#too clever by half imo

[troius]

[pacing-er]

The Krakoa Era Reading List Cherik Version (PART 3):

5. Hellfire Gala

This one confused me a bit since I expected it to be considered its own separate collection of stories. It was actually entirely contained within Reign of X. Not to be confused with the 2022 and 2023 runs which are separate and may be ignored for now. See the Part 2 of my Krakoa reading list for my thoughts.

6. Trials of X

The start of this series was my absolute favorite. You got the Trial of Magneto which was just a great story with lots of twists and fun characterization moments for Erik. It takes off immediately after the dramatic ending of the Hellfire Gala/Reign of X storyline, and you have the option to read only the parts with Magneto via the Trial of Magneto TPB. If you read this as part of the entire Trials of X collection there will be other side plots and issues dispersed throughout, which Charles and Erik will largely not be included in. Trial of Magneto is contained in Volumes 1-2 and Volume 3 is entirely skippable.

After this we get the continuation of the Nightcrawler/Legion vs Onslaught storyline, which was super trippy and a fantastic read. There are several mentions of Onslaught and Legion being half-brothers and Onslaught refers to his creators as "fathers" lol any mention of Onslaught being Magneto and Charles's lovechild just made me super happy. Legion's characterization in the Krakoa era is super endearing and there are several scenes where we get to see his unhealthy dynamic with Charles (mostly on Charles part lmao he is a terrible father, poor David was just tryna help 😭).

A moment of appreciation for these covers, I'm obsessed with them.

As for Cherik levels, the fact that their kid(s) are a large part of this story makes it worth reading, but we don't actually see Onslaught referred to as a son by either of them. He is more of a "thing" and a problem, which is fair bc he is literally the manifestation of both of their evils. There is a scene where the possessed!Erik is viciously protecting the possessed!Charles, which I really liked even though it was brief. Then the anti-Onslaught team (including Magneto) is chasing down a possessed!Charles cornering him in a clever trap designed by Legion. Once released from Onslaughts control we get this super cute panel:

Look at him holding Charles hand 🥰🥰🥰 They then immediately get vaporized and we hardly see them again for 5 whole volumes. Spoilers aside I really loved the solution to the Onslaught problem and thought the end of this arc was very satisfying! All of this was neatly contained in Volumes 4-5 of the Trials of X TPB, but there may be a collected version of just Nightcrawler and Legion's storyline that I'm unaware of. I hope so bc I really loved it and there's just WAY too many side plots that I don't care about even a little bit in the main collection. The Onslaught saga is distributed throughout Reign of X and Trials of X and it'd be great to see the complete story without interruptions.

As I mentioned, we then don't see Charles and Erik again until Volume 10. I had expected a resurrection scene bc they did both die but I guess that's implied to happen off screen? Anyways Volumes 6-9 I think there are literally only two panels that have either of them in it so safe to say you can skip those if you are only reading for Cherik.

Their inclusion in Volumes 10-12 are sparse with them mostly having their moments in Silent Council meetings and impersonations of Charles in the Hole™. They finally reveal what goes on in the Hole™ which was super interesting and worth reading imo. Also it's great to see them get along in these volumes, they finish each other's sentences and even when they disagree they are mostly civil XD

Overall some great stuff despite the long lull in the middle 👍 See the rest of my Krakoa reviews under #krakoa era reading list

[redux-iterum]

Kinda had more time to articulate my thoughts, so here we go:

Do I think Bluestar made a very poor decision in neglecting her children, resulting in their deaths? Yes, and Goldenflower has every right to say, "I cannot forgive you for this, they were children, they did nothing wrong!"

HOWEVER, I do agree with Dissenting Anon that the Clan cultural beliefs/flaws/community overall play a more significant role in this "who's more at fault here" situation. To me, the vibe I got from TC was "we're mad at you for breaking the Code by having forbidden children, but also mad at you for neglecting said children." It's weird how the Clans react to these things...

I also find it interesting that Goldenflower says, "The outcry was awful. We were all angry at her...", which imo makes it seem like even she was upset about the affair? But I could just be misreading that.

Sorry if this was a bit incoherent, just had to speak on it a little more, I'm FASCINATED by all this, and I have a feeling Fireheart is going to try and change how the Clans view these kinds of things.

(Dissenting Anon)

The Clans are both the best and worst traits of cats heightened to an extreme. Cats are self-serving, pretentious, clever, well-spoken, loving, loyal and quick to recall a slight and act upon their initial reaction to it long after everyone else has forgotten that it happened. Put a bunch of unusually intelligent and community-driven cats together in one space and the generations will exaggerate all of these traits until their culture is unique among any others found in the world. All this to say that while the Clans have intensely positive and wonderful beliefs and traits that keep them together and helps them stay strong no matter what happens, they also are excellent at causing suffering through those same beliefs and traits.

Adding to this, they've developed a skill for doublethink that allows all of this to work together without anyone (native to the Clans) questioning it. Horoa catches all wraiths and monsters before they can cause any danger, but some still haunt the territories and will never go away. This cat did a very bad thing they're never allowed to forget, but we're never going to talk about it and we'll pretend it didn't happen. Kits are innocent and not responsible for their birth, but being a half-Clan cat or outsider is inherently shameful and you're automatically lesser than your Clanmates if your father is from outside of your community. So on and so forth.

The point of bringing this up is that I concur with you and the anon. The Clan-specific communities are absolutely the problem when it comes to situations like Bluestar's. The sad thing is that the rule of "no inter-Clan relationships" was developed to prevent suffering and loss, and in our two first examples in this series, suffering and loss is all they resulted in! And the Clans will never acknowledge that. It doesn't suit their fancies of who they are in their heads that they could be the problem. Bluestar is the one at fault, not us. We reacted appropriately. It's not our fault Bluestar was so scared of that reaction that she neglected her kits and they died without her love and care.

Breaking the law is a bad idea, but sometimes we ought to question whether that law was right in the first place. Too bad the Clans refuse to do that.

[artemistalkstoomuch]

All of My Opinions on the Mean Girls Musical Movie

Firstly, loved all the original film references. Of course the obvious ones like having the same lines, the thing about fetch being slang from an old movie, but also!!

. Janis' suit being purple for spring fling!! and omg let's not even talk about how pretty Aul'il Cravalho was throughout the entire film. Her eye make-up was so impressive

. that part in Sexy where they're cycling through potential outfits and one of them is the white shirt with the purple bra holes cut out !!

Slightly upset about the fact they cut out Meet the Plastics and it ended up being more like, Meet Regina, but I get that. On the topic of songs, I understand a lot of them were cut out because they were "too theatrical" but I can still miss em!! Truthfully when I heard the new Stupid With Love I was devastated because it's one of my favourite songs and they fucking tiktokified it, but I actually think it works really well in the film- it gets the "cringy first proper love" aspect across, which is its purpose, so I'm happy.

THEY GOT RID OF "WHO HERE HAS EVER FELT PERSONALLY VICTIMISED BY REGINA GEORGE" which was absolutely criminal

AND THE PRINCIPAL AND MS NORBURY ARE TOGETHER which was actually adorable, and I didn't think about the fact that could be something that happened, but I'm very happy it did.

The bus at the end of Rather Be Me was such a jumpscare but also so funny. THEY MISSED OUT THE DIALOGUE TO DO IT THOUGH SADD. Plus she was so goofy that entire song?? Why was she running in and out of all of those random rooms.

The rumours spreading via phones looked half cool, but it's dated the film imo, which is what Tina Fey originally set out to avoid! Like "fetch" was made up slang so in years to come the film wouldn't seem cringy for having slang teens actually used to use at the time.

Big drum-roll: We did not see enough of Regina's meanness to actually justify her being a mean girl. A lot of it got filtered out through songs, and the majority of stuff was just her, like, responding badly to sexism?? Also tell me how I'm gonna villanise Renee Rapp she fucking SLAYED what a queen.

Also WHERE IS COACH CARR'S SEXUAL ASSAULT. THAT'S THE WHOLE REASON MS NORBURY GETS ARRESTED!!?? That, to me, is one of the biggest indicators in the original film of just how powerful the "Mean Girls" are, they know about this, and the other teachers don't. Not only that, but it highlights just how immature they are, because they don't do anything about it. They're girls who run the school, without having any sympathy or context to do something about bad stuff they know happens. It's just "a funny thing to write". Not having that made me sad tbh.

Changing the line to "you wrote this" in World Burn was clever but I wish we got to see more of the girls turning on each other, rather than direct fighting.

KEVIN G BEST SONG IN THE MUSICAL

Where was the 4 way phone call, DEVASTATING. We literally did not see the plastics actually interact with each other. There was no meanness, no impact, all we got were the "events" when OTHER THINGS HAPPEN. You could say it lost a lot of filler, but the filler was actually context! And part of what makes the film so good!

Devastated she doesn't say "damn you're mine" in Someone Gets Hurt. I do think it's hilarious they just didn't make the actor guy for Aaron sing at all lol

"That filter you use looks just like me" WHY. I appreciate the change from the line about weight but like, this DOES NOT MAKE SENSE. at least say "that filter you use has nothing on me" THE WHOLE POINT IS SHE'S ABOVE IT

I didn't like the extended version of Revenge Party, sorry, too used to the old version

And I did not like the girlbossification of Sexy. I get it's supposed to be powerful like "watch me as I run the world in shoes I cannot walk in" but I feel like the whole point of "I expect to run the world in shoes I cannot walk in" is supposed to point out the irony, like, being slightly critical of "modern feminism". I will say though that the wobble from avantika as she says that is superb.

Overall I thought the film was enjoyable and a nice blend of the original film and the musical, but I think both ended up losing individual meaning because of how much they intersect. You don't have time to appreciate the lyrics and power of the musical because you don't hear them all, and some of them get cut, and you can't follow the plot in a meaningful way because the songs are happening, and they skip a lot of context to fit them in.

Would totally watch it again though, if only to see Renee Rapp say "get in loser" cos she actually nailed that

[no-where-new-hero]

✣ Blake Wrapped: 5 Star Reads 📖

The first half of this post can be found HERE, and these were my 5-star reads for the second half of the year (in rough order). Tagging @batrachised, who was interested in recommendations!

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh I posted a lot about this when I read it because in my opinion it’s one of the best SFF novels I’ve come across in a while. It reminded me of DWJ’s Hexwood, which is already high praise, but it’s a fabulous character study with incredible dynamics. It’s another new book with truly horrible marketing, imo—the whole “queer sci-fi” angle gives the impression of a Gideon the Ninth rip-off, but there’s much more political and social commentary with fabulous world-building. Highly, highly recommend this one.

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan I loved the first book in this duology, but this one was exquisite to new heights. Even though it was never that overt, it did a lot of great meta-commentary work on the chosen one trope vs the doomed by the narrative trope, especially their intersection with gender expectations. The prose was simply gorgeous, occasionally philosophical, always sure-handed. I recommend the whole duology, though mostly so that you can get to this one.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson I picked this up in my library’s for sale room, and it was the best choice I made this year. I can’t believe I had been missing out on Jackson for so long. It’s a ghost story and a Gothic novel and a girl book and feels a bit like the shadow side of an LM Montgomery story. The language and characters are rich and strange and is so thoroughly a Blake Book of all time. I want to be able to write something like this someday.

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang The reports of its readability are true—I went through this in three hours. I get why people complain about certain elements in this, but it also lives up to the hype, in my opinion. I might be the target audience as an aspiring author (who got throughly traumatized by the portrayal of terminally online author culture lmao) but I do think those dynamics and circumstances are its strength, more so than the social commentaries on Asian American tokenization, etc.

How Long ’Til Black Future Month? by N. K. Jemisin I don’t often read short fiction, but I was in the mood for some good SFF shorts to learn from, so picked this up. Jemisin is a master of form—her ability to depict a world in such a brief span, to make such deep characters with such clever scenarios is unmatched. Certainly, there are some better examples than others, but the best makes me wish there were a whole novel set in that world.

Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson This one is a slight cheat because it’s not Jackson’s best, but it’s also a Blake Book of all time, so how could I not give it five stars? I wish I had discovered it in college, if just to be able to be insufferable and call myself “irl Natalie Waite” everywhere. It’s such a Tumblr book too—the veiled queerness, the Plath vibes, the dark academia setting, the unhinged vibes. The prose is gorgeous and unsettling and is such a good portrayal of a character.

[humblefryingpan]

DC/Danganronpa crossover part 4 <3

( Part 1 , Last , Next , Masterlist )

If this is the first one you've seen - I'm making a crossover of DC comics and Danganronpa by assigning the characters a vigilante that I think suits them

Time for Young Justice! I used drv3 characters for these guys and I haven't read the comics so some of this may not be 100% accurate

Red Robin - Shuichi Sahara

Most of my YJ were picked due to their connections with him, my Tim/Shuichi Reasoning is back in part 1

Superboy - Kaito Momota

- Dumb jock energy? (the two of them have really similar vibes imo)

- Incredibly homoerotic subtext with Tim/Shuichi, people often take it as a near-canon romance

- Astronaut / Half alien (space boys)

- K names (just a coincidence but its nice)

Impulse - Kokichi Ouma

Okay I know practically nothing about Impulse. I am going off of some fanon things I've seen and one clip from the yj show

- Pretty clever but too chaotic for people to notice

- That clip of impulse running away from everyone on the team reminds me of kokichi running away in the love hotel scene

- Pretty commonly shipped with Shuichi/Tim and Kaito/Kon, seen as a trio shipping or not

Wondergirl - Maki Harukawa?

The only thing I know ab Cassie is that she's Kon's gf. So sorry ab that, I didn't know who to put for Maki so I thought this worked

- warrior race and ultimate assassin

Miss Martian - Himiko Yumeno

Is she in the comics? Idk, I might me combining the comics and show but oh well

- A bit shy, doesn't really talk to people outside of their friend group much

- Miss M's powers feel a lot like magic, plus she can go invisible and Himiko was talking about making an invisibility spell

- I kinda wanted all the drv3 survivors on this team yk

- Short ginger hair

[f1-stuff]

mal, do you have any thoughts about the general cattiness of fred's comments about carlos and their strategy vs. his pace today? it feels like such a sharp 180 over how defensive fred was last week, but it really... felt like fred hung him out to dry this weekend. or are we all reading too much into it, and everything is business as usual in maranello?

I do have some thoughts on this tbh

I think that his comments are probably a mix of his genuine honest opinion, what the data/lap times were telling him, disappointment for the team not getting P2 in the Constructors', and the comments themselves sounding harsher than he maybe intended bc of both him being ESL and people's paraphrasing online making it sound worse than it really was.

If you read what he said in its entirety or watch his interviews with Sky, he clarifies that he does not think they lost the Constructors' in this last race, and that really they lost it bc of mistakes/incidents over the course of the season (which is true). Also, that they've performed much better in the second half of the season, so Carlos' lack of pace today was a surprise and something they need to analyze in the tests Tuesday. I don't think he entirely meant it as a 'Carlos performed badly,' and more as a 'the pace of his car was poor,' the blame being on the car/setup and not the driver.

I have no doubt that Fred knows how talented and skilled Carlos is, but he's also an honest man. Sometimes, we love that! Sometimes, it can come across quite harsh. But I still appreciate his honesty over the alternative. However, I do think that he avoided taking any responsibility for the strategy (which undoubtedly did not help Carlos). He probably should've never started on hard tyres, but I think an aggressive one-stop strategy (hard-medium or medium-hard) would've been better than whatever the heck they did instead. That way, cars on track would be forced to overtake Carlos, rather than the other way around.

More than Fred's comments though, I was disappointed by Ferrari's race report, the wording of which was honestly...abysmal imo.

Not only does this practically lay the blame on Carlos for losing the Constructors' for them, it also fails to acknowledge that he's the race winner in question for Ferrari this year. It gives the credit to "the team" for that win, when I would argue that it was Carlos' driving and clever DRS strategy that won him that race, not his team.

I also took issue with this paragraph:

It doesn't highlight (or even mention) Carlos' efforts or struggles whatsoever. (I want to stress that I agree that Charles tried everything, and that he had an amazing drive. He isn't to blame for the wording here. The P2 all came down to him in the end bc of the position the team and the car put their drivers in this year.)

I agree that Carlos struggled in this race (his pace dropped off from Stroll in front of him by a lot, although he came back at times), but it wasn't all on him, and I expected more support from his team, especially when he was able to claw his way up from P18 to P6 last race in Vegas. It wasn't a good weekend in Abu Dhabi for him, but drivers have bad weekends sometimes. Maybe if the strategy team or the car had less bad weekends, then this off-week for Carlos wouldn't have been such a hard hit.

Anyway, in the end, it might just be lack of awareness on the team's side, in terms of how their statements come across. I'm glad they're showing support for Charles after a rough season for him, and I think it's fair for Fred to be frank with Carlos if he's done a poor job, but it doesn't need to be shared with the media. If he must, then he should also take accountability on the team side. That's just my opinion 🤷🏻‍♀️

[just-some-friendly-fun]

Random Personal HCs I Made Of Miguel O’Hara While Writing Smthn

pt. 1, pt. 2, pt.3

He likes pineapple on pizza. That's it.

Miguel is bisexual, or bicurious at best. I refuse to look at that man who struts, swaying his snatchable waist around, hands on his hips as anything but just the tiniest (not at all) bit zesty. He's gotta have gay thoughts once in a while.

He does that little cat yawn every once in a while, y'know? The one where they yawn and their lips curl back showin' off teeth and everything? Yeah. He does that.

Loves a good dad pun. He's had a taste of fatherhood before so I'd at least expect him to either crack one at some point (an EXTREME rarity) much less laugh at one if he finds it either clever or "stupid" (that's the excuse at least)

He keeps at least a photo frame or at least a couple few in his office, of his family like with either Gabriel (his half-brother) or Gabriella.

Whenever Miguel is out and not being Spider-man, he tends to do this thing where he just silently observes or surveys any room he's in. Whether it's at a local coffee shop he frequents, whether Peter manages to haul his ass out of the Spider-Society HQ every now and then to do something "fun" like going out drinking or just anytime he's out. He just always surveys the area silently like he's waiting for something terrible to happen (can't blame him for that though).

If someone manages to catch his gaze while he's just silently scanning a room, he might stare uncomfortably long at that person just to make them feel awkward, if he's feeling particularly like a menace.

He doesn't have an exact preference for dogs or cats, it's either he can tolerate them both or likes both. Although, he might have a higher liking for dogs though (that's just IMO).

He can ABSOLUTELY hear heartbeats (if he focuses enough with his super hearing 'n all), especially if they're beating really fast. It helps him track down certain criminals while he's in hot pursuit or trying to find someone. He can absolutely hear them through a wall too.

[coolfire333]

I'm not a Jane Crocker expert at all (so if you happen to be then please jump in with your input especially if you also like problem sleuth) but as a canonical problem sleuth enjoyer I find her very interesting as I am also a big fan of the comic so here are some thoughts I have about her in relation to how I think she might interpret problem sleuth as a comic

I think she would relate a lot to Hysterical Dame upon first reading the comic but would vehemently deny this and says to others that the character she relates to most is Problem Sleuth himself.

I think she sees a lot of herself in male characters, particularly "hardboiled" detective types (her wearing of fake mustaches and masculine hats, her chumhandle itself referring to her as a gumshoe) and will deny comparisons to female characters because 1. she has always found the more masculine side of herself to be more interesting and 2. comparing herself to men lets her ignore the more unflattering sides of herself, while if she compared herself to a woman she'd kinda have to face that head on

Point 2 is something I myself did with Jane back when I was her age and reading post-scratch homestuck for the first time...if asked which (human) character I related to most back then I'd instinctually say John (or Jade but imo Jade is a much "neater" female character to relate to compared to Jane), but when the alpha kids were introduced I found myself really hating Jane, in retrospect because she reminded me too much of myself in a way that felt uncomfortable to read about. She was messy and flawed in similar ways as me but as I grew older I realized we actually had a lot in common that was positive, and in part I was overly harsh on her because of my own internalized sexism.

If Jane was male and has all the same traits I'd probably have been like "wow such a good character this is literally me" but because she was also a girl the whole "disconnect with the ugly sides of self recognition through the other" was not there, and I had a strong "oh no" reaction to what felt at the time like a caricature of myself at my worst. But now that I'm older (especially since I'm no longer Jane's age when I read about her in homestuck lol) I'm definitely owning up to the fact that I do relate to her a whole lot

Point being, Jane herself absolutely does the same thing with Problem Sleuth/Hysterical Dame, where she initially idolizes PS because of his maleness and the comfort that identifying with that brings her in comparison to HD's femaleness (and hyper-femininity in particular). HD is shown to have a hot temper and she disregards authority and directions similarly to how Jane does in homestuck, so I'd say they're more similar than Jane is to PS, and that makes Jane VERY uncomfortable

Jane wants to play the brooding, clever noir Sleuth, and here she goes identifying with the helpless, quick-to-anger Dame, a woman fueled by her irrational, strong emotions. However stereotypical HD is portrayed in the comic, she is equally as powerful, and I think Jane eventually realizes that when she gets into her 20s and is finally done with being a hormonal, overly emotional teenager and owns up to enjoying HD and also relating a lot to her as a character

Like yeah HD is a hotheaded stereotype at surface level but she also cares deeply about her closest female friend, NB, and she and NB deal some of the most powerful blows in the comic to their enemies (and they aren't total idiots or goof off half the time like the men of team sleuth)

Sidenote but something can be said about Jane and Roxy being analogous to HD and NB, with reference to NB's relationship as PI's mirror. PI has a high imagination, which requires alcohol to boost, and if the problem sleuth women have the same vim/pulchritude/imagination stats as their male counterparts, this means NB also has a high imagination, and perhaps a high tolerance or even a fondness for alcohol, which could mirror Roxy's alcoholism in homestuck. The imaginary world's abilities also kinda give me void vibes with the way you have to think imaginatively to conjure up things vs Roxy "appearing" up the matriorb with her void powers, among other things, but I am also not a Roxy expert so take that with a grain of salt.

Jane and Roxy are also probably the closest friends out of all the alpha kids, and HD is almost always seen with NB and the two are implied to be good friends, at the least, so I think they both form a neat pair of "really close female friends who also are really overpowered tbh"

Anyway yeah that's my (slightly-delayed because I forgot my original points trying to write this yesterday) Jane/problem sleuth essay :)

[veerbles]

it's been a month and a half since I finished the trc series and while I'm still in that nice fic-binging portion of the post-book phase, I've been somewhat unsuccessfully trying to put together my final thoughts on it. so I'm gonna try to do it in writing instead.

I'm not usually a big fan of reading criticism in fandom spaces, so I'm just going to put all my thoughts under a read more and if anyone is interested in reading this: this has been your fair warning.

overall, I obviously enjoyed the books. I think my very first assessment to my s.o. of it the night I finished trk was: good writing, really good character work, excellent world building; so-so plotting.

so here's the plotting thing. just before I read trk I stumbled across an interview with the writer that made me sort of uneasy, and gave me an ominous feeling that turned out to be completely accurate. she told the interviewer, "Secrets and tricks, that’s all I’ve got," and immediately I got the inescapable feeling: this is an author who thinks they're really smart, and wants you to know they're really smart, and they are going to finish the books in a way that makes you think they are really smart, for all the wrong reasons.

let me preface by saying: not every question needs to be answered in the final book of the series. some questions are meant to keep you wondering, and that's fine, as long as they're not integral to the plot. why did the gang find one of the pig's wheels in the mysterious lake? don't know, and it's fine that I don't. iirc, ronan even mentions it at the end of trk and thinks to himself that maybe their adventures with the ley line aren't finished. cool! loose ends!

but some questions are integral to the plot. and in the trc's case, too many of them are left unanswered, to the point where I didn't get even a hint of that 'ooooh, the foreshadowing' feeling you expect to get when everything is finally resolved in a clever way. it left me with the feeling that the writer wanted the book to feel smart and mysterious by using all these tricks and secrets, and then overshot her own abilities to tie all of these tricks together into a cohesive plot, leaving more holes than material.

1. Glendower & Co.

the glendower plotline is one of the most disappointing things I've read in a while. I'm SORRY, but it's true. I love mythology! I loved the potential of this! I don't even mind that he ended up being dead all along - that's fine, if not a bit expected imo. the real magical favor was the friendship we made along the way etc. etc.

but if you really, really think about it, he ended up serving no point to the books. the trc series would've been virtually the same if gansey was obsessed with researching the ley lines themselves for the magical aspect of it, and ended up stumbling upon cabeswater in the exact same way, and wandered around in its caves, and the demon was awoken. glendower could've easily been written out entirely.

OR: the glendower story could've still served a purpose while being dead. they literally woke up both his magicians - gwenllian and artemus - and even drew parallels to two of the main characters by calling ronan and adam "gansey's magicians", but BOTH OF THEM served no purpose to the plot? at all?? I would've even accepted them not serving direct purpose, but instead helping further along blue's character arc. except blue spends three books wondering about her biological father, has one (1) conversation with him, finds out she's a half tree-spirit and... that plotline goes nowhere, enters the game way too late, and doesn't tie in to much else in the end.

or instead, the writer could've leaned into the obvious hint-dropping and played out the reincarnation plot that was lying in waiting. but as soon as the hints about gansey actually being glendower started being too heavy, I knew it wouldn't happen. because again: a writer who wants to come off smarter that their readers won't drop hints that their readers can easily decipher (even when sometimes it's definitely the right thing to do, to improve the reading experience).

the glendower pointlessness pokes more holes in the story. why did noah become a ghost? not every dead person in henrietta does, clearly. presumably, he became a ghost because gansey was dying at the same time. but why? "You will live because of Glendower. Someone else on the ley line is dying when they should not, and so you will live when you should not." gansey heard this glendower line because time is a loop, etcetera; noah whispered it to him before he passed on because he knew he was supposed to, because gansey already told him. but if there's no glendower magic, only ley line magic, then the whole "balance" thing was supposed to be that gansey got to live because noah died. except noah didn't die. presumably #2, noah didn't die (yet) because he was supposed to trade his life for gansey's, which he does, at the end of trk. but what all this means is that noah traded his life for gansey's twice, both when he got stung and when blue kissed him, at two different points in time. and we still have no explanation, or even a hint of an explanation, for what powered the ghost thing.

2. Prophecies

in the raven boys, we get several prophecies: one, from the fox way psychics; blue will kiss her true love and he will die. two through five, from the dreaming tree; blue will kiss gansey, in his aglionby sweater, and he'll ask her to kiss him knowing it'll mean his death. adam will cause gansey's dying and his friends will turn on him. gansey will see glendower lying in his grave. blue and gansey will almost-kiss in his car and talk about wanting to just pretend they can.

in the raven king, ronan says the prophecies in the dreaming tree aren't prophecies at all: "[They're] Nightmares. [...] When I dreamt that tree, that’s what it did. Worst-case scenarios. Whatever mindfuckery it thought would be most likely to mess you up the next day.”

except, blue's vision is an exact match for the kiss scene in trk. gansey's vision about glendower is an exact match. their combined vision about the almost kiss is an exact match for a scene in bllb. all of these come true.

so one of two explanation has to be true: ronan is wrong, or the writer ret-conned herself into a corner so she won't have to deal with the last vision. but this is an internal conflict - if ronan is wrong, that means adam's vision is a prophecy, and it just never gets addressed properly. did he really change his fate by sacrificing himself to cabeswater? how? what was supposed to happen, originally? and if the future changed, what was the point of showing the vision to begin with...? it's very possible there could be a reason, but seeing as it's never presented to the reader, it brings me back to the writer wanting to be smart more than she cares about the reading experience.

3. Henry

I'll probably get hate for this, but that's okay. what the fuck was the point of henry?

don't get me wrong: he's a fun character. I'd argue that he's not significantly more fun than the fox way ladies, or mr. gray, or any of the other side characters that didn't get a huge amount of focus and certainly could've, but it's less that I'm mad about henry than the fact that I'm mad about henry's patchwork insertion.

henry gets mentioned for the first time in bllb, and only gets actual action in trk. that's fine. another side character. but in a sudden, unexpected turn, he goes from cameo to main character that is present in all of the big plot moments, is suddenly in the gang, and is tied into gansey and blue's future post-canon...?

if henry was so important, he should've been written in from the get-go. I cannot be expected to care about a character that turned up in the third act of the play. if henry wasn't so important, but serves as a plot device in the fight against the demon and/or a character replacement for noah (like we're in a disney tv show and when a character gets written off another is written in as their "archetype" replacement), he shouldn't be given so much screen time and should definitely not be there at the culmination of the story (gansey dying).

I just couldn't bring myself to be as excited about gansey's plot in trk - when, arguably, trk IS about gansey's plot - because most of gansey's chapters were spent on trying to sell me on henry. and like, he's fun! he ends up deeper than he looks! the toga party chapters are... fun...? but I didn't see the point, and so couldn't bring myself to care all that much. and now whenever he's in fics I resent him, and that's sad, because it's for no reason at all. if he just got treated as the minor character he is, I would've liked him so much more.

CONCLUSION: I might add more points when I think of them. lol, sorry. this is a rant, not an actual review.

[tremendouskoalachild]

looks like no acolyte trailer this week but i wanna talk about it, so whatever let's go over all the shots from the one leaked in april 2023

sorry for horrible quality but in my defense. literally not my fault

1. Jedi Temple

The trailer opens with several shots of Jedi kids in a lesson, in what I assume to be the Coruscant Jedi temple:

The alien looks to me like a Tarsunt, similar to this background sequels guy. For now I'll assume these kids aren't important characters in the story and mostly serve to introduce the Jedi and/or Lee-Jung Jae's character, who is speaking over these and following shots:

He says: “Close your eyes. Your eyes can deceive you. We must not trust them. The Force is powerful. It is power we must respect.”

(I assume all these lines and shots are part of the same scene and it isn't some clever editing done for the trailer. It sounds like a reasonable introductory lesson for little kids, is coherent, and the locations match. Also what would be the point.)

There is also a single shot later in the trailer that seems to be in the same room, except with older Jedi, presumably Padawans:

The one that interests me in this shot is the one I assume to be a female Zabrak with light hair (on the right up front). She appears in other parts of the trailer as well.

2. Cantina confrontation

This sequence starts during the latter half of LJJ‘s voiceover and is partially intercut with the Temple shots. We see Amandla Stenberg‘s character walk through a public space (market place? spaceport?) and into what seems to be a cantina/restaurant, with patrons sitting at tables and eating or chatting:

There are many aliens, I think I saw an Iktotchi and/or Ovissian. If anyone knows what that thing slurping soup and the two sitting next to it are please tell me.

The voiceover ends over that last shot of Carrie-Anne Moss' character, there is a brief cut to black, and then we get a short fight between AS and CAM. It mostly looks like AS is attacking with her knife and martial arts skills while CAM deflects, before finally Force-pushing her away. We then get a first close look at Amandla Stenberg's character without her cloak:

The character's hairstyle was described by her actor as "clay-rolled dreadlocks, a North African reference".

At this point we are halfway through the trailer and the Lucasfilm logo comes up. Shots from what seems to be the same scene come up later in the trailer too:

AS is of course playing the main character and CAM is part of the main cast, so I assume this is an important scene, possibly the introduction to at least one of the two characters.

It seems a safe assumption that CAM is a Jedi master, and imo at least possible that she is the character mentioned in the show's synopsis (“A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.”) - if so, this could be the unhappy reunion before they reluctantly work together. AS seems to know exactly where she's going, while CAM appears to be waiting for her, either because she invited her/agreed to a meeting set up by AS or a third party, or because she sensed AS coming.

(Of course, it could be an entirely different situation. Several outlets have reported that LJJ is playing the former master in question, which seems reasonable, since he is the male lead of the show.)

[dearweirdme]

https://www.tumblr.com/dearweirdme/764430002909577216/httpswwwtumblrcomdearweirdme7644038966166814?source=share

of all the dynamics that op could find issue with within the group, this one of kinda wild to me because there's literally so much they've both said and done to prove the opposite. You're not even picking one with a blank field to play on😄

Like I do think that the groups success is primarily down to how well they vibe with each other but they're also as close as family at this point so there's going to be times when shit gets rocky and they've been fairly open in admitting that but there's a reason why nobody really looks at vmon side eye down 💀💀💀 besides maybe JK and Jin, Monnie and Tae are probably the most big bro/lil bro outta that group (for better and worse)

If op wants to believe that Namjoon and Tae are just selling a narrative that's their sad interpretation---and they can try to put all the blame for that on tae all they like but in implying a false narrative they're making rm complicit in pushing it too since he's made his fondness too obvious to let him slide if people wanna get all accusatory about storylines and narratives---so if all the praise, admiration, fond looks and general implications that they actually do like and admire each other is just a story being sold then why is taehyung the only one getting all the smoke from op? 🤨

Y'all end up showing your asses, O.P

😏 I see you haters trying to be slick and more creative since using ships to shit on tae gets your ass chewed up and out and shown the door but y'all are never as clever as you think you are. Hatin' ass. Everytime you comment YOUR 'narrative' gets clearer.

There's a reason why you only seem to have a problem with one half of this [apparently] 'Greatest Story Ever Sold' even while, the way you frame it, BOTH of them would have been shovelling shit and lies at us for the duration of their friendship.

But you wanna know what shows your hatin ass straight off the bat? The fact that despite seeming to have a problem with taekook and seeming to have a problem with taehyung, your sad lil ass managed to find THIS tumblr outta all of them for you to share your bullshit on because y'all somehow seem to 'accidentally' get lost on your way to places where you'll find content about ppl you actually like and stuff you'll actually enjoy. Funny how that happens with so many of y'all in the asks box, isn't it? 🤔 So if you got a problem with Tae and a problem with Taekook then please explain to us all what brought your ass here in the first place, op?🙂

There's literally ppl here parodying your old hatin asses but y'all still never get a clue 💀

I hear cross-stitch is a relaxing hobby for a bitter individual, op 🙂

Hi anon!

😂… I kinda doubt that other anon’s need for drama will be met by cross stitching.

There’s people, especially these days, that go with the ‘it’s all fake’, ‘they’re not real friends’ idea. I don’t believe that. I’m a good judge of people in general, and though there’s obviously a part that’s either exaggerated or edited or even rehearsed and fake, I still believe that all members are actually close. I believe the way they play off each other is real. You can’t fake friendships as consistently as they have for more than ten years imo. I also think their reactions to each other aren’t studied and often come without the hesitation faking it would bring.

I’ve been blogging long enough to catch the Tae haters by now. Anon can talk all they want about my response having been unfair, it’s their own words that showed where they came from.

[vixthefantheorist]

Who sent these messages?

So I was just looking back on the stream... well the latter half of it. Since I'm talking about the section of time (ha) of where this appears:

Mostly due to the importance of why it's there. This was Sean's failsafe loop to play in case the stream went tits up for some reason or another. But not only was it a failsafe for that situation but it served for another purpose that didn't get to be played out as planned since Sean decided to play then entire thing in one day.

As we all know, the IRIS Project was originally going to play out over the course of about a week, 5 days, if I recall correctly. Each day the stream would appear at some time, have us all play a mini-game to earn a Chase clip. (No joke the minigames were fun. Challenging since we're talking about thousands of people entering commands all at once but still fun IMO) But then IRIS's systems will be alerted to our meddling and kicks us back out as IRIS does a maintenance on their servers in attempt to keep us out. And we're 'locked out' for the day and have to wait the next day to try hacking again. Thus the above image appears. BUT there is something else within that little Server Maintenance Required loop that I just noticed a couple of days ago, that I did share on the official JSE discord. I'm sure others caught onto it waaaay before I have but I haven't seen it be discussed so I'll share it.

In that loop, four words appear.

I can imagine that these words only are suppose to show up during the four days we get locked out of the camera systems before the final day in which Anti breaks into the facility in order to apprehend Chase for himself.

So my question is...

Who the hell sent those?

Like someone on the inside of IRIS, giving us a warning before locking us out for the day then reopen it for us to pop back in to hack? Like, I dunno? Arin? Henrik?

Or could it be out mystery team that had broken into the facility ahead of Anti? Perhaps Echo?

Not sure... but notice how the words get a bit more frantic as it goes. 'Patience' is very clear and easy to read and smaller. But the words 'Wait', 'Don't Look' and 'Hide' get more fuzzy, somewhat harder to read and larger, as if someone is panicking and yelling at us to stop what we're doing.

Granted, we don't listen, too curious and stubborn to see what happens to Chase next. And determined to free him somehow. (Honestly, not sure how big of a part we play in the story, if at all, in the way it affects the story. Or we're in another POV of another character trying to help Chase and the others are yelling at them to stop because they just allowed Anti pass through the defenses? Or it's just meta fun for lulz?) I'm not sure myself, but either case, someone on the other side of the line was panicking for good reason. Anti did tear through the IRIS facility with terrifying speed. (Which brings me to go off topic for a moment. I think the reason why there's no huge pool of blood for Anti to step in and leave footprints as he approaches Chase in that hallway; is because I believe Anti was alternating between walking and floating through the facility and killing people. And the last room he killed in, probably had a pool of blood to step in and he just decided to float in Chase's direction to intimidate and showcase his power to him; before setting himself down to walk closer to him in the end.

-snerk- Now imagine finding several spots of the facility with bloody footprints. Kinda funny, but also clever if he wants to confuse anyone from IRIS following him or investigating what happened of where he was going in the building. If he cared about hiding that at all.)

Anyway, back on topic, the question still stands. Who left those messages in the server maintenance clip? I'm curious to hear your thoughts! Who do you think did that? And were those messages meant for us, the viewers? The 'character' (if there is one)? Or... perhaps meant for Chase?

Perhaps the messages were for Chase...

After all, Anti is the one seeking him out... Chase the one losing his patience... and the one who shouldn't look and must hide from Anti...

EDIT:

I also figured something about the words too. 'Patience' is the only word written in black, while the other words are in white or a mix of both but static. Maybe 'Patience' is more of something of Anti being the one to say it to us viewers to be patient for his arrival or someone telling Anti to be patient so that things will be easier for him.

Either way, its fun! :D

[gayleviticus]

new who episodes which I think get worse (not bad- many of these are still good, just less impactful) on rewatch:

Family of Blood - the shock of the Doctor as a human is something that really hit in the RTD era with no master, no time lords, no gallifrey, doctor at his mopiest, but I think it's seriously diminished now and the episode isn't that good with the shock value gone. plus the Martha race dynamics get worse and worse

Vincent and the Doctor - It's a decent episode, but I think it really hits when you don't expect the ending, and when it's built up in your mind to be the greatest episode ever you can't help but notice the bulk of it is a fairly standard monster romp with an emotional ending.

Zygon Invasion - Nothing meaningful happens in the first part and the political allegory is a bit all over the place.

Oxygen - At the time it was a cool atmospheric episode with anti capitalism, but the ending involving permanent consequences for the doctor was genuinely quite cool and unexpected. But I don't think a rewatch knowing where the Doctors blindness is going can really replicate that same feeling of 'wait wtf'. Honestly this is true of most of s10, where the speculation was more interesting than the actual arc (tho the finale is toptier)

Day of the Doctor - I still think it's quite good. but you can't replicate the sheer thrill of moffat in 2013 being willing to completely upturn the status quo after the rtd era dancing around it for years, and on closer examination the plot to save Gallifrey isn't that clever (but it's emotionally resonant).

Journeys End - Far too many characters and when you're watching carefully you notice half of them don't do anything and there's too many asspulls.

Doomsday - Rose and the Doctors separation is a random stroke of bad luck, not even an inevitable tragedy. It still hits emotionally, but it's kinda relying on throwing so many different elements at you you don't notice in the chaos rather than a proper tragic fate.

new who episodes i think get better on a rewatch

Honestly most Moffat arcs when you identify what the thematic/character point is and focus on that rather than the plot mechanics. Particularly s9 where there are so many allusions and ideas weaved in throughout.

Time of the Doctor - without the weight of tying up all the complex timeywimey loose ends, if you watch it firmly as a story about the doctor and Clara's relationship it works well imo.

Hell Bent - again, without the weight of being the epic return of gallifrey and read as about the doctor and Clara's relationship (and a response to donnas mind wipe and an exploration of the role of companion generally) it's great. AND it also pre-emptively skewers the kind of lorebomb nonsense of the Timeless Children 5 years before it even aired.

there are certainly more in both categories but they don't come to mind at the moment

[roseposts-stuff]

hello folks!!! it is time for doctor who series 9 rankings!!!

1. Heaven Sent (9x11) - peak. fucking. doctor who. one of my (and many other's) favourite episodes of ALL TIME and for a REASON!!!! it's so clever and well written and well acted and it's visually GORGEOUS like!!! peter capaldi is so good and i firmly believe he's the only actor who could've pulled this off, basically a 50 minute monologue come on man!!! i wish i could watch it for the first time again it's brilliant

2. Face the Raven (9x10) - SO GOOD!!! i love rigsy and i'm so glad he came back haha. clara's death is actually so heartbreaking and SJSJSJ the conversation between her and the doctor omg THE WAY SHE USES HER LAST MOMENTS TO MAKE SURE HE WON'T SEEK REVENGE OR ANYTHING OMG i love that!!! and it's also like visually so so so beautiful like visuals are a big part of how much i enjoy an episode as you might have noticed if you've seen my rankings before, like honestly i don't care too much about if the cgi is good or not etc. but them colours and lights and stuff need to be right!!!!!

3. Under the Lake/Before the Flood (9x3/9x4) - this is, again, SO good, i LOVE timey wimeyness doctor who should do WAY MORE timey wimeyness like you're a time travel show, USE IT!!!! i like the side characters and the beginning of before the flood with 12 explaining bootstrap paradox to the audience is so great and THE FADE FROM 12'S GUITAR TO THE THEME!!! it makes me so happy

4. Hell Bent (9x12) - is it a perfect episode? no. but i think it gets SO MUCH undeserved hate. i love love love clara in this, and the scene where her or the doctor have to forget everything is so good imo. i'm really interested in gallifrey and i haven't seen much of classic who yet so i take every scene in new who very gratefully and with great interest. i THINK people criticise the episode for having 12 suddenly be so ready to kill and stuff, and in any other episode i'd agree, but after heaven sent and the way his and clara's relationship is so codependent and toxic, it makes complete sense in my opinion. i loved when the doctor and me met at the end of the universe it was interesting imo, and i LOVEEEE that clara and me's TARDIS is the same one 11, river and the ponds were in series 6!!! and i like the way first you think clara has forgotten stuff but then you find out it's 12 who did (idk if it was obvious to everyone else but me, you can fool me so so so easily it's not even funny i believe almost anything the plot wants me to believe. which probably greatly affects the fact that i can enjoy doctor who so easily.) yeah i really really enjoy this episode

5. Last Christmas (9x0) - honestly why don't people talk about this episode more?? like it's SO interesting and just a bit scary, i love love love the idea of dreams inside dreams, like i don't really have complaints about this episode tbh it's really great and has a fascinating concept

6. The Husbands of River Song (9x0) - this is peak comedy i was laughing half of the duration of the episode probably, i love river obviously, and i liked her and 12 together. gotta love nardole as well lmao. i don't have much to say except SLAY socialist 12 and this is so funny like 80% of the run time, which is how a christmas special should be

7. The Girl Who Died (9x5) - i like this one!! 12 acting like he's a norse god and then the guy appearing in the sky and 12 tries to impress everyone with a yoyo was absolutely hilarious to me, that's peak humour in my mind. me was a bit annoying in this one can't lie like this is my least favourite me appearance, because HOW was she so stupid like girl i know those random guys you live with would've started fighting without a second thought but you're so much cleverer than them come on, but whatever, i forgive her i did care about her in the end. i loved the 12th doctor realising why he chose the face like YASSS GIRL!!!! and them making the video was so funny and random i ADORE 12 and clara in this, and i love the theme of immortality it's very interesting and i love when it's explored in doctor who

8. The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion (9x7/9x8) - i think it's. good. i love clara controlling the zygon it was sooo interesting and the sort of space she's in felt so weird and interesting i loved it, and obviously the doctor's speech is fantastic and peter capaldi delivers it perfectly. however, i do think it's not that well paced or something, like sometimes it feels really slow and sometimes everything is happening at once, and basically reasons to watch it would be 12's speech and jenna coleman. i did like osgood as well tho and obviously i'm the biggest kate lethbridge-stewart stan i take anything with her even if she's in it for 2 seconds

9. The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar (9x1/9x2) - i LOVE the doctor and davros' interactions and missy and clara are brilliant together. i love missy. the opening is brilliantly funny, i adore 12 SO MUCH, i love that he plays his guitar god knows in what century and teached the people the word "dude" i LOVE that, and how he just appeared in his davros chair and had tea what an icon i'm his biggest fan, i don't care if it makes no sense i'm here for the entertainment and that's what i got. but like i mentioned in the last series ranking... steven moffat does NOT understand the daleks. i respect him a lot as a writer, but he can't for the life of him write the daleks. "Into the Dalek" i can excuse because it's fun enough and the radiation is probably affecting the creature's biology, but this episode acting like the cases or armour or whatever are the ones controlling how the daleks act is just bullshit, the daleks are a genetically engineered race full of hate, not just some random squid aliens inside propaganda cases for god's sake. funny how the daleks of this dalek episode are the worst thing in it

10. The Woman Who Lived (9x6) - i enjoy this episode, i don't think it's bad, but it's not good enough to deserve to be higher on this list. me is an interesting enough character and i like that she doesn't remember everything, it's really fascinating. i also like how she's pretty much morally grey, a bit like the doctor. yeah, it's enjoyable but nothing special imo, and sometimes i just. didn't get the plot, which i understand and can excuse because it focuses on me and the doctor but i dislike the plot and the lion alien

11. Sleep No More (9x9) - it is a bit boring isn't it? i don't actively hate it, and i really appreciate the way it's filmed, i think it's really cool. i LOVE that we're kinda the monsters there and that it's a sort of video, but it doesn't save it from the fact that it's utterly tedious

[slitheringghost]

i LOVE the idea of lily becoming friends with sirius in 6th year to cope with losing snape as a narrative parallel to harry doing the reverse, i've been insisting that it's canon since forever. but imo lily shouldn't know it's sirius that she's been relying on, just as harry didn't know the half-blood prince was snape. how would you go about writing that? one idea is sirius in his animagus form becoming the reluctant confidant to lily as she pours out all her woes, but idk, it doesn't seem her style or his... the other way i could think of was lily, being a prefect, confiscating the marauder's map when james or peter or someone else lost it under the cloak, or from filch before he had the chance to take a look or something, and then bonding with "mr. padfoot" and his clever but snide self. i like this a lot better because the stand-in for sirius is in written form, directly paralleling harry and the potions book but also harry and tom riddle's diary. but the problem is, this scenario is contingent on lily not knowing that padfoot = sirius, and idk if the whole school knew about MWPP's nicknames for each other because they used them loudly in front of others, or if they kept their voices down at least a bit. what do you think?

yeah I've thought about the former idea which is cute but I agree it's not really their style. however the latter idea is GENIUS omg I love it. maybe Sirius came up with both Snuffles and Padfoot when he was 15 and was deciding between the two but picked Padfoot, and so the map knows to use Snuffles with Lily instead of Padfoot so as not to expose that it's Sirius? idk.

Ok so the scenario is Lily is crying / complaining about Snape and/or Petunia to her cat (because she wouldn't confide in a random dog but she does regularly to her cat. also because she has no one else confide in her about her arguments with Snape, her Muggleborn friends are not sympathetic) while the Map is nearby and the Sirius in the map hears and makes some sarcastic (and/or comforting? and/or both?) comment about Snape and that's how the conversing starts.

I actually had a direct parallel to Tom Riddle's diary for Snape and Lily in my WIP, which is that Sirius wasn't the only person Lily was projecting Snape onto lmao and that she found Tom Riddle's old research in Slughorn's office when she was either fighting with Snape but still friends with him or after their friend breakup, and felt kinship with Tom through his research because she missed experimenting with magic with Snape, and Tom incorporated a lot of muggle methods and knowledge in his magic just like Lily and Snape, and she could tell he was Muggleborn from some of his writing.

(if it’s before Snape and Lily's friend breakup then they bonded over Tom Riddle's brilliance together and that's the REAL answer to JKR's bizarre comment that Snape thought Lily would be impressed if Snape became a Death Eater... Snape was thinking about the times they fangirled over Tom Riddle together and was like, well Lily would want to learn magic from the Dark Lord too!)