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mauromance · 2 months ago

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A case for Kastle | A way forward (my fan theory)

In the comics, Karen Page’s brutal death at the hands of Bullseye shattered Matt Murdock. But the MCU has a rare opportunity to subvert that fate: what if Karen doesn’t die… but fakes her death?

Instead of a corpse, she leaves behind a carefully orchestrated lie. A final, irreversible act to protect herself and the people she loves. A way to take control of a life that has been defined, over and over again, by other people’s violence.

Karen has been teetering on the edge of darkness since Daredevil Season 1, when she shot James Wesley. As more of her past is revealed—marked by guilt, grief, and survival—we see a woman constantly forced into life-or-death decisions. That history, and her relentless pursuit of truth and justice also makes her a permanent target for Wilson Fisk. To remain Karen Page is to remain vulnerable. And after Born Again opened with the devastating loss of Foggy Nelson, to kill off Karen too would feel like another lazy gut-punch. Just more pain to fuel Matt’s torment.

But a faked death? That’s not trauma for shock value. That’s character evolution. A conscious choice that preserves Karen’s autonomy, lets her reclaim the narrative and grants her a rare gift in genre storytelling: the chance to walk away from trauma on her own terms.

Karen’s reinvention

After losing Foggy and distancing herself from Matt, Karen relocates to San Francisco, trying to rebuild a life out of the wreckage. But we know, she can’t stay away.

We’ve watched her grow: from a small-town girl with a tragic past, to a murder suspect, to Nelson & Murdock’s moral anchor, to a fearless investigative journalist at the Bulletin. Karen has reinvented herself before. But this would be her boldest reinvention yet. A total reclamation. Killing “Karen Page” allows the woman underneath to finally live.

MCU continuity

The MCU has already built the scaffolding for a story like this. Faked deaths. S.H.I.E.L.D. coverups. Clean slates. If Frank Castle can be given a second life, why not Karen? This opens the door for powerful storytelling while honouring the existing gritty, grounded, and emotionally complex tone of Daredevil and The Punisher.

It also offers other character threads to be woven: Dinah Madani, David Leiberman, and more. A storyline where Karen fakes her death could organically pull some of those characters back in for final, meaningful resolutions without stretching plausibility.

Matt’s path forward

Karen’s "death" would devastate Matt, but it would also liberate him. It carries the emotional weight of her comic death, but with a quieter, more tragic finality. She’s not taken from him. She chooses to go. And in many ways, that choice might be even harder to bear.

But narratively, Daredevil is designed to endure. In the comics, he has loved and lost many times, and within the current state of the MCU has several romantic avenues to explore (Elektra, Kirsten McDuffie, She-Hulk, the list goes on). His romantic arc can evolve without being forced to erase or overwrite what he had with Karen.

And let’s be honest—the MCU rarely lets its heroes keep their great loves. From Star-Lord to Doctor Strange to Peter Parker, romance is often sacrificed on the altar of serialized storytelling. If Daredevil is here to stay (which it appears he is), a respectful, mature close to Matt and Karen’s chapter, one where she gets to decide when it ends, feels like the right choice.

How this ties into the Kastle ship

Frank Castle is nearing the end of his war. His body is breaking down—Born Again hints at his dependence on painkillers. His mission is losing meaning—everyone involved in the murder of his family is already dead. His grief has calcified into something quieter, heavier, more remorseful. “Look what it got me,” he tells Matt. One thread remains unresolved: his feelings for Karen.

Bullseye’s return forces a reckoning. And this time, Frank isn’t choosing between revenge and survival. He’s choosing between vengeance… and love.

In Born Again, Frank only springs into action when Karen calls on him—an unmistakable sign of his feelings for her. After their subtextually loaded moment together, their connection is further confirmed in a quiet conversation between Matt and Karen. Later, Frank is shown listening to radio chatter, monitoring the Punisher copycats. But he’s not tracking them for sport or ego. He’s listening for mentions of her. And when he hears them mention “the blonde”, and “hunting”, he moves. Because this isn't about his legacy. He couldn’t care less about that. What he cares about is protecting Karen.

If Karen were to fake her death, it would become a natural out for Frank as well. He could finally walk away from the Punisher—not in defeat, but in purpose. He becomes her shadow. Her shield. Because let’s be honest: Karen Page, even under a new name in a new place, will still be chasing truth. Still investigating. Still lighting fires. And when things get too close, she’ll need someone who can keep her safe. Frank can give her that. And she’ll give him what he needs, too. Connection. Stability. Family.

It’s the most fitting conclusion to the slowest burn in MCU history. Not explosive. Not dramatic. Just a quiet, earned escape.

Why Kastle works

The Kastle dynamic fits perfectly because it’s not about saving each other. It’s about understanding each other. Reflecting each other. Becoming something whole, together.

Frank facing mortality: Karen represents his last chance at something more than violence.

Karen choosing agency: Faking her death isn’t surrender, it’s a declaration of autonomy.

A poetic reversal: Frank lost his family to violence. Karen refuses to be lost in the same way.

And unlike Matt, whose romantic arc resets and reboots, Frank’s emotional world is singular. Monastic. If Karen is the only person who ever made him believe peace might be possible after the tragedy of his family’s murder, then her survival becomes the final thread anchoring him to life.

A fitting farewell

This twist respects the comics’ emotional beats but refuses to fridge Karen Page. Her “death” marks the end of a chapter, not a life. It allows Matt to grieve, Frank to grow, and Karen to finally, fully reclaim herself.

And most importantly, it understands a hard truth: in the MCU, happy endings are rarely loud. Sometimes, they’re quiet. Fragile. Earned. For Karen and Frank, that ending doesn’t lie in a grave. It’s somewhere else. Somewhere far, far away from Hell’s Kitchen.

A sunrise. A new name. A chance to be born again.

Want to dive deeper?

Coffee in the MCU

Why Karen and Frank are end game

Kastle scene breakdowns: The subtext you missed [WIP]

Published: April 23, 2025

Last edited: April 23, 2025

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harmonysanreads · 2 months ago

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[Crawls in after 100%ing 3.2 in one sitting]

M A N

You wouldn't BELIEVE the lore we got going on. Anaxa and Phainon content got us eating good.

Wow... I hope you took a lot of rest after that because I frankly could not do it in one sitting lol.

Each time they dropped a new piece of lore, it's as if I could hear the bomb sound effect in my brain. For such a lore heavy update though, I have criticisms on the storytelling. Now read the following with this in mind that this ultimately is my personal opinion. But in comparison to the way 3.1's arc was told, 3.2 did not feel as fluid. Hsr still has that unresolved identity crisis over whether it wants to be a visual novel or not and at certain points, it feels.. so lazy.

I thought they mentioned they'd figured out an alternative to the black screen? Only to replace significant moments that would've made wonderful cutscenes with it anyway? Trianne's official death, Oronyx's reveal of the TB's situation, the TB reclaiming their life in the sea of flowers... these would've made wonderful cutscenes. A shame, really.

Now, some points I really liked — the citizens' assembly. This trial was honestly what I was looking forward to the most personally and it did not disappointed. They didn't lie to us about Anaxa being The Great Performer. The way we were shown the stakes of Aglaea's position and the scalding inner conflict of this world.

So far, we'd only heard in voicelines about how Phainon is the only one capable of leading everyone to the miracle because of the way he understands humanity. So this demonstration that he truly is capable of shaking the hearts of people was amazing — even though he did struggle a bit in the beginning. But ultimately they succeeded in conveying his greatest strengths : sincerity and passion. From a technical standpoint, his approach reminded me of something else though. Sometimes, in academic debates, I'll see debaters using a personal experience and weaving emotions into them to sway the hearts of the judges and audience ; either alongside logic, or disregarding logic altogether. I personally hate this approach, but I'm nevertheless intrigued by how it actually works if pulled off right.

And Anaxa... oh Anaxa. Do you know what I found most interesting about his story? The whole time, both he and the direction of the story told us about how the only thing he cares about is his research and the truth. Which may not be wrong at all if you want to view it that way. But at the climax of the story, he's the one who makes such a huge ‘sacrifice’, the so called blasphemer is the one who vouched for the Flame Chase with absolute certainty at the end. Not only that, he also took the Council of Elders alongside him.

Now I'm not looking so deep so that I can find something less reckless to say about him. It simply seems that way if you view it from a certain angle in my opinion. He's not supposed to be a character who adheres by ‘morals’ when it comes to his research. Disregarding his passion for uncovering the nature of the world, so much so that he'll go to any length, would be a disservice to his character. He's reckless, “morally gray”, frankly confusing but his heart is not corrupt. Perhaps... that is why he was able to transcend the peaks of purity.

#hsr spoilers #the reveal of the third path being Destruction had me going 🤨🙂 (i was rooting for it to be either the enigmata or the finality so hard)#even though they revealed the deal with the titans we still don't know how Amphoreus came to be.. which is good #anaxa #phainon #hsr

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sugar-petals · 2 months ago

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I loved the TXT Kibbe post 😻 sometimes I wish I could go all Irene on the stylist and just yell at them for how they dress Soobin mostly, the poor thing is drowning in those humongous baggy clothes, it’s like they swallow him. They don’t know how to dress him and that’s a shame cause it feels like they’re wasting his best features 🫤 they focus too much on Yeonjun and forget about the others, but they’re just as beautiful and important ☹️

yes! it's a frequent pattern overall 🤔 i tried to look at the bigger picture and root issues.

"why's my bias dressed like THAT?" | points on fashion choices in k-pop groups

ON 'VISUAL' OUTSIDERS: like you i noticed how the overlooked/ "odd one(s) out" in a group often have body types that go against what the company vision or marketing is about, if that makes sense. it's unfair and strange how some idols are carelessly cast for groups where they are put on the backburner (unless they don't want the limelight as much, that's a legit concern). but from the fan perspective... you know how it is. we don't want someone needlessly left out. it sometimes takes a new concept or event/occasion (= other dresscode) for the visual outsider to shine. sometimes too briefly and then its back to the usual hierarchy or underwhelming outfits, while others are lucky, take the laurels. the other side gets dressed '80 years old' style, even on stage, which basically says "we underpromote you" in fashion terms. that's how soft dramatic idols (jin, soobin...) get the casual FN style or grandparent treatment.

HOW TO FIX THAT? it doesn't have to be that way. to me, groups should be dressed "all out", but customized, coordinated, with more interesting colors; why not try something different: sky's the limit in k-pop where especially men have extreme fashion freedoms. to me, ATEEZ frequently wins best collectively dressed, their only achilles heel is the hairstylist imo 😅 but every outfit is a highlight, 80% of the time i see them. to the point where there are storytelling and palettes in their fashion! ateez is hard to forget because no outfit is disrespectful to the wearer. it's demanding, it's "yes i am someone"/"we are someone".

FOCUS ON FACE > BODY: it's surprising how a country where color analysis is so widespread, stylists bring more than their a game, and makeup / surgery are crazy advanced, body type-fitting styles are so neglected. it puzzles me. though i think thanks to early kpop music videos — SM is the culprit here — and SNS, face focus + shock value outfits became more important.

HEIGHT WARS: many idols are petite and sadly there is stigma to be of a certain proportion, heights are tweaked... relying on facial appeal takes at least that pressure off. it got more intense over time: popularizing an exo vocal line (they're all yin-leaning) would not be possible today. they'd all have to be yang face types, many surgeries, wear huge insoles, and not get famous on merit but hype. unsurprisingly, stylists always boringly dressed them as pure classics to evoke sophistication, not as the romantics & gamines they are. the upside was, people paid attention to the voices > outfits. but it's still lazy and ill-fitted styling, and underwhelms on stage.

TYPES WITH TWO ESSENCES: yes, unfairly, some kibbe types are more flexible in fashion than others. Classics like yeonjun or FGs like taehyun embody both yin and yang influences. they can do short, medium and some longer silhouettes. while Dramatics, being so tall, are 90% bound to only longer lines and need custom clothes to fit their endless limbs. soobin is one among many there. fans love duality, so gamine and classic and subtypes win this one since they are two kibbe types in one.

OVERSIZED TREND: since fast fashion rules, stylists merely choose a larger size if something doesn't work and boom... tall guy is ironically lost under all the fabrics. that's how oversize was born: awfully, sloppily, quickly designed and tailored clothes with no substantial fabric or body to them. i hate almost all of it. companies save even more if they make it cropped and sell it for the same price. the only kibbe type that can wear this well is pure natural. for SN, it has no proper waist accommodation, and FN needs angles + elongated vertical tailoring. all the other types are too angular or petite to wear this meaningfully or fittingly. and gamines are too compactly built to go oversize, anyway.

CULTURE VULTURE: add kpop's constant cultural appropriation (YG takes much of the blame here), taking the N/FN silhouette of the black community in the 90s, and gang aesthetics, and you have a perfectly awkward outfit that would rather belong elsewhere. recently it also shifted to other cultures, but the overally undercurrent & racism/grifting is clear. it further prevents good fashion that respects the viewer and the wearer.

FRAME DOMINANCE: i do get the stylist's perspective. imagine dressing NCT in their flamboyant gamine aesthetic and here comes yang type johnny with a huge ass frame. or chanyeol. or mingyu. the korean market sadly only favors super small sizes. foreigners, plus size, tall folks, people who just aren't crazy skinny, and people dieting to get there, etc, no one benefits.

BIG THREE: but even then... groups wear international designers now. high fashion is often yang-friendly. sure, the big 3 types FN/SD/D always deviate. namjoon as an FN also had to be styled in an alternative, coat-heavy type of way. but the styling team understood that! accomodating everyone case by case > forcing one cookie cutter image on people who can't wear it. some stylists have a feel for that.

FASHION REFORM: on top of lowering prices, eliminating sweat shops, recycling, making less but better materials, bringing back colors, pragmatising cuts, and lowering body image and buying pressure in ads, we need most customizable and rewearable liveable fashion to begin with, even for performers who need 'big event' clothes that people gotta see in the last row. more vintage archive dressings, anyway! romantics and classics will wildly benefit from that, though it all depends on the garment. dua lipa contributed a lot to archive pulls > wasteful fashion.

QUESTION OF CHARACTER: yes, personality and humor shapes how popular idols get, regardless of their fashion. but even an introvert member will be a big deal when their image ID aligns with 1) the cultural standard and 2) the art direction. yoongi is a silent type but k-pop's favorite kibbe types are gamines = a quiet and not so "kpop bubblegum" success story. and even he had to struggle so... let's go easy, there's so much pressure.

BRANDING: "who debuts where and how" is everything: if you put an SD body type male idol who was previously unnoticed into ateez, they'd shatter the world. why? ateez has a lavish, harsh, drama-heavy theme. it gets FN and D sometimes but you get the gist, they do the ornate, deep color, vertical SD line. so very yang, just like monsta X, who dress pure D, FG, and FN, in a winter palette. i would love to see j-hope in a monsta X collab, for instance. but hybe is very soft subtype-friendly in its more mellow public image and spring palette. SN, SG, they will shine.

CONTRADICTING HEIGHT: i mean TXT is such a tall group. it's hilarious how their theme is the opposite, romantic small-scale yin. ruffles, softness, airy, princely, fantasy, flowing fabric, blush, airbrush-like blended makeup. beautiful really. i love it. but ironically, none of the members are pure yin, they're all way above the R height limits and tower in romantic styling 😂

OPPOSITE DAY: as another example, stray kids funnily enough does the opposite: they are all petite yin types except hyunjin, and do sporty yang concepts. bts has all height ranges (vertical - moderate - petite), so it's less hit or miss as a whole. any larger group basically. stylist motto: "whatever we try, it'll work for at least one guy, so our approach is we can do anything to appeal to anyone". look how easily a big three type (hyunjin) stands out when the surrounding yin types are dressed as yang DC.

POWER IN NUMBERS: super m, gg, suju, shinee, seventeen and nct were/are so successful because of that. all height ranges and kibbe types are covered = more chance of a concept matching them. though, there will be people losing out again with that approach. that's why kibbe's typecasting "to each their own wardrobe" is better, and still can be adapted to overall concepts... sometimes. the "it works for one guy at best" idea is already a pretty meh fashion philosophy. i wish fashion would adapt to bodies and not vice versa. kibbe helps with the former and avoids having to tweak pictures to create harmony. still, groups with height differences are cast, even if its harder to dress them cohesively, because it gets a reaction. (though, humans are just naturally varied like that anyway, which IS kibbe's point)

EDITING: case in point, the company has to edit TXT's promo shoots to the gods. you need less editing if you dress your type. ever noticed how TXT comeback pics are always plastered in fuzzy (=yin) filters and effects? it needs effort to create a Romantic type atmosphere on guys who don't have as much yin as say, taemin, seungkwan, jimin. i wish they'd use the fact that soobin has a soft subtype even more there. i love yin concepts.

MASS PRODUCTION: soobin and e.g. jin — similar situation — being Soft Dramatics contrasts with men's fashion prioritizing classic and natural types. because those 2 categories are easiest and fastest to manufacture and have medium proportions, so it'll suit more people, technically. SD is narrowly and asymmetrically built, so they drown in baggy N clothes and symmetrical, too short C is unflattering.

FLEETING IDEALS: they are already outside the kibbe width-focussed aesthetic expected from guys just by existing. especially as SD is the current benchmark for women, bella hadid rising to fame marked a departure from the universal SN body ideal. you really have to be lucky to be born at the right time. e.g. an FN born in the 80s hit the jackpot growing up in the 90s. if you're an R type, the trend will favor you in the upcoming years. look at the pop stars of today, all yin.

WINNER TAKES IT ALL: you can see how treating one ideal type as a benchmark will leave the other 12 behind. which stimulates consumption, because people desperately buy to find good clothes, are disappointed again, repeat. and it plays into a political and historic idea of monopoly, leadership, remnants of monarchy, influence of feudalism, all that. it's all ingrained to erroneously make us focus on one mighty person over everyone else. i like rotating centers, not "one king/queen, the rest serve", and nugu + fringe + "side" groups should get attention. they can be well-dressed like wavy without a bigbang budget.

GENDER DIVIDE: looking & dressing one's part + one's type really does make a difference in how male idols resonate with female fans: who, shocker, are visual creatures, our actions tell. companies still more or less put the full force actual-effort dressing to female groups: even if a fandom is mixed or female-leaning, all while they slack with male groups — until they learn that showy outfits generate huge attention. the low maintenance beatles branding would flop today. that's why it's a male-leaning fandom nowadays. SD needs actual-effort dressing unlike Ns and Cs (kind of), which means someone would have to actually think through jin's or soobin's outfit. maybe it's lazy, maybe inappropriate, or boring, or whatever. we all know they can do better/go all out:

AUDIENCE STUDY: it's tested, who has universal appeal (think taehyung), who triggers a parasocial bond, fantasy, fascination, makes people linger, spend time and money, and which surgeries do what. it's quite detailed, millimeter work. idols who fit the strict korean beauty ideal the most are on that pedestal, think taeyong, alongside those who gain fan favor through whatever reason anyway. we, the fans, intensify or create that effect. we shape the body types that show up in the industry by what we pay attention to — even though content can be pushed on us, too, and opinions can be pre-formed, molded, openly or not.

APPEARANCES: abstract esoteric kibbe metamorphosis poetry: some people & actually types look less "accessible" than others, too. DC, D, SD, SC, they can feel elusive. something familiar, average, less particular, more cute, unoffensive, that sticks: C, SG, SN. other types immediately cause a reaction, like D, FG, TR, FN. kibbe himself wrote how some IDs are just divisive in some cultural climates, and radiate danger, authority, risk, seduction, while others fly under the radar, are underestimated, or look just casual and normal. it's all such a balancing act. movies kind of formed those visual templates. Gamine, good and cute, Dramatic, bad and harsh, Natural fighter and manly, and so on. what makes a person come across a certain way is a huge multi-layered topic. kibbe was right to base his typology on hollywood typecasting.

COUNTRY: a pure N female group in k-pop would be difficult. a gamine-heavy male group debuted in the UK would be a disaster with their fashion, unless they'd go punk or retro, and even then. there's a reason why harry styles is some Natural type, the fashion industry at the time catered to Ns a lot. just a loose white shirt and harry looks good. because he's blunt > angular. not because he looks so good he can wear anything, but because naturals need simplicity, and british fashion favored that back then. it all comes down to where it takes place.

REALISM: would it be possible to debut a 13-member group with all body types present, dress them according to their lines, and still have a cohesive concept? it'd be very difficult. so, i don't get my hopes up realistically. still, i feel like there's way to go. positive reinforcement but also criticism from fans can further improve how idols are dressed, don't underestimate your power as the fan. even if SD is a type that needs to be heavily overdressed, but it's possible!

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truearichu · 15 days ago

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MOONLIGHT- JJK | 1 - SPARK

"Would their skin be kissed with stardust because of your touch?"

summary | bound by the red string of fate, jeongguk's blood is now your own. or once upon the urine smelling streets of Brooklyn, you (unwillingly) make a wish on a shooting star.

pairing/au | war agent!jk x f. reader & time travel au

warnings | other than foul language- none here! no jk in this chap tho! this is like a prologue, almost! but pay attention, ton ton ton!!

wc | 1324

playlist | ♩ strawberries & cigarettes - Troye Sivan & ♩ you and me - JENNIE

!! cross posted on wattpad !! m, dni

⋆ ⁺₊ SPARK: the beginning ⋆ ⁺₊

a small fiery particle thrown off from a fire

"If you ask me, which no one ever thinks of doing- what's up with that?"

Felix tilts his head as he continues to listen to you. What the fuck did I just get myself into ? he thinks. All he'd done was ask if you knew the directions to Hendrickson Street. Wanted to try new desserts in a new cafe that recently opened up, maybe flirt with a girl or two while he's at it.

Instead, he got distracted by a pretty lady. She slipped while painting the walls of her antique booth that didn't need to be painted. Being the gentleman that he was, he figured he should lend a hand. Would add to his charm, he figured. By the time she was back up on her feet thanks to him, he had lost his friends.

He hadn't meant to upset you (he's a polite kid, mind you), let alone get an earful on how you have no clue where you are. Figuratively and literally, he supposes.

You think you're doing him a favor by giving him guidance in the form of what he should not do. He thinks this is an example of why exactly no good deed goes unpunished.

"Actually, I know the answer, it's 'cause they think I'm stupid. Which, let me get this straight, I'm not fuckin' stupid , I'm lazy. There's a goddamn difference! 'Parently, Daddy thinks this 'journey' will straighten me out. Straighten me out!"

If there's one thing you should know about Felix, it's that he likes making assumptions. Assumes and assumes. Gets himself in trouble all the time. Creates his own problems. Likes solving them too. Makes him feel like a detective with his own little case.

From your fifteen minute vent, he'd made a few assumptions. Assumes this makes you feel important--offering your opinion, you probably have no right to give. Figures you probably fucked up big time–a trust fund kid gone rogue–but, instead of getting away with it, you're paying the price. Likes that you're also struggling. That it's not just him who is failing to keep his head above the water, because he never learned how to swim.

Dislikes how your trash is his treasure. (Likes, that, regardless, you're both stuck in it). New York's been his escape, his new identity, his new problem that he's trying to solve. Yet that same place is a curse for you. He feels a little bad, a little upset at the fact that your mistake haunts you in the form of nooks and crannies all over Brooklyn.

Feels a little embarrassed too. He has to be the one to listen to your vent instead of your friends. Maybe you don't have real friends either. In that way, he supposes, you two are similar. Would make a good title : Runway Son of a Thief and a Banished Princess .

"Same Daddy who's never given me a reason to work now getting upset that, that, what, I don't work?! 'You bring shame to our family name'. I bring shame to our family name ?!"

Fully acting out the night this all went down, exhaustion creeps into your voice. You could be an actor, Felix thinks, could also be a director. Would suit you, having your ideas come to life. Assumes that you're good at storytelling. Could probably make any story interesting regardless of the actual content. To be frank, he is now a little interested. Tries not to look it, but he's wondering why exactly you're here.

You've been talking and talking, but no real words are coming out. Just blabbering for the sake of blabbering. Making him feel as if he knows everything about you, even though you've really only told him you're a trust fund baby.

'S why he's beginning to like you. You force him to make assumptions so can feel as if he understands a world that he otherwise would not get a chance to understand. Maybe you're trying to get everything out because when's the next time anyone's going to care?

"Baekho could probably burn this house down and everything in it, and Daddy would still look at him as if he's oh so smart and just so kind and just so perfect! Not a disgrace, I'm sure!"

Baekho ? Name sounds familiar. Rich kids' names always sound familiar. Wonders what your name is. From the looks of you, he could tell you don't belong. Not here. Maybe not anywhere. But especially not in the clustered alleyway with graffiti as its monument. Not with smells of urine and cigarette butts scattered across the plaza where you both are seated now.

Plaza's always crowded.

Funny.

How, of all the people he could've asked regarding the whereabouts of Cafe Mami , he chose you. Feels kind of nice to be chosen despite knowing there's no significance to it.

You don't really dress rich, another reason why Felix figures you are. Why prove something that doesn't need proving? You look secure. Probably always have been: financially, socially, mentally. Probably always had your place. Probably always felt crucial. Like everything revolved around you: people, opportunities, the sun.

S' the same reason you hate the bustling streets of New York. Hate the way everybody talks the walk and walks the walk like they own this place. Not used to being a footnote, and having no one to express why exactly you loathe this place, all your frustrations have been building. Droplets of wrath have been filling your pot.

They have been for a while now. It was just a matter of time before they overflowed.

"Oh, if I'm just so horrible, then why don't you just go ahead and disown me?! I'm trying my best, but that's not enough! Never enough!"

With a loud pant, you droop back to the seat. Finished ranting, the post-vent realization comes to you. Oversharing, you're used to. Secrets had always slipped from your mouth after a drink or two. The reason for that was that money could hush. Who would dare to let your sacred words be spread unless you didn't want them to?

There's an intensity to how Felix looks at you, as if you're losing it, as if he can read you through the facade you've perfected over the years. Anything about losing agitates you. You've already lost your college degree, money, family, yourself, your way. Is there more? Your mind is the only thing you have left. Your experiences. Your moments that will stick like sweat on a summer day. Will that soon be gone too?

Though looking vulnerable is a nice change. So scared of making mistakes like the one you just made, it's freeing to know the result of your actions. Maybe next time you make a mistake, you'll be sent to Korea. Who cares? Korea's pretty.

Probably have family there anyway. Family who zoned out while "listening" to the words of your oh so wonderful father, who apparently believes banishing their child is the best form of punishment. Or, if they did listen, still probably wouldn't care enough to follow through. Thinking of family, or lack thereof, makes your wrath rise all over again.

Sighing, you realize you hadn't really taken a moment to look at the boy. He looks just like you now: a commoner, a name that blends in, associated with the crowd. Yet at the same time, he stands out. An exquisite light. Maybe, just like how you once were. Pretty platinum blonde hair, emerald eyes, mole right under his lips. But he has Asian features: small face, monolid eyes, honey kissed skin. A mix, maybe?

"Sorry?" Felix mutters, feeling heat creep up to the back of his neck from your examination of his face. His voice is higher than you expected. Could be a singer, K-Pop idol, maybe, you assume. Felix isn't the only one who likes making assumptions.

"Uh, walk straight, take a left. No, right. Just wherever you see the streetlight with stickers on top. Cafe Mami will be right around the corner."

⋆⁺₊⋆ ⋆⁺₊⋆

ari's note ||

(hello to my tumblr readers! the a/n here will be the same as from wttp!)

how do you guys like ML so far? i actually rlly like Felix!! not inspired of Felix from skz but rather Adrian (green eyes and blonde hair:)))) ) he wasn't supposed to be THIS important but i got myself a lil invested

#jungkook ff #jungkook x reader #jungkook #jungkook x you #jungkook angst #bts fanfic #moonlight by truearichu

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kevin-the-bruyne · 3 months ago

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AkkAye, AlanGaipa, SandRay, or KantBison?

incredible ask anon - this is at once a question with an extremely dense context to parse through (the vast majority of FKs cinematic universe) and yet what a delightfully short and to the point question.

to no one's surprise I should think:

AlanGaipa

I think the simplest way to explain is that I relate to and, more importantly, like both these characters as individuals and the way that they both love is very precious to me. The only other character in that whole list that I both like and relate to like them is Ray 😂

I love that on the surface, these two seem to follow the principles of opposites attract but actually at their core they are very very similar to each other. I think the contingent of people against AG potentially becoming a thing (for people who did not experience this period of the FK and EM fandoms live: I really need to emphasize this was one of the worst times in fandom for me LOL) that had a good reason was afraid that it's going to be a lazy tying together of jilted exes for the monies but god Aof Noppharnach is not that lazy of a storyteller and I knew exactly from the pilot trailer why these two were ultimately put together.

The reason they escaped the lazy tying together of the jilted exes fate is because first is a horrible simp for khaotung they both struggled to let go of their past loves. In fact that is the very first point at which the fates of these characters start colliding because Gaipa isn't even a jilted ex. They love steadfastly, almost whimsical in the way they've held on to a love so clearly past when they should have let go.

They keep hurting themselves because their desire for connection doesn't die and yet they both have such doggedly focused personalities that they're unable to shift the person they'd once upon a time decided, perhaps even arbitrarily, was the right one for them. But once they've decided to move on?

They have.

Oh man this is the part this is the whole crux of what whispered secrets was about:

Alan doesn’t notice that Kaipa has stopped talking until his voice cuts through the silence once more. Alan is caught by the suddenness of the quiet, ‘do you love him?’ and the full intensity of Kaipa’s gaze directed straight at him. He doesn’t want to answer, desperately looks for the space to draw, once more, the lines that used to exist between them. But the searching look in Kaipa’s eyes, like he’s desperate to be found, cuts at a place inside that Alan long thought dead. It comes unbidden, ‘I have never thought of my feelings for him as anything but love.’ Alan watches as Kaipa blinks rapidly like he’s confused and then it's Alan’s turn to be confused when Kaipa bursts into laughter. Kaipa presses his thumb to Alan’s cheek, rubs a line right at the bottom edge of his glasses, ‘you would do that,’ Kaipa says exasperated, ‘just decide to love a person.’

Alan and Gaipa were two characters at worst conveniently and at best cosmically positioned in the story to relate to each other and find in each other a cheaper sort of comfort of lost love.

But no, they choose. They are characters that choose their fates. They choose to move on and then they choose each other

By the time that Alan flirts with Gaipa at his office, Alan has already refused Wen's care after his accident and Gaipa has already refused to join in on Uncle Jim's party. They meet each other at a weirdly tense time of both their lives and are intrigued by each other enough to enter each other's orbit.

Alan suffers Wen's judgement to bring Gaipa those documents at Wen's new boyfriend's restaurant. He likes him so much already. Alan and Gaipa aren't seeking comfort for their wounds in each other, they're both seizing a good thing that serendipitously came into their lives with no thought of all the ways that it could go wrong, has gone wrong for them, in fact.

For a bitter and jilted adult like me, who's had their heart broken and trampled more than once, this is the true story of a courageous love.

#nani answers #moonlight chicken #alangaipa #firstkhao #is it surprising that even fk can't let go of alan and gaipa?

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abbysimsfun · 25 days ago

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#showusyourcasstyle

I was tagged by the lovely and amazing storyteller @simscici, thank you! I'm not the greatest when it comes to CAS. I'm getting better, though! I've started using more skin details and caring what my main sims wear, at least, but generally I let the randomize button do it's work and carry on!

Still, that doesn't mean I'm not somewhat conscious of it all!

Whose sim closet would you raid? townie, mutual, or your own

I'm not raiding any closets because I'm happy in sweatshirts and jeans, but I love the style of so many sims! I enjoyed updating some of Lilith's outfits and dressing her for her wedding to Felix in my own save, and I feel like a lot of her style is comfortable enough for me, too.

But I also love Juniper Vilela's style, even though I'm still stuck in my skinny jean era and the trends have moved on! I love stylish sims and the list is way too long to mention, but I'd probably never dress like them, myself! I just appreciate the pixels and what is, often, incredible cc, too!

What references shaped your CAS style?

I think about the sim's personality and also what I think looks good, but not always. For example, grandmother of over half a dozen, Gen 1 founder Daisy Nesbitt, is still wearing the same knit crop top and capris for her hot weather outfit that she wore as a young adult. I don't usually think about these things until after the fact, but the Sims In Bloom challenge also has colours for each generation, which is helpful for me when I'm in CAS.

I get lazy because the choice seems honestly endless and I'm like 'just about anything is fine' most of the time, but now I'm narrowing down choices by colour and it gives me so much more time to browse and choose.

I don't go overboard with this and keep the colours subtle (Heather is green and yellow but I'll put her in other colours, too, and the outfits she has play with different shades). Lavender's colours are light purple and dark purple, but with the guys in the house I'm not thinking about colours as much and just looking for styles I like them in. And sometimes I'm choosing clothes on a whim or leaving them in what they randomize. As long as they're not wearing accessories that don't belong, I can work with it!

Favorite swatch? Least favorite swatch?

I have no idea. There are thousands in my game right now, but I'm glad I have that much variety to sometimes have the energy to sift through! OH WAIT the EA hairs that give enormous foreheads, least favourite hands down.

What’s something you always do when styling sims?

Check their side profile to make sure it doesn't need tweaking. One thing I always do when styling sims is check the full body outfits for something suitable first because it takes less time than finding a top/bottom combo that I like.

CAS item you’ll defend with your life?

My Fleur skinblend default override by lunamoth (an overlay version is also available). I love how it looks on every sim, and I can still use overlays over it if needed.

Dream CC collection?

Never thought about it. There's so much out there I haven't even discovered or thought to want yet that anything I could come up with here is probably already out there!

Do your sims dress for the plot or the screenshot?

Always plot, and not many outfits per sim, either. I like to keep them appearing consistent from post to post and none of my sims are particularly fashion forward as a matter of plot (except Bridgette Landgraab, who does have more outfits than the average but isn't seen often!)

Tagging anyone who'd like to do this one. I enjoyed answering them even though I'm the CAS-laziest!

#tag game #showusyourcasstyle

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majeoeje · 1 year ago

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Start over

Megumi x reader (male implied reader)

I wished we were two other people more times than everytime you had forgotten about me

"You have really pretty lashes"

Megumi has heard you uttered these words countless of times before, at first he didn't harbor a lot of opinion on this, but now it serves as a painful reminder that he had to start over with you once again. But even now he can't comprehend how to respond other than a simple thank you

"You're Fushiguro right?"

"That's correct"

here we go again, he thought

"It's nice to meet you, i hope we can get along" you gave a lazy smile before entering your shared dorm room, all beat up from your previous fight as if it was just another day.. well you pretend that it was everytime because what else can you do? You once had told him

"Yeah...it's nice to meet you too" he told you. As if he was in a same play for who knows how many times

Megumi had lost count on how many times you had introduced yourself to him, he knew everything about you. Yet you're here asking about his name once again. Your cursed technique is the one to blame for this strange dynamic

That being said, your curse technique transfers memories into curse energy and a technique which grant their wielder the power to imbue a weapon of their choice with curse energy and a guarantee that it would cut anything as if it wasn't there

A cheap cost to pay for power, some would say. But he always watches the fear in your eyes everytime it has to come down to it, afraid you might use it too much to the point you'll forget how to breath.

Afraid...yes you were always afraid. Afraid that your life would succumb to nothing but blank pages of nothing. To the point you'd write every last detail of your day until late at night so that at least your days could amount to something. Even if it were as simple as you went outside and train like how you usually do.

"I'm kind of hungry, you got anything to eat?" You said perking up your head from the non-fiction book you curiously skimmed up from Megumi's bookshelve trying to gather information from the stranger in front of you

"Gojo-sensei dropped some apples earlier, suit yourself" he said pointing to a basket from the corner of his desk remembering how the unusual white haired man hasn't change over the years

"Well don't mind me" you say, picking one up before looking for a something on your side of the room

You didn't have to go through a lot before Megumi tapped you on the shoulder making you face him

"Looking for this?" He pointed to a small knife on his hand

"Oh thanks a lo-"

you didn't even finished your sentence before he took the apple from your hand

"Your hand's fractured, Miss shoko said you shouldn't try to move it a lot in the mean time"

He said, pulling a nearby chair before he started to peel the apple for you. Just how you liked it.. a prefrence that has never changed no matter how many times you've erased your memories

"Aye you did it in one peel, impressive" you commented "How'd you know that i like my apples peeled?"

"You made me do it for you for months when you broke 7 bones on your body" he said handing you the peeled fresh fruit

"Eh, really? Tell me about it" you rested your hand on your desk as you sat comfortably on your chair as if you were getting ready to catch up to an old friend after not meeting them for years. And despite how bad he think his storytelling abilities was, Megumi couldn't disappoint that glimmer in your eyes, never.

"That day you saved me from a first grade curse" he started, as you bit into your freshly peeled apple

"you used up your curse technique to the point you forgot how to wield your weapon"

Megumi was not one to run his mouth, he preferred to listen most of the times. But in times like this, he feels the need to encapture every detail about that period of time as much as possible. And in turn, you'd listen to his voice, tuning in his gentle tone. Perhaps you got distracted at some point but that is surely not your fault

"We must've been pretty close" you grinned, hearing him finished his story

"We were"

You were practically attached to the hip from middle school, so it'd be a lie to say you weren't. But on the darkest pit of his heart he still wished you two was so much more even after knowing you like the back of his hand. How you'd swing your weapon in such way as if you were a dancer, how you'd give a lame excuse on how you peeled too much orange or apples just to get him to eat , how you purposely talk to him to keep him out just to watch a horror movie program in the middle of the night, how you'd play your music loud enough to cause hearing problems when he's not at the dorm, how he knew that you were just assigned a roomate to exploit your Curse technique, how disconnected you truly are from the world, how you'd laugh, how you'd cry, how your skin would make him shiver everytime it touches his

There was never enough of you for him really. Yet he'd wished for the impossible everytime

"So..what's your curse technique?" You asked and he would always answer

Just what was one more start?

#megumi fushiguro #megumi x reader #megumi x male reader #megumi x you #fushiguro megumi #jjk #jujutsu kaisen

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alexanderwales · 7 months ago

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I finished the rest of Save the Cat almost in a single sitting, not because it was particularly riveting, but because I had time to kill, so this pseudo-liveblog is at an end.

Chapter 6 and 7 are basically the same, collections of small tricks and tips. Neither of them are terribly helpful, and all the tricks have terrible shorthand names like "Pope in a Pool". There's very little in the way of any thematic cohesion to these bits of advice, and no grand theory of the Laws of Storytelling emerges, in spite of the laws being invoked a number of times.

The advice itself is, I think, generally good:

give the reader something to root for early on to kickstart investment

spice up exposition with something entertaining

only one kind of magic per plot

don't tell a story that requires too much setup

don't tell a story with too many moving parts

include a ticking clock

have character arcs

keep the scope limited to the characters we care about

make the hero proactive

show, don't tell

make the bad guy very bad

the plot should go faster the further in it goes

use the whole spectrum of emotion

make sure each character has a distinct voice

make sure desires are "primal"

give characters something that makes them stand out

I don't endorse this whole list, and I especially don't endorse the way that Blake Snyder talks about them or the examples that he gives. And if I endorsed the list, then I would include a lot of caveats, and some general principles of storytelling that should be followed, rather than these specific pieces of advice, which are all conditional. Like ... okay, here's an example:

Exposition is a broccoli that the audience doesn't want to eat. There are very different ways of dealing with this, but we can start with "minimize exposition" as the first "law" of storytelling, and from there, we have different strategies:

Spruce up the exposition, making it into a mini-story, delivered in an entertaining way, so that people aren't bored.

Run something alongside the exposition so that people aren't bored, like sight gags in a comedy or an action scene in a thriller.

Have the exposition delivered through implication and clues, rather than stated outright, like having a character limp rather than explaining to the audience that they were wounded in the war. This is show, don't tell, and it's harder than it seems.

But while Snyder lays out some of this advice, it's all in different sections even though it's dealing with the same fundamental problem, and I'm not sure that he really understands that. If he does understand it, then he's not making that clear for the reader.

My thesis is that to understand storytelling, you want to understand root issues and classes of solutions. I have not written a book on writing, nor do I think there's a market for that, nor do I think I'm qualified, but it's the kind of thing that I would strive to deliver. There are a lot of writing problems that are parallel to each other, and there are a lot of structural elements that are mirrors of each other, so why not try to put it all together that way?

But Snyder makes basically no attempt to put even very related problems together, it's just little bits of advice to gnaw at the most common problems, and ... maybe that's fine, but it felt lazy to me.

Chapter 8 was the final chapter, and was mostly about trying to sell screenplays. This was irrelevant to me, but kind of interesting, and also made me feel like Blake Snyder is a better marketer and salesman than a screenwriter, and also maybe just got lucky to be working at a time when scripts were getting huge bidding wars for no good reason. The efficient market hypothesis gets clowned on again, I guess.

I'll probably write up some overall thoughts, a short review: I think I am unsuited to liveblogging because I go long. But the even shorter version is that I think I picked up a few things that were interesting to think about, and while Blake Snyder is a hack, he's an entertaining writer.

#save the cat

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soullessjack · 5 months ago

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talk about that stupid lil hedgehog. go hog wild (punintended)

oh my god i keep Trying to answer this and it keeps getting deleted somehow ok. deep breaths. and spoilers for the 3rd movie also.

SO.

sonic 3 is, naturally, a very loose adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2. and just like the other two movies there were details from the games that were either changed or taken out to better suit the movies, bc as much as they are sonic movies, they aren’t just beat-for-beat remakes. they’re definitely aiming to be their own thing while also respecting and keeping close with the source material they pulled from (and personally, I didn’t grow up with the games; I’m a watcher over a player; I’ve always had more interest in the game’a story than actually playing it—so just from a creative standpoint, I immediately respect any adaptation that does the same).

the 3rd movie has a lot of major detail changes for the sake of running with their own plot and trying to keep its PG rating, and it works fantastically. I’ve watched it twice already and there is no doubt in my mind I’ll watch it again bc it’s genuinely So Fucking Good. but one of the most important detail changes for me is how they handled Maria’s character. in the original SA2 game, and I don’t mean this as an insult or anything, Maria is frankly a non-character. she falls into the archetype of a character who exists just to die for the plot and doesn’t have much personality as a result. it’s not inherently a bad thing; it’s just a narrative tool. but the issue comes from how it’s done, because when it’s done right, it’s done right. but when it’s done wrong, it becomes lazy fridging (we as supernatural victims know this well).

I don’t think game-Maria was necessarily fridged; it’s her clear purpose in the story and pretty much a canon event that she and Gerald will always die (thanks gens), but it also makes her a little less interesting to engage with as her own character bc she isn’t really her own character. she’s like, the idea of shadow’s goodness. she’s this perfect paragon of love and kindness and forgiveness that, at 9-12 years old, somehow has a fully formed opinion on the nature of humanity as inherently good and worth being saved [by shadow]. it’s not bad storytelling, but it’s just a tad heavy handed.

movie-Maria, on the other hand, is an actual person. she still dies in the end, of course (canon event), but through shadow’s memories of her we’re able to see how she connected with him and what made that connection so important to him that it ruined him severely to lose. movie-Maria is just a kid. she’s curious, a little mischievous and plainly innocent. she doesn’t really know what shadow is or what his purpose on the Ark is, and she doesn’t really care. she just knows that she likes him and cares about him and that’s good enough for any kid. it’s all, “let’s watch movies together,” “let’s use your air shoes to roller-skate really fast around the colony,” “let’s dance to this record,”etc etc.

the actual scene is such an adorable little montage but it also shows how simplistically Maria connected with shadow and made him feel like more of a person. instead of directly asking shadow to be a good person and save the world, she encourages him to be whoever he wants to be. instead of sending him off and making a final promise with him, she just dies. suddenly and without any last words. which means shadow has no promise to remember like he did in the game. he doesn’t come to his senses because he finally remembered Maria actually wanted him to do good.

and that’s my segue into the second major difference of the movie! hooray for segues!

so, one of shadow’s final memories with Maria is sitting with her under the Ark’s dome and looking up at all the stars in space. just like the montage it is an adorable, even beautiful scene of them together all by itself and I had to pause the movie during my second watch to sob into my hands but the one thing I’m picking on today is when shadow tells her, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” again, very simple, but still very hard hitting because we’re seeing in real time what he’s doing without her. we’re seeing how much her loss has affected him because we finally saw exactly what it was like, what it meant for him to have her in the first place.

and, between the game and the movie, shadow’s end goal is still revenge for Maria. her…presence…(?) her memory, at least, is still with him at every step of his plan and fueling him to go even further. in a way, it’s almost like Maria becomes the face of her own loss, because each time he remembers something about her, it’s only ever painful and only ever makes him more determined to enact revenge. and then when he beats the shit out of Tom (sonic’s dad who’s also kinda boring) (sorry), and the flash between sonic kneeling over him to shadow kneeling over Maria, it starts a sort of…tipping point for shadow to doubt if this is what he really wants or has to do.

and the thing is, it’s not about right and wrong with shadow. he knows what he’s doing is wrong (i personally must disagree with revenge on the military for murdering a child being framed as wrong but this is a paramount produced kids movie so that’s how it goes). he knows it’s just pure, anger driven revenge for the sake of revenge and he doesn’t care. in his own words, it’s who he is internally, bc it’s all he’s had or known for the last 50 years. and then, when he and gerald are on the eclipse cannon together, shadow asks him, “is this really what Maria would’ve wanted?” again, it’s not about right or wrong for shadow (or even Gerald honestly). it’s just about Maria and avenging her and dying in the process bc nothing is worth living or saving anymore, including themselves. that is, until Gerald responds, “the question isn’t ‘is it what Maria would’ve wanted,’ the question is ‘what do they deserve?’ Remember what she meant to us; remember what they took from us.”

I genuinely think that was Shadow’s wakeup call (and I love how it was changed from Maria simply wanting Shadow to be good all along, to Shadow coming to that realization for himself). pretty soon after that exchange, the fight between him and sonic starts and the entire time it’s just shadow instigating and antagonizing sonic to do his worst and End It. Straight up kill him, bc he’s too far gone now and there isn’t even enough time left to begin processing any doubt or regret for it all, and the plan was always a revenge-suicide-genocide anyways (you know, for kids!)

let’s go back a few paragraphs to when I said that Maria had almost become the face of her own loss, her own absence, because shadow’s memory of her only fueled his pain and determination to destroy everything. just like her game iteration, she’s an idea now. she’s an embodiment of the past, for better or for worse, for both shadow and Gerald. and remember, in both the game and the movie, it’s Gerald’s need for revenge that sparks shadow’s. Gerald uses shadow’s grief and anger to encourage it and it does eventually become shadow’s own goal too, but Gerald always wanted it first. shadow was just a means to an end that he thought he wanted.

it’s Gerald who tells shadow to remember what Maria meant and remember how it was taken, while shadow focuses on her and how she would’ve felt. and I really think it’s that moment afterwards that pulled shadow out of it, just enough to try and instigate his own death since the cannon can’t be stopped and, again, even if he did regret his actions, it won’t matter after everything is done. he thinks he’s just as far gone as Gerald is with this need for revenge and anger and hatred. he thinks This is who he is, until sonic gives him the classic “it doesn’t have to be who you are. love is stronger than pain, and even if she’s gone the love you had for her is still there, so keep going on that instead of the pain.”

(paraphrasing like crazy but it is genuinely a very well written scene like all the others.. IT’S A CINEMATIC MASTERPIECE AND I AM DEAD SERIOUS ABOUT THAT).

I’m not trying to say the original game’s story is any lesser or not impactful, and if I did that would just be a straight lie bc that’s one of Sega’s most renowned games in the franchise to this day, but I do think it hits a lot harder for shadow to have this arc away from Maria, if that makes sense. no final promise, no idea of what she wanted him to be. she’s not the embodiment of all that was good in him, but she was the support system he needed to (eventually) realize he could be good and be more than his purpose.

#I LOVE SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG REAGGHHHHHHHH #sonic 3 #holdthypeace.txt #sonic 3 spoilers #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #long post sorry #info dumping as fuck rn #maria robotnik #shadow and maria #gerald robotnik #sa2

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nerdyydragon · 24 days ago

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I'm working through some nuanced dynamics in a fic involving branched/parallel timelines and how to handle meeting alternate universe counterparts of the people you know, and I've been thinking about the use of mind melds in trek, specifically AOS.

My consistent gripe is that Journey Begins spent the whole first third—at least—of the film showing us that Jim and Bones were down bad ride or die drift compatible, and that Jim and Spock absolutely could not stand each other (ironically despite the fact that Bones is the only one of the triumvirate not to have a childhood flashback for character setup). They did all of that and then introduced Spock Prime and the mind meld, but because of the circumstances instead of this deeply personal, intimate practice it's a way to speedrun both character and relationship development. You're not invested; Spock and Jim have their meld on Delta Vega, but that's a way for Spock to get Jim to trust him, not his new, branched timeline younger self. Immediately after getting back on the Enterprise Jim's first act is to dig into a very obvious open wound to get Spock to stop being logical (yes, I know Old Spock told him to destabilise him. That's not really relevant). It's a cop-out and lazy, predicated on the audience knowing what a mind meld is and what it does to the people involved, emotionally, and five minutes while marooned for mutiny is supposed to override the implications of three years close friendship—that would include things like "both of them need to get sober", Bones' aviophobia, having something to prove, and being out of place where everyone else was there because they believed in Starfleet/the Federation—and manufacturing a scenario in which Bones risks being discharged to skirt around Jim's academic probation to get him on the Enterprise to begin with.

You don't even have to read it as a take on the Premise if you don't want to, I personally don't see that angle in the way they're written, but rewatching it now that I've studied storytelling and narrative craft I can't help but feel like the meld ended up being a maguffin that cheapens the setup of the McSpirk dynamic for the rest of the film.

I don't know, maybe one day I'll unpack this properly and in a more organised way, but it annoys the hell out of me.

#star trek #jim kirk #bones mccoy #spock

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thealexchen · 8 months ago

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hi! i recently got back into lis2 again and that made me really curious - do you still agree with a majority of the critiques you made on lis2 in 2020? i know it's been 4 years since that post was made, but i actually do remember when you dropped this critique on a separate account and i'd thought it was an interesting one to keep in mind back then :)

i appreciated a lot of what you have to say, even if i respectfully disagree with almost all of it 😭 - i didn't want to drop a whole "why" i disagree discussion on here because it seems kind of rude to drop such a huge thing about it haha, but i would like to say that this critique actually did stick with me for a bit and i appreciate that you made it when you did! your account was a big lis2 acc that i remember back in the day, and i always loved seeing your posts!

Hi there and thanks for your ask! I think I may know who you are, but you did get me thinking about that critique again (has it been four years already?? Jesus). After rereading it again, I have to say my overall opinions haven’t changed… I’m just not as invested in them as I used to be.

Since DE came out, I’ve seen a drastic shift from favoring D9 to DN, but I really think the reception comes down to their creative choices (or lack thereof). When I gave my initial thoughts on DE in May, I said that D9’s games rely heavily on fanservice to be marketable, while LiS2 was divisive from the jump because it was so obviously rooted in DN’s prioritization of making a game out of passion and not what would sell well (a continuation of Max and Chloe’s story). People have mostly been complaining that DE feels written without much thought or care for the original game, with lazy offscreen narrative decisions. Unfortunately, I believe this output is really due to D9 being puppeteered by Square to “corporatize” this series to death, which I find really depressing.

When LiS1 first debuted in 2015, the gaming industry was still recovering from Gamergate (which proved how misogynistic it still was) and LGBT+ issues were finally achieving mainstream attention, both positive and negative. The media storm surrounding LiS1 all focused on how different it was. It was truly radical at the time to turn what would be a typical Sundance indie film plot into an interactive AA game and make it mainstream. I think both the positive attention from gamers starved for a story like this and the negative attention calling it “Life is Tumblr” contributed to its massive popularity and attention that hasn’t been matched since.

I have always, always believed (like since 2018) in LiS being an anthology series and letting Max and Chloe’s story end. “Farewell” was supposed to be that, and I was really excited to see what DN was making next and hopeful I could fall in love with LiS2 like I did the first game. Even if I found LiS2’s narrative choices really frustrating, I still respect DN for sticking to their vision. Honestly, Michel Koch deserves his flowers so much for staying active on Twitter through years of fan hate and complaining and posting consistently respectful replies, even as his own characters have likely become unrecognizable to him.

But while DN stuck to their vision about LiS2, I think the main contextual issue with the game (and where my critiques came from) is there was too much pressure to follow up an accidental hit. DN wanted to follow up LiS1 with an even bigger, more serious, more ambitious, maybe more “artistic” and “daring” game that was boldly political… but I just don’t think they achieved that. The game still looks beautiful, with a strong soundtrack, art direction, moments of calm, and great environmental storytelling like the first game. But while LiS1 lured you into a false sense of security with its cozy vibes and high school setting, only to blindside gamers with heartbreaking and shocking plot twists late in the game, LiS2 is just a misery fest from start to end in an attempt to be as serious and memorable as the first game. There isn’t enough joy and nostalgia (DN is SO good at nostalgia) to contrast the sorrow, and the game wasn’t as memorable or fun to play for me.

My main critique in 2020 was the game relies too much on a violent trauma narrative without proper research and content warnings. Looking back on it now, I think DN internalized the praise too strongly that LiS1 was daring and different. They tried to be even more topical and bold without regard to how actual players of color might react to the racial violence onscreen. In addition, I critiqued LiS2 for not showcasing the positive aspects of Sean and Daniel’s Mexican heritage to contrast all the racism, and I thought True Colors did a better job at including meaningful and positive cultural details for Alex and Gabe’s family. They likely didn’t think to research more carefully how to depict POC (and how the standards for sensitive representation might be different in the U.S. compared to France). American politics are also wayyyy more complex than what’s on the news, and have a massive historical, social, and economic background, and nowadays, I’ll cut DN some slack and say I think that’s too much to tackle for any game. Yes, DN could’ve done better, but I wouldn’t critique them as harshly today, and I know they had good intentions.

If the pressure to follow up LiS1 wasn’t there, maybe LiS2 could’ve been different. Maybe DN wouldn’t have bit off more they could chew, or maybe this game could’ve been made independently of the LiS series and judged on its own merit. A game like Tell Me Why shows how DN is at their best when they tell smaller, nostalgic stories and are able to do the right research and collaborate with the right consultants and actors. I hope Lost Records can be the same, since DN is pitching it from the jump as an anthology and likely their do-over of LiS as their own independent studio.

Thank you again for asking! It was nice to revisit my critique. If you’d still like to talk about it, I am down for a friendly debate!

#lis #lis2 #life is strange #life is strange 2 #life is strange double exposure #answered asks #anon #Sean Diaz #Daniel Diaz #max caulfield #chloe price #Alex Chen #pricefield #lis2 critique #my post

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eljeebee · 26 days ago

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As storytellers, there are so many pieces of our craft and I'm curious how you would rank each step of the process. Rank each of the following on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 lowest, 5 highest): Setting up the scene (building sets, decorating, etc), Posing the sims (creating / find poses, and setting up the sims), Styling the sims (cc hunting, time spent in cas), Writing the dialogue/story, Editing the photos.

Was tagged by @changingplumbob

Thank you Kirsty!

Writing the Story: 1

This is the lowest as this is always the easiest. The words come easily and I could just type it away. Since my format has changed, I focus on dialogues now instead of narration, which means the work has been cut down, as the only thing I'll worry about is how to place each dialogue to which panel/picture. Unfortunately, this means more work for posing 😔

Unfortunately I cannot share some drafts to you, as my old drafts has been deleted on my phone LMAO

Editing the Photos: 2

With my new style, there's new steps in editing now. Before, I tend to rely on my reshade when it comes to photos, but now, I sharpen them with the preset I made in gimp (with some presets for flashbacks). Not only that, I also now edit in the dialogues on-screen, since I stopped narrating it through paragraphs. It may be tedious but this is still easy for me because I'm done with all the stuff and I just have to edit them.

*second lenora pic uses the flashback filter

Styling the Sims: 3

This is my favorite part when writing characters! When I'm done looking for irl references for their features and likeness, I love scrolling through my CC and make them unique by styling them.

I have a restriction on some clothes and hairs: when it's used on active characters, I can't use it again, but if for example the character passes away (e.g. Old Age) and a generation had passed, the restrictions will be lifted.

Sometimes, before starting up the game, I make sure I've done some CC shopping already, especially when the character has specific dressing style (such as olden ages and stuff).

Posing the Sims: 4

I have a lot of poses, and it can be overwhelming to get through them and look for the right ones to fit the scene (thank god for TMEX's searchable pose player). This is its rank because this is what takes up most of my play time! You thought my 8 hours of game time was me dilly dallying? No, that's just me repositioning them for the 10th time 😔

Setting the Scene: 5

This is the HARDEST part for me because I would spend DAYS or even weeks setting up the scene, especially if the build is my own work! And if I'm building from scratch, I'd have to take days to finish it because it could get overwhelming (and boring), so sis this the most hardest and tedious part of my process.

When I'm lazy, I try to look from the gallery, like shell builds, and just do the interior (which cuts down half of the work). The only time I result to building to scratch is when I need something SPECIFIC, like the monastery (which I actually enjoyed doing).

Now that you know how lazy I could get...it's 🫵 your turn! Tagging: @sirianasims @marcishaun @living-undead @damseljamsel (but feel free to pass!) If you see this, consider yourself tagged as well if you want to do it!

#tag games #my work is 60% writing 20% daydreaming 20% cramming #lana rambles

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artist-issues · 1 year ago

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this my sound silly, but do you have any advice on how you come up with something to say for a story?

I think you're right that good art has something to say and communicates it well. That's certainly true of every story I've ever loved.

But while I love inventing fantasy worlds, you've made me realize I've never actually planned to say anything with them.

I've got lots of opinions, lots of beliefs, lots of stuff to say, but now that I realize I need to, it's been hard to pick one of those to be the core point of a story.

the trouble is, the dominant writing advice I saw online was the opposite. that stories made for the purpose of communicating a message or promoting something just turn into preachy propaganda, so the best way to make a good story (that, dare I invoke the curse, appealed to a wider audience) was to muddy it so you could take away as many interpretations from it as possible. thus most of the material I've given myself to work with has been slightly poisoned.

I really like how you said all of that! I agree with your assessment of the advice most people give.

Here's how I do it:

A loose concept, like a disgraced knight falling in love with the King's head of staff who's come to live in the village he's hiding in, will pop into my brain. I'll like the concept. I'll imagine one or two interactions between them that I just like.

But when it comes time to write anything down, even just for my own notes—then it's time to find a message. And usually that's not hard, or at least, that's not disingenuous, because:

what I believe, my worldview, was already subliminally shaping the things that I liked.

So then as I go to write down the names, the histories, the plot points, of my fun little knight love story idea, I find that something kind of...readily fits them.

But now here's the catch; it really helps to know what you believe, and to feel strongly about it, for all of that to come as naturally as possible.

About Propaganda "versus" Stories:

It's a lie to say that something which is created to say something is always propaganda, and something which is created with no careful point thought out is always art. Silly thing to believe. It's like saying "all words are propaganda." No, all words are communication. It's not our fault they don't like that we know what we want to say, and we want them to understand it clearly.

I mean. All art is propaganda, if by "propaganda" or "preachy" you mean, "I tried to take what was going on in my head & heart and put it in your head & heart." All art, all storytelling, is that. Otherwise you'd just keep what you think and feel bouncing around in your own brain, instead of doing anything outward (writing, drawing, painting, singing, speaking, reacting with your body language) with it.

I think what people are getting at when they say "avoid being preachy" or "that's not art, it's propaganda" is "you weren't being genuine." And that can be true. Sometimes people can tack a meaning onto a movie or a story where it doesn't fit because they either a) don't believe that strongly in the thing themselves, but everyone around them was clamoring for it or b) they were lazy and didn't do the work to make the story fit, genuinely, with the message, in a way that enhances and makes the message winsome.

But as bad as those two mistakes are, neither of them prove that intending to say something with your story, very carefully and genuinely, that you don't want misinterpreted, is somehow a bad thing.

Look at the fairy tales that the Brothers' Grimm collected. Look at any stories from the time before commercialism: Our oldest stories combined genuine enjoyment with the virtues and meanings that made enjoyment possible/worthwhile.

Anyway. I have a feeling you agree with me already about this so I'll hop down off that soap box.

What Comes First: Having Fun Making What You Like, or Choosing Something to Say?

I don't think it is wrong to tell a story that...you didn't have an intended thesis written down for. I think people like J.R.R. Tolkien and Walter Elias Disney prove that. But the thing is, what they believed got infused into their storytelling, because of course it did. It can't help it. When you want the audience to like your lead character, you make her likeable—but the traits you think are likeable are informed by something.

Snow White is innocent and pure because Walt Disney naturally considered those things beautiful and good and worth liking. He probably didn't even think to write it down and revolve everything around it: it just came out that way.

Frodo is a little scholar, and willing to soldier on with what little he can do, despite his lack of experience, because those are character traits Tolkien felt were good and likeable. Why? Because deep down, in his worldview, he believes being book-smart and doing what you can with what you have is valuable. And that just...comes out, much like his valuing of history, in the thing he creates.

Now, if they didn't know what they believed--or if they were insecure people "blown about by every wind of false doctrine" that comes their way--or if they were focused more on satisfying what the largest number of people liked--they wouldn't have been able to infuse the story with any genuine meaning, planned-out or natural.

That's what I think.

I think it's all a matter of loving what's good and true. Training your affections, so that you care most about things that are worth caring about—the things you feel most strongly about in characters will be the things you feel most strongly about in life. I love Stitch because I love redemption. Not primarily because I love sci-fi characters, the color blue, or the blend of ugly-and-cute—even though I do like those things on a more minor scale. See?

But if you've trained your affections for junk food—you feel most strongly appreciative of characters that are hot, or spout off funny one-liners, or come onscreen to cool music—then that's what will naturally come up in your own storytelling.

There's also nothing wrong with doing it the other way; saying you want to teach a certain lesson, and then coming up with characters and settings to fit that lesson. Coming at it from that direction is just as valid—as long as you put in the work, and care more about that lesson you genuinely believe in than you do what other people think.

Anyway,

To Write Your Own Main Point/Thesis/Armature/Theme

When it’s time to start writing anything down, it’s time to figure out the main point, and that’s when I...typically think about what I'd want to teach the kids I'm around, to be honest.

With my disgraced-knight love story, I go "what is it he loves about the girl, in all those vague vibe-y scenes I’ve been picturing?" And I make the connection between her virtuous character traits to what I want him, the main character, to learn.

So for example, she used to live in the palace, working for the King, but she was humble enough to give all that up and live in a no-name town to take care of her stepfather. He's disgraced and doesn't want anyone to know who he is—well, that's a pride issue, totally the opposite of how humble his love interest is. And why’s she humble? Because she’s not focused on herself. She doesn’t care about her own reputation or status. So then I just reverse engineer that: the point of the story is "Live in the King's name, not your own." Now one of the two main characters embodies that—the other has to learn it, and the story is the obstacle course he’s pushed through to get there.

I wasn't consciously thinking about making her the king's former head of staff, or him disgraced, when I first came up with the vague concept of the story, see? I just liked the "vibe" of a hopeless dude suddenly seeing a ray of light in the "vibe" of a girl from poor circumstances who seems happy regardless of them. I liked that "vibe." Then I traced what I liked about the vibe back to something that is true and worth teaching or appreciating in real life.

I’m in a job I don’t love right now, and it could make me miserable, but if I just remember “in everything you do, whether in word or in deed, do for the glory of the Lord,” then my focus isn’t on myself and I have joy and hope. And that hope can be used to point others, around me, to hope, too. So I’m not “preaching” something disingenuous; I’m living it, because this is what I believe, so no wonder it’s also leaking it’s way into my story. I just happen to be creating a pipe so that the leak flows more smoothly, which can only help, in the long run.

But I’ve done it other ways, too. Once I watched kind of from afar as a friend’s family fell apart. I felt like, from the outside, I could see where one of my friends was hurting and what they needed to accept (from the Bible) to move forward, but I wasn’t in a position to say it to my friend directly. Then I figured, “if my one friend is going through this situation, others probably are too, and this lesson from the Bible is universal anyway” so I…made up an analogy for the way their family fell apart, then came up with an ending that taught the “family” in the analogy the lesson I got from the Bible. So for that, you can see how I first came up with the main point, then built up characters and a world and a story to fit around it.

Both ways work, the chicken or the egg first. But they only work if you are committed to working hard and serving others with your story, not committed to being popular or “only making what YOU like.”

Make sense? I hope so! Thank you for the question!

#Asked #answered #storytelling #writing #writing tips #stories #how to write #themes #theming #main point #Walt Disney #j.r.r. tolkien

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dayscapism · 9 months ago

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My Thoughts on the Percy Jackson TV Show (was not a fan):

Months have passed but, I guess I like to throw wood to embers to make fires again. Honestly, I would have abandoned it after episode 3 if it weren't one of my favourite book series ever and I wanted so bad to be hopeful and pleasantly surprised.

I don't think it's a terrible adaptation, but I think it's boring, badly edited, with character inconsistencies, has first-draft-level writing and just missed potential. I'm happy it's been working for so many others, but I've also seen a lot of people being so reluctant to negatively criticise anything about it. Which is weird, it makes me feel like we're watching two different shows and I'm the problem (am I the drama? perhaps. I don't care.)

It's not been an easy time to watch for me; it's a sustained, painful, physical effort to pay attention to this show, especially during dialogue scenes. Like how do you make a show about a bunch of ADHD kids and make it so NOT ADHD-friendly to watch?? (The writers and editors should watch EEAAO, that's how an ADHD brain approaches visual media). The pacing, the terrible exposition, it's the static and uninteresting camera work, the lack of a campy hyping music/soundtrack, the lack of stylization, the lazy editing, the actors stopping to chat in a static shot every other minute, no running during urgent situations, etc. Nothing is engaging! It's such a boring show! There's always exactly 1 thing happening on screen and nothing else around it, no hidden meanings, no mystery, nothing that could be layered storytelling, which is such an important thing in a TV show where you only have 8 episodes to tell your story! Spekaing of, ADHD and dyslexia don't seem to be shown or discussed again after it's mentioned that Percy has it in episodes 1-2. I was hoping for bolder representation with that. (Why didn't they include the little dialogue where neither Percy of Annabeth can figure out the sign at the emporium because of dyslexia, and Grover has to tell them? These little moments count so much for representation of this kind!)

The dialogue paired with the pacing/humour is not landing. It truly feels unpolished, like a first draft. Like technically it serves its purpose, but it's an ineffective, unengaging manner to write a tv script. They should have done more flashbacks too, to give context and exposition. But instead, everything is given to us like you would in a book. (And this is coming from someone who read the books years ago so I NEED this exposition because I don't remember a lot of details, but the exposition isn't even helpful and the writing doesn't keep me engaged enough for me to even pay attention to the exposition!) The actors are doing the best with the material they have, they're all really precious, but this writing and directing is hurting their acting so bad. The dialogue and scenes are so awkward, which hurts the chemistry between the characters too (I expand on my issues with the characters later).

A lot of the tone and pacing issues could just be a book-to-tv adaptation thing because we're no longer in Percy's head with his funny sarcastic remarks and long paragraphs that can give us context. But then why didn't they include narration? Why didn't they keep it up after the intro in episode 1?? Why did they even include that bit if they weren't going to keep it up?? We have 4th-wall narration in lots of things these days (from the top of my head, Fleabag and Deadpool), usually done for comedic and style effect. This would help so much with the pacing and tone! the lost potential is so frustrating. Many movies/shows don't need narration; this one could have benefitted so much from it.

The show is not funny whatsoever when the books are hilarious. At no point did I laugh out loud here. Such a crime. I hate to be one of THOSE but the movies at least got the unserious and funny beats right. Like why is the music in this show just an epic forgettable MCU-like soundtrack but with a serious tone? Why didn't they include modern or campy songs? They should have taken clues from the Umbrella Academy's first seasons. And they could have included Greek music in it too! How cool would that have been? It's not a bad soundtrack by any means, but if nothing else is used in a very strange manner in some scenes because it sometimes cuts the action or doesn't match the energy or vibe of the scenes. The visuals and settings are pretty good, I admit, but these are underserviced by the entire production's lack of style and music and tone are a big part of that.

Some people have said the action scenes are bad, but I feel the problem is there's no sense of urgency, of danger (no layered storytelling here either). The fights with the monsters are okay, great even, the problem is this lack of excitement. The problem is the setups to the action: the lack of tension and then rushed resolutions. For example, they dragged the scenes with Medusa and Equidna talking that it lost all suspense. Equidna literally says instead of just jumping to it, showing what she would do to them kids. (Ok the chimera is cool tho, looks really cool. I want it as a pet 😊 And the editing when Percy falls from the arch is pretty cool too, rare exception.)

But most feels so underwhelming. These kids should also be running everywhere, not calmy walking (bad directing!) This makes the monsters not feel as menacing, because they always have time for a calm exposition break long conversations in the middle of what are supposed to be life-or-death encounters with ancient Greek monsters. And mind you, these pauses for conversation aren't even layered, they're often shot with a static camera, with dull dialogue no 12 yo would speak. They could be having these conversations while running, while hiding, while doing something else! Mix dialogue and action! Layered storytelling, it's about themes and characters but also about how you present the scenes themselves.

An adjacent problem is also that the actualization of the myths for a modern audience is a bit surface-level (like with Medusa). They could have done so much more here.

Now, issues with characterization:

Characters can really make or break a story. Here we have a lot of character inconsistencies, or rather, a lack of definition of the characters. It's not about the show being exactly accurate to the book here, it's the show wasting perfectly good character and plot moments from the show, while not being true to tone and to the core of the characters. Change in adaptations can be good, to consolidate or make things clearer and work for the new medium, but they character work here was very ineffective and inefficient.

Percy is supposed to be cunning, smart but not knowledgeable about the Greek world. The show has this being reversed many times.

Grover is perceptive and has more life experience but he is reduced to nothing here. Like I'm wondering why is he even here?

And Annabeth... Oh. Annabeth is a hard character to portray and write, tbh, it's easy to make her unlikable and straightforward, can very easily come off as annoying, pedantic perhaps, though I am all for unlikeable female heroines. But this is such a baffling iteration of her character. She comes off as a stalker in the first episodes, then she's mean and bossy yet she doesn't seem to actually plan or have good strategies (all is deferred to Percy really), then she sort of uses "the power of friendship" to resolve things but never her growing wisdom. Yes, she could be weird and caring and smart but they didn't nail any of those traits either. They striped her of any complexity. But my biggest gripe is that they didn't make Annabeth nerdy enough! Annabeth sure recalls a lot of facts during the show to look smart I suppose, but she rarely gets to problem solve or truly nerd out neurodivergent kid style, which I think is a huge missed opportunity.

An example, which might be very niche but it shows my issue with her characterization and I have to talk about it cause I'm a physics nerd (literally, it's my major), the part in the ST Louis Arch in episode 4 where she tells Percy and Grover stuff about the construction is so... basic. Like she just read it out of a tourist pamphlet or something. She just says how tall and wide the arch is and that it's symmetrical. That's it. Right...

Why didn't she mention what type of arch it is?? (A catenary arch, more specifically one that follows a weighted catenary curve. It isn't just held by "symmetry" it's tension! It's cool math!) Maybe she even mentions that it's a hyperbolic function and Percy and Grover can be like omg what are you even talking about, and she keeps going on and on about calculus and architecture, like a neurodivergent kid would about their interests. I mean, sure she's like 12, but she's supposed to be like a gifted kid, daughter of Athena, right? She probably knows some of the science and engineering behind the arch. Missed opportunity. Or maybe it's just that I see so much of myself in Annabeth and it hits too close when they can't make her justice. Idk. Like having a true nerdy, brilliant, neurodivergent, bossy but caring, black Annabeth would have been amazing. I guess the world wasn't ready for that.

This was episode 4 and the episodes are NOT getting better...

Also, Annabeth and Percy get sincere with each other really quickly after like 1 day of knowing each other, no layered storytelling or emotional reactions to them baring their deepest fears and darkest backstories either. (Poor kids are doing their best with mediocre adaptation, though Walker is carrying the show at this point, tbh.)

Annabeth and Luke's relationship also suffers a lot from telling and no showing. Why don't we have flashbacks?? Such a missed opportunity for a show. As a rule, showing isn't superior to telling, but these two techniques need to be balanced in the writing, they can be combined too to serve the story during a specific scene or passage. In this case, telling was the wrong way.

For Luke, if they want his arc to have the emotional hit it has in the book, they really needed to build his character more and give him more screen time! Which could have been done with flashbacks. Because with Annabeth's stoic acting, too, we don't really get the emotional reactions appropriate to the events she recounts. So how are we going to feel with the betrayal since the relationship hasn't been built strongly so far? Nothing. We'll feel nothing.

Annabeth's actress is doing her best with what she's given, idk why the production settled on this portrayal like she's in a Disney Channel kids sitcom from the 90s, deadpan but snarky. It's not a flavour of acting that helps this adaptation either. This might be a larger directing issue, though, because Percy barely reacts when he sees his mother "die" in front of him.

Disney watered down Sally too. They really did. Her makeup is nice though.

Anyway, Flashbacks and narration could have saved this series alone, tbh. We don't even know how Thalia looks like or how was she like! So why should we care about the exposition Annabeth says about her?

Also a bit of a nitpick but why isn't it explained why are Percy and Sally are stuck with Gabe in the first place? About his scent? Why is the abuse so... sanitized too? Like yeah, we could have a more psychological and verbal form of abuse situation, of course, but we also didn't get that? Gabe was just unpleasant and a bit of a jerk, pathetic, but that was basically all. Also, no explanation for the blue food?? When it's such insight into Percy's relationship with his mom?? So much EXPOSITION in this series yet they missed many of the important parts!

So... yeah, they could be doing so much more with all the characters.

Concluding thoughts:

I don't hate the show (the visuals are great and Walker Scobell's acting is amazing, such a young talent!), but every time I finish watching an episode, I'm just bored and underwhelmed and wished I had done something else with my time.

Ok, disclaimer, I didn't finish the show. I got distracted and bored and couldn't be bothered. I think I stopped after the Underworld episode (episode 7 I think.) I couldn't be bothered to watch the finale even with Toby Stephens in it. That's how enthusiastic I am about it.

I know it's frustrating that in previous decades usually had 20+ episodes, plus season 1 and 2 being shot side by side so we didn't even have to wait and fear of cancellation after so little; shows really don't have to be perfect from season 1, they need room to grow, but they have to have SOMETHING to pull the viewer in from the beginning, to make them stay. Anything! This show is giving me nothing to work with. I do hope the show gets better in season 2, and I understand that the 8-episode-season model is a constraint for writers, but I still think it could have done much better with the resources it did have.

For example, Black Sails had an infamous first season, but then it grew to be what imo is the best show ever put to TV. And yes, it took a while for it to find its perfect footing, but it was like a delicious cake that maybe has some bad frosting but the foundation is there, it just needs polishing and a few changes. But this PJO show doesn't live up to its potential and it's just so frustrating because I wanted to love this show so much but I'm finding it difficult to think of anything that I truly loved about it other than Walker Scobell's acting and course Toby Stephens (but I already love him from his previous work so it hardly counts).

Honestly, I'm a little bit tired of discourse going around saying that critiquing a show from season 1 is not acceptable because the show hasn't finished growing and we want a second season, we don't want the criticism to affect a season 2. But this is irrelevant and that's not how media criticism works. People can get very on board with good shoes from 1 season alone. That's no excuse. There are genuinely good book adaptations out there that make changes for the better and get a good foothold from the get-go! Look at Lockwood & Co, OPLA or Anne with an E. It can totally be done. The criticisms we have are precisely because we love the books, because we wanted this adaptation to succeed, because we wanted to love it, but it disappointed us. And we are allowed to voice that, as long as is done in good faith.

I'm happy this show got renewed because of the fans who enjoyed it, love the Percy Jackson series, it is truly dear to my heart, but would I be sad if the show was cancelled? Honestly, no. I couldn't care less what happens to this show at this point. Why should I? I was given no reason to care, aside from my already existing love for the books. I'm not intrigued about how they're going to adapt book 2, I didn't connect with the characters, I wasn't having fun. Nothing. And sure, I want young kids to be introduced to Percy Jackson, great if it's through this show, I want younger generations to love this series too, but I don't know any gen alpha who would enjoy such a show. (Hell, I really wanted my audience-age-appropriate niece to love it, but she couldn't care less about it and jeez, I wonder why...) Kids deserve better shows than this.

Will I watch season 2? Idk. Maybe? I can put it in the background while doing something else perhaps. I do hope they improve stuff but I don't have my hopes up. Will I watch episode 8? No. Life's too short. I already read the books so why bother (hehe)

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onigmos · 2 months ago

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because my mouse wheel's button won't fuckin click anymore, navigating the sims 2 is insufferable. So I've been making my own fix in the sims 4 and remade JRO in dere.

In my lil sims 4 save it's like classic sitcom rules where Johnny n Ophelia are busy building a life together and very much doing the love-nest thing when Ripp kinda crashes into their lives needing somewhere to go. Buddy comedy and feel good romcom bullshit ensue. Because sometimes you just want to tell a nice story.

I could go on about this forever, so I'll make a cut as to not clog any feeds.

So in the sims 4, I'm just messing around with them because I love them, but in general, I have so many thoughts and feelings about these three as characters. My sims 4 approach to storytelling with them is VERY light hearted and fun. Outside of that context tho I like my Strangetown families to be the full spectrum of goofy weird shit to classic western gothic. Anyway, we're not here for that, we're here for bullshit musings.

But yeah, anyway, my approach to Johnny as a character is more in the line of like, Mr All American Boy. I see him as someone who could easily be a jock type if he wanted to be, you know, on account of the theme of his household in the sims 2 being like "THE AVERAGE AMERICAN FAMILY WITH THE HOUSE AND THE YARD! PICKET FENCE MOM AND DAD AND BABY SIS!!!" type shit. I also think it's fun if Johnny succeeds in a pursuit of regular teen boy bullshit considering his weird parentage, which you know, drives the xenophobes (racists? what would you call that??) fucking crazy. I feel like I can go on and on about Johnny and how he works well to be like, a typical boy who likes to throw a ball and drive a car. Tall and blond and handsome, In my little brain, he does shit and does it well and is generally well liked. Regardless, being half alien, Johnny is still certainly a certified weirdo in his own respects. Kind and empathetic, and very well adjusted in his upbringing. He can field most emotional crisis. Open to new experiences and MADLY FUCKING IN LOVE with and protective of his gf. Absolutely got a shitty stick and poke of Ophelia's name somewhere on his dumb body.

Ophelia is my beloved weirdo girl fave. She's anxious and paranoid and a bit skeptical of the world, but after growing up in what is essentially a graveyard, and with an actual serial killer of an aunt, Ophelia is someone who also belongs in the arms and care of someone who will guide her through the dark so to speak. To me anyway! Just going off of her behavior in the sims 2 for PSP, and her bio in the sims 2, I like to think of her as someone who suffers from paranoia and OCD and with good reason. Reeling still from the whole orphaned thing as she navigates life as a young adult. I feel like, it's tempting to let Ophelia's character be some sort of like resilient creature of self reliance but as someone who's also experienced intense grief, sometimes it just doesn't work out that way, and I much rather enjoy the idea of paring someone who needs love and security with someone like Johnny who wants to be "the hero that rides in on a white horse". I like to play with the idea that she figured Olive's shit out at some point. I don't have a concrete idea of what comes next after that, but depending on whether she's a teen, or an adult and comes to learn this shit, defies what happens next in her life. I'll save those musings for another post or somethin.

As for Ripp, he's a premade I was more into when I was a teenager and younger adult myself, but I still like him as the tagalong to these two. I'm all for thruples, but for once I gotta insist I enjoy his character more if he's just like "your buddy who struggles to get the second or third date" He's just kind of generally overall a little goofy. He's harmless, but I feel like his upbringing threw him into the complete opposite spectrum of the household Buzz was trying to create. Ripp lacks discipline, he's lazy, and he hates work. Cycling through jobs, can't commit to anything ever, shaky self image. I like to think their dynamic as teens was as simple as, Ripp was kind of a loner, Ophelia shows up, also a loner, they become natural friends, and once Ophelia and Johnny get together, the two boys become buddies as well. Ripp as an adult is just sort of wading in the water so to speak, and he's sort of There watching his friends advance their lives when he can't even cook a fucking meal without burning the bitch down.

I like to think the unifying factor between all three of them is Ophelia, obviously, as she's literally the bridge of mutual friendship there as it seems to work out in the sims 2. But I like to imagine she has a certain magnetism to her that draws the real weirdos out. She's fascinating in a spiritual way most people aren't tapped into.

I'm officially running out of steam so I'm just gonna close this for now lol. My concepts for them transcend the sims 4 and 2 but are pretty uniform throughout both games. But like, again, I find the sims 4 to be a goofy ass game, so these are just the fun goofy thoughts.

#thesims #ts4 #sims 2 premades #JRO #ophelia nigmos #Johnny Smith #Ripp Grunt

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