#usually the actors don't understand their own character like the fans do but actually I think jensen ackles understands dean better

[deadwerewolfgirlfriend]

2.05 Simon Said & 9.13 The Purge // roofies

[dotthings]

Let me debunk a few more misinformation things about what Misha or Jensen say about Destiel. (Bolding some particularly relevant things I really want people to notice).

At Darklight Con Nov 8, 2020, Misha firmly said Cas's confession was about romantic feelings for Dean. (Notably, this is a European con, not CE in the US). Misinformation has sometimes been spread that Misha said Cas's confession wasn't romantic. Not true.

Misha then added that in his "interpretation" it was "unrequited" but continued on that "I'm speculating" and "I don't know what's in Dean's head. And Cas doesn't know." Misinformation has gotten around that Misha ever confirmed that Dean absolutely isn't in love with Cas back.

He then said the same things Jensen has said about supporting people's interpretations. They align on this viewpoint. (Antis don't want to listen, it's inconvenient for them).

He confirmed that Jensen was all in supporting Cas's confession scene. And that Jensen was told 3 months in advance. Since some have tried to claim it was sprung on Jensen at the last minute, a week before filming or something, and it was all an evol nefarious plot to lie to Jensen, trick him, and ambush him.

I mean, come tf on.

Jensen had three months to think about it.

And it's not only common practice on TV to have actors not know things too far in advance so their performances can be as spontaneous as possible, Jensen himself has said it's his own practice not to read ahead, so Dean's reactions can be as spontaneous as possible, and Jensen was in fact was given more than the usual amount of lead time about Cas's confession.

And was all in.

But especially interesting to me is how Jensen and Misha's comments mirror each other's take about the other's character.

Jensen and Misha have both told us they talked about Destiel.

Am I being clear enough here? They have talked about it. With each other. Often. They have an understanding among each other. (Yet antis seem to be in complete rampaging denial about this little fact).

And Jensen and Misha's takes often complement each other's, fit each other's on certain points, or even align via different styles and slightly different approaches and takes but actually boil down in essence to the same thing, plus both of them keep saying to fans...run with your interpretation.

It's like...both of them were trying to hand it to us, in any way they could manage, despite all those network shenanigans where it's not going to be acknowledge on any official SPN PR (like DVD set extras...and it seems like Misha kinda went, you know what if the network won't back press about this, I'll do it myself so he said things, here and there, to say what this was, dodging the CW sniper).

Misha's take: Cas has no idea what's in Dean's head and Cas doesn't know whether Dean is in love with him romantically the way Cas loves Dean or not. Jensen's take: in Dean's pov, because of Cas being an angel, assumption that his love is so cosmic and unfathomable no human can grasp it, so Dean has no clue as to the specific nature of those feelings for him. Mirroring!!!

(Side note...there's plenty of room here for an interpretation that Cas did know how loved he is at the moment The Empty took him. And I think that too...but that doesn't mean he knows Dean is romantically in love with him back, just that Dean loves him, period).

BTW, Jensen never said anything about how he played things wrt Dean's feelings for Cas, what he said was he never played Dean knowing Cas was in love with Dean (because Dean didn't know Cas was in love with him!!!!).

(And omfg I am so sick and tired of seeing Jensen misquoted about that, and it's never done with good faith motives, ever.)

It's about what Dean didn't know. It's about what Cas didn't know.

Which is the actual plot!! We watched!!! Dean and Cas not realizing the other one is in love with him is just so *chef's kiss* exactly miscommunication destihell. Was always part of the story, how many times did we talk about this ourselves?

Receipts below.

[spaceorphan18]

Okay, some Glee discourse, because it's been a while ::

@lilacdaisyrose mentioned in a comment :: I’m so shocked that Ryan Murphy actually revealed that!! Also, I’ve always wondered (sorry kinda related), at the time was Adam quite a big thing in the Klaine fandom? To me I find Adam so confusing because there’s so little character development and I always wish there was even a bit more, but also wonder why they introduced him if they weren’t going to really add to his character? 🙂

Okay. So. There are a lot of components to this. In order to understand the whole Adam thing, you kind of need to have the context of what was going on within fandom at the time.

The short version (because this deserves it's own psychological thesis piece) is that Kurt Hummel had a huge fan base that had been fractured into many different sub fandom groups, all of them centered around shipping him with different characters. But mostly the big divide was between people who liked Kurt with Blaine and people who didn't.

[This whole sub culture fandom thing is so fascinating, and I really should write up a giant master post about it some day.]

So, we got wind that Adam was coming some time around Christmas (And, I mean, originally his name was Paul, and it was Paul's Peaches. I wonder why that didn't clear Fox Standards and Practices, huh.) And so the Anti-Blaine Kurt Stans got a hold of this info and just raaaan with it. Like, it did not matter who he was or what kind of character he was -- he was not Blaine and that's ALL that mattered.

So, Adam became a thing before he was even a thing.

A couple of things happened, though. First of all, like usual and typical, the Klaine fans (and I mean, I'm not even getting into the sub culture of Klaine fan divides either, because that is another post) began harassing everyone - including the actor, which, you know, made him a little cold (understandably). He did one interview attempting to insinuate that his role was important, but it definitely bristled and I don't think it was his best PR move, but that was lower compared to all the rest of the nonsense going on.

The big thing that happened was that Adam's first song -- the remix of Baby, Got Back, was tied up in some legal issues. Basically, Ryan Murphy used the mix without crediting or even asking the person who mixed it if they could use it. Now, they got permission from Sir Mix A Lot (or whomever did that song originally) but then it got into some weird legal gray area stuff, and blew up in the media and left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. So the general audience soured on him pretty quickly.

On top of that -- there was a shit ton of stuff going on BTS -- Cory's addiction was becoming a problem, the network wanted to kill the show, the tinhatters were driving Chris to murder, like there are a bunch of layers of stuff going on that made all this complicated, and it all kind of results in Season 4 just being wonky on a lot of levels.

(Btw - do Kevin and Jenna talk about Adam at all? I haven't listened to the podcast in a long, long while, so I don't know, but my curiosity is piqued.)

But during that time, this was when the Glee cast was finally beginning to set some boundaries concerning social media, but Ryan Murphy was beginning to try to use it -- and he kept getting himself involved in fandom, and flying a little too closely to the sun. I do think Klaine was always where he wanted to go (because the actors (mostly Chris) did complain -- which, again deserves it's own post). But they were loud, and they were obnoxious about it.

No, Klaine fans did not like Adam. At all. They wanted him gone, and we wanted reconciliation. But the Anti-Blaine Kurt stans made Adam the measure of who Kurt's bf should be. They did not really care that Adam only had three episodes and very zero development and was clearly dropped like a hot potato because it's obvious Kurt still has feelings for Blaine because, you know, Kurt's sleeping with Blaine while this whole dating Adam is going on but...

It was just a mess.

The other thing you have to remember is that -- while this was live, we didn't get the chance to just watch quickly in succession and go onto the same thing. Those of us who were spoiled knew of this character for months before he appeared. And it was a whole fucking long time before Love Love Love finally closed the door on it officially. So while he was only around for those three episodes, the open endedness of it last a LOOOOONG time. And no one knew what was going on.

So the shipping wars, as usual, continued on and on and on.

I'm trying to think if I at all answered your question, lol.

Why did they create him? the tl;dr version is that since Season 3, they had Klaine (the now b-couple) mirror Finchel (the a-couple) -- prior to that Finchel was the b-couple and Wemma the a-couple, and Glee loved to do parallels with them. But Wemma really wasn't a thing much by season 4, and Klaine was much more popular, and my god they just loved having Kurt be Rachel lite sometimes that they're basically telling the same story with both couples.

So, Rachel gets a season long boyfriend only to wind her up with Finn again (only the cory stuff threw a wrench into that). So, clearly, Kurt needed to have one, too. But also -- they needed to have Kurt do something. They weren't going to put Klaine back together until sweeps week, or the finale because that's how network tv paced things back in the day. So Adam was just subpar character development.

I don't know what their original intentions for the character were. I don't know if they knew. I think they had their story up until 4x15 (overall) and then it got rocky because things with Cory were getting weird and it all just fell apart.

I do think, like Darren, the actor playing Adam got a three episode contract, and they wanted to test the audience's reaction. Clearly, it did not go well, and the added legal issues of the song just kind of made them sweep it under the rug all the faster.

Hopefully, some of my rambling made sense.

Maybe at some point in the future, I'll do an expansive history of the Kurt fandom series.

Or y'all can keep asking questions. What ever you'd like to do <3 lol

[ca-suffit]

No offense to Sam but the way he's been talking about Lestat lately is ... troubling, to say the least. He did an interview with Screenrant and he legit said that Lestat's abuse of Louis was "probably not as violent an act as Louis made it out to be in season 1." That's a direct quote, by the way. I understand that a lot of Lestat fans have their rose-colored glasses on and they're not the only ones, sure. However, when you have the actor saying things like this, are we really surprised Lestat fans are just as willing to turn a blind eye and act as if he's this innocent beacon of sunshine whose word is the gospel truth? I can't include links but you can search up Sam Reid and Screenrant on Google and the article should pop up.

ya, I've seen that quote (article and text at the bottom of this post).

if this fandom was full of critical thinkers the way ppl always luv to claim, we'd be able to discuss these things and even say maybe these actors say dumb, harmful shit sometimes. assigning sam reid the new role of anne rice stand in, coming from ppl who already have an unhealthy relationship with her, usually going back decades, is why trying to do anything here is p useless.

this fandom will never know peace bcuz instead of focusing on the fact harm was done, racist fandom has to keep digging and victim blaming black characters bcuz how could the white character do this, it's ooc, it's bad writing, it's not what anne rice would have done (except she did lol but there's always an excuse for why that doesn't count).

there's a lot of things the fandom could be talking about but instead it's gonna be tossing this quote up forever as "the truth" and it's gonna be like 50 year olds in the fandom doing it too. embarrassing tbh.

One of my favorite moments in the episode is Lestat apologizing over the cloud gift move from last season. It's powerful and moving, and yet so frustrating because the trial carries on like nothing after. Can you talk about playing that scene with Jacob?

Sam Reid: Yeah, I think we kind of had to make sure it [landed]. I don't want it to be like, "Yeah, but actually, it's not such a big deal. He apologized, and it's over now," which is what Claudia said. It's probably not as violent an act as Louis made it out to be in season 1, but I think the fact that Lestat did something to him that is so out of his nature was driven by the extent to which they love each other.

Lestat was driven to the point that he didn't fully even recognize himself, and he saw from his own hands an action that was unforgivable. You've physically hurt the person that you love so much that you no longer feel like you deserve to be with them. He knew that, and I think the thing is that he realized that as soon as he's done that, he also has to die.

In terms of working on that scene with Jacob, I think it's important for us to acknowledge that this is not the end. Do you know what I mean? This is not the finality of that beat. Louis doesn't forgive him at that moment, and Lestat sees that. He can't look at him that much during the trial, but there's another moment when Lestat looks at him and all he sees is pure hate in Louis' gaze. "He's never going to forgive me." But he doesn't flip back to just doing the trial — he still wants to save him, you know what I mean? He's got to just hurry the proceedings up, get through the f--king thing, and stick to his script.

That definitely is also when I feel like we get into that silhouetted, mirage version of the trial. I think that's when we're in full-blown POV bulls--t of how it actually went.

[artist-issues]

How to Stick to the Point About Rachel Zegler and Snow White

"Rachel Zegler is just an actress doing her job, Disney is the one to blame for the Snow White changes!"

Just because she didn't write the changes doesn't mean she's not responsible for the words that come out of her mouth and the tone in which she says them. If anything, her skills as an actor, which usually include control over intonation, make her even more responsible for tone and attitude, not less.

Disney didn't write her a script for her interviews that said "now include a childhood memory that insinuates a negative opinion of the original Snow White!"

If you want to make it about how well she's doing at her "job..." She's not being professional: if her goal is to promote the new movie, alienating fans of the original is the worst way to accomplish that goal.

"Why are you attacking her just because she doesn't like the original? Lots of people don't like the original!"

The problem isn't that she doesn't like the original. Harrison Ford didn't like Han Solo, and he did a great job playing Han Solo anyway: because he understood the character, even if he didn't like him. Zegler is demonstrating that she doesn't understand the original movie, and doesn't like it based on that misunderstanding.

"You're just criticizing her because you're racist!"

Not really, because the point of Snow White as a character is pure love and pure innocence: and that point has been retold across all cultures. Rachel Zegler's skin color takes very little away from the role: it has nothing to do with her comments. Why are you making everything about a person's race? Kind of racist of you.

"You're just criticizing her because you hate women!"

If I hate women, why am I defending one of the greatest female characters of all time?

"Snow White is a movie where the Prince has to save Snow who does nothing but sing and dream of being rescued. It SHOULD get an update!! You're just worshipping the old one because you hate empowered women."

You don't understand the original movie. Snow White is a movie where the main character has faith that pure, innocent love will find her even when the odds are impossible.

She is the only character in the movie, contrasted with Grumpy and the Queen, who is genuine and doesn't hide what she is, because she's not afraid. She has several lines in the movie pointing that superpower-of-character-strength out. The Queen is afraid everyone will see how ugly she is in the inside if she's not Fairest of All. Grumpy is afraid his tender heart will lead to heartbreak so he hides it with grumpiness. Snow White hides nothing. She's the strongest character in the movie for that reason.

Again: Snow White IS an empowered woman: she's empowered with strength of character that can't be broken or twisted by circumstances even as a child. My definition of power is just different (and truer, and more powerful) than yours.

The Prince has two scenes: one where he falls in love with Snow White and promises to give her his heart in one meeting because that's how amazing she is, and the other where he fulfills that promise. His "effect" of waking her up wouldn't have happened without her "cause" of being a worthy enough woman to love.

They're not just "reimagining" the old version: they're replacing it. They're claiming to fix what's "broken" about the original. Therefore attacks on this movie are not attacks against the patriarchy or attacks against bigotry: they're attacks against the previous VALUES of faith, innocence, and the worthiness of pure love. Love that doesn't have to fight because it's powerful enough on its own. Faith that isn't corroded by circumstances. Innocence that doesn't turn bitter and inspires others. That's what they're saying is "broke" and trying to fix.

Do not let people derail the actual argument. Stories matter because they represent values. Values shape a culture. Rachel Zegler isn't a target: she's an example of what's happening in the culture, and makes a good entryway into talking about it. Don't get it twisted.

[aceartistactivist]

Okay here we go!

Things I would have changed/am confused about in tua season 4

- first of all, it needed 10 episodes. Not 6. Don't even need to change the storylines- just flesh it out. Add random filler stuff. Not one of the characters got a real character arc because they didn't have enough screen time to show it!!

- speaking of, Jean and Gene got way too much screen time. Like I don't care about them I want to see the actual main characters

- no mention of Sloane????? Nothing???? What about the other sparrows? Do they exist in this timeline?

- how were they still riding in that van after puking so much in it lol 😭

- wtf is up with the only mention of Ray being a throwaway line that he walked out on Allison??? Seriously wtf??

- also, if Lila's parents are alive and living with her & Diego... Uhhh... are they not gonna address the fact that Five killed her parents in the last timeline? Like with all the scenes they had together I felt like that should have come up... I guess maybe that was something they already got past sometime in the 6 years?

- I'm so confused about Abigail. I'm just so confused. What is up with her

- STILL NO EXPLANATION FOR THE WHOLE ALIEN THING??

- also five's weird arc in s3 where he gets the tattoo? I'm still so confused about that. What was the purpose of the tattoo? Why was that whole thing a thing? I'm just lost 😭 and the "restaurant at the end of the world" scene in s4 was not exactly helpful or forthcoming either

- not a fan of how Ben's original death was just Reginald shooting him. Also the whole "reverse element of the marigold" thing seemed like a random idea turned plot device that just could have been planned/set up better. I also didn't understand the whole Jennifer thing. Why did she have the element thing in her anyway? Why was she in that container? I need explanations please

- IS REGINALD EVIL OR NOT HELP HE KEEPS GOING BACK AND FORTH

- Just so many things that could have been fleshed out

- where did the notebook five found that was "in his own handwriting" even come from? What version of himself figured out the subway system and wrote the cipher?? So many questions

- speaking of, what IS the subway system. Where did it come from. Why- just- why. I'm so confused about how it even affects the plot at all (except for the very end with the kids & family members)

- five and lila were supposedly lost in time for 6 years but they didn't change at all?? I get that actors are not going to be able to visibly age 6 years in a week but really, they couldn't have tried to make it look more believable? Changed their hair, added makeup and stuff? And then when they got back and they looked exactly the same as when they'd left and certainly didn't act like they'd spent 6 years lost in time? Like you'd think something like that would be extremely noticeable lol... I was expecting the others to be like oh my god what happened to you? And then it was just on we go business as usual. Like they could have done a lot more to make that feel realistic/believable I think

- oh, the ending... I get it, but I also think they should have gotten the lives they have "in most timelines" in the commission handbook thing, iykyk (basically if they'd all just grown up normally without the umbrella academy or anything)

- but... If Lila's family and Claire were taken to a restored timeline where the 43 children & umbrella academy never existed, wouldn't that create the same paradox that was the EXACT SAME THING that was the whole premise of season 3?? Remember the kugelblitz??? By YOUR OWN universe rules, sending those people to the restored timeline where they never existed created a kugelblitz that destroyed the real timeline and the universe for good. Congratulations.

- I was also hoping for an explanation of why their powers were slightly different but I guess it's just a plot device that doesn't really matter

- all in all, honestly, I really liked it! And I'm sad that pretty much the majority of the fandom doesn't. It could have been a lot better just by fleshing it out and giving the characters enough screentime for actual character arcs but. You know what. It's good enough for me. I'm satisfied

[paceypeternathanslawyer]

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

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

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

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

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

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

[fandoomrants]

When I re-joined the Marauders fandom around a year ago, I was coming across lots of people complaining how toxic this fandom has become.

I didn't quite understand what they meant back then as I haven't been active in the fandom for a long time (completely missed the ATYD era and most huge changes and things, didn't know how most ships came into existence still don't but I'm afraid to ask plus I'm already on board ig and also too many characters that were barely mentioned when I was in the fandom) so I couldn't decide what made it "toxic".

For the longest time I assumed it was people insisting on their ships and headcanons and throwing hate on people who shipped different things (God forbid people liking Harry's parents as a thing instead of making them both queer and into other people) and I suppose that's truly what most people view as "toxic" to this day but lately I genuinely saw the real toxicity of the fandom.

It's people's approach towards the people that create any content for the fandom. That's the truly toxic thing.

Is it normal that writers have to put a thousand warnings on their fics or even delete them from stop people from binding them and trying to sell them?

Or artists having to constantly report people reposting their works without proper credits?

Or cosplayers having to explain themselves to "fans" accusing them of... cosplaying?? And daring to have a personality and content outside the character(s) they cosplay?

The whole point of the fandom is that things are made from FANS for other FANS. The things people write/draw/edit/cosplay, they do because they genuinely like these characters and this world, and because they know others do too, and would enjoy the way they express their ideas of said things. And they all do it for FREE too.

If people want to support them, they can do it the proper way, spreading the popularity of these creators by sharing their work and giving credits. There is absolutely no reason to spread around someone's work, especially for money, when it's out there and perfectly available for FREE. It's wrong and even if the intentions are good which I doubt, there is this thing called copyright and it can cause harm to those creators because the characters aren't original. (What's worse, when people sell fics, they actually "give credits" and put down the writers' names/urls.)

And if they don't like them for some reason, they're free to just not engage because nobody is shoving it in their faces by force. Blogs, tiktok accounts, tags, etc can be BLOCKED. If you don't enjoy someone's content, just leave them alone and don't go around yapping and throwing hate at them. It's simple as that. (Unless there is a valid reason to cancel someone and there usually isn't any except for people simply not liking them for one reason or another.)

Being in a fandom means that there will be things that you'll be on board with and then some you wouldn't be but don't forget the creators aren't doing it to offend anyone, they're expressing themselves like everyone else does by discussing or creating their own stuff. If it's not your cup of tea, go drink some cold water.

In any case, people shouldn't forget that anyone that creates any type of content:

1) is doing it for free, by their own free will, in their own free time.

2) is a normal human being. They're not the character(s) they create stuff about. They have their own struggles and difficulties they face in their life but still find the time to create these things you enjoy.

3) is not obliged to interact with/do commissions for people just because they're trying to abuse them into it by constantly sending asks and messages.

4) has privacy. Nobody wants people trying to probe into their life just because they are known among some community. Same goes for actual actors/artist, writers. Being famous doesn't erase the right to have something your fans aren't privy to.

5) has boundaries that shouldn't be crossed, and things they are okay/not okay with that should be taken into consideration.

I genuinely find it a bit fascinating how people decided to take away these characters and modify them so much as one big FU to the original author due to her toxic behaviour, yet they manage to create a toxic environment for others too.

P.S.: Please do not engage with this post if you'll be making any claims that any creator that has decided to make their work public is obliged to stand and take hate, mistreatment, etc. There is a not-so-thin line between constructive criticism, and spreading hate and being mean and disrespectful.

[rottenbrainstuff]

IWTV S2 ep 5 - the good Young Daniel shit. TW: mild suicidal ideation? imp of the perverse? or something?

Nice, I was really waiting for this one. I just love Young Daniel, I find him so incredibly delightful, and I’m trying to pin down why.

Part of it of course is that the actor does such a good job, part of it is how charming I find his big goofy grin, how he flips back and forth between XD and DX so quickly. But I think it’s also because since episode one we’ve focused mostly on nothing but vampires, who’ve had decades or centuries of trauma and grapple with super-human sorrows and fears, and even old Daniel has had a full life of disillusionment and regret and physical pain. But here's Young Daniel and he is so different from everyone, even his future self, so young and naive and fresh, really the absolute antithesis of every other character we’ve got used to at this point. Maybe that's it.

Armand continues to be so pathetic to me in how simple he is. Like, while I watch all this, I'm reading up on V:tM for my daughter's game, and like. Armand isn't running some elaborate political long-game with complicated motivations only a 7th generation methuselah would understand, it's all just so pathetically basic, he wants someone to love him (Lestat, Louis, Daniel... doesn't matter who) and he doesn't understand why no one loves him like he wants. Man I remember his face back when Louis was talking about his Lestat hallucination, the very bare hurt. So lonely and so simple.

Mr. Easeful Death. I found this whole bit extremely disturbing, because Assad is a good actor and the whole thing is extremely comforting and compelling to me, like an anglerfish lure drawing the deep sea fish right in. It would work on me, in a heartbeat, and I find that disturbing to contemplate, like standing at the edge of a big drop and being terrified of how easy it would be to fall. Armand's little merciful hunting that he talks about in that one short story, finding the people who are so tired of being alive, or finding the people who desperately want to be consumed by a demon lover, and becoming that for them, yeah that would work on me, pathetically easy. Don't Fear the Reaper and all of that jazz - I would be gone, gone immediately, gone before he even finished his spiel. Rest - my god, yes please. I am so tired. And so, I found the whole scene so incredibly disturbing. Armand is the feeling of comfort that comes at the end when someone is freezing to death, the relaxing nitrogen narcosis that urges the deep sea diver to do something stupid and sink to their death, the light that lures the little fish right into the mouth of the anglerfish. That is 500% my jam, that scares the shit right out of me, gentle loving death as a mercy, a service, a putting-out-of-misery, yikes. It's terrifying. I fucking love it.

To my surprise though, Daniel fights against it. He has things he wants to keep working on, his life isn't pointless, he likes his life, he wants to live. Broke my heart. Perhaps you could say that my surprise with his reaction comes from my own extremely bad world view. But I wonder if that's not the normal reaction Armand usually gets. He didn't really react to Daniel's objection - I kind of wish he did, I think it would be neat to establish this was something that sets Daniel apart and surprises Armand. Armand thinks he's grasped the threads that will help him unravel Daniel's resistance, he's done this so many times before, but this time it takes a couple tries to get it right. I wonder if it makes Daniel fascinating to Armand as well. Oh well! Just a thought.

Poor old Louis, poor old everyone.

I had mentioned I had watched some video analysis of the show (which pointed out the characters I thought were new were actually based on stuff from the book, which I had forgot/missed, dummy) Seems that, understandably I guess, ep 5 was (is) controversial. And now I feel like a bad fan, because unlike a lot of people, apparently, I like that Lestat has done something that is actually unforgivable. I am not excusing his behaviour, I think it's inexcusable, and that's why I like it. I... yeah man. I dunno. I feel like a bad fan. Everyone talked about how book Lestat would not do that. And at the time when I first watched the ep, that's exactly what I thought as well - Lestat was always a shit but he was never this bad. Episode 6 made me think back on that some more though. I just... Look, I don't really care for book Lestat. Not towards the end, anyway. To me, as the books went on, he became more and more like someone's bad dnd character, the most special and the most skilled with the most sad backstory and this and that and blah blah blah and not enough realistic flaws to balance things out.

In the video it said gross fans are excusing his behaviour like oh, well, it's because of xyz abuse, it's because of abc thing, my gosh I even saw a post saying that you know maybe the reason for the ep 5 fight was all because of Amel (lore stuff - it's this spirit of violence and rage that infects all vampires) and that wasn't the "real Lestat" at all like... noooooo no no no no no no *sigh*. I'm not excusing anything. I mean, the past abuse puts things into context and makes it sad and interesting because it's a perpetuation of cycles of abuse, but that doesn't excuse it. I like that Lestat has done something legitimately inexcusable. I liked how shocked I was in ep 5 and how convinced by his sincerity I was in ep 6 and I like how that left me conflicted and confused. I like that it's difficult. I don't want it excused or explained or handwaved, I want it to stay ugly and uncomfortable, exactly as it is.

Man. I really do feel like a bad fan though. Am I the only one who can't stand the later books and wants this show to be 6 seasons max? Two seasons each for IWTV, Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned. They can inject appropriate bits of Vampire Armand as needed. And then after that, stop. No more. Am I the only one? Anyways. Creeping closer to the end of season 2 now. I can't wait to see more of Madeline and Claudia, even if it's so sadly short before the big bad wrap up.

[stormyoceans]

personal taste is so crazy because the way i cannot for the life of me understand where y'all guys see pondphuwin's chemistry (pond just doesn't do it for me as an actor tbh he's so stiff in literally all the roles i've seen him play, for me it's like he's playing the same character over and over again) but i'm in love with greatinn old-friend's type of chemistry and the way the seem so comfortable around each other and the way they're selling the pining and longing and will they won't they vibe... all this to say i love how different people's views of the same things can be lol

it really is so fascinating to see how people can perceive things in different ways and have different taste!!!!! that's one of the most fun things about fandom to me actually, just going through everyone's thoughts and opinions and see how a character, or a pairing, or a scene can be experienced and interpreted in so many ways, and none of them are wrong!!!!! because we're all our own individuals with our own likes and dislikes that are true for us!!!!!!! (the problem is when people aren't nice about others' tastes, but that's a whole other point)

but yeah, it's so interesting because to me pondphuwin have a very natural and powerful chemistry, every time i watch them i can actually believe their characters are in love even just by the way they look at each other and are aware of the other's physical presence. and while i personally don't think pond is a bad actor, i do agree that he gets stuck way too much in very similar kind of roles, which is why i would LOVE to see him and phuwin swapping their usual character types!!!!!! LET POND BE THE LOUD NERD AND PHUWIN THE CHARMING POPULAR GUY!!!!!!!! (BUT ALSO PLEASE GET THEM OUT OF SCHOOL PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!!!!!!!)

im also wondering if familiarity plays a part in the way we perceive a pairing, because the 'old friends who are fully comfortable with each other' kind of chemistry you mentioned for greatinn is actually what i love about forcebook. and i did like forcebook right away, but for example i wasn't the biggest fan of joongdunk at the beginning, however getting to know them even outside their roles helped me a lot in appreciating them and the kind of playful chemistry they have, to the point that now they are the ones im most excited about to see in the heart killers, so maybe there are some pairs that just. grow on us with time and maybe greatinn is gonna be one of those for me!!!!!!

[dhampiravidi]

my review of deadpool & wolverine

spoilers under the cut!

Overall, I liked it. I'll give it a 7/10.

OK so, I didn't make it through ANY of the Deadpool films w/o falling asleep & not bc I'm narcoleptic. I just got bored, which SUCKS bc Wade's my favorite Marvel character (at least in the comics/other media). I had hopes for this movie only bc of the lead actors' commitment to their characters & bc putting them in what's essentially a buddy cop movie was smart as fuck. At the same time...the MCU hasn't put out a satisfactory movie (aka 1 w/o plot holes or simply disappointing bits) since...maybe Winter Soldier? Eh, I don't remember. ANYWAY!

Considering that I didn't really see Deadpool 3, it was fairly easy for me to understand the beginning. Yes, I was a little confused at first, because I didn't know that he time-traveled & ALSO hopped universes...but I figured it out eventually. I like that they made his motivations 1) saving his found family & 2) wanting to do something worthwhile. That being said, I never wanted Deadpool to have a love interest unless it was maybe Shiklah or Lady Deadpool bc they actually DO "match his crazy" & they're interesting on their own. I also didn't know who "Pete" was until I looked him up, bc MCU!Pete isn't the same as comics!Pete. I'm used to poor fucking Bob from HYDRA 😅

Onto more plot...I knew as soon as that guy introduced himself as "Mr. Paradox", he'd be evil, bc the whole point of time is that you don't want paradoxes (if that wasn't clear). I got confused thinking that Wade was from a different universe than Logan* SO that made me think Wade was his own timeline's anchor being...yeah I realized that wouldn't make sense. The fight scene w/the TVA people was a little long but satisfying, at least in that it was as bloody & creative as a Deadpool fight scene should be.

I got worried when they mentioned The Void, bc I only made it through a few episodes of Loki before I got bored & confused. I can keep comic timelines straight if you let me read through & get to know each Earth individually, but not the way the MCU deals out timeline lore. HOWEVER, it was decent! I already knew about the Johnny cameo (stupid headline spoiler) but I was happy for Chris Evans (especially during the end credits scene) & I liked the Mad Max reference. The end credits scene was especially important bc Deadpool doesn't usually hand people over to be killed unless doing so will prevent HIM from getting into a lot of trouble. He's a merc who WILL & DOES kill, but typically he lets innocent people go.

Fuck Nicepool for being boring (but I think that was the point) & no, I did not like Channing Tatum's Gambit (I know he's from Louisiana but I HOPE that accent was bad on purpose, the headpiece was too chonky & I am loyal to the canon film Gambit *blushes*). That aside, I absolutely loved what we got of Laura, Elektra & Blade. Loved their fight scene, even though it sucked to see them go.

Cassandra Nova was appropriately sociopathic, as per the comics. I kept screaming for them to kill her, bc I KNEW she wasn't gonna turn good all of a sudden, but it made sense why she let them survive. I don't know HOW she can stick her hand into someone's head w/o killing them while they STILL feel pain (or how she didn't die after being stabbed; IDK maybe they're saying she telekinetically healed herself?). I liked how they brought back the Doctor Strange finger-thingy (wait, so does that mean the TVA has a constant problem of amateur magic-users going into different timelines on accident??).

As a comics fan, I was SO EXCITED seeing all the Deadpool variants. There were a bunch of references to Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, which is where (if you don't know) a version of Deadpool is psychically attacked. But instead of being brainwashed, his thought boxes (which act as his companions & consciences) disappear, only for him to realize that he's in a comic. Yes, he usually breaks the 4th wall. The problem is, he reasons that his friends keep suffering for the amusement of our world, so the only way to stop the cycle is to kill all the heroes, THEN kill the people who write the comic. ANYWAY! Killpool (I think that's what he's called) ends up getting confronted by mainstream/Good!Deadpool, who's assembled a Deadpool Corps of AU-Deadpools to fight all of the OTHER recruited Deadpools. Said DPs on the good side include Kidpool, Headpool (zombie head) & Lady Deadpool.

In other words, I rioted upon seeing all these versions who definitely have some cool backstories. When Logan & Wade went through them, I got pissed OFF ("wtf why didn't they heal?"). I thought they were gonna debate needing to kill Babypool (adorable), when everyone started waking up. I also liked how they showed someone growing back limbs, which is important considering the whole regenerative factor.

I do wonder how antimatter reacting w/matter didn't blow up the whole underground + 10005's version of New York or wherever, but there's always a plot hole. Besides, they've had lots of alien attacks. Maybe they build their undergrounds like nuclear bomb shelters.

All in all, 7/10.

*Is this Logan/Wade's universe the Fox movie universe? Bc we saw Captain Marvel's buddy, aka MVP of the shitty CM2, land there...so I assume the Fox universe is fine...but it CAN'T be THIS MOVIE's universe, bc their Logan wouldn't be that old! Also Logan isn't as old as Wade, but I'm pretty sure Wade shouldn't be chronologically just 30...? IDK if that was implied. TL;DR my precious Fox universe is fine. Thank you, nostalgia, The Good X-Men Casting & poor beloved misused Taylor Kitsch!Gambit + Anna Paquin!Rogue 😭

[myjunkisyuzuruhanyu]

Some thoughts about One Piece on Ice

Thanks to some help by one kind fan I managed to watch One Piece on Ice. 😍 Thank you so much! ❤️

Admittedly I probably wouldn't have watched the show if Shoma wouldn't be the star of the show. I was so interested to see his character portrayal because it's so out of Shoma's own character.

But before I talk about Shoma here are some other thoughts...

First of all I am quite clueless about the anime or manga of One Piece which probably would have helped to understand the story better because I don't own any Japanese language skills, so I won't say anything about the story. I just wish I could appreciate the whole story better. (I have basic knowledge of the characters and I watched a couple anime episodes when I was like 12 years old so 😅)

I think anyone who has seen pictures of the show, knows how amazing the costumes are and how close they are to their animation counterpart (I mean at least I know the characters with my less than good one piece knowledge)

It's quite a different than usual ice show. It really tells a complete story, no "extra" skating to just show off, every skating is implemented into the story. It really feels more like a theatre on ice than an actual ice show. It's not easy to produce a theatre that needs to tell a story from 3 viewing angles. Usually theatres are directed to watch from the front. Here it's watched from 3 sides, which on a stream made it sometimes difficult to see the conversation that was going on but in the arena it's needed. (Tbf no stream or video can ever give justice to a theatre production no matter if on ice or in theatre just because the circumstances are wildly different. I won't elaborate on that but let you tell this by a musical nerd who watched countless musicals live and on screen)

The choreography ideas are great. Especially cool are the choreographies for the fight scenes, each fight scene has a different set up. The spcial effects on top of it are so cool. Congrats to Kenji Miyamoto for this show and also congrats to the lighting and special effects designers. These things really add a lot.

The ACTING!!! OMG the acting is so good for an ice show. These are skaters not actors (besides Miyu) and all of them do an amazing job. There is a lot text going on especially for Marin, who is actually the main star of the show, no one has as much to do besides her and she is emoting so well to an audience. She really should be thinking about going to theatre. Rika Hongo is one of my favorite characters in this whole show. This suits her so well. How she can implements the skating skills into the character and how she is never off charater. And SHOMA OMG OMG OMG 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 How can this be Shoma? He can act. Like really. He's full of energy, full of different expressions, he is a come to life animated character, acting over the top like it's suited to the character and on top he does skills on ice I haven't seen him do anywhere before. Admittedly I was sceptical about Shoma acting and on top such a "quirky" character, but they couldn't found a better person for it.

I applaud the full cast for their acting. And they stayed in character until the very end until the curtain call.

It's a great show from the ideas, to the choreography, to the costumes, to the acting! ❤️

What an amazing show! 😍

Do I have any negative points about the show? 🤔 Well only one thing...the availability for ppl outside Japan is a disaster. I know countless ppl who would have paid to see the show on stream but weren't able to because of the geoblocking and trouble finding a working vpn or credit card. It probably has to do with copyright but then at least give the fans an explanation...The other small critique is simply on me personally😅...without knowing Japanese or One Piece it was not the full experience it would surely give...but you know what maybe that actually gives me a reason to really learn Japanese and to watch the anime/manga 😉

If anyone wants to and is able to watch. Do it, you won't be disappointed!

[stepswowdsen]

【KagePro】 KuroEne AU: Kuroha takes Ene to see Haruka’s sketchbook 🖤💙

Intro Rambles

Main Points:

KuroEne AU: Kuroha takes Ene to see Haruka’s home and sketchbook

Kuroha weaponizes his knowledge of his S/O to use as advantages for him

Kuroha encourages his S/O to keep playing the game with him

KuroEne AU: Ene insists that she’s just playing the game with Kuroha to defeat him, which amuses him

KuroEne AU: Ene’s denial of her own feelings

HaruTaka and KonoEne rambles

The concept of digital tears

Fave Sen-core chara/ship tropes

I included my discussion rambles with Feila ^^

HaruTaka and KonoEne are mentioned in this, but this is mainly about my KuroEne AU

KuroEne Depictions

(Gonna copy paste my old rambles)

Not to be smug or anything, but I actually do think the best interpretations of canon-verse KuroEne (that I've seen, at least), are mine.

I’ve seen a lot of takes from KuroEne artists back then back when I was a kid, and there’s lots of interesting ones, but the reason why I’m mainly obsessed with KuroEne in the first place, is because the ship hinges on my writing (ship AU depictions). It feels more personal to me that way.

Aside from that… In general, I'm insanely picky with depictions of my fave charas/ships.

I think it's also cuz I make sure to alleviate/ease the power imbalance that Kuroha inevitably has over every character (all Mekakushi Dan members) due to his power over knowledge and brute strength in Konoha's body, as much as possible, by having Ene be more assertive and dominant, and because he (Kuroha) knows when to be "softer" in their interactions (including their intimacy)

Like he allows Ene to do what she wants and thus sates his curiosity for new experiences with her (or comparing them with old ones).

Cuz Ene still keeps her headstrong personality and assertiveness in my portrayals

Takane/Ene is easily agitated, spiteful, and difficult to deal with, and gets extremely flustered and shy and embarrassed easily

Ene is strong-willed, bold, stubborn, easy to rile up, emotional, and really confrontational... I think her softer personality, and also her capability to also be aggressive with him, really helps.

I'm a little wary when some KagePro fan-artists go too far with having Kuroha/Saeru taunt and weaponize his memories and knowledge of his S/O’s past relationships and memories with others

For example, Haruka with Takane/Ene

I feel like there's a fine line, and some people cross that line, and it just gets... too much.

I think y'all know what I'm getting at. Like if it's just one guy making the other party emotionally distressed by taunting them about their past relationships/memories, that's just unappealing as hell (in general, and especially for ship content).

I’m usually not a fan of this personally, cuz some fan depictions take this in unsavoury directions imo

This is why I said before that Kuroha ships need to be carefully handled like some ship depictions I’ve seen, just go way too far with this, and have it bleed into unsavoury depictions by worsening the power imbalance between him and his S/O. Which is just eugh. Even aside from that, it’s just incredibly boring/bland and uninteresting to me

Even though Kuroha/Saeru could definitely transform into Haruka's exact appearance with Konoha's Eye Ability, Awakening Eyes, the ability to remake his body into one that the owner finds to be "ideal," I don't really want to depict scenes like that, unless it's... mild. Like if it's something like this, it's fine. Ene biting back at him and countering him like this would be great.

Ene: Kokonose Haruka...... died 2 years ago. You are NOT him.

Ene: I know the difference between him (Haruka and Konoha), and YOU, impostor of an impostor.

There's a scene in MCA (Mekakucity Actors), the terribad KagePro anime, where Kano uses his Eye Ability, Deceiving Eyes, to transform into Haruka to mess with Ene to scold her for what she's doing to Shintaro, and she understandably gets really distraught and does NOT take it well (though MCA's animation is so laughable I can't take it seriously)

Kano's Eye Ability, Deceiving Eyes, allows him to "change what people perceive him as, he can change how he appears, sounds, and even feels to others and can thus impersonate other people and animals." In simpler terms, it’s basically like a mild form of Illusion power

And Kano, as Ayano's younger foster brother, had been working together with Ayano before her suicide so he's the only MekaDan member who knows about Saeru (Snake of Clearing Eyes)'s existence prior to the present day plot (August 15th, the Kagerou/Heat Haze Day.)

Discussions with Feila

F: I JUST GOT UP FROM MY GRAVE HWUHSUSH,!??!?@?@?

Oh boy, more content that will last me for another 6 months

F: God damn Ene is pretty in every media

Me: Now I'm really curious about the context of that one Ayano and Ene art in the Anthologies.

MY AYATAKA/AYAENE YURI WILL RISE!!! ❤️💙

I haven’t read it yet, so it better not be Kano using Deceiving Eyes or something (but it’s probably likely 😩)

Me: I translated a couple KuroEne comics in my files (since I have at least 90% of their old fanarts saved in my files)

Debating whether to post them on Tumblr or not cuz I have most of their fanarts, which have been deleted from the internet. Perhaps I could link to my Notion page instead?

F: If I had a nickel for every ship fan comic I’ve seen that involves Kuroha taunting Ene about Haruka, I'd have 2 nickels, or probably more since I'm a very late witness of KagePro

F: Ene is opening up, then again, similar to MCA where he would take form of Haruka to remind Ene of her past, he could he doing the same thing here since, Ene's reactions are similar...

Me: MCA is animated laughably bad but just remembering the devastated reaction Ene has when Kano uses his Ability to turn into Haruka...

I don't want to portray something like that with Kuroha/Saeru tbh. She (understandably) wouldn’t take it very well

F: Ene looks like that one Shinji meme but standing up

Me: I've seen the “Kuroha weaponizes his knowledge of his S/O’s past relationships by taunting them” trope so many times in KuroEne ship fanarts (and Kuroha ship fanarts in general) that I personally choose not to depict stuff like that

F: I'm just biased towards yours 😭 😭

Also, within the context of your AU, if he wants to lure Ene into his trap, he must not remind her of the past then, so she'd move onto him

F: Uh, not sure if Ene is the type of person so easily move on, but I feel like she'd still have the feeling of a small crush on Haruka

Me: Yeah like I'm not saying that he wouldn't pull something like transforming into Haruka in those cases (in the fanart depictions that I’ve seen) but it can get too... much. Which is why I choose not to depict stuff like that.

Me: Imo Ene would still have lingering feelings for Haruka too. Which he doesn't mind. She still feels attracted to him (Saeru) and wants to play the game with him

F: Yep, that's how I portray it at least

Me: I'm biased towards my ship AU depictions too. The power imbalance in all Kuroha ships obviously still exists, but I made sure to alleviate the power imbalance as much as possible

Also that too. Kuroha/Saeru wouldn't want to remind her of the past/others because he wants to lure Ene into his trap and seduce her so that they can play the game together without any restraints/inhibitions holding them back.

In my KuroEne AU, he wants her to be drawn toawrds him and to get into her heart.

So I personally avoid depicting stuff like "Kuroha/Saeru weaponizes his knowledge of Ene's memories with Haruka." Again, I'd only depict this kind of thing in my own ship AU works if she calls him out on it/his bluff.

Me: Imo he DOES weaponize his knowledge of Haruka and Konoha’s relationships with her, but I don’t want to depict it in THIS specific way. In my ship AUs, it’s more like he uses his knowledge to his advantage to get into her heart, better understand her desires and how to fulfill them, etc.

Me: Also in general, Kuroha ships just don't work if the other party is too passive imo. Like his S/O needs to keep their agency and be able to confront him at times (when it matters), in order for the ship to work

F: Ene is pretty reactive and energetic she fits to be the opposing S/O

Me: I agree. Ene fits perfectly with Kuroha/Saeru. She’s one of the charas who’s a really good pick for him

Me: But like you said, in my ship AU he would avoid reminding her of the past so that she can “fall with him” (fall into the abyss with him). Metaphorically speaking.

Me: I took creative liberties in my ship AU so that he would consider being intimate with humans

I think KuroEne has fascinating potential so I wanted to explore their relationship dynamic more

Me: Like in this case, he understands that NOT pulling something like this would get Ene to open up to him easier.

F: Yess, he wants to lure her in, he will charm her with his actions

Kuroha takes Ene to see Haruka’s home and sketchbook

(Copy pasting my old rambles)

Could you just imagine Kuroha taking Ene (who transferred into in an android body to move in the real world) to Haruka's house. Kuroha decides to take Ene back to Haruka's house (the idea just came to him in this route and he wants to experience new things)

Cuz I imagine Haruka's things were just taken back to his house by his family after his death. When Ene finds all of Haruka's old things, she just gets emotional and clutches his sketchbook in her arms, hugging it.

Reminded of Hama's old fanart of Ene hugging Haruka's sketchbook... God.

At first she's conflicted whether to go through his things, and is constantly mulling it over in her head whether it's ok to go through someone's private things, but decides to eventually, giving into her curiosity. When she decides to open the sketchbook, she just sees that the pages of Haruka's sketchbook are filled with his 2 years old sketches of her...

Kuroha is strangely not very chatty/talkative, and quiet for the duration of this trip. He lets her bask in it and take it all in. Saeru should understand that staying silent and letting this encounter stay melancholic and somber benefits him here. He gets to see more of Ene’s vulnerable sides by letting her mourn on her own. He doesn’t say anything while she looks around and takes everything in.

This time, Kuroha/Saeru decides to act more tender in response, cuz this is a softer, more tender, more vulnerable side of Ene that he hasn't ever seen before in all of the past routes.

So, Saeru, with a neutral expression (similar to the Joker art), without saying anything, just... crouches down and rests a hand in her hair, and pats her head softly... While she's kneeled on the ground, hugging Haruka's sketchbook...

Even he should understand that it's MUCH better to "behave" here because he would get to see a more tender side of Ene that he hasn't seen before. Like come on he should understand that staying silent here benefits him cuz she would show a more tender side to him and appreciate that he chose to bring her here.

Ene’s willingness to show tenderness to him, despite everything… 🥹

I decided to go with this cuz it's 1000000x better for him to be more tender here. It fits better. Because this is new for him. He gets to see a new side of her. When Ene looks up at him, with an expression on the verge of tears, and mutters a small, “Thank you,” to him, he blinks a bit in mild surprise at first, and then etches the sight into his memories. This one stands out to him.

Like bruh, I REALLY don't want him to ruin the moment by saying some shit like, "The Haruka you know and love is dead!" Like (.) 🧍

He can do this to the MekaDan all he wants, but the moment he does this in my ship AU scenarios is when I’ll beat his ass ✌️

Even if he totally has it in him to do that, this is like the ONE time I don’t want him to ruin the moment. It’s just so unappealing in general too

Rambles with Feila

Me: I had an idea before of Kuroha bringing Ene to Haruka's old house to see Haruka's sketchbook and his sketches of her. I didn't fit this scenario into any particular Route yet, I just thought the scenario would be interesting to think about.

Me: Kuroha/Saeru letting their encounter be more melancholic and somber and choosing to stay quiet and NOT using the situation as a way to taunt her would actually allow him to see more of Ene's softer sides/vulnerabilities (and he never would've seen this particular side of Ene in a Route before). Cuz Ene would have a sense of gratefulness to him after this. It would be advantageous to him.

Me: Yeah like in my AU he wants to lure her in and charm her into playing the game with him, so he would want to earn her trust and avoid doing stuff like this that would setback his goals/their relationship, especially if it’s early on

F: Oh well, he's getting her to open up, but that is still in character without him having to taunt Ene

Me: Yeah like imo he should be able to understand that giving Ene the space to mourn (in this scenario) benefits him more.

Me: This is like the ONE time I don’t want him to ruin the moment 😭

It fits better. He should understand that giving her the space to mourn is in his best interests so that he can see more of Ene's vulnerable sides. So it fits this encounter to be more melancholic and somber. It's just more interesting thematically, and writing-wise too.

He gets more benefits out of it. It’s advantageous to him.

F: Yeah like, Ene mourning over Haruka and Kuroha being all like "Too bad, look at me, I'm your previous lover, aren't I?" is just so... eugh. He could be a lil possessive over Ene, but it's not like he'd get jealous of this too. He will let her mourn in peace

Me: Right like fuck no I won't depict shit like that ever 😭 Yeah it's just so... eugh :/ I'm not a fan of when people lean into or depict stuff like this. If it’s mild, it’s ok, but sometimes it goes way too far.

Me: He doesn't get jealous, because he has nothing to be jealous of. No one can best him when it comes to knowledge. He does have it in him to be (mildly) possessive though, but not in this situation. He would let her mourn in peace (about Haruka), because it's advantageous to him.

Kuroha letting Ene mourn is just way more interesting from a writing standpoint.

Them showing this kind of tenderness to each other in an AU where she’s actually aware of his true identity (and he’s not putting on an act) is just so interesting.

Saeru not using the situation to stroke his ego for once, and granting someone this sense of peace/tranquility and reassurance, is just so unlike the usual him, but he DOES recognize the benefits presented to him by choosing to act this way, and reaps the rewards for doing so.

He supposes that, since he DID want to learn more about human emotions/love, that it’s better to do this.

KuroEne AU: Dialogue Scripts

I have depicted Kuroha bringing up Ene’s relationships with Konoha and Haruka to her in a KuroEne AU Route where KuroEne play the game alone and have Love/Hate sex, so Ene is aware of his true name (Saeru) and his identity as the Clearing Snake.

So she sees him as an evil snake who is possessing the body of her previous friend/lover, and knows his true nature here.

Ene dares him and holds him to his word that he can provide the pleasure he promises, and Kuroha accepts her challenge.

Here are some of my dialogue script WIPs. I talked about this set of scripts here

Link:

I 10000000% prefer the way that the whole “Kuroha/Saeru weaponizes his knowledge of his S/O’s past relationships and memories” trope is executed here, tbh. It just feels better and more natural to me because Ene confronts him and bites back at him and meets his “challenge” head on.

F: Poetry 💥💥💥

F: Well at least he doesn't bring it up to taunt her and make her relapse about it, it seems like he just wanted to remind her, not to taunt her, just like, "Hey y'know, I hold your past lover's body" and that's it.

F: Which is very different from other artists’ depictions where Kuroha takes Haruka’s form and taunts her, etc.

Me: Yeahhh my depictions of KuroEne are typically much softer than other fan artists' depictions that I've seen, even when portraying angst.

I’m insanely picky with depictions of KuroEne since they're my fave ship. I usually don’t like portrayals of depicting Kuroha taking Haruka/Konoha’s form, personally, unless it's mild.

KuroEne AU: Ene insists that she’s just playing the game with Kuroha to defeat him, which amuses him

Me: Here, I rambled about this before

Most of my meow meow mf faves are possessive, which makes sense... It requires entitlement to be possessive, and thinking that you're worthy of affection/attention, something that my faves definitely have due to their arrogance and ego.

I could see a sense of possessiveness in him (Kuroha/Saeru) wanting to prove that they DO have a special, karmic, fated relationship, (especially with how tsun Ene is, who especially doesn't want to admit more honest feelings to someone like Kuroha/Saeru)

Most of my faves want an exclusivity of affection from their S/O that is reserved for them only, but Kuroha/Saeru doesn't mind his partner having previous or multiple loves at all. It's even interesting, entertaining to him.

(Quoting lines from my KuroEne AU)

Kuroha: All paths will lead back to me eventually.

Kuroha: Is there anyone who knows your passions and your heart better than I do?

He knows that no matter what, because he carries such intimate knowledge of the other party, (Ene in this case), due to his knowledge, he knows that can't be matched... They will still end up in the same place (doing this with him again). It creates an inexplicable pull between him and her.

He can continue to be so smug about it because he knows he cannot be bested in terms of "knowledge." The "special" relationship and connection they have, will remain a constant in all routes, as long as they play the game together. Also added with the fact that Kuroha/Saeru is possessing Konoha's body and has his face, body, and voice. Ene hates him, but a part of her feels inexplicably drawn to him. He is her and the Mekakushi Dan's worst enemy. And yet...

Me: Like, I could see him being mildly possessive if Ene keeps denying his claims that they have a special, karmic relationship (even while they have an intimate relationship)

For example, in the KuroEne AU Route where Saeru reveals his identity right away so they have Love/Hate sex. Like if Ene tells him that she’s only doing this with him because she wants to defeat him, he would be amused by that and tell her that she can keep making herself believe that. But if she keeps up this insistence, then he would want to prove a point to her to stroke his ego

Copy pasting my old rambles

Just came to mind but ngl for the KuroEne AU where Ene is intimate with Kuroha. It'd honestly be pretty funny if tsun tsun Ene tries to justify her trysts or intimate encounters with Kuroha like this:

Ene: They're not trysts!!! I'm just doing this with you so that I can finally defeat you!!!

Kuroha: And yet, you seem to enjoy our little... encounters.

Trying to convince yourself you're fucking a guy (your most hated enemy) only to defeat him, sounds hilarious ngl 😭😂

Cuz technically they are playing a "game" of some kind, so the competitive side of her comes out here

He just... knows her too well. He knows that his offer to Ene (of providing a body and offering her to come live with him) is too tempting/irresistable to pass up. He can make a body for her, provide a place for her to stay, and satisfy her needs for warmth and touch and companionship, etc., after being trapped in the cyber world for so long…

He's older than human civilization so he’d know/learn more about human behaviours. I like the “genius inventor” and “evil mad scientist” vibes that’s infused in my ship AU :) I think it fits him cuz realistically he should be able to pull this off

KuroEne AU: Ene's denial of her own feelings

In the context of a KuroEne AU, Kuroha is aware of Ene's tendency to avoid confronting her emotional issues and "bad feelings" (she keeps them to herself to avoid worrying others, like Shintaro), so ofc she would deny having a connection with him, or even the fact that her choosing to do this with him DOES mean that they have a bond, at least of some kind. It DOES mean something.

Ene doesn't want to admit what Kuroha/Saeru is completely aware of and already knows - that they have a fated karmic bond/relationship with each other due to Kuroha's intimate knowledge of her (and all of his different memories of her throughout all the time loops)

Ene feels strangely drawn to him, despite her hatred for him. She feels some sort of pull, despite everything. And because he knows that, he obviously wouldn't believe her declarations of "We don't have anything between us...!" and "This doesn't mean anything...!"

And he would probably say something like, "Time and time again, no matter how much time passes, no matter how many times we repeat this dance of ours, no matter how much you hate me, there is a reason for why you keep doing this with me? Go on. I already know, but I want to hear you say it."

Cuz as I said before, the situation is so surreal to her, with him being in the body of the person she loves with his face and voice (Konoha is the Snake of Awakening Eyes in Haruka's remade body), and Saeru's knowledge of Haruka and Takane, and Konoha and Ene's context.

Ene acts cheerful and optimistic on purpose, the complete opposite of what she was like back when she was alive. KuroEne has less personality clash than KuroTaka tbh. They mesh better together.

Kuroha encourages his S/O to keep playing the game with him

Me: Also I was just thinking what's interesting about KuroEne is that KuroEne is a ship oriented in the ever looping present.

Kuroha/Saeru as a character encourages regression (as opposed to growth) and the eternal looping of their game.

As a secondary goal to his immortality, he wants the game to continue endlessly through the eternal cycle of destruction and rebirth (revival and renewal through destruction)

In the context of a ship AU, Saeru wants to “corrupt” his S/O and taint their soul by leaving his marks on them across timelines.

It reminds me a bit of KamaGuda (FGO), an evil antagonist wanting to corrupt Ritsuka, the FGO protag. Kama wanted to corrupt Ritsuka so that they’d fall for their seductions/temptations

Kama → Ritsuka: ”Fall into depravity (me)”

Though KamaGuda is fundamentally different. The "love" of the Beasts (Evils of Humanity) in FGO are still filled with a genuine pure love that Saeru lacks. Basically, the Beasts love humanity in a nurturing way that threatens its existence

It comes from Kama’s inner yearning to be loved (by them - Ritsuka), something that only OC2 Kama (Alter Ego Kama in Ordeal Call II: Paper Moon) eventually realized and acknowledged, but that (the usual) Kama themselves, won’t acknowledge or admit.

Me: My ships tend to be future oriented and hopeful: JuAli, LimGuda, XanLena, IdaTatsu

I think the only exception I have to this is canon-verse KuroEne, cuz one of the charas in the ship is someone who actively steals the hope and dreams/fantasies of having a happy life/future, from the cast. It's a ship that's rooted in the ever looping past/present rather than the future. At least in canon-verse, anyways.

It’s so interesting to think about cuz even the fall out of a KuroEne AU, with the kind of Final Route setting that I imagined, would require them to try and mend their relationship over all the broken cracks that Saeru created in the first place.

I think the ship does have a happy future if you write a Final Route rewrite AU where Kuroha/Saeru lives and has to make up for his piled up sins/karma by serving as a protector or guardian figure to Mary's family. Canon-verse KuroEne is messy and complicated as hell, but that makes their relationship interesting imo

I love ships with emotional baggage, so all of my main fave ships 100% appeal to my tastes and are right up my alley.

Canon-verse KuroEne will only get a happy end if you go with something similar to the alternate ending ideas I had for KagePro's Final Route. Otherwise, the ship is doomed to tragedy

Kuroha/Saeru fits perfectly with my character tastes, but due to his role and character set-up, he's much more selfish and dark and twisted. My other faves, even if they're evil and dark and twisted, are still MUCH softer to their S/Os, and still have some form of pure, genuine love.

Douman's Red Flag list would be longer than Saeru's but LimGuda, despite meeting as Enemies trying to kill each other, is MUCH softer as a ship, in comparison to KuroEne.

Canon-verse Kuroha/Saeru lacks humanity, and the softness and tenderness (at least, the genuine kind) that even characters like Douman and Kiara (FGO) have.

Especially cuz with canon-verse KuroEne, I'm personally more interested in exploring their endless possibilities in the [XX] amount of routes (time loop resets), rather than their "Future."

Though fanon-verse KuroEne is fun to think of too. I also think they deserve to just be cute together

Writing scenarios that exist outside of canon-verse like a domestic married life AU would be cute. I want them to go on a vacation to Vietnam. My wife and her unhinged snake should visit my home country for my comfort 🥺

Cuz from observation, fanon-verse Kuroha/Saeru tends to be much tamer. Reminds me of Judar (Magi) who just becomes a neutralized threat that runs around like a gremlin

Digital Tears

Source: Murder Drones

F: Which brings me to another question, Ene can produce tears??

Me: “Can Ene cry?”

Oh that's a good question actually…

F: Because in order to produce tears, you need water. But Ene could also be just sobbing without producing tears, but that's kind of impossible for human logic

Me: For aesthetics, I'll just imagine digital tears then

F: Make me think about how Uzi produce tears (pardon my nerdy MD-loving ass)

Since she has a screen for her eyes. And this is how they produce/show sweat

And blush apparently, I forgot about that part

Me: OOOH interesting. I like the glowy effects

F: That's MD for you ;D

Fave Sen-core chara/ship tropes 🐈‍⬛☀️

Sen-core ship tropes:

Black/white colour schemed meow meow mf with a bloodthirsty personality or violent tendencies, paired with a soft warm empathetic S/O with a brighter disposition

Meow meow mf x Ball of sunshine

Morally questionable (or Morally Bankrupt) x Morally agreeable,

Freak x Freak who freaks them out (or Human that tames them)

Red Flag x Green Flag

Antagonist x Protagonist (or Protagonist cast character)

"Freak x Freak who freaks them out" is the funniest ship trope description ever. ALL of my top fave ships are this LMAO

Freak x Normie where the Normie (more normal S/O) has the freak ™️ on a leash.

The freak is caught off guard by their S/O’s genuine candid sincerity and heartfelt emotions/feelings

Though in some of my ships, the cat is not on a leash, and the cat does whatever it wants. Then it’d moreso be “The freak having the capability to show more softened tendencies towards their S/O, of some kind”

KuroEne basically sets up my foundation Sen-core ship tropes. Kid me has good taste as expected. It runs in my ship tastes.

A lot of my current KuroEne AU writings are inspired by LimGuda (Limbo/Douman x Ritsuka/Guda) from FGO. My inspiration is a godly ship :)

They’re fundamentally different ships, but I have a lot of experience working with their main ship trope: “Evil meow meow mf who have an obsessive nature and their own brand of ‘ill’ love, wants their more energetic, soft empathetic S/O with a brighter disposition to fall with them” 🐈‍⬛

LimGuda is such an insane ship 😭 LimGuda gets everything I wished my other ships would get. And the fact that they get fed by both official and fanon content is CRAZY.

Gay evil NB clown demon hates humanity but is deadly obsessed with the human they're in love with, and wants to watch their downfall so they can follow them to hell... Aughhh LimGuda...

"I possess a secret love for you. But it's nothing like wanting to make Master my own possession, or anything like that..."

LimGuda getting a gorgeous Valentine's Day fanart drawn by Douman's official artist that has a skull illusion composition to allude to Douman's character, the nature of Douman's love, and their karmic bond...

Literally how is this ship real /lh

I don't need my ships to be canon to be king 👑

It's just fine if I do my own things with them outside of the source material. When it comes to the source material itself, I just need my faves to interact and I want to see good contents from them that fits their characterization. But if not, then I’ll just feed them myself 👍

Meow Meow mfs

I love black/white aesthetic in character design (cuz it's so closely linked to the concept of Black/White, Yin/Yang, Sun/Moon), goth and punk fashion, etc.

Similar to my faves, I often wear black/white/gray (+ accent colours like blue, red, purple, green). I mainly wear black and blue. Coincidentally KuroEne colours 🖤💙

I love how my faves remind me of tux cats and black kitties, my personal fave kinds of cats... I have golden kitty faves and others, too, but my faves are mainly known for their BW aesthetics 🐈‍⬛🖤🤍

It's not necessary to be a BW meow meow though. It's just the main one that my faves are mainly known for. I have many different kinds of Sen-core meow meow mfs who're very varied.

But they all fall into a very specific Sen-core character archetype. My “meow meow mf” faves are distanced from humanity, and/or, normal social interactions, due to royal/divine/non-human status or emotional repression/emotional issues, which gives their ego this very specific "Sen-core" quality. Putting it like this, every single one of my "Meow meow mf" faves falls into this, without exception.

“Being distanced from humanity due to being non-human, which gives their ego this ‘Sen-core’ quality”

I always go for this character type, so I personally named it “Meow meow mf” to easily definite my tastes. A cat-like character with the above traits. If this chara trope doesn’t exist in the series, then I go for secondary chara tropes I enjoy.

[practically-an-x-man]

Wandavision or Echo?

Abner Krill or Harley Quinn?

Stucky or Steggy?

Thai food or Mexican food?

Hurt/comfort or Enemies to Lovers?

Ooooooh thank you!!!

Echo for sure!!! I liked Wandavision well enough, especially the whole thing of bringing Evan Peters back as the other Quicksilver, I think that whole premise was super neat, but Echo is just WORLDS above that show in every way. It's got so much more heart, the acting is better, they actually respect the lead actor's background and culture rather than whitewashing the character (cough cough Wanda...), it's just such a better show all around.

AGH DON'T MAKE ME CHOOSE!! I love them both so much!! I think I have to go with Harley though, she's been my favorite since the beginning <3

STUCKY! I've never been much of a Steggy fan. I think they're cute back in First Avenger, sure, but I don't understand the whole "went back in time for her" plot when that goes against all of Steve's character arc across the rest of the movies.

Thai food all the way!!! I do like Mexican food, but Thai food is just such comfort food to me (there's this local family-owned restaurant that serves Lao and Thai food and I swear it's my favorite restaurant in town, it's saved me from so many bad days lol)

Ooooooh another tough choice... but I have to go with hurt/comfort. I love them both, but there's something about hurt/comfort that really scratches that brain itch for me. Plus, I think hurt/comfort is usually a little more consistent - it's easy to find a good, well-written hurt/comfort fic, but I think some authors struggle with writing a genuinely compelling enemies-to-lovers fic.

[elzifelzi]

Been in a huge avatar tla mood so here are my few avatar takes.

Avatar is a show that can be done perfectly in live action as long as the people working on it are fans of the show and do their research. Shyamalan was clearly not and thats one of the main reasons the live action movie was bad.

The movie while awful had good cg for it's time and the elements themselves looked good the main issue with that was the fact that they did not pay attention to which martial arts the bending styles were based off of and just did whatever they wanted.

Despite the whole "losing past lives" thing Korra wasn't a bad avatar and she's far from the worst(Roku holds that title)

However she was a very unlikable character for a vast majority of the first and second season so i understand why people have their issues with her she genuinely has alot of writing flaws that make her hard to enjoy.

Usually when i express my feelings about Korra people always respond with "you only hate her because she's a bisexual female avatar" and i then have to point out that my favorite avatar is Kyoshi who aside from being an absolute unit is also a bisexual female avatar.

Kyoshi is the best avatar and deserves her own series.

Was neat seeing Avatar Wan in LOK but i personally would’ve preferred having a mini series with him instead just of the 2 episodes. we got.

Zutara is an awful ship and is only popular because of the tired tropes of opposites attract/fire water/good girl bad guy/enemies to lovers. Despite the voice actors pushing it Zuko and Katara have a total of 2 moments together on screen that mean anything one of them is katara realizing that zuko has also suffered because of the war and the other is katara forgiving him for betrayal neither of which are romantic in any way.(I also simply do not like the enemies to lovers trope in general and the only time i feel it works is when the enemy in question is just on the opposing faction and hasn't actually hurt the other character directly.

Sokka not having kids and having an ambiguous fate has to be one of the weirdest decisions ever made by the writers.

The Live action show will be good.

Iroh deserves his own series

Bumi is the most interesting out of all of Aang and Kataras children.

Korrasami is a dope ass relationship that didn’t get the development needed to be great.

Korra not having her past lives anymore makes the concept of the avatar kinda dumb and only works best with Wan since he is Literally the first.

The biggest flaw of the LOK is how the most exciting moments of the show don't come from Korra but from Aang and his team avatar and their kids.

Kataang isn't an amazing ship at all but The people who shit on shit simply refuse to understand the reason why they work so well

[cbrownjc]

loumand shippers are mostly brown and black people who are first and foremost happy to see and interracial gay relationship without a white in it.

they will never turn on loumand or assad because for them it's less about the show and more about the representation.

they're also the smallest group in the fandom when you think of the three main ships. loustat, loumand, dm.

Hey Anon,

I mean, I kinda don't want to assume. I'm sure there are some white fans who ship Armand and Louis too. But I admit I do feel like many who do are as you say, people are drawn to a non-white interracial couple.

And I don't have a problem with that. I fully understand that. Hell, it's a rare thing to see in any medium. And if they are fine with accepting that Armand isn't going to morph into some noble good guy and will be doing some problematic things, just like other characters in this story, that's fine too. Again I and no one has ever asked them to stop shipping Armand and Louis because of the things Armand will do. Or turn on the ship.

The actors however no, I'm not confident about that. And not just because of what some of them are saying about Sam. But because of what I'm hearing is being said about Jacob too.

Apparently, some people have called Jacob a sell-out in regard to this stuff, particularly it seems because he's friends and close with Sam. Jacob, who went through some of the most racist backlashes in almost any fandom due to his casting, is being called this and having people question why he is so close with and hangs out with Sam so much instead of Assad.

So forgive me but no, at the moment I have little faith Assad is going to escape some of this when even Jacob hasn't, apparently.

And lord forbid either one of them say anything nice about Sam, or that their characters both actually love Lestat. Because, you know, as far as canon goes, Louis and Armand both do love Lestat too. Deeply.

This does not negate the love and understanding Armand and Louis have for each other, of course. But that is just a nuance here that I feel is going to go over a lot of these people's heads. It seems to whenever many of us in fandom have tried to explain it before now.

I don't usually mind shipper back and forths. I've engaged in my own in different fandoms, as anyone who goes through my Tumblr archives can see. I don't really do it for IWTV and VC fandom simply because I'm so drawn to the poly nature of Rice's vampires than I am for any sort of monogamous shipping aspect or idea. I am deeply looking forward to seeing the combinations of everything that's coming in S2.

But I am not looking forward to the actors being attacked or having disparaging things said about them just because Jacob or Assad aren't hanging out with each other more like some think they should, or because they both actually like Sam, or will at some point talk about how each of the characters they play love Sam's character and being called sell-outs for that, or anything else.

Because, again, nothing I'm seeing right now wrt all of this is giving me pause to not expect it to happen. Nothing at all.

And I speak from experience when I say . . . the actors do see or hear this personal stuff that's said about them. You might think they don't, especially if they have limited or no social media. But they still hear about it, even if just through a second hand. For sure.