that she mocked in irrational treasure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok moving on. one of the bigger things that bother me about it being dipper here instead of mabel is one teeny tiny (honestly really irrational) scene at the party. in it, dipper is confronted by fiddleford, who tells him he has big news about the author/the laptop and the towns in danger and its vitally important and dipper just. shrugs him off???!!?!?!?! i cannot even IMAGINE. in alex hirschs words "the first season is about dipper being in love with wendy, and the second is about him being in love with the author" meaning that. those are the TWO things that dipper is completely and totally obsessed with. hes clearly not over wendy (as we see in later episodes) and this is not long after sock opera/society of the blind eye so youd THINK hed be more depserate for answers than ever!??!?! this child was willing to sell out his great uncle and raise the dead and stay up for several nights in a row for answers, and the second he is offered some (from a man who WORKED WITH THE AUTHOR btw) hes like like 'whatevr'?!?!?! it is so out of character and it drives me fucking nuts every time. i know hes starting to like pacifica now but as we see in the comics (if you chose to think those are canon) HE DOESNT EVEN SEEM TO LIKE HER THAT MUCH!??!?! hes STILL convinced shes vain, and mean, and selfish!!!! he DOES start to have a little arc with her but jksdfjksf IDK i just cant in a million years see him passing up the chance for answers to the biggest mystery in gravity falls to hang out with a girl he tolerates

but yknow who i CAN see doing that? MABEL!!!!!!!! mabel would be concerned when mcgucket comes up to her, and starts talking like this!!!! i can totally see her suggesting that he relax for a little while and enjoy the party like dipper did, and then forgetting to come back to talk/not running into him later!!!! ESPECIALLY since i can see mabel WANTING to spend time with pacifica where dipper just. really doesnt seem to want to MOST of the time

ok ill admit that this last one is sort of a personal opinion. but i just. i really dont like the B plot of this episode with mabel and the girls. IDK its just so annoying and pointless to me to have a plot where its just a bunch of girls turning against each other over a guy. im not gonna say its mysoginistic bc i know little girls can be boy crazy but i just. dont see why there was a need to make them fight/turn against grenda briefly??? even when they rekindled and it was all ok in the end its just. in comparison to the A plot its so. Nothing.

in my head i have a rewrite of this episode and how it goes is that pacifica approaches dipper and asks for help and he turns it down (like he does in canon). mabel suggests that they do it anyway, but he refuses, as he wants nothing to do with her. when dippers gone, mabel agrees to help (and pacifica begrudgingly accepts bc it seems like the only option) and so she steals the journal when dippers not looking. she goes to the party, and events go pretty much the same?? only major difference i can think of is that the B plot is replaced by one where dipper realizes mabel and the journal are missing, so he sneaks into the manor/sneaks around the house trying to find he rand get it back (and its so massive he has no luck). the reason i think THAT works is because we can even still have the scene where dipper turns to wood like shifty prophesied!!!! and i would even argue it makes more sense this way because wasnt shiftys warning that "if you keep digging so deep into the secrets of gravity falls, this will be the last form youll ever take" ?

OK IM SORRY THIS WAS SO LONG im probably forgetting points too so i might edit it later but THANKS FOR ASKING

tldr: pacifica and mabels friendship plotline was left on a total cliffhanger after golf war and if mabel replaced dipper in nmm it would've been a good resolution to it

edit: check the reblogs if youre still interested! i added another list of reasons i think this (mostly in response to people disagreeing)

[the-soraya2004]

Grieving for Buck and Tommy on 9-1-1

I knew this week was going to be a dark one, because I predicted two things would happen:

Trump would get re-elected; and

Buck and Tommy would break up on 9-1-1.

Never have I wanted to be wrong so desperately on both counts, yet here we are! :( I'm leaving the first one alone for the sake of my continuing sanity; as for the second, it is deeply disappointing. And for those thinking that this frees up Buck for a relationship with Eddie, I don't think it's great news for them either!

It's hard to put into words how much I have enjoyed watching Buck and Tommy's relationship unfold. Despite the relative scarcity of their time on-screen, I found myself genuinely enthralled watching the two of them take those first tentative steps along a new relationship. They truly were beautiful together, and their love story drew me back to watching 9-1-1 regularly again. Each week, I found myself excited to discover what lay in store for them as a couple. Some that joy was tempered after stumbling across instances of, frankly, utterly hateful speech and ugly behaviour directed online at the actor who plays Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr). It's one of the reasons why I tend to keep my distance from fandom and unregulated, unmoderated social platforms. But, ultimately, what frustrates me about this ending is that, from my observation, it doesn't appear to fit with the narrative set up. It felt akin to one of those franchise movies where a character is abruptly killed or written off because of some behind the scenes issue, like the actor is too expensive or contract negotiations have failed. I'm not necessarily suggesting that is what has happened in this case, just that this abrupt left turn doesn't appear (to me) to fit the story that was building, so logic would dictate that there's some other driver. One could speculate ad nauseam, but ultimately that serves little purpose.

It's a shame the showrunners either weren't willing or able to proceed with the Buck/Tommy love story, but honestly I can't say I'm surprised. And objectively, I don't think it spells good news for fans who want to see Buck and Eddie get together either. My reasoning is:

If you look at the main characters, Hen, Bobby, Athena, Chimney and Maddie are all in serious long term relationships (married). Therefore, no hottie-of-the-week for them, unless the writers plan to go full on soap opera to break up these established couples

Buck and Eddie are the attractive single men, who can be available for relationships with a revolving door of characters played equally attractive actresses. This allows for fresh eye candy for the sort of viewing public that wants that sort of thing

Eddie, as a character, is more reserved and therefore less likely to jump from relationship to relationship each week. Which leaves Buck as the main engine to drive the hottie-of-the-week cycle. If Buck were to go off the market (semi) permanently like the other main characters, the engine/cycle breaks (or at the very least slows down), which means less eye candy for the viewers who tune in for that, etc. and so on.

If you suddenly had Buck and Eddie dating each other long term seriously, then the show would likely need to bring in new characters to fill the "attractive single man available for relationships with hotties" void - all of which is a different sort of behind the scenes issue for showrunners.

Overall, while the Buck/Tommy love story may be gone from our screens, it can and will (I hope) continue to thrive in Fanfic. At least there our beloved characters can go where studios are unable (for whatever reason) to tread. Sincerely, I wish Lou Ferrigno Jr every success in whatever projects come his way, and even though he'll never see this post, I want to thank him for helping bring to life a little piece of screen magic that brought a lot of light and joy into my world.

[warpedpuppeteer]

i just don't trust these major network showrunners and writers to actually write buddie to its logical and rightful conclusion. I've followed so many shows and observed so many fandoms over the years, so many amazingly layered characters with extraordinary bonds that spawned popular and beloved ships. And each and every one of those ships were used to bait viewers without ever going canon, this way they get the views from the ship fans as well as the more general fans. The only difference in 911 is they somehow managed to make Buck canonically bi, which is a huge deal for a main male lead on a network procedural show. Yet they immediately slapped him with an underdeveloped character who has zero onscreen chemistry with buck, and relegated their relationship to the background entirely. Almost like the networks's checking off a box and being done with it.

if buddie is in the grand plan, I feel like there should've been some onscreen textual hints already this season after buck came out. But there's been nothing from any of the characters, and it's just heartbreaking. I'll remain a buddie truther for the rest of my life, but it really does feel like the show is trying to draw the line in the sand to say "buck and Eddie are bros only," even if the way the show does this is to forcibly retcon/erase all of the buddie buildup over all these seasons.

Sorry Non for not answering this for awhile. I absolutely understand where you're coming from as I've also been a part of fandoms for a long time especially ones who gleefully use queerbaiting to keep fans interested. I think the biggest difference between 911 and other shows is that generally other shows don't have any queer characters or only minor queer characters. 911 however has a main queer couple (henren) and plenty of side queer characters/pairs as well. So that's an advantage for us; this means they're very much open to a queer storyline.

We've gotten bi Buck which is a very big deal for not only queer representation but also in regards to Buddie. The are clearly aware this is something we want and they've told us that it has been discussed in the past for Eddie to be queer as well so they have definitely at some point discussed making Buddie canon. The actors are down for this as well (Oliver no. 1 buddie truther). The setback seems to have come from the network before so it couldn't happen. But things are changing with the new network.

The reason I think they haven't made Buddie canon yet is that it was simply too short of a season for them to do so. Also it seems like there have been a lot of issues with this season and a lot of it was written hastily. Tim probably had completely different stories in mind for the characters but I guess things like scheduling issues put a wrench in it (Natalia's actress had a scheduling issue and the issue with Marisol's actress). I think Tim had planned completely different arcs for Buck and Eddie in regards to their relationship but had to just do whatever to finish the season because of the issue with the actresses. I think he introduced Tommy as a sort of placeholder for the moment because they couldn't expand Buck's bi story just yet. This was also probably to test the audiences' acceptance of a main character being queer after 6 seasons and to test how much leeway they have with the network. This doesn't mean I agree with what he did because I actually hate it lol. Leaving them both single would have made much more sense than introducing another shit character/actor who only created a divide in the fandom and brought in absolute weirdos into it.

Honestly I could go on forever on why I think Buddie being canon is in the books but for now all I can say is that don't give up just yet! I personally think there's been a lot of deliberate choices this season that were made to jump start the 'making Buddie canon process'. Give it another season at least! If they don't get together, I'm hoping there would at least be a CLEAR indication that they're heading there towards the end of season 8. If they don't do anything of that sort then we can consider giving up on them and living happily in our fanon bubble. But for now stay with us! There's much hope yet!!

Also sorry if this got rambly and doesn't make much sense! My inbox is always open and you can shoot me a message if you wanna discuss or vent more!

[the-girl-in-the-high-castle]

I finished From S3 last night and wtf?

Every revelation simply happens. There is no foreshadowing, at least not a proper one. Nothing happens the whole season, and then, in the end, Fatima magically knows the truth about the sacrifices, even though we don't know how.

Tabitha and Jade just remember out of nowhere (I'm sorry, but it looked so cringe). The only good thing about it is Jim's confused ass.

Ethan simply starts talking about storywalkers, as if it's nothing strange and as if they have discussed it a thousand times before. Plus, that storywalker thing came out of nowhere too.

Every single character was useless as fuck the whole season. I won't even mention the things that were just forgotten for convenience.

I really, really wanted to ship Jade and Tabitha, and the reason for it was the storyline I thought they would have before I started watching. People were trying to make me watch the show for years, but I didn't, until the moment I heard about it having the reincarnation/past lives/destined meetings story in it. Because I am a sucker for those. If you have that in a story, I am all yours. It doesn't have to be a love story either. Except, this was handled terribly.

You expect me to buy the reincarnated lovers shit when you have the characters have like two scenes together. They don't even talk to each other until the end of S2/beginning of S3. For two seasons, Jade's had a more heartfelt conversation with Julie than he did with Tabitha. It all looks like the showrunners had no idea they were going to go there. You can't just tell people they are reincarnated lovers destined to keep meeting until they fix a mistake and then give us some half-baked plot twist when nothing that happened before was pointing to that. A plot twist is useless if you don't see the sense behind it.

I can't help but mention my canceled boat show, because if you want to see how it looks when you have two characters, seemingly strangers, make everyone believe they are the real thing even though the story doesn't say it. It shows it. Even if I never get the answers, I will forever believe Eyk is Maura's real husband. Sure, the show said "Look this other guy is her husband", but you don't believe in that because the characters' actions are showing something completely different. Or that Clémence and Jerome are the real thing, or other characters that form the connection on the ship. The story shows you that. But From S3 didn't show shit.

P.S

I really love Eion Bailey (since he was my beloved August/Pinocchio), and I'm really sorry he isn't playing a more likable character. Plus, I don't get the hate he gets. Sure, he's annoying, but I don't think he deserves hate more than most others.

[paceypeternathanslawyer]

I've seen so many posts lately about how actors are so unprofessional or actors are too sensitive about dating rumors and can barely look at each other in interviews. I'm sure a lot of this is still stemming from the drama between two of the actors on Outer Banks. I have such mixed feelings about this issue.

Usually in response and agreement to these posts people will point to actors in older shows like James and Joy from One Tree Hill or Josh and Katie in Dawson's Creek. But I don't think that's a fair comparison. Here's the thing. I can tell you exactly why actors are so cagey now vs then. Because social media barely existed back then. Ya'll stans are super disrespectful and disect every single word and facial expression from them. You're rude and obnoxious and then you get annoyed when they don't act the way you want them to? How would you feel if you had a friend and everyone was constantly saying that you were dating or the other end of the spectrum every facial expression would be construed that you hate the person. I really believe that actors should stay so far away from the internet. It's toxic and negative and it understandably could affect your working relationships. Josh/Katie and James/Joy had the distinct blessing of not totally being under that microscope so by the time that they were, they were older and wiser and I'm sure that they can easily block that noise out vs the younger actors today getting death threats and other various disrespectful words online. I personally get it.

I have seen people say that Rudy shouldn't ever work in the industry again and I think that this is a very nuanced situation and I'm still of the belief that Rudy and Madison have been very unprofessional. I'll get into why I believe that in a moment. But I also think that it is important as an actor to create boundaries and get out of toxic situations. Professionalism can be taken too far. I think that "too far" is something decided by the actor themselves. But look at One Tree Hill. The women in that show were abused by the showrunner and forced to do a lot of things in the name of being "professional". I actually think it was totally fine if Rudy asked to be written off of the show. We don't know what the environment was like behind the scenes. In general we need to normalize allowing actors to stand up for themselves and also care about their own mental health. There's no reason to put a fuckin show above your own mental health and wellbeing.

The only thing I thinks actors owe is not puncturing our view of the characters and the onscreen relationships and toxic drama behind the scenes can puncture that especially in the case of Rudy and Madison where they seem to hate each other. People found out about the drama after behind the scenes pictures were leaked showing that Rudy and Madison had body doubles to do a simple hug scene or a scene of Kiara lying in JJ's arms. I've heard of body doubles being used in sex scenes which is pretty normal. Stunt doubles are even used in running scenes or more extreme stunts... also very normal. But it is not normal to need body doubles for a little scene where you are lying in the other person's arms. This to me speaks to an unproffesionalism. Those pictures were bound to be leaked and had those pictures not shown two people who can't even lay next to each other then I don't believe that JJ's death would have led to speculation that it had to do with him asking to leave the show. I also believe that none of the actors on any given show should spill tea about inner drama between fellow actors.

So to recap... asking to be written off a show is totally fine. Asking for body doubles in small little interactions between you and your costar is unprofessional. Spilling tea about drama between any of your costars is unprofessional. Fans being disrespectful and acting like they know all the inner workings of two actors relationships is insane and needs to stop. We need to stop shipping two actors at least in ways that the actors could see. If you wanna ship them in your innermost thoughts then go right ahead. Also if they are dating currently in real life it's totally fine. But learn boundaries. Like stop attacking Kelsea Ballerini just cause you still want Chase and Maddie to be dating. It's great that Chase and Maddie have able to be so professional in the face of fans weird ass behavior but it still needs to stop. Stop shipping two offscreen friends. Ya'll are making it weird. IF Rudy and Madison do hate each other now maybe it's cause of ya'lls weird ass behavior. Little disclaimer. I don't know for certain that Rudy and Madison hate each other but it does seem like the proof is stacking up.

BTW can people stop stalking celebrities pages just so they can know the second they unfollow someone? Or can we stop making assumptions if someone doesn't wish a costar a happy birthday online? You do realize that texts exists, right? Just cause we didn't see it doesn't mean it didn't happen. Again... boundaries people!!!!

[bobwess]

What’s your opinion on s13-15 characterization on Dean?

Who do you think from the writers team captured the characterization of him the most in your eyes?

do you think it was in character on how he treated Jack in the later seasons? I really hated how they left that relationship in the final last few eps… specifically just felt like a cliff hanger, to me it seems like we didn’t get anything resolved from their relationship…

What’s your opinion on s13-15 characterization on Dean?

Weak and sporadic. It’s hard in a writing team with so many writers, but I felt in the last seasons there was an increased amount of disagreement with his character. Sometimes it felt spot on and then the next episode would be complete inconsistent with how he’d been on the show so far. Getting worse in 14 and even worse in 15. 

Who do you think from the writers team captured the characterization of him the most in your eyes? I think for all their flaws during their times as showrunner (and I have many opinions on where the blame lies for those times) I think every one of the showrunners who were writers really had Dean down pretty well in the majority of their written episodes. If I had to pick a single writer for earlier seasons (1-5) I might pick Ben Edlund. Mid seasons (6-13) I would probably pick Dabb, Crossing over to Steve Yockey (13-15) but it’d be close with a lot of other good writers.

do you think it was in character on how he treated Jack in the later seasons? I really hated how they left that relationship in the final last few eps… specifically just felt like a cliff hanger, to me it seems like we didn’t get anything resolved from their relationship…

I fucking hated Dean and Jack’s relationship in the last season and a half. I thought it was shaky at first, but really went off the deep end in a way they NEVER satisfactorily resolved in 15, and that was VERY out of character for Dean. 

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

https://www.tumblr.com/ecoterrorist-katara/743680863675580416?source=share

I know that you have already talked about the "female gaze" more than once, but what do you say about this?

Let's get the easier parts out of the way:

1 - The showrunners consider Aang the angel on Katara's shoulder on The Southern Raiders because Avatar is a kids show and the moral of the episode was "Hey, kids, even if you ever meet a truly horrible person don't immediately respond with violence, it could backfire horribly or push you to do something you'd regret later" not because they think she's an object that Aang gets to posses and control - hence them having Aang give her advice on what to do, but not try to prevent her from leaving nor judging her for not forgiving her mother's killer.

2 - Katara's point was NOT central to Zuko in that episode, at least not at first. By the end of the episode he understood and felt compassion for her and her family, but at the start he was only looking for a cheat-code to make Katara stop hating him because it reminded him of his screw ups. It was Zuko being entitled and trying to avoid consequences.

3 - "This thing is like the PLATONIC version of a thing that sometimes happens in romance" If it's platonic (you said it, not me) then it's not a "win" for your OTP. Zuko and Iroh's falling out after Ba Sing Se has lots of dramatic, super intense and heartbreaking moments, just like romances do - but their storyline is obviously not a romance and they are explicitly treated by the narrative as father and son.

4 - "Katara isn't hiding any side of her personality from Zuko" Katara doesn't hide any side of her personality for ANYONE - family, friends, rivals, enemies, strangers. Highlighing that she is herself with Zuko is pointless because she is herself with everyone, including people she does not like, which was the category Zuko fit into at the moment.

Now, onto yet another absurdly long take by this annoyed feminist that has had enough to the "Male Gaze VS Female Gaze" bullshit.

(Check this previous post before reading the rant in case you don't know these terms or what they mean/were supposed to mean)

Zutarians gotta learn that just because a trope is popular, that doesn't mean it is present in every story, and that NO TROPE appeals to a whole group of people, no matter how much they keep insisting that their ship is the "female gaze" - like that thing could ever even exist.

To give a practical exemple so people understand what I mean: Imagine that a woman wrote screenplay about a lesbian romance, which is then filmed by a female director, and edited by a woman. The actresses playing the lead roles also have their own perspective on the story and characters. The movie is then shown to 200 women, every single one of them has their own opinion on it.

Which of the women I mentioned above is going to speak FOR HER ENTIRE GENDER, and decide if that romance fits "the female gaze"? Do we take a survey and whatever points are repeated the most are taken as objectively correct due to being how the majority feels, and thus any differing opinion is treated as lesser and "not what women like" regardless of how many women feel that way? Do we only listen to the proffessional criticts in that audience of women and completely disregard the opinion of any woman that didn't study anything regarding cinema and writting?

Even if somehow it is decided that the movie fits into the "female gaze" - if all those women rewatch the movie years later and some of them feel differently about it, would that affect the definition? If their grand-daughters watch it 50 years later and don't agree with their grandmother's takes on it, does the definition change? If the movie is shown to other groups of women, from different countries, and they all have their own opinion on it that is radically different from that of the first group, which group of women gets to say "OUR culture's way of interpreting this story is the TRUE way women feel about it, everyone else doesn't count"?

If the movie is then shown to 200 men and they all like it, does that turn it from "female gaze" to "unisex gaze"? Does it become "Male Gaze" if the guys get aroused by it, even if the movie was designed to appeal to women and not to them AND there was no exploitation involved? If the 200 women then watch a movie that has scenes that are considered as having been made to appeal to guys, but some or all of them ALSO enjoy it (story of my life), does that make it change from "male gaze" to "Female Gaze"?

Gender is simply ONE out of many, many, many things that can impact how one views fiction - and it doesn't exist in isolation, being affected by generation, culture, language, religion, class, etc. The "Female Gaze" doesn't exist. It CAN'T exist because humans are more complicated than that. It is a concept that is almost fully divorced from reality.

Also I can't help but notice that, because of the way these terms work in the assumption of absolutes, no room for nuance, "MALE Gaze" is meant to describe lazy writting/film-making that is sexist towards women and cases of full on exploitation and abuse in which men were the abusers, and sometimes the label even gets attached to harmless things as a form of bad faith criticism just because guys like it - but "FEMALE Gaze" is NOT about lazy writting/film-making that is sexist towards men (say stories that full on say that a guy hitting a woman is bad, but a woman hitting a man is funny, or using "guys always want it" as justification for scenes of female characters forcing themselves on the male characters).

Instead, Female Gaze is meant to either neutral or POSITIVE. "This appeals to women" is used for praise, "this appeals to men" is used as criticism. Women are harmless, men are dangerous. Women are helpless victims, men are evil abusers. Women need to be protected and put on pedestal, men need to be hated and feared. Female desire is inherently pure, male desire is inherently objectifying. And, of course, any woman that disagrees is bad and a traitor and needs to be "called out for being anti-feminist" (aka be condescended to or full on attacked).

This is sexism, pure and simple. Anyone can be a victim, anyone can be an abuser. Anyone can like any kind of story, trope, genre, ship, etc. Desire is a morally neutral thing, and it doesn't become "pure" or "inherently corrupt" depending on the gender of the person who feels it.

The "Male Gaze VS Female Gaze" thing is nonsensical at best and perpetuates a dangerous double standard at worse, and I'm so fucking tired of it never being questioned because people are afraid of being labelled misogynistic.

[lokiinmediasideblog]

1 + 12 :D

The Loki fandom has more schisms than the Catholic church at this point. So I'll give multiple answers for the main schisms (pre-Loki series and including it).

character everyone gets wrong. If it's pre-Loki series and such, I think it's both Thor and Loki. And there's many variations of it. I think any characterization that flattens one into just good and the other as bad misunderstands these morally gray characters. With Loki, he's portrayed as a waifish and bookish boring character that can't fight/kill/or lie which takes the fun out of it and makes him seem rather pathetic and not!Loki complimented with either a sunshine himbo savior Thor or brutish evil Thor. With Thor, he's the precious sunshine cinnamon-roll with a purity of heart contending with Christ with either the waifish Loki, comedically murderously evil Loki, or just plain cruel Loki which makes Thor seem dumb and ridiculously gullible. The former is more popular in Tumblr in general, but casuals interpret it as the latter usually. And the comics pre-reincarnation have a lot of the plain cruel Loki with ridiculously gullible and Gary-Stu-ish Thor.

If we're including the Loki series, I'd say Mobius. I can't recognize him in most fanfics (and as such I don't read much Lokius) because most refuse to engage with the darker cannon aspects of his characterization and try to turn Lokius into Ineffable Husbands 2.0 which have nothing in common apart from some superficial level of edgy gothy man + white-haired desk job dude. This guy had access to every instance of Loki's life. Isn't that creepy? And he's responsible for the capture and pruning of many variants. There should be more fic where he's conflicted about his actions. Granted, I have a fanfic where he's terrible (dark!Mobius) and I specify it on the tags. I think the only time it's not annoying to mischaracterize characters is if the author is aware and warns of it in the tags because they're in a kick.

2. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them. I don't like telling people to like characters. I'll defend them if they get things wrong about them, but it just feels guilt-trippy to me. I know I get annoyed when people get guilt trippy for not caring about the W3 or Sif as much as I care for Loki (who has way more screentime and lines). Pre-Loki series, I think I like Heimdall more than the average Loki fan. I like that he also commits treason against Odin, not just Loki. I think the implications of the All-Sight make him interesting, though he doesn't have that much screentime. I like to portray him as conflicted over his responsibilities, and if I need some Gatekeeper to be an asshole to Loki, I make one up that preceded Heimdall and is responsible for Loki's overall dislike of Gatekeepers and why he learned to hide from the All-sight.

I understand why it happens because seeing everything is rather invasive and we live in a society with increased surveillance every fucking year. But I wish to avoid the "Black character is racist to fantasy race" trope. You can justify Loki learning to hide without pulling that trope, you know? Make up a gatekeeper before Heimdall (I'm not convinced he knew Loki was Jotun and that'd mean he was hired after Loki was adopted). You can make a story. I have plenty of HCs about Loki's distrust of Gatekeepers and that Heimdall was hired after a Noodle incident involving Loki that caused the previous Gatekeeper to quit. It's more interesting than just pure fantasy racism from the start.

If we're including the Loki series:

The character I think was unfairly hated was Sylvie. I say this for the level of vitriol the poor actress received. It's fine not to like Sylvie, but a lot of those posts claiming SdM and Sylvie are single-handedly responsile for "bad rep" when SdM has no influence on the script and it's a DISNEY show (notorious for executive meddling) is unfair and pointing fingers at the wrong direction. FOR THE MCU DISNEY+ SERIES THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE SHOWRUNNERS! THIS IS A VERY BAD PRACTICE AND INDICATIVE THEY'RE JUST CHURNING SHIT OUT!

I'm also of the opinion that the comics have more harmful tropes than the show's "self-cest" (specifically talking about Loki stealing Sif's body and Amora and Lorelei's noncon powers M.O.) but I often see the same people praising one and not the other because they think the comic book designs are more stylish. If the shoe doesn't fit, I'm not talking about you. BTW. Just some people I've seen.

[bbygirl-aemond]

HOTD fandom is genuinely the worst fandom I've been in, not even GOT/ASOIAF was so mean and toxic to people for no reason. People can't just enjoy things, they have a need to drag others every second, and someone always wants to start a fight and insult others over opinions. People also treat the book and the show too seriously like it's a history book/documentary about their family and they are the only ones who know what actually happened, then get mad when someone doesn't agree with them. It's just crazy.

This actually brings me to a point I've been wanting to make for a while, because I've done a lot of thinking about why the HotD fandom has so much heated conflict and disagreement. I think it's largely a consequence of how the show's been marketed. This ended up so much longer than I anticipated, so I'll put my commentary under the cut. I encourage everyone to read this even if they disagree with me on certain points within the fandom, because it's completely neutral on characters and teams and makes no moral commentary on any of them.

Humans love the idea of pack mentality. Think of how in America so many people identify so strongly with one of the two main political parties, and will straight up ignore logic and reasoning to blindly agree with members of "their" party and attack members of the "other" party. They'll understand that a politician is contradicting themselves or doing something they don't actually agree with, but they'll ignore it and support them anyways because of their party membership. They'll even extend this into adopting that questionable position themselves, just to defend their party against criticism from the other party. We love feeling like part of a group, and we tend to make it into a sense of identity that makes things intensely personal and emotional.

Making people "pick a team" leads to massive engagement, and it's an amazing marketing strategy. Think of Captain America: Civil War, and the team mentality that was fostered by the showrunners. It meant tons of people became really engaged in the franchise, because it allowed them to made their team their sense of identity. That's another fandom where people from different "teams" get really heated at each other.

But team mentality also means that any perceived attack on the group feels like a personal attack. I think this is why I sometimes get accused of attacking characters I haven't even mentioned, like when people thought I was attacking Rhaenyra for criticizing Viserys's parenting. It shows that those people view Rhaenyra and Viserys as part of Team Black, and that any attack on any member of Team Black is treated like a personal attack to them. They can't comprehend that you might disagree with part but not all of the members of one team.

This then translates into people being unable to accept criticism of any of the characters. Just like how people assume you hate their entire Team if you criticize a single member, they'll assume you hate an entire character or dynamic if you criticize some part of it, no matter how empathetically you try to do so. I've criticized Rhaenyra's decision to have bastards from a political standpoint, while acknowledging that she had non-political reasons (youth, feeling abandoned, wanting the opposite of Daemon, trust, affection) for doing what she did. And some people have had a really hard time understanding that I can criticize her while having empathy for her, and while supporting her claim to the throne.

I think this is why, like you pointed out, people act as if these characters are their family members. It's because psychologically they feel like they are. They identify with them. And because they see these characters as an extension of themselves, they feel like they alone know them better than anyone else, just like how they know themselves better than anyone else.

So this means people have a very strong emotional reaction to their favorite characters being criticized, because it feels like a personal criticism of them. It means they're more likely to seek out and attack criticisms that weren't even directed towards them. But this black-and-white mentality of with-me-or-against-me means that they will attack anyone who supports the team or character they don't identify with, because that support is taken as an indirect attack on their team. Criticizing certain characters is seen as an attack, but so is praising other characters.

This is also why we see people blatantly disagreeing with the literal creators of this content. I've seen people try to argue with GRRM, the showrunners, and pretty much every single actor/actress involved about their understanding of their own characters. There's so much hate directed towards Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke in particular just because people can't accept having a difference of opinion with them. Like it baffles me, because these are the people who should have the most authority about their respective characters. They have all the insider info from all of the possible sources, info that you very much do not have access to. How can you say you know better than them? But people see the characters as an extension of themselves, and therefore think of themselves as the ultimate authority on them, beyond reason.

This is, unfortunately, true for both Team Black and Team Green in this fandom, so it's just this escalating spiral of people yelling at each other for not having the same opinions. I also think this is why so much of the fan-created content for HotD involves either explicit or implicit self-insert characters being shipped with actual characters. The marketing of the show kind of relied on the assumption that all engagement is good engagement, which is true for getting good view counts but not great for creating a healthy fandom capable of thoughtful and civil discussions.

[my-mt-heart]

hi, Mt. This might cause some negative energy and I'm sorry, but I hope its still okay to write this to you. If you can't post, that's okay too. As much as I love Caryl and Melissa, I think I have to walk away. Fandom has always been too intense for me, so I like to stay hidden, but I like reading all the articles and following along on filming. Everything about S1 was making me uncomfortable. Daryl was being weird a lot of times and the things the producers kept saying, I kept wanting to argue with. I thought now that S1 is over and Melissa is announced, things would be a lot better. I do like all the photos of Melissa and I liked the little trailer we got, but something about this show feels very wrong. You talked about a lot of the things I noticed on my own, the way it still feels like Daryl is the most important and Carol doesn't mean as much because she's not in the title. That's just an example. I hate that. And I hate that the producers are making that feeling worse every chance they get. Zabel, he just makes me mad because his way of explaining Daryl and now Carol sounds like he's just ranting and sometimes doesn't make any sense. I don't think Daryl can make deep relationships that quickly for example. But Norman and Greg Nicotero, what they say sounds worse to me. Some people aren't going to like me saying this and I don't mean to cause you any trouble since it's your tumblr. The way they insult Melissa sometimes and hurt the fans to make us seem unimportant or dumb, it makes me feel like I'm in another abusive relationship and that's what I need to get away from. I thought about just staying off the internet and watching the show, but their behavior makes me worry about the show too. I believe you about them refusing a new showrunner who's a woman and it's not just because you said it. It's because it fits with past things they've done. Norman admitted getting rid of Angela Kang and then they hired Zabel who is a white man just like them. I won't be able to take it if Caryl's relationship is ruined. I didn't have much when I was young, including love. I was trapped in the same cycle for a long time. Watching Caryl gave me a lot of hope because they were similar to me and I wanted them to be together to know some happiness is still possible even if life has been so hard. Maybe they will, but it's not worth all this suffering in the meantime. I don't think I'll find characters like them again, but I'll find something that makes me feel joy every day, not misery and anger. Thank you for listening and for making me feel not so alone for a while. Thank you to Melissa McBride for being so talented and lovely. I wanted to be able to thank Norman too. I'm just too hurt right now, but Daryl will still have a special place in my heart right beside Carol as it should be.

***I'm including a trigger warning here and kindly asking anyone who reads to please be respectful of this anon's experiences***

Anon, you don't have to apologize. It's always bothered me when we assign each other a "negative" or "positive" disposition when in reality it's perfectly human to form nuanced opinions. Last year wasn't kind to Caryl fans at all, so seeing Melissa filming again and seeing bts photos of Caryl again felt like the first warm day after a brutal winter (to quote my favorite podcast hosts 🤪❤️). I think every single one of us wants to hold onto that feeling. I'm happy for those who are succeeding. We deserve to finally look forward to the Daryl and Carol show we were promised.

That being said, I also empathize with those who are having a difficult time holding on. I am one of those people myself. One day it feels like we're getting something exciting, like the first Caryl photos let's say, and the next we're getting dumped on. Case in point, an actor who isn't even on the show taking the opportunity to call Caryl's/Carol's fans toxic and using Melissa's return to self-promote. Or how about another actor using sexist language to attack the same fans because he didn't like the criticism the show was getting. Or the showrunner teasing another ship with zero regard for a significant portion of his soon-to-be audience (Caryl fans). It’s all very discouraging, especially when the intervals in between the bad PR get shorter and shorter.

As for the male EPs’ off-putting behavior, you aren’t the first person to describe it to me the way you did, far from it, which is just to say you aren’t alone. Thank you for sharing a little bit about yourself even though it couldn’t have been easy. I’ll share that when I was growing up, the men in my life would often display an urgent need to be in control, to let everyone know they were the boss and what they said goes. Tracking this show has definitely brought up a lot of the anxiety I thought I’d dealt with already, that Daryl helped me deal with when I first started watching TWD, so I completely understand where you're coming from.

The show we were promised in 2020 was a Daryl and Carol show. Theoretically, now that Melissa is back, it should be a Daryl and Carol show again. That’s what Melissa signed on for and her EP title is supposed to be equal to Norman’s. But Norman, Nicotero, and AMC are not honoring that. You already mentioned the title, so I’ll use another example. Norman said S2 is Carol’s story before amending to Carol and Daryl stories paralleling each other. Either way, why is his character the only one on the clapperboard? Where’s Carol? In that tiny plane?

These may seem like non-issues on the surface, but as I've talked about before, people working on the show can use them as cues to establish a chain of command different from what's in contracts. The male EPs can use them to drown out Melissa's voice in instances of disagreement. The showrunner is a big one. How about directors? Are they all white men again? Who's deciding that? And how can that be the only perspective we're getting if S2 is centered around a heavily-nuanced female character, a mother, a survivor of domestic abuse, a frequent target of misogyny and ageism on SM ? Melissa's input is highly valuable. I'm in no way diminishing that or suggesting she's helpless, but she needs to be shown all the professional courtesy she deserves, as an equal. If fans are seeing evidence to the contrary, and we absolutely can see that, it undermines the narrative we've been invested in all this time: Carol beating the odds over and over again, proving her worth, and becoming a leader.

I'm really sorry that you're feeling mistreated by a show you used as a source of comfort. It's not how things are supposed to work. There should be no gaslighting, no sexist name-calling, no playing into your fears, no insulting your intelligence, no making you feel unheard. Explicit canon is something that needs to happen, but it won't take away the discomfort you're feeling unless we can get someone else in a position of power to push for Caryl, Carol, and the Daryl we know, with Melissa. That's honestly what I'm waiting to see at this point. AMC needs to make big changes. In the meantime, please take care of yourself, anon. Your wellbeing comes first.

[ninjapotatohead]

(Sorry if that seemed sudden lol)

Honestly i don't like the narrative of Sonic Prime with the whole "sonic fucked up" or "he take his friends for granted"

The first one already talked but i can't understand what the second narrative try to say when this Sonic seems to appreciate his friends (the only time i can remember where i can see the narrative is that one flashback) and even attack Eggman for insulting tails

Also while i absolutely dislike IDW version of Sonic, i can't bring myself to hate the Prime version interestingly enough, just the writing making him dumb

Ps: sorry if that confusing

Yeah, pretty much. And it wouldn't even be so bad - hell, I might have even been able to see past that - if the showrunners didn't try to pass off their versions of the characters (Sonic included) as being canon to the games... when just watching the show would showcase every single reason why that simply can't be the case.

In the games (outside of shit like Sonic Chronicles), Sonic already has quite a lot of appreciation and fondness for those he deems to be his friends. He might butt heads with folks like Knuckles and Shadow, and he's rough around the edges, but he's just a fun-loving guy who lives in the moment.

It's funny how Prime tries to present this idea that Sonic needs to learn to appreciate his friends more instead of taking them for granted... and yet, the literal first episode STARTS with Sonic speaking very highly about his friends and praising their abilities.

Which is it, Prime?

[fitzrove]

Writer Asks

Tagged by @yallemagne (thank you<3) ages and ages ago... Inspired to answer because I just published a fic and feel good about it hjejejfjj

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Undisclosed amount xD I've put a bunch on anon, especially from fandoms I'm not active in anymore (lbr, mostly Endeavour). Publically, it's 26 rn.

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

212040!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Elisabeth, hopefully in the future Tanz der Vampire (I've been thinking about it for like five years), in the past Endeavour (TV).

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

They're all Endeavour because those are older and in a (slightly) bigger fandom... Unfortunately I think they're not the best ones I've written, a lot of them were when I was 18 (no offense to 18 year olds) and had just started writing fanfic ajajjjd. Which is why the top 5 are on anon except for one LOL. I really do think kudos doesn't tend to accumulate "correctly" xD People like familiar tropes and time of posting also affects it, there are many fics of mine I consider "underrated"

My top five kudosed Elisabeth fics are: black as the earth (shortened title), Flights of Angels (todolf longfic), Dominion, Midnight Man & Starwalk. tbh deserved...

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, I try to respond to every single one of them so people will hopefully comment in the future too, especially if they're kind, funny or thought-provoking!!! However, I delete them if I don't like them or they're weird, boundary-crossing or TMI ahdjfjjf (has happened a handful of times - the joys of writing explicit stuff lol. PSA: do not tell fic authors about your sexual activities in the comments, i do not consent...)

6. What's the fic you wrote that has the angstiest ending?

I often do bittersweet, or "sweet but also has Implications" >:] Oh and I guess there's a lot of them where Rudolf dies at the end... I think the actual angstiest might be No Forevers (Endeavour fic) even though nobody dies in that one. Though I ruined it by writing a sequel to it, after the showrunner wrote one of the characters back into the show after like 10 years xD In my defense, this wasn't my idea!!!

7. What's the fic you wrote that has the happiest ending?

Beams of Morning (Endeavour). I retconned one of my own DIY bittersweet endings whoops... 🤣🤣😭 It's sappy, even, but maybe that's allowed. For elisabeth it's Flights of Angels because the happiest happy endings are ones that feel deserved.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No - I've gotten hate for my headcanons/meta and my video essays though (never to my face ;D) which can be fic adjacent. I guess it's because there's a better tagging system with fic, like, people won't be exposed to stuff they don't want to see as readily as with tumblr and youtube etc. And people also know how to leave other ppl alone!! Ajdjjfjf

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes. The unpleasantly sexy kind 👀

10. Do you write crossovers?

Noooo, I don't really read them either. The kinds of crossovers I like are the ones that are crossovers "in name only"; ie. setting or tropes lifted from one work, characters/cast from another. Wildly incongruent characters showing up in each other's universes and interacting etc doesn't fit into my suspension of disbelief most of the time 😭

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Luckily no!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I once helped someone translate theirs into English, which was cool. Oh, and recently I've been asked for permission to translate at least one of my fics - I hope it happens because it's always an honor!! >:]

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I've collaborated on series, but I haven't co-written stuff on a deeper level. I think I'm too much of a control freak to get into it ajsdjjf, I can do stuff inspired by other people and am happy if my stuff inspires other people, but if I need to agree on plot/characterisation with someone consistently I don't think it'd work out, since no two people have identical takes and preferences with stories and characters.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

For around 2.5 years it's been todolf, it captures a lot of stuff I've liked in fiction for a longer time already >:D I can't really say whether it will be the Ship of a Lifetime for me... I mean it did make me move countries (as one reason of a few) but if someone asked me in the summer of 2016 I would've probably said [checks ao3 reading history] um. h*milton x j*fferson... so like. IT CHANGES A LOT OK ajajsjdj

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but don't think you ever will?

I don't want to doom any of my current wips to the graveyard!!!!!! I am having worries about the fate of my todolf swan lake modern ballet au fic though. The original draft outline is complete but it doesn't really fit my character interpretations for tod or rudolf anymore, it's from january 2022... Idk maybe I can one day rework it somehow with different characterisations ajsjdjf but yeah mostly it's interesting concepts haphazardly tied together but no coherent plot

16. What are your writing strengths?

Imagination/coming up with ideas, metaphors, descriptions (usually), grammar and syntax, writing crown prince rudolf really well (XDD), rhythm/pacing (usually), the way it Sounds (my brain sometimes fixates on phonetics randomly because after all, English is not my first language, and sometimes there'll be like, a really pleasing/satisfying combination of sounds in smth I think to write and I think I'm good at picking up on that, like how it flows and sounds. Idk if those preferences are universal though or if it's just me writing what I think sounds pleasing)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Writing varied characters, writing varied speech patterns/"character voice" also in narration, vocabulary.... I am but a humble English as a second technically third language speaker,,,, (i'm doing an english language grad school degree rn lol so i think i'm no worse than natives, not humble abt this actually, but i'm on the level of like. a not so well-read native speaker. Because most actual fiction literature I've read in my life has been in Finnish, in English I've just read academic literature, fanfic and like 10 books max! I need to read more and become a better writer ahhdhhdhf)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

No... Dialogue is a big no from me, it often feels cringe ngl ajsjdjdj. My personal philosophy is "if you need a translator's note for people to understand what's going on, don't put it in" 😅 A lot of the time different languages are also used in fic in nonsensical ways where it will look ok to a lot of people but bother the hell out of native speakers/ppl who speak the language. This is smth that can technically be done well but it's usually not aksldlldd. I think pet names and individual words can be fine but it needs to be done in moderation... I also obsess a lot over research, like, the nuances of the word need to actually mean what the author thinks it means :'D

19. First fandom you wrote for?

First published for Endeavour, first wrote for H*rry P*tter... (never-to-be-published fan comics and little stories as a young kid, like 8 years old).

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Right now it's vers l'onde souterraine... ;) I think I'm constantly improving as a writer and hopefully every fic will be better than the last!!