#we stan a brutally honest king

[caramel1mochi]

Probably spoilers for the new Sage voicelines? I don't know, but

Wingman has enough emotional intelligence to fathom Deadlock's trauma and even console her, but not enough to differentiate between trash and normal stuff?

Does this imply Wingman knows what he's doing??!!

Also, found this from Kanga Valorant on Youtube!

[adorawasright]

When people compare Catra to Amity, I just had the thought of “Yeah! Remember how smug and satisfied with herself Amity was when she accidentally fucked with Willow’s mind and memories in Understanding Willow and then she chuckled to herself about covering up/saving face in front of Boscha and left Luz, King, Gus, and Eda to clean up the mess she made?”.

I'll admit that one thing about Amity's arc bothers me, and that's the way they make Amity more complicit in the bullying against Willow. Like, Inner Willow says that Amity "let" her friends pick on Willow for years, and not the fact AMITY was Willow's main bully. It's true that at this point in the story, she wasn't actively going after Willow anymore. But yeah, I don't like the way they worded it. That's a minor issue that I thought was relevant.

THAT BEING SAID.

Amity is obviously way better handled than Catra. Amity never meant to burn all of Willow's memories, and she clearly showed regret once it was done. I also like that the other characters openly point out how messed up it was, too, regardless of Amity's intentions. She might try to avoid going inside Willow's mind at first, but it's more out of guilt, not pride, and not her trying to push the responsibility to Luz.

And I think the best thing about Understanding Willow is that even after we discover Amity's abusive background, it's still not an excuse and Amity actually admits the errors of her ways. "You were never too weak to be my friend. I was too weak to be yours." Better yet, Amity and Willow don't immediately become friends again. "It's a start."

That never happens to Catra. For starters, Catra never apologizes to Glimmer of all people (they straight up don't bring up Angella, only at the last minute and it was so Glimmer could save Micah). Catra doesn't save Glimmer out of genuine care, it's simply for Adora's sake. While Amity grew as a person because of Luz, Amity shows real remorse for her actions. Amity and Willow have their proper reconciliation without Luz in the picture, for that matter.

And yet Glimmer is already defending Catra when Adora vents to her about how shitty Catra is. Like? Seriously? GLIMMER? Glimmer was always the person who called out Catra. If anything, Glimmer is the most brutally honest character here. I'm appalled that they made her say "oh lol did you expect Catra to be a completely different person?". Nah, the real Glimmer would agree with Adora. I don't care what season 5 and the stans tell me.

Yeah, that's the problem. Adora reasonably gets angry with Catra but she's seen as... you guessed it! Stupid! Naive! God, I'm tired.

... I feel like I went off tangent here. But to sum up: Amity is nothing like Catra and I'm tired of everyone pretending they're alike.

[tethrarisms]

A long time ago, I saw a post of yours which mentioned you didn't like Waid's take on Doom. I just wanted to say that I personally warmed up to it a lot more after reading Waid's reasoning behind it here ( https://community.cbr.com/showthread.php?168363-Mark-Waid-s-Doctor-Doom-Manifesto-(plus-extra-material) ), and I figured if it made my reading experience of his Doom material more palatable, you might be interested in it, too. <3

Thank you so much for your insight and apologies in advance but this will entail an essay...

To be completely honest... I really disagree with some points of Waid's takes and I believe a reread wouldn't change my perspective, especially when I look at his reasoning. Let's see a few things he said:

1. "This is hardly A Great Insight, but the reason Doom became king of a nation and wants to expand his sovereignty is because the most expedient way to fool yourself into believing you have power is to control everything you see and pretend that nothing else is important."

Hm, no. Waid is completely ignoring Victor's whole context of being born Rromani. He didn't become king to fool himself, he did it because Latveria was ruled by the man who persecuted his mother, father and his people for decades.

Fortunov was a facist ruler who took notes from H*tler himself for leadership purposes. Despite losing both his mother and father, Victor remained with the Zefiro, growing and providing to his people by selling con trinkets to nobles. That's what put him on Fortunov's radar yet again, resulting in a second persecution.

(Fantastic Four Annual #2 and Books of Doom #1)

Like, yeah, he loves validation. He absolutely does, it does wonders to his ego. But we can't ignore the fact that HIS PEOPLE was persecuted and enslaved. He returned to set them free.

(Books of Doom #5)

2. "I think 'Doom the Noble' would tear the head off a newborn baby and eat it like an apple while his mother watched if it would somehow prove he were smarter than Reed.

I'm sorry but what the fuck did I just read? 😭 This is UTTERLY racist, picturing two Rromani people brutalizing a baby for petty reasons over a white man, like 💀 There's literally a racist stereotype that Roma people kidnap and eat children, so again, WHAT THE FUCK

Not to mention the fact that he also pictures Cynthia as evil (or at least conniving). Simply put, it's bullshit. Cynthia has never been evil. First of all, she made a pact with Mephisto in order to save her people from Fortunov's persecution. Obviously, she was tricked and her soul, doomed. But the moment she believed Victor's "betrayal" towards Stephen was real, she refused to be part of it and chose to remain in hell. That was precisely what saved her soul. She was redeemed, her light so strong that blinded Mephisto.

(Doctor Doom and Doctor Strange: Triumph and Torment)

3. "Why has even the pre-scarred Doom always been driven to be the smartest, the most clever, the best? Look at how he grew up! G****es are outcasts, derided and shunned; of course Doom grew up eager to prove himself."

Okay, this is plain racism.

4. "By the way, the truism that Victor von Doom is, despite his villainy, a noble man is absolute crap and I can point to about a thousand moments in Stan and Jack's run that bear this out."

WRONG.

Yes, Lee and Kirby's initial portrayal of Doom is the ol' cartoonish villain, similar to Magneto even. But it doesn't mean he didn't show signs of humanity and altruism, even within Lee's writing.

(Fantastic Four Annual #2 and Fantastic Four #17, only to mention a few examples from Lee. I have more from other stories whose editor was Lee himself. That is, he approved of those.)

I mean, yeah, I can see what Waid was going for. A very petty, amoral and one-layered Doom. But he contradicts himself by portraying him as a man without a heart, especially in the core material he claimed to be based on.

If anything, Victor is deeply flawed, which only adds MORE layers to him. Yes, he's driven by his obsession with Reed, but it boils down to a simplistic view of their complicated relationship. Victor is a lonely man. And having Reed around is the only way he finds purpose in his intellect. See, he says "equal of Reed Richards", not superior as it's often stated in future issues, which means he considers Reed his only worthy opponent.

--

That said... I'm sorry if it wasn't your intention, but reading his take on how he talks about Rroma people was the last nail in the coffin for me, honestly, especially when he uses a slur.

It's okay if people prefer their Doom to be full evil, really. But to ME, he's way more interesting when his layers are all considered, just like I prefer Magneto to have his background to justify his character's decisions. If not, they'd be just one-layered psychos like, say, Carnage. And again, it's fine if people enjoy this kind of characterization for Doom, but then I wouldn't have those tender moments between Val and Victor.

Thank you again for remembering of my old posts about Victor and sharing the link! I appreciate the kind gesture 💜 (and apologies if I sounded rude or anything, that one particular statement really bothered me :/ )

[fantasywritten]

Send me your URL and I'll tell you

My Opinion on; @librarywent

Character in general: I LOVE QUINN!!! Ngl I never expected Quinn and King Dice to interact and for it to go as well as it has, but I LOVE it!! The way you portray her is honestly amazing ❤️ and FAY!!! I love Fay. I just feel horrible for him in most of our threads lolol. But in all honesty, every single one of your characters I’ve interacted with is SO WELL WRITTEN!! I have to mention Lee specifically because I love her relationship with Michaela! They’re both strong women that are able to connect with each other and I love that 💕

How they play them: The way you portray Quinn is honestly incredible! I feel like she would be a really hard character to flesh out, and yet you’ve done it perfectly! Fay is another complicated character; I feel like it’s going to take a while to develop him, but I think he’ll eventually break down his walls — if not to Berlin, then maybe to one of the other robbers, like Nairobi. Also, I have to give a special little shoutout to Ramsay, because what you do with HIS character is incredible!! I kinda hate his character of course lolol but you write him SO WELL!!

Do I:

RP with them: YES YES YESSSS

Want to RP with them: I always have and I always will!!!

What is my;

Overall Opinion: WE STAN!!! The mun is super nice, the writing is incredible, the characters are well fleshed-out and all have distinct personalities, so much so that I can see them as real people!! The amount of talent here is unreal ❤️❤️❤️

**Note: Mun’s answer are all to be completely honest. Don’t send url if you don’t want brutal honesty

[sludgest]

> IT by Stephen King

TW: Abuse, Sex talk, Gore, Godawful Shipping etc.

To preface this, the book is nothing like the movie. It's absolutely nothing like the movie. They took the characters' names and three isolated events from the book that were like... three pages long each, and then made a movie out of that. If you’re thinking of the movie, don't associate it with my following review, even though I’ll be using movie ss to make the review more visually appealing. I repeat, this is not about the movie.

TW: abuse, sex talk, gore

IT, by Stephen King, was super crazy, I loved it, and my overactive imagination did too. the characters are so good, I'd kiss Richie Tozier on the lips in a mildly homoerotic way, the story is laid out so nicely and the word choice is insane. Sure, it might have given me nightmares about flying leeches biting dime-sized holes into my arms and flying into my mouth, but it was fun to read. Wild ride. I also liked the perspective switch, graphic detailing, and the way that these horrible events were used as a vessel to talk about philosophy. This book basically scratched all of my itches. A need for gore, a need for emotional depth, a need for comedic relief, a need for poetry, a need for murder and horrors beyond my comprehension.

Ok, I'm gonna elaborate a bit further to do the story justice. I drip-fed the book to myself slowly, reading a bit every day, five days a week, and it took me... weeks. Well, currently it's my favorite book (no other books have breached the 10-point mark yet) and there's good reason for it. 

First off, the perspective switches were awesome. Point, end of the story. Incredible. I like how you were able to see everything from everyone's perspective, how there were subjective and objective accounts of things, diary entries, news articles, etc. Had me cumming and nutting I swear to god it's so good.

Second, the family dynamics were well-written. I'm a cause-and-effect type of guy, and I like when characters are fleshed out, and there's a rhyme and reason as to why they're the way they are. King (Stephen King, the author) executes this fantastically by letting you meet the families of most of the losers (that's what they call the main characters if you were unaware.) 

For example, we're introduced to Bill's apathetic, cold family (giving him a motive to kill IT, since he thinks it'll make his family care about him again), we meet Eddie Kaspbraks mother, a fat, and overly emotional lady that sort of abused him (I'm pretty sure that the way she treated him was abusive) and really shaped his character from a young age. Mike Hanlon's family was awesome and supportive, real model family, but he got crap for being african american (story set in 1958, it was really bad for Mike). Richie Tozier also had a good family, Stan Uris as well (he went birdwatching a lot with his dad.) Bev's family, I think, was the worst of all because her dad physically and emotionally abused her, and well as attempting to sexually abuse her. This is later reflected in the man she marries, Tom, who physically, emotionally and sexually abuses her. It was very hard to read, I'm gonna be honest. I didn't know what it feels like to read something with a lump in your throat until I read the parts about Tom and Beverly. Plus, it's like... ultra-triggering for survivers of abuse, so I'd discourage anyone who went through that kind of stuff from reading. If you really wanna read IT though, you should skip over the Beverly POVs because frankly, they're just brutal.

Well, third, I like how Stephen King wrote sex in this book (it's a continuous theme.) And before you judge me, I'm praising him for being thorough enough, but vague enough. The story is not an erotica, it's not meant to be hot. Sex is mentioned as a form of bond, as a form of abuse (holy shit there's so much abuse in this book, it's absolutely packed with it), and also mentioned in the "losing your childhood" sort of way which becomes VERY important later in the story. Sex is only insinuated in the story, it's not graphic, you don't get any action out of it and it's only for the plot which I find awesome. Even in the part where adult Bill cheats on his wife with also-adult Beverly (lol), sex is only insinuated, even though it's the only actual erotic scene in the book. 

Lastly, the poetry is crazy, and the way he strings together the literal dozens of characters with their own individual stories and experiences is so well-executed. King unironically sat down, created a masterpiece and dipped. Everything fits into place, all the experiences come together to form this... beautiful picture with no loose threads. I'm getting goosebumps and a boner thinking about this (I'm a writer, how could you tell?), but the only thing I didn't like about the book is how it ends. 

(It ends with all of them moving to different states/places and forgetting each other, like, a full memory wipe, and just going back to their lives before that. They're slightly improved though, because Bev leaves her abusive husband and Ben gets a promotion, along with Bill's depression lightening up.)

Now comes something that really ruffles my feathers. I hate Ben's and Beverly's relationship. I hate, hate, hate it. If the word HATE was printed tiny, 10 times onto every square inch of the 1184 pages of the IT paperback, it wouldn't be able to touch the amount of HATE HATE HATE that I feel for the relationship between the two. Bev could have ended up with anyone else. Richie, maybe Eddie, hell, Bill would have even be fine. But Ben? Ben the weirdo who's fantasized about touching her breasts starting in fourth grade? Ben who never got over her, even as she was married? Ben who couldn't back the heck off? Ben, the lonely, fat pig who I wished had died instead of Eddie in the finale of the book? I guess he's not as bad as Tom, but holy, I was dreading the Bev&Ben arc, and it ended up being confirmed at the end of the book. Screw that, man. 

Still doesn't take away from how good the book was. I'm rating it a solid ten. 

[marvelandimagine]

I think some people mad about the arm is not necessarily about the fact that Ayo disabling the arm itself, it's more of the fact that it was not necessary and the fact that Bucky had no idea they can do that. If I were to be honest, I think it was not that necessary because Ayo is well capable of taking him down without having to disarm him and she is definitely not threatened by him. I think what some people find upsetting about that scene is the fact that it kinda comes off as Ayo putting Bucky in a position where it would make him feel like he doesn't have full control of his own body after all. The Wakandans, especially Ayo, T'Challa and Shuri had every right to feel betrayed and upset but the point is they should have told Bucky about how the arm can easily be disabled like that, they didn't know Bucky was going to set Zemo free when they gave him the arm and regardless of the things they have done for him and if they were ones who gave him the arm, they should have at least told him about it, because it's connected to him, it's a part of HIS body. It doesn't matter if it was necessary to disarm him or not, the point is they should have told him about it because apart from the fact that it's his body and that it was a bit insensitive given his history, it's also a point of vulnerability, and the fact that she did it in front of Walker (and possibly Zemo) --- people who can easily turn on Bucky, could easily that to their advantage and attempt to disable it themselves. Just my thoughts on it.

Thank you for sharing your perspective, anon!

I’m going to use this long-ass reply to address this stuff with Ayo and also voice some thoughts I’ve had over the past few weeks seeing people paint Bucky into being this complete soft and harmless human that needs 25-7 protection which I don’t jive with — and this is me, a complete Bucky stan.

Many moons ago, I saw a post that compared 1940s Bucky moving with stealth and a loaded gun on the train to the Winter Soldier doing the same thing, essentially discussing the similarities and debating how much of non-brainwashed Bucky was in the Soldier. And I think the fandom forgets or chooses to neglect the following when painting him as this fragile, peace-loving guy:

Bucky was an incredibly skilled sniper in the United States Army. His job is to eliminate threats in the most efficient way possible, and he’s good at it. HYDRA gets their hands on him and + the serum, this gets magnified. It wasn’t like HYDRA turned him into someone with the ability and mental capacity to kill — that was already there. The brainwashing and torture just carved out the rest of him to leave those honed skills and an amplified ruthlessness with no moral issues, no sense of self to contend with. That ruthlessness is part of Bucky, whether people like it or not.

When Bucky is outside of HYDRA for the first time and hiding in Civil War and gets attacked, he’s so brutal in his actions that Steve Rogers, the man who literally was ready to die to save Bucky and free him when no one else believed in the good in him, intervenes because “Buck, you’re going to kill someone.” Bucky responds that he’s not going to kill anyone, but the fact remains: with or without HYDRA control, Bucky has a strong capacity for violence that hovers on brutality — again, what’s the most efficient way to eliminate or neutralize a threat? Like, I don’t want to kill you, but I’ll knock your ass out with cinder blocks to the chest.

Bucky has a good heart, he’s loyal, he’s smart, he’s caring, he’s the longest-standing POW in history and was turned into a slave for decades, put through unimaginable trauma and torture and horror with no escape. Bucky is also a strong and incredibly skilled super soldier who has a bionic arm, is a trained sniper, is unnervingly precise with knives, and self-describes himself as “semi-stable.” Zemo notes in the bar that “it didn’t take Bucky long to get back into form,” and he’s right because the ruthlessness and skill of the Winter Soldier is a part of him and always has been. We see it when he has his hand around Zemo’s neck and tells him he will kill him, when he rips the glass from his hand and throws it across the room.

And I’m sure the Wakandans know all this about Bucky, this light and his ability for hard-to-stop violence, whether from talking to Steve and Bucky or doing their own homework. And they still choose to help him out of the goodness of their hearts because he’s been put through hell and they believe they have the capacity to help him and it’s the right thing to do — they’re betting more on those positive attributes. And they put a failsafe on his arm, a literal weapon, and chose not to tell him. You know why I think that shows how much they did care about him? Because they could’ve blatantly come out and said “Hey, we don’t trust you,” and hurt him outright, but they didn’t because they’re betting on the light in Bucky to outweigh the dark or any future manipulation. That it’s a worst-case scenario function they hope to never have to use — so they’re prepared if shit hits the fan, and if it doesn’t, Bucky doesn’t have to be hurt feeling like he can’t be trusted. I see no issues here, they’re just being cautious.

Now coming to Ayo, my QUEEN Ayo. From that beautiful, beautiful opening scene, we get to see her support, her reassurance, her belief that Bucky will be able to work through this, even when he doesn’t believe it himself. She watches him fight and struggle and cry, and you can feel the hope in her and how moved she is when she gets to tell him it worked, he did it — he’s free. And she says it not once, but twice. And you can hear not just the comfort, but the PRIDE and warmth in her voice directed to him, who I’m sure she’s watched throughout the whole deprogramming process and gotten to know and is happy to see him work through the pain and come out on the other side.

And then she sees that same individual make a decision in freeing Zemo that she perceives as a “fuck you” not just to her country, but to her, someone who was charged with protecting her king. She could’ve just disarmed Bucky the second they met up, but she doesn’t. She takes the time to explain her side and her feelings, her guilt and her shame, and basically implies that she feels betrayed by Bucky because Wakanda helped him and now he’s doing something that’s hurting her country. And still, she doesn’t attack or just go get Zemo. She gives Bucky the benefit of the doubt and a whole 8-hour American workday to do what he has to do because again, she believes in the best of him. And then that time limit runs up, and he chooses to get in her way.

And that’s the final straw. She’s angry, she’s guilty, she’s frustrated, and she feels betrayed hurt by someone I think she did respect and care about, someone whom she worked with and helped and supported when he was his most vulnerable. Did she “need” to disarm the arm to fight Bucky? Probably not. But is she doing it in the heat of battle and adrenaline and a whole bucket ton of emotions, including what she sees as the White Wolf blatantly disrespecting her country and her as a person and even friend and she just says fuck it, I’m done? You hurt us and me, and I’m going to hurt you back? Oh yeah. And Bucky looks shocked, not because he’s a poor fragile baby and “oh no, my arm, how could you?? my TrAumA”, but in the dual realization of “oh shit, how’d you do that?!” and “oh shit, I think I crossed a line here.” And also, I don’t think a single person in that room would be able to recreate the disabling sequence other than Ayo — it’s way too targeted and specific for someone like Walker to pick it up in the whole three seconds it took.

People need to stop reducing characters to these black and white extremes of soft and hard, of good and bad. Doing so completely devalues and ignores the REALITY of the complexity of being human, and Bucky and Ayo are both great examples of that played by stellar actors who portray that range and depth extremely well. End of the day, my thought is that the failsafe in the arm was justified and people need to stop coming for Ayo based on this ridiculous narrative that Bucky is too traumatized and sensitive and too much of a fave to ever be challenged or he’ll explode into dust. Boy deserves a life of freedom and healing and mental health support, but he’s also still a formidable opponent with the capacity for violence and skillset to kill. People are more than one thing.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk!!

[persepholline]

I've read that article about the romanticization of the Darkling and while I absolutely understand people who are pissed off/sad and I agree that it's shitty, I find LB's attitude towards Darkles stans very funny in a "girl what are you doing" sort of way because it's so petty like I've never heard of a bestselling author writing a portion of their fans into their books as a crazy cult before, it clearly hit a nerve

I'm new to the fandom but the feeling I get is she wrote something problematic ten years ago and became very embarrassed about it afterwards so she turned on the fans that liked it as a way to absolve herself. Especially since fandoms in general have become a lot more focused on discussion of what constitutes healthy/acceptable relationships to write about. And in a way I get it I had a huge Twilight phase in high school and afterwards I was super embarassed about it because of how problematic and cringe it was. But now with distance and more maturity I'm able to both still see why it was problematic and also why I was drawn to it (mostly the very unhinged representation of female desire) and like...it's really not the end of the world and no it never made me believe that breaking into somebody's room at night to watch them sleep was actually ok in real life lmao. This feels so obvious to me but apparently it needs to be said.

(More under the break this is turning into an essay, I've been thinking of this a lot recently)

And of course it's good to have these discussions about how historically romance tropes have echoed social dynamics of men's shitty behavior being romanticized and excused. But these days they often are so simplistic and focused on chasing clout that they become this weird new puritanism and moral panic about oh now women are reading novels it's going to make them hysterical or something

So you have these weird assumptions that you can't like a character and also be critical of their actions, or enjoy certain parts of a character and not others, or wish they were written differently and like them more for their potential (which I'm sure stings a bit for an author lol) - it assumes that if you like a character it means you would approve of their actions in real life, or that people just stupidly reproduce whatever they see on TV. That tendency to treat fictional characters like real people is the thing that actually worries me, to be honest, because it indicates a lack of distance and critical capacities regarding how stories are used and received. But people - fans and authors - are so scared of being called out as problematic and harassed for it that they're going to shy away from any nuance.

And yeah I think that it's good that standards of what constitutes an ideal relationship are evolving and becoming more feminist and communicative and all that and we definitely need more of that. But not all fiction has to be aspirational! Sometimes you just want to read about fucked up shit, because it's cathartic or fascinating, even healing at times because with fiction you are absolutely in control and can choose when to close the book. Toxic relationships in fiction can have an appeal specifically because they go to extremes of feeling that we don't want to go to in reality, in exactly the same way as horror movies or very violent action movies - which I don't see a lot of people besides fundamentalist Christians argue that they turn you into violent psychopaths (and that feels very obviously sexist). And for women, who are often taught growing up that love is the purpose of life, the "saving someone with your ability to love" can be a power fantasy in the same way that being a buff superhero who saves the day with their capacity for incredible violence can be a power fantasy for men. Still doesn't mean those women are going to fall in love with actual murderers or that those men are going to start beating up people at night. And love is scary, and weird, and weirdly close to horror at times, with all the potential for loss of self and being vulnerable and overwhelming feelings and potential for being horribly hurt and it should be possible for stories to explore that without anybody screaming about how this is going to Corrupt the Youth or something

And I mean I get it LB wanted to write a cautionary tale for teenagers, but it just did not work for reasons a lot of people have already written about - the fact that the Darkling is the leader of an oppressed minority and is the only one with a real political agenda to end that oppression in the first trilogy, the fact that he helps Alina come into her own power while her endgame LI is someone she keeps herself small for, that she's shamed for wanting power after growing up without any, a generally very wonky conception of privilege, and a lot of other stuff with yucky regressive implications to the point where stanning the villain actually feels liberating and empowering which is a surefire sign that the narrative is broken (unless it's a villain focused story lmao). But of course that Fanside article makes almost no mention of the political dynamics, it's all about interpersonal stuff which is an annoying trend in YA, there are those massive events happening in the background but it's made all about the feelings of the hero(ine) ; war as a self-development quest (which is kind of gross). Helnik is kind of an example of this too - I like them, I think they're fun ! But Matthias spends a big part of the story wanting to brutally murder Nina and her kind, and he mostly changes his mind because he finds her hot. Like you don't feel there is some sort of big revelation that his entire moral system and political framework is completely rotten ; it's all better because of feelings now.

As a teenager that kind of sanctimonious bullshit would have annoyed the hell out of me ; I read those books in my early twenties and I found the ending so stupid I wouldn't have trusted any message or life lessons coming from them. And I liked reading/watching dark stuff as a teenager, as a way to deal with the very intense inner turmoil I was dealing with - and I turned out fine ! Meanwhile I've seen several times women in very shitty relationships being obsessed with positive energies and stories ; they were so terrified of their life not being perfectly wholesome they ended up being delusional about their own situations.

Like personally I think the Darkling is a compelling, interesting, alluring character and also a manipulative, murderous piece of shit and that Alina should get to punish him (like in a sexy way) - but he's also the end result of centuries of war, oppression and trauma and reducing that to "toxic wounded boy" feels kind of offensive ngl ESPECIALLY since the books don't offer any kind of systemic analysis or response to oppression beyond "the bad guy should die" and "now the king/queen is a good guy our problems are solved!!!!"

In Lives of the Saints, we see how Yuri is abused extremely badly and almost killed by his father, and so when his father dies when the Fold swallows Novokribirsk, he thinks the Starless Saint has saved him. Later in KoS/RoW he's turned into this fanatic who explains away all the Darkling's crimes. The other followers talk about how the Starless Saint will bring equality for all men. Then the Darkling comes back and actually thinks his followers are pathetic, which feels again like a very pointed message to his IRL stans. Which is absolutely hilarious to me. Like oh no, if he was real he would not like you and think you're pathetic ! Yeah ...but he's not. Real. Damn right he would not like the fics where Alina puts him on a leash. I'm still going to read them. What is he going to do about it, jump out of the page ? Jfjfjjdhfgfjfj

Anyway I think the intended message is "assholes will use noble political causes for their own gain and to manipulate people" and "being abused/oppressed is not an excuse to behave badly." Which. Sure. But that's kind of like...a tired take, honestly ? A big number of villains nowadays are like this ; either they've been bullied as kids, or they're part of an oppressed group, or they have "good ideals but too extreme". This is not surprising because a lot of mainstream heroic narratives present clinging to the status quo as Good and change as chaotic and dangerous. And like sure in real life people often do bad shit because they're wounded and in danger. But if you want to do a story like that, you have to do it with nuance, talk about cycles of violence, about how society creates vulnerable people to be exploited, about how privilege gives you more choices and the luxury of morals, etc. The Grishaverse does not have this level of nuance (maybe in SoC a little bit but definitely not in TGT). So it kind of comes off as "trauma makes you evil" and "egalitarianism is dangerous" and "if you're abused/oppressed you're not allowed to fight back". And ignores the fact that historically, evil generally comes from unchecked privilege.

I guess my point is that there are many things I like about LB's writing, she knows how to create these really exciting character dynamics, and the world she has created is fascinating. But these stories are not a great starting point for imparting moral lessons. And her best characters tend to be, at least in canon, the morally grey ones. I hope one day she'll be at peace with the fact that she wrote the Darkling the way she did and leave his fans alone but in the meantime I'm just not going to take this whole thing seriously I'm sorry

[fedonciadale]

Anonymous asked a  question

 Do you ever feel,  idk.. sort of bad for the really hardcore Dany stans? I mean the ones who are  convinced they will get the “right” ending in the books, the ones who are  clinging to her resurrection being canon and will be made official in the  Fire and Blood show? I personally find them impossible to have discussions  with (bc of the hypocrisy mainly) but I can’t help but feel a measure of pity  for them too. Do you think that the Sansa fandom would have reacted similarly  if she’d had an ending that we saw as totally horrible? Sorry if it doesn’t  make any sense :)

Hi there!

Yes, I do. I thought about this a lot and I guess I sort of know where they come from.

And it has to do with a) pop culture and how fantasy literature is generally written and b) the way GRRM writes nuanced grey characters and expects his readers to form an opinion for themselves.

We are accustomed to 'heroes' who remain heroes no matter what they do. Pop culture tends to frame characters as heroes and expects us to stay on their side. I give you one example : Harry Potter. I like Harry but there can be no denying that he does questionable things by the end of the books. He uses Imperius and Cruciatus - unforgivables. In all cases his reasons are somewhat relatable and his goal of defeating Voldemort is a good goal. Still, the fact that he uses these (and in some cases uses them as revenge) is never addressed as bad or even only questionable. And that is how heroes usually are treated.

As an aside : Do not blame this on Tolkien. Tolkien addresses the problem that his heroes have to fight against other humans and he let's Faramir voice the problems with that. Tolkien's characters are far greyer than people give him credit for. And sometimes there is no good decision. Gandalf can save Faramir or Theoden, but not both and he has to live with that.

We even do this with 'heroes' in real life. Winston Churchill was the right man at the right time at the right place. But try to tell some British that he was an asshole at the same time and that the two facts are not mutually exclusive.

So, people are accustomed to know who the hero is in fantasy and to just go along with anything they do. And this what happened with Dany, I think.

People read ASOIAF and see that Dany is an important POV and they expect her brutal and violent acts to be insignificant in the face of the threat of the Others.

And it's partly GRRM'S style that is to blame. He doesn't tell you explicitly who to support. He writes nuanced characters and lets his readers think about it. People do realise that it is sort of difficult to support Lannisters and Starks and Targs and they usually argue that the differences won't matter in the face of the threat of the White Walkers. And let's be honest there are many books where it would go exactly like that.

This is also the reason that you rarely find villain stanning in the ASOIAF fandom. Because you can always argue that the character in question has some good traits. This is why there are people who think Tywin is the best politician ever who think that Stannis will be the true king, that Tyrion is a good person. You could argue that GRRM writes his characters too relatable.

That is why you find many hero worshippers of Dany and only rarely villain supporters. Because people are confused about who is a villain and who is good because GRRM does not tell them.

They praise GRRM for writing grimdark and grey characters and yet they fail to realise what that means. It means that even the heroes do questionable things and that subverting expectations also means that we cannot be entirely sure who will be the heroes.

I think though that GRRM wants us to see and judge the nuances and a character who kills children or practices human sacrifice or who arbitrarily kills people (even if his victims are bad) is not a hero. Never. Stannis, Tywin, Tyrion, Dany are villains and he wants us to see that at least in the en.

I think people tend to be angry if something goes against their expectations. That is only natural. And of course they try to find explanations. And as long as GRRM does not publish the books there is no way to prove them wrong. We pointed out where Dany was headed since season 6 and they did not believe us. Why should they now? I think a small part will continue to believe Dany was meant to be a hero even if the books come out. And that is interesting in itself because it means that GRRM will have failed at least for a part of the readers.

Would the Sansa fandom have reacted similarly? That is a good question. I myself would probably have turned my back to GRRM. But I think I would rather have been angry at the author. As things stand now I'm not convinced of the ending yet and GRRM has some work to do to get me on board but it's not impossible. If Sansa had died I would be angry as well. I just hope that I would not have lashed out at real people over a piece of fiction. I hope others would have been mature enough to do the same.

Thanks for the ask!

[hasarjunadoneanythingwrong]

lostbelt 4: [hammers in the idea that arjuna alter has PTSD and hates himself for what he did in the war and doesn't want to see anybody suffer like that every again to the point of overcorrecting in a massive way to the point where he becomes the very thing he tried to stop]

ppl on tumblr with no reading comprehension: arjuna alter is a MONSTER and i will stan [checks notes] the berserker who feels nothing and brutally kills people and even killed karna in a way worse way than arjuna/alter ever did

that confession made me angry im SORRY but like REALLY??????

And I mean cu alter’s madness enhancement is ex (actually c) as in he’s not actually as insane as he claims to be, he’s really more apathetic to everything, which almost makes some of the stuff he does worse. The guy wants to kill until he is killed- other ppl have written much nicer meta on him but basically he’s just going through the motions of what he thinks a tyrant king should be like. He has control over his actions and can show restraint so what’s anon’s excuses for the stunts he’s pulled? New boot goofing? smh

Arjuna alter has madness ex without any funky stuff going on, and he was also being manipulated by god-eater and general wackjob douman, and yeah, we shouldn’t excuse the stuff he did; but the narrative already calls him out on the stuff he does. Multiple times! How come we have to keep retreading this ground with him huh? Like we get it, he did bad stuff; the text acknowledges it! Your fav also did bad stuff!

But also like to be honest I think we should just point and laugh at the idiot who wasted their money burning a limited 5 star bc like…the brain worms are real….

[finnicks]

fandom/shipping prompt: bellamy & clarke

This is no doubt going to be a very unpopular opinion.

I used to really, really, really like Bellamy and Clarke circa seasons 1 and 2. I felt that they had great, sizzling chemistry; they worked so well together when they were sharing scenes and plots. Clarke encouraged Bellamy to calm down and slow down and trust other people while Bellamy encouraged Clarke to be brave and make harder decisions.

I used to like it as a romantic ship, but then season 2 happened where Clarke disregarded the importance of Bellamy’s life (a boy who had already shown signs of being someone who wore death very heavily upon himself) and lied to him about Octavia (and never seemed to apologise for it; while the show never delved into it, technically Octavia and Bellamy shouldn’t know how siblings function as they never had an example of it, so their co-dependency is one that’s borderline toxic and they got their identity from being related to one another), she took a step above Bellamy. The moment she let Lexa wiggle into her ear with opinions about leadership, Clarke and Bellamy stopped being on an even playing field.

(A side note: It would have been very interesting if we saw Lexa's leadership clash with Clarke's more than it did so. I find Grounder culture, while it has heavy racist undertones, very interesting and it deserved to be fleshed out even further. I know we sort of got this between Lexa and Clarke, but I wish that we had seen more discussions, more political debates. I wish we didn't see White people bring guns to the table and wave them around and close their earholes to the (technically) POC political group who was trying to express to them that this was their way of living. Do I think Clarke ever understood why a little girl back in season 1 had tattoos to indicate her kills? No.)

This would have been interesting if the narrative actually acknowledged Bellamy as a leader himself. It did in the beginning, but he lost his footing and the narrative pushed Bellamy to stand on a step lower to its Queen Clarke. No one will ever be able to convince me that Bellamy was ever considered on the same footing as her post-season 2 given how his season 3 storyline developed and how he lost quite a lot of his own spark and guts as the story developed.

I personally felt like their chemistry was damaged significantly by Clarke’s decisions and the way the narrative framed other characters expressing their frustration with Clarke (whose decisions were sometimes very off-base and incredibly dangerous) as wrong when they were right. While Bellamy did get to express his resentment towards Clarke, Clarke continues to drag Bellamy along and use him.

I feel like what was once a previously great relationship turned incredibly toxic. Bellamy became a foot soldier. The narrative itself demoted Bellamy from “king” to “knight”. Bellamy lost his development for the sake of Clarke. She never learns from her mistakes; the entire show is basically a love note to Clarke’s horrible decisions. And while that’s realistic—our heroine can make bad decisions—she never changes from it.

I also feel like it’s a big problem when your leading man who was originally framed as being an emotional human being (and the story actually honoured those emotions) can no longer express his feelings. Bellamy, who started out in season 1 as Clarke’s opposite, someone who was passionate and incredibly outspoken and someone who was never afraid to call Clarke out, becomes a lap dog for no other purpose than to stand up for Clarke when all the other characters are against her. No one can convince me that Bellamy’s arc soured in the later seasons; his character, the person he was, the person that I liked so much had died in the season 2 finale. He lost his spark.

Bellamy was my favourite character for years. And I no longer recognise him when I see later season stuff. That’s a problem. (Clarke I can recognise because she’s still making decisions on behalf of everyone without actually talking to those people. Clarke is a self-imposed martyr; no one asked her to make decisions for them, but she takes it upon herself and never learns her goddamn lesson. It started to become a problem for me in season 3 and beyond because of how her decisions and lack of care often saw Raven, who has a disability, consistently used and put in danger. Raven was often framed as being mean to Clarke for calling out her bullshit. I am a Raven stan, and even I can tell you Raven was cruel sometimes. But nothing will ever compare to Clarke's cruelty. It's not kind nor is it heroic to consistently make decisions for others and then bail because "It's my burden to bear". Clarke continuously martyrises herself and expects Bellamy to also support that self-imposed narrative.)

While some of the Bellarke fandom is super sweet (the people who read my fics in the past and continue to read them now made me feel very welcome when I dipped my toes in this side of the fandom), the louder pockets of this fandom are incredibly toxic. (Sending death threats to an actress because she is playing a romantic storyline out with the character of Bellamy Blake is not okay. Becho made more sense as a canon ship at the time than Bellarke ever did. No amount of story plot point meta justifying will ever convince me of this because of fandom's actions towards an actress speaks a lot louder than meta.) The way canon developed (season 3 onward was atrocious) and the way fandom carried on about things was a little too hard for me to ignore, which is why I even struggle to watch this show and write from the early seasons. The Bellamy and Clarke I love are in seasons 1-2. I don’t recognise who these people are beyond that.

Send me a ship and I’ll give you my (brutally) honest opinion on it

[nikosheba]

Ok, oh boy. @misswhalie you asked for it!! Under the cut so if you don’t want to see my Maeglin opinions (and they’re not Super Positive) you can just cheerfully scroll on by! I’m not here to hate on anyone for liking him or the way anyone portrays him, I just have a very clear idea about him in my head.

Ok so the first thing is, I’m not a huge fan of a Wholly Unreliable Narrator, and most of the Maeglin Stanning I see comes directly from that. It seems to me to be like “I like this character” > “but he did bad things” > “so maybe he didn’t do bad things” > “the book is wrong because Pengolodh was a big old meanie”

Edited to add: most of this is based on TFOG Maeglin, because it’s the most complete account we have extant, and a few things are referenced from The Shaping of Middle-Earth, which included some updated passages. I do tend to give those accounts more weight than the published Silm if there are conflicting narratives, and especially if there are narrative holes, because if canons conflict I’m going with the one that was written by J.R.R. Tolkien and not his son.

Whereas I see that there is a level of unreliable narration, but more in the sense of...I don’t think it was obvious at all at the time to most of the Gondothlim that Maeglin was Up To Something--in TFOG he’s not unpopular, he’s close in the King’s counsel, when he chooses to he joins in the dances and the merriment and this isn’t something that’s seen as wholly out of character, just that “Maeglin is softened.” So the most I really enjoy the unreliable narrator is to the extent of like...I kind of think that Pengolodh may have been trying to make it look like when you live next to a serial killer and you want to insist that you totally suspected him, you weren’t taken in, you knew he was bad all along! I’m not a huge fan of Unreliable Narrator in general; it only appeals to me when that unreliable narration is an actual plot point (like THE TRUE STORY OF THE 3 LITTLE PIGS BY A. WOLF), not as a place to start with, because then is it even interacting with the text? Like, an interesting fic for me would be something like “Here’s what really happened--and here’s why Pengolodh has a grudge against him, and how that got changed.” But “none of that stuff happened, here’s a story about something else” doesn’t appeal to me.

Maeglin’s character for me is a mixture of Mordred le Fey from Arthuriana and Loki/Ben Solo. And frankly, they’re all sort of callbacks to the same type of character; the one who was sort of an outsider, who was loved and accepted but never saw it that way due to his perception of himself as different, who eventually betrayed those that loved him and got them killed. 

(I also don’t know where the “Maeglin was a torture victim” thing comes from. In every edition of the text I’ve read it says he was threatened with torture, but I haven’t found one where it says anything actually happened to him. In TFOG he just immediately offers the city in exchange for his life, and for Idril as his prize.)

We also know from ósanwë-kenta that it’s not possible for an elf to read the mind of another without permission, which leads me to believe that the reason Idril knows all his horny dreams is because he’s deliberately slamming I SHOWED YOU MY DICK PLS RESPOND over and over into her brain at 2am every morning. At the very least, he’s being very unguarded--and again, in all versions of the text written directly by J.R.R.T., he’s explicitly motivated by his lust for the throne of Gondolin rather than by any genuine love of her.

So like, being honest? That scene at the battlements. I cannot get over this. He drags his cousin by her hair through the city as she fights him, commands his soldiers to stop or kill her husband, and deliberately goes up to the very top battlements because he wants to make her watch her seven-year-old son burn to death. He tries to stab said child and is only foiled by 1. Brave Baby Boy and 2. Baby Chain Mail.

Also I’m pretty sure i mentally live in Gondolin most days lately and You Betrayed My City. 

So in essence: I’m a canon purist. I try very hard to make all of my fics and headcanons work as closely within canon as possible, and my motto is that good fanfiction adds, but does not subtract. I’m very careful to delineate what is canon, what is headcanon, what is fanon, and what is AU. I 100% respect that this is NOT how everyone approaches fandom, and that’s fine with me. I do enjoy AUs, but I have strict personal rules about them. 

(My ONE RULE FOR A GREAT AU:

1. Change Only One of the Following: Who What Where When Why How; everything else different should follow from that one thing. Be very specific about what it is. i.e. you can have The Fellowship In Space or you can have Sam Leads The Fellowship but once you have Captain Sam of the S.S. Fellowship it gets really murky as an AU for me, and starts losing all connection to the original.) 

But it seems to me that every time I see a “sympathetic Maeglin” it doesn’t mean “maybe he had reasons for doing what he did beyond what we’ve seen,” it means “I don’t think he did those things at all.” And for me, that just kind of feels like it’s a different character than the one in the text. 

And frankly? If someone can make a 100% canon compliant TFOG Maeglin sympathetic, I think that would be fascinating. Tag me in that! 

Additional salt: I would really like some nice family art of Idril, Tuor, and Eärendil as a happy young family, but probably 80-90% of the art of them is like:

[ENORMOUS LOOMING MAEGLIN SNARLING OR LEERING]

                                  (house of the wing)

Hope that wasn’t too brutal lol.

[365days365movies]

May 6, 2021: The Martian (2015) (Recap: Part One)

We’re leaving lo-fi sci-fi, people. Kind of.

I mentioned before that films like Her are what I define as “lo-fi sci-fi”, which is a category that I’ve kind of made up. Basically, it’s the science fiction version of low fantasy, meaning it contains science fiction themes contained within an otherwise contemporary setting. In the case of Her, Joaquin Phoenix’s character, along with many others, live in a world and setting basically like ours, but with technology advanced enough to generate AIs (like Siri) that are intelligent enough to actually ascend our reality. Because we live in a society.

You give me Joaquin Phoenix, I’m gonna make a Joker reference; it’s in the contract of my existence. Anyway, that is admittedly kind of broad, right? I mean, that has the capability of crossing over with a BUNCH of sci-fi genres and themes. And, considering that we’ve already seen magic, speculative technology, time travel, monsters, and artificial intelligence, we’ve already touched on quite a bit.

And with science fiction, the sky’s the limit. Literally. So, I think it behooves us to re-examine lo-fi sci-fi a little bit. Specifically, we should note that it can also be defined as an extension of currently existing technologies and possibilities. Writers would call this “speculative sci-fi”, assuming in this case that it’s set within the present or a near and attainable future. Her definitely fits in this category, as does Westworld. But, let’s crossover to another genre by speculating upon another possibility. And it begins with this man. Probably.

Hey, Elon, what’s up? Now, Mr. Musk here is a...controversial figure, for COMPLETELY understandable reasons. Instead of touch upon the man himself, I feel like touching upon one of his recent focuses: space travel. With SpaceX and the various upcoming space trips and journeys that they’re planning, Musk has made it clear that he plans to shoot to the Moon. Again, literally.

In fact, this full plan is to go even further than that, and to fuel potential commercial space flights in the future, which is admittedly very cool. And of course, if you’re going to shoot for the Moon...

Guys...guys, that’s Mars. THAT’S FUCKING MARS

Is that not amazing? We have sound and pictures from FUCKING MARS! THAT’S A DIFFERENT PLANET, GODDAMN IT! It’s cooler than I have the ability to properly express, but it IS goddamn cool. And this means that, easily within my lifetime, we could (and likely will) land on Mars. Which is amazing. God, I really want to see that happen.

And so, landing on Mars is BARELY science fiction, but since we haven’t yet done so...yeah, it’s fictional at the moment. And so, any film about landing on Mars falls within this category. Well...to an extent.

2000′s Mission to Mars, for example, was a Disney-funded film (to my IMMENSE surprise; and it’s based off of an old Disney World ride, WHAT), and a movie that I saw a LOT when I was a kid. I also barely remember it, to be honest. But that film is straight-up science fiction because of, well...aliens. The idea of Martians is, as far as we know it, fictional. And most fiction involving Mars includes these aliens somehow. Whether it’s DC Comics’ entire civilization of Martians, as seen in Justice League, Supergirl, or Young Justice...

...Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s heavily mythologized civilization, as seen in the Barsoom series of novels (and another Disney film)...

...Or one of the best Looney Tunes characters.

Mmm. Yes. Isn’t that lovely?

But, yeah, Mars and aliens go hand-in-hand in our media. So, to properly look at lo-fi science and speculative science fiction in relation to the Red Planet, we’ll need a movie that goes to the planet, and doesn’t touch upon the concept of aliens AT ALL.

Enter...Ridley Scott?

Yeah, the director of Legend, Alien, Thelma and Louise, Blade Runner, Gladiator. Also the director of Kingdom of Heaven, Prometheus, Exodus: Gods and Kings, and...ugh, 1492: Conquest of Paradise. I’ve talked about his mixed record before, in my Recap of Legend right here.

In 2014, he was brought on to adapt a book by Andy Weir called The Martian, which is a great book! I’ve listened to the audio book, and I whole-heartedly recommend doing that. And because of that, I am VERY MUCH looking forward to watching this film, especially seeing as it’s often called one of the best science fiction films made during that year, and was critically acclaimed then and now. It got seven Oscar nominations (although it won none of them), amongst other awards. So, enough navel-gazing, huh? The Martian!

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

On Acidalia Plantitia, at the landing site of the Ares III mission, a group of scientists are gathering samples. These scientists are commander and geologist Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain), pilot Rick Martinez (Michael Pena), systems operator Beth Johanssen (Kate Mara), surgeon Chris Beck (Sebastian Stan), German chemist Alex Vogel (Aksel Hennie), and overly talkative botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon). 

The group seems to have a good dynamic, but that dynamic is interrupted by a massive dust storm, which is large enough to cause the entire crew to evacuate. However, in the chaos of the dust storm, Mark is hit by debris and lost in the shuffle. Although Lewis goes back to find him, she can’t get to him before they need to leave, and Mark is believed dead. This is reported (pretty callously) by NASA Director Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels) to the press soon afterwards.

But of course, that wouldn’t be much of a movie, now would it? Mark’s alive! And Mark’s alone. With his suit damaged, and low on oxygen, he trudges back to headquarters, which is intact and still contains breathable oxygen. He gets inside, and realizes that he’s been stabbed in the abdomen by some debris. He removes it, and stitches up his own wound. Which is...god, it’s fucking BRUTAL just to think about, nevertheless watch.

Once he’s finished, he records a log for the future, if he doesn’t make it. It’s day 19 of the 31-day mission at this point, and Mark’s basically screwed. He needs lasting oxygen, water, and food, and he might need that for 4 years, when the next manned mission can come to the red planet. Additionally, he has absolutely no way to contact NASA, leaving him completely stranded. Another dust storm rolls in that night, and Mark looks over the belongings of his colleagues, packing them up for their eventual return. It’s somber, to say the least. However, Mark affirms that he’s determined not to die on the planet.

After doing the math, Mark should have enough food to last him for about 300 days, especially if he rations it. Until then, he’ll need to figure out how to grow his own food, on a planet where nothing grows. Which is, of course, going to be a difficult feat to accomplish. But Mark Watney’s a botanist with botany powers, and he’s gonna do it.

It’s day 31, and Mark’s brought in dirt from the outside, and uses the bio-waste from the crew’s stay there for a form of compost. After 5 days, mostly full of him watching Happy Days on TV and trying to farm, he realizes that he needs water, both for himself and for the soil. To do that, he goes chemical and decides to use hydrogen-laden rocket fuel, wood from Martinez’s belongings, and good old-fashioned fire to make water! And since hydrogen + oxygen = water, it should work. With a minor side-effect.

So, yeah, he blew himself up. As as he records a video log, the sound mixing makes itself impressively known by subtly and realistically generating a tinnitus sound. It’s VERY well-done, holy shit. Anyway, he makes a stable fire, and the place is soon covered in condensation, moistening the room and the soil successfully.

We get to day 54, and Mark’s planted leftover potatoes from the crew in order to grow them. And while he’s being mourned at a funeral on Earth, and in NASA, he’s seeing the fruits (or shoots) of his efforts.

Back on Earth, Mars Mission Director Vincent Kapoor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is trying to convince Director Teddy to let him lobby for another Ares mission, despite the risk of bad press for the callousness of the proximity to Watney’s death. Meanwhile, satellite technician Mindy Park (Mackenzie Davis) looks down at the Ares III site, and realizes that the site has changed visually, meaning that Mark may actually be alive.

Shocked by this, she tells Kapoor, Teddy, and media director Annie Montrose (Kristen Wiig) about this, and they realize the absolute clusterfuck that this whole thing is. They can’t tell the other members of the Ares III crew about it, because it’d devastate them for the 10 months they have to get back to Earth, at the VERY least. They can’t tell the WORLD about this, because they just had a funeral for the guy, and they’d reveal that they left him stranded on Mars accidentally, destroying faith in the Mars Missions Program. And they can’t save Mark, who they’re sure will starve eventually. It’s a mess. And Kapoor also wonders what’s happening to Mark psychologically through all of this.

And yet, they reveal this to the world regardless, causing the clusterfuck reaction that they think it’s going to cause. But Mark’s busy on Mars, figuring out how to get to the site of the next Ares IV mission in 4 years, at the Schiaparelli crater about 50 days travel away. This is a struggle, as his Rover has only so much power and fuel, and he can only get more power by cutting out the heater is risking death by freezing. So, problems. However, he figures out a potential solution: radioactive isotopes! In a move that is, let’s face it, COMPLETELY INSANE, he digs up a radioactive generator from the ship in order to heat the ship.

On Earth, they try to figure out Mark’s moves, as well as how to resupply Ares IV sooner for Mark’s benefit. This is with the director of JPL, Bruce Ng (Benedict Wong), and the flight director of the ship Hermes, Mitch Henderson (Sean Bean), who insists that they tell the Ares II crew. They continue to monitor Mark, and note that he’s been travelling for 17 days in his Rover towards something. Kapoor figures it out, and flies to California.

See, Mark needs a way to contact NASA, and he believes that the way to do so is through Pathfinder, the first probe ever sent to Mars in 1997, lasting for 9 months since landing until they lost contact. Mark digs it up, and the people at JPL in California start their own efforts for contact. And despite communication being extremely rudimentary, initially limited to yes/no questions that use a still-frame camera, it fucking WORKS! WHOO!

To boost this communication hurdle, the two camps figure out a hexadecimal system for communication, allowing them to communicate using a circular table of numbers that represent an alphabet. That allows them to teach Mark to hack into the Rover, allowing it to piggyback off of its broadcast signal and send them messages via keyboard. Nice! Now that communication is reasonably possible, Mark’s able to ask how the crew is handling his death. But upon learning that they haven’t told him. He’s understandably a little goddamn enraged. And so, they FINALLY tell the Ares III crew about this.

The news breaks the crew, even though Mark continues to stress that he’s all right, and that it wasn’t their fault. Meanwhile, Mark’s able to survive for 912 days with his potato plants, and things improve with the help of technicians on Earth. They plan to launch a supply rocket to him in the next year, and things are looking fine! Unless, of course...something goes horribly HORRIBLY wrong.

Well...fuck. Good place to pause for Part Two, then?

[evansfm]

𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 –– 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 .

every  morning  evan  woke  up  to  a  london  sky  that  refused  to  let  the  sun  in  ;  summer  was  drier  than  spring  ,  but  the  clouds  seemed  to  linger  year  round  .  .  .  not  that  she  minded  .  she  had  ,  after  all  ,  grown  up  in  county  dublin  ,  where  things  were  always  a  bit  damp  .  still  ,  the  lack  of  COLOR  could  be  draining  .  .  .  so  she  searched  for  it  in  unexpected  places  ,  creating  little  pockets  of  color  for  herself  in  a  rather  grayscale  world  .  golden  lights  strung  on  her  balcony  ,  isla’s  bright  red  hair  and  matching  smile  ,  an  array  of  bright  letters  boasting  NME  lining  a  wall  ––  covers  from  past  decades  ,  a  rainbow  rubik’s  cube  next  to  her  keyboard  ,  two  framed  photographs  perched  on  her  desk  .  the  first  seemed  like  forever  ago  ,  a  beaming  eloise  with  a  twin  on  either  side  ;  beck  on  the  left  ,  evan  on  the  right  ,  both  planting  kisses  on  her  cheek  one  valentine’s  day  years  and  years  ago  .  the  second  was  more  recent  ,  backstage  at  a  show  in  galway  ;  kieran  sat  in  his  chair  with  his  fingers  intertwined  with  evan’s  as  she  draped  her  arms  over  his  shoulders  from  behind  ,  chin  resting  on  top  of  his  curls  and  a  smile  that  looked  SOFT  compared  to  the  goofy  one  ruairi  wore  ,  looming  behind  her  with  his  chin  on  her  head  .  she  felt  warmth  every  t​​ime  she  looked  at  them  ,  but  there  was  always  a  tug  in  her  stomach  .  .  .  the  undeniable  feeling  of  something  missing  .  she  found  her  little  pockets  of  color  ,  but  they  still  seemed  muted  w​​ithout  the  people  she  loved  ––  the  PERSON  she  loved  .

their  schedules  had  begun  to  clash  ––  and  evan  hated  the  way  she  was  beginning  to  get  used  to  the  dull  ache  of  his  absence  .  distance  had  been  a  part  of  their  relationship  for  months  ,  but  the  time  zones  were  killing  her  .  they  couldn’t  always  make  time  for  hours  wasted  away  on  facetime  ;  she  couldn’t  always  fall  asleep  to  the  sound  of  his  voice  on  the  other  end  of  the  line  .  they  were  both  where  they  were  supposed  to  be  ,  chasing  their  dreams  together  ,  separately  .  .  .  but  evan  was  beginning  to  wonder  if  the  path  she  was  on  ––  the  desk  ,  the  deadlines  ,  the  distance  ––  was  actually  what  she  WANTED  .  there  was  a  lack  of  creative  control  at  nme  ;  she  was  a  part  of  a  greater  whole  ,  confined  to  a  desk  when  she  wasn’t  out  in  the  field  .  she  felt  restless  .  .  .  bored  ,  almost  .  and  with  her  most  recent  deadline  met  and  a  job  of  her  own  ––  evan  connely  ,  sans  nme  ––  waiting  at  the  end  of  the  week  ,  she  was  distracted  .  

“  WHAT  are  you  doing  ?  ”  isla  popped  up  behind  her  ,  coming  out  of  nowhere  to  look  over  her  shoulder  .

“  jesus  ,  ”  evan  startled  ,  nearly  dropping  the  plastic  puzzle  in  her  hand  ,  “  where  t’e  fuck  did  you  come  from  ?  ”

“  charlotte’s  office  .  answer  my  question  .  ”

“  playing  wit’  a  toy  ,  ”  she  held  up  the  half  solved  rubik’s  cube  ,  then  let  out  an  audible  sigh  as  isla  looked  unimpressed  ,  then  jutted  her  chin  towards  the  computer  screen  ,  “  trying  to  put  together  a  mood  board  for  t’is  gig  i’ve  got  wit’  saint  valentine  on  friday  .  ”

perfectly  shaped  auburn  brows  raised  ,  “  we  got  saint  valentine  ?  ”

“  no  ,  ”  evan’s  lips  lifted  into  the  faintest  smirk  ,  “  i  got  saint  valentine  .  ”

“  you’re  bloody  joking  .  shut  UP  ,  ”  isla  gasped  ,  rounding  to  her  side  of  the  table  desk  ,  just  to  roll  her  chair  around  ,  “  and  you  didn’t  fucking  tell  me  ?  ”

“  no  ,  because  you  couldn’t  keep  a  secret  if  you  tried  .”

“  well  that’s  because  it  shouldn’t  be  a  fucking  secret  ,  ev  .  this  is  fantastic  ,  ”  hazel  eyes  widened  with  excitement  ,  “  so  you’re  shooting  them  for  ––  .  .  .  ”

“  t’ey  weren’t  too  explicit  about  it  .  i  know  for  certain  i’m  covering  bot’  shows  at  t’e  o2  ,  documenting  t’e  whole  thing  from  t’e  moment  they  get  there  ,  ”  evan  huffed  a  curl  away  from  her  face  ,  nodding  to  the  screen  ,  “  and  t’en  a  shoot  on  site  at  t’e  venue  .  so  i’ve  got  to  work  wit’  what  i’ve  got  .  i’ve  got  ONE  chance  here  ,  and  nicky  haven  scares  t’e  absolute  fuck  out’a  me  ,  so  i  can’t  blow  it  .  ”

“  nicky  haven  scares  EVERYONE  .  it’s  part  of  h​​is  charm  ,  ”  isla  leaned  in  ,  ma​​king  herself  perfectly  comfortable  in  evan’s  space  as  she  took  the  mouse  and  began  clicking  through  different  ideas  opened  on  photoshop  ,  “  let’s  see  what  you’ve  got  so  far  ––  .  .  .  ”

“  isla  ,  it’s  not  a  big  deal  .  really  i  shouldn’t  even  be  working  on  t’is  HERE  ,  right  now  .  it’s  not  exactly  nme  related  stuff  ,  you  kn––  ”

“  i  TOLD  you  she  was  here  today  ,  ”  a  girl  called  sophie  ,  who  manned  nme’s  front  desk  in  the  mornings  ,  materialized  on  the  other  side  of  evan’s  desk  .  a  junior  writer  ,  andrew  ,  was  hot  on  her  heels  .

“  soph  ,  now  really  probably  isn’t  the  best  time  and  it  really  isn’t  your  busi––  ”

“  someone’s  got  to  show  her  ,  ”  sophie  was  ,  admittedly  ,  obnoxious  .  and  coming  from  EVAN  ,  that  was  a  feat  .

“  show  WHAT  to  WHO  ?  ”  isla’s  voice  changed  in  tone  ,  taking  on  a  hint  of  authority  as  she  looked  at  andrew  ,  “  aren’t  you  meant  to  be  doing  some  social  media  research  right  now  ?  ”

“  i  WAS  ,  but  ––  ”

“  but  we’ve  found  something  that  evan  HAS  to  see  ,  ”  sophie  .  again  .

“  we  ?  ”

“  ME  ?  ”  evan  said  in  tandem  with  isla  ,  brows  lifting  as  she  clicked  the  final  piece  into  place  on  the  cube  .  she  glanced  over  at  isla  and  felt  a  strange  twist  in  her  stomach  when  she  saw  the  redhead  had  gone  rigid  .

“  is  this  about  ––  ”

“  rebecca  stringer  ,  ”  andrew  nodded  solemnly  ,  as  though  evan  was  supposed  to  know  who  the  hell  THAT  was  .

“  better  known  as  BEX  ,  ”  sophie  added  .

it  was  evan’s  turn  to  go  rigid  .  her  back  straightened  ,  and  it  felt  like  ice  had  just  been  shot  through  her  veins  .  truth  be  told  ,  she  was  more  worried  about  conflicting  schedules  lately  .  .  .  not  the  way  bex  sing-songed  a  shortened  version  of  kieran’s  name  .  .  .  or  the  way  she  answered  his  phone  and  simply  couldn’t  remember  who  evan  was  .  .  .  or  the  way  she’d  made  sure  evan  could  hear  her  promise  to  personally  deliver  kieran  to  his  hotel  room  that  first  night  in  los  angeles  .  it  wasn’t  exactly  PLEASANT  being  reminded  of  the  instinct  that  she’d  shut  down  ,  intuition  telling  her  something  wasn’t  quite  right  there  .  her  brows  pinched  together  as  the  rubik’s  cube  slid  from  one  hand  to  the  other  and  back  .  she  glanced  over  at  isla  with  a  prompting  look  .

“  we’re  .  .  .  doing  a  piece  about  nepotism  babies  in  the  industry  ,  and  she’s  a  PERFECT  example  of  one  so  i  was  having  andrew  look  into  the  way  she  interacts  with  fans  and  her  socials  and  what  not  .  she’s  one  of  like  TEN  people  we’re  look​​ing  into  ,  ”  she  explained  with  an  apologetic  look  .  it  was  then  that  she  turned  a  sharp  eye  to  andrew  and  sophie  ,  “  don’t  know  what  THAT  has  to  do  with  evan  ,  though  .  ”

“  see  for  yourself  .  ”

“  SOPHIE  .  ”

“  what  ?  it  probably  isn’t  even  new  information  for  her  ,  ”  she  shrugged  ,  reaching  over  two  monitors  to  hand  evan  a  phone  .  twitter  was  opened  to  a  profile  with  bex’s  beaming  face  in  the  icon  ,  but  the  handle  wasn’t  hers  .  she  gave  the  pair  of  them  a  skeptical  look  before  glancing  over  at  isla  who  only  offered  a  half  -  hearted  shrug  .  it  didn’t  take  long  to  see  what  ,  exactly  ,  sophie  had  been  talking  about  ,  a  slew  of  tweets  and  retweets  .

bexupdates  :  bex  &  kieran  pulled  up  to  the  venue  together  .  .  .  and  then  left  at  the  same  time  .  why  are  they  lowkey  so  cute  annathefound  :  not  bex  wearing  a  baby  tee  version  of  the  found’s  merch  .  .  .  stanning  her  boyfriend  just  like  the  rest  of  us  

ruairidailyposts  :  ok  wait  are  evan  &  kieran  even  dating  anymore  bc  i  could  be  down  with  a  bex  &  kieran  moment  cheerupbailey  :  @ruairidailyposts  you  know  two  people  can  have  a  relationship  without  posting  about  it  right  ???  they’re  in  separate  countries  rn  lol

babybexxx  :  i  just  think  that  bex  &  kieran  walsh  as  a  power  couple  .

bxhq  :  no  offense  but  bex  is  simply  so  much  better  for  him  than  some  rando  from  ireland  like  what thefoundupdates  :  @bxhq  babes  they  LITERALLY  grew  up  together  ????

totallyconan  :  be  honest  do  u  guys  think  the  reason  evan  isn’t  on  tour  with  them  is  bc  they’re  not  together  anymore  like  she  literally  never  misses  shows

adamfitzupdates :  why  are  y’all  so  obsessed  with  a  relationship  that  doesn’t  concern  you  ???  chill bexlevitates  :  @adamfitzupdates  bc  it’s  weird  that  evan  knew  him  for  so  long  and  only  started  dating  him  AFTER  the  found  started  to  get  big  like  that’s  shady

bexupdates  :  find  someone  who  looks  at  u  the  way  bex  looks  at  kieran  on  stage  wtf  did  y’all  see  that

newruleshq  :  no  waaaay  this  man  has  a  gf  when  he  and  bex  look  so  good  next  to  each  other  LMAO  

thefoundupdates  :  according  to  the  girl  who  wrote  the  article  kieran  literally  WALKED  OUT  on  the  interview  ???  rockstar  behavior  but  also  hope  he’s  ok

evan  could’ve  kept  scrolling  for  hours  as  her  heart  rate  began  to  rise  and  rise  .  the  crease  between  her  brows  deepened  ,  and  she  reminded  herself  of  everything  she  knew  to  be  true  .  kieran  LOVED  her  .  twitter  was  a  BRUTAL  place  .  it  was  as  though  the  worst  parts  of  her  subconscious  had  come  to  life  in  280  characters  or  less  .  her  head  began  to  swim  as  her  heart  sank  into  her  stomach  .

“  what  does  t’is  ––  .  .  .  ”  her  voice  cracked  ,  and  she  cleared  her  throat  ,  finally  looking  up  from  the  phone  screen  ,  “  why  ,  exactly  ,  are  you  showing  me  this  ?  ”  

sophie  looked  as  though  she  was  shocked  by  evan’s  question  ,  “  because  i’ve  dated  musicians  .  .  .  and  like  HALF  of  those  are  in  bex’s  likes  .  which  are  public  ,  by  the  way  .  just  doesn’t  seem  subtle  to  me  .  ”

“  are  you  trying  to  insinuate  something  here  ,  sophie  ?  ”  her  tone  shifted  ,  irritated  as  she  handed  the  phone  back  .

“  like  i  said  ,  i’ve  dated  guys  in  bands  ,  too  ,  and  ––  ”

“  enough  ,  ”  isla  snapped  ,  “  you’re  sticking  your  nose  where  it  doesn’t  belong  .  BOTH  of  you  should  be  off  doing  your  jobs  right  now  ,  so  ,  run  along  .  ”

both  of  them  scurried  off  without  a  word  .  

evan  was  still  for  a  moment  ,  but  her  fingertips  were  itching  for  the  keyboard  .  she  was  no  stranger  to  things  like  this  ,  unkind  words  from  strangers  who  didn’t  LOVE  the  idea  of  her  ––  despite  not  knowing  her  .  the  good  outweighed  the  bad  on  the  internet  ,  but  the  voices  who  didn’t  like  her  were  always  the  loudest  .  even  BEFORE  she  and  kieran  had  gone  public  with  their  relationship  .  .  .  even  before  they  were  ever  in  a  relationship  at  all  .  over  time  ,  she’d  learned  to  tune  it  out  and  focus  on  the  kindness  that  flooded  her  comment  sections  and  mentions  .  .  .  but  every  now  and  again  something  slipped  through  the  cracks  .  .  .  and  when  they  did  ,  she  absorbed  them  like  a  blow  to  the  abdomen  .  they  settled  into  her  memory  and  cemented  themselves  there  ,  tucked  away  until  they  found  the  perfect  moment  to  make  her  self  conscious  .  like  the  fan  who  had  commented  on  the  shape  of  her  body  before  and  after  going  to  uni  .  .  .  and  another  from  galway  who  made  it  their  business  to  let  everyone  know  she’d  slept  around  while  living  there  .  .  .  and  every  time  someone  said  she  wasn’t  good  enough  for  kieran  or  any  of  them  .  that  she  had  bad  intentions  ,  leeching  onto  the  boys  for  fame  .  that  her  career  was  based  SOLELY  on  the  four  of  them  .  

if  she  caved  and  kept  scrolling  ,  she’d  commit  it  all  to  memory  .  .  .  everything  that  made  her  intuition  about  bex  STRONGER  .  

instead  ,  she  launched  forward  and  snatched  the  rubik’s  cube  back  up  ,  immediately  distorting  its  perfect  faces  and  mixing  it  up  again  .  it  was  good  to  keep  your  hands  busy  ,  she  knew  ,  when  your  mind  began  to  run  away  .  

the  worst  of  it  wasn’t  even  TRULY  comments  about  their  relationship  .  .  .  those  hurt  ,  but  they  didn’t  sting  quite  as  bad  as  real  -  time  updates  about  kieran  and  bex  showing  up  or  leaving  venues  together  .  she  dulled  the  pain  by  reminding  herself  that  THREE  other  boys  were  never  too  far  behind  .  that  kieran  would  never  .  .  .  COULD  never  .  .  .  

but  then  again  ,  there  was  the  tweet  that  weighed  heaviest  in  her  mind  .  kieran  walked  out  in  the  middle  of  an  interview  ,  and  he  hadn’t  told  her  .  something  rattled  him  to  the  point  of  his  version  of  an  outburst  ,  and  he  hadn’t  told  her  .  that  seemed  like  something  he  would  have  told  her  .  .  .  it  seemed  important  enough  ,  she  thought  to  herself  ,  right  ?  RIGHT  ?

her  throat  felt  tight  ,  and  she  kept  running  the  tweets  she’d  read  over  in  her  mind  .  there  was  a  deep  furrow  in  her  brow  as  she  looked  down  at  her  hands  ,  still  vehemently  mixing  up  the  toy  .  something  felt  off  kilter  .  .  .  but  she  couldn’t  pin  down  which  hurt  more  :  the  slew  of  tweets  from  people  pretending  to  know  what  went  on  in  her  relationship  .  .  .  or  the  thought  of  kieran  doing  something  as  rash  as  storming  out  of  an  interview  ––  and  then  not  telling  her  .  

“  i  didn’t  know  about  t’e  interv​​iew  bit  ,  ”  she  said  quietly  ,  eyes  still  trained  on  the  colorful  cube  .  she  was  certain  her  face  was  the  opposite  ,  color  drained  .  

“  evan  ––  .  .  .  ”

“  it’s  fine  ,  ”  she  said  firmly  ,  “  it’s  probably  not  true  .  just  like  t’e  rest  of  it  isn’t  true  .  ”

her  voice  sounded  distant  .  .  .  and  she  wasn’t  sure  if  she  was  trying  to  convince  isla  or  HERSELF  .  clearing  her  throat  again  ,  she  set  the  toy  back  down  on  her  desk  and  scooted  towards  the  computer  .  

“  i’ve  got  work  to  do  ,  ”  she  said  quietly  ,  getting  back  to  the  monitor  .  though  all  she  wanted  to  do  was  go  home  .  how  many  more  people  thought  that  she  wasn’t  GOOD  ENOUGH  for  kieran  ?  how  many  people  thought  someone  like  bex  was  a  better  fit  ?  how  long  would  it  take  for  the  suggestion  to  become  potent  enough  to  make  the  people  who  KNEW  them  question  it  as  well  ?  and  if  kieran  had  walked  out  of  an  interv​​iew  ,  WHY  hadn’t  he  told  her  ?  

she  glanced  down  at  her  own  phone  screen  ,  hoping  that  maybe  she’d  missed  a  text  or  a  call  .  .  .  but  all  she  got  was  nothing  .  nothing  but  the  words  she’d  seen  written  down  ,  now  cemented  in  her  mind  :  bex  is  simply  so  much  better  for  him  .  .  .  because  SHE  was  there  ,  wrapped  up  in  the  same  world  he  was  in  .  she  was  accessible  .  immediate  .  beautiful  .  

and  evan  was  stuck  in  london  with  nothing  but  time  to  wonder  .

[phukao]

PhuKao

To be brutally honest no pairing compares to them. Why, you may ask? Time for my essay.

Grumpy one is soft for sunshine one trope reigns supreme.

Kao pursues Phu in the most respectful and thoughtful way? He never forces Phu to do anything he's uncomfortable with. On the contrary, he on more than one occasion reflects on his own behavior and checks with Phu about it.

Phu never actually rejects Kao from the beginning. He thinks Kao is annoying, says Kao is wasting his time, makes fun of him, but never actually tells him to stop. If anything he accepts Kaos excuses to be near him a little too readily.

Related to the above, I know the bunny thing is weird but I kind of adore it, or the way they do it, I guess. It gives them a way to voice their feelings and express themselves without crossing into territory where either could be hurt, kind of like playing or practicing being together in a safe way.

THEIR DRAMA IS NEVER ABOUT THEMSELVES. The things that make it hard for them to get together are actual, real life problems. One has responsibilities, really freaking serious responsibilities which require him to move across the world, so yeah he knows it's not the time to be in a relationship. He also doesn't want his own circumstances to hold Kao back since Kao can be overly enthusiastic and not think before making decisions (hence why Kao making it clear he'll graduate before seeing Phu is such a big deal). My point, though, is that their issues are never what's between them nor are they involved in any typical convoluted drama we usually see. And they deal with their hurdles in the most mature way, by talking it out and making a realistic plan.

KINGS OF COMMUNICATION FROM START TO FINISH. Kind of relayed above, but I need to point it out again.

Literally everyone in Phu's life wants them together. Phu has been through so much and everyone just wants him happy. It makes my heart full. I won't go into spoilers for future plot but it stays true and is amazing.

I also can't talk about them without admitting that Kao is my official favorite character of all time. I have so much respect for him, which is weird to say about a fictional character.

Anyway this is already obnoxious but stan quality stan PhuKao. ✌

EDIT: ALSO KINGS OF ACTUAL LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS LIKE LITERALLY MAINTAINING A RELATIONSHIP FOR MULTIPLE YEARS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES WOW 👏👏👏

[baconnotbaekhyun]

Kai saying the Ellen interview was boring was bold, brutally honest and makes me smile til this day

Tbh I always felt like Ellen was fake and using any kpop band, that goes on her show. But thats just my opinion. Everyone has their own. But I love how Jongin didn’t sugarcoat his experience being on her show and was upfront. We stan an honest king ahaha

[winnerloser]

barrika-dark

[ ♛ ] send me a url and i'll tell you the following;

my opinion on; @barrika-dark

character in general: i already said but piers is epic. has a lot of potential to take him certain directions but no matter what theres lot of fun to be had witnessing what he does and what he says.how they play them: love tired punk uncle so much. i love how your piers is so... tired. like i said. but his thoughts on the other characters around him (particularly marnie) are very interesting and i love where you took his/their childhood in regards to his home situation. NOT TO MENTION OUR DYNAMIC WITH AVERY AND PIERS IS ALSO HILARIOUS NOT TO DISCREDIT THE FACT THAT VIC AND PIERS FRIENDSHIP IS ALSO REALLY CUTE HAHAthe mun: king. ur very approachable and i love memeing with u. d&d galaxy brain. 

do i;

follow them: i sure hope i dorp with them: yeawant to rp with them: YEA?ship their character with mine: not vic other than friendship but we can only hope for aev/piers frenemy excellence

what is my;

overall opinion: we stan forever.

**Note: Mun’s answer are all to be completely honest. Don’t send url if you don’t want brutal honesty.