#well not really its only vaguely mentioned... not main focus

[cannibalistic-suggestions]

Rotting, festering on an operating table, under sunlight and moonlight. Exposed.

Lying for days, as flesh begins to pucker and flies gather curiously, kissing muscle tissue and sipping oils from cross-sectional glands. 

Are they opportunistic? Feeding on what’s been left behind? Or did they really care and consume small bits of me out of pity, to show someone is still there, in spite of it all.

I know I’ve done wrong. I almost don’t blame you for wanting vengeance, so you tore out all the terrible things that lied inside for the world to see, to cry out in disgust and leave, leave, leave. Nobody wants anything to do with something like that. Doesn’t matter if we all have the same organs in our uniform human bodies; you DARED put that on display? Your vulnerability is shameful. Revolting.

You want me to repent? I would’ve wanted you to finish mutilating me right there and then, maybe it would’ve sped up my thought process. You said I hurt others, hurt you, so why don’t I deserve to hurt in return? Why didn’t you break my bones in, snap them and shatter them, crush my miserable flesh and skin into a soupy pulp? It’s what I deserve. But after it all, you still had the audacity to say “even those like you should get a second chance.”

I’ve been rendered an open pit of blood: some parts still warm and half-clotted, but others dried to a crispy rust that flakes off pathetically from bumpy scabs. I almost don’t want to be alive anymore, and I hate that you said you’re “above” killing, all of you turning your noses up at the tainted mess I am from the moral high ground you all rent out a place in.

Why couldn’t you have just let me die? For as much as you denounce the actions my hands took, you once had kissed my fingers so gently and admired what I had made. Aren’t you tempted to destroy these tools of evil? Sever my arm and peel off every dermal layer, cut it up into pieces with your incisors and bite into flesh so deeply it splits and frays my veins. Mark me up and make me gone, wouldn’t it be the ultimate punishment?

But you’re not like that. You instead opted to leave me out here to thaw and decay, to succumb to the torturous things I ponder about while I bleed out.

Until scraps of me fall like rotten fruit, and until mold decides to grow over and cover my indecency in a soft coat so everyone forgets, I’ll ferment while I reflect.

Decomposing, because it’s all caught up to me, yet I don’t think I had a stable composition to begin with.

[creaman]

Hi there! I apologize for taking up your time, I am just so curious: When you tackle a comic, what does the process behind it look like?

Asking because I found myself scrolling through your blog once again and couldn't help but marvel at all the beautiful effects you use, at how flawlessly the structure guides the viewer's eye across each page, how the graphic weight seems to always be in just the right places…, and wonder how you learned doing this. Everything you put out looks incredibly professional and I aspire to reach your level of skill 😌❤️

Thank you Finz!! You're no bother at all, I'm an open book. This is such high praise for a guy that really doesn't have a set process, I feel like a hack. Ha. Rest assured my style is still developing. Besides the referencing of the linework and composition of official comic books, (practicing by redrawing panels for fun), explaining the process makes me feel like a serial killer but I will do my best.

(WIP Riddler panel, scrapped Scarecrow composition)

My comics usually stem from a single panel or concept — I like to focus on/emphasise particular panels of my pages, the heavy hitters, the main piece that catches your eye. I know I'm not a profoundly technically proficient artist so I prefer visually interesting elements and formatting, i.e. drawing characters outside their frames, negative space, notation, perspectives etc.

(Kung Fu Panda 4 sketch god I hate Kung Fu Panda 4)

I like to establish 'main focus' panels, the bits of the comic that really, well. make people want to chew on it. This is where the technical effort is concentrated, really, and the rest of the comic is generally build around these concepts.

('Restaurant Balthazar' focus panels)

Textures and effects are done on individual panels first, then the entire page as a whole to even out the unity. Generally, blocking in shadows, hatching for visual interest + middle tones, then textures/half-tones, then highlights.

(Script excerpt WIP)

I'm not a writer per se, but having a vague 'script' in your pages helps with pacing and direction. Comics are a versatile story-telling medium. I only really do scripts for comics longer than 2 pages. An optional but recommended strat is to send your script to a friend for a second opinion.

(Script excerpt — 'Restaurant Balthazar', annotated by @vincepti0n I don't know why he drew a face in the middle)

With the script crudely slapped together, I rough out the thumbnails and composition with the text, prioritising coherence and clean integration of previously mentioned 'main focus' panels.

Settling on a composition sucks the hardest. Drawing is fun, thinking makes brain hurty. Variety is good! Close-ups, wide shots, visual metaphors. Every panel is its own artwork.

The text bubbles are usually added in post, yes, but I'm just one guy and I don't have a writer to call me a good boy for doing things correctly. Bite me.

(Early 'Restaurant Balthazar' drafts)

In addition, keeping the text graphics in mind help create a sounder composition wherein even if the panels don't read cleanly left to right + top to bottom, the text can stagger and create the same reading order effect.

Panels and concepts are constantly tweaked, and my comic process is still highly experimental. A lot of industry standard comics aren't illustrated to their full potential due to deadlines and such — I strive for visual epiphany by treating each panel as its own artwork, and every page as a a bit of a mural.

(Old art hurts the soul)

Constantly experimenting allows you the insight of looking at your current art in comparison to your older works. In more recent works, I've been blocking in more shadows wiht lineart with thinner lines and more line weight, and learned to integrate the subject characters with less plain, abstract backgrounds.

TLDR: I have no idea

[spicybylerpolls]

Well, unknown hero agent man / pen symbolism anon, i hope you're reading this, cos you hit the nail on the head! this kind of symbolic storytelling is not only a fine art of cinema (being lost these days a little sadly, what with the whole netflix speedy turnover etc), but exactly what (good) films of the horror genre aim to do.

horror has long been a way to creatively tell 'normal' dramatic stories through subtext and symbolism. not sure if this is still a way around traditional censorship but im sure it began that way. films like the exorcist, the shining, rosemary's baby... all classics that are filled with subtext. its also an exciting way to talk about things that might seem trite or too bleak when portrayed as a 'straight' drama (this is the term meaning 'non-genre based' or 'non-musical' lmao). So you could say that ST is NOT straight, in more ways than one 😉

but much of this will go over casual viewers heads, so its finding the balance between making a story believable on the surface (another dimension exists! scary government men trying to kill us!) and subtextually (the UD as a metaphor for trauma/AIDS/closeted homosexuality/abuse etc) if viewers are clever enough to see/feel it. i say feel because much of storyviewing is instinctive instead of analytical.

so ST incorporates both - not just metaphorical, vague storytelling, but also real issues too. but it goes one step further, and actually has characters talk explicitly about reading deeper into stuff (murray's behind the curtain speech). it's a very meta show, even for a genre piece, which is why it astounds me that some people think it's not that deep lol. and some people think that only literature can be deep, but never tv or movies - which is an insult to anyone who has ever been passionate about cinema tbh. It's a statement that would probably rip the heart out of the duffers' chests and stomp on it. these guys are super nerds who have dedicated their adult lives to this passion project. as finn said, 'most people make it then just cash in - im so glad they still care'.

I'm sorry you don't feel comfortable talking about the beauty of this storytelling on your main. it really does surprise me that the fandom is so censorship obsessed because sexual metaphors have long existed in visual media, and especially in horror films. there used to be a long post about byler and a potential sex scene at lover's lake on here, but the user disappeared and the post went missing. it was about all the sexual imagery in ST, with a focus on byler in s4. i especially loved how they mentioned mike's introduction, where he was just in underwear: it is both appropriate for the setting, but also gets the audience used to him as a growing lad with a body and draws attention to those uncomfortable, potentially sexual aspects of being a teen. i mean, he was in tiny pants for god's sake. did we need to see that? why did we see it? etc etc

hilariously, they also referenced the always sunny in philadelphia scene where a character is in a therapist office talking about a pen being a dick. he then puts it in his mouth and chews the pen lmoao

i think you'd enjoy @therainscene's rod symbolism post too. I'm personally hoping for some explicit sex scenes with byler, because the show so far has arguably been telling that story metaphorically already for 4 seasons, and bringing it out of the subtext could be a storytelling device in itself. bringing byler's secrets into the light. after all, this is a period piece that aims to shed light on a bygone era. its not a propaganda piece that needs to remain coded; the reasons for staying secretive still exist for mike and will in the 80s, but times have changed since then for us as a global audience, and more importantly, the aspirational message has changed. what message would the duffs want to send to viewers that are still bigoted? clearly one of the beauty of homosexuality, seeing as will, our fav gay boy, has been the darling sympathetic victim of the show since s1e1. the show needs to remain true to both the 80s while also having a strong message for this decade in order for modern audiences to be able to gain something from watching this story; in order for there to be a reason the show exists at all.

so to answer your question, i had never picked up on the pen symbolism until now, but i immediately agree, not least because 1) it must have a meaning that connects to byler's conversation otherwise why does it just interrupt them with no reason? (from a storytelling pov), and 2) because of the always sunny scene lolllll

thanks for the discourse! if you stick around into s5, im sure we will be able to start discussing this on our mains. it'll be a new era and there might even be gifs/pics of byler to accompany our 'spicy' discourse haha!

Amazing/fascinating points! Thanks for adding to the discussion!

[greatqueenanna]

So, about that interview where Lee said "I will tell you what I think philosophically, that isn't telling you what is in [Frozen 3]. I think Anna and Elsa's journey is only continuing. It was warned by the Trolls that that Elsa's powers would only grow. So that's all I will say."

Did you manage to find the full clip? I've been searching a little and yes, it's a real interview from Wish premiere https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhg-WzSl6n8&pp=ygUUSmVubmlmZXIgbGVlIGluIHFpc2g%3D Not from 2018/2019 or anything like that. Unfortunately the full interview is not on YT and I don't know where else to look for it. And I think what she said is very bizzare, because it sounds exactly like Frozen 2 plot? Why would Lee talk about Frozen 2 five years after its premiere to some random interviewer, though? Especially when she was there to promote Wish. So maybe there's a chance the beans were spilled and she really was talking about Frozen 3.

The only way to find out the truth is to watch the full interview... which no one knows where to find. Arrrrghhhh

If the clip is an interview from Wish’s promotional period, then it’s safe to assume that Lee is indeed talking about F3. Thank you for finding out more about this, and going the extra mile! I’ll try and look to see if I can find the full interview as well.

In terms of F3 being about Elsa’s power growing— I think exploring Elsa’s magic again is expected. The Frozen franchise, as evident in the title, is all about ice/snow magic. The story is loosely based off of the Snow Queen, also a story that has a lot of magical ice.

Frozen’s main conflict was about Elsa setting off an eternal winter, and how she was going to control her magic.

Frozen 2’s main conflict was where Elsa’s magic came from and how this question is affecting everyone.

While there are other plots and themes, the main pull is the magic. Thus, F3 taking this approach as well is not really shocking or disappointing to me.

Also, given that Elsa and her magic is the main attraction of Frozen, it’s pretty self-explanatory where the focus is going to be.

However, this doesn’t mean that this will be the only thing that the films will focus on. As mentioned, there are other themes and plots that are part of the first two films. Just because we’re getting a film that is exploring Elsa’s magic, doesn’t mean we won’t have Anna, Kristoff, Olaf side plots and scenes— or the themes of love, fear, and sisterhood.

Also, what Lee said is very vague. Elsa’s magic growing could mean a lot of things. She could discover a new power, or creates something more advanced than Olaf, the snowgies or Marshmallow. Maybe it’s a more philosophical thing, as Lee mentions herself, and the idea of Elsa’s magic ‘growing’ could mean that Elsa is becoming more noticeable by other places, people, or by other fanatical/mythological beings.

Ultimately, we have to wait and see what she could be talking about before we jump to conclusions.

[inhuman-obey-me]

If obey me wasnt a otome game what do you think will be different? And it makes me laugh that we are romanticising the devil which just seems so funny. Ik its a game but its just a funny concept

Okay but we love romancing the devil. More games should let us smooch Lucifer/other demon royalty. Please.

But this is a fun thing to think about!

(long game design rambles below the cut)

Even if Obey Me was still a visual novel game but without the romance, there is a lot that could change. We'd have a lot less of the characters vying for the player's attention, meaning the game would also be less prone to gag-type situations and allow for a consistently more serious storyline. It could be something like Twisted Wonderland, where the MC still has a role but it isn't as big nor central to the conflicts and problems of the story, thus playing more of an observer role.

The devs actually mentioned in early videos that when making the game, they had to scale back some of their ideas because they "didn't want it to feel too much like an adventure game" and still focus on the romance since it was a dating sim. Interestingly, Nightbringer seems to be testing the waters on this now and going back to a more dramatic story, so maybe we'll actually get to see that kind of adventure vibe now!

If the game was still following the main points of gathering pacts with the demon brothers...well, maybe we really are just becoming Solomon 2.0 at that point, new title is Solomon Simulator 2023 BC. But really, there would probably be less of MC playing therapist and more letting us have adventures of our own, exploring the world in various ways. Hell, MC might even be living in Purgatory Hall with the other exchange students instead of oddly being the only one put in the House of Lamentation. And this more adventurous theming could also be reflected in events, with more AU themes (Pirates, Spies, Circus, etc) that allow for more fun event storylines that aren't so focused on "romantic" situations and fanservice moments.

Going along with that, we would likely get more character variety in a non-otome game, since it wouldn't be trying to make every character (except Luke) dateable or potentially future-dateable -- less ikemen, more non-male characters, maybe more body diversity! And because there'd be no expectation of romance, you could have more outright hostility too. Maybe Mephisto and Raphael could have actually fulfilled the more aggressive or antagonistic personalities they had been hinted to have! There might also be more of a canonical MC character personality too, since part of the reason it's left more open and vague is to let players self-insert for the romance. This could allow for more narration from MC as well.

Now, if we step away from the Visual Novel style, that could open up a whole new world of possibilities! Imagining OM as more of a fantasy RPG? Super fun thought.

Other characters could potentially be playable, and if so, we could perhaps see more of the characters without MC needing to be in the scene, allowing for more interactions between different characters outside the current format of occasional side/hard-mode stories.

We'd probably get a truer combat system too, even if we were just fighting random minor demons or something like the Little D's in Nightbringer's gameplay. (Apparently the only instruction the team got in making the original game was "it needs dance battles"???) The characters' skills could also be more unique to the characters since it wouldn't have to fit the rhythm/dance game format, so stuff like summoning Lotan could actually be a useful powerful thing instead of just a running gag! In fact, we could see way more powerful magic from all the characters, which would be great since OM as it is now just always conveniently forgets that these are extremely powerful demons for the sake of setting up random shenanigan situations.

A combat mechanic could also add to the narrative design of the game -- what better way to show us what a scary and dangerous place the Devildom is than to have the player have to defend themselves while navigating through it? Or imagine the characters' relationships with one another actually mattering to the gameplay, like Beel and Belphie getting a boost if they're in the party together, as with Fire Emblem's support system! Simeon being a healing angel member of the party at the start and then actually tangibly losing that as a combat ability when that part of the story happened? It would certainly hit different, that's for sure.

The story also wouldn't be confined to the 20-lesson format in that case, which could give more room for fleshing things out properly. And with a freer adventure-based storyline, it might also be a lot less focus on RAD, or maybe it wouldn't be a school setting at all! Perhaps it would focus more on the inter-realm diplomacy parts of the story. Plus, some aspects could get relegated to more environmental storytelling and interactable objects around you, leaving character interactions freed up to focus more on actual events going on.

And speaking of character interactions, there could also be a more complex and interesting system for relationships in a more RPG style game. Instead of an intimacy bar that only ever goes up and doesn't directly impact story events, you could have a more complex interaction event system, like in Telltale stuff or Mass Effect. That could still include romance without it being the central point of the game, and maybe they would also hold grudges over certain decisions, which could feed back into the combat system somehow. Unlike now, you wouldn't be able to go back to change your decisions, but there's a lot of replayability potential there.

Of course, the downside to all that it's way more work to make...game dev is hard, after all! So updates would be slower, it'd probably cost a whole lot more, and it's probably not feasible as a mobile game anymore then. But hey, a game like that would be pretty damn cool.

[stardustizuku]

Woah I absolutely love you analyses on MLB. What do you think of the female friendship in MLB?

This took way longer than originally planned.

Here’s the thing

I don’t think that MLB was that bad in season 1. And arguably, season 2 still has some leg to stand on.

And that carries on to friendships.

You see, we can break down friendships in this type of show into four.

1.- The vague friend group

This is one we see in most stories that DO NOT focus on team dynamics or getting to know a bunch of superheroes. Sakura Card Captor, for example, has the best one of these. They’re not meant to take center stage, but more like provide a sense of unity and calmness around the craziness that’s going on.

And while I cite CardCaptor, Creamy Mami also has it. And Sailor Moon has it in the very first season. Tokyo Mew Mew has two characters that fall here too.

This is where I say most of the characters in MLB fall to. If things had stayed here, I do not see a problem. The lack of depth isn’t a bug but a feature. While we can connect with them, their purpose, narrative wise, is to create fun scenarios and plot outside of the others superheroes.

But as things progressed they tried to make this sort of already bland group of characters into a cohesive united team. And it was never going to happen. Maybe if they had competent writers it could have worked, but it’s still unlikely a competent writer would have tried this.

The way you introduce characters is extremely important in the way that they’re perceived by an audience. If they entered the scene as a Vague Friend Group, it would be so hard for them to change into anything else. This is also why redemption arcs are so hard. It’s forcing your audience to accept a sudden change in the status quo. If that’s what you’re trying to do - it works. But if you’re doing it just to sell more toys…well it falls flat on their face. Not to mention, the classroom is not exactly filled with particularly interesting or cohesive characters. Their attitudes, relationships towards each other and Marinette change drastically from episode to episode. The only noteworthy rships are often time m/f, and the only f/f friendship we have that’s any sort of consistent or interesting is Juleka and Rose…who are dating.

I’m not gonna be the first to shit on a wlw couple specially when it’s probably the most interesting thing in this series - but it’s kinda weird how the only type of decent rship that the writers can do are ROMANTIC ones. Friendship seems like a fucking joke to these people.

Also they’re a LOT. Working with dynamics between characters is super hard, and the less characters you have to juggle with, you’re able to create better and closer relationships with each other. Having such a HUGE classroom be the center of superhero dynamic is plain lunacy. Unless this is the focus, and was intended as such since day 1, there was no way this was gonna work or be a natural transition from the 1:1 chat ladybug dynamic.

They work as a vague group of friends, but utterly fail as anything more. Both because of its size and lack of cohesion, or depth.

2.- The Friend (?)

This one is the civilian friend. The one who supports the heroine but never truly knows the identity of their friend. They’re there to provide support before the rest of the cast comes into the picture.

This is the Molly in Sailor Moon and Hitomi from Madoka.

They’re not really meant to be besties with the MC, even if they are so in name. It’s more of an extension of the aforementioned vague friend group. They mostly provide plot beats with a slightly more personal stake since this is someone the heroine has spent so much more time with.

THIS is where Ayla from Season 1 falls, and why I did not think she was too bad of a friend. She’s here really for providing comforting words when Marinette is down and a fun side story that doesn’t feel too disconnected from the main story.

However. The reason why these two worked was, precisely, because the focus of the show was the LoveSquare and Chat and Ladybug’s dynamic.

Sakura can have a relatively bland side friends (although they’re all fairly entertaining) because the main focus of the story ISNT them. It’s her Card Journey and interpersonal relationships with Tomoyo, Syaoran and Yukito.

Likewise, Molly is allowed to be a not so great friend, because Usagi has other friends.

If you want these characters to be the bulk of your interpersonal rships, you have to adapt them. Kaito St. Tail had only one friend, who actually falls with the Civilian. However, she plays a huge part of her story by being the one to send her on the missions. While her biggest rship was with Astro Jr, Seira provided a huge amount of emotional support and was given enough dramatic weight to be able to earn herself a recognizable spot. In any promo art that features the characters, she appears! Because she’s important!

But what they tried to do was expand upon these characters in a…less than ideal way.

First of all they tried to shift Alya from Friend (?), to Friend (tm)…

3.- The Friend (tm)

A Friend (tm) is the best friend. The gal pal. The one who is always there and even if it’s not outright stated - we know they’re the first one the MC will turn to if something happens.

Think Winx Club and who’s Bloom’s Best friend? Stella. Shugo Chara, who’s Amu’s friend? Either Nadeshiko or Rima (depending the season). They are part of the friend super hero group so the MC Can whole heartedly confide in them. Any problem that arises is one they instantly tell their best friend and they’re the mature one who help them get through.

And Ayla is not this.

Even as she transformed into superhero she did not know Marinette’s identity, so all emotional support she could have provided in that front was essentially flushed down the toilet. If at the very beginning, Ayla had been made aware of it, there wouldn’t have been an issue. After all, it would have cemented her as someone Marinette places a lot of trust into, perhaps even more than Chat, either bcs she was there when he wasn’t or only the fact she knows the “real” her.

Anyways, since that did NOT happen, Ayla failed as a Best Friend (tm), narratively speaking. If they had let it die there, it would have been awkward but not terrible.

But then in season 4 Marinette confesses she’s is Ladybug.

At this point, there’s no real connection with Ayla. Chat is someone who deserves to know her identity more, and someone who’s supported her for far longer in many more forms. It just doesn’t make sense for her to confess.

Except, of course, trying to shoehorn the Best Friend (tm) too late into the series.

This is all entirely from a narrative perspective, and does not begin to touch the fact that Ayla isn’t exactly the /best/ of friends.

Someone who trust Lila rather than her friend she’s known all year, someone who jeopardizes her best friend’s identity over her fucking boyfriend, who in her darkest hours isn’t there for Marinette, and that breeched her friends privacy to satiate her own curiosity over her secrets.

She has no leg to stand on to be the Best Friend (tm).

4.- Rival Friendship

Yeah this was sort of what I talked abt in the big Magical Girl Essay. This is actually, what I would argue, the most important friend character there can be in a magical girl setting. Not only does it serve as playful banter but as a contrast to the main character’s ideals and temper.

I tend to include any character that has a rivalrous rship with the MC, be it the villain or a fellow superhero. They don’t have to be the best of friends or be on super friendly terms, the only condition is that when one is in trouble the other jumps in to help.

Again, Utau from Shugo Chara, Rei from Sailor Moon, Mint from Tokyo Mew Mew, Fate from Lyrical Nanoha, Meimei from Sakura, Rue from Princess Tutu, they’re all good examples.

They bring balance. In some cases the MC already has a vanilla friend who’ll cheer them up by giving sweet advice. The Friendly Rival serves to knock some sense into our MC and give harsh but necessary advice.

This absolutely should have been Chloe, and it’s a role that I do believe is necessary in this show.

The way characters treat Marinette is…weird. In non-Lila episodes, in their eyes, Marinette can never do something wrong. Every decision she makes is the best she could have taken, it’s always correct. Only when Lila comes into the picture is she the one in the wrong to them - but not by the narrative. The narrative is always on her side, even when she’s done stuff wrong. Truly, Lila only serves as emotional torture porn, which is its own Can of worms we’re not touching today.

This is strange because even in Sakura (the most wholesome Can do no wrong MC) has moments where she has to apologize, or is in the wrong. When she fights with Kero, for example, it’s very much portrayed as an unreasoned response from both parties. And while Kero is being portrayed by the narrative as the one blowing it out of proportion, in the end it’s Sakura who makes a compromise by gifting him new “room”.

Marinette does not have this which makes it very annoying that she keeps getting away with things that are creepy or straight up wrong. The narrative is never willing to portray anything she does as anything other than ideal or silly. This is where someone who doesn’t coddle her, but rightfully calls out her actions from a place of love and care SHOULD come into play.

When Usagi doesn’t want to study, Amy happily tells her she’ll help, but Rei is the one telling her angrily that she has to. When Usagi is about to give up, it’s always Rei that yells at her to snap out of it.

Chloe should absolutely be this character. Someone who will tell her she’s wrong, especially in situations or arguments where Chat Noir can’t be the voice of reason - aka who she loves or her secret identity.

The fact that no such character exists is already making the story too saccharine sweet towards her. Even Sakura had Mei Mei, when Syaoran or Kero couldn’t be the ones to tell her to snap out of it (And also, Yue was particularly cold towards her but we’re focusing on girls rn shhh)

But because they ruined Chloe’s character we don’t have this.

And I do believe it has to do with the sexism of Thomas. Unable to picture friendship between girls as anything but unconditional kindness. I’m sorry but I’ve had extremely complex and fun friendship where we are both kinda mean towards each other. In fact, saccharine sweet friendships are the weird ones in my culture. It doesn’t help that the shows tends to portray the world in good or bad, depending on a singular action. You’re either a good girl or a mean girl. Any complexities are thrown out the window (although he’s more than willing to make adult men complex characters with good and bad in them so, yay, sexism!)

They tried briefly with Kagami too…but they fumbled it and it never gave anything. She was a love rival, they were friends, Adrien and her got together, they broke up, Marinette tried to help her and then…I think she joined a cult? I’m not sure I’m not up to date with the series. But it gave us so little of their actual friendship that it almost slipped my mind this was what they were trying to do.

That leads me to the most atrocious example of female friendship.

5.- The Devoted Lesbian

This trope didn’t have a place in Ladybug. None at all.

So, everyone knows the devoted lesbian. It’s the extremely queer coded friend that’s willing to do anything for the MC. Tomoyo from Sakura, Homura from Puella, to a degree Nanoha from Lyrical Nanoha, to a lesser degree Seiya from Sailor Moon Stars.

It serves a purpose to highlight the goodness of a MC, kind and nice to the point people fall in love with them. Sakura is the best example, but the devotion Homura has for Madoka also serves to highlight her status a goddess. In Nanoha, Nanoha’s obsession comes from the belief that Fate is a good person and deserves a better futures. And in Sailor Mook Stars Seiya offers an alternative to the loyal and devoted Usagi who’s still waiting for Mamoru. (I have to say maybe Utena has this too OBVIOUSLY but tbh I haven’t seen it yet so)

This is often a queer story. Even if Sakura and Usagi have heterosexual romances - Sakura isn’t straight and neither is Usagi. The stories play with gender and sexuality, and it’s ultimately about the relationships people have that deviate from the perceived normality.

Yeah, Ladybug has neither.

And they’re trying to introduce Zoe as this. Which is. Weird. Again, she’s supposed to substitute the Rival Friendship Characters, why on Earth is she a devoted Lesbian?

The reason why I call her this, is because inside the narrative she very much is - even if the writers are sooooo bad at writing women that it doesn’t come across as one to the audience.

If we still assume that Ayla is supposed to be the Best Friend (tm), and she still falls for Lila’s tricks - only someone who’s utterly devoted and believes wholeheartedly and unconditionally in Marinette can see through those lies. It’s something as crazy as fighting off Akumatization.

You can either see this as the writers trying to make Zoe the new Best Friend (tm)…but that’s somehow worse. It’s changing dynamics that have been here for close to 5 seasons. And AGAIN because of the weird way the writers see female friendship…I do believe it’s coming off as the devoted lesbian trope rather than the Best Friend (tm). Especially with how what’s little left of the fandom, are all obsessed with shipping Zoe and Marinette. This does not happen with the Best Friend (tm). It almost never does. Because competent writers make it clear that they’re just friends. You don’t ship Madoka with Sayaka or Mami (well you can but it’s not the majority) you ship her with Homura. And you don’t ship (I do but shhh) Usagi with Makoto or Mina, you ship her with Seiya.

Zoe is the Devoted Lesbian right now. The show absolutely does not need her. In fact I would say, it perishes what little hope there was for girl friendships in this series. It again hammers home that the only friends you can have are those who coddle you, adore you, or think you can do no wrong. And anyone who disagrees with you, even a little, is a terrible horrible monster (Lila), has the potential to be one (Kagami) or evil incarnate (Chloe)

I love girl friendships to death, and I’m always down for a good wlw story. But these characters are neither complex enough to have friendships with each other in a way that feels genuine, nor do the authors know how the hell girl friends work. Much less queer ones.

They should have never given center stage to them, not only bcs that wasn’t the focus of CHAT NOIR AND LABYBUG but also bcs they have no idea how to write compelling friendships.

To be honest, if they had been good enough to make this premise work, that’s to say the Chat Ladybug dynamic, there’s a high chance they could have created compelling friendships too.

Like, if they couldn’t pull of a romantic m/f rship with an entire fandom backing them and hyping them up? They could have NEVER pulled off anything. Period. It’s like failing Middle School Maths and trying to solve College level Calculus homework. The problem isn’t the equation, it’s that’s you’re bad it. And even if it were the equation, no one can tell because you filled the goddamn notebook with scribbles.

[coelacat]

I am very intrigued by adam harding and stu sullivan please share a crumb of their lore🙏

hehe hi 👋

okay okay ill finally gush abt them

also i should warn that some fucked shit!! happens to these characters. dont read my lore about them if abuse/rape/substance abuse/bigotry isnt stuff you wanna see. anything under the cut is just a brief mention, but its there

so most of my ocs (the guys with relatively normal names, anyone named like. blade or some fantasy name ignore them for now) are a set of young adults in the 80s in small town midwest USA (some town in iowa, probably) (if any of this sounds familiar to anyone keep it to urself :)). i wanna cover their struggles with highschool, struggling with transitional periods, and then growing into adulthood. im debating if i wanna add and supernatural/scifi elements of have it focus on their relationships and internal struggles mostly, but those are minor details for later on down the road

adam!! hes like. My Main Guy. the one i ended up making this whole lil universe for. bold that i created all of this for him basically and i still named him after adam from the bible, yet it gives me a complex i deeply enjoy so i do it anyway. i am a god who created the world for man, not man for the world.

most of these characters play off 80s media stereotypes and expand on them, and i think adam is like. the most blatant example of this. you know that movie from the 80s-90s you last watched that had a misogynistic metalhead who pulled chicks because he viewed them as objects to win, loved his car, and was angry and violent most of the time, while people who were scared of him vaguely assumed he was satanic in some way? thats adam harding. bleached blonde hair done in a perm mullet, a shitty stache hes convinced makes him look mature, sad brown eyes, leather jackets, and steel toed boots, with tattoos to really top it all off.

semi repressed devout christian faggot who struggles with his own sexuality and identity. hes got daddy issues AND mommy issues (though his mommy issues are much more prominent) and an abusive and neglectful home life, he has to adapt to having a sister after being an only child his whole life, and he has to adjust to a move half way across the country, from southern california to the middle of nowhere hick iowa. as a result, hes quick to anger, never lets his guard down unless around other queers, but ultimately he wants to be good. he was told to be good by his mother, its been ingrained in him from a young age to be nice and do good things. its just unfortunate that his environment allows for that as little as possible. when he has the patience and energy, hes often a lot gentler, but its rare for him to not be running on fumes and a bit of nicotine.

his hobbies include chasing milfs and cougars, working on his car, working out, surfing, blaring Dio as loud as humanly possible, chainsmoking, basketball and wrestling. keep those last two in mind.

on the other hand, stewie "stu" sullivan is the star example of what a highschool student should be. athletically, hes the top of the school, hes got pretty hair and a handsome face, a kind of preppy style, and girls go wild over him. soft brunet hair, sweet freckles occasionally dotting his skin, and lovesick hazel eyes. hes even a total sweetheart who usually treats his girlfriends really well. his only downsides are his mild stupidity, petty mean streak, his shitty guard dog entourage, and his twin brother, kurtis.

stu comes from an upper middle class home, and hes got high expectations set on him. hes consistently been great on whatever local sports team hes been a part of, and the success of his whole future rests on his shoulders to continue doing well. he'll have a free ticket to college, if only he can stay the top of his school, athletically. in terms of popularity, hes pretty slow to give up that as well.

you can probably guess that having the constant pressure to be perfect from his parents creates a lot of friction, however, hes always been seen as the "good" of the two twins. he cant really rebel in any meaningful way, as the expectations placed on him keep him locked in place of being well mannered with adults. towards other students, however, stu will happily pick some fights to blow off steam. its usually with the teens that dont fight back, of course, and its usually only a couple petty insults and a half hearted shove. one affected girl thought that she mightve seen remorse in his expression when he walked away. she was written off as being down bad for him.

oh, right. remember those hobbies of adams i asked you to keep in mind? basketball and wrestling?

yeag .... that might be because stu is the top of the team for wrestling and basketball, and is constantly regarded as the schools mvp.

you can imagine how easily theyd hate each other. theyre both hormonal teenagers who are angry all the time and feel insanely guilty about being angry so they only get angrier and now theyre both challenging each others masculinity. adam very quickly comes for the top spot in the sports stu is good at, so they end up beefing with each other fast and hard. its a constant cock measuring contest with them, and they frequently bloody each others noses.

this sorta fued carries on, and they make no real progress with each other for like 6 months, until adam meets eve, a mysterious newcomer to the town who refuses to say much about herself. shes very obviously queer, and he latches onto her almost immediately as a result of that, and verious other reasons. eventually, eve will coax out adams queerness and he'll be a little more comfortable with himself and end up realizing "fuckkkkkj dude ive got a crush on that prettyboy whos blood ive tasted!!". stu will eventually be coaxed into realizing himself and fixing some of his issues as well as they get older, though all that stuff is a lot more vague in my mind at the moment.

the post i rbed from you tagging as them, id imagine is after adam meets eve, and starts spreading his faggot agenda to stu, but before either of them are fully comfortable with the fact that theyre into men.

stu will eventually have some gender fuckery going on too, but like. thats complicated and i wanna wait and explore that once i have a more comfortable grasp on his character.

if you want a voice claim for adam, i particularly like Randy from Idle Hands (1999) for him? i still gotta nail down voice claims for most other characters though. sorry that adams my favorite

[br1ghtestlight]

okay first of all im not convinced that rudy didn't buy tickets only bcuz louise annoyed him about it and he vaguely recognized the bands name from one of his dads old records FJDMDNSMSMSJ

why doesn't tina get to go to the old man concert w/ gene louise and their friends 😭

love how both concerts that tina mentioned going to were boyz 4 now concerts and that BOTH of them were actual episodes in the show. this is why catching up on bob's burgers lore is so important. these are the things you'd miss!!!!

NOOO NOT THE KING BREAKING HIS PAW this is a code red emergency

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT QUINCE BURGER BANGER NAME‼️‼️ have the bobs burgers writers seen the hawk and chick bb/eeaao comparison gifsets. do they even know that they made me cry. i want you to know how much i love and support you even if you stop fighting monsters with me someday and do taxes instead. okay sorry i got distracted

rudy!!!!

okay MAYBE i missed them saying that the concert had paid entrance or something but this is a block party?? could they not just go downstairs and watch the band outside. like it might not be premium seats but at least they'd be going to their first concert ?

most normal louise and rudy interaction

LINDA IS GONNA GET LITTLE KING TRASHMOUTH EUTHANIZED GOOD GOD 😭😭😭😭💔💔

why is tina being the voice of reason here LMAO like at least google how to capture an injured raccoon or something

OH ITS NOT THAT HARD. GOOD WHEELS ON THIS THING obsessed w/ teddy in this subplot(??) i missed him

i feel like this episode has the same problem as the st patrick's day episode where despite the episode's title and description trying to make the subplot the main focus of the episode its also Clearly the subplot to a more important storyline. which is fine bcuz they're both entertaining in this episode but its gonna be confusing as hell in the future trying to find this episode 😭

"maybe it would be easier to watch the concert from the street" IM SAYING LIKE?? literally what was louise's plan here. im obsessed with her

girl. all this for like six pieces of candy

THIS HAS NO REASON TO BE SO STRESSFUL im shaking im so worried about little king trashmouth... if anything bad happens to him im killing everyone in this room and then myself. that would literally be bury your gays. to me

not bob having another burger related existential crisis ☹️☹️

bob has failed to realize he could cook literally ANY other food if he really wanted to. but i will admit he likes cooking the burgers. and tbh?? what he described sounded like an autistic dream so maybe he simply does not understand the vision like me and u bob. maybe he just doesn't get it

"is that magic marker?" "what makes you say that??" "my.... eyes?"

actually where the HELL did they get those shirts they're too big to be louise's but wayy too small to gene's this is the actual mystery in the episode. possibly maybe tina's old shirts or something??

today we learned that linda buys her wine from the liquor store on their block which was Probably obvious but cool to see it confirmed

OH HELL NOO BOB IS GETTIN OLDER

also kinda funny to say this when big bob is Literally in next weeks episode and seems happy enough running his diner.... like bob have you considered maybe you LIKE cooking for people and thats okay?? your dad does too. some people are happy to do one thing forever and thats not like a Problem unless you're unhappy

awww they're such cuties dancing together

ROMANTIC RACCOON REUNION 💕💕🏳️‍🌈

"Well there are moments, you know... when the band locks in, the crowd is with them and everything they ever loved about playing music comes flooding back in a rush of pure heavenly emotion. All that crap."

"But... all these decades later, they still have them? The moments?"

"You tell me."

😭😭 WHY DID THIS PART OF THE EPISODE MAKE ME WANNA CRY I HAVE TO GET A VIDEO OF IT OR SOMETHING. WHAT THE HELL too real for creative people..... omg. this season has a lot of moments like that about the creative process like gene's song etc

YOUNG BOB‼️‼️ OHH HES SUCH A GENTLEMAN bob my beloved

THIS EPISODE WAS VERY CUTE?? very silly subplot w/ linda and the raccoons and then louise and gene and their friends. bob's little crisis in the middle there got to me harder than anticipated (i think they could have easily made that into its own episode but considering they've done similar concepts in the past i dont hate that they didn't flesh that out as much as they could have. we already KINDA know where bob is coming from here) and the ending clip with bob singing was soo silly im gonna need to post that too. fun episode!

[misiwrites]

Mayblade Days 1 & 2

i got a questionable idea of trying to write a fic for @may-blade where each daily prompt makes up one chapter… will i be actually able to keep up with it? idk. i have to write really fast if i want this all done and posted on time, so this is very first draft tier writing

high school AU, a focus on hiromi and tyhil, set in a culturally ambiguous setting of a "bey town". this will be a bit different from what i usually do because i decided to throw in as many ships as i can fit (for high school shenanigans) and many are stuff i've never posted before, tyhil included. it felt like a fitting ship for a school AU and goes well with a side dish of reimax (and all this other stuff i'll sprinkle in) so here goes nothing. just gonna go bonkers with it. may clean this up later for posting on AO3, may not if i don't manage to even finish it, which is possible

and i flipped days 1 and 2 so i'm posting both at the same time. it felt sensible not at all because i ran out of time on monday

prompts: school, unpopular character characters: hiromi focus; see each chapter for who's included bc even i don't really know yet pairings: hiromi/takao; same as above

Hiromi is a first-year in Bey Town High where the majority of students engage in afterschool club activities. When her only friend in school quits their club with no other members, she's forced to venture outside her comfort zone and try to make more friends.

CHAPTER 1 prompt: school characters: hiromi, emily, mentions of others pairings: --

“So, what now? Are you going to quit the club for good?”

Emily’s chin dropped. “Well…”

“So you are.”

“I’m sorry, Hiromi – but you know how much I need the scholarship. Prioritizing the tennis club is the only sensible thing to do. It’s okay if you’re angry with me.”

“I’m not angry,” Hiromi said, though she was a little. She stared down at her fidgeting leg.

“It’s not like we really need a club to keep meeting like this, anyway. I mean…” Emily’s hand gestured vaguely around the space they were in, the lousy excuse for a clubroom they didn’t have; since its foundation in the beginning of the school year, their astrology club had been holding its meetings at the end of a musky corridor in the cellar floor of the school, next to some rusty pipes and other unfitting backdrops, where a perpetual waft of paint and some cleaning agent lingered in the air.

Alright, so maybe their astrology club didn’t have a clubroom. And maybe it had only two members, which were Hiromi and Emily. And, just maybe, they could as well have done their astrology-related geeky stuff literally anywhere else, such as either the Tachibana residence or the Watsons’, but. But but but.

“And, you know,” Emily then decided to put into words what Hiromi precisely didn’t want to hear, “maybe you could go check out some other clubs, too. It would be a good way to meet new people…”

The fidgeting intensified. Em, don’t do this to me.

“…and maybe even make new friends,” the ginger finished, tentatively.

“I don’t want to join other clubs.” Hiromi preoccupied herself with picking stray lumps of lint off her hoodie while talking. “Everyone’s got their own cliques already. It would be awkward. Nobody wants a random weirdo forcing herself into their group in the middle of the year.”

“I’m sure that’s not true. The people in this school aren’t as bad as you think, Hiromi. And you’re not a weirdo.”

That was easy for Emily, fairly popular and a rising youth tennis star, to say. Hiromi, on the other hand, was an unathletic tomboy with few redeeming social qualities; she was studious and quite enjoyed school, had never been the out-going type, and preferred putting an effort in homework over partying or whatever it was that others did in their free time; she had no impressive hobbies to speak of, as her main interests were geeking out about all things spiritual or supernatural and collecting old books; she had plain brown hair and brown eyes and had never been the type to pour copious amounts of time and money into her hair, make-up, or clothes.

Her personality was on the serious side, she wasn’t a playful jokester or a vending machine for clever one-liners like all the popular girls seemed to be. She had never been the bestie that someone would choose first for anything, she’d never been part of a tight-knit group, and she’d never had a real relationship with anyone. No, it would be awkward to the extreme to squeeze herself into some club now – not to mention that she wasn’t terribly interested in, well, almost anything mainstream. She wasn’t very artistic or good at games or well-versed with popular culture other than the couple of shows she religiously followed (and even then, she wouldn’t have joined a club for those because the extent of her nerdiness was definitely embarrassing).

She was, simply put, just a normal girl. Just a Hiromi. She couldn’t become something she was not.

For a minute longer, Emily tried to persuade her to come check out the tennis club, or maybe the rest of the sports clubs. Hiromi gave her a tentative “maybe later” while harboring feelings of intense disinterest.

No, she thought, I’m not giving up on the astrology club that fast.

The following morning was the first time in months that a nervous sweat threatened to dampen her palms as she walked the short way to school. She had so perfectly adapted to her role of being invisible in class already, now she’d have to actually start a conversation with someone new for the first time in weeks. It made her heart thrum uncomfortably. She’d even forgotten to properly prepare for the morning group class. Very uncharacteristic of her.

She took her usual seat by the window near the back of the room, set her backpack to the side, and turned to look at her class. A critical thought. Who in here could I in any sensible way imagine at least consider joining the astrology club?

And there it was: her group, 1-A. Stitched together from wildly different types of people by the infallible hand of the one and only Bey Town High.

Emily, who sat next to her, had yet to arrive. The few other girls she’d done as much as talked to before sat near the front of the classroom, including Ayaka whom she didn’t know much about – apart from the fact that she had a jerk of an older brother who was part of the school’s most notorious bully squad, which effectively kept anyone from starting any shit with her – and Salima, the school council president. Salima seemed alright, always cool and collected; she had a mature air to her that alleviated the intimidation factor. Next to Salima, as always, sat Kane – the two were inseparable, for all Hiromi had seen so far. Even now, as she ogled the pair from her seat in the back, the two were engaged in looking at something together from a shared phone screen. Hiromi wasn’t sure if they were a romantic item or not, but if they weren’t, they sure were a close set of friends.

Two desks over, usually behind the now-absent Emily sat Zeo, a dainty sort of boy from a rich family; behind him, another boy of the same rich sort but infinitely worse in personality, Olivier Bohringer (who insisted on being referred to by his full name by his “pleb classmates”) whom Hiromi was surprised to see present in the first place, the snob had a habit of being chronically late with very little regard to how it might inconvenience others. Olivier had the repugnant aura of do not associate with me, whereas Zeo was lively, friendly, if not a little pushy, as if he always had something to prove. Always trying, mostly in vain, to show off to the boy whose desk he now, too, was leaning back towards in his seat with the expression of an obedient dog – yes, right there, behind Zeo, sat the boy that Hiromi had been actively avoiding making eye contact with for the past few months. Kinomiya Takao.

Not daring to look at him for too long, she stole a deliberate glance at Takao as if in passing. As if her gaze was simply wandering. He was sitting back in his chair, relaxed, laid-back as always, wearing a cap of red and blue and white with the lid facing back, engaged in conversation with some classmates, some guys called Brooklyn and Garland, Hiromi hardly knew them, as she hardly knew anyone to begin with; Zeo was eagerly trying to join the conversation that he hadn’t been included in, he never was yet always tried, wanted to be one of the cool boys and their cool circle.

Hiromi let the words float by. She could hear Takao talking but didn’t want to listen, pretended not to hear his vivid voice that carried over the sea of classroom clatter like it always did. She swiftly fixed her posture and decidedly set her eyes on the back of the person sitting in front of her. It was this short boy called Ivan who only ever read comic books in class, some weird nerd she knew absolutely nothing about.

She was oh-so-annoyed by the way her heart had chosen to leap in anticipation. It was stupid, the way she riled herself up for doing as much as looking at Takao for a bit. She crouched to grab a notebook from her backpack; it felt safe, hiding behind the excuse of urgently and thoroughly needing to check something in her notes.

While making sure that nobody could see her writing, she scribbled the names in the corner of the notebook page:

Kane, Zeo – maybe?

LITERALLY ALL OTHER BOYS – NO.

Ayaka – maybe? don’t know what she’s like

Salima – ok.

So the decision had been made.

CHAPTER 2 prompt: the past characters: hiromi, takao pairings: hiromi/takao

Hiromi and Takao had been childhood friends.

Their houses had been right across from each other on a long, long street in the eastern district of Bey Town. To young Hiromi, this street had been her entire world. The old, wooden house like a jewelry box across the street had been so fascinating to her child’s mind, the large Kinomiya residence with its traditional dojo and yard full of unusual trees. She’d started visiting the family regularly and befriended their younger son, a boy of her own age, Takao. Everything had been so effortless back then, and they’d become friends with the ease and sincerity that only children possessed.

They had built a beautiful tree house with help from Takao’s older brother and held secret meetings; they’d gone to the corner shop of that long, long street to buy candy with the first pocket money of their lives; Takao dug out bugs with a stick from the ground and proudly presented them to her. Innumerable wonderful childhood memories had stuck close to Hiromi’s heart all through her life.

They had only been children. Silly and unassuming, copying what they saw adults do, turning it into just another game. After visiting some family to attend her aunt’s wedding, Hiromi had wanted to play it out. Let’s get married! Just like that. And Kinomiya Yoshie, Takao’s beautiful mother who always wore flowers in her hair, had sewn her a little white dress because she’d asked for one.

Hiromi’s understanding of “getting married” had been to hold Takao’s hand a lot. Parroting cheesy lines about how they would be together forever and taking oaths that were comically solemn for children of their age. She had told him he needed to get her a ring because a boy was supposed to get one for the girl he married, so he’d made one of some twigs he'd picked from the ground. It had been big enough for two of her fingers to fit through. She hadn’t minded, because it had been a gift from him; she’d been so grateful that she’d given him the smallest of kisses on the cheek, just a peck.

Then she proceeded to never forget about that peck. Not for one minute of her life.

Eventually, the Tachibana family had moved to a different house, to a plain flat in a plain apartment building where the only view was the wall of an equally plain neighboring building and a parking lot. She’d been as heartbroken as a child could be – for about three weeks. Then she’d started attending elementary school right next door.

She’d sworn to visit him at least once a week, but it was quickly forgotten. In her new school, she’d begun to notice that girls and boys did not play together – that it was, in fact, embarrassing to play with boys because they were stupid and messy and stinky. The next time the Tachibanas and Kinomiyas held a get-together, Hiromi had hid behind her mother and avoided Takao’s attention all day. The whole pretend marriage thing had started feeling thoroughly humiliating and she didn’t want it addressed ever again.

And she didn’t want to know if Takao still remembered that peck on his cheek now, in high school where they had been put in the same class to her absolute mortification. He had tried to talk to her in the first couple of days of the semester. She’d greeted him politely, then proceeded to pretend she didn’t know him. She prayed to gods that he hadn’t told anyone else in their class about their shared past – but he probably hadn’t, as it didn’t seem like the kind of thing guys would talk about.

Not that she really knew what guys were talking about. After all, she hardly spoke to anyone.

[filmokirani]

Heeramandi - The Diamond Bazaar

When I first started this review, I had just finished the show. At that time, not as many reviews had been published, and there was still a lot of hype. Now that I've had some space to really think and sort through my initial reaction, I've added to and rewritten parts of this. The following is a relatively low spoiler review of my overall impression of the show:

Heeramandi is an ensemble show, with multiple actors of different backgrounds. There are industry veterans, fresh faced newcomers, and a number of people in between.

Seeing Manisha Koirala, Farida Jalal, Fardeen Khan, and Taha Shah Badussha (yes, I enjoyed Luv Ka The End when it came out, what can I say) on screen after years certainly made me nostalgic. But more than nostalgia, each of these actor's performances were convincing and each of them were able to hold their own. No surprise for someone like Farida Jalal or Manisha Koirala, but as an audience member, I have not really had the opportunity to see either Fardeen Khan or Taha Shah Badussha's range before.

And of course, theirs were not the only performances I enjoyed. Essentially the entire main cast - Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sanjeeda Sheikhh, Richa Chadha, Shruti Sharma, Jayati Bhatia, and Nivedita Bhargava all played the women of Heeramandi (both tawaif and maid) beautifully.

There were of course, a few performances that stood out, for better or for worse. A lot has been said about Sharmin Segal's performance at this point, and I don't have an interest in piling on. I personally did not enjoy it, and felt that she was miscast in the role. However, I do believe much of the responsibility of her performance falls squarely on the shoulders of her uncle/the director - Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Ultimately, a director has a huge say (and a director like Bhansali generally has final say) over what the project ends up looking like. Bhansali chose to cast Sharmin Segal, he was satisfied with her performance, and chose the scenes and cuts to keep for the show. In interviews, he has very clearly said he was happy with her performance.

If he had not been, he could have directed her differently, or chosen to edit out certain scenes and focus on other plotlines. He did not. This is the final product he wanted to share with the audiences, and so, if there is something lacking in Sharmin Segal or any other actor's performance, that responsibility rests on Bhansali as well.

Image: The Envoy Web

Performances that stood out to me (in a good way) were those of Sanjeeda Sheikh as Waheeda and Indresh Malik as Ustasd Ji. I was not familiar with either's work before the show, and was blown away by just how well they managed to steal every scene they were in. Without giving away any major spoilers, there is a scene between Indresh Malik and Sonakshi Sinha (as Fareedan), where Fareedan pays Ustad Ji with a gold naath. Instead of placing it in his hand though, she hooks it to his nose and turns him to face the mirror. The emotions that cross his face - wonder, happiness, loss, grief, and overwhelm of finally seeing what could have been are so beautifully projected by Indresh Malik in this brief moment. Even in a show dripping in grandeur, this tender scene steals the show.

My issues with Heeramandi are primarily rooted in the story and its pacing. The first six episodes tell a completely different story from the last two. Some plotlines drag on for too long, while others are discarded with barely any resolution. Suddenly, towards the end of episode 6, the tone completely shifts and a new plotline takes center stage for the remainder of the show. Everything else is lost to history (or perhaps a season 2). It is unfortunate, especially with an ensemble cast, because most characters seem wasted on a plot that doesn't know where it wants to go until the end.

Image: Harper's Bazaar

Vague Spoilers for the rest of the review:

A friend of mine mentioned that she believes Sanjay Leela Bhansali likes to see women suffer, and I have to agree. Bhansali may claim that his heroines are strong, but the only way we as an audience are allowed to see that is through their suffering.

They suffer against their status, their fate, the British, the men who claim to love them but torture them instead, and it is only in those moments that the audience is allowed to see them as strong and sympathetic characters.

Even our two "antagonists," Malikajaan and Fareedan, who are portrayed as relentless and calculating, are so because of their past suffering. In order to be shown as worthy of empathy and to emphasize their strength later in the show, they are forced to suffer again.

It is as if Sanjay Leela Bhansali cannot conceive of a world where a women's strength can come from her desires, her talent, her cunning, her community, and own self. Herein likes the greatest letdown of Heeramandi - it forgets the story it promised to tell.

For the majority of Heeramandi, the main charters are shown as little more than catty, selfish, manipulative women, who fight over wealth and status (often unsuccessfully). It isn't until the penultimate episode that the show goes back to what it promised before the initial opening scene. Heeramandi was sold to its audience as a story of the Tawaifs and their connection to the downfall of the British raj. Even in interviews and promotions of the show before its release, we were told this. Yet it almost never shows these women (with the exception of Bibojaan) as competent enough to do anything successfully until episode 7. Attempts to undermine each other often backfire spectacularly. Even then, these women are "strong" and resilient in the last two episodes directly after a terrible ordeal (ie more suffering) galvanizes them and completely ignores any set up of the previous 6 episodes regarding their interpersonal dynamics.

Final Thoughts:

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's signature is extravagant sets and costuming that sometimes take years to create. Having incredible Art and Costume departments to do this work has become a part of his directorial style. In this sense, he fully rises to the occasion. Audience expectation is certainly met and surpassed. Heeramandi is a visual treat. Every frame on screen is filled with intricate details.

While Bhansali exceeds audience expectation in this aspect, he fails to deliver on the story he promised to tell. By the end, everything is so convoluted it's hard to hold onto the threads of the multiple storylines, and major plot points are ignored in favour of a dramatic ending. Even with the (mostly) incredible performances from its cast, Heeramandi is little more than an opulent train wreck.

TLDR: the stories of tawaifs and their connection to the overthrowing of the British raj are important for us to learn, but Sanjay Leela Bhansali was not the right person to tell them.

[xxswagcorexx]

brainrotting about the fallen angels swagdoons so freaking hard but in an incomprehensible way ya know.

also glad to know that bc of me asking you decided to also tell this shit on here because holy moly core this au is absolutely wonderful and there's So much symbolism and by god aren't symbolisms the coolest things ever. just people giving a completely different meaning to things that never had this meaning before.

sorry for ranting lmao

aaaaanyways, what's up with that thing about casino quartet ^-^ is there anything else about the world's worst polycule?

OMG TYSM CHERNY THE BELOVED!!!! omg tysm for letting me ramble abt the fallen angel concept.,… i was torturing my friends too much with it thank u for letting mr be silly on main ^_^ /silly

ALSO IM SO GLAD U LIKE THE SYMBOLISM!!! i love making up made up symbolism fr…its so fun to make order out of chaos and looking closely at things and bring New Life to them i loveeee doing to sm (and i love aus like that in general they make them feel so Alive)

but ya!! i mentioned how it started off as a crack au with casino quartet and uh. (tries to think of a way to describe them without going into the main tags <-scared) let’s ramble about them! ^_^

basically so uh. for a while i thought one of the funniest things ever was to make a mcyt au from the music video lore of this one k-pop group because the idea was so absurd and it was niche enough that people Won’t Know/clock it right away and the idea of being “SURPRISE IT WAS KPOP” was something REALLY funny because i am messed up and evil in the head!!!

but. if i’m being honest. their my aesthetic low key slapped for no reason so as i started thinking about it and whatnot the au just became. its own thing. like you can sorta see bits of The Original Intent in there but its so far removed its basically its own thing so. (if you figured out who i assigned who to who no you dont /silly)

but uh. the lore is Very long and casino quartet only really work with one of the subgroups of the k-pop group so i’m just gonna focus on that one ^_^

basically, their subgroup’s lore is a vaguely based off of a few anesthetic of the bible, more specifically the story of adam and eve and angels escaping eden or whatnot. there’s 4 members, one representing adam, one representing eve, and the last 2 representing angels, with one following adam and eve to escape eden and the one who’s left behind eventually becoming fallen and finding self worth in herself

in the main music video where their Lore is shown, the other angels literally leave one of them out of the loop as they plan to escape eden together—just without the last angel :( and there’s a really sad shot of her looking at all of her friends running out of eden without her. then i another music video we get the other angel looking very sad that she left her friend behind but adam and eve r so smitten with each other that they dont care <- no way it’s clownzy and ash in team chaos i mean WHATTTTT ^_^

anyways. as u can tell. i mostly went “omg casino quartet” at the team chaos parallels and the Betrayal and Making Things Right themes and since their subgroup was Inspired by bible aesthetics, the idea for red being a fallen angel kinda Stuck with me and i (eventually) brainrotted the idea so hard and connecting to more things about fallen angels and whatnot i came across to the point it became its Own Thing. but tbh i really like the idea of ash trying to get red back and whatnot and him being a Fallen Angel as well stuck A Lot

and Also i like the idea of clown and branzy being the more modern interpretations of adam and eve. like someone who’s smitten in love and being willing to bite the apple and fall into sin for that. they’re so ill about each other it could go either way its them fr!!!!

but yeah. thumbs up . thats the Lore reason to why fallen angel ash and red became a thing >_< clownzy is a secret 3rd thing to me when it comes to the fallen angel concept but !!! its awesome maybe ill redraw the mv scenes with them one day….

[alaawritesablog]

Odyssey - NOON (Review)

There’s usually very little western inspired music that comes out of the UAE that I enjoy. There could be a wide variety of reasons why that is happening, but this album from dubai-based trio “Noon” was a very enjoyable experience for me from top to bottom. I found them on Instagram in March 2022 while I was looking for more local artists to support and was immediately intrigued by their bio: “an experimental music project from Dubai comprising elements of traditional middle eastern music with polyrhythmic Jazz/rock”. I checked out their Spotify and was immediately disappointed to find they had only released two songs at that point. 

I scoured their socials to find any news on a possible album release… nothing. Nothing but a vague “album coming soon”. So, I gave up. I moved my focus to other artists, local and not, and occasionally checked up on them. Until a week ago, I hadn't even known they had finally gone through with releasing the record they had been promising for months. No roll-out, no pre-release singles, no real promo, nothing. So, here I am 2 months late to review this album.

This record starts off with a song that sets the tone. It includes most, if not all, the elements you see throughout this LP. One of the many notable things is that they use a drum kit for percussion instead of traditional percussion like most Arab fusion stuff tends to. It’s choices like these that are what makes this album fascinating and really shows off their technical skills. 

My favourite song on here is Hybridge pt.1, most of this LP uses the oud as the main instrument, so the vocals on here are a breath of fresh air. The singing on this is so amazing and the little moments where the oud comes in perfectly balanced and doesn't overpower the vocals. The melodies the oud is playing complement the vocal melodies so well. This track was such an immersive experience, I didn't notice it was 8 minutes long when I first heard it. They are a fusion band that combines many different cultures and genres that I've never heard combined quite like this. As I mentioned before, they use a drum kit instead of traditional percussion throughout this whole LP, and the expert drumming is one major factor of what makes this work. The oud melodies are really beautiful and, in the more rock inspired moments on this record, they have a way of making me forget it’s an oud, like on the song Walks on Nawa. And the production on this entire album is sublime.

But, there is one main problem that presents itself multiple times throughout the album. This album has many different things going on, and one tool they use to combine them is a switch up. A switch up is a sudden switch between two musical ideas. Sometimes they pull these off. Other times they either switch up too fast, cutting the previous idea too short, or they don't switch up fast enough and let a melody or idea go on for too long and become repetitive. 

A great example is the switch up in the opening track “Longa Nahawand”, the song starts off calm and slow and then builds to a great track with a phenomenal balance of rock and traditional Arab music elements. My main problem is that they switch back to a slower, more stripped down song. I, personally, didn't enjoy this switch very much. It throws off the momentum and really ruins everything the earlier half of this song was building to. And these types of switches are prevalent all throughout this album, and many times it's so awkward it stops the experience from being as enjoyable. The only way I can think to describe it is that it feels like an unfinished plate of food being taken from me while I was enjoying it. They don’t always let the ideas they start finish. And there are many instances of this on the record that I will not be listing.

All in all, this LP was an interesting experience for me, top to bottom, and while it’s not my favourite and it has its pros and cons, It is by far the most promising thing I have heard from a debut record from the UAE. I always love supporting small artists worldwide and I will never not stop to check something out, and a lot of the time it is incredibly rewarding. Noon have been teasing this album for months and I believe they largely delivered on their promises. I am incredibly excited for what is to come.

[soundofseclusion]

Pokemon Series Retrospective, Volume 2: Pokemon Snap

After the break: a massive Pokemon fan plays Pokemon Snap N64 for the first time to completion.

Background

I mentioned in the previous volume that I got into the gaming sphere kind of late, with my first console being the GBA.  I didn’t grow up with an N64.  My experience with Pokemon Snap was brief encounters at the homes of friends and wealthier family members, maybe some posters or promotional videos at Blockbuster, maybe a McDonald’s N64 kiosk if it was ever demoed in those.  Mostly, just a vague impression of the game.  So playing the game was an experience I didn’t have until the Wii era, when it released on Virtual Console.

The Virtual Console release was notable for letting you post pictures to the Wii message board, but other than that, it was just another Wii Shop novelty for me at the time.  I barely progressed, possibly because I was confused, possibly just because I didn’t really play through video games back then.  For context, I played every single Zelda game as they came out from WindWaker onwards, but never finished a Zelda game until BotW.  Part of the reason for starting a media thread on Twitter and a (since abandoned) Zelda game marathon years ago was to encourage me to actually complete games.

I’ve recently revisited, and completed with unexpected quickness, Pokemon Snap on the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack.  I found myself quite enamored with the whole experience; here’s some more detailed thoughts.

Present Day

The main elements of this game just work well.  The fact that courses are relatively short, on-rails segments means you can revisit levels with a sense of familiarity that makes experimentation with different course elements into something you can do reliably.  There’s a good loop of “next time around, I’ll try this here and that there,” and when you unlock new items/tools you get a good sense of “I should try this in this previous course element which eluded me.”  Feeling those things is especially important because I believe this is designed to be a short game with a lot of elements--experimentation, discovery--that make revisiting it fun.  I don’t believe Pokemon Snap is trying to be more than a brief novelty which lets you live in the fantasy world so many of us dreamed of.

The allure of Pokemon is, at least partially, that these are wild creatures with a real presence in the world.  Pokemon Snap is the first game to really lean into that by taking away a lot of your agency.  You still interact with the world through apples and pester balls and flutes, but primarily you serve as an observer.  For people who enjoyed the act and idea of completing a Pokedex, reading every new entry as though you were making a new discovery every time, this game actually puts you in the shoes of the person making those observations that lead to Pokedex entries.  Pokemon mainline games mostly exist in this realm where you’re meant to take Pokedex entries at face value but never really get to witness the behaviors described in any real capacity.  This was the first attempt to actualize Pokemon behavior and natural habitat, and it’s a good attempt. 

The game has its flaws.  The scoring system for photographs is... awkward, clumsy, somewhat archaic by its limitations.  Oak looks for photos that fit a very specific criteria that is often extremely difficult to pull off well.  While getting a better photo is definitely part of what makes going through the courses multiple times enjoyable, that only slightly alleviates the sting of a good picture prompting a “YOU WERE CLOSE” from Oak because the Pokemon was turned 15 degrees away from the camera’s focus.  The actual act of maneuvering your camera is also a bit janky, but not enough to detract from how enjoyable taking photos and interacting with the world is.

Though, overall, I hope you can see that I was pretty endeared to this game.  I went into it expecting a fun but clunky game, and yeah, I did scream at Oak a few times, but it didn’t take away from the enjoyment of the overall experience.  I think Snap quite impressively accomplishes what it was going for: a chance to exist in the Pokemon world from the role of an observer, and a chance to contextualize those creatures into a believable world which lives up to the series’ potential.

[bookandhook]

A Man Called Ove: Book Review #1

There are a total of four books that I began in December of 2022, all of which remain unfinished for the moment, put aside for one book in particular. The only reason for that being is that I saw a trailer for A Man Called Otto starring Tom Hanks and thought 'huh, that looks vaguely familiar'. It was then that I remembered picking up a certain book at Savers earlier in the year on impulse that currently sat, unread, amongst a bunch of other unread books on my fairly new IKEA bookcase that is already filled to the brim.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman made its way onto my TBR for two reasons and two reasons only:

It was going to make me cry, allegedly.

The main character is a grumpy, lonely, old man who learns to love life again (allegedly).

(Full review under the READ MORE. Spoilers marked as such.)

(The cat on the cover also got me, but I digress)

Anyone who knows me in my daily life knows that this is my absolute weakness. Do I know why I love grumpy old men so much? No. Sometimes I suspect it has to do with the fact that both me and my parents were on the same wavelength at one point about the movie Up.

A condensed version of this for people who are interested in this book would be-

The writing was easy and enjoyable. The author has a way of writing Ove that is blunt and to the point, very much like his character. I have a nasty habit of not entirely looking up any sort of warnings about books before going in, because I am the type of person who mainly gets bothered/triggered by visual media instead of that which I am reading. For those going into this book though I would warn strongly that suicide is the main focus of this book. If that is upsetting to you then I suggest you skip this book entirely or be heavily forewarned going in. Also I should be warning against cancer, major accidents, child-loss, and character death.

The main character, Ove, is also very much, as it is stated, a very grumpy and old-fashioned old man. This book is riddled with the horrors of dealing with stubborn old people in retail, homophobic language, racist language, fatphobic language etc. Anything horrible you can think of an old person saying off the cuff is in it-- BUT-- in my own opinion-- it is done well. It is done in an intentional way to show that Ove, though old fashioned and a bit of an asshole, is not a bad character. He does actually care, or learn to care in his own way. His language is a reflection of his life up to a certain point.

We will now enter the part of my review that is riddled with spoilers. You have been warned.

As was mentioned before, suicide is the main focus of this book. Though the main character is not successful, there are many MANY attempts riddled throughout. All of which are interrupted either comedic or otherwise. Ove, struggling with the loss of his wife to cancer and the only person who he feels understood him in this world, has decided that he will join her. Through seeing Ove's day to day you also get flashbacks to his life with Sonja. The two are written to be opposites in every single way, and it is very endearing. Where Ove is blunt, straightforward, and logical Sonja is sweet, poetic, and imaginative. She reads excessively and he builds her bookcases, that is the easiest way I can sum it up that made my heart truly melt.

In order to not truly spoil some of the stuff in the spoiler ridden section of my review I will leave Ove's relationship with the neighbors that move in across from him mostly untouched. It is, also, a huge part of this book, but the slow build of it and the heartwarming ending is something I think is best experienced should you read this portion and decide to dive into this book yourself. It builds on a relationship that I, personally, haven't really seen in media yet (much let alone books, but maybe there are ones out there that I just haven't found yet.)

Honestly, just think Russel and Mr. Fredrickson, but...grown up and Russel is a pregnant lady. I know, I know- just trust me.

Throughout the course of this book, Ove rekindles old relationships, builds new ones, gets the neighborhood to view him differently than they once have, adopts a cat, and also lets a young man who gets kicked out by his father for being gay come and stay with him in his house. Every page had something else on it that either made me laugh, cry, or just flat out shake my head.

END SPOILER SECTION

According to my Storygraph I began this book on the 5th of January and finished it on the 21st. For someone who is currently stuck in a little bit of a reading rut I am counting 17 days to finish a book as a complete win.

For my first book of 2023 I found this one leaving me hopeful. Even though this was a bit of a heavier read for me to start my year it didn't leave me feeling sad. As someone who has recently experienced loss and my own intense struggles with depression and feeling misunderstood this hit right to the core. Sometimes, books don't fully affect me aside from an intense focus and lingering obsession with the world- but since this was grounded in reality and not fantasy it did hit me in a way I didn't fully expect. I truly loved it, though I can see why other's would not. The rest is up for you to decide.

[declanowo]

31 Days of Horror - Day 23 - Audition

23/10/23

Needles are one of my biggest fears. They have been for a while - it makes going to the doctors hell, when around every corner it feels like there is a needle waiting just for me. Yet, Audition is a film I had heard so much about, and it was deeply enticing to me. Every vague mention of this film, and its central "villain" Asami was a further draw, and so after spinning the wheel and seeing it pop up, I have finally decided that today is the day to try to watch. 

With its two hour runtime, Takashi Miike’s Audition is a long, and at times slow movie. That isn’t a bad thing, in fact, in this case I really loved that! It’s a slow burn that works perfectly, with the first two acts feeling like a romantic drama, with mere undertones of horror, until the final act is pure unadulterated horror. Honestly, there were points during this film when I forgot it was a horror movie - that first act is especially hypnotising into a sense of security. 

Instantly, I was hooked with the cold open. Although not a typical cold open to a horror movie, this sequence moved me close to tears, as we watch our protagonist’s (Shigeharu Aoyama) wife pass away, followed by his son walking in mere moments later. Everything about this pain feels authentic, and it is owed to Ryo Ishibashi’s performance. Instantly, we connect with this character, so when we flash forward seven years and he is encouraged to start dating, we root for him and his happiness. 

All three of our main characters are great, from the aforementioned Shigeharu and Asami, as well as Shigehiko Aoyama, who is Shigeharu’s son. The character is sweet and charming, although appears to have inherited a similar regard for women as his father. 

I guess now is a good time to move onto the theme of masculinity and misogyny, which I think runs through this film. It becomes more difficult to tell with older movies whether or not they are simply products of their time or if they are thematically relevant, but I feel regardless of intent, they are here. 

The titular audition shows this first main source of the misogyny. Here, we see women paraded around with the intent of gaining a role in a film, but instead they are in fact auditioning for the role of the boss's wife. Of course, this deception is something all too common to reality, where men will use their positions of power for sex from women who are simply looking for work. Asami brings this up herself during the third act; yet we see some ambiguity in the intentions of Shigeharu, as he searches for a lifelong partner, this adds some shading to his character, not to mention the fact he didn’t suggest the idea. However, this further links into the theme of masculinity - regardless of who suggested the audition, they did in fact hold it; both parties are guilty. Although, the editing of this sequence is comedic, as we watch the different “suitors” answer questions, their list of quirky personalities shining through. Constantly, we are positioned not to question our protagonist, we are placed to fear Asami instead, and while the validity of this may be true, holding the audition in the first place is ultimately the catalyst for the events that unfold. 

Ultimately, this leads into a romance that I found sweet to watch - I truly enjoyed seeing these two characters seemingly having a nice time, and falling in love. Their romance is shaded with secrets and mystery, and there is a focus on age which I believe feeds closer into the theme of power that comes with masculinity and position, as Shigeharu is stated to be a lot older than Asami in spite of his earlier statement he wanted to date someone “not too young”. Once again, regardless of his intent, this is his reality - he may dream later of an idyllic life, but he is searching for love in a manner that exercises his power that can only come as a result of him being a man. It tears me in two directions, and I think that watching the film at face value provides a desire to side with Shigeharu, and maybe we should - there is enough ambiguity within the film to agree with him, and I personally find both these characters to be so delightful and well acted that I want the best for both of them. Plainly put, this is just a single interpretation, with other ideas weaved inside. 

Asami is plagued by ambiguity - it is part of what makes her such an appealing character. Many sequences we see that shade in her backstory are in hallucinations, or otherwise lies that we piece together. Asami herself may not exist, she is a victim who ultimately is treated the same way over and over. Her life is cyclical, and honestly, her reaction, while extreme, makes sense. She is tired of meaning nothing to everyone she has loved, and finding another woman's picture in Shigeharu’s room is just a growth of this. She acts rashly, and the final sequence is a brutal juxtaposition to the rest of the film. 

Maybe the most harrowing part of the film is how badly we want the romance for both characters despite knowing both of their problems. Nothing could ever work, but it pains us to watch that reality unfold. In a sense, the torture sequence we end on is this haunting realisation that neither of them can ever date again, the romantic love they’re searching for is unattainable because of their own hangups. Both characters are so soft, yet their realities are so much darker, they are cold and broken people. 

After a single look at this film's poster, we know what the movie is building up to. Catharsis draws over us during the torture sequence, and the outcome places both characters even more broken - a lost foot and a snapped neck. Nobody can ever win, and punishment is dealt to those who have done wrong. For me, neither act felt good. We await this sequence the whole film, yet when it is over, we yearn for the daydream where everything was perfect, where everyone's past and true colours are ignored. We watch this sequence unfold in a cool blue, it allows us to fade away, it is divine and perfect, washed of the blemishes that reality carries. However, reality is sitting in the corner of the room, and when we return to the present gloomy lit nightmare unfolding, we are reminded of the reality that there is no escape from our true natures. 

Audition is so complex and fun to think about, that the needle sequences that I feared would haunt me are mere pricks in the back of my mind. Before ending off this discussion which I have very much enjoyed, I want to mention how much I loved the upbeat score of this film, the fun style of editing and how much the cinematography was played with - from the contrasting crampedness of the office to the open freedom of home, to the focus on a character as they witness an action, rather than the action itself. God this was great! 

10/10

[mysticmiav]

Currently with my brainworms and input from here & insta, am thinking of these following ideas

(Six of Crows and some minor(?) Crooked Kingdam spoilers ahead, i say minor cuz it's kinda vague but wanted to mention it just in case)

Jesper would be an earth bender cuz of that leewaying to metalbending

Nina I think waterbending cuz of the badass dark af bloodbending which I feel ties w her grisha power in soc

Am still a bit lost on Matthias. Initially i rlly liked the idea of Nina being a firebender & him being a waterbender. Them having that opposites elements thing going on. Also the water tribes typically being located in icy & snowy areas, and yea Matthias and ice just makes sense.

But now I'm not sure cuz I'm reallyyyy leaning towards Nina being a waterbender -> bloodbender (in true Katara fashion she'd be the one we see doing and go "oh shit this just got so freaking dark wdym blood bending??" Which imo also fits to her soc storyline w her grisha powers)

Another idea for Matthias would be him being a nonbender and trying to incorporate that Fjerdan-hate-against-Grisha in a group of nonbenders that hate benders for more or less similar reasons.

But i rlly dunno lol still lost on him

On that note obviously if we're going by the soc grisha translating to benders, then only Nina and Jesper would be benders. Everyone else would be non

But we can freestyle it a bit lol

Am considering, Wylan as a friebender and specifically the Zuko character for the gaang in certain ways

a) someone said it'd be in a non-ragey way, but it makes sense cuz his bombs & fireworks he makes and uses in soc would then translate to firebending

b) another person also pointed out it'd fit the fact that he'd then have grown up in a rich family. And to expand on that idea it also def fits in the family-dynamic itself; the fire lord exiling his son and that whole conflict bit really corresponds well with Wylan's falling out with his (little piece of shit of a) father.

I can also imagine when the gang (mainly kaz) tries to come up w a plan or a strategy that'd involve using that fact (Wylan being the Fire Lord's son) against said Fire Lord, Wylan would tell him it's no use given he's litrly in exile and his (little piece of trash of a) dad wouldn't give two shits about him. It corresponds well with the same bit in soc methinks

Now inej I think would either be a nonbender and fight very badass in true Inej fashion (am thinking Suki? Kinda?) Or she'd be a waterbender and imo both work rlly well.

I think kaz would be a nonbender lol someone on insta said he'd absolutely wreck people and fck em up as a nonbender (very much like Ty Lee destroying everyone) and it made me laugh so hard but I also am digging it!! I can def see him being a nonbender and being the strategist, remaining true to his bigbrain self in soc lol

As for Kuwei, am so ???? Over this idea but I think he'd be the Avatar.

It makes so much sense to me because of how everyone is after the Avatar (also think Fire Lord who in this setup would be Jan miserable-excuse-of-a-man van Eck who's been, well, the one so keen on getting his hands on Kuwei, which I think translate really well to the Fire nation wanting to find the Avatar and get rid of him etc)

It'd also fit his importance to the overal world and its fate etc also very much fitting to his character's importance in soc

I also just think it'd be very fun to somehow still have a breaking-kuwei-out-of-captivity scene/bit (aka the ice court heist but boiled down to a smaller bit ig idk) and towards the end during the escape when they get to a dead end, Appa fucking sweeps in and they get away w him (am thinking of that one tiktok that has Kaz saying to Nina "what do you think, a tank will appear out of nowhere and-" the other trio fucking sweeps in with a wholeass tank)

But when it comes to the narrative aspect, him being the Avatar would put him in the focus and the main character (or at least, the most important one amont the main characters of atla) rather than the very consequential and important side character he is in soc

But i guess we don't have to stick to atla narrative & story 100% in the au lol I mean the cast of soc already doesn't correspond to the gaang 1-on-1 and rather fits bits and pieces here and there

Anywho enough with this cuz this has gotten so long lol thank you if you've read this far omg

I just wanted to throw the ideas out there might or might not try to visiualise and sketch them a bit after am done w c0mm work

/Came to tell you that your drawings are just candy/

I'm not the only one who periodically catches in the vibe of caring inej partly of the vibe of katara, right? :)

Owah thank you sm!!

And yeah anon I can see your vision. Here's a sketch of Inej as katara akkdksks

Now am wondering if soc were to have an atla au, who would be who