#we need the characters to be well written with consistent characterisation

[saltywinteradult]

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: if rhaenicent becomes canon at the expense of butchering alicent’s character then i don’t want it.

[thunderboltfire]

Sera could be an example of how to make a terrible disservice to a character

An essay, by me.

I tend to be really cautious when the general public doesn’t like a video game character. Sometimes it’s just a specific aspect of them that tends to make people hate them - sometimes it’s even an unfortunate line, or a character doesn’t truly fit the setting, and even if they have very interesting, hidden side not many people get to see it. And sometimes just people jump on a bandwagon and hate for its own sake. I generally try to give characters a fair chance to get to know them.

That being said, I don’t really like Sera. I went through the full friendship route and throughout the majority of it, I felt that something’s off. It probably wasn’t the fact that her dialect wasn’t always well translated - she always seemed to stand out from the background, but not in the best way. I wondered what’s wrong exactly - she has some endearing qualities, she likes to have fun, she can pack a punch when needed. It bugged me for a long time, but finally, after thinking it through, I think I’ve got it.

The problem is twofold: one, her characterisation is inconsequential - and two, she doesn’t seem to fit the tone and overarching themes of DA:I.

Why do I think Sera was written in a way that doesn’t make her fit well into DA:I?

Well, what do we know about Sera?

She’s a great archer, she is skilled at guerilla warfare (especially urban guerilla warfare, if the Red Jennies’ general area of operation suggests anything), she’s an agent of a powerful (albeit decentralised) organisation, she’s a Robin Hood-esqe rogue and she’s all about having fun. That’s unfortunately where the problem in her characterisation begins. Sera sees the injustice and opposes it in many instances, but what she expresses as her main motive to joining the Inquistion is for the life to get back to what it was before the crisis, which may seem selfish on her part. She is usually acting rather consistently as a rebel to the established power dynamics, but she seems to know that she - or the Inquisitor, for the matter - doesn’t have the power to overthrow the current state of things. She craves change, but on her own terms. Her apparent conservatism (wanting for everything to be back to normal) is in fact the fear of the unknown more than the actual fear of change, but the execution of her character makes it look like she’s a walking contradiction. Her very personal sense of right and wrong, imbalanced by the unusual situation she’s found herself in, makes it pretty hard to predict her reactions. Her quick judgement, which undoubtedly was an asset for a Red Jenny put her at a disadvantage in a situation she doesn’t understand, and make her look completely unpredictable.

DA:I was often described as a game about politics, and the political themes seem to be more prevalent than in DA2, or even DA:O. Very often we hear that we have to secure the influence in a certain region, we have to negotiate, politically we have to be everyone’s best friend and hold everyone at a knifepoint - often in the same time. We have to get involved in the Game, whether we like it or not. Sera fits into it very weirdly, or rather, doesn’t fit in at all - put into a situation where you and the members of your inner circle have to maintain cold blood and consider the consequences, she’ll act in accordance to her own principles - that is, overthrow the board, or outright refuse to play by the rules. She’s got a heart in the right place, but logically speaking, she’d work way better as an agent, than as a member of an Inner Circle, where almost everyone knows and respects the stakes. Wherever You’d need to sow chaos and undermine the existing authority, You’d send Sera in and she’d do what she does best; instead, if You take her with You on any quest important for the main plot, she’ll be understandably dissatisfied, because while the Inquisition’s goals align with her own, its methods don’t.

That’s especially frustrating, because her rebellious attitude isn’t in itself a flaw. You could just put her in Kirkwall and she’d do great - in a cast of intense characters who drive the story and are for the better or worse trapped in a terrible city, a street smart archer who's pulling the strings behind the scenes to help the poor would be an instant favourite. Hawke’s crew is a walking trouble with law and authority already, they already have a pirate queen and an important figure in the local *cough cough* Merchant Guild onboard, and I’d love to see Sera’s point of view on the situation. I feel that practically any installment of Dragon Age would be a better playground for a character like her except DA:I. I would even argue that if her and Sebastian switched places, both characters would benefit from it. In Kirkwall, place with rampant social stratification, Sera would definitely have a lot to do - her personal history and her difficult relationship with her identity as an elf could be explored in a more complex way. Instead in the Inquisition, Sebastian’s arc would allow the Inquisitor to get deeper into the meanders of Freemarcher politics. That’s also not to say that there ISN’T a way to fit a rebellious rogue into a politics-heavy, high-stakes narration. Thronebreaker does it amazingly well, making Gascon a fan favourite and a left hand of main character who does the job brilliantly. The difference is that despite being a comic relief at times, his personality traits align with what could make him a respected leader of a bandit group in the first place. He is always prepared, he always has a backup plan, he knows how to negotiate and threaten. He can be selfish, ruthless and cruel - but at the same time, he knows how to gain and maintain common people’s support and he will react if he thinks the main character is going against their interest. He will always do things his way, he can be an exhausting opponent or a formidable ally.

What could Sera’s intended role in the Inquisition be, either plot-wise or narration-wise?

Speaking from the plot point of view, she’s a high ranking agent of a widespread secret organisation - it’s implied she has access to a lot of intelligence and she has quite a bit of favours to call, if she needs to. This makes her a perfectly reasonable asset for an Inquisition. However, there’s two problems here: one, her characterisation as an impulsive, trigger happy chaotic neutral rogue doesn’t fit someone who would work at the high levels of a secret organisation. And second, her being a Red Jenny seems terribly underutilised. Outside of a personal quest and a few errands at the War Table she doesn’t feel like someone with actual influence in the world - for sure not more than Varric, and he plays his influence down on purpose.

Narration-wise the important angle of Sera’s presence in the Inquisition could be being a voice of a common person, a representation of common folk’s pent-up anger over suffered injustice. She might be a character reminding the Inquisitor who they are really fighting for. Except that her treatment in-game makes this sort of narration ridicoulous, because young and inexperienced, she’s constantly dismissed and her claims seem to be more of a personal angle than an actual representation of wider norms.

The majority of people in-game also isn’t shown as valuing her input - the Inquisitor can dismiss her anytime, she’s considered a questionable ally at best by the advisors, she’s repeatedly described as an unpredictable wildcard in-and out-of game. Her supposed influence as a Red Jenny is almost never discussed or agknowledged. She seems out of her depth, and she isn’t easily persuaded. She seems to be a paragon of self-determination, but she makes no effort to understand those different from her (e.g. the Dalish inquisitor, the mages, or Cole). Her judgement is rarely the Okham’s razor you’d expect it to be if her role was to provide a sort of an “outsider’s perspective” to the issues You face.

It’s not to say that her characterisation doesn’t make sense - she seems like a believable portrayal of what does it mean to be a young person in a world full of injustice, where crisis never ends. But in context, she both seems like a person who’s notably difficult to cooperate with, and a character which is weirdly static in comparison to the others. Her arc is supposed to be about overcoming the consequences of lies she’s been told when she was young, but at the end of it her worldview, particularly her approach to elves - those from alienage or Dalish - doesn’t change at all. It seems to me that she has a lot of unresolved issues and for sure there is a lot of opportunity for character development in there, but it. isn’t. utilised. It isn’t only limited to Sera - in the Inquisition there’s more characters who don’t really change in the course of the game, but she’s maybe the most glaring example because her relatively young age and new experiences should make for a pretty dynamic character. In this way, the writers not only made disservice to her by the choosing to include her in a heavily political plot, but also did her a disservice because she seems disengaged from the player’s influence - she can applaud our choices or be upset with them, and she’s an occasional comic relief, but the interaction with the player doesn’t influence her otherwise.

[ficklefics]

It would be fun for you to write a long lists of what you love vs what you hate when it comes to Jerome Valeska fanfictions and why you feel that way 🤪

is this ask from last summer? yes. am i only answering it now? also yes. hopefully the asker still follows me.

please remember that these are all just my opinions and it’s totally fine to disagree. a lot of it comes down to the characterisation of Jerome, which I feel a lot of writers oversimplify

let’s start with what I don’t like (cause that’s easier):

one of my biggest frustrations are fics where it’s like “reader is a high school student/nurse at arkham/police officer who is actually super insane except shows no sign of that at all ever”. can they be done well? sure. but I rarely see it. one fic that I read years ago had the reader as one of the cheerleaders on the bus in s2ep2 and she hands Jerome a lighter because… why? never really clear. in general, the ordinary person who is actually the perfect type of insane for Jerome to be interested in as opposed to just killing is rarely done right for me

I hate when Jerome in a fic is poorly characterised. by that, I mean just behaving sporadically in a “the writer doesn’t know what they’re doing way” as opposed to “he’s insane”. it’s a difficult line to walk

now, don’t get me wrong. i like a lil smut. well written smut. but it’s difficult to write Jerome smut well. a very core element of his character, established very early, is the fact that his mother’s sexual activity defos traumatised him and was key in pushing him over the edge. a Jerome who’s just banging left right and centre isn’t a Jerome that’s in character for me

now onto the likes (a lot of which are just the inverses of the dislikes):

the best thing a writer can do (for me) is have a clear idea of who Jerome is in their mind and in their fic. like I said above, there are lots of different ways to portray Jerome, and it’s not my place to tell people what’s right or wrong. I’d much rather read a consistent Jerome that isn’t how I imagine him than a wibbly wobbly noncommittal Jerome

in a similar vein, fics where Jerome is actually a bad person who does bad things. commit crime! relish in people’s suffering! but do them in interesting ways.

I love a fic where we get of vulnerable Jerome. not every fic needs this, but depending on the context i really enjoy getting to see writers interpretations of what that looks like, especially given that we don’t get any of it in the show really

again, these are all just my own thoughts. there’s a lot of nuance and a lot of fics out there. stuff I used to love I hate now, and stuff I once hated… I usually still hate tbh. read the fics you love and write the fics that make you happy

[zahri-melitor]

Ooh, the Dickpoll. Dick like Tim is cursed with having a bunch of acceptable writers who also tend to have a huge gaping flaw.

Marv Wolfman: can I get spicy here? I don't really like Wolfman. Yes yes, foundational to creating Nightwing, he IS NTT - but I don't particularly enjoy NTT. I like the OTT lineup. He's also dealing with the fact a lot of his content is now 30-40 years old. Plus, when they DID give him a Nightwing run, it was the most retrospective thing ignoring almost everything that had happened to Dick since he was returned to the Bat office in 1993-1994.

Chuck Dixon: I don't think Chuck is Dick's best writer. I think he is way too heavy handed with the 'be my own man, Bruce' narrative most of the time. Despite this he also wrote Robin #13, and Dick and Bruce's conversation there, especially "That's the way it is between fathers and sons" is peak perfect Bruce and Dick. He set up pretty much everything about what is now treated by the fandom as Nightwing's 'default' situation - Blüdhaven and a good chunk of the associated rogues gallery. Also he's the architect of well-written Dick/Babs so I love him for that.

Devin Grayson: Devin shouldn't actually be allowed to write Dick as his primary writer because she loves him too much and has elaborate headcanons that contradict what other writers have written. That said, she's actually a solid writer and her runs tend to be much better when she's got other characters around to spread her attention between. She wrote Transference in Gotham Knights, after all! She wrote "Like Riding a Bike" about Dick and Donna in Batman Chronicles! Also as I've said before, part of the issue with her Nightwing run is she got royally screwed over by War Games and then Nightwing Year One right as she was trying to land the bleakest part of a whump run, and never recovered from it.

Jay Faerber: he's...fine? I think the only bit anyone seriously cares about is the Who is Donna Troy storyline.

Judd Winick: Oooh Winick. He likes writing Dick more broken than I enjoy Dick. Also I hold a grudge against him for his Batman & Robin story, when I was desperately hoping someone other than Tomasi would write bearable Dick and Damian interactions in their own title and instead we got a random Jason Todd story.

Peter Tomasi: Tomasi's run on Nightwing, particularly Freefall, has the best understanding of Dick as a character that anyone has ever written in a book titled 'Nightwing'. Fight me. Also he had the only good run on Batman & Robin 2009, a truly cursed book, blighted only by the fact nobody stopped to check basic facts about Aaron Langstrom.

Grant Morrison: uh. um. I guess Morrison was in the loop for the Dick and Tim storyline in Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul, even though pretty much all of it happened in books they weren't writing? Bottom of my list. Seriously, Paul Dini's Streets of Gotham did most of the heavy lifting initially with making Reborn Batman!Dick appealing.

Scott Snyder: Dick's characterisation in both The Black Mirror and Gates of Gotham is actually really good! He brought some really good 'team leader Dick Grayson' energy to the Batfam during a period they needed it, and he gave us back Dick and Cass having a functional relationship together.

Anyone I think was overlooked here? Hmmm. Not notably, but I'll shout out Scott Beatty, whose Dick in his Gotham Knights run was always consistently entertaining, and who collabed with Dixon for a bunch of things I think have great Dick in them (Joker's Last Laugh, Batgirl Year One, Robin Year One).

[cortegiania]

The Borgias is a masterpiece, but Neil Jordan's issue was that he worried too much about making Cesare 'unlikeable'. He tried to present Cesare as a period drama hero whom we should blindly root for, with an illusion of a sob story, even though historically, Cesare was unhinged. As a result, Jordan threw almost every other character under the bus to prop up Cesare, and he had to make Cesare's misdeeds look 'justified'. In contrast, I respect how Fontana handled that aspect because he made Cesare just as off the hook and disturbing as the historical records suggest, without worrying about whether the audience would find him likeable. And yet, the audience still ended up being captivated by Mark Ryder's portrayal of the megalomaniacal Cesare. This is something that Neil Jordan failed to achieve...

Yes, I personally think that was it. It was already evident in season 1 but he could have course corrected anytime and he really didn’t. In fact, he kept pinning on Juan things that are historically/traditionally attributed to Cesare (sleeping with Sancia, killing Lucrezia’s lover, the mistreatment of Caterina Sforza, getting an STD…) and consistently making other characters either caricature villains, dangerously unhinged or too dumb to exist so that Cesare would look like the pinnacle of intelligence and virtue in comparison. Juan is a partial exception to this, but he was still dangerous to be around to the point that Lucrezia had tried to kill him herself, so his death was seen as a liberation by everyone except Rodrigo (who, in turn, was depicted as an old and ailing man who needed to leave Cesare in charge anyway).

Also, his motives to do anything at all were mostly shown to be linked to Lucrezia’s well being and safety, which, okay, I ship them too, but at least try to make it more muddled, more ambiguous? No, Neil always took the super easy way out instead. The most glaring example is the way he made it clear Lucrezia was never in love with Alfonso (another character who completely lacked charisma so that Cesare would look better in comparison) at all. How do you make an outcome tragic if there are virtually no stakes involved and no one on or off screen cares that much if Alfonso dies? How starkly difference would it have been if Alfonso had been the first one we met, annoying yes, but sassy and memorable, and Sancia had been there to grieve him?

It’s like I mentioned in the hashtags I assume you’re responding to, Neil had a vision for a two-hour Borgia movie inspired by The Family but no long term plan, which is why he fumbled a lot. And part of the mess was in having Cesare stuck in this position where he’s always on the edge of becoming a bad man but he never quite does become bad because the showrunner feared that he would lose the audience’s sympathy.

I think there could be a possible explanation in Lucrezia. She’s the most morally ambiguous, yet easy to root for, character on the show; certainly the most interesting. I can somewhat excuse Cesare’a half baked characterisation if I take Lucrezia to be the true protagonist of the show. But that’s giving Neil too much credit, imo.

I often wish the show had been written by Michael Hirst. He wrote morally grey or even straight up unlikable characters that you still would root for long before Game of Thrones made it cool. All of them had done something somewhere on the spectrum of terrible, but you still understood their angle and you felt for them once they inevitably died a horrible death.

[boyfridged]

Do you agree that Jason, as written by Winnick in UTRH and Lost Days, acts out of character post-resurrection if we take into account his post-crisis robin days? If yes, how would you have him act/react to stuff after he comes back from the dead?

tldr: i definitely agree. moreover, classism plays a huge role in it, and i don’t think that at this point the storyline could lose these implications, which makes trying to conceive what an “in character” (for robin jay) version of these events would be quite difficult. 

let’s just start from saying that i don't think it's a secret that i don't really like winick in general. despite his work being mad interesting on a conceptual level (and style-wise, genuinely well written!), he has no love for the characters he writes about. 

imo utrh shouldn't even ever make it into the mainstream batman timeline. i am aware that this is a radical opinion, but my take is that it would do best as an elseworld story (and in this version too it would need some tweaks here and there), because it made damage both to the mythos of batman and jason's legacy that can never be undone. the very premise of the story is so deeply disconnected from jay's original place in the narrative, and so classist at its roots, that there's not much room to truly fix it. 

(i want to say, preemptively, that i am aware that there are people who read utrh as a story of a revolutionary and a victim – and they have the right to do so, but ngl, my view has always been that it was never written as that. utrh reinforces so many stereotypes that it overshadows the revenge tragedy spirit of it all.) 

another disclaimer is that, to be honest, jay doesn't have a very consistent characterization even in his 80s run, and it also has some classist implications that ideally should be either erased or addressed in the text (that winick instead exaggerated and put at the very front of his storytelling.) starlin's writing is, at the end of the day and very much ironically, more sympathetic and gentler in evaluating jay (simply because at the time he would not get away with changes too blatant) but details such as jay saying that "all life is game" and his random nonchalant behaviour that has its origin in the very beginning of starlin’s run are already signs of it. some readers will trace jason's arrogance prevalent in his red hood era to these issues and say that his actions post-res are therefore a logical extension of his robin days, but i don't buy it. even if you want to lean into starlin-esque characterisation, if you consider the core problem of the garzonas plotline – which is power, jay shouldn’t look into the solution of anything in climbing to the top. and if he did, it would have to be written as a “becoming what you feared/hated most” kind of story, which i can see a certain appeal in (and which would at least acknowledge that it was not his initial personality), but which would go back to its classist assumption of cycles of violence and doomed fates.

so – how to make his post-res era more accurate to his post-crisis robin days (and least classist in the process)?

if we were to follow my fav iterations of his characterisation (barr’s detective comics and the ntt appearances) tbh I don’t think a lot would happen, because his personality is quite mild, and just so hopeful there that i wouldn’t expect any extreme actions from him – but then again, the circumstances that he finds himself in post-res, the trauma, and his sensitivity do warrant grief that should become a driving force in his life from now on. the question is, what to do with this grief as a plot device?

i know that plenty of jason fans hate this take but I actually think the concept of jason trying to be detached and cruel but being bad at it might be one of the least offensive to his 80s characterisation. it’s def not accurate to pre-52 canon (apart from countdown perhaps) but imo for jay to be authentic and nuanced he should be conflicted about his own actions. his overconfident behaviour should be a pose – just as his frantic acts in his origin story as robin were. (again, something that many readers don't take notice of – but reading the rest of collins' writing wherein jay quickly settles into being easy-going and even a bit shy is proof of it.)

these two points lead to the “no good deed” narrative that I often talk about - the reading that jason saw his intuitive and self-sacrificial kind tendencies as something that brought him pain and that never was quite efficient, and that post-res he intentionally tried training himself out of. there are some flashes of it here and there throughout the years of the red hood publishing history, but it never got a true spotlight. and if i were to write lost days, jason flinching at his own violence would be a focal point of the story. 

moving on to utrh; i have spoken about it at length before but I think if he were written 1. with more political sensitivity 2. to have retained the same maturity re: the social order 3. to have the same idea of morality, he should have followed more of actual revolutionary tracks and the whole “drug lord” authoritarian figure schtick along with the idiotic idea of “controlling crime” would have to be thrown out of the window. 

and, later on, forgiveness should play a big role in his story. he's so quick to forgive and justify everyone in his robin run – this is also why i reckon his team up with harvey in tfz was a wasted opportunity.

so, in conclusion – perhaps not that much would have to change re: his actions but definitely a lot should change regarding his emotional journey and his position. i would def throw out a lot of mindless violence and power posturing out of it though. and perhaps make him a bit more polite just for the sake of more consistency (this is not me taking a moral stance btw nor tone policing a fictional character. i just think it would be more faithful to his 80s writing unless you want to make him explicitly scared. and it would be funnier tbh.)

[coraniaid]

Band Candy is a fun episode, and I don't really have much to say about it beyond that.

While Dead Man's Party is bad because it struggles at the things Buffy is usually good at (characterisation, dialogue, and clever use of monsters-as-metaphor), and while Beauty and the Beasts is bad because it spends more time than usual on the things Buffy is typically bad at (consistent world-buildng, plotting, the handling of side character deaths, special effects) without being any better at them than usual, Band Candy is the show playing to its strengths.

A particularly boring pedant might ask why "teenage" Giles is going around calling himself Ripper when The Dark Age established Giles only left Oxford and adopted the Ripper persona in his early twenties (and I know: I've asked before), or why Buffy leaves Giles' house with her mom's car keys in the middle of the day only for it to be fully dark outside in the next scene when she's driving around with Willow, or why Ethan goes from being tied up in a warehouse to leaving town fully paid by Mr. Trick. But this feels like obvious, unimportant nitpicking; the episode itself does not live or die on the answer to these questions.

What makes the episode work is ... well, the things that make most good Buffy episodes work. The characterization (particularly of the band candy influenced Giles and Joyce and Snyder -- all of them acting unlike themselves but in a way that still tells us something about who they normally are); the use of metaphor (Buffy's desire for more independence being framed as her wanting to be allowed to drive, contrasted with the fact that we later see she really is a terrible driver and her Mom was probably right to not want her in a car); the callbacks to the show's previous history (I think it's honestly a minor tragedy that Ethan didn't get to be a character who appeared once every season); the hints we're starting to get about the Mayor and what he might be up to, and the fun interactions between him and Mr. Trick; the convincing awkwardness between Buffy and an almost-fully-recovered Angel (I mean, just the way her face falls when he responds to her light "pretty soon you won't even need me" with a gruff "that'd be better" speaks volumes, and that's before we get on to her reluctance to admit she's broken up with Scott or her offer to have Angel smell her), the way Buffy's fears about the SATs are blended into the wider episode, bookending the episode with a "rite of passage" into adulthood.

It's just a very solid episode. I liked it a lot. I can't quite imagine it being anybody's favorite, but it's hard to imagine anybody disliking it either.

Lastly, Band Candy is typical of many good Buffy episodes of this period in that it feels Faith should be in it but she very obviously isn't. I assume that this episode was written when it still wasn't decided how pivotal her character would be this season. Still, after appearing on the show for a run of three episodes in a row up to this point it's a little jarring that we don't even get a throwaway line about her being missing (in the way we will in Helpless in a few episodes from now). I guess the headcanon handwave is that Faith skipped town for a few days after how badly going to the Homecoming dance with Buffy panned out for her?

(Oh, and the Willow/Xander subplot isn't much fun either, but I'll talk about that more when we get to Lovers Walk.)

[thegirlwhorideslikeasamurai]

The terror of messing up your character and the struggles of self-discovery

There's this thing in the upcoming chapters of my YOI novelisation that I fixed (or rather hoped to have fixed correctly), but the thought that I might mess up, scares the wits out of me.

When you dive deep into the personalities of your MCs (as a canon fanfic writer, I do this excessively), you gradually discover all kinds of things not only about your characters but also about yourself. In this process, I sometimes hit the "oops, I accidentally wrote this character as being X" point and this can create quite a mess.

"We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents." Bob Ross

Unintentionally writing a character as a belonging to a certain demographic like a marginalised group becauss it never even crossed your mind that this would apply to your character, is never a mistake because I can assure you that in most cases, it happens as a part of your own personal journey.

And this is something worth embracing. But it's where the mess comes in.

When you're not aware that you're writing a character in a certain way, when you're not aware that you are projecting a part of your experience you are yet unaware of--be it because you resonate with that character or because it aligns so perfectly with canon (or both)-- you are prone to include details that contradict the portrayal your subconscious creates. These contradicting details either stem from the bias and the misconceptions you were taught and which you internalised, or your ignorance while trying to flesh out your character's personality a bit more. However, as a result, you create a poor representation if it can be called representation at all. (Trust me, I wrote autistic-coded characters before I knew I was autistic.)

In my endeavour to write as close to canon as possible and to fill the gaps and grey areas consistently, I did exactly that. Ironically, my interpretation fits the canon extremely well and cleaning this up will result in a clearer characterisation. However, this also comes with the crushing weight of responsibility because I want my stories to be a safe space for everyone. But there is still so much I have to learn and unlearn and details might slip through my fingers and thwart my attempts of writing a good representation.

I'm really scared of disappointing my readers. I'm scared of hurting readers because I'm doing it wrong (although the same will happen if I took no action at all). Although I have a sensitivity reader for the scenes where it counts, the final result is my responsibility. I'm scared people will come for me if I do it wrong. I'm even scared they will come for me because the representation I'm trying to portray deviates from their preferred flavour.

And to be honest, I'm also scared of losing readers over that refined characterisation because the story might no longer match their expectations. The changes should be small enough that most people shouldn't even notice, but reader taste and expectations have always been a total black box for me. CYHMH has gotten a much better reception since I've started posting again and losing that over a cleaner and more canonical characterisation would devastate me.

When I say "upcoming chapters of CYHMH", I'm referring to the chapters that need urgent fixing because I'm going to post them over the next few weeks. However, as this is a characterisation issue, I must take also care of that in the drafts of the 1 & 2/3 sequels I've written so far.

Not being concrete about the issue was a deliberate choice. At this point, I really don't feel comfortable disclosing what this is about.

[thorarms]

Sorry i was referring to ur post hating on how mobius called loki a man of action. Why can't loki be also a man of action he grew up around THOR. Also maybe its a new thing loki is letting show instead of being cautious. He is the god of mischief and chaos after all

Ok ive taken a couple of days to have a think and give you a proper answer.

In short, because it's lazy and lets the writers avoid having to write loki with any consistent character traits.

Long answer below the cut

I have a lot of semi connected thoughts about this and this post might end up a bit of a ramble, uh so sorry i guess.

I think it's important to remember that loki as a marvel character has existed since the 1960s, and thus has 60 or so years of characterisation already there. Over the years this has varied a bit due to many different writers and their different visions for their stories, but they tend to stay fairly consistent. Loki is a villian (or is perceived as one by others), he plans elaborate schemes usually with the end goal of the destruction of asgard and/or thor, and he tends to play the long game. In short, he's been consistently characterised as a much more methodical and yes, cerebral character than thor.

In addition, theres 11 years of specifically mcu loki characterisation, which was originally constructed from the loki we see in the comics. This is the baseline of mcu lokis character, and thus should still be there in other stories and adaptations.

What's actually interesting to me though, is that loki HAS been shown as a man of action before. In Thor 2011. Specifically at the end of the movie, after his entire life has fallen apart at the seams and he's in the middle of an emotional breakdown. His actions get more impulsive as the movie progresses, and it ends with him trying to destroy Jotunheim, goading thor into an argument and a huge fight, then letting go of the bifrost and falling to his assumed death.

What makes this work and still feel in character is that lokis impulsive and reckless desicions come from his emotional instability. The viewer gets to see his facade break and watch him deteriorate from slowly and meticulously planning to ruin thors coronation and stop him from taking the throne, to deciding on the spur of the moment to point the bifrost at Jotunheim and, afterwards, decide to let go of gungnir and plummet into the void (i love this movie so much can you tell).

All of this really is to say that loki CAN be reckless and impulsive just like thor. It just has to be well written and considered. And season one of the show very much was Not That.

With the gift of hindsight, it's been very clear that the writers of season one were not interested in maintaining any of lokis previous characterisation and, given what we've seen so far in the trailer, im not exactly holding out hope that season two will be any different.

The last thing i wanna mention is that the way you phrased your ask, with loki deciding himself to become less cautious, is quite interesting to me. Im sure you dont need me to tell you that loki isnt real, hes a fictional character and thus has no autonomy of his own. Every thought, word and action was a deliberate decision from the writers and actors creating these stories (often with their own preconceptions and biases of the character subconsciously thrown in). What im trying to get at is that ultimately, loki as a character is a vehicle for telling an aspect of a story. And it's the writers job to tell that story well. And if loki suddenly has a change of heart and decides to start acting the complete opposite of his former self, the writers should have a damn good reason for choosing to do that. Otherwise, it's just poorly written. And frankly i dont want to watch a poorly written show.

Whoops this was way longer than i intended im so sorry anyways i hope this answers your question about why i wrote a silly post about a throwaway line in a trailer for a show im probably not even going to watch. Probably.

[xhanisai]

Have you seen the new Sonic Prime TV show? If you did, what do you think?

As a matter of fact, I have! Here are my thoughts below:

I genuinely really enjoyed it and binged it all in one sitting. There are many aspects of the show that I really liked such as the voice and portrayal of Shadow (the best English voice depiction we've had for him since Jason Griffith in my opinion), the shatterverse versions of Amy, Tails, Knuckles and Rouge and just so much more.

I found the portrayal of Sonic really cute in the show. Yeah, he's very goofy and gets his ass kicked constantly by everyone around him but it's actually quite interesting to see that he isn't perfect and that he's very much vulnerable. I did think they dumbed him down too much for the sake of humour and even though it wasn't unbearable, I didn't really appreciate it that much?

Though, I understand that Sonic will never be a consistently written character because he's on different media and written by different people and everyone has their own image of him hahaha. He felt like a blend of film Sonic, sa2 Sonic, Boom Sonic and Forces Sonic in this show. I really enjoyed this version of him.

I also really loved the design and depiction of Rouge in all the universes! She was animated so fluidly and it was interesting to see her back to working on her own rather than for G.U.N or with Team Dark. She is one of my favourite characters and she was really nicely fleshed out. Wish we got more of her flirting with Knuckles though because I love it when she riles him up!

With Amy, although I really loved how she was portrayed in all the universes, I just wish we got her being a little flirty with Sonic. What made Amy so unique is how open she is about her feelings- especially her romantic ones for Sonic. I just want to see her make him a little flustered again and sadly I don't think we'll be seeing that from her again :/

That aside, she really is the glue of the team and I can't wait to see more of that in the episodes to come. I really liked that for the shatterverses, she was working for the egg council in one of them as a mech and she was a 'monster' in the feral world. The people behind the show were very creative with her and gave us some delicious angst and cute moments between her and Sonic~ Her pirate self is also super adorable and I love the designs for all of her selves.

Tails is perfect in every depiction of the shatterverse. He's so cute, so smart and was such a treat to watch. Of course, Nine was really fleshed out and we got to know the most about him but I can't help but be drawn to Mangy because he's just a little guy. I love Tails, he's too good for us.

Captain Dread Knuckles was my favourite depiction of Knuckles so far in the series! Especially towards the end when he finally got his mitts on the Prism and looked like an evil little fella. I do wish he wasn't dumbed down a little because we got plenty, PLENTY of that in Boom but I really did enjoy watching him and seeing him in action. His design as the pirate is probably my most favourite design in the show.

Overall, I have like a million more things I could say about this show and fangirl about the music, the animation, the environment designs, the characterisation, Shadow using Sonic as a punching bag, etc. But we don't need a 100K word doc from me about it hahaha.

I'm really glad we got so much wonderfulness from the dream team and this show as a whole was such a treat for Sonic fans. We are eating so well this year and it makes me so happy to see the silly blue bastard getting the love and treatment he deserves :)

[melop-sia]

for @elphabaoftheopera

WOOT WOOOOOT!!! TO CELEBRATE THE FINAL CHAPTER BEING RELEASED, ME AND MYSTIC THOUGHT OF A BUNCH OF QUESTIONS TO ANSWER IN REGARDS TO LFAY!!!!!!!!!!! TO SHOW OUR GRATITUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What was your overall experience / journey reading the fic?

esper / melop-sia: when i started reading, i was instantly hooked. i genuinely don't think i have liked a fic this much as this one. i loved it so much that id actively check my gmail inbox every hour or so to see if a new chapter was posted 🥲 the most chapters i read in a row was 6, and that was when i first discovered the fic!!! after, i became a slow reader and soaked up every little description you wrote because i didn't wanna miss anything– thats probably why i noticed so many parallels 😁!! doing that also let me take it your writing and it's awesome! even awesome enough to get me back into reading stuff! hell, this fic was a reason why i bought gregory maguire's wicked novel 😅 it lit back a love for reading that i hadn't seen for a few years at least! and back to parallels, they were undoubtedly a key part of enjoyment in my journey with lfay! i always got so excited when i found one and wouldn't hesitate to kick around all energised 🥳🥳 im so glad that you went the extra mile by adding the parallels, it vastly improved my reading experience!

mystic / mystic-oni: Okay I've gotta admit I'm not usually the romantic type but they r so cute omgggggg 🥺

I think if i could change anything about the story or my experience reading it i would leave everything the same. It was just something fun, exciting and immersive i could go to after a rough day and although I am guilty of sometimes having one or two chapters stacked up after forgetting to read 😅, I was never finding myself not wanting to read it unless I was trying to savour it for a time when I would need it most. Plus gave me something extra to talk about with esper/melop-sia 😁😁😁

Especially if we were both reading a chapter at the same time. O ye and the characters are so well done and like the ones we all know so sometimes i just forget i'm reading something fan made because it's that good. I actually sometimes finding myself just melding the two together on accident (i mean thats probably expected considering i'm still somewhat new to the wicked fandom but still it wouldnt be possible if the characters weren't portrayed accurately)!

What about the AU stood out to you (in comparison to the adapted material)?

esper: i think what really stood out to me was how much more you fleshed out each character in comparison to the musical. i loved how you gave everyone another layer of personality along with the ones already set by the musical, yet keeping dialogue and interactions so on point 💓! one thing that is so important to me is a character's personality being accurate. i have so much less enjoyment with a fic when characters are written completely different to their "source", so it was a relief and delight to see the consistent characterisation ⭐️⭐️⭐️!!! a bit off topic but i also really liked how you included some references from the book!

mystic: Well, i've only seen one of the musicals on yt (so far, might read the book cuz esper has it and she said she could lend it to me after they had finished it 😁😁). I really felt though from my experience with wicked (not much but anyways 😅) it really fleshed out more of the characters, like how elphaba has nyctophobia cuz it just added another like, obstacle and really added to her character and existing challenges. Also like the letters were a crucial part of moving this fic away from the original material, im rlly proud of myself because while it was in the part of the story where letters were most important, i noticed a lot of familiarity with something but i couldn't figure out what. Then i remembered i had seen the movie "You've got mail" and it was one of the inspirations which i love and made me enjoy the story even more just because it felt familiar in a way.

What was your favourite chapter? Why?

esper: wooof that is a hard questionn 😯😯 i have a few favourites, but ill try to limit it to one or two...... after a bit of thinking, i think i have to say 11 and 19: each for pretty different reasons admittedly 😅. for one, i loved 19 particularly because of how sweet the fiyeraba date was!!! it was the [infodumping gf] and [polite listening bf] dynamic that i lovee so much 🥺🥺🥺 it was so cuteee!!!! the angst was saddening to say the least, but i really enjoyed how you wrote their dialogue and how they finally came to an agreement.

and. onto 11. that chapter was just insane /pos. it was so good i reread it multiple times and thought about it for a while and, at the same time was utterly speechless. i can say one thing though: the yearning. THE YEARNING!!!!!!!! the yearning was so good dudee!!!!!! i usually don't even like yearning but it was just wild how caught up they were both getting and the suspense was palpable. it was so impactful and therefore one of my favourites. close runner up for most favourites is 9 i loved how it finally broke down the established initial barrier and tension between elphaba and fiyero in an engaging way!! another runner up is 21 for an awesome sequence of scenes that made me feeeellll 🥺 soon to be elaborated on!

mystic: Oke im gonna be honest, in order to answer this question i found myself skimming over a lot of chapters that i had remembered i liked and i cant decide on one because they were all so great or had an important event that i couldn't compare to other chapters. I was planning on going into specifics but since i'm so torn im gonna save it for the moments question 😭

Tysm for the indecisiveness cuz all ur chapters are soo good u should be proud. Also it gave me a reason to look back to try and find my favourite and although i didnt get a clear result it was really refreshing reading the older chapters again.

What was your favourite scene or moment? Why?

esper: I HAVE A FEW FOR THIS ONE TOO!!! the first one that comes to mind is fiyero getting to kick jozsef's ass 😁 i absolutely loved how he got back at him after so long and im just a sucker for people getting what they deserve 🥳!!! it was an awesome inclusion and i was so satisfyed with how that turned out. alsooo i loved fiyeraba's bickering pre-museum break in, it definitely wasnt the first or last time i audibly laughed at something in this fic! and elphaba playing go fish with dorothy was hilarious and not near anything i expected for the last chapter of the main story 😅😅😅 that as well as her warming up to dorothy was simply amazing to me!

onto a more wholesome moment, i loved the dance between fiyero and elphie in the empty ozdust, it was such an intimate and romantic moment between them and i couldn't help but love them more after 🥺 following that, the scene of glinda and elphaba making up with each other and becoming friends again! it was just amazing and all around so pleasant to read!!! another few follow ups, glinda confronting fiyero and forgiving him, as well as starting the party! it was a nice flow of funny to touching and then hopeful!

mystic: oke for me its gotta be those bits where elphie does something cool or funny, like in chapter five when Jozsef was tryna splash her with water and she just dumped it all back on him, like that was pretty badass. Also the petition bit in chapter 7 had me dyinggggggg 💀💀💀 (especially the intimidation and fear, i found it pretty funny and also smart how they used that to get people to support their cause). Also the closet bit in chapter nine was really memorable, and exciting to read and I think most people really liked that part. Just the awkwardness and tensionnnnnn aaaaaaah!!! 😁🥲👏👏👏

Okay, and im sure the Ozdust in chapter 13 had everyone on the edge of their seats (Depending on whether u were sitting 😅) when all the secrets were revealed and the truth was spilled everywhere. Ending with quick escape and a great cliffhanger that kept everyone wondering about the chapters to come. There are so, so, so many more but I end up forgetting where after I try to reread (maybe i should have written notes or something idk 😆). Once again thank you so much for making these truly ✨magical✨ moments for people to enjoy.

Thoughts on the ending / last chapter?

esper: i know i already wrote my thoughts in a comment before, but now we have the epilogue so i can talk about that too!! for one, i don't think i would've had the ending any other way. 34 just had a great balance between presented aspects: it was heart-warming but bittersweet. not to mention such a satisfactory read after keeping up for the last month or two!

honestly im so happy about 35!!! honestly after the roller coaster of the "act 2 chapters" im glad we got a tonn of fluff. it was a wonderful peek into fiyeraba's new life and it was sooo cute 🥺🥺 genuinely loved it so much, another one of my favourite chapters❣️ im glad their story got to continue on into a fulfilling lifestyle for both of them 💗💗💗

mystic: Perfect. I didn't think too much about the last chapter before I read it because i didn't really want to go in with a predetermined idea of what I thought would happen because I just knew it might ruin the experience although I was very excited for it and did ponder for... maybe a minute or two 👀, and I came to the conclusion that I wasn't really sure where they would be next, but the fact they got to be together in the end without disturbance was good enough for me. I feel like the mood and especially the dialogue at the end of the chapter and just everything was more than I could have wanted, it was really good and never did I expect she would still be able to help the animals even after she moved and decided to try and just live a quiet, worry-free and normal life with Fiyero. Also just about the chapters before the epilogue, which i also really enjoyed, like how well Elphie got along with Dorothy, how she ultimately beat her final obstacle - her enemy since the beginning, the dark. Also Glinda in charge and Morrible in prison 😈✨🥳 yayyyyy 🎊

Final thoughts

esper: i thank you so much for this fic, it has really helped me through these few weeks and i commend you for making a fic worth all the praise given and more!!!!! im a little sad to see this journey over now, but im glad i was able to be part of it and get my friend into it too! ill likely be rereading as well as consuming some of your past content in waiting for your next project!! i really hope to experience that too 💖 sending much love and support

mystic: One of the only times that I can't help myself from writing "also" way too much because there are so many things I loved about this. Love, Fae & Yero was an adventure that I really felt apart of, and I hope I'm not too attached to let go of it now 😭😭😭

Me and esper spent a while writing this and they and I really want to thank you for your hard work, we tried to have this finished by a certain time and spent a while thinking of our questions as well as the most important things we should say. Hope we weren't too late 😅

AGAIN THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR WRITING!!!!!

FROM ESPER AND MYSTIC 💚❤💖

[lizardgimpking]

Book Review: Aliens vs Predator: Ultimate Prey (Various Authors)

It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I’m a huge fan of the ‘Alien‘ franchise, and also a big fan of the ‘Predator’ series. Their famously crossed over butting of heads has led to some...decidedly mixed cinematic offerings, and a whole bunch of games, books and comics that vary from fantastic (Fire and Stone) to indisputable guilty pleasures (A v P v Judge Dredd). I must admit I’ve never read a AvP novel before this anthology offering, although I’ve dipped my toes into the written world of the ‘Alien’ franchise several times in recent years (The two Alex White novels are excellent). This collection of short stories seemed like a fun way to see how these two franchises merged in writing...and, well, indeed it was!

Featuring 15 stories from 16 authors, this is a pretty robust little anthology book. One thing I really appreciated was the consistency in length. There’s a little give either side, but pretty much every installment in this book runs for around 30 pages. That’s just the right amount to make for a solid day’s reading, which means you can comfortably work your way through the book at a nice clip of one story a day, with no need to pause in the middle of each one. You can obviously read more, or indeed less, but I found the pacing of each story to be just right for a fun daily excursion into the AvP universe.

As with any anthology collection, there’s ups and downs in terms of quality. It’s hard to feature so many authors, all dabbling in the same playground, without encountering some lackluster offerings along the way. There’s no utterly unreadable stories in the book, especially since none particularly outstay their welcome, but there are some rather uninspired concepts and iffy characterisation going on here. I won’t call out any of my least favourites, but needless to say there’s about 3 or 4 that just felt completely bland and/or more than a little goofy in premise and execution. There’s also a frequent lean towards including ‘female’ Predators in the mix, which whilst not the worst thing ever, did rub me the wrong way a little. I personally consider the Predator species as something of a gender ambiguous design, but several of the stories use the female body template designed for the game ‘Predator: Hunting Grounds’, which means they have breast armour and a generally smaller, curvier figure. That’s not to say they don’t still kick ass, and it’s also not to say that several of the stories don’t use the concept of female warriors/hunters in thematically interesting ways, I just prefer the idea that the basic Predators we’ve met in the films aren’t necessarily male or female, or...we at least can’t tell. Not every two-legged fictional species needs to conform to human body standards.

My favourite story is definitely ‘The Hotel Mariposa‘ by David Barnett, which pairs Aliens and Predators with a ‘haunted’, reality distorting hotel, where a group of amateur ghost hunters get caught up in the chaos of both the hotel’s influence, but also the two warring factions within. It’s a really creative and fun idea, pairing shades of ‘The Shining’ with AvP in a way that seems insane, but ultimately really works. I would love to see that concept, or something similar explored more in a full novel. This anthology really works best when it’s pairing these franchises with interesting concepts and time periods. Or at the very least, interesting portrayals of its creatures...particularly the Predators themselves, which are obviously intelligent beings with a known honour code. When they’re made into characters themselves, with internal thought processes and relationships with the human protagonists, rather than just being big beefy monsters, that’s when things feel especially engaging. I could’ve done with less of the ‘hoomans’ kinda internal dialogue, but I did tend to enjoy the stories with Predators as characters more than the ones with them as generic killers. Included of note in this anthology book are follow-ups to both the movie ‘Predators’ and the novel ‘Aliens Phalanx’, the latter of which even written by the original novels author; Scott Sigler. Whilst the ‘Predators’ continuation is a little lacking, I really enjoyed the ‘Phalanx’ sequel, and it’s interesting to see what was once just an Aliens story weave in Predator mythology in ways that work surprisingly well and open the door for another continuation, short or long-form, in the future.

All in all, this is a mixed bag, as all anthologies are. But none of the stories are complete duds, and those that are a little lacking are never unending, thanks to the rather nice ‘tight 30 pages’ format of the novel. It’s worth getting through some of the duds to enjoy the highlights, because there’s some really fun reads here. If you’re a fan of these franchises, particularly combined? This one’s a fun read, and definitely worth a look.

Read it or Leave it : Read It.

Reading Next (Dead Ground by M.W. Craven)

[clown-cult]

Sessrinner love to say that their ship is so popular and that everyone is watching the show for their ship yet if it’s so popular why couldn’t yashamine not get a third season, why is it that sesshomaru and rin were in a lot of episodes of yashamine yet they never trended like inukag, and why is it that after episode 15 viewership dropped. Let’s be honest season one of the show made no noise yet season 2 literally went unnoticed. Yashamine was a horrible sequel and deep down the creators now that.

Even if we were to overlook the problematic aspects for a moment (grooming ship, bad parenting, white washing, slavery etc) and look at it just as the bare bones of what it is (a sequel anime) it’s still not good. Let’s do a list, shall we?

The animation is trash. It’s clunky, rushed, clearly recycled from the main series and from its own episodes, bad uses of CGI, inconsistent models and a plethora of mistakes, awkward frames and cheap colour rendering. The choreography for fights and use of magic and abilities is as cookie cutter as it gets. Y’all know the bad 2000’s Mary Sue stereotypes for how baby’s first fanfic would play out a fight scene or give their character new powers? It’s that.

The designs for new characters aren’t good. The colour stories for the twins just blend together and don’t really stand out. The red stripes of hair exist for no reason. Setsuna looks like a walking bruise and Towa looks like she owns a plantation. Take into account the bad animation and any interesting detail in their designs is lost the minute we’re not in a closeup still shot. Takahashi apparently had some input into the designs and you can clearly tell where her priorities were as Kirinmaru and Moroha have the only passable designs in the show.

Speaking of Kirinmaru and Moroha, they’re the only decently written characters in the show even if they too fall victim to how bad the writing is overall. Moroha is a joke. She’s there to be funny, make mistakes and get hurt cuz funny and provide forced exposition when need be that a joke character should not have. I’m not calling Moroha a joke, I’m just saying that’s how she was treated yet they couldn’t even do that consistently. The entire OG cast is so bland and what characterisation they do get is so OOC that the writers might as well have not tried in the first place. As for the twins, these girls went to the “male brown haired character in a harem” school of characterisation and passed with flying colours because they’re incredibly flat and any opportunity they get to express some sort of strong emotion is not only jarring but quickly forgotten.

The soundtrack is nothing remarkable. What’s new and original feels flat and recycled and what actually is recycled isn’t in the best quality. If you listen closely, you might be able to hear the original episode of the OG anime that the soundtrack was screen recorded from. Something that made me kinda sad to note was how the OG soundtrack samples are the only ones that have any heart in them.

Which brings us onto voice acting. This goes for both English and Japanese. Whatever Towa and Setsuna’s actresses were paid, it clearly wasn’t enough because they just couldn’t get into their roles or emotions of the characters at all. The alternative theory is these actresses are actually some of the most masterful in the business and they read off their godawful scripts in exactly the non existent tone they were handed to them. Everyone else sounds like they’re really doing their best to be involved and earn their pay checks but that’s literally all that motivates them. It reminds me of how tired and disinterested James Earl Jones sounded in the Lion King remake.

The story goes nowhere, which is kind of incredible considering how obviously Sunrise is trying to mirror the original while insisting it’s all new and fresh and like nothing fans have seen before. Speaking of what fans have seen before, don’t include so many obvious references to the original and insist your fans must pay attention to everything if you’ve got no idea what you’re doing from episode to episode. Simpsons and Family Guy put more thought into continuity than this show does. At least if this was Family Guy or Simpsons with their characters who are Flanderized, horrible people, we’d at least have SOME characterisation and an element of self awareness this show sorely lacks.

All this to say that even with the clearly problematic elements removed, this anime still doesn’t hold up well, especially as when it was being released, you had other continuations also in the field like the latest seasons of Attack on Titan, MHA and One Piece still coming out, along with other proper sequel anime like Boruto, the latest part of JJBA or Higurashi, all which blow Yashahime completely out of the water.

This show never stood a chance, to be honest. I remember it being advertised when I was using Funimation and it would usually be a 30 second trailer right next to an ad the same length for Higurashi or Demon Slayer. Even then, the difference in quality was stark.

I almost feel bad for the show…and then I remember it condoned and allowed child grooming, abuse, racism and sexism and, much like any memory of this show in a year or so, any sympathy I have fades away.

[fic-recs-for-all]

New fanfics of the week

These are all fanfiction that has been posted relatively recently, some are still on going, some are one-shots.

They are all fics that I have enjoyed tremendously and thought deserved a recommendation.

First off, a brand new and quietly satisfying Golden Trio Harry Potter fic - Hermione’s Survival Syllabus, by @ladyhallen. It involves the golden trio in all their glory, and Hermione deciding that she, as well as Harry and Ron need to learn how to defend themselves in order to survive. Brilliantly in character and great for that bit of friendships and baby baddasses we all need in our fic diets. It currently has 2 chapters, with the possibility but not guarantee of more, and it is completely satisfying in its own right. Warnings for PTSD and Panic Attacks though.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/38036026/chapters/95003089

Next, a batfamily fanfiction that involves dimension travel and a good parent Bruce and a bad parent Bruce, The French Mistake by Vamillepudding. It has commentary on the realities of the dc universe and the existence of the Robins, and the canon Robins getting the parenting they deserve. A Hurt/Comfort fic that I thoroughly enjoyed, it is 2 chapters in of 3, so still in progress but absolutely worth a read with brilliant writing, wonderful characterisation and an AU Bruce you can’t help but love and relate to. Warnings for child abuse though, as you would expect of a fanfiction involving canon Bruce Wayne.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/38023123/chapters/94970335

Finally, another batfamily fanfiction whose first chapter has recently been posted, Baby Birds and Bat Caves by IzzyMRDB. It is an AU set during Jason’s era as Robin and centres on a young Tim Drake, who is a genius who lacks anything resembling self preservation skills. It interweaves some of my favourite tropes- genius Tim Drake, weird to a supernatural extent Gotham, and crack treated seriously. Essentially Tim finds a cave system under Gotham and finds all kinds of weird stuff down there, and proceeds to start a podcast that the author states is inspired by Welcome to Night Vale. It is brilliantly written and currently consists of 5 phenomenal and hilarious chapters, with a high likelihood of more coming out soon. Warnings for child neglect and referenced child abuse.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/37846195/chapters/94502089

Alright that’s it for this time, please give me feedback for how to improve this dear readers, if you are willing and able to of course.

Before I end if any of the 3 authors end up reading this post you are awesome and 1 million kudos and no pressure whatsoever to write anything more, have all the cookies!

[attemptsonherlifepdf]

modern gothic, sci-fi, and the moral binary: why the matrix is one of the most relevant gothic pieces of the last twenty five years

the gothic is a genre that is designed to explore transgressive behaviours and private desires, and often does so by having these explicit acts committed by a supernatural character. this serves to not only characterise the behaviour as monstrous but ‘Other’ people who behave that way. while this is typical of traditional gothic literature, modern gothic tends to present sympathetic villains, who suggest to audiences that transgressive behaviours are not inherently threatening or deserving of punishment, but simply different. as put by kelley hurley, ‘through depicting the abhuman, the gothic reaffirms and reconstructs human identity.’ in order to understand the progression from traditional gothic to modern genres that stem from it, namely science fiction, psychological thrillers and murder mysteries, we must first understand it’s basic timeline.

gothic literature began as a genre with very little positive reception, originally seen as a frivolous, and unserious style of writing. often called ‘dark romanticism’, the genre used the ‘purple prose’ and decadent architecture of romantic literature, but associated it with more sinister narratives concerning religion, murder and both sexual and identitiy-oriented transgression. originating from horace walpole’s ‘castle of otranto’, the genre was used to reflect the cultural anxieties of the time period, and thus gained traction by being temporally relevant. modern gothic’s deconstruction of the ‘good vs evil’ binary is a reflection of contemporary understandings of the aforementioned topics, which address the complexities of transgression. notable examples of later gothic literature include susan hill’s 1983 novel, ‘the woman in black’, a pastiche of traditional victorian ghost stories that utilises sympathetic villains to add complexity to the idea of villainy. additionally, the work of angela carter, particularly that of her 1979 collection ‘the bloody chamber’ which uses gothic conventions to subvert more conservative fairytales and fables, another instance of this ‘dark romanticism’ technique.

by presenting transgression as complex, rather than fulfilling one side of a binary, modern gothic allows us to consider if transgression is even that dangerous; it serves to dismantle the idea that ‘different = threatening.’ a brilliant example of this is the previously mentioned work of carter, and her short stories ‘the tiger’s bride’ and ‘the courtship of mr lyon.’ these stories are subverted retellings of the traditional ‘beauty and the beast’ fairytale. While maintaining the general events of the original ending, where beauty stays with the beast of her own volition, carter offers up two dynamics between the human and abhuman that serve to recharacterise ‘Othered’ creatures as less threatening and more sympathetic and innocent. ‘the courtship of mr lyon’ mimics the original story’s ending, with beauty’s understanding of the beast resulting in his transformation back to human. ‘the tiger’s bride’ offers the reverse: in beauty’s acceptance of the beast, she transforms to be animal-like like him as well. this appears almost as an act of solidarity. perhaps an incredibly modern reading of carter’s metamorphosed characters is as an allegory for transgenderism. discussions around gender identity during the 1970s in britain, even in second-wave feminist circles, were more concerned with rejecting and redefining traditional gender roles than they were with the personal identity of individuals, so we can assume this was not carter’s intention when writing these stories. however, ideas of physical transformation, and how proximity to the ‘Other’ can ‘radicalise’ one’s own identity are very fitting with treatment of transgender people both historically and presently. genres that stem from the late gothic, namely sci-fi, have been known for using metamorphosis as an allegory for marginalised identities, using physical transformation as an allegory for ideological or emotional transformation. a prime example of this is lana and lilly wachowski’s series ‘the matrix.’ written as a trans allegory, the movie series criticises the social pressure for conformity the way carter does and attempts to explicitly recharacterise trans people as an innocent non-conforming identity rather than a threat. carter’s exploration and reproval of established values similarly tends to centre around ideas of gender, making this reading not entirely unreasonable. she suggests that societal fears surrounding gender identity and liberation are unfounded.

ultimately, carter paints various traits and identities that are widely considered ‘threatening’ to be multifaceted and liberating instead, as she views the established values that they ‘threaten’ to be restrictive and in need of changing. the matrix represents these established values with ‘agents’ who attempt to hide the true nature of the world from the population. in the preface to the bloody chamber collection, helen simpson writes that 'human nature is not immutable, human beings are capable of change', arguing this point as the core of carter’s gothic subversions. she suggests through her writing that what is perceived as a social threat is often based upon what is uncomfortable rather than what is actually dangerous. her work is partially ambivalent in that it does not instruct what is right or wrong, but instead depicts societal relationships and allows the audience to interpret it.

the matrix achieves a similar result, with gothic elements and subversions supporting it’s messages.sci-fi takes gothic settings, ideas of liminality, decay, transgression and the Other, and recontextualises them with in the hypothetical far future. traditional gothic settings such as the ruins of decadent mansions become abandoned high-tech buildings. the binary between conventional and transgressive shifts from being a contrast between catholic ideals and more modern behaviours to being a contrast between those profiting off capitalism and those suffering from it.

implicit in the matrix’s notion of discovering a newer world more true to reality is the idea that ‘different’ or ‘unconventional’ experiences and identities are not threatening, but liberating. the matrix suggests we can unlearn our villainisation of trans people, and does so through the use of various gothic conventions. to begin with, gothic texts are often written to reflect the cultural anxieties of the moment. lilly wachowski has stated that the movie was ‘born out of anger at capitalism and the corporate structure and forms of oppression.’ the late nineties in america was certainly a time of tension for lgbt people. frank rich sites ‘the homophobic epidemic of '98...spiked with the october murder of matthew shepard’ as an era of extreme difficulty for the lgbt community in the usa. this hostile environment is reflected in the nature of the matrix’s ‘agents’ and their insistence on maintaining the illusion of free will that comes with the false reality they push. they are in no way open to ideas that differ from their own and actively come down on those who suggest them. this anxiety for the lgbt community is reflected in the movie; the anxiety itself is expressed through a combination of subverted and traditional gothic tropes. gender itself is a topic highly relevant to the gothic. the wachowskis utilise binary oppositions, the most obvious example being the red pill vs blue pill’ scenario. the movie poses a stark contrast between two approaches to life: ‘the willingness to learn a potentially unsettling or life-changing truth, by taking the red pill, or remaining in contented ignorance with the blue pill.’ its interesting for a piece that is intentioned to deconstruct binaries to construct this binary, but it does serve a purpose. this binary serves as a device to show, allegorically, the experience of trans people in western cultures. belinda mcclory’s character, switch, is a specific representation of the gender transition process. in the matrix she appears as a woman, and in the real world as a man. while the wachowskis may not have had the creative freedom to include an explicitly transgender character, this was the closest and most specific hint they could have given the audience, right down to the character’s cratylic naming. switch’s experience presenting as both man and woman, and only one of her presentations occurs in the ‘true reality’ that is representative of people’s true natures and personalities. this use of metamorphosis mimics the way many trans people must present as their assigned gender at birth in public, and their true identity in private, that their physical body and their perception of themselves when they have control of their appearance are not necessarily aligned. this parallel relies upon the binary consisting of a false reality and a true one to illustrate its point.

it has also been suggested that the red pill is representative of a hormone pill, and many viewers have likened neo’s mental restlessness to gender dysphoria: ‘what you know you can't explain, but you feel it. you've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. you don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad.’ these small parallels coalesce to form the movie’s representation of the trans experience in a way that is arguaby subtle to the cisgender viewer. neo openly rejects being called ‘mr anderson’ or ‘thomas anderson’ from our first introduction to him. he replaces his given male-coded name with something seemingly androgenous for his own comfort, and ‘mr anderson’ almost serves as a deadname, which only the agents who enforce a false reality use to refer to him. agent smith uses neo’s two names to frame his two separate lives very distinctly; ‘one of these lives has a future, and one of them does not.’ with an understanding of the trans subtext of the movie, this appears as a thinly veiled reference to the difficulties openly trans people face. coming out, in most places in the world, can result in loss of employment, loss of contact with family, and so on. as put by lili wachowski, ‘transgender people without support, means and privilege do not have this luxury. and many do not survive.’ agent smith appears to be warning neo of the dangerous of living as his true self, insistently referring to him with his given name rather than his chosen one, even if just for bureaucratic reasons. neo’s name is a vital to his defiance against both agent smith and the false reality he seeks to maintain:

agent smith:

you hear that mr. anderson?... that is the sound of inevitability... it is the sound of your death... goodbye, mr. anderson...

neo:

my name... is neo.

in defiantly maintaining his chosen name, neo pushes for the true reality to be accepted and understood. this is motivated by the fact that ‘i don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.’ this is an instance of neo taking control, by asserting his identity. the high stakes of this scene mimic the high stakes that trans people face in asserting their identities in an unaccepting social climate. the movie also acknowledges the public perception of trans people as a threat: ‘i know that you're afraid... you're afraid of us. you're afraid of change...the matrix is a system, neo, that system is our enemy.’ appearance vs reality is yet another key aspect of the gothic that is utilised in the matrix, and the narrative forces the viewer to consider whether they would accept a harsh reality or prefer total ignorance and accept what appears in front of them.

the movie’s treatment of violence against its protagonist is particularly relevant to the gothic. typically, queer-coded men or people of colour in fiction experience physical violence allegorical to the way female characters are written into sexualised danger: for trauma-based character development. violence against minorities in media, specifically gothic media, is often symbolic rather than just plain horrific. female, queer or bodies of colour are seen solely as political identities, so the violence they face is violence against an idea, not a person. queer or queer-coded men like neo are often feminised to a certain extent, even if its simply rejecting the title ‘mr’, to allow the violence against them to be symbolic or political rather than personal. often with cisgender, heterosexual, white or male characters, any cruelty they face is considered to be senseless and is characterised as brutal, pure violence, as their bodies are simply allowed to exist as bodies without a political statement attached to their existence. they are not making a statement or defying standards simply by having bodies. the gothic specifically uses symbolic violence in its later stages, and it is often faced by characters who are ‘Othered’ such as frankenstein’s monster being faced with angry hordes of people, or the suicide of jennet humfrye, the titular character of the woman in black who had a child out of wedlock. this symbolic violence in the matrix is particularly relevant to the above scene between agent smith and neo, where neo’s retaliation involves not just physical fighting but defiance over his own identity.

setting in the matrix is quintessentially modern gothic, and is an integral part of characterising the differences between appearance and reality. the real world and the matrix are characterised both by their physical appearance and the characters associated with them. the whole movie is shot with relatively bleak green, grey and blue tones; the unnamed cities in the matrix were filmed in sydney, australia, but are supposed to appear as a city that could be located anywhere. this makes viewers somewhat comforted as the cities appear familiar, but their association with the antagonistic agents makes it difficult to truly identify with them. in contrast, the real world appears cold, crude and difficult to survive in, but is home to a crew of sympathetic rebels that the audience is supposed to root for. the city of zion is all harsh metal and can feel like a very temporary, unsafe residence but scenes such as the party in matrix reloaded characterise it as a place of community. the duality of each setting is typical of the gothic, and allows the viewer to explore the complexity of the movie’s conundrum. no option is the easy, immediate or obvious choice. the viewer must consult their own morals and values. ideas and anxieties surrounding moral decay are vital to the narrative of gothic tales; the genre explores and seeks to define humanity, and doing so often involves ethnocentric set of morals associated with good and bad. concepts like metamorphosis, identity, and the rejection of religion or christian/western ideals all play into this, but this is where modern gothic’s acknowledgement of complexity reframes things. most developments described as ‘modern gothic’ apply to sci-fi as it is an extension of, or evolved from,1960s-1990s gothic.

in presenting the aforementioned topics as multifaceted, the genre is able to imply or sometimes directly suggest that the ways in which presentations of them differ from established values is not immediately threatening, but simply different or even sympathetic. the matrix almost reverses traditional expressions of transgression by suggesting that those seeking to maintain the status quo are enforcing restrictive and immoral ideals, and that those whose agendas differ from the status quo are seeking liberation. this appears very similarly in angela carter’s previously mentioned work, exemplifying the parallels between sci-fi and the gothic. ‘the matrix stuff was all about the desire for transformation but it was all coming from a closeted point of view.’ lilly wachowski states. transformation and metamorphosis are topics so in line with the content of the gothic, allowing authors to explore and compare different states of being in order to eventually, sometimes implicitly, condemn one and promote the other. in reference to how she was drawn to use sci-fi as the medium for this story, she says that ‘we were existing in a space where the words didn't exist, so we were always living in a world of imagination.’ things that cannot work in our social climate can be allowed to work in an imagined scenario, with imagined consequences separate from the real world, similarly to the gothic’s use of the supernatural as a vehicle for taboo actions and values.

the wachowskis select science fiction tropes that are core to the gothic as a medium for the matrix’s allegorical meaning: taboo subjects, metamorphosis, binary oppositions, moral questions and stark settings. the matrix arguably serves as a bridge between the two genres, while also being unmistakably modern in its support of trans people and its open criticism of capitalism and social systems. this is not to say that earlier texts do not argue similarly points, but that the popularity of the matrix means that these points and messages are widespread and consumed by a massive audience. the movie was released in early june of 1999, and by august 2000, the matrix dvd had sold over three million copies in usa, making it the best-selling of all time. its unlikely that those three million dvd owners had all interpreted the movie the way the wachowskis had intended, as is the case with all media, but their anti-capitalist and pro-lgbt rhetoric was still present in the movie and has become glaringly obvious to more viewers over 20 years beyond its release date. using binaries as a tool to deconstruct other binaries is a device used more and more within sci-fi and the exploration of morals, systemic structures and the role of lgbt people are both vital to both genres. trans people are originally characterised as ‘Other’, but are rightfully humanised and encouraged to pursue their true identities: ‘to deny our impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human.’

i.k.b

[kdramafeminist]

Performative Badassery & Women in Kdramas

When I said I wrote an essay, I meant essay. This is a long one! Grab a snack and venture below the read more. I’ll see you at the end!

----------

You know the feeling. The drama begins. Our female main lead walks onto screen. She’s a successful businesswoman, a hotshot detective, clever lawyer, smartass retail worker, etc, etc. She stares down a random man to prove she’s the powerful one here. Or kicks some ass. Or rattles off a bunch of demands to her workers. Or talks fast to show off her intelligence.

Then she meets the male lead. There’re fireworks. Slowly we find our female lead has a softer side. Good to know. 3-dimensional and complex characters are important. It’s nice to see women on-screen who are both capable and emotional. Kick ass and feminine. 

But slowly... something starts to go wrong. She seems to be crying more than showing literally any other kind of emotion. And is it just me or is she getting saved and manhandled and flustered quite a lot for a woman who we were told was so well put together? Sure, the circumstances are extreme. But they’re extreme for the male lead too and he seems to be managing just fine for some reason. Also, if both of them are ordinary people with no on-screen fighting experience, how come he’s so great at throwing fists out of nowhere and she’s busy keeping hidden or needing rescuing? Exactly how many times can one person just faint like that without anyone checking to see if she has a medical condition?

By the drama’s end our lead has gone through trials and tribulations. She’s fallen in love too, I’m happy for her. But... now that the story’s ending and she’s getting in one last chance to show us she’s a “badass”, why am I left feeling hollow? She’s showing us how tough she is but... we ALL spent this whole drama watching her have absolutely no agency or such a little amount that she might as well have been trying to put out a fire with a water-pistol. It’s almost like her previous badassery (in whatever form it may have been - I don’t mean badass only in terms of being able to throw a good punch) was just a façade. A way to hook in female viewers like me who want to see something more than a wilting wallflower or one-trick Cinderella. But the tiniest knock and the cardboard house collapses.

And no matter how many times we get throwaway lines about her being “the smartest/toughest/scariest/most capable one here” it doesn’t ring true compared to the actual character we’re watching.

Rom-coms, melos and sagueks especially (but many more genres besides), have a real problem when it comes to performative badassery in their female characters. The writers give us a female lead they claim is hyper competent, but the reality is totally different. Any plot that features romance, almost always features this. Honestly the way the start of the relationship in dramas actively MURDERS the female character’s agency could be its own essay so I won’t go deep, just know the two are 100% linked.

The “Faux Action Girl” Problem 

A Faux Action Girl happens when a writer wants the popularity that comes with having a cool action girl character, or they want the praise that comes with writing a lead that breaks gender norms, or they want to be lauded for writing a FL whose more capable & progressive than the female kdrama lead we’d imagine, but they don’t end up actually giving us her. Instead we get the fake or faux version. The reasons are usually a combination of:

Relying on outdated tropes. Wrist grabs, damsels in distress, a girl fainting so she misses some vital plot related moment to increase runtime etc...

Sexist worldviews. As a by-product of being Korean which is still a heavily sexist country because of the holdover of Confucianism mixed in with the Christianity westerners brought over that leads many writers to (often without even realising) inserting moments that inadvertently reduce their female leads because they think that’s what correct or natural for the female character based on their opinion of women in general. Even if it doesn’t actually fit the type of character they’ve set out to create.

Executive meddling. Producers who think their demographic wouldn’t be able to handle a real badass but also know their female viewers want more complexity and agency in their FLs these days and so give us the paper-version instead of the 3D model.

This character’s more “badass” traits are nearly always just an Informed Ability (the writers tell us via other characters what she can do but never actually show us on-screen these same things) or we only ever see her utilise them once/twice at the beginning and maybe if we’re lucky once at the end, but never again. 

It really hurts.

The “Badass Decay/Chickification” Problem

Sometimes she really is a legitimate action girl though. She’ll be a cop whose good at her job or an ordinary citizen whose well-versed in taekwondo. She has actual moments on-screen to prove herself. 

Well. She has moments in episodes 1 and 2. Then she almost always goes through Badass Decay/Chickification. Which means that writers (& producers) believe that if we don’t see her having a softer side, she’ll become unrealistic or unlikeable. 

They fix her. So she becomes more vulnerable. As the only girl on the team (usually), she becomes the one who ends up injured more often or needs rescuing most. Her life begins to revolve entirely around her romance and nothing else. (Meanwhile the male leads gets to have the romance and keep his side-quest - have you noticed that? If the FL is really lucky she gets to keep one side-quest too, maybe a dream job or solving some family mystery. Never more though.. only men get to be complicated here). Once she was competent... now it feels like she legitimately had a personality transplant. 

Is this even the same person we began with?

The “Worf Effect” Problem 

Worf Effect is when the danger/power level of a villain is shown to the audience by making him successfully attack/hurt/ruin the plans of someone that the audience knows is skilled. This isn’t a bad thing alone and writers use it all the time. We need to acknowledge the villain as a proper threat and this is a useful way to do it!

But in kdramas it’s something used almost always against the lead female character. The one we’ve seen is intelligent, or strong-willed or quick-witted. 

And because it’s always her, this character begins to look weak. If this writing trope is abused, her reputation as the "biggest, toughest" etc. begins to look like it never existed and we’re back to her having an informed ability. 

That this is something that happens to the female characters not only more often but almost exclusively is a sign of sexism. Plain and simple.

Competent, Real Badass Female Characters Aren’t Scary

 If you’re going to sell me a capable woman, give me her. 

Not someone who has one very unique, specialised skill but otherwise can do nothing else except for that one time when her one skill is useful. 

Or has built up her own empire, implying a certain level of smarts, business ability or networking skills, but then once she’s removed from it she becomes so utterly useless it begs the question how she built that empire in the first place. 

Or has a rep as the detective whose taken down the toughest guys off-screen, but whatever skills she used to do that seem to disappear the moment anything really challenging happens on-screen. 

I’m not saying she needs to win all the time. Of course she doesn’t, how boring is that? All I’m asking is that when she loses, it’s in keeping with the character I’m supposedly watching. A woman that can kick ass can still be outwitted. A clever woman can be physically beaten. A street-smart girl can be foiled by rules and regulations. A leader-type can be beat by someone whose more unconventional.

It’s not difficult to write someone like this. I know the writers can do it because every male lead is written this way. I’ve never once, whilst watching a badass male lead lose, get beaten and cry, thought “oh no, his badassery was fake all along!”

Because when he loses it makes sense. It’s in character. There’s a solid plot reason behind why it happens.

Meanwhile my ladies who are meant to be able to kick ass and take names somehow just got kidnapped out of nowhere?

Make it make sense!

Consistent Characterisation is Good Writing

I get wanting moments where one is injured and the other fusses over them. I love those moments! All I ask is more imagination taken to get us to that point. Make it in-character. If my taekwondo black belt is kidnapped, I want to see her really fight. I want the kidnapping to be shown as genuinely tough on the people trying to nab her. Imagine how much more satisfying it would be to see her fight off all these bad guys, yet still end up losing? How much more heart-breaking?

We’d be so much more invested in the mind games or politics the villain is playing if the female lead we’ve been told is good at that stuff is playing the game just as hard. When she loses it’ll hurt more.

Writers need to stop being afraid that her remaining capable in some way diminishes the masculinity, attractiveness, prowess or “hero” status of the male lead. Trust me. It doesn’t. Ever. 

It’s not a case of either/or. We don’t think less of the male lead because his partner is as capable as him in whatever way that may be. Instead, we think more of them both. Once a romance begins, the heightened worry both characters have for each other should only make both of them stronger in whatever area they’re skill lies in. Not just make the man a sudden defence wall and the woman a worrying mess. 

I’m sure everyone who reads this can immediately think of at least one drama with a FL who is a Performative Badass. I know I had about ten in mind as I wrote this. 

There are exceptions. Cases where the badass gets to stay a badass. Usually these cases happen in genres without romance because like I said above, those problems are linked. But I can think of a few romcoms/sageuks/melos where it happens too. 

But those are the minority.

Women in kdramas. Give them agency. Make their characterisation genuine, not just a bit-part for the sake of a cool trailer. Not just one moment someone can edit into a “badass multifemale” video edit - only for us to watch the drama from the clip and discover we’ve been sold a lie. 

How satisfied would we be?

Writers! Give us a story we enjoyed because of the excellent characterisation. A new female character we can add to our lists of faves. Women who proved themselves as consistently badass as their first scenes claimed. Women in kdramas who, no matter what problem they faced, don’t become echoes or paper-thin versions of who we were promised.

Actual, complex, layered, enjoyable, KICK-ASS AND BADASS female leads.

Wouldn’t that be a miracle.

----------

PS. This is an open notice that it’s OKAY to reblog with added commentary/thoughts/rambles of your own. I would *love* to see it if you have anything to add.

---------- 

(Disclaimer: This essay was written with a specific female character type in mind. I am not saying every FL needs to be a badass or hyper competent. Soft, shy, physically weak female characters exist and can be just as realistic and complex. There’s a few I can think of who I adore. Instead my essay is very specifically about characters who are *meant* to be badass from the start but then... don’t end up being. So, yeah, before anyone claims I’m some angry feminist who needs every FL to be some tough martial artist or something. Absolutely not! Diversity is amazing and interesting. All I ask is that when I am told I’ll be getting a badass in a drama I get her. Not have my heart broken by the fake wilting flower I find in her place. Ok. End disclaimer. ^^)

----------

Also I’m tagging a bunch of you because you reblogged my post saying you wanted this so here! TY for making it to the end ^^

@kdramaxoxo​ @islandsofchaos @storytellergirl @vernalagnia-blog @lostindramas @salaamdreamer​ @planb-is-in-effect​