#which is not a critique but is a disappointment because fuck her

[thebookworm0001]

Okay one big post full of spoilery things from across the entire game for the things I have critiques about then back to losing my shit over the game and how much I like it

Music was underwhelming. Best parts of it were when the old soundtrack came back

There are moments where more specific callbacks and character choices should have been. DA has never cared much about the big choices that carry over, but the small stuff did. And the world feels emptier at times because of it.

Related, the whole world 1) accepting the elven gods are real and 2) accepting they’re evil before you ever show up feels… weird. I wish there had been an explanation about how that went down. I assume the game was trying to avoid a ‘slaughter another dalish clan’ thing by making all the elves know and accept that information and by extension not become enemies to fight when following the gods, but coming off how big a reveal that was in trespasser? Felt odd as a returning fan

Honestly it did feel like a lot of the moral complexity of the world got flattened out. Solas is allowed to be morally complex - both a victim and a villain in turns - while every other villain twirls their mustache and only the Most Evil and Selfish People Ever follow them.

Speaking of, while the venatori do get a moment or two where they digest the old gods and tevinter gods being the same, I wish the codex we’d gotten about it had appeared sooner. I also wish there was more on the fractured Antaam being chill with working with mages since trespasser was about them, you know, destroying magic. We’ve also apparently ditched the lore about the crows buying potential assassins and putting them through deadly torture to ‘train’ them

Mythal, cool as it was to see her back again, does not get enough flack for her role in the blight and pushing solas into a place where he feels world-ending guilt over what he did in her name. She acknowledges she broke him in the hidden ending but I do wish there had been more remorse on her part.

[centrally-unplanned]

Let's see if I have one more election take in me:

I am deeply sympathetic to Sam Kriss's rage against the Democratic corpo-political shibboleth, and not just because we are both deeply enmeshed in the grand tradition of dissident Oxbridge-style cantankerous internet rants. He is right that Kamala was a weak candidate, for one. But more importantly, I still feel what he feels deep down. I remember the starry idealism of my halcyon youth, of believing that conviction, that vision, that the zeal only a platform birthed from authentic principles, tempered by struggle and sweat, would carry the day over crass, paint-by-polling-numbers incrementalism. When he describes Harris thusly:

"She’s a machine politician. She wants power, but not for any particular reason. It’s just that life is a game, and the point is to reach the highest level."

I see my own reaction to her when she first stepped into the 2020 limelight, and low-key hating her for it. I feel his heart, for it is my heart.

But it is not my brain. Because I am not a teenager anymore, and his critique is fucking bullshit.

He says all this stuff like:

The reason Kamala Harris lost is the same as the reason she was the candidate to begin with: the Democratic Party is allergic to democracy.

And how the electorate is seen as but ants from inside the towers of the Machine, like the Dems just invented "not running a primary" this time as a lark. As opposed to neither party in America ever having primaries against incumbent presidents! Because they are normally popular, and it would be a waste of everyone's time to do that! Could you imagine, launching a real primary against Obama in 2012? And possibly sabotaging his brand a bit for absolutely nothing? It is a reasonable policy, particularly when incumbents used to have an advantage for being so. Now they clearly don't, Biden was unpopular and too old, and the Dems took too long to realize it. A costly mistake, but it is a purely strategic error. Big orgs have inertia, and the Dems fucked up. It has nothing to do with an "allergy to democracy".

And Kriss can go off summarizing how the Harris campaign was offering voters nothing:

But for some unaccountable reason, among the general public, ‘Kamala: You Already Like Her!’ was not the brilliant pitch it seemed to be. [...] Another option would be to actually offer something to the voters.

Which sounds neat, but he made it up! I remember Kamala's actual campaign speeches, ads, and platforms, which she repeated so monotonically in her tightly-scripted campaign appearances: protect abortion rights, expand the welfare state, provide better child care support, lower the cost of housing. And most importantly, she ran on Biden's record of a strong economy and promised to deliver more of it. What does even mean for this to not be a real platform? Beyond not having some synthesized, totalizing "Critique" of modernity that packages it all into a beautiful, systematizing little box.

Because I promise you, voters synthesize jack shit. None of this is why Harris lost - voters have made that pretty clear:

You can find other data ofc, this or that point varies, but the story is not opaque. They didn't like Biden! They didn't like his inflation. They didn't like immigration, or they didn't like his liberalism, and they thought Kamala was too similar. She had too much policy baggage. And she wasn't charismatic enough to dig herself out of that hole - no disagreement from me on that front.

Though even then, by that we mean she lost an election by ~3-4% margins after getting subbed in at the 4th quarter while down by ~8% in the polls. That ain't bad!

None of the voters who matter share Kriss's sensibilities, and he cannot hide his disappointment in that. So he pretends that Donald Trump, the guy who promised 20% tariffs on everything to fight inflation, is giving them a real vision:

That’s what Trump did: he offered an enemy to blame and the prospect of doing violence to them

I don't know man, I think swing voters just don't like the last four years and think 2019 was better. I don't think the promises of orgastic violence against democrats are why Trump won! Actually a bit of an unforced error on his part.

But since Kriss presumes to value democracy, that thesis can't hold - so the lack of reality delivering on what his vision for democracy should be is displaced onto Harris's mistakes. The voters can never fail you. You can only fail to elevate them with the right candidate. Which, tactically? Sure, why not. But you can leave the moralism at the classroom door.

This ties into our dreaded media discourse debate, so it is time to bring in another explainer, by Michael Tomasky:

The line-by-line isn't interesting here; instead I want to focus on this quote:

Weren’t they bothered that Trump is a convicted felon? An adjudicated rapist? Didn’t his invocation of violence against Liz Cheney, or 50 other examples of his disgusting imprecations, obviously disqualify him? And couldn’t they see that Harris, whatever her shortcomings, was a fundamentally smart, honest, well-meaning person who would show basic respect for the Constitution and wouldn’t do anything weird as president? The answer is obviously no—not enough people were able to see any of those things. At which point people throw up their hands and say, “I give up.”

To which the immediate reply is: my dude, what are you talking about??

A 56 percent majority of Americans say Trump is probably guilty of a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results through false claims of voter fraud, including 40 percent who believe he is “definitely guilty.” Republicans are less united than Democrats. Nearly 9 in 10 Democrats believe Trump is guilty, while nearly 7 in 10 Republicans think he is innocent. Among independents, nearly twice as many think Trump is guilty as think he is innocent.

You know how when you ~13 years old, and you have that friend who is just old enough to start taking Dungeons & Dragons books filled with splash art of succubi into the bathroom with him, but not yet old enough to get that "talking to girls" is an acquired skill? And they are blatantly, openly salivating over the first chick in the 7th grade class who discovered what power the combination of a camisole and a push-up bra holds over the male gaze? And she just completely ignores his faltering attempts at ~casual conversation~, so his brain script-cycles through its backlog of tween sitcom plots until it lands on, "Hey, what if I confess to her? Then she will know about my feelings!"

And you have to pull him aside and gently explain that, bro. She knows. That is not your problem.

Kriss is too intelligent a thinker to not understand this, but our dear Tomasky - and so many like him - has stuck his 14-year-old head in the sand over this. Swing voters know Trump is a scumbag! They know he lost the election, they know he raped a few women in his day, they know he is a serial fraudster. Even a bunch of those Republicans who, in polls, go "oh it's all a Dem conspiracy"? They know too; they just have the decency to lie about it. How could they not? Every media outlet in the country has been repeating it for a fucking decade! I might think voters are morons but even I won't stoop this low; they have eyes and ears, they aren't illiterate.

They just don't care.

Not enough at least, not enough to make it the only thing they consider. And here is the rub, here is the grand mistake Kriss & Tomasky are making - they are at least somewhat right to not care. The height of the Democratic privilege is that they get to play this card because they don't have to deal with it being turned against them. Kamala is a political chameleon but she is a decent person. She would never take a bribe from a foreign government, she would never assault a coworker, she would never, ever, deny a free and fair election.

Which means you don't have to choose between voting for a rapist and voting for someone who is going to shove a bullshit interpretation of the 14th amendment down your throat via a stacked court to ban abortion nationwide, forever. Pro-life people think abortion is genocide against babies! Why are you surprised they aren't voting for the pro-baby-genocide person because she is nice? How sure are you that you would do the same when that is reversed? I guess those boycott-Harris-because-of-Gaza people got some cred, but I think we all agreed they were dumb, right?

This is the rub of why outsiders always have so much difficulty understanding how people like Berlusconi, Trump, Le Pen, etc, get so much vote share - they have no stake in the political struggle beyond the vague idea of democratic norms. It is easy to say "Italy, choose a non-crook!" when you don't have to live with the policy programme of the other guy. From the inside the price of those principles is far, far harder. It isn't shocking that most choose not to pay it.

This isn't to give voters like a moral pass - Trump's conduct is truly disqualifying, I would vote Republican if the shoe was on the other foot in this case. My point instead is that they generally won't as a simple fact of life, and blaming them is futile. If you have wound up in a situation where the political system has taken its pool of hundreds of millions of potential candidates and narrowed it down to two for the voters, and one of them has "launched a coup but will say go to hell to the inflation guy" as a bundled package, someone fucked up and it isn't the voters.

You need political elites to do their part in the system - Republicans never should have let Trump be their candidate in 2016. Open primaries with no organizational thumbs on the scale are a mistake, actually, allowing arbitrary minorities to generate subpar candidates. The decision to let Biden run again was, fundamentally, born from the same impulse - the Democratic Party had no leadership capable of telling him no, because they outsourced that job to "primaries". The Dems are not "allergic" to democracy; democracy is allergic to too much of itself.

But the cat is out of the bag now! These changes happened for a reason after all. Which I won't dig into here - I will keep my point as focused as something as sprawling as this can be. Voters will not save you, and you should not be disappointed when they don't. It was never their job.

[rafedaddy01]

Fuck Me - R.C Smut

Summary: Rafes pov. He loses his virginity to you and finds himself consumed by you in the end. The thought of having anyone else to slip his dick inside is no longer there.

Warnings: smut, riding, language, loss of virginity(male)

A/n: comments are always appreciated! I love being critiqued on my work, but please no hate! I love writing for you guys and I love when you lmk how I’m doing 🫶

Holy shit. I can not believe that I am having sex right now. I am no longer a virgin!

Shit. She is so warm and tight, I’m going to fucking cum. She lowers her body, bouncing up and down as her eyes connect with mine. I can feel my entire cock pulsing inside her as she slides up and down.

My balls tighten with desire and I could cum any second.

My eyes rake down her body and back up to her beautiful eyes. Her tits are right in my face and what I wouldn’t give to pop her hardened nipple in my mouth. She uses my body just the way she likes, riding me, and I love it! I have to stop thinking about it, I have to gain self control and hold out for her. I want her approval, I crave it.

I’ve dreamed of being inside her and I am currently living out that dream. “You feel so good” she gasps out. She bounces and grinds her hips, using me for her pleasure.

My eyes want to roll in the back of my head but I urge them open, I don’t wanna miss a second of this. Her tits bounce with the force of her riding and I dig my nails into her bare thighs. There’d probably be marks by the morning, but I don’t care. Her hair sprawls all over her sweaty face but she doesn’t stop. She picks up the pace and flings her hair away from her face and behind her. Her head dips back in ecstasy and I force myself not to cum, again. I always figured sex would be this good, hearing the guys from the country club brag about it, but I never imagined it to be this good. Especially with the gorgeous girl using my body for her pleasure, it’s utterly breathtaking.

“I’m going to cum, I can’t hold back anymore” I moan out, which comes out more like a warning. I don’t want to disappoint her. I don’t want to finish too early. I want this feeling to last forever. I want to see her cum first, to see her fall apart with pleasure. But it feels to fucking good and I don’t think I can stop myself if she keeps going.

“Rafe I’m so fucking close, don’t you dare cum” she demands me and it drives me fucking wild.

It pulls the beast out of me as I lift my hips and thrust up into her. The sound of skin slapping fills the room.

“Holy shit” she groans as her pussy tightens around my dick “Rub my clit f’me” she says, her eyes holding contact with mine as she speaks. One of my hands lifts from her thigh and to her clit. I have no idea what I’m doing, but I need to figure it out because I can’t fucking hold out much longer. I try to do the same movements I did with my tongue earlier that had her screaming out, but I can’t seem to figure it out.

My eyes shoot up to her, worry laced in them, and desperate for her guidance. She continues grinding down onto my cock and moaning out as her hand comes over mine and shows me just how she likes it. I soak in the way she rubs my fingers over her swollen bud and focus on the sounds and jerks her body makes in response.

My pending orgasm makes my cock throb, but I hold back as I focus on making her feel good. Her moans get louder as her fingers move at a rapid pace on her clit and her legs shake before she slumps down, exhausted, but I keep fucking into her, wanting to experience every second with her.

“Oh god, I’m gonna cum!” She whispers, her voice is hoarse and laced with need. Her legs shake as her pussy tightens around me. Her orgasm washes over her and I keep thrusting as I watch her body thrash with pleasure, taking every fucking second in. Her head falls back and her eyes roll, her legs vibrate as she gets lost in her pleasure. I watch as her nipples pebble and I lick my lips, wanting to taste them. Our skin slaps against each other with sweat and the sound echoes. After this she is the only person that will make my dick hard. That’s the thought that has me spiraling into my own orgasm.

My cum coats every inch inside her pussy. I incoherently mumble words that have no meaning as she leans down , her chest against mine, and kisses me. Our lips stay connected as my cum seeps out deep inside her. She holds my head still as her tongue takes my breath away, and I let her.

Taglist:

@f4ll-for-you @v21sstuff @rafeysworldim19 @baby19sthings @sevenwivesofrafecameron @rxfecameronsslut @findapenny @r1vrsefx @spencerreidsrealgf @rafescokenostril @thievin-stealing

[superectojazzmage]

Watched the Nimona movie last night. Review I guess. It was pretty damn good. Definitely would’ve probably been regarded as Blue Sky’s magnum opus if they’d gotten to release it instead of being fucked over by Disney. Very cute, very funny, very powerful in the right moments. A thing that stuck out to me is that it’s really only an adaptation in the loosest sense of the word. It takes the core premise and beats of the comic but is functionally an entirely different kind of story that does its own thing. And given that ND Stevenson was heavily involved in production, I suspect that was intentional.

The comic was much darker and more downbeat in a lot of ways, plus it was significantly longer and thus could afford to be slower paced. But more than that, it was a lot more meaty in terms of themes and scope. The whole “LGBT allegory” element was there, but it wasn’t the sole focus, the comic was a story about a lot of different things; not just an LGBT experience, but also discussion of fantasy genre tropes and clichés, criticism of other fantasy deconstructions, character study, exploring what it means to be a hero or villain, critique of the glorification of crime and cruelty in underprivileged communities, corruption in governments, peer pressure, the senseless and self-perpetuating nature of violence, the worthlessness of revenge, etc.. And above all that, it was a story about trauma and people’s responses to it, with Ballister representing people who actually deal with their problems and move on while Nimona represented people who let their mistakes and suffering and grief consume their identity, or worse, use it as an excuse to indulge their worst qualities and take out their feelings on everyone around them.

The movie, by contrast, has a much more narrow focus. The LGBT allegory is front and center and basically the entire focal point of the movie, aside from a spattering of themes about the danger of zealotry and rigid fundamentalist thinking. This gives the movie a much tighter narrative and pacing that suits its inherently shorter runtime, but also leads to a ton of changes to the story either to convey a different kind of message or just work better in a different medium. Most obviously in how Nimona is vastly more sympathetic in the movie and essentially really is the silly gremlin the comic fakes you out into thinking she is, scrapping the comic’s twist that she was a genuinely bad person who was completely serious about wanting to be a villain, caring nothing for the lives she destroyed with her behavior and idolizing Ballister because she thought he was the same as her and would thus tell her what she wanted to hear (i.e., that she was justified in killing and destroying everything around her in the name of getting even). And in the changes to the Institution’s history and nature. And all sorts of other things.

All in all, I feel if you go in comparing and contrasting the movie and the comic, arguing which changes are for the better or worse, you’ll be setting yourself up for disappointment in either direction because they’re two different beasts and it’s like comparing apples and oranges. So keep that in mind if you’re a fan of the comic watching the movie or a fan of the movie wanting to look into the comic. I think ultimately I still like the comic better, but that’s purely my personal opinion and there’s plenty that I think the movie did better.

Some other observations:

Riz Ahmed my beloved, thank you Mr. Stevenson for this perfect casting. Literally perfect for Ballister.

Acting in general was very good. You can tell this was a passion project for a lot of people, not just Stevenson.

Only two changes that are objectively bad are Ambrosius losing his awesome Van Halen hairdo and changing Ballister’s last name — Blackheart is a way cooler name than Boldheart and it’s a pointless change, one that I’d argue even hurts the narrative since it makes it too obvious that Ballister isn’t actually a bad guy.

The animation is really great with fantastic expressions, stylish movement, and wonderful aesthetics that perfectly suit the story, but there’s times where it feels a little off. But there are parts where it looks less “movie” and more “cheap mid-2000s CGI-and-Flash cartoon show from France”.

The humor can be a hit and miss, in a “going through the motions of a Hollywood animated comedy for kids” way. The movie excels when it’s either imitating the comic’s Old Internet sense of humor or going hard on the drama, but there’s bits where it seemingly slams on the brakes to do Illumination-esque Twitter humor and those bits definitely throw off the vibe.

Having an actual straight up attempted suicide in the climax was shockingly ballsy. I genuinely can’t believe they went there, but I’m glad they did because the film wouldn’t have felt nearly as raw without it.

I don’t know how they managed to make the Director even more of an asshole than in the comics, but they did.

[utilitycaster]

I'm at a similar place than you, I think, regarding Scanlan's departure in the campaign vs the show.

Do you think, however, that Pike's presence throughout the show is possibly why they didn't go for the more violent Lament that people were expecting? Her support with regards to Kaylie was, I think, a big difference from where Scanlan was in the game.

(Also kinda sad that we're probably not getting Taryon, though cutting him makes sense especially if season 4 is the last one)

So, if I recall correctly, Scanlan's departure was much more motivated by the fact that he'd died in the Thordak fight, again in the Raishan fight, and everyone mocked him in Ank'Harel for the whole spice situation (and more generally that he was genuinely terrified throughout the entire conclave arc). It also, out of game, was partly inspired by Sam wanting to play another character for a while! I believe Sam at one point said that Scanlan's intention was not originally to spend time with Kaylie but just to leave; he brought that up while lashing out at everyone because he brought up anything he could because he was hurt and angry and scared and full of self-loathing, and when Percy said "then GO SPEND TIME WITH HER YOU FUCKHEAD" it changed what he was going to do. So I don't think that changed it.

I think what changed it is that, to be blunt, a lot of things that work in actual play don't work well in scripted narratives, and this is really one of the first cases we've seen of an adaptation where the original is fully available as well (I never watched Adventure Time but I know it's based in part off the creators' D&D games). Like...Scanlan messing around with suude works in-game, but it's kind of underbaked if you look at it. It's the same thing with Glintshore, and D&D combat in general. It's the same with Scanlan dying multiple times, which was a factor in him leaving, and frankly that kind of was an issue in-game: the amount of resurrections Vox Machina had was fucking bonkers, and everything CR has done since has made it clear they want to tell stories where character death is much more possible, likely, and permanent, from Candela to Daggerheart to the choices made in C2 and C3. Like, I don't think "oh it's an adaptation" is an answer to everything and I don't think that's how you should address people who are disappointed, but I do think that the changes made are in service of adaptation. It is really hard to write a S3 TLOVM script where a Bard's Lament makes sense, especially since my guess is S4 will be the last season.

Perhaps an unpopular opinion but while I adore Tary, the stretch of episodes he is in is the weakest part of the campaign since the pre-Briarwood arc days and as mentioned it's hard to write him in in a way that makes sense. The Vecna arc in-game is narratively great, but Vax's death comes quite early and it's GRIM. It's essentially an extended dungeon crawl where no one really thinks they'll make it out. I think the cast, to be clear, was still having fun! But Campaign 1 ends where it should have ended; Vox Machina's exhaustion by the end is palpable, and I think the improv nature and slow pace (not a bad thing, usually) of Actual Play lets the audience tolerate things far longer than they will in a scripted narrative and S3 of TLOVM seems to be thinking ahead in a very smart way, despite some of my personal critiques of Vax in particular.

[kikuism]

the best books i read in 2024!

this year was all right in terms of reading. there were many duds, but the books i did enjoy i truly enjoyed, and really stuck out to me in a sea of mediocrity. there's a difference between a book i think is good and a book i think is great, and that's when it changes my brain chemistry in a way that inspires me as a writer <3 all of these just had a little kick to them. i really wanted to emulate some of what these books did in my own work.

intermezzo: i'd never picked up a sally rooney book before because i wasn't interested in them being primarily romance oriented, but the brothers being the main characters here intrigued me so i picked it up and the rest is history <3 this was so tender. it's about the importance of community and how the small kindnesses of the people around you are what will save you and how people need people. it was so lovely. and i was completely enamored with her writing style, the way she used two completely different styles for ivan and peter, it was so effective. and i love when a man is in intense emotional pain, so ivan's chapters were like crack to me. i don't care if this didn't really have a plot, or that it was, as one review said, ‘just sad people doing sad things’, it scratched such an itch in my brain and made me realize i do actually quite like contemporary if it's written like this. introspective, meandering, somber, thoughtful 💙 my favorite book of the year!

in memoriam: historical fiction my beloved <3 so i've already spoken at length how i adore english novels that take place in the english countryside around the ww2 era (or any era of turmoil/at the cusp of change) so it was a given i was going to love this, and i did. i still can't believe this is a debut....the character work was astonishing, the newspaper clippings made my heart drop every time, the meditations on england, the futility of war and the clarity it brings, the way the wool was pulled from their eyes all made for such an immersive, emotional experience. it was so unbelievably good. again, i'm in shock this is a debut.....i can't wait for what else alice winn does.

pink heart jam: my only manga! this was completely unexpected. i loved this one so much. bl is full of tropes i couldn't care less for so i was shockingly pleased how normal this was. like, the two main characters were even the same height (!!!!), their conversations felt so realistic and honest, there was a tenderness and maturity to it all that i absolutely didn't expect (the bar is in hell). is it perfect? well, no <3 but the older i get, the less time i have for nonsensical garbage, especially in the bl genre (why is it so hard to find a tender, raw story that isn't just gratuitous sex and unsavoury tropes and which also has a lovely art style.....), so this was literally a diamond in the rough—i'd honestly given up finding anything worthwhile. i'm so disappointed that part 2 was cancelled....i know i won't find anything else like this for a long time.

poor things: shockingly funny! i think it's really hard to do the 'new human learns about civilization' type of story in a way that's both engaging and entertaining but poor things manages it and more. a scathing critique on capitalism and patriarchy. what struck me really is how pathetic all of these men are, whining and flapping about in the name of some supposed goodness they are working toward. the use of language, especially hyperbolic language made for a book that i did not expect to be so funny, and bella’s dialogue was such a treat. two different narrations of the same events by two unreliable narrators makes for a reading experience that has you questioning everything you've just read while reaffirming the core themes of the text. it's genius.

the library at mount char: i don't want to say too much about this one, but there's a genre of book i like to call simply fucked up. just outlandish in the best way possible. what a wild ride.....everyone should read this one!

now for my two honorable mentions—

the goldfinch: this is no surprise.....i'll read anything donna tartt writes. like what else is there to even say about her. she's a master at the craft, and i loved sitting back and relishing in that fact and knowing i was in such capable hands. i loved the experience of reading this. she created such a world and such a colorful cast of characters and i loved being along for the ride, especially as someone who's enamored with art and art history. i'd been meaning to read this one for years and i'm so glad i finally did! when's the next book donna!!!!

prophet song: really harrowing, really prevalent story that absolutely moved me to my core with some devastating imagery that's going to stay with me. a family torn apart, a mother's ironclad will in ensuring the survival of herself and her children. it was hard to read. all throughout there was a permeable tension pulsing just underneath the surface which made for an unputdownable experience. it's really important. everyone should read this one!

[eledritch]

hey! are you playing the new dragon age? thoughts!

yes, I finished it!

I have.....a lot of thoughts, but what it boils down to is that while I'd recommend the game (it's generally quite fun as a game, polished, gorgeous environments, combat that is overall fun & dynamic, & it actually made me care about Solas so that's a point in its favor) and I think it's amazing that it exists after such a long & fraught wait, it was disappointing for me in several big ways:

1. I didn't like Rook's character (someone said it feels like a JRPG in the sense that the protagonist is kind of already a defined personality meant to serve as more of an anchor to the party characters and I agree; it felt like Rook got minimal characterization & development throughout). I wish we'd gotten to play Rook's origin story and/or had way more dialogue choices. The flatness of Rook as a PC consistently made it tough for me to get engaged with this game the way I have with the other DA games.

2. Yikes @ Taash & all of the nonbinary/trans rep in the game. I wanted to love Taash so fucking much, you guys. I could not. Every aspect of Taash's character fell flat for me (except their design, that's great), especially their coming out scene with their mom (I thought Shathann was a super interesting character and I felt like the game did not want us to like her, much like DAI wants you to dislike Dorian's dad...but only one of these parents is worthy of disdain). I think the game also does an astonishingly poor job at trying to make a storyline about intersectional identity. Don't get me started on how Qunari, particularly the Antaam, are portrayed in the game...

I also played as a nb Rook and those dialogue choices all felt weird (& sometimes viscerally cringe & HUH) to me too, it only felt affirming when other characters used they/them pronouns for my Rook and bro that's the BARE MINIMUM. so I was just totally disappointed and also confused as to how this happened, given that I've really loved Trick Weekes' writing in the past.

3. There is a lack of inter-party conflict and the romance leaves a lot to be desired. I do think that especially by Act 3 this game does have some ~Dragon Age Edge~ to it (I liked a lot in Act 3, big Mass Effect vibes...at the same time tho, why does a Dragon Age game have Mass Effect vibes?? They've always felt so distinct to me in previous games; less so here). But I get why people were upset that, for example, your Rook can't be a jerk or even critique other characters (though Rook does have a lot of dialogue with what felt to me like an unintentionally condescending tone). They do try to create a confrontational dynamic between Lucanis and Davrin but that felt forced and unconvincing to me.

Because of this, because I never felt like I really knew my companions' core beliefs or flaws, and I wasn't able to argue with them or change/challenge any of their beliefs, I didn't feel very attached to many of the companions. I do think Emmrich was quite well written, and Neve is good too, but I romanced Davrin and I gotta say, the romance in this game was weirdly minimal (in my experience at least). You can't talk to your companions whenever you want. You can't give them a little kiss whenever you want. This is a core aspect of DA games for me so it was a bummer not to see it in Veilguard. There ARE a lot of cool cutscenes and interactions between the other party characters, but Rook is just a witness to those, kind of standing on the sidelines or awkwardly interrupting. Which comes back to the problem of Rook in this game! (For me, at least.)

4. This game's approach to slavery or lack thereof is a glaring issue. I could write a whole essay on this but I won't do so here. Suffice to say: I thought this was handled poorly and in a frankly cowardly way, considering that this game was so big on inclusion and social justice. I played as a Shadow Dragon elf Rook and there was ONE conversation about how "being an elf in Tevinter must be hard" (DUDE...). We do not see slavery in Tevinter except in a few codex entries (one by Dorian which...I HAVE THOUGHTS) and allusions, random NPCs here and there, and "uh oh gotta help the Dalish," etc. Fenris's absence haunts the narrative HARD. This is a big problem and I haven't seen a lot of talk about it, but especially since slavery also existed under the Evanuris, and Solas is supposedly anti-slavery, the way Veilguard consistently swerves around slavery is wild.

Idk, it just feels shitty that they devoted the resources to hiring diversity consultants to write a nonbinary character (presumably, because most of the dialogue about that reads like a DEI statement) but they did not devote time and energy and nuance to including slavery in the narrative in any meaningful way. Although maybe it's for the best that they didn't, given how not nuanced a lot of the writing in this game felt to me.

So, yeah...some things I liked about it and I do think when it comes down to it, Veilguard is a good game, but it's not a great Dragon Age game, and it's certainly not the DA4 I personally wanted :/ I am planning to try to replay it and maybe my thoughts will develop more after that, because believe me I wanna give this game all the chances.

[segasister]

you just hate Charlie because it’s popular to hate her. Form your own opinion you brainless cunt. Kill yourself thanks.

On the contrary, I hate what the show did to my favorite character in the show. I loved her in the pilot. She actually had a spine, she wasn't as inconsiderate to those around her. The show looked at, "take no shit from other demons," and went, "Fuck that noise! Let's have completely helpless when standing up to her friend's abuser and, I don't know, literally fighting for her and her friends' lives and have her rely on her father to save her."

I'm disappointed, really, because I want to love Charlie as much as I did in the pilot! But alas, her writing was garbage. Vivziepop just does not know how to write women, which is especially bad considering that this is supposed to be the, "female-led," show.

Also, it's okay to critique things you like. It's okay to find flaws in something you enjoy. You don't need to blindly praise and justify everything about a thing just because you like it. You have permission.

[bunnyshideawayy]

cassian. great man, wonderful friend, absolutely terrible mate.

we have seen Nesta’s sisters, who arguably have less of a reason, defend her more than Cassian has ever thought about. HELLO?

my issue with cassian acosf and onward is that we are truly expected to believe they he deeply understands Nesta when he’s been shown time and again to never stick up for her and never fully trust her. he does nothing to help her over come and face her traumas / depression, she’s left to do that on her own, but best believe he’s down to fuck and make her hike! (no sarah sex and physical exercise are not cures)

after reading the entire series once and now twice seeing Rhys threatening anyone who dares breath wrong in Feyre’s direction under the guise of just “protecting his mate” i find it extremely hard to believe cassian allowed or even sides with anyone who speaks ill of/to Nesta or threatens her- all of which Rhysand and most of the IC (besides her sisters and Az) do, most of the time while directly in front of cassian in conversations he’s involved in. the most he does is…pout a little? throws a hissy fit? the two times i can remember him even remotely stick up for Nesta he immednantly backtracks as soon as Rhysand pushes back, both times the final decision being put in Feyre’s hands, this continues even into CC3 (and let’s thank the mother Feyre loves her sisters which is something ik yall nesta haters can’t stand.)

let’s move onto something i know yall don’t want to talk about, his verbal abuse. “oh but nesta also said-“ we know what she said, that is not the point. if this man knew all along nesta was his mate and truly wanted to help her heal from her traumas and depression why did he take every chance he could to provoke her? Nesta called Rhysand an asshole, and he IS especially to Nesta, and instead of keeping silent as he does when Rhys/the IC harshly critique her, he immediately gets angry and in her face to defend him. funny he can’t do that with her, his MATE? or let’s talk about this scene

oh okay! that’s totally something you say unprompted to your mate who is severely depressed and traumatized because she won’t eat! she’s totally not shaking because she’s triggered! then to add the lecture “we’ve been here before, too” oh okay! so you admit you know what she feels like (very doubtful although i’m not going to compare their traumas, both are valid he just does not understand her like he thinks he does) it’s patronizing and a little frustrating. she doesn’t want to be there in the first place, purposely throwing a sensitive subject in her face will not magically motivate her or cure her- she is simply doing what she has no choice in. she has been stripped of all autonomy, humanity, and “normality”- she feels alone and valuable in a way she as never felt before and she has NO HELP. none!

i’ll end with the hike. yay more physical activity as punishment- but if i said that was abuse yall will bring up the pregnancy so ill do it for you! Yes, Nesta was wrong to tell Feyre THE WAY SHE DID, she had every right to tell Feyre about her own body and pregnancy, it just shouldn’t have happened the way it did. everyone knew it was wrong to keep it from Feyre, even Cassian, so instead of forcing her to hike a mountain as punishment to ware her down mentally and physically he couldve stood up for both Feyre and Nesta to Rhysand the moment he threatens to KILL NESTA. a simple “hey buddy you knew it was wrong to keep that from Feyre you can’t kill my mate for telling her even if it was out of anger” would suffice. not once during their entire hike or during her breakdown does he reassure her, not even when she is tearing herself apart because she doesn’t feel worthy. don’t even get me started on what happens in CC3.

over all i think Nessian is great and they have some great moments, the end of ACOWAR lives rent free in my mind but i am incredibly disappointed with Cassian. i do feel like Nesta deserves better from everyone (besides Feyre and Elain who, again, are the only ones who i truly believe love her unconditionally.)

anti nesta’s this is not a safe space for you.

[jaydenix]

Why Mirta is my favourite Winx Club character

I mean, the aesthetic helps. I like redheads and goths, which she is both of, also she has that black sleeveless top which seems to keep popping in my "literally me" characters (Susie from Deltarune, Dipper from Gravity Falls, and Hilda from Pokemon B&W)

So what do I see in Mirta?... Idk I like her ig, what? I don't have to have super well-thought opinions every time, she's just cool! And you know it!

But I guess a little extra analysis wouldn't hurt would it:

So as we all know, Winx Club's witches aren't the best. The show takes a very simplistic view that fairies are innately good, and witches are innately evil. This essentialist view has been critiqued extensively overtime and for good reason: it's a major missed opportunity to have such a narrow idea of what fairies and witches are, and also is just not very original. Witches and witchcraft in media have been portrayed extensively as just simply evil with no real explanation. Winx Club could have chosen to have taken a more interesting and original interpretation, but true to the shows mission statement of being brutally average, it doesn't. I've got some of my own ideas of how they could've handled this and I'll probably share those in a future post. But sufficed to say: Winx Club's witches are definitely a disappointment (for a more comprehensive look at witches, see Unicorn of War's video on YouTube about the subject).

But then we have Mirta, the one good witch supposedly. Bar the Trix, the ancestral witches, and maybe Griffin she's probably the most important witch in the show at least earlier on. The fact that she's actually different by being good invites intrigue to her character, she actually believes in something which is really quite cool and a nice standout amongst the rest. The Trix clearly are the mean girls in Cloud Tower with other witches wanting to be like them or to be friends with them. Lucy, Mirta's best friend, is in this camp and is disillusioned with her looks and supposed status and seeks to remedy this by trying to be more like the Trix. Mirta on the other hand doesn't follow this dogma and tries to convince Lucy to stay clear of them. This is great, though as I've said it would've been nice if the show portrayed witches more broadly as being a bit less black and white. Her assistance to the Winxes was cool too informing them of the Trix' plans and actions. Wow! Isn't that so awesome! She was shaping up to be an interesting and well-developed and fleshed out side character and then they remembered it was season 1 and that's illegal so they turn her into a pumpkin so they can forget about her. Why? Because fuck you! That's why! Though seriously, I don't mind in theory she was turned into a pumpkin but like really? She could've been a really fun part of the equation throughout the latter parts of season 1 as like the Winxes' witch counterpart. ALSO, when they bring her back to Alfea in pumpkin form, did they not think to like, ask Faragonda to turn her back? The Trix did the spell pre-dragonflame I highly doubt it's anything Faragonda or at the very least Griffin couldn't handle which I'd imagine they'd probably want to inform her of what'd happen considering she's one of her students?! Man if I was Mirta I'd be PISSED off. #JusticeForMirta. Eventually she's freed from her pumpkinhood and once season 1 concludes she decides to become a fairy and transfers to Alfea. Like with becoming a pumpkin: I don't hate that she does this on principle, but I do think it says a lot about how the show writes its witches that the one they make out to be good-natured ends up choosing to become a fairy. Like the view of fairies and witches is THAT rigid.

Though I also do think it's a fun transgender analogy, the idea of being able to transition from witch to fairy and vice versa. The 4Kids dub takes this idea much more seriously with Mirta being described as "transmagic" and Darcy also states "she claims to be fairy who just so be happened to be born in the wrong body", this appears to be a very intentional parallel to the "born in the wrong body" idea that is often used to explain what being trans feels like*, and this was back in 2007 for crying out loud. Additionally Mirta and Lucy are probably the closest thing the main show has to a queer couple, obviously not canon by any means, but they have a very strong bond and are shown to dance together at the end of season 2 (or was it 3 I forgot). Mirta therefore arguably has the most going for her out of any character when it comes to Queer representation.

*Just to be clear, I know plenty of trans people dislike and discredit the "born in the wrong body" narrative, I'm just pointing it out because it does seem this is what the scriptwriters were aiming for.

I like Mirta a lot because of what she could have been. I really think she's an awesome character who had a lot of potential to be fleshed out way more and serve a more involved role in her allyship with the Winxes in season 1 and beyond. It would've been so cool and she deserved way better. I imagine many would be wondering if I think she should've been part of the Winx as she's probably the second most commonly proposed member besides Roxy to be one, and the answer to that is fairly definitive no. Six to me has always felt like a natural limit for these kinds of groups, any more and it starts to be a bit much, which is why I'm glad Roxy didn't become a proper part of the group when season 5 came around (though she still deserved more than what she got). Simply adding Mirta the Winx would ignore the problem that she doesn't get fleshed out enough as a character. Maybe it could've worked in some alternate timeline but she could've been a useful asset to the Winx and the show as a whole whilst not necessarily being a member.

So that's why I like Mirta, she's a fun character who I will defend that she should've gotten more until the day I die. This gay little goth redhead has been my favourite for a long time and I don't see that changing any time soon. Keep stanning Mirta people.

P.S: I really didn't expect this post to get this long LOL I genuinely was gonna post just the "idk I like her" bit and then move on but I was like "ehh, I'll write a little bit" and then I spent 2 hours writing way this whole thing it's 3am I need spiritual assistance okay BYE.

[khruschevshoe]

Jim and Oluwande got the worst end of the deal. I'd even say they regressed as both characters and partners and anything they had built up in s1 was almost completely stripped away from them. The way they're portrayed together and apart in s2 is not only unlike the characters we saw in s1, but their rich storyline was reduced to extreme side characters used only as plot devices in a way they absolutely did not have to be used. I LOVED them in s1, and I was so disappointed by what s2 did to them and their potential growth, which I think applies to pretty much everything in s2, not only them.

Mind if I piggyback of this ask to go into all my critiques of the handling of Jim/Olu in Season 2? Thanks!

OFMD Critique: Tealoranges, Dropped Storylines, and Wasted Potential

God, the issues I have with the writing of Season 2 extend in so many directions. Jim's character, I felt, was well-handled for at least the first two episodes but then slowly starts skewing wrong as early as episode 3 (I am still chewing glass over the way their reunion scene with Oluwande was written- or, rather, NOT written). Episode 4 was good, but everything after that? Someone said that Jim in the back half of the season feels more like Vico than Jim, and though I do love and appreciate Vico, it's completely true. Jim doesn't feel like the same character we've come to know, whether from Season 1 or even what is set up in early season 2.

And yet, I STILL feel like they're written better than Olu, if you can believe it? So, I haven't talked about this much, but I feel like Olu is done dirty from almost the moment he is introduced in Season 2. At least Jim (through editing alone, but hey, we'll give the show the smallest benefit of the doubt) gets an acknowledgement that they miss Olu during that flashback sequences while they talk to Archie- Olu doesn't even get that. I read about a deleted scene that would have had Pete and Olu desperate to reunite with Lucius and Jim in episode 1 and I feel like that was DESPERATELY needed to make the Season 1 finale -> Season 2 jump make any sort of sense. I like Zheng, but for the love of God, her romance with Olu (which I had my own issues with for the disservice it does both their characters) is not worth destroying the tealoranges build up from Season 1. Just cut something from the first episode or one of the Zheng/Olu scenes from the second episode to make it make sense.

Then, moving onto later in the season- I've posted about how Olu and Jim deserved the grand, epic reunion otherwise 1x10 and everything set up with them in Season 1 doesn't make sense. Could the writers of the show have possibly redistributed some of the glorious cinematography from Ed and Stede over to Jim and Olu? All I need is one shot of their reunion (a proper, emotional one, not played for laughs or friendship or whatever) framed by the sun to parallel Ed and Stede's being framed by the moon and I would have been happy on that front.

And then later in the season...I was down for the poly elements if they could have been executed better. Fanfics have shown that the Archie plot could have been executed well. But the fact that Zheng is straight up NOT MENTIONED until 2x7 by Olu? And then Jim says that he's been pining for her the whole time? I'm sorry, but it doesn't compute. Show, don't tell. There's a reason why I'm down for Jim/Archie/Olu (if executed well), but can't see Zheng/Olu at all.

But of course, 2x7 comes along and we get the "family who fucked" line. And the implication that Olu could have ever left the Revenge without Jim, when in Season 1 he became a wreck because Jim left for A FEW DAYS, much less was FORCEFULLY SEPARATED from him for MONTHS. Then in the finale, at the lupete wedding, they were separated out, him with Zheng and them with Archie, and, well, at that point...I was tired. I'm not gonna lie. Because this wasn't questionable or problematic writing, it just fundamentally DIDN'T MAKE SENSE.

And this is just on a romantic relationship POV. I hated seeing Olu lose his leadership arc from Season 1 and his loyalty to Jim and his nuanced emotional level-headedness/sense of logic. Season 1 really felt like it was slowly building up the idea that the ideal Captain was neither Stede nor Blackbeard but someone a bit more rational, a bit more grounded, a bit more communicative with his crew- someone like Olu. And he gets shoved into the back in Season 2 and reduced to the guy who can't sort scrolls or know that the BOATS ON A MAP MATTER. He gets no influence on plot or major decisions when he was often the voice of reason in Season 1 (we all remember Lucius being a romantic voice of reason in Season 1, but rarely remember that Olu was a major supporting deciding factor in a number of decisions made on the Revenge).

And as for Jim, I wanted more exploration or even just acknowledgement of their trauma post episode-4. I wanted an actual organic continuation of their character arc post-vengeance quest and post-Blackbeard, not just them getting defined by "funny knife thrower with a girlfriend and an ex-boyfriend who they want to get with his crush." They were so much more than that, and it killed me to see the two people who were basically main character 3 and 4 in Season 1 get shoved aside for unneeded subplots about Ricky and Zheng or Gentlebeard's three separate breakups when Jim and Olu's plotline had so much more potential than any of that. They weren't just star-crossed lovers- they were a slow burn ship built of absolutely interesting, complicated, and well-developed characters who brought out the best in each other with a DEVASTATING midpoint to their arc and it honestly would have made a better season not just for them as characters, but for the show overall if someone had just realized that the parallels between a couple that fights and claws to stay together no matter what (tealoranges) and a main ship that was still figuring itself out (Gentlebeard) would have SLAPPED.

(I am now picturing a version of this season where instead of the Izzy fakeout death/Gentlebeard reunion in the beginning of the first episode, we get an Olu/Jim reunion in episode 3 to parallel whatever reunion the writers wanted to slap together for Stede/Ed. I would have actively cried over the Olu/Jim reunion and it would have drastically improved the season.)

[edalynn]

Thank you for your various huntl0w negative posts because I've never liked the ship but I've never took the time to put it into words and you do it so well. I'm just now coming back into the fandom and the sheer amount of it is. Kinda disappointing.

I feel like both Hunter and Willow become significantly less interesting characters due to it. (And I'm honestly really attached to the idea of aroace willow personally. Even before the finale it was my main hc for her)

Also as someone who is physically disabled, to the point of not being able to do some tasks abled bodied people can do. The comparison being willow being "half a witch" and hunter being one as well is. So odd. As a justification for the ship

Because willow just isnt physically disabled? Shes even extremely good at the magic shes good at. She was only bad at magic previously because she had not yet found the thing shes good at.

While Hunter just can't use magic. (And, in Hindsight this makes the girlboss/Male wife dynamic they're forced into having even. More uncomfortable for me because of course the abled person has to "be the leader". Despite the fact that the disabled is extremely capable.

You are very welcome, anon! And as an aside, I’m sorry to the anons and asks that have rotted in my inbox over the past year,, work has been taking over my life and I have had much brain power to devote to responding to asks or,, talking to people in general. I definitely want to work on getting some semblance of my life back this coming year lmao (now that I have a good team who can mostly cover things if I need time to myself).

Hunter & Willow definitely both become less interesting characters after they’re shoved together in the show, which is canonically platonic and not even romantic, so imagining them in a canon romantic relationship is even worse. Hunter has one passion: tradhusband, while Willow girlbosses herself into becoming swole and playing sports… uninterestingly. Jokes aside, I also subscribe to aroace Willow, even over the more popular aroace Hunter headcanon. She never, ever, ever showed interest in any sort of romance throughout the entire show, and I argue doesn’t even show it to Hunter in the finale as she acts the same way with Gus in the end credits (the blink & you miss it blush in FtF aside). Willow has been shown throughout the whole series to be very physical and touchy with her close friends. And that’s that to me 🤷🏼‍♀️

The disability issue is just. A whole other world of baffling to me that we even let that slide in the show. Everyone I’ve heard comment on it has been physically disabled to some extent themselves (including myself), so I’m not really sure why those critiques aren’t taking precedence over the people that like the ship. It’s always made me extremely uncomfortable for the exact reason you said- Willow is not disabled, and is actually good at magic. She was just being held back due to her dad’s wanting to encourage a more “useful” coven track. Hunter literally cannot preform magic. Which is a disability on the Isles, when everyone else born there naturally has magic and uses it in their every day lives. I cannot get over the concept of their “half-a-witch” experiences being anywhere close to similar. If someone like Willow said that to me, when what I was referring to was being physically disabled, I would have been SO put off by it. I hadn’t even fully considered the implications of the trope they get pigeon-holed into, even by the crew, in relation to that fact. Which is. So fucking icky actually. Especially when you also consider how bulldozing and pushy Willow is, both in general and when they first met, all but forcing him to join her team & sucking him underground with vines at one point. And then the next time they see each other being totally down with Bump turning him in, and only stepping in when he gives real proof that he’d been with Gus, who is and has been her best friend for years. Willow was 100% ready to back him being handed over to Belos despite knowing the things Belos has done. Just. Hate that relationship concept personally. But maybe that’s just me 🙃

[thecreaturenewt]

i feel like this is the only website where i can share my honest feelings about nosferatu because every other website has an audience that does not have enough vampire media knowledge to understand where im coming from when i say i was disappointed. SPOILERS AHEAD

i had incredibly high expectations for this film. this is as and enjoyer of the 1922 nosferatu, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and a plethora of other vampire media. The sexuality and lack of will associated with vampires and their hypnotic abilities is something I was expecting to see as well as the hypersexuality imposed on the vampire’s thralls (like the brides of dracula) but the focus of the story not being on nosferatu himself but ellen writhing around, gyrating, and telling her husband he could never fuck as as good as the maggot infested nosferatu who comes to her in her dreams? not compelling to me, especially when there is so much incredible source material to inform any character writing.

in the beginning of the film we can hardly get a good look at our titular character which i understood, we want a ghastly reveal, but i was underwhelmed. there was no big reveal, at first he was blurred and in shadow- then he was there,, again really letting me down. to depict his control over thomas we get skips of time that are meant to feel dizzying but mostly felt lazy,, like they weren’t willing to put the effort into showing us some type of control or hypnosis, and with ellen we get her eyes rolling back and seizing and moaning with her responding to Orlok’a disembodied voice.

While the film was comprised of a great deal of well still shots I couldn’t help but feel there was a great deal of focus on aesthetics opposed to writing a genuinely compelling piece which I was so surprised by because the director, Robert Eggers has blown me away with previous projects! (The Lighthouse, The VVitch, The Northman, etc.) I also noticed a great deal of the scenes felt sort of shoddily mashed together. There would be a scene, a quick transition, and another scene with very little time to comfortably shift,, this may also seem a strange critique but I found a lot of the scenes felt like video game cutscenes.

One thing I think contributed to the was the almost NPC like behavior of some of the characters. The characters were introduced and I immediately knew what role each of them would be filling in the film. Freidrich, the non-believer and the husband, Anna the friend of Ellen and wife of Freidrich, the daughters,, just daughters- no real depth, Ellen the friend of Anna the wife of Thomas- her character was more full as we heard of nightmares she’s suffered from since childhood and a love oof her husband that saved her(?) from this,, again making her a wife and sexual object first and an individual second, and Thomas,, there to sell a house, husband of Ellen, and other than that quite a flat character, even Nosferatu, we didn’t get the classic ‘oh I need her because she looks like one of my wives from years ago!’ Ellen was just ??? lonely??? when she was younger so she called out to a presence and Nosferatu answered?? from Transylvania?? and has been waiting this entire time?? to see her??

I understand wanting to come to the Dracula/Nosferatu mythos with your own twist or some original ending but choosing to have Ellen open herself to be the ‘willing victim’ felt so easy? and thoughtless? and somehow also convoluted? sacrificing the young maiden is really the most boring choice that possibly could’ve been made here, and again I wouldn’t be harping on this so severely if there wasn’t so much incredible source material to work off of.

The most compelling parts of the movie must have occurred in the first 20 minutes because that was when I was most engaged. It was unsettling, it was dark, it was gothic, and from there I was let down. Sure there were good scenes here and there after, and if I had never read Dracula, seen the original Nosferatu, or consumed a great deal of the vampire media I have- I think I would’ve really liked the movie; but I have so I didn’t.

[moony-2001]

Lore Olympus ep. 256 critique

A note from last episode

One thing I forgot to mention in my last episode critique is why would Apollo even be allowed to take the throne? Hera still exists. Zeus has brothers who could step up. Other legitimate children. Obviously, Apollo is the “de facto” ruler for the sole reason that the plot needs to be driven forward somehow, but realistically Apollo would be, like, the last person who’s allowed to step up. Speaking of which, where is Artemis? She knows what Apollo is like. Why doesn’t she step up if they’re letting literally anyone rule?

Ah, yes, of course. Our fearless protector of women, everyone. I have so many things I could say about Artemis and her portrayal in this comic but for the sake of keeping this post relatively short, let's move on.

The fucking nightie

Oh. My. God. The nightgown.

I literally had to put down my phone when I first saw her in this. The rage I felt and still feel when I look at her.

Persephone is a queen and she just found out her brother-in-law/supreme ruler is in critical condition after being poisoned with a "mystery substance". Jfc have a little decency. And I don't want to hear "Oh WeLl ShE oBvIoUsLy DiDn'T hAvE tImE tO cHaNgE" or "sHe DoEsN't HaVe AcCeSs To ClOtHiNg" because she so obviously did. Hades is wearing a full-ass suit. She had time to cut her hair and "accessorize" with a stupidly oversized hat and cape. She is a QUEEN. She has access to all the clothing she could possibly want. Persephone has no excuse for showing up in a skimpy little nightgown.

I just-

Persephone is not a good queen

Let’s be real here. Persephone is a terrible queen. What have we, as readers, actually seen her do for the betterment of the underworld.

She doesn't even follow through on her "promise" to help with the influx of the dead. Instead, she focuses on her own personal problem of her powers taking a massive shit because of a deal she made with an unknown being (which was her own choice). I mean, who could've foreseen the consequences of making a shoddy deal with being you've literally had no previous interactions with. Not me, that’s for damn sure /s

Let's see what Persephone has done thus far leading up to and during her reign as queen:

terrorized lower-class citizens

caused the return of Kronos

caused a child deity to be held hostage/abused by Kronos

Tartarus being controlled by Kronos (caused by Persephone)

the mortal realm dying

still hasn't established Elysium

verbally abused recently deceased mortals because they're confused and haven't provided a resounding yes to help with... whatever it was she was trying to do.

lots of sex

letting 2 beings who have no business listening to a leadership meeting listen in anyways because it's "background noise"

Yep, all the actions of a great queen.

Also, side note, when have we ever seen Hecate be nosey? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but Hecate has pretty much always looked out for her best interests and tried not to get involved in others' drama. Am I surprised that Rachel is changing a character's personality? No. Am I disappointed? At this point, also no. Let's continue on.

The meeting

The meeting was certainly… something. I will say I loved Apollo getting his shit rocked by Ares. But after that, Apollo says this:

I mean... he's kinda right? Yes, it was all a big ploy to get specifically Persephone there, but Apollo isn't wrong. Persephone does have a habit of hiding in the underworld and letting Hades deal with her shit instead of facing her problems head-on. Yet another fantastic trait to tack onto her resume as queen.

And on that note, we circle back to the beginning of this post. After Hades has his big-boy temper tantrum, Athena and Amphitrite rightfully point out a few things:

Athena is right, Apollo has no claim to the throne, not when Hera is still around and especially not as a bastard child of Zeus. In terms of a line of succession (especially since all of his children excluding Hebe are grown), Athena would be the best candidate for this temporary position. She's the goddess of wisdom. Who else could fit this role? Poseidon and Amphitrite are busy ruling the oceans, Hades and Persephone are off doing whatever, Ares is all brawn and no brain, and Hephestus wants nothing to do with his family. I mean, we haven't actually had any kind of serious interaction involving him since like halfway through s2 I'm not counting those 2 little portions in s3 with Aphrodite.

And once again, we have a character that is so close to figuring it out but I guess we can't be affording too many brain cells to Amphitrite since she was to share with all the rest of the characters. Also, rip Aphitrite and all her pretty loops and swirls. I miss the individuality the characters had back in s1.

Before the meeting can continue any further, Demeter bursts in deeply distressed and crying out:

B-bbb-but how can we tell if the mortal realm is actually dying if we don't have a handy little message at the end of the chapter that clarifies whether or not this is a metaphor???? Rachel, you know your audience only has the reading comprehension skills of a kindergartener, how do you expect us to cope??

Sorry lol.

Final thoughts

Surprisingly I found this chapter to be a little short, but I don’t know if that’s just me. Again I wouldn’t say that this chapter is any worse than 255 but it’s not great either, y’all know the drill by this point.

Until my next post! I’m hoping to be all caught up by early next week? And then I can start posting more fun things that aren’t chapter critiques 👀

[bonefall]

I’m not sure if you talked about it, but what do you think about A Thief in Thunderclan? I actually liked it, though it definitely had a few ehhh moments

Eh, honestly? Im kinda disappointed that James Barry had to go out on such a low note. I did not like it, it felt like a waste of time.

It wasn't like... offensively bad but I have very little good to say about it. It was fine. If you want to see more ThunderClan you can check it out?

(A lot of Thief in ThunderClan critique below the cut, I didn't like it much)

First of all, the mystery was just bad. I'm sorry. An owl? Swooping in at night for dead animals and leaving perfect scores in the dirt? It felt like a real "running out of ideas" type plot.

Brightheart was NOT fun to follow. She was uncomfortable for most of the story and secondhand embarassment is an emotion I really don't enjoy. Even moments that were supposed to be thought-provoking (like the Brambleclaw name confrontation) just felt like cringe because they were written so poorly.

Like, seriously? "Firestar why did you name Bramble after his father who disfigured me?" "Oh its because i uhhhh wanted to remind ppl of it so they would stop being reminded of it eventually" WHAT? That was a brainless enough choice when it was FIRST made, you can't fucking tell me any cat with a brain cell would go "wao... really makes you think... hngsociety"

I disliked the fact they decided to give Brightheart serious suspicion towards people like Longtail and Brambleclaw, I strongly disagree she would be like that. She feels so much to me like someone who would feel awful for doubting people she logically knows are innocent, and express to Cloudtail that it makes her feel like a bad person, but she CANT help it. She is such a kind, loving, and self doubting sort of cat... or, was, I guess? Or maybe it was never there at all and I'm the fool.

On that note? Her character arc was a mess. As much as I hate Shadow in RiverClan, I can say that Feathertail's arc was a competent *story*. Brightheart is having nightmares, suspects Bramble and Long of treason, is trying to figure out this mystery, trying to help train Rainpaw, the fact she resents not being his mentor is mentioned and dropped, she is pregnant... so much shit is going on and it feels absolutely unfocused.

And even worse, because it's overlapping with the beginning of Firestar's Quest, we end up having to Show Off The Continuity instead of telling a cohesive story. Oop Willowpelt died and Rainpaw is kind of sad about it! But wait we have to say bye to Firestar, make sure to squeeze in the Brambleclaw name confrontation before he goes! GO BACK Longtail has been blinded!! ALSO THE OWL! HERES WHY THE OWL WASNT MENTIONED IN FQ!!

And DUDE if there's anything that's a SERIOUS problem, it's Brightheart's stupid ass cutesy "look who's being USEFUL in here!" When blinded Longtail is helping out in the medcat den

First of all fuck you for the wording of that line! Second of all, GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD that disabled people shouldn't have to find a way to be "useful" to belong to their society.

The fact we're getting a book from Bright's perspective as a disabled person and the whole thing is chock full of "useful" language as she struggles with PTSD makes the fact this is COMMON in WC sting so much more.

Anyway back to just, normal critique and not frustration with ableism in wc.

I feel like they really wasted Brightheart's family. I enjoyed finally getting Cinder and Bright hanging out as sisters, but we got a MENTION of Frostfur, and barely anything with her brothers. It's already a mess so why not go the whole way?

Ashfur also has his post-TBC personality retcon which absolutely kills me. Why do we need this shitty "foreshadowing"? Why do we need him to have been so obviously controlling and argumentative? Why are these writers fucking allergic to having a villain that people thought was nice and normal once?

NITPICK: if i have to see another cat gently picked up by a large bird of prey without at LEAST getting a cracked rib I will shapeshift into 10,000 crows and fly away forever

I have some good feelings towards it though, and I have to be clear, this is actually Ambivalent Bones. I'm only mad at the "Usefulness" rhetoric, the rest is just my normal amount of whinging lmao.

I do really like Cinderpelt and Brightheart finally getting some interactions. It's long overdo lmao

I like Cloudtail and Brightheart as a ship so it's nice to see them hang out.

Uhhh this is a bit of a backhanded compliment but I liked how she was upset at not getting one of Whitestorm's children to mentor? I don't like how it bodes for the wider narrative though, because we know this ends in her getting shafted FOR YEARS and unable to get an apprentice. But I liked the plot setup of her having resentment for Cloudtail because of this. I thought that would make a really good plot point for putting a wedge between them to work through. Like, stop being cowards, LEAN INTO Firestar making some very serious, insulting, short-sighted mistakes, and it interfering with Brightheart's ability to heal. Kill your darling.

There were some nice lines. I do remember Ashfur's lame "greedyclaw" insult, which was funny.

I enjoyed the cute moments between the cats in ThunderClan. Ferncloud chasing after her kids, Brightheart convincing people to help her investigate, the Willowkin being upset about their mom. It's a mess but there's some nice stuff in that mess, y'know?

Overall, my memory hasn't been kind to it. I think I was giving it a 6/10 when I first saw it, but it's dropped down to a low 5/10. Not (very) offensive but too messy and pointless to revisit.

[pastelwitchling]

The Missteps of Bridgerton Season 3

I love Bridgerton, I love Polin, and I enjoyed the first half of the season fine... but as someone who'd started watching Bridgerton only because of Polin, who'd read the book, and who had been looking forward to this particular season from the very beginning, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed by what we got. Not because it wasn't good, but because it wasn't as amazing as it could've been.

And no, I will not be tagging this as 'anti.' I've gone through the anti tag, and it's some very vile bull from people who genuinely hate the show or hate the characters (or hate other fans), and I love them. I just have some criticism of a few choices made.

So. If you can't handle any critique to the show at all, then please don't read the rest of this. Otherwise, grab some tea and a snack because I have quite a few thoughts.

I don't even know where to start.

I think the most frustrating thing for me in the beginning was how many other plotlines they tried to shove into this season. I don't want to sound mean, but I don't care about Will and Alice's business, I don't care about Benedict's boring relationship with another dArInG wOmAn WhO dEfIeS sOcIeTy'S eXpEcTaTiOnS (more on that later), I don't care about Cressida's redemption.

In fact, let's start with her. This was such a bad fucking idea. Not the redemption itself, though I don't know why some storytellers think there are no unlikable people in the world, why every woman especially has to be redeemed and forgiven. Some are just awful, they exist, it happens. It's okay to have scenes of our characters just reacting to these people and navigating kindness and forgiveness in spite of them. But anyway, working on Cressida's redemption in this kind of story doesn't freaking work. Why? Because we've seen this character put Penelope through endless shit already, and her season is not the season to work on her bully's redemption. Because Penelope already lost her best friend to this girl, and trying to redeem her now isolates Penelope even more, because instead of Eloise getting to properly realize how much she's lost in giving up Penelope as a friend, we're getting her genuinely bonding and getting closer to someone else. Most importantly, redeeming Cressida now doesn't fucking work because you have her and Penelope competing for the affections of the same guy.

You can't pit the girl we want to see win and root for against her bully for the affections of a man, and try to make us sympathetic for the bully. Are we not supposed to want Penelope to get him? Are we not supposed to root for Penelope? I get the idea of complex characters and relationships, but for the love of the gods, Penelope has been crapped on over and over and over in this series. I don't know about anybody else, but I got so excited when I saw her with Lord Debling in the promos because I thought, "Finally! We're going to see Penelope actually be pursued and cherished by someone else!" And instead? We have her embarrassing herself in cringey and awkward conversations against the bully we're also supposed to sympathize with? This was the show's chance to finally give Penelope someone who values her, but oh no, we have to show how tough things are for Cressida, so we have to make her actual competition who actually connects to Debling as well. So which is it, writers? Are we supposed to root for Penelope or Cressida? When Penelope wins, which is already unfair because she's had to bust her butt to get this guy so it's always her in pursuit, how are we supposed to be happy for her when Cressida is in the corner all sad?

Don't get me wrong, when Cressida chose not to gossip about Penelope at the ball, I was really touched. But the problem in trying to redeem her is that it works, which then creates a whole other problem when her and our heroine are then competing for the same guy!

Speaking of that guy; Lord Debling. I'm conflicted on him because I like how much he comes to learn about Penelope (arguably more than Colin does, but we'll get into that later), and I like how genuinely kind he is. But I hated seeing Penelope have to embarrass herself in front of him. I hated that we had to watch this girl who already feels like less than everyone else not even properly get this guy's attention for half the time we know him. Why did the writers think that would be fun to watch? I thought a majority of the time with him would be spent with Colin's jealousy, but even in those brief moments when Colin was jealous, it was from a distance, and we knew that in reality, those conversations Penelope was having with Debling were awkward and kind of degrading to her character.

Which brings me to my biggest pet peeve in this whole thing. The changes made to Penelope herself. Look. I'm not a stickler for accurate adaptations, okay? I don't care if the adaptation matches the source material so long as it's entertaining, which is why I enjoy the Percy Jackson movies more than the actual show. How I see it, we get two different, very fun and likable versions of a beloved story. So I didn't come into this season hoping it would be like the book, I just hoped it would be a good time. However...

Something I did appreciate in the book, and in the past two Bridgerton seasons, was Penelope's wisdom. She was hopeful with Colin, but realistic. She knew she would probably never be with him, but she was determined to be happy anyway. Lady Danbury even calls her something along the lines of the cleverest person in the room, and that's why she takes such a liking to her. Penelope is supposed to be clever, witty, amusing, and wise enough to know that even if she may not get everything she wants, she has her best friend and a guide in Lady Danbury and the small joys of being alongside the Bridgertons, and that was enough for her. Colin saw her for that wisdom and wit, saw the love and joy and pride she had in her work, saw that her priorities were the people she loved and the craft she'd perfected, and fell in love with her for it.

Here? She's the butt of every joke, she's a subject of mockery and dismissals, she's someone to be pitied, not appreciated. Yes, she was a wallflower in the book too, but she had at least a few supporting figures who she admired and helped her be happy where she was. I don't care SO much that they switched the scene of him finding out she's Whistledown, so much as the fact that they changed the meaning behind it. Her and Colin honestly spent so little time together because the show was trying to shoehorn in all these other plots, and so when he suddenly decides he's going to stop her marriage, it feels like he just does it because he's horny! In the book, he's impressed with the strong, talented, and passionate woman she is. In the show, I technically know that he wants to be married to his best friend, but the scenes I was most looking forward to with Colin and Penelope properly talking more and getting to really know each other aren't even there, so based off what friendly interaction had he suddenly learned to see her differently?

Finding out she was Whistledown was a shock to him, and it pushed him over the edge of his feelings for her. Not to mention, him finding out she was Whistledown told him so much about her as a person. Really think about it; what does Colin Bridgerton in the show know about Penelope? Nothing! Lord Debling knows more about her interests and what she enjoys better than Colin does! Knowing about Whistledown also gave him access to a secret part of her that no one else was privy to! Taking that away means that when they get married, Penelope knows everything about Colin and his travels and what he enjoys, and he knows next to NOTHING about her! So we spent the season with her being a joke to everyone, her having to compete for a guy and fail for a good long conversation, and then her ending up in a relationship with a guy who never bothered to get to know her? Fun.

In fact, why don't we talk a little more about Colin, too. Um. What the fuck was he writing? I don't care that it's sexual, but him describing Greek beaches and Scottish pubs in the book and interactions he's had with people shows exactly how grown he really is without him even knowing it. In the book, Colin hated being known for nothing but his charm. He even resented it and turned bitter when Penelope brought it up! He wanted to be more than that, he wanted to have a real purpose and be taken seriously and even be perceived more like Anthony. Writing about the landscapes he'd seen on his travels and his interactions showed that he wasn't just travelling to sleep his way through Europe, but that he was actually learning about new cultures and experiencing new worlds and lands. Here? He's just writing smut! In itself, it would be fine, except that he CLEARLY had a problem not having a purpose in his conversation with Anthony and Benedict and when Penelope praised his writing, so he does want the same thing Book Colin does, except... doesn't just writing erotica completely undermine his whole thing of wanting to be known as more than a charming flirt??

Not to mention, Book Colin ends up publishing his travel journals, so how's this version going to do that? You can tell us he's doing it at the end, but it will ring hollow because we all saw what he's been writing, so if they try to divert at the end to Book Colin's ending, it won't make any sense when we've already heard what he's written. In that time period, how the hell is he going to publish that? AND Book Colin ends up giving his stuff to Penelope to read once they're married because he wants her opinion on it! How the hell is that going to work, giving your wife your erotica with other women to test read? I know it could be done, but the charm of the book version is then gone because it feels like you've reduced a cultured man to a rake who just wants to gloat about how many foreign women he'd gotten to sleep with. Doesn't even that then undermine the whole flirty act he put on in the first episode when even Lady Whistledown could tell he was just pretending to be someone he wasn't??

I'm so tired, so I'm going to end this with a few final notes:

Why does arguably the most charming Bridgerton brother, Benedict, always get the most BORING storyline? I hate the woman he's with, there's absolutely nothing original or charming about her, and I am SICK TO DEATH of these so-called "quirky, strong women who don't care what anybody else says because they're edgy like that," it's just so cliched, and I need that archetype to die already. I thought they were going to do something with the fact that she's clearly a lot older than him, but they don't address it at all, so there goes that interesting concept.

Francesca's fickleness was getting on my last nerve, and I was so bored with her storyline until she met that guy. Their relationship is a cute and unique one, but before he shows up, nothing of what she wants is clear. She doesn't mind meeting a guy, but the second someone actually tries speaking to her, she backs off. She wants to talk about music, but when someone tries to speak to her about music, she backs off. I just couldn't get a reading on what she wanted.

I really don't care at all about Will and Alice's business. It's the same storyline every freaking season.

Eloise's whole "It's not nice when Whistledown writes about you, is it?" is very stupid because Lady Whistledown has written plenty about Penelope's family before that point (and in the book, about Penelope herself). You can't have Colin acknowledging that Whistledown outed Marina in the first episode, and then have Eloise forget that Penelope threw her own family name under the bus to protect Colin.

The carriage scene, I'm sorry, was cringey and came a little bit out of nowhere. And I really didn't like that Colin was backing away until, again, Penelope put herself forward. She's always the pursuer, and I'd hoped for something different this season. I also didn't like that she had to be dumped first. Like, yeah, let's really not give her a single break until Colin deems it time to actually do something for her.

That's all I've got that I can think of, at least in terms of negative criticism. I'm sure more will come to me later, but this was the big stuff. And I don't want to hear anything about, "But Rin, the season's not done yet!" Yeah, but half of it is. No matter what happens in the last four episodes, this was how they started. I guess when the cast said it was their most graphic season so far, they meant the most graphic for everyone but the main couple, and isn't that what you wanted to see?