#tldr: The more that comes out of this show the more people end up hating it and leave (like a lot of people) but it's somehow

[nezz-cringe-crib]

growing up is realizing that dipcifica was actually a pretty damn good ship and holy shit i totally misjudged this pairing.

i never really liked dipcifica mainly because of how it got represented by the fandom, but looking back on it, it would've made a lot of sense and it would've been beneficial for both of them to date each other. and even in a completely platonic sense, their dynamic worked well enough that they could've done a lot more together.

dipper is a very nerdy awkward guy, clearly. he likes solving mysteries and sometimes he gets a little in over his head because of it. and his silly little awkward teenage love life reflects all of these things. that little shrimp was disney's #1 simp, it's actually insane. whenever he'd start to fall for a girl it'd end up going pretty terribly because he'd have no idea how to just act like himself and he'd also become a little bit of a jerk. (i'm not trying to like dog on dipper btw. he's just a kid and these are all understandable flaws, especially at his age and at the time period gravity falls took place in). however, with pacifica, a lot of these flaws are manageable solely because of how they're introduced to each other. dipper hates pacifica at first and wants nothing to do with her, but eventually they're forced to work together and realize "huh. we actually make a really good team." for dipper, this gradual building of a relationship is really beneficial to him. he wouldn't just go head-first into simping for some random girl and he'd also learn to respect her as a person and realize when he's being a little bit of a dick. being with pacifica, platonically or romantically (though personally i think romantically would strengthen their pros more but thats just my personal taste), would've helped dipper become a better person.

this goes for pacifica as well. pacifica's homelife is extremely controlling and it's what groomed her into becoming the mean girl that she's first presented as. as the show continues though, it's clear that she doesn't really want to be mean to anybody. she only acts spoiled because she doesn't know what else she can act like. she wants to connect to people but she's been so forced into this fake rich life that she has no idea how to be genuine with anybody. that's why her having a connection to dipper is so important. dipper is a little blunt, and he especially won't hide that from pacifica because he initially hates her and her family's lifestyle, so this'll eventually help pacifica realize "oh shit. i'm kind of a dick. my family are kind of huge dicks." and we do end up seeing this from her in "Northwest Mansion Mystery". she learns how to be herself, learns who "herself" even means, and learns to stand up for who she is when she figures that out. also pacifica's pretty damn smart???? especially socially???? she could absolutely help dipper do a lot of things when it comes to mystery solving, and with her status it'll most likely be things that dipper could never pull off and never even thought about because that's just what he's used to. they'd both end up learning a lot from each other because they'd be dragged into environments that they're not familiar with, but the other is. and their different perspectives/lifestyles would help the other view their environment in a new light.

not only is their relationship genuinely really beneficial to the both of them, but i also just know that their dialogue and scenes with each other would be so damn silly i can't not say yes to it anymore. i also just personally like headcanoning them both as bisexual so that's a plus for me.

anyways, tldr: i was wrong about dipcifica and its actually really good, i just think people should really analyze their relationship more since the way the fandom presents it (or how ive personally seen the fandom present it) is a little icky and shallow at least in my opinion. yay for dipcifica being silly little goobers :3

[cookiekitkat8484]

It has come to my attention that people who haven't read the comics don't realise Wallace was the one who harassed scott into being his friend. Like he saw that nerd at uni and went oh yeah that's my guy now. This bitch would not shut up and showed up at his house uninvited to hang out till scott gave in and befriended him, then they got suuuper drunk and scott let him crash at his. He comes to family dinners, is best friends with his sister, and chats to his mum.

He despises envy more than anything and is furious when she tries to mess with his life again and scott gets hurt, so he cooks him breakfast and comforts him. He coaches scott in fighting and helps with strategies so he doesn't get his ass kicked. He bullies him to leave the house because there's a heatwave and he wants to make sure he doesn't get heatstroke. Like they're close enough Wallace walks around in his underwear (though scott whines about it).

I've seen people assume Wallace supports scott out of pity but that man is a bitch and morally questionable (affectionate), I do not think he would put up with it at all if he didn't want him around, especially given he can barely afford to support them both. When they stop living together he doesn't just kick him out it's because their landlord kicks them out, he actively enchorages scott to move in with Ramona out of care for him and offers to stay with him if he needs it, though ends up signing a lease with his boyfriend (in his defence scott didn't ask for him to stay and decided to try make things work with Ramona) but still let's him stay at the new apartment with them when Ramona kicks him out.

Yeah he's mean to scott sometimes and makes fun of him/is brutally honest but he basically became part of Scott's family and part of that is calling people out when they're being a total jackass and teasing them, he's that kinda guy and scott knows that he doesn't actually hate him or something. Yeah scott will do puppy dog eyes if he wants something but wallace is frequently nice to him on his own initiative and scotts not a suck up to Wallace, he can be a bitch right back at him.

They're a really important part of each other's lives. though I can understand people not familiar with the characters who watched the show thinking Wallace doesn't care about scott being gone, literally all the characters reacted super casually. Bryan has tried to clarify his way of trying to cope is him "being a jerk"/disconnecting/acting apathetic. Also in the show o'malley basically confirms Wallace had feelings for scott and that was why he had the affair with Todd and you can quote him on that, aswell as scott admitting how they became roomates was "somewhat gay" in the comics, so there's definitely some weird more than friends emotional mess tied in there.

comic panels i reference under the cut

TLDR wallace lives with him because he cares about him, whether you read that as still somewhat romantic or now platonic, with either interpretations fitting better with different versions of the story

[ao3-shenanigans]

Hi! Just a thing I wrote in honor of Comment Day. Maybe you might want to read/share it?

Every writer I have never known a writer is always happy to get positive feedback, but some readers believe if they leave kudos or a comment, they’re bothering the writer. Here’s a comparison that might explain why that isn’t the case.

Imagine that the fanfic is a play, and the author has worked really hard on the whole thing: costumes, scenery, the plot, characterization, everything. It’s opening night. The stage manager (AO3) gives the author the headcount (hit number) of the audience (the readers). The writer is now able to imagine 10 or 100 or 1000 people sitting in the audience, watching what they have created. While a big number is fantastic, most writers are thrilled anyone wants to see what they’ve made.

When the play is over, the writer comes out to take a bow.  One hundred people are in the audience.

Two people clap (left a kudos).

Everyone else gets up and walks out in silence.

Obviously, the writer is happy these two people clapped, but they’re also thinking, “Did… did the other 98 people hate it? Were those pity claps? Was it that bad?”

That’s what’s happening on AO3. A fantastic single-chapter fic will get over a thousand hits and wind up with maybe 5 to 10% of those readers leaving kudos. The other 90% could include people re-reading, and numbers get more complicated with multichapter fics since readers can leave kudos only once.

But essentially, a lot of readers see a fic as being more like a movie, where the audience just leaves at the end. It’s even harder for an “older” fic (“older” can sometimes be applied to fics posted only a month ago), where the “play” has been running a while, the author is still there doing everything, but now people decide since it’s not new, there’s no point in showing they liked it.

Maybe one in a hundred readers, sometimes fewer, leaves a written comment. This is like hearing someone in that theater cheering. If it’s a piece of feedback that’s more detailed than a keysmash or an “I like this,” that person is giving the author a standing ovation. And if someone recommends the fic somewhere, maybe saying so in a comment, it’s like getting a rave review on the cover of the New York Times!

All of these are happy things. Kudos, comments of any length, recs, all of them make an author’s day shiny and happy. They’re absolutely fantastic! No writer is bothered by anyone doing these things.

Maybe you’re still thinking, okay, I can see I’m not bothering the writer, but does just writing “I really enjoyed this fic” do anything?

Yes. Because there are the other, less happy responses. Some comments might be demands, making the comment less about thanking the writer and more turning it into a to do list for them. Some authors see their work has been bookmarked only to realize it has a note like “this is awful” or “TLDR” or “started okay but was stupid by the end.” The default for bookmarks is everyone can see them. Finally, anyone who has written fic for any length of time has dealt with flames. These aren’t constructive criticism; they’re flat out abuse, ranging from name calling to highly detailed insults that are the exact reverse of a long, happy comment. Authors look in their email, see someone has commented on their fic, and are thrilled, only to read the comment and be told they are worthless, stupid, untalented. Everyone gets these sometimes, and writers should ignore them, but most of us have sometimes cried over them. Picture that same theater full of silent people, with one or two people clapping, and suddenly someone stands up and starts booing and hurling rotten tomatoes on stage. Readers might not even know it’s happening since writers usually delete those comments. But they still sting.

Kudos and compliments are not annoying anyone. Flames, on the other hand, are awful. The difference is the polite reader who chooses to say nothing out of shyness backs away from doing something that will make the writer happy, while the rude reader actively goes out of their way to make the writer unhappy.

I’ve been in fandom quite a while. Interaction has dropped since the old days, and it’s even dropped off over time at AO3. I’m not sure why, unless it’s that readers regard hits as being like views on TikTok. Since TikTok’s algorithm chooses what will show up more often in people’s feeds based on views, that makes some sense there, but AO3 doesn’t do that. There is no popularity contest writers are winning through views. Unless you tell them, they may think you hated what they wrote and that the flames are the genuine overall reaction.

The moral? If you love something, or even like it, show the writer some appreciation. The second it takes to leave a kudos might make them feel happy the whole day.

Comments and Kudos are probably some of the best gifts to give your favorite artists and storytellers (they’re free and easy too!)

[cross-my-heartt]

Alright, I’m saying it

I hate what they did with Crosshair in season three

Yes, the entirety of season three, barring maybe only the first three episodes. Let me elaborate.

I’ve been seeing people be more open about criticizing the finale and it’s given me the push to be more open about my own thoughts. And since I still advertise myself as a Crosshair girlie, I think this is a good place to start.

I really honestly don’t like the majority of what they did with Crosshair’s character this season. And yes, that includes the hand tremors. From the myriad things that felt out of character for him to making him a walking exposition dump, to completely stripping him of his more interesting qualities I honestly struggle to see him as the same character I loved right up until the end of season two.

I almost understand why so many people have come around on him – it’s because he’s a completely different character. We’re meant to believe that his time on Tantiss and Hemlock’s attempted reconditioning has changed him as a person. Which is all fine and dandy until you realize that this new character we get feels more like he’s gone through therapy rather than trauma.

New Crosshair is much more agreeable. He’s mild, he rolls over at the first sign of conflict, he talks about his emotions at the drop of a hat and there’s barely any meaningful tension between him and the other characters (not one that’s not forced anyways).

And my question is, why? If we’re just going to use off screen trauma (off. screen. trauma???) to change characters willy nilly then what even is the point of watching a show?

Say I suddenly wanted to make Wrecker this very angry character with a short fuse and I decide that he got an injury off screen that’s causing him chronic pain. It makes sense logically while at the same time making zero sense for him, even less so if you don’t see it play out, because it erases core parts of the character that we already know.

One of the first things Crosshair does in tcw is start a fight. Crosshair has always been a belligerent guy. He literally responds to being hurt by attacking. Where is that combativeness now? I would even go as far as to say that he’s been the primary source of conflict for the group since season one and I don’t even mean that in a bad way. Crosshair bites back. He hides pain by trying to inflict it, he talks back, he challenges, he digs his heels in to the point of proactively making bad life choices.

And the reason why he’s worked so well in this team so far is because his tendencies were counteracted by those around him, right up until the inevitable rift caused by the chip. I could go on about Wrecker and Tech but we all know that the main counterbalance, Crosshair’s foil here, is Hunter. Hunter is supposed to be the one that deescalates, they’ve gotten along so far because he’s the one that handled rising tensions (it’s the reason he’s the leader of their group to begin with. Remember who deescalated that fight in tcw? Remember who started it?) Where Crosshair pushes, Hunter puts a stop to it. Where Crosshair attacks, Hunter deflects, maybe sometimes too much.

And these first two season have felt like they were steadily building towards a confrontation between these two. We wanted Hunter to snap at Crosshair on Pabu because we’ve been craving it. This whole time Crosshair’s been saddled with more and more trauma, unresolved tensions from as far back as season one (which we all seem to have forgotten about as if that story never happened, tldr I’m still bitter no one addressed the Crosshair being abandoned subplot, hello remember that) while the narrative has simultaneously been stripping Hunter of his patience; months of anxiety and frustration and stress chipping away at him and wearing him down so that we can finally get to see these characters clash. The perfect recipe for all of that tension exploding and being set loose.

And what did we get instead?

A tiny little spat. An argument that gets interrupted before fizzling out (because Crosshair can talk about feelings all of a sudden). We got Hunter in the exact right position only for the show to purposefully strip Crosshair of his characteristic belligerence because apparently we don’t want to see any conflict. It’s like they’re teasing us – look Hunter’s on the verge of snapping but Crosshair’s the bigger man now so we don’t get to see that! Why??? What part of that was satisfying?? We got Crosshair pushing back for the tiniest of seconds and resolved two seasons of tension in half an episode. Where they had to fight a giant worm. In what universe is that a satisfying conclusion.

The only reason I can think of is that this mirror development is supposed to be some kind of irony or subversion but honestly that explanation falls so flat in the face of our expectations as an audience.

And the thing is, I think even the authors realized that they had nuked their most intriguing character. Because once they removed his established response to trauma, which was all of those wonderfully complex emotional reactions, they realized they needed to manifest it in some other way. So we got the hand tremors.

Now Crosshair doesn’t get angry or stubborn he just gets jittery. And I know this sounds dismissive but the only reason that is is because the show itself deals with it in a completely ham-fisted and surface-level way.

I hated the hand tremor subplot. Me. Someone who spent two years being disabled because of neural damage to my hands that prevented me from doing the hobbies I used to define myself as a person. Someone who spent two years depressed and dysfunctional because of the loss of identity and purpose I suffered because of that disability.

So no I’m not fucking happy that they used something as serious as ptsd to spice up a character they themselves made bland in the first place. For no reason other than a subplot that went literally nowhere. A subplot that was shish kebabed after an underwhelming fight scene.

Don’t even get me started on the pun level writing of chopping said hand off.

But back to Crosshair… or what’s left of him after this season (see I can make a pun too). Crosshair was already interesting enough as a character without the added hand tremor subplot and I'm dying on that hill.

The thing is, they were so intent on pushing this new, watered down version of Crosshair that even more reasonable, level-headed characters had to be thrown under the bus, made irrationally aggressive next to him to try and make us believe it. I have a lot to say about Howzer this season but the only thing I’ll say for now is that he’s the most prominent victim of this, along with his entire retconned season one plotline.

And speaking of victims, I can’t help but feel like I need to apologize to all the Tech fans out there once again. Because what I think actually happened is that Tech was never the writers’ favorite and was never meant to get any sort of satisfying conclusion.

That was always Crosshair.

The focal point of season one. The most prominent source or drama and conflict. The character who drove the plot forward even when he appeared in a fraction of episodes. The character who got the most development (even if that development spiraled wildly out of control at the end). Nearly every major subplot in this show happened in relation to or in favor of Crosshair’s arc. Tech’s death. Omega’s capture. The CX clones. The hand tremors. All of the meaningful developments and events reserved for two characters in this show, Omega and Crosshair. (Some would argue Hunter as well but really, did Hunter get any development as a character? Spoiler alert, a happy ending is not the same as a character arc.)

My guess is that this was always meant to be the case. The writers just weren’t prepared for the fans’ response to Tech’s death, it caught them off guard, and here’s one more reason why I think creators should stay away from social media or any kind of prolonged fan interaction. Because all it got us in the end was some form of cruel teasing, them trying to ride the wave of attention and thinking their original plans would make up for it when that wave inevitably crashed.

But anyway.

What happens when you dump a bunch of pain and suffering onto a character with a problematic response to adversity? Apparently it makes them emotionally intelligent, at least according to this show. Crosshair in season three feels like a shadow of his former self – the combativeness and complex emotional responses that made him so interesting to begin with are gone, replaced with a ham-fisted manifestation of trauma that gets resolved in an equally ham-fisted way.

And I’m just not on board with that. Nor will I ever be. Even if you give me all the supposed emotional payoffs, hugs or whatever.

[narwhalandchill]

how are we feeling about this project amber update

assuming this is in relation to childe bc who the fuck else JWDJWJKDJKW anon im so sorry if not. also so so sorry for how out of hand this got. i am simply unwell about him.

But! Well. there certainly are thoughts

(obviously 4.6 datamine of arle SQ and her voicelines; This Will Not Spoil Anything Abt The Main SQ Plot, i only discuss the relevant parts. also some p Heavy negativity towards fanon ooc at the start youve been warned dont @ me)

(i mean i didnt even read anything of the SQ but The scene w childe so idek the main plot of the quest rly either lmao. tho go at ur own risk if u wanna check the dialogue out; its the 2nd quest log but it does hint at the greater story)

TLDR: how i feel abt his appearance in a vaccuum? quite solid despite the briefness, actually. accounting for the way fanon is 100% likely going to be reading into this and turning it into the Lets Infantilize Ajax Even More 2024 championship? conflicted.

in other words; a certified labyrinth warriors moment - theyve expanded on childes character in a very interesting and quite a compelling way and while i Do like the potential in what im seeing from hoyos end theyve also done it so that its going to be misinterpreted to hell and back by fanon so i kinda have an immediate jaded love-hate moment going on JJWJDKJDKJWJDWKJ

its literally just labyrinth warriors flashbacks - that event has some of my ALL TIME favorite insights into who ajax is and how he views the world and himself but when the event came out all everyone cared abt was to warp it into baby boy stuck in scawwy paper boy dungeon dehumanizes himself by calling himself a weapon and doesnt love himself he is such a sad trauma meowkitten 🥺🥺so yeah

bc like lets look at this properly for a bit; okay he went back to fontaine to look for skirk still somewhat injured and waa waa my 286 month infant baby cannot Make decisions like that!!!!!11! which is to say. i am tired of him getting this shit every time.

is it smart of him to get on the move immediately with just the bare minimum of rest? no. do i like that hes straining himself before proper recovery? not particularly no. do i feel the particular need to psychoanalyze this grown man and feared warrior whos 100% survived Way Worse in Way More Extreme Situations for it? hell fucking no.

while not at all the course of action a medical professional would approve of. from childes POV its perfectly logical hes priorizing going back for skirk when its literally the FIRST TIME shes showed up in like. a Decade. when hes been looking for her all this time are you kidding me 😭😭😭 but fanon must keep fanoning for their widdle baby girl so what does a hater like me know

anyway. seething and venting over im gonna try to avoid bringing up how much i hate this kinda infantilization of ajax now im sorry for bringing it up so much on ur innocent ask anon KJWDJKWKJDJDKWJKD. neutral discussion moment. i Promise

so it seems that theyre going for the pulcinella-is-shady-about-ajax (and prolly his family) angle for good and like. personally for me as long as the only real source of that claim was scara (a cynical edgelord who doesnt believe in non-exploitative human relationships, mind you) i was rather skeptical towards just instantly drawing that conclusion, but well. with the scene in arles AQ it appears to be sth theyre building towards

i actually really fucking loved that scene bc while theres outsider perspectives (scara obvi; and even arles line for him has that vibe. and ppl still take that shit face value 💀💀) and a lot of fandom assuming childes like. completely clueless and naive and ignorant towards the potential risks involved with trusting pulcinella. this is actually a very clever demonstration of quite the opposite? and showcasing how despite his aversion towards schemes and lies hes still intelligent and knows the kind of people hes dealing with when it comes to his fellow harbingers

like. childe has a negative opinion of arle based on what pulcinella has told him about her because at face value many of her deeds are in heavy conflict with his values of loyalty and family. and because he does not have the further context behind her actions and what the HotH under her is really like. Obviously hed hold a very hostile and wary view towards arlecchino

(ESPECIALLY when with all this biased intel hes still going to run into kids from the house!!! and then hes going wtf? these are good kids. what the hell is that knave doing with them??? blink twice if you need help i will start a civil war for yall like thats how he is with kids!!!!)

so YES. pulcinella has given him if not false then at least misleading intel based on the political tension between himself and arlecchino and the wider HotH. and childes taken that at face value! sure! he is close with pulcinella of course he would!

BUT. THEN. he returns to fontaine and seeks arlecchinos help looking for skirk. and observes her behavior and modus operandi for himself as well as the kids. does he go "nah she must be just hiding the crazy evil shit i would never distrust pulcinella" and leave it at that when reality doesnt completely match his expectations?

NO. because when offered the opportunity through the traveler asking about the HotH childe immediately capitalizes on the opportunity to prod for answers and see if pulcinella is lying to him!!!!

and hes so fucking smart with the way he does it too???? i LOVE his intelligence. the entire thing is so simple yet elegant; it Completely relies on his reputation as the kinda gullible harbinger whod Never scheme or hide Anything to indirectly affirm or deny his suspicions. he doesnt Need to Pretend to care about the possibility of arle betraying the kids bc he genuinely does!! and when she pushes back against the accusation he doesnt Need to fake admitting to her that well, actually, its all just rumors so he could be completely wrong. and so on. like he navigates the entire thing so effortlessly. and whats the end result?

childe has Confirmation of pulcinellas possible ulterior motives in action AND that arlecchino is a much more reliable ally than he initially assumed. all the while appearing as just The Straightforward 11th. like obviously id need to hear it voiced first to be sure but in text it v much gives the impression hes almost kinda just. playing up the threats towards arle and being "dumb" on Purpose?? to get the answers he wanted out of arle without appearing like hes fishing for anything particular. and i just hhhhhhhhhhh

i love when he does this so muchhhh!!!!!! 😭😭 he doesnt need to become some machiavellian schemer to be able to strategize !!!!!! he avoids scheming bc he Dislikes it not bc hes incapable of it like this has Always been the case Since Liyue AQ and i love whenever they show that side of himm . my Beloved

so anyway. while i do still think the like "pulcinella is bad and has his family hostage" is still kind of a generic plotline and i hope the writing regarding the whole thing wont ultimately turn out to be sth That simplified and black and white. its p clear theyre doing Something with pulcinellas motivations and as they are. im Really glad theyre letting it show that childes not just some completely passive party being manipulated in this all. he Is thinking abt this stuff and his position among the harbingers. ig we shall see where it goes - not the greatest fan of the concept still, but canon text supports it becoming a thing way more than when it was just scaras word we had for it. hope theyll surprise me positively w how they go about it!

then briefly for the rest uhh

also loved arle and childe just shittalking the rest of the harbingers it was amazing. i wasnt expecting this kinda dynamic between them at all but its great lmao. also i wanna see childe hang out w the HotH kids

as for project stuzha; so we dont really get anything solid on it other than being summoned back to snezhnaya for it is apparently a Big Deal. but still very interested. let my man have his endgame significance Trust

childes appearance was obviously v brief ultimately but that was clear from his leaked linecount to begin with - i am pretty satisfied with what they seem to have done w him. like its not The Best but also i wasnt expecting his lore to get some massive expansion in another harbingers SQ . the worst i feared was that it was just going to be a flashback of arle returning his vision which did Not happen so massive W. i am super hyped to hear this scene voice acted proper and happy to see him again, i really hope he gets to appear at least once more in an interlude or dains quest or something before going on hiatus again but idk if thats too much to ask LKKWJDJWDJWD

also: i am never changing my namecard after this patch drops. oh my godddddddd its So Fucking Beautiful 😭😭😭😭

But. Yeah. lots of good stuff. unfortunately lots of it will get misinterpreted and fanon will get obnoxious about it. but i still love getting to see him again and i am speedrunning that namecard day fucking one mutuals and/or followers in EU please add me (UID 711090267) ill need coop buddies for the world bosses

thank youuuuuuu for the ask i hope this monstrosity of a monologue doesnt scare u off 💀💀💀

[splatoonpolls]

fandom and negativity towards newer installments

So, I’ve seen a lot of complaints towards games I like, splatoon 3, Pokémon scarlet/violet sims 4 (okay I’m just fine with that game). Most are valid, however some feel a bit more like people repeated “x is bad, y is better” with 4 other people for 6 hours straight. It starts with valid criticism and ends up with people’s whole online identity become hating on a game. And that’s a type of negativity many don’t enjoy. One clear example of this echo chamber (mainly made of nostalgia) is me watching a video about sims 2 occults and someone commenting “the sims 2 beats the sims 4 in everything” despite vampires in the sims 4 being better than those in the sims 2. Or something really common with Pokémon fans. Putting down the story of the latest games when they come out. A few years pass, and now they’re seen as like a magnum opus of video game stories (like the hatred against gen 5 went it came out).

I understand, you can hate on something. You can criticize something. But once your whole identity is more about hating something than loving an older installment and showing other people how to enjoy it. Do you actually like the older games? There’s this sims YouTuber, who when he isn’t making some of the typical more chaotic style content. Is mainly talking negatively about the game, mainly brings up the newer games as a way to “ha! The sims 4 could never” which is more personal here but. You can talk about old media separately from the newer one. You won’t get shot by a bunch of genwunners if you talk about Pokémon platinum and don’t go “AND UNLIKE SCARLET”. And you know, maybe I come off as a bit petty.

anyway, to splatoon. I see this coming more and more apparent as time passes. Glazing splatoon 1 and 2 but ignoring some flaws it has. Repeating the same “unpopular opinions” to get top comments on tiktok and Reddit. Putting on nostalgia goggles when it’s needed. I love splatoon 2, but do not use the game ONLY to put down splatoon 3,

TLDR: criticism and hatred against newer installments is fine. But please when discussing it. Be reminded on how much of what you dislike is nostalgia. And you can enjoy older installments in isolation. You do not need to bring up the newer game to enjoy an older game.

[yeyinde]

Haha, I also spoil myself intentionally, but for the plot of movies, tv shows, and games I’m not super invested in. If I accidentally spoil myself (especially if I learn a character dies) I’ll cope by telling myself “I don’t know how/when it happened though”

Anyways Major Character Death!!

I’m SO disappointed in them killing off Soap and especially in how they did it! No buildup or anything! To me it was disrespectful to the character and to Neil Ellice. And then the 141 don’t even say anything and it cuts to them spreading his ashes with a simple goodbye! They could have at least made them a little more upset 🥲 also I hate how abruptly the game ended. Makarov gets away, but no mention to that at the end.

I had also initially requested what would become infinity in the palm of your hand (eternity in an hour) as a way to “cope” with 2009 Soap’s death because it’s always been on the back of my mind for years (weird, I know). But now after playing the new MW3 campaign I look like boo boo the fool because of who went and got killed off 😭 now every time I go back to reread it, it will be painful knowing what’s in store for reader for their current reincarnation of Soap.

Tldr I’m kinda not okay with MW3.

From what I've seen, it feels like they pulled it out of a hat. All names went in, but his (amongst others) came out. And I guess it's safe because he died in the OG, so the backlash can easily be deflected from within their own community when other fans come to their defence over this choice. But idk.

I agree with everything you said. It doesn't make any sense. It's jarring and misplaced, and canonically pointless. I'm not against character death. Grief is a powerful thing. But I just hate when it's so contrived and needless. It was definitely done for shock value over plot/character growth and I think they were trying to re-create the massive storm that happened when OG Soap died because they know they don't have much else going for them. It just massively missed the mark because: a) Price and Gaz had no tangible in-game relationship with Soap the same way Ghost did; and b) what does his death really amount to in the end? Nothing. It feels cobbled together and poorly thought out. It's sad when Portal 2 has better writing than your whole remake combined. Honestly, it's kind of impressive how little thought they put into this. I'm getting flash backs to DGG's Halloween.

If it's any consolation, the mythology I based the reincarnation off of in infinity would essentially just be neverending. An ouroboros. The events would happen much the same way. A knock on the door. Spiral of grief. A bog. A deal. Restart. So, you'd just wake up again and live life until whatever the old you made a deal with decides it's time to collect. You're forever stuck in a loop with your soulmate until you get it right.

The rest is just how I kinda wish it went, but this was getting very long because I have more thoughts on this than I anticipated lmao 😅

Personally, I think it would have been much more interesting if they brought in a new passel of characters and slowly chipped off the main cast in a series of horrible decisions that slowly begin to feel hollow and empty. That leave you, the player, feeling emotionally gutted with each new chapter because the choices previously are absolutely impacting the way they move forward, but they're too deep into their own revenge fantasy to see it until the very end when it's too late. Give me actions have consequences and every choice you make is directly responsible for someone's death. The realities of war. And what happens when you give a group of people the power to play god in countries they know nothing about. It would have matched the gritty tone they tried to go for with the trailers and actually served as an interesting conversation about war and how we tend to deify the military when they're just men with too much power in their hands. Instead, we have a death that means nothing. That arguably happened much too early in the series so the payoff is solely meant for clicks and reaction channels. Pointless.

And Makarov. A Russian Ultra Nationalist. I feel like that title alone says everything for me, and yet. They still somehow managed to give a Russian War Criminal so many wins. I'm just so irritated by it all.

[zai-doodles]

I really appreciate how it seems everyone seems to have their own priorities when it comes to Fairy Tail redesigns tbh, like mine are "what if they were butch" half the time or "what if their outfit was more functional"

What's your take on Irene I'm curious? She's the latest woman I'm hitting with the butch beam but in general I haven't really seen people redesign her much despite her fucking ATROCIOUS outfit

Ok I was avoiding this ask oops

The easy part is my mentality with redesigns, I usually just go for what I personally find aesthetically pleasing while adding in visual storytelling with their personalities. Like all the dragon slayers having varying levels of draconic features for plot or lucys main fit being an equestrian horse riding uniform to allude to how she ran away from home.

Idk for me it's kind of rule of cool at times and just me messing around until I start thinking abt the plot and incorporating more and more ideas into the designs ig

Ok so I have gotten asks about my opinions on Irene and silver and all that so the tldr is that I don't actually remember a lot of the late ft stuff bc I genuinely just got bored and didn't like it.

I plan on rewatching a lot of this but FROM THE LITTLE I DO REMEMBER here r my thoughts:

From jump I think bringing back Irene or silver is a detriment to both erzas and grays character arcs. They happen at a point in the series where we were never even remotely interested in who their birth parents r and seemingly neither did either of them so to bring them up out of no where feels like shock value to me.

There's just very little emotional investment because again AT THIS POINT in the story both of them r suppose to have grown where they see the guild as their family regardless of blood ties. This is kinda emphasized/ addressed by having erza be like the only parent I recognize is my guild master but also then y make it her mom in the first place if it doesn't hold any emotional stakes??

Specifically Irene, I think making her related to dragons is cheap and weird, erza before this has never been hinted at to have any kind of connection to dragons so again we have this weird shock value nonsense feeling

Like ugh if u WANTED to make it work then at the very least they could have made Irene more mother gothel energy where she's actively trying to coax erza into loving her and playing the role of the loving doting mother only to turn out to have been evil the whole time or something to at least CHALLENGE erza emotionally since so much of her arc has been learning to let ppl in so having it back fire this late in the show would have been interesting to me.

I'm rewatching the Irene fight just for this and I'm so annoyed now omg let's talk abt it

Irene just taking over Wendy's body happened so fast and easy also u can't tell me that Irene has never heard of the other dragon slayers so what would it have changed to just make this her plan all along and that's y she wanted to get close to erza and gain her trust. Like give it an arc or something with the twist at the end that she was grooming wendyas her new body and make the ritual more involved that it needed some level of trust or willingness from Wendy which would in turn make erza feel awful for putting her trust in Irene at all

I'm spitballing idk but all this to say that having a main supporting characters parents come back from the dead to be a nothing villain that they defeat the same as everyone else is lame

I forgot this is the fight where erza destroys a meteor with one arm I'm not even going to touch on that theres just so much there.

Ok onto silver omg

I simply hate the switch of like, o it's grays dad wait no it's actually deliora wait no it's actually actually grays dad fr This time guys-

Like idk commit to something bc again, this whole fight is like 10 minutes so all this info is just thrown at gray with no time for him to process until his dad dies again like idk can we plz have some internal struggle that lasts more than a single fight

I don't hate giving gray some kind of closure to his family dying but he also literally never mourned or talked abt them before hand bc, to me, it was implied he didn't really grieve them and just jumped right to revenge and training with Ur and when she died her death kind of consumed him so he stopped thinking abt his parents?

Idk again, if u wanted to make it work, literally just throw in some guilt abt his parents deaths where gray feels like he could have protected them or something or even resenting his father for not being strong enough to protect them and thats y he always pushes himself to do better and is willing to sacrifice himself to save his family at every turn bc he wants to be a martyr so bad guys-

Idk these r my initial thoughts, ik u didn't ask abt silver but he and Irene go in the same box to me

[adelheidvonschicksal]

Like I'm really asking why gege introduces characters just to off them. I hate saying its bad writing but I'm seriously looking like, why though. I really feel he got inspired by Togashi and is trying to come up with some banging plot twists and mind fuckery but it isn't slapping the same. Like "He can't keep getting away with this!!"

It is bad writing! I can talk about it for hours. It's a shame cause Gege writes so extremely well but suffers from telling more than showing.

When Gege takes his time, he writes amazingly! He has great symbolism and wordplay, good characters, and good plot elements, but then rushes all of it. In his defense, it must be hard to write on a weekly schedule especially under such pressure and under a company. I did add a tldr at the end cause I have so much to say.

But I noticed since around the Zen’in and Maki chapters that Gege’s biggest struggle as a writer is writing build up. I’m not the best writer myself, but it’s such a huge problem in his writing.

To preface, he does have good build up in certain characters:

Geto and Gojo’s relationship and downfall is done so exceptionally beautifully. There’s a reason there’s so much discourse with their relationship and fandom tears about it. Itadori and Megumi’s relationship mimicking theirs is also done very well.

Miwa and Mechamaru, as side characters, also have the right level of relationship build-up for their roles in the story.

Gege can even write deaths very well.

Junpei’s death sets up Itadori’s first failure, Sukuna as a non-ally, and sets the tone for the show that the good guys can lose.

Nobara’s “death” was unneeded for Itadori’s collapse. But as a character, I do feel she was completely fleshed out and finished.  She was a character who knew who she was and embraced that without failure or doubt. The only growth I could see for her character development was to gain more empathy for others and become more open minded (something she seemed to realize at her death). But that’s another discussion.  

Nanami’s death (although sad) was probably the best-done death in the series. He’s a fully fleshed out character, we know his motivations and his regrets, we were attached to him just as much as Itadori. Then, Gege adds on the juxtaposition of Mei Mei and Ui Ui to his death.

Spoilers below cut.

Where he goes wrong:

Gege tried to recatch the feeling of losing Nanami in Hiromi; but we got so little of Hiromi, it didn’t make an impact like Nanami even though Hiromi’s introduction is really good, and we see that Itadori starts to look up to him.

Choso, I believe, got caught in between being an important character that fans love and being a character that probably would have the least consequences out of the people who got stuck in Sukuna’s domain (i.e. Itadori and Maki) to die. So, his death would actually matter to the fandom; but after so many deaths, it’s too late to make the fandom care, it only brings anger.

I have a feeling he’ll do the same with Todo now.

The most ironic part is that Gege probably had the best character development moment since the Culling Games by choosing NOT to kill a minor character.

In this case, I’m talking about Remi and Megumi.

If we look at the Culling Games as the arc developing Megumi before he gets taken by Sukuna; we notice that Megumi is entering his serious, cold-hearted era. He’s making the sacrifices necessary to save his sister.

In this case, we see Megumi repeatedly killing other humans without stopping to think or any remorse. We touch this subject with all of the first years.

Itadori: struggles with killing humans, becomes regretful about doing so, hates himself for killing humans because of Sukuna. Then, he eventually resolves to do what is necessary as a cog.

Nobara: resolves this with her Bus Riding analogy. She won’t get bent out of shape when it comes to protecting herself or over strangers.

Megumi: He has the exact same thought process as Nobara. He kills humans when they attack him. However, we are also aware Megumi tends to have more sympathy for strangers and enemies than Nobara even though he likes to act like he doesn't.

Despite Remi leading him into a trap, he comes to see that she isn’t that bright and is being taken advantage of. So, even though he doesn’t like her, he feels sorry enough for her that he protects her, tries to talk reason into her, and gets hurt in the process despite her initially betraying him.

It isn’t until she attacks him, that he officially marks her as “scum”.

Megumi later hunts Remi down as easy points in the Culling Games and because she’s someone who is an enemy. Remi even describes men as wolves as he hunts her down and is confused and panicking about the situation since she’s never had to think for herself.

I’ve seen these scenes used to describe him as not being a kid anymore and basically using it to downplay his depression over losing Tsumiki, the mahoraga and bum memes.

But Gege uses Remi as a way to still display Megumi’s stipulations over killing others and his connection to Tsumiki as someone who helped him develop his moral compass and keeps him grounded.

Did Remi attack him? Yes.

But she was no longer posing a threat and actively running away from him, making her a non-enemy again. Megumi deciding to let her live is actually a solidifying moment in Megumi’s character, his relationship with his sister, and re-establishes him as a character who despite being outwardly cruel and distant at times has empathy and kindness for people. It shows this holds true when he has no reason to be kind to them and even good reason to kill them. However, this is something a) Megumi would have probably regretted later or b) set him on a worse path. Most importantly, it confirms just how much Tsumiki's ideals and expectations of him as a person means to him, giving reason to why his soul becomes weak enough to possess towards the end of the arc.

This is actually such a good example of his writing once again being amazing. Gege is aware that choosing to let someone live, even minor unimportant characters, works just as well as choosing to let someone die in terms of character motivations and development. Something that he doesn't give to Itadori for some reason, other than maybe the slim chance Nobara might live.

However, because the culling games swaps to purely fights after this, it’s a missed opportunity to continue exploring Megumi’s downward spiral and relationship with his sister before losing her. Sure, it would've been nice to see Tsumiki as her own person as well, but Gege does a good job in making Megumi's feelings about her known like when Megumi only chooses to go with Gojo because of Tsumiki.

However, this makes his exploration Maki and Mai, another sibling dynamic, lackluster in comparison.

This issue probably bothers me the most in Maki’s story and the story of the Three Big Clans.

After Shibuya, Gege has a chance to world build without Gojo as the issue. After all, the issue with Gojo being sealed was the dismantling of Jujutsu society.

He missed the chance to expand on the big clans and jujutsu societal structure as a whole. He has touched on the clans and their love of bloodlines, but he has not touched on how they function with each other and jujutsu society as a whole especially as they try to power grab and go against each other with Gojo’s absence rather than solve the Kenjaku problem.

We have no idea about the Gojo clan except that Gojo is the leader and main political figure. Kamo’s clan was slaughtered very quickly. As well as the Zen’in and higher-ups.

The manga could’ve used an arc focused on the downfall of Shibuya and the consequences, but we go straight to the culling games with barely a mention on Nobara.

Now with Maki, Gege once again sets up his relationships and character structure beautifully Mai and Maki. Their ending is also very well done.

However, there’s a lack of interaction between those two plot points. Gege consistently gives us just enough to make inferences but very little else.

We don’t see the twins react to one another outside their initial meeting and Mai’s death. We understand both their motivations, but we get no further insight into their relationship or them having another discussion on their choices.

Imagine how much harder Mai’s death would’ve been if we had scenes with her together with Maki; the possible hope of them repairing their relationship. Even if they were still fighting and didn’t make up, Maki would receive more character development if it was shown that she would one day make things up to Mai and her failure to do so. Also, it seems like Mai suddenly knows everything about why twins are bad luck, and Gege once again exposition dumps us about this information. The fact that it isn’t until Maki kills her mother that she finally says “She was so happy to have Mai and Maki” also rings very hollow.

The same with Maki and Naoya. We know Naoya is an asshole, and that he made Maki’s life hell but due to our lack of insight to clans and chapters to absorb the new characters, it’s lackluster. Naoya could’ve easily been swapped out with any other jerky character; the same way random sumo wrestlers helped Maki unlock all her potential.

Choso and Itadori suffer from this as well due to the month time skip. We care about Choso, and we know how much Choso loves his brothers, but I personally feel like I didn’t see Itadori truly accept Choso as his brother due to that time skip. Yes, he calls him Aniki, but I didn’t really see where the connection came from on Itadori’s end other than Itadori sympathizing with Choso’s feelings and his guilt over the fate of his other brothers.

I’ll probably get a little backlash for this, but the same can be said for Megumi and Gojo. Yeah, dad Gojo memes and fandom art are cute. Some of the games and light novels let us know that Gojo legitimately cares about Megumi, but we don’t get opportunities to see Megumi return that affection. In Japanese, Megumi only speaks casual to Tsumiki, and it’s said in interviews that Tsumiki is the one that mostly took care of herself and Megumi.

In the long run, I feel like if it was between Itadori and Gojo dying, Megumi would care more on a personal if Itadori died despite knowing Itadori for only 3-4 months. I could be completely wrong, but Gege doesn’t give us the insight to know for a fact Megumi’s feelings towards Gojo. I’m sure he cares about Gojo, but dad is pushing it.

Even Sukuna is suffering from this. Gege wants a story about a powerful villain, but he fails to realize that you still have to make the reader’s either a) care about that villain or b) interested in the villain from a character analysis point of view.

However, all we learn about Sukuna has been through telling. We learn about his twin, we learn he was an unwanted child, we learn he was a god to humans.

The most we got of a flashback was Yorozu’s crush on him, and Sukuna was rejecting her so hard that we didn’t really get any insight on how Sukuna feels about his past. Gege doesn’t give us anything to work with to care about Sukuna. Sure, he’s hot; sure, he has fan theories and fanfic that build upon his character, but in the sense of the manga, I really don’t know why I should care about him other than power scaling and his character design is cool.

Don’t even get me started on the month time skip either.

Tldr; Gege likes to tell more than to show, and we just got to rely on taking his word for it because he’s the author. He sets up beautiful plot points; he’s an amazing author when he takes the time to build upon them, but more often than not he glosses over the build up for quick emotional shots.

[ceruleanwhore]

As someone who has never liked Jin since I first started ikepri, I recently was convinced to attempt to make my way through his romantic route after reading @randonauticrap’s wonderful and very compelling fanfic about him and now, as I finish his story, I wanted to take a very long minute to talk about it. I’d like to start with a bit of context before really getting into things, though. (Major spoilers for Luke and Jin’s routes below the cut.)

A few months ago, I saw a post somewhere on here that mentioned what, for me at the time, was a massive spoiler, that Jin killed Luke’s sister. At the time, I was in the middle of another route so I immediately took to YouTube to find a playlist of Jin’s route because my thought at the time was that I wanted to read it. However, I very quickly decided that I hated it, and then I kind of just flipped through some of the following chapters, kind of scanning for the stuff with Luke’s sister and not finding it, so then I just ended up skipping to the last 8 chapters and slogging through those. It is also worth mentioning that the only ending on YouTube was his dramatic ending.

Now, that whole experience sucked beyond belief and I came out of it deeply, passionately hating Jin because really all I saw was his awful, disrespectful behavior at the very beginning and that horrid shit he pulls both in ch 19 and then in the actual ending. A while after this whole ordeal, I did get around to reading Luke’s route, which made me hate Jin even more because, in the part where Jin is finally explaining what happened on Bloodstained Rose Day and we get his own flashback, there’s no dialogue, like he pulls this injured little girl from the rubble and then just slices her throat without her ever saying anything. Between that and what sure seemed like sexism from what bits and pieces of Jin’s route I’d seen, it gave me this idea that Leyla was straight up unconscious and he just decided to slice her throat like that because, in truth, he just wanted her out of the way and didn’t want to have to deal with her during the fighting but obviously he’d tell himself that it was for her sake or some shit. There’s still a bunch I’m missing with that but I’m about to get way more into this shit so I’m not concerned, but tldr I fucking hated this guy and I thought he was the worst kind of scum coming out of Luke’s route, especially since so many other people in the fandom have talked about how much he gives them the ick.

So now, at the end of his romantic route, I still don’t like him and I really think I was just bewitched by the beautiful things that @randonauticrap has written about him, but I don’t truly hate him anymore. I think I’m going to just list off my issues with his character as quickly as possible to just really show how much there is that I take issue with here without going on about it for an eternity.

First is the way he talks about women (i.e. comments about how he’s never seen such an impressive “rack” before.) More importantly, there’s how he’s sexualizing women in totally inappropriate contexts where there really aren’t any women present, like when he’s training his troops or when he goes to deal with that issue on the border and is addressing those kids from Obsidian. This particularly is disturbing to me because there’s already a longstanding history of men conflating sexual violence with the violence of war and for Jin to, however unintentionally, draw that direct of a connection between fighting in war and having sex with women is something I cannot abide by.

Also with his lack of respect of women is how he demands and abuses Emma’s time at the start of his route. It’s bad enough to put her in that god-awful position in the first place with Sariel and all that, but to then drag her away from the hard work she has to put in because of him just to make her spend an entire day watching him go around hitting on other women is beyond disrespectful. The other thing that really irks me is how he continues to hit on Emma after she’s made it super clear that, unlike the women he has relations with, she truly believes that such relations exclusively accompany real feelings. He acknowledges that she’s a true romantic and then is out here like “where’s my hug” and it makes me feel violent. I originally wasn’t totally against how he talks to women, since in canon all those faceless nameless side characters he fucks seem to be into it and I thought he was a consent king who stops if the woman clearly isn’t interested and only ever pursues women who are really into what he’s offering but apparently not.

Then there’s everything with Clause 99. First off, him putting in the clause basically reflects that his biggest fear is history repeating itself with his parents’ relationship and Clause 99 puts ALL of that responsibility on the women who will serve as Belle in the future. Secondly, this is backed by his hypocritical behavior throughout the different routes. In Luke’s route, he outright encourages Luke to pursue Emma in spite of making this clause and he easily yields to his other brothers when, in their own routes, they decide they want to revoke the clause, and yet Emma herself gets Clause 99 looming over her head throughout all of the routes. The conclusion which I believe is actually meant to be canon with this is that women are fragile little flowers who need extra special protection from the big, bad men and they need a fucking man to provide that protection. Rather than putting in any amount of effort at all whatsoever to make himself and his brothers and future generations of their family better, he’s putting all this serious, overwhelming pressure on the women. Also, the clause does jack shit to help mitigate the development of such emotions, so it literally just serves to put pressure and responsibility on women about things beyond their control while accomplishing nothing other than turning them into scapegoats.

Okay so then I really need to talk about Luke’s sister. So, as I started to talk about before, I now know that the flashback in Luke’s route was incomplete and that Leyla did actually beg for death, but even with that being the case there are still some major ethical issues here. For example, can a ~8 year old child have the bodily autonomy to actually request assisted suicide and should they? Does said child have enough knowledge of pain and injury to know when they’re actually about to die or not? Should a grown ass man actually heed a child’s request for death without even so much as having a doctor spare said child a glance first? But then after he killed her, he went and stole her body to go bury her in the woods, clearly just deciding that her dead body should go to him to use to try and make himself feel better. Those graves that are hidden where only he can find them do nothing for Leyla or for Luke; they exclusively exist for Jin. They are there solely for him to use to try and alleviate his guilt over time, like props. 

Then, there’s the part in Luke’s route where he discovers the truth about Jin, so Jin takes him on a walk to those graves and tells the story of how he killed Leyla before he then tries to get Luke to kill him. Once again, this has nothing at all to do with trying to give Luke justice or closure and it has everything to do with Jin making everything about himself. There’s even a bit in there where Jin basically phrases it like he’s asking Luke to do him a favor and hear him out, making it clear that this is not at all for Luke’s benefit. Likewise, if he really cared about Luke getting real, meaningful justice and closure, he wouldn’t be trying to get Luke to murder him, putting all that blood directly on his hands, giving him further pain and trauma, and also ensuring that Chevalier would then kill Luke because of course he would.

Another thing I want to add, going off of that, is how very badly Jin sucks at conflict resolution, which we see multiple times between his route and Luke’s, whether it’s his conflict with Luke or how he handles shit so utterly fucking terribly with Emma or even that bullshit at the border with Obsidian at the end of his route. This man isn’t just shit at conflict resolution, he’s thoroughly proven that all attempts he makes at it are just variations of the same shit: self sacrifice fueled by ego dressed up to look like it’s heroic and really meant for the benefit of others that only actually harms those it’s supposedly meant to protect.

So I think my final takeaway with his character is that he is inherently very selfish but he has no self awareness about that selfishness and genuinely believes everything he’s doing is for other people. Another thing I want to talk about is that I saw a video the other day that also has softened my overall feelings about Jin, and that video was talking about the lack of self awareness of male feminists. This video talke about how some of these men who are out here making online content around ‘educating’ other men about feminism and respecting women will sometimes share this sentiment like “women have all been traumatized by the bad men out there so you just need to be patient with them” and how condescending it is. The issue here is that, when men say this, they are refusing to acknowledge that even as a good ol feminist ally, their own behavior can come across as sexist and they themselves can give us the ick or make us feel unsafe. 

I bring this up because, with Jin, I originally thought he was a sexist dick hiding behind a very thin facade of “but I love women,” but now I think it really is just a complete lack of self awareness where, like the men that video talked about, he sees himself as a feminist who loves women, so he doesn’t see how his words and actions can make it seem as though he’s violently sexist. So, to sum everything up, when I first found @randonauticrap’s stuff and then subsequently decided to read Jin’s story, I genuinely hated him because I saw him as dangerously sexist and selfish but now, as I finish his route, I don’t like him but I no longer hate him the way I did. Now I see him as capable of change and I think that like after the end of the story, a good person like the one he’s in a relationship with could successfully help him grow and change into a better person.

[beauspot]

why can’t black women have a romance holy shit. every person who hates sydcarmy is talking about some “why can’t men and women ever just be friends” like that’s not all we’ve been allocated for decades. i understand that a lot of women particularly 👋🏻 women want stories that don’t revolve around romance, and hey i like those stories too! BUT black women have not had the same oppurtunities to just be love interests in the same way y’all have. We’ve been relocated to undesirable best friend roles or oversexualized booty calls. Y’all swear we have so much representation and yet can only name like 10 shows spanning over DECADES to prove us wrong like if there’s so much romantic content with black women as leads why the fuck are you talking about the flash and the walking dead?

and then we have the marcus and sydney brigade. the ONLY reason y’all want marcus and sydney together is cause they both black, they have zero chemistry. prove to me otherwise, quickly. I understand that people are tired of seeing interracial relationships (which is not really a problem but that’s a post for another day 😒 y’all swear that “the media” is trying to trick black women into marrying out or something stupid like that when we all know black women marry in their race more than any other demographic. imma just say black women should go where they are loved and fuck the noise) but y’all do this with nearly every show. Pairing characters together cause they’re the same race even though they have nothing in common. Nonblack people love doing this which i know why but again not the post.

But what REALLY pisses me off is calling Chefs Kiss a mentor/mentee relationship and then proceeding to ship sydney and MARCUS???

like you can’t be serious. carmy so clearly sees syd as his equal proven by the fact he wants to revamp his BUSINESS, his LIVELIHOOD with her. someone he’s known the least amount of time.

We’ve discussed this before but we know why Jeremy is probably wary about romance because of how hypersexual his previous job was and i get that, but I have yet to see a sydcarmy fan who wants them rawdogging on the kitchen floor. Idk it’s strange the way this show is edited and the music choices, and the script is written if they intended to go no romance for them. I’m really interested to see what their dynamic is like next season if they’re going to change it moving forward to dissuade fans from shipping by separating the two(like stucky vibes) it won’t work but that’ll be very annoying.

The WORST thing the show runners could do is insert a new love interest, that would piss me off to no end and i would stop watching the show. In the latest article they said(writer or show runner don’t remember) they wanted a show with no romance plot so they better fucking stick to it. I don’t want carmy to get to a later season and they’ve introduced a palm colored love interest for him. i swear to god i will turn the show off.

Now I personally will continue to ship them i’ve done so with other ships with far less, but that doesn’t mean i’m not a little annoyed. I hope they stick to their word if that’s the case.

ALSO we need more black women as romantic leads so go read the brown sister novels (chloe brown, dani brown, and eve brown) and hype them up so we can get movies( or in a perfect world a TV SERIES 🤭) based on them

TLDR: it’s dumb to hate sydcarmy cause you personally hate interracial relationships, if they mean no romance they should do no romance, that article was dumb and didn’t need to come out when we’ve already heard from both lead actors they don’t like the ship. we got it the first time. also read the brown sisters and spread the word so we can get a tv show about them thanks.

[seouldreams14]

Heyy! Saw your post about hyuna, what is the lore with that guy? Besides obviously that he’s a criminal

Idk if this is a genuine question but I'm gonna answer it as such but tldr: I initially said that because people were comparing him to Dawn when him and Hyuna have known each other their entire careers and newer kpop fans don't know who Junhyung is so they are confused wondering how they know each other/calling him a rebound

But 1st Junhyung isn't a criminal, not excusing anything but he was never charged with anything he was a witness and bystander in the Molka situation (which a lot of people are confusing for Burning Sun because they happened around the same time but different situations). Basically Junhyung was friends with Jung Joon Yung (which a lot of people think IS Junhyung but no different guys) who was found to have a group chat spreading around illegal videos taken of men sleeping with women without their consent. Junhyung being friends with him was accused of being in the group chat, he denied it, then when the police got a warrant for his phone history it came out that he WASN'T in the infamous group chat HOWEVER! He was in a solo chat with JJY and was sent an illegal video of him sleeping with a girl. In the end he was a witness and bystander who didn't come forward with that information, which is bad of course.

I have mixed feelings about it because I was a fan of his for over a decade and was extremely disappointed in him. He admitted what he did was wrong and he should've come forward with it when it happened but yeah.... Its just a hard topic I hate him for it but at the same time idk complex feelings

Long post because I ended up writing more than I intended to... but hey 15ish years of history am I right?

Now the LORE with Hyuna and Junhyung is that they debuted around the same time in 4minute and Beast under the same company, Cube. He was featured in her solo debut song: Change. They also were paired together A LOT in Cube family performances because they had similar positions in their group (rappers). They basically became really good friends:

They were so close in a way you don't see kpop idols do now and days with the opposite sex and of course people began to ship them because it seemed like they were flirting.

Then Junhyung began dating Goo Hara and Hyuna joined a sub-unit called Troublemaker with his bandmate at the time, Hyunseung. They kinda cooled on their friendship in the public, probably out of respect for his girlfriend and not wanting to be shipped with his friend. And Hyuna played up a stage relationship with Hyunseung to the point people thought THEY were dating but tbh It was probably an image thing. (funny story Junhyung came up with the name troublemakers lol)

So nothing was seen about them for YEARS even after him and Hara broke up, until like 2016? After 4minute disbanded Hyuna went solo and stayed with Cube, which is a whole long other tangent. But they appeared on a show together called "Happy together". Junhyung hated going on talk/variety shows because he's incredibly shy but he did it for once and it was with Hyuna so it was kind of a big deal. They still appeared close as friends and Hyuna tried to make him feel more comfortable on camera.

Then Hyuna had a show called X19, which is kinda hard to find now and days, but it was a reality show to prepare for her new album. During it she had a meal with Junhyung where they talked openly and you got to see more of their friendship openly for the first time in ages. I mean if you watch that video of them eating I feel like you can tell he had feelings for her idk the way he looked at her... But in that chat they talked about the public pressure to be seen a certain way that is expected of them. For Hyuna it was being hyper sexual in her music and performances because that's what people expected of her. Junhyung says he wishes for her to stop doing what other people want and do what she wanted and that he hoped she could do something she enjoyed. Then she brings up the fact that he had promised to make a song for her (he is a writer, producer and composer) and he says "ah yeah it didn't turn out"

Anywayyys it was cute and if you were curious you could watch it here with subs

After this stretch of promo with them (they also attended a fashion show together) Junhyung and the remaining members of Beast would leave Cube ent and start their own company and change their name to Highlight. This would be the last we'd see of them together publicly until well... now

I'm sure I don't have to tell people about her and Dawn and their history but they started dating after Junhyung left Cube.

There's a lot more to the lore like other collabs they did, the songs they released that seemed to be about each other (mainly from his side) but that's probably just going into delulu land so I'll avoid that.

But yeah If you read this far thanks for listening to me ramble and try to explain 15ish years of lore as brief as possible.

[arsonisticscholar]

I’ve officially seen every twilight movie

As much as people make fun of it they’re not objectively bad movies

However

I didn’t love it

Spoilers:

I don’t like the two love interests, I never liked Edward’s personality and as much as Jacob’s started out great it just went downhill from when he joined the wolf pack. I also hate how they “fixed” the love triangle by making Jacob imprint on a fucking infant. I guess Edward and Bella’s relationship was stable by the end of it but the movies didn’t do a great job at showing their actual emotional connection and just put emphasis on how often they kiss and fuck and as much as Bella and Jacob had such a good dynamic in the second movie it just wasn’t it bc at that point Bella was already set on Edward even if she did end up loving Jacob as well

There were like three major female characters and one was the protag so it felt very…. Idk how to describe it but yk what I mean

However I did love Bella and Alice’s relationship and I LOVE how they fleshed out Rosalie’s character and tbh she might be one of my favorite characters in the whole thing. As much as she didn’t like Bella at first she’s still a girls girl when it comes down to it and I love that she a, was willing to go against the family if there was even a little doubt that Bella wanted to become a vampire and b, DID go against the family when she said she wanted to keep the baby. If I go through with reading the books it might just be to see how fleshed out her character really is because oh boy the development in this one

I also just generally love the concept of vampires and where wolves and I feel like the movies really didn’t do it justice, like there could have been so much world building potential to be fleshed out and really make it feel like a real world, but other than when Bella was researching vampires at the start, it was only touched upon when immediately relevant and I could tell that it only skimmed the surface of what it *could* be and it was really disappointing when they wasted all of that potential

In the last movie I LOVED the sequence where Alice was showing the leader guy the battle sequence, it was such great execution and absolutely amazing storytelling and was such a shock when they revealed that none of that battle happened and the whole thing was a vision being shared, that one was something that I really really enjoyed especially going into these movies basically blind, I was shocked when I thought carlac died and then 100x more shocked when it turned out actually none of that happened and it was honestly great

I thought it was cool when Bella figured out how to harness her powers and I liked that the child with a name I will not say or type isn’t the only one of her kind, I like that it’s something that (to some) is a known reality and not necessarily a once in a lifetime occurrence. I also like how yes the vampires with the abilities are more powerful than those without, it doesn’t take away from the fact that even without special abilities a vampire is still a vampire and is very strong and fast and all the things and can possibly take on one with a power

Tldr: the movies weren’t great and there are enough things that I disliked that I wouldn’t watch them again however due to the potential of the characters and worldbuilding I might consider reading the books since my mom already owns all of them

[lochrannn]

Sending this ask to a few tua accounts!

Diegolila is probably my favorite ship in the show, but I've been thinking about this a lot lately. What would you change about their relationship in season 4? Obviously they're not in the honeymoon phase anymore, and they have three kids, so I feel like naturally they would go through a rough patch. But what made me sad in season 4 was that none of it got fixed. The five/lila relationship aside, it was weird to see Lila be just completely disconnected from Diego and not come to any realizations about her relationship with him, especially because she IS a deep character and she really does love him. Plus, I don't completely agree with her being a housewife either. It hurts to see them fight and stuff because I feel like they're 2 characters who are really in sync with each other and who make each other better people, but it hurt a lot more when their arcs ended in them basically not really loving each other anymore.

TLDR how would you rewrite their relationship in season 4? Would Lila still be a housewife/Diego a delivery driver? Who would try to fix the relationship first? Why would the relationship go through the rough patch in the first place? Is it because they're both just tired of each other/suburban life/kids? Or is it something else? Would they try to fix it in the first place?

Sorry this is a really long ask, but I love all your tua takes and I feel like they ripped off Diego and Lila in the worst way this season. Would love to know your thoughts.

Sorry, this took me a while to get to but it's an interesting ask!

There is a small issue I'm having though and that's that I'm sort of answering some of that questoin in the fic I'm writing, and, while that might sound self-indulgent, I don't wanna spoil it XD

That being said, I think I can definitely think about some of the specifics you're asking about.

In terms of how, in general, could one do something with the fact that after 6 years and 3 kids with no fun up relationship in which they could have properly got to know each other ahead of time and that probably causes some issues down the road, I had actually started planning out a fic about a year ago and then never wrote it and now won't as I'm using some stuff in the fic I am writing.

My initial plan also included Lila starting to sneak and withdrawing but instead of cheating it turns out she's been drawn in by the commissoin, some alt version of the Handler who has her convinced that the Diego she's living with is not her Diego... listen, I was going to work out the time travel/time line mechanics later, basically I was trying to get to a Mr & Mrs Smith (the movie) style blow out fight that ends with them smooching.

What I'm saying is, with how volitile their relationship has always been, making them not be all functional is a logical step in the story telling, I take no issue with that. But previous precedent had always been that they care enough to try and find a messy way back to being together, that whatever else, that's more important to them, and just taking that completely away is what bugs me most.

Anyway, to your specific questions: there's a lot of people headcanoning Diego as a stay at home dad, and I guess, yeah, possible, but I think he's a bit to feral for that and on that note, so i Lila, so I would have them both have meh jobs that they hate their bosses at and part of what has caused strain on the relationship is that they are both endlessly busy and find no eral time for each other. (Which also leads to a way to resolve this issue in decent communication and them making an effort to be a couple again).

I have in the past written some fics where I immagined them as a family living the suburban life and Lila finding it...trying... but in my head, she would treat it like a mission, do both the best job she can at it, while basically trying as hard as possible to infiltrate every element of this unfamiliar world and then for some shits and giggles, sow some benign chaos.

Diego being Dad with a mustache and too much care for his van and telling people to take their shoes off in his home tracks. I have no notes. Other than the weird bits where they made him say the words claiming he resents this life but then make him good at it and seem pretty happy, I think they nailed Dad Diego. Shame they made him miserable on puprose, but I digress.

I really enjoyed the first four episodes because I was convinced Diego and Lila would both learn something and want to be together again, I don't think that is trite, I think that is how adult relationships go some times. Lila.... well....

Thanks for the ask!

I haven't been posting much about my thoughts on the season because they are quite jumbled and I'm not pushed to go back and watch it again (which is a real fucking shame, but here we are) to try and sort some details out.

What are your thoughts?

[real-total-drama-takes]

I think another reason why I hate season 2 of the reboot so much is that the betrayal of the season (or misunderstand plot idk) just isn't as impactful

What made Millies plot line so well rounded is because of the fact that it came out last minute, it came out exactly after she had her character arc, she had something planned to proved that she ended up enjoying priya so much more then she thought she would (Honest to god I'm convinced she has a crush on priya tbh), she DID mess up, the narrative actively shows you that this hurt priya but thata because priya doesn't have the full story, and it doesn't last for more then the episode the betrayal happened. Because of the fact that Millie just gets to tell her and priya understands her and they make up, ending in Millie wishing her well In the finally and her and priya hugging it out.

Shes a strong character with complex feelings about her life, she's been bullied, and made to feel horrible, she clearly wasn't ever cared about by the people around her, so she places the expectations and judges people around her so she doesn't have to come to terms with all that's said about her, she barely had friends, honeslty i wouldn't be surprised if she ended up in those scenarios where you're "friends" with someone but then they never invite you to anything. She's a lost and confused teenager writing about how much the world and teens around her suck... because teens did suck to her, they did hurt her.

Caleb does not have this.

Caleb just kind of.. doesn't have the same heavy emotional backstory to justify his actions, sure sure not everything has to be traumatic but it makes him come off as kind of actually sucky, he just uses priya for an alliance (hell to give him some points here I'm not sure if he processes priya liked him) but honeslty it's just not as fun, priya and millie kind of had no one with them, but... people like caleb and priya now, that's why he was picked,he's this convienriyly super nice wet mop man, who after the secret gets out, priya just storms off, but this reveal is pulled too soon.

Im very sorry but for me at least the drag on of priya and calebs misunderstandings plus Julia is just something of pure obnoxious nightmares, it's barely fun and doesn't do anything say if you're like me and barely been convinced this couple brings anything new and interesting to the table (bonus points say if you miss millie and Emma because of the fact they get eliminated so early because the writers don't wanna bother writing the fat women uh oh!!! /that's meant to be melodramatic but like do I have a point they just shafted the more chubbier or fatter women or). Zee gets immediately eliminated after the secret gets out so there's not even them being annoyed at him either?? So it just feels like NOTHING

But then again this is all on thr writers. Honestly it makes me pity what caleb could've been say if they continued his view of something being an alliance rather then a forced romance plot, priya x millie seems much more realistic to me at least but also because I think it'd be fun to explore the fact that proabably caleb might just not be that "perfect guy" he's chopped up to be but then again I want a season that would've focused on Emma and Millie and Axel and Nichelle developing so woopsies maybe I ask for too much

Tldr: Prileb plot is fundamentally weaker then the Prillie plot because it drags and the writers don't actually put effort into writing properly compelling plots because romance = good drama ig.

Note: honest to god my belief is though that you can 100% fix most characters, I write this not because I wanna see characters put down but because of the fact that I boneslty would love to see people do more with the gen 4 cast.

-> Writing On, 🗒 Anon

[mercymermaid]

well here's my full season 5 (nezha edition) rant bc what did i just watch

obvious spoilers 💀

what the fuck was that

blah blah animation, blah blah main character sacrifice, wowee

first off, the mechs?? yeah, i know it's just product placement, and i've never actually liked the concept. in a world of mythology and magic, something to technological belongs in a sci-fi movie, not among gods. and in season 5 especially, they feel *so* out of place. the only people who end up actually using their mech are nezha (twice) and mei (once.) i can't be mad at mei, since yeah it's just one time to have an epic moment and goes away after that, but it's nezha that i'm mad about. that standoff at the festival? okay, product placement, epic moment, never brought up again. but then during the battle thing against the chaos guy??? he's the *only one* using a mech and it ticks me off. i wanna see the third lotus prince not the third lotuce mech!! i wanna see him being all badass with his staff and firewheels (like sealing off the jade emperor's power in s4)

i'm gonna be so honest, i only watched the season (and show) for nezha, as i tend to do to medias when i have a top unbeatable absolute favorite. and the show did not deliver.

tldr; nezha had so much potential and all of it went right down the drain

speaking of the power

so you're telling me that mr. "my job is super duper important and more important than my life" would take lightly to his dad going "lmao no" and just taking his seal and reinforcing it with his little magic house?

OH. THE LI JING SITUATION.

"i've always been proud of you" NO YOU HAVE NOT??? YOU HATED NEZHA SO MUCH YOU BURNT DOWN HIS TEMPLE AND LITERALLY YOU GUYS HAVE A BURNING HATRED TOWARDS EACH OTHER?????

i wanted a fucking fight scene SO BAD. SO FUCKING BAD. but noooOOOOOO you're DEFENDING YOUR BITCH DAD??? okay, i get it, power imbalance or something! give nezha a *reason* to be so buddy buddy with his dad, because he sure as hell wouldn't do it without one!!

that ties in to the whole pagoda thing, how fucking hurtful must it be for your dad, who you are far from on good terms with, to pop in, take the power you've put on your shoulders, deem you not good enough ("you got demoted!"), and push you around?? very! very very!

you do not understand what i would've done, what war crimes i would've committed in order for nezha to get some focus on HIM. specifically angst. with the shit that he went through in s3, being nerfed and having his long-term position as guardian of the map pulled out from right under him by his little friendly rival, and then *s4*, getting his ass absolutely kicked by the shit that went down with azure, being the most injured and put under the giant strain of containing the jade emperor's power, you're not gonna elaborate and give him some depth besides "big brother energy but distant and super 'regal'"?? (btw if you've ever EVER written nezha angst (or even some nezha-centric stuff in general) on ao3 i've probably read it and oh my god i love you so much for gifting it to the world, and if you read this far recs are always appreciated 😭)

actually on that note, mk is the one constantly making trauma jokes, and while i get that he's the main character, everyone's gone through shit. s5 at least kind of works with that, with mei's samadhi fire thing and wukong/macaque's death memory thing, along with pigsy's insecurity moment and sandy's little "i'm very very angry but i control myself" spiel, but like come on ☹️ (not a ruse to get nezha some angsty focus wdym)

ALSO mk breaking the seal? yk how in s4 we had that little thing where their eyes flashed and they felt the jade emperor die? i was lowkey expecting a little similar shot of nezha feeling his seal on the power break but no we needed the emotional moment 😒

i was so excited in the festival scene for nezha to go "yeah, okay, i see you", fight against his father, and join the MCG, but nooooOoo he gets sent to the celestial realm to not be seen until the end of the world

OH SPEAKING OF not nezha but red son??? what happened to the poor guy i feel so bad for red son enjoyers because he had ONE EPISODE of screen time. that's worse than us nezha fans. that little bit about the dog videos meaning help us could've so been used later, he literally joked about how this time he was invited and just. didn't show up?? there could've been such a sick moment of mei sending the dog video, and red son seeing it and coming in and being all badass with them but no he was just literally not featured again except for the 'world is ending/being saved' flash shots. (unrelated but please i want canon big brother nezha lil bro red son content those guys are Iconic)

ANYWAY it's coming to an end now, and boy oh boy

basically i have futile, naive hopes for s6 - please, PLEASE give nezha focus that lasts longer than 1-2 scenes. it literally does not have to be angsty, nor big brother energy, not even a badass moment!! just make it mechless and put the camera on *him*, and i will die a happy woman. (another badass moment, in which he wins for once, would make me cry for joy. a big brother, to literally anybody, specifically red son or mk, would make shake and snarl like a feral animal. an angsty moment would make me force the world to be puppies and rainbows. a nezha episode would make me implode and take the world with it.)

bring back li jing and do it *right*. make nezha bring up their horrible past, and at that point, i'd even settle for a corny talk-it-out session with wise words and an issue that gets resolved way too quickly, though an epic fight scene would be preferable. angst not optional, because you can't tell me that interaction would end without tears and breakdowns on nezha's end. (at this point, i'll write it myself)

LET NEZHA WIN. i do not care what he fights, who he fights, when he fights, why he fights, how he fights, let him actually cop a win for once. this fearsome general who was entrusted with guarding the samadhi map, is a protector deity, and managed to singlehandedly contain the jade emperor's power has never won a single fight within his show screen time?? bull fucking shit i tell you. stop treating this guy who carried the end of s4 like some shit side character who never gets his way, and start treating the guy right.

can you tell i'm mad about this

also ACTUAL s5 thing, not gonna lie, mk's decision is stupid. nüwa is trying to protect her creations like a good mighty goddess, and you go "erm actually me some random guy who you created to save the world and was about to do so is gonna undo all of your work and decide to make my own path and simultaneously create a massive crisis where i not only flip normal on its ass and give everyone magic but also potentially unleash the same cosmis horror you're protecting us from"

i'm kinda curious about this new magic tho... (pls have a negative effect or some sort of effect) (pls let nezha win)

yeah okay i think that's it if you've stuck around to the end here's a selection of desserts because you need it after the crash of the season ending 🍮🍭🍬🍫🥧🧁🍰🍪🎂🍩🍨🍧🍦🥠🍡🥮🍥