#which is not to say they're not good writers

[thescreaminghat]

actually would have loved to see more of elita's introspection after the "sentinel took everyone's cogs" reveal in tfone. like we got some good elita moments (e.g. her speech to orion showing that she too is an optimist despite having built a "tough it out" personality in order to survive the mines; the fact that she immediately turned to helping pax/dee/jazz during the cave-in after evacuation orders didn't work, showing that she's also one to instinctively break protocol if it means saving other bots from harm), but it would have been great to see elita's reasoning and emotions at learning about sentinel's betrayal. like yeah, ig d-16's crashout made sense given that he was physically attacked by darkwing and arguably had a stronger emotional attachment to the status quo/the "heroism" of sentinel prime, but elita is also the one who was insulted/belittled by darkwing for not having a cog and for breaking protocol, and the one who got dumped to waste management despite being so close to her goal (and she probably would have stayed there if she hadn't been on the train with orion and the crew). cave-ins don't seem unusual in the mines (everyone seems familiar with the emergency protocol), and elita as the team lead is probably the one who had to bear the responsibility of reporting dead or missing miners. after finding out that sentinel is the one who created this situation, elita should be seething just like dee: how dare the likes of sentinel prevent her from reaching her full potential as both a leader and citizen? how dare sentinel place the burden of carrying the very lives of other bots in the hands of those who have been rigged to fail? how dare sentinel set her up to chase after false hopes to improve her life and believe that it was ever a "good thing" for her to have wanted to try and "rat out" orion and dee when they first got on the train? who is to say that mechs with existing cogs, like darkwing, won't keep bullying those with newly-given cogs after sentinel is exposed? and elita didn't seem to have anything against dee before they went to the surface--if anything, dee seems to be the more reliable one compared to orion, so it would make sense if elita initially sympathised more with dee's reaction to events.

but she ultimately doesn't side with dee, even though she has a lot more invested in the system than orion. and i think tfone should have shown us more of elita's specific thoughts and reasons for why this didn't happen, to establish her as a major player in the ensuing conflict. the only other series that im familiar with outside of tfone that has elita is g1, so in my mind she's one of the "big three" in that she's established as a leader capable enough of keeping together the only major autobot resistance group against the decepticons after op leaves cybertron. if tfone's story was extended to the civil war, then the foundation for elita's later development should also be well-established.

right now it feels like she was largely relegated in the movie to "punch and get promotion" and while that's cool, i think she should have had more screentime than bee (im sorry but imo elita and bee have become kinda conjoined both in their function within the movie and in fanworks---i get the writers were pressed for time and chose to focus on the orion-dee relationship, which makes complete sense, but elita and bee were just kind of left to stand next to each other and give audience reactions when something happened shocking in the orion-dee dynamic. and elita has become b-127's mom in fan stuff ig. which again is fine and great and i love it, but what about her preexisting relationships with orion and dee? like orion was confident enough to trust elita to have his back when the cave-in happened even though elita tried to keep a hierarchy of sorts between them, dee seems to respect elita's leadership when they're on the surface and doesn't immediately shoot at her when she fights him at the end, elita even seems envious (at least to me) at orion and dee's entry into the iacon 5000---we should have had more of the push and pull among the trio's dynamic, with elita being a sort of "wild card," in that she had valid emotional grievances that would push her to side with dee, but an equally strong set of beliefs that would lead her to side with orion).

anyways more elita character development pls she's such a good character

[kittenface40]

Helluva Boss' Racism is Hollow & Nonsensical - Helluva Boss Critique

Racism is a sensitive and mature topic, to talk about not only in the media we consume but in general real life, with many news outlets covering it, the effects it has on everyone, and the many reporting of racism in the world.

Now those of you are wondering, 'why am I talking about this?' Well this relates to today's topic in which I'll be discussing Helluva Boss' portrayal of racism, and my problems with it. 'Why am I talking about this?' some of you are thinking. Well due to the recent episode of 'Full Moon' on Season 2 Ep 8, specifically these lines said by Blitz to Stolas, towards the end of the episode: "Treat me like one of your butler Imps. You can just dismiss me like that! I mean you royal fucks think you can do this every time! Like you can just play with our feelings because we're smaller and not as important!"

While this line is incredibly well delivered by the voice acting, it falls flat on it's face through the writing from the previous episodes and the world building as well, it doesn't hit as hard as intended from the writers.

It Started Off so Good (Season 1):

Surprisingly, the world building wasn't all that bad, it was pretty decent (but not perfect, as I'll explain later) at the start of the series, with Imps and Hellhound racism.

This is shown with how Stolas treats Imps, by him looking down on them through his demeaning comments to Blitz calling him; little bitty imp, my impish little plaything; and even calling other imps racist comments, 'littler ones' referring to Moxxie and Millie, 'tiny wrath ring imps' to the Imps in the Harvest Moon Festival.

Aside from making racist comments, Stolas does other things, such as pinching Blitz' cheek, using his horn as an ashtray, ignoring Blitz comments on how he says his name and finally but most importantly of all, coercing Blitz into having sex with him in exchange for having the book, to keep his job.

They even show that Hellhounds are considered bottom of the barrel, with Millie's rude comments towards Luna, referring to her as a 'Hellhound' rather than saying her name, or referring to her as Blitz daughter to her parents.

However, as the series goes on there are examples of the racism in Helluva Boss being incredibly inconsistent throughout the show.

It Slowly goes Downhill:

Surprisingly, the problems start off in Season 1, where many of the Sinners that hire IMP, aren't even racist towards them, while hiring them. They just talk to them as a customer instead of the Sinners looking down at them condescendingly, making racist remarks about them, being shocked that imps are starting a business, or even opposing to the idea of imps starting a business; whether they hate the idea of imps rising up to power by starting a business since it goes against the societal norms of Hell or they feel like the business of IMP is flawed. The idea of sinners being stuck with the same person that got them killed is something that should be called out in universe, but it isn't. Another good point I forgot to mention, is that no one is even put off by Blitz, hiring and adopting Loona. A Hellhound as his daughter, giving her a job and Blitz treating him incredibly well. None of the sinners/clients, none of the Goetias (Octavia & Stolas), and not even Moxxie, Millie (who was quite racist to Loona) and the other Imps in Hell find that weird and unusual. This would establish to the audience that Imps and Hellhounds are the lowest class of hell, by how they're treated by much higher classes in Hell. The problem is that the writers use sinners who have died moments ago that ended up in Hell, such as Mrs Mayberry, Loopty Doopty & the Camp Counsellor. Instead of using Sinners who have been in Hell for years, and have been exposed to how Hell works, being racist towards IMP, Loona as a entitled customer, Blitz has to bear being mistreated and get used to it for the sake of his company and those around him.

A Snowball of Problems starts:

Before we go onto Season 2, there are massive problems. We need to address the elephant in the room in Season 1, more specifically in Episode 8 of Queen Bee, where Beelzebub the embodiment of Greed is dating, Tex, a Hellhound. Now the reason as to why this is bad, is because that no one in the show even bats an eye to it, Loona doesn't, the other Party goers don't, this doesn't have consequences of Tex talking about his relationship to Bee, such as rumours spreading from those outside the party within Hell and effecting the lives of Tex & Bee. But some of the defences may say, "Beelzebub is the sin of Greed and she's overindulging in her sin, by dating a Hellhound." If she was to overindulge in her sin, she would be eating copious amounts of food and drink, not dating Tex, someone who is a part of the lowest class of Society. She would represent her sin Greed, instead of being stupid and breaking class rules, that would possibly get her into some really serious trouble.

The weirdest part is that in the previous episode 7 called 'The Finale', where Fizz & Ozzie call out Stolas for dating a lower class Imp. Ozzie telling him, "he sold his life for a thrust" as well as Stolas worryingly glancing around at the guests in Ozzie's, worrying what will happen now that people know that he's been sleeping with an Imp.

(Side tangent: But how does Ozzie & Fizz know that Stolas has been sleeping with Blitz, just because they were seen at a club, that doesn't mean they were sleeping with each other, yeah they were at a club for lust, but .)

This problem spirals out of control, in Season 2 Episode 3, where Moxxie's Dad, Crimson, is introduced as a Mafia Boss in the Greed Ring, working with Loan Sharks.

Many people have pointed out their grievances with this idea, the reason is because that it's been established by Striker back in Season 1 in the Harvest Moon Festival, where Striker learns that Blitz, an imp, is leading his own business:

Striker: "Boss huh? *Meets Blitzo for the first time* Oh! So you're the bold imp that started his own killing bizz!" Blitz: "Yeah well when you're good at something, you should capitalise!" Striker: "Not many imps start their businesses on their own, that's impressive sir! *winks at Blitz*" Blitz: "Oh? Yeah, it is, I guess, I guess it is, isn't it!"

This scene gives exposition to the audience that imps running their own business is rare and uncommon in the realms of this Hell, to the point where it's considered 'impressive' by another imp, for his own species to lead his own business.

So Crimson, an imp, is able to run a mafia with ease, undermines the idea of imps and hellhounds being the lowest class in Hell, as he is a Mafia Boss and being able to lead a gang of sharks with ease without any problems. Since none of the Sharks goons express any racism towards Crimson, cause he is their boss or other imps, like Blitz, Millie & Moxxie.

The fact that Millie and Blitz are not shocked about Crimson, an imp, leading a Mafia or even mentioning it once during 'Exes and Oohs' is really weird, they don't talk about how he came into power or wonder how an imp was able to lead on a gang of Sharks into obeying him without any troubles. Even more unusual, is that Moxxie doesn't even talk to them on how Crimson became a Mafia Boss. Honestly, I'm surprised that Striker, didn't make a comment on Crimson being a Mafia Boss when he and Crimson met for the first time.

Speaking of Striker, let's go onto Season 2 Episode 4, 'Western Energy.'

The Snowball of Problems Gets Bigger:

This problem grows bigger in this episode, where Stella, a Goetia, who is supposed to be racist towards imps, right next to other royalties and blue bloods, is willing to pay a imp to have her husband be assassinated. It gets even worse that she's willing to pay him extra just to have him tortured. It's even worse when you take Blitzo's line from Full Moon: "I mean you royal fucks think you can do this every time! Like you can just play with our feelings because we're smaller and not as important!"

This line doesn't hit as hard as it should due to imp racism not being showcased throughout the show, the most we get it from was Stolas talking down against Blitzo. Cause the imps get treated well throughout the show, they can have jobs, they can get their own homes and are even IMP are paid by Sinners. They're even allowed to build their own families, if an imp couple would like to do so, as shown with Millie's parents. It's even worse with Hellhounds, when you consider that Vortex is allowed to date Bee, the Sin of Gluttony, or without any kind repercussions from Satan nor Asmodeus dating Fizz (since that information is now public, from FIZZ & MAMMON episode).

In Conclusion:

The racism in Helluva Boss, is hollow, due to the discrimination towards imps, not being shown in the show at all, from the Ars Goetia, to the Seven Deadly Sins, to even the Sinners who have lived longer within Hell.

[reflectingiridescent]

Rewatching the end of The San Lorenzo Job. Nate and Sophie are so full of shit (loving). The way she's smacking him with that flower screams NLP. We've seen her use it on Eliot, Keller, and various other people all season (and also Nate's used it on people before s3, but that's less relevant here).

We also know canonically he's the one person she can't con. He can always see through it, even if he doesn't know exactly what she is up to. So there's no real brainwashing at stake here. These are just two people who have serious baggage around communication, who have worked with their new partner dynamic all season, and who are looking at how the major threat of their lives for the past six months is gone. And they're telling each other, in their weird sideways communication manner, that they're open to knocking boots. 🤣

As of The Inside Job, they've communicated that the ball is in her court. And now, he's worked off the slap. She's ready to let him in because he's not only proved himself to her but also to the team (He asked them for consent to go after Moreau! He said please! In the Christmas episode, he apologized to them! He and Sophie split Christmas present duty this year!). But as we'll see next season, it's still so hard for them to talk about things directly.

So what does she do? She presents him with just a little bit less than what she (everyone) knows he wants (she actually will continue to do this all the way through s4, walking out halfway and prompting him to go the rest of the way himself). Their old dynamic didn't work. But this new dynamic, where they're equal partners and friends, that's what she's good with, right? That's what's working for them, right?

And what does Nate do? He latches onto the "partners" more than the "friends" (though they are friends - this is so important). He asks her for a "friendly drink" which escalates. But she's already told him that she's open to it, you feel?

And just in case anyone is curious, we know that the timing of the NLP suggestion matters, so here's where she hits him with the flower

"eggs"

"omelette"

right before she says "You're a bad influence"

Well, when's the last time they talked about their romantic potential in a way that wasn't about Nate trying to figure out her name? They had a little bit of flirting in The Morning After Job, but before that, it was in The Inside Job, right?

Sophie: I should have had you cook me breakfast a long time ago.

Look, I'm not saying it was intentional on the writers' part. I'm just saying it's really, really interesting. Because you know neither Nate nor Sophie has forgotten about a conversation like that.

I'm just saying that both of them knew exactly what they were walking into. She asked and he answered, but only after he was the first one to broach the subject of them after he got out of prison. They were a little freaked out about getting involved (which is why they were drinking so heavily) but not enough to not do it.

Bonus Tidbits from My Watch (I'm sure I'm not the first person to say any of this, but I want it on my blog somewhere)

Sophie and Nate are the most dramatic goth mfs like...the first time they almost kissed was in a graveyard, after Sophie had faked her death and laid the construct of Sophie to rest.

(Their first kiss gets reserved for when both of them have come to terms with who they are now - Nate as a thief, Sophie as a person with a past who chooses and owns her present)

The first time they hook up is also after Sophie's faked her death LMAOOO

Something something shedding old skin and rising from the ashes

We also get the first whispers of Leverage International. "We didn't just con something. We built something," says Sophie. Neither she nor Nate are going to forget that feeling for a long time.

[ladykyriaa]

Hi! Any Jinmao fic recs? 😔 I'm in drought 🙏

Also, do you have a song that screams "This is Maomao loving Jinshi!!!!" I've been obsessed with reading character study fics about her ever since LN 16 spoilers.

(Shameless promo but i also write Jinmao fics so just in case you wanna read em Anon👀)

BUT ALSO GOSH THERE'S ACTUALLY SO MANY THO

- I genuinely recommend any fics from kamennosugao ,she's genuinely one of my favourite writers ever!!

- Moon's Bane by CJ_R (G)

a missing scene fic set in LN 11ish (so spoilers warning if you haven't read the LN)

- An Indirect Kiss by Silversprig (M)

Takes place during ep12 of Maomao's part time courtesan work. I've read this so many times I'm genuinely just in love with it😳

- A Button Press Away by Royal_Blue_Rue (E)

EXPLICIT FIC WITH MODERN JINMAO. That is literally all you need to know, im OBSESSEDDDD. Rue is such a talented writer, definitely check more of their work!!

- Just the Fingertips by AngellTheNinth (E)

Again with the Ep12 Jinmao dynamic (can you tell i just genuinely love that episode a lot :3)

- This Consort Au series by Catsitta (T)

Its a jinmao arranged marriage au, naturally Maomao's the consort in said fic. There's currently two fics in the series, I'd recommend give it a read!!

- On Death and Marriage by cozymodeonpoint (M)

A multichapterred fic with HURT JINSHI AND WORRIED MAOMAO. What isnt there to like?!?!?!?!?

- This Married Jinmao series by nerdylizj (E)

They're married, so get ready for the smut :3 theres also miscommunication in which neither of them are able to fully tell the pther just exactly. What. They. Want. (Typical)

- blossoming by julspeaks (G)

A pov on Jinmao's blossoming relationship. One of my ABSOLUTE favourite as we're looking through the lense of the people around them and how Jinmao has developed their relationship.

- this Jinmao series by cxkui (E)

I enjoyed reading this as it shows one of Jinmao's stubborn traits lol, their competitiveness first of all. And their push and pull dynamic that will surely. Surely be the end of us all

- A Family Life and Their intimacy by Chiharei

Two series that I enjoy reading!!!!!! So!! Much!!! The first one is about Jinmao's family life (and really how can i ever say no to THAT) while the second one is a jinmao married fic BUT with a slice of angst with emperor jinshi and consort Maomao as they navigate how to work through it (they have sex, of course)

- The Golden Means by CJ_R (T)

Another multi chaptered fic which is REALLY GOOD. There's LN spoilers in it tho so beware. I find the ending EXTREMELU SATISFACTORY I LOVE IT.

- The Golden Flower by Alexis_Trvlyn (M)

A currently ongoing fic that im deeply. Insanely. Truly. Magnanimously. OBSESSED WITH. every time they update im first in line in front of the fucking door because it is that. Good!!!!!! I love the tense sort of heavy atmosphere Jinmao has, but theyre working through it!! There's also politics and mystery which, of course, is an average KNH fanfic wfiter's meal.

And so for the songs!!!!!! I have so many omg. But I'll give a couple that i think resonated with me very deeply with Jinmao's relationship

- please dont say you love me by Gabrielle Aplin (title is self explanatory i mean cmon!!)

- peace, Dancing with out hands tied, I know Places, by Taylor Swift (if it wasnt obvious enough i love her) but also Jinmao's current arc with politic just politicking around, if feels like theyre not able to do much. They cant really go places they wanna go. Etc etc so yeah

- Run by Taylor Swift ft. Ed sheeran

YALL GOTTA UNDERSTAND. IVE HAD THIS SONG IN MY JINMAO PLAYLIST FOR QUITE A WHILE. So when the latest ln16 epilogue fucking dropped i was SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL. BECAUSE FUCK YEAH. I FEEL VINDICATED NOWWWWWWW.

- The Only Exception and Rose-Colored Boy by paramore, with maomao's view of love and such i feel like when she finally decided to accept jinshi's feelings she's actually fully trusted herself and him, politics aside, to be together. During the times I read the LN i also feel like she thinks of Jinshi as being too. Idk. Idealistic? Hence, rose-colored boy which is the vibe im getting for jinmao

- Please be Rude by Gigi Perez

- Astronomy by Conan Gray

- All I've ever known from the Hadestown Musical

- reckless driving by Lizzy McAlpine, Ben Kessler

- Message in a Bottle by Taylor Swift

(Let it be known that I genuinely wanted to continue typing in the explanations and my views of these songs for jinmao but typing on phone is. Frankly. Tiring. And im getting sleepy lol. Might update this later)

HERE YA GO ANON.

I know our tastes varies, so heck none of these might suit your palates. But I do hope its helped you somehwat. Make sure to check the writers too!!! Other than the ones I've linked, theres so many more great works theyve put out. Thaht being said, theres also way. Too. Many. Writers that im unable to recommend bcs i just genuinely enjoy reading them all. I cant list em all one by one😭😭😭

[amethyst-geek]

So you know how in "The Ruler," it's implied that Cerise is starting to suspect that Nathaniel is Caprikid? Something I've been wondering lately is why out of all of the heroes, why did the writers pick Nathaniel/Caprikid's to be one Cerise started to suspect. From a meta standpoint, Nath's a rather random choice compared to say Marinette, Adrien, Alya, or Nino. However, I have a theory.

Once Chrysalis is defeated (which admittedly probably won't be for a while since Timetagger revealed that Chrysalis's time as the butterfly wielder will last long enough for Nino's little brother to go through puberty), the writers will almost certainly want to give Nooroo a new heroic wielder. However, I can see the writers taking a look at the teen characters who don't already have a miraculous (like Aurore or Ondine) and deciding that none of them really fit the vibe of the butterfly miraculous (which could be part of the reason season 6 has introduced several new teen characters, like Sublime and Diane). While looking at pre-established characters to decide which characters fit the butterfly' vibe, they may have realized that Nath (despite currently wielding the goat) fits the vibe of the butterfly pretty well.

Also, they're probably at least somewhat aware that the decision to give Nathaniel the goat miraculous has sparked controversy among the fandom due to the horns.

So perhaps the writers are planning to kill 2 birds with 1 stone by doing a storyline where Chrysalis does something to Nath that leads to him stepping down as Caprikid (in the process freeing up Nath to eventually become the new butterfly wielder after the heroes finally rescue Nooroo). Maybe it becomes clear to the heroes that Chrysalis knows Nath is Caprikid, so Nath decides that he'd rather retire from being Caprikid and return the goat miraculous to Ladybug than risk Ziggy falling into the hands of yet another supervillain.

Alternatively, if the writers are feeling edgy, maybe Chrysalis could sick an akumatized villain on Nath, have the akuma injure Nath really badly (like breaking his arm or making even badly damaging his spine, though that may be too dark), and then recall the akuma before Ladybug has the chance to summon a lucky charm, (since I pretty sure Ladybug can only reverse the damage caused by an akumatized villain or sentimonster if she summons her lucky charm BEFORE the akuma or amok is recalled), causing the injuries Nath sustained to have heal the old-fashioned way (or possibly even permanent if the injury in question was a spinal cord injury). If this were to happen, this would almost certainly lead to Nath having to retire from superheroing (at least for the time being), so he may have to return to goat miraculous.

Either way Ladybug reluctantly takes back the Goat miraculous, and finds a new wielder for Ziggy. I'm leaning towards Socqueline.

Fastforward 10 or so years in-universe, the heroes defeat Chrysalis and finally retrieve the butterfly miraculous. Ladybug thinks she and the other heroes can finally rest for a while, only for a bunch of new supervillains to show up in Paris. Nooroo begs Marinette to give him a new holder so that his powers can start being used for good again. Ladybug ultimately decides to make Nathaniel (who has either recovered from his injuries; or if it was spinal cord injury, the butterfly's powers make the butterfly well-suited for someone with mobility issues, as demonstrated, as seen in ML fanfic, "Nymph and the Corrupted Miraculous") the new Butterfly wielder. And since Nathaniel is lot nicer to Nooroo than Gabriel or Cerise ever were, Nooroo becomes extremely protective of Nathaniel.

[wannabedragon-yep-lumenemporium]

send help.

Little analysis but I feel traumatized and here's 6 am while writing this, so just very little analysis and a bit of interesting stuff.

I'll elaborate a longer something about the episode, mainly some random thoughts and feels, then I'll make a brief list of the episode points. If you like to read everything and comment, go ahead, walls of text are more than welcomed, share you fav scenes, your thoughts and feels abt the episode if you feel so. So, first impression and stuff, spoiler alert:

________My take (I'm part of the R&M cult, so, impartiality)________

The episode was great, the season is fire.

I was totally caught up since the start of the episode, because it has the same Ricktlantis Mixup incipit, Morty daydreaming about how life at the Citadel is, so I was prepared for a big episode, and honestly I wasn't disappointed. The difference is that this time your are not galvanized, you're emotionally beaten up for abt 20 minutes straight, which is basically what happens to the characters, so, fair.

The idea of opening with the Citadel wreckage floating through space is great, bcs it keeps alive the looming presence of E.Morty's actions since RIckmurai Jack, and I'm so curious abt what the heck Rick is doing by collecting ex Citadel's parts.

This season is quickly becoming hands down my fav one, I have the feeling that we are really, for the first time, diving into Rick and Morty complexity: the writers are not dancing around it anymore, they are delivering their messages very clearly and sometimes, I would say, brutally, as in this episode and in episode 1.

-> -> ->

(the "I hate you "scene😭😭...😭😭oh my shayla😭😭... how I am I supposed to cope with a ptsd Morty, sinking deeper and deeper into despair while his friends are horribly dying, his last hope betrays him and the system who abused him once is now taking away from him every bit of freedom and happiness he had conquered... and the only thing he can do is screaming "I hate you" because there's nothing else he can do, aaa my f*cking heart shattering into a million of crying pieces (yes all the pieces have eyes and they're crying 👁👄👁) also, isn't what capitalism is doing to us? no, just saying.

The episode felt rushed for the amount of intensity and content it brings in every scene, but since this is a more in depth reiteration of what we basically already saw (the rotten core of the citadel, why Mortys become "evil", how the cycle of abuse restarts etc), I don't think it's a bad thing, it just leave you shaken, as it should. And from here the obvious second point: violence. This season is seriously rivaling with s3 level of violence and gore, but this time it's realistic, so it's worse, but in a good way: cruelty over Mortys, people, animals and innocent living things in general is taking the dark weight it actually should have. We are experiencing this stuff through the eyes of adults, mature Mortys, that are not influenced by a deranged Rick and by the excitement of cool adventures. Suffering is not a gag anymore, is real and it hurts, leaving no space for laughing, but more for satire and dark humor.

The fact that Arcade Morty leaves without a Rick and starts his new life by himself is also a very tasteful choice instead of a cheese reunion, it symbolize that the right thing a Rick can do for a Morty is to respect their space and independence.

When Rick and Morty find Arcade Morty they do the exact thing they did with Evil Morty: they didn't ask questions, they didn't know anything about what happened, they just went straight to the conclusion that Arcade Morty was evil and dangerous. Because they are assholes 💀

Rick's arc ending was heart breaking, I hoped until the last minute he was actually alive, but it also gave me something to think about: it's very easy to die a hero and to do great gestures in order to get redemption and to pay for all your faults in just one day, and it is in fact a very convenient way to feel okay with yourself, but the truth is that you leave a lot of destruction behind you, a lot of grief and emptiness. Fixing things with time, patience and consistency is all a different story. I hope we will see our Rick really cultivating change, without any over dramatic heroic shortcuts, because you know, that's the real hard part in real life.

What. The actual. F*ck. Okay I... I lost my sanity points at this moment, the real face of the Morty market... Idk how to feel while playing Pocket Mortys anymore 😭😭 I was really speechless for how fucked up this part was, and I also was so glad when the Citadel exploded once and for all (hopefully)

Speaking of which, I like the idea that to destroy the Citadel once and for all it was necessary a rogue Morty and a rogue Rick: Evil Morty amazing job would have gone wasted if the last remaining good Rick on the Citadel didn't give his contribution.

_________________Ep. Main themes in a nutshell_________________

Big changes or living in regret is becoming the increasingly obvious theme of season 8: unlikely alliances, taking ownership, change and freedom are the recurring stuff here and I love it.

Change is up to you. The tag scene of the dice is memorable: at the beginning of a new dawn, now free and miraculously still alive on the ruins of the Citadel, the two dice decide to stay exactly as they were when they were victims. Instead of starting a new, different life, they immediately return to fight each other: they use the power of freedom to turn back to be slaves, this time of themselves.

Solitude: Morty needs independence from his past, as from his Rick as from all the childish parts of himself that still believed to the dream of a happy life with Rick and his family: the more a Morty matures, the more the natural course of growing up becomes leaving behind abuse and their toxic family system.

It's not who you are, it's who you choose to be: I think that with Space Beth episode it's already clear that being a clone or not doesn't shape the person you are, nor does affect how much you are loved. You can decide who you want to be, despite being born with a certain role imposed by society/family. You're more than a role. Boss Hog Rick was a lost person that instead of looking for his identity, tried to gain power and control over a crazy universe: instead of being a Master of his own Universe, he tried to be a master of everyone else's universe. Not cool. -10/10

_________________Sus stuff/interesting details_________________

The episode name is a reference to the movie The Good, the Bad & the Ugly (that is a very cool movie btw) and by logic it means that the Rick is the Good, the Mort is the Bad (another reference to "evil" Morty), and the Ugly... I guess is Boss Hog Rick 💀

The dynamic from this ep. is the same from Unmortricken: an unlikely alliance between a guilt ridden Rick that knows more than anybody else (hillbilly Rick), lonely to his core and unable to recover from his past in a healthy way; a fake adult Morty(he's not a real doctor), still immature, overly attached to Ricks in a delusional way and traumatized, who doesn't want to grow up and to accept reality (Doc); an adult, smart and independent Morty (Arcade), slowly shifting from trying to help Mortys beyond help, to choosing solitude in a harsh universe, still grieving and processing everything he lived, full aware that you have to take freedom with your own hands.

Independent, pirate-like Mortys have a main theme and is cool hair, apparently (I mean, makes sense with The One True Morty style). There were already many similarities between Slick and President Morty ("slick" can indicate the slick back hair, being smart/clever and also being a charismatic person with hidden intentions, often told of politicians): Arcade Morty and Simulated Morty share a lot with them too. They have very peculiar facial expressions for a Morty, dead eyes, determined attitude and expression, sometimes ptsd eye bags of a troubled mind (Arcade Morty and Simulated Morty), and just under the surface, spite, rage, frustration, a deep need for justice, peace and solitude. Evil Morty simply loves hair-styling apparently, but in the CFC he had regular Morty hair, to keep a low profile I guess.

Despite the mindblowing after the Matrix, as Summer predicted, something in our Morty actually changed: he's still an immature, superficial kid if we compared him to an adult, consumed E.Morty, or even to a still young but more mature Slick, but he is definitely growing up. This season is giving me so much hope…too much hope and that's sus 👀

the blue crystals/corn is what the Ricks gathered from the very foundation of the Citadel, and is what young Rick from the crybaby backstory flashback takes from mobs to power his special identifying camera (while hunting down Prime).

Okay I need sleep, bye my dudes <3

[zaruba-needslove]

This is purely my own experience, which may or may not apply to others and may not completely be true since many of these points was based on my own assumptions.

Reasons why readers nowadays don't bother interacting in fics

They treat fanfics as just some content created by writers and something for them to consume, not something a writer shared with them (so they don't feel obliged to interact with them)

They're afraid to be seen as 'cringe' for reading or reacting directly to the fanfics they read, by the writers who will read the comments they wrote. (I still don't understand why they would feel this.)

They're scared to 'offend' said fic writers by leaving comments on the fics they read (even if to point out typos or minor mistakes, for fear of being seen as sending flames*)

They are anxious about wanting to leave any comment on the fics they read in case they somehow typed something 'wrong' in the comment section (prolly relate to point 2. but I dunno, I used to read random posts of people listing why they don't leave comment and this was the reason.)

They feel pressured to only have to write 'good' comments for fear of 'accidentally ' offending the fic writers who wrote the fics they're commenting on.

Frankly at this point I have no idea how to actually change this situation now (people in the past used to do things like holding their next chapters ransom and putting random porn scenes, with varying result but I don't think such tactics works nowadays). Also because these kinds of engagements require people to actually go out of their way to do something.

But as a writer myself, I feel that to get people to start interacting in fics again, we should also try to contribute/encourage such interactions like:

Try to read other fanfics written by others that are in the same fandom as the fics you have written (or read any other fanfics that caught your interest). If those fics are to your liking, leave kudos/likes and/or comments on those fics. The comments don't need to be fancy, just write whatever you're comfortable with. You can't expect people to interact with your works if you don't do the same for others' work.

Be more open to any kind of comments that you may receive, whether it was good or bad. Scam bots aside, don't get easily discouraged if the comments you get don't exactly shower you with praise or say nice things. (because this kind of behaviour may as well be the reason why readers are scared to leave any comments. Or cause them to use ChatGPT or the likes to create 'nice' sounding comments**.)

If you asked for constructive criticism, please don't react too negatively whenever readers give their honest feedback.

Don't be overly judgmental of the comments you receive, or shame people who left comments that you may not like. Flames aside, if people leave comments to point out any mistakes that you, as the fic writer, have unknowingly made, those comments are usually left to alert you to those mistakes (which you can always edit out). Reacting badly to comments like this are reasons that may discourage people from commenting on your works.

*flames = really offensive comments. On that note, unless worded extremely harshly, constructive criticism is not the same as flames.

** purely my assumption. Because I used to receive some nice comments that looked like bot comments, and I've seen people on socmed using Grok to try to reply to others to sound 'smart'

Why do people never interact with fics anymore?

This is something I noticed with my latest fic ”the albatross, my violet skies”. It hasn’t been this apparent with my previous fics, so this seems to be a recent thing.

Out of 8000 hits, only about 8% of readers left kudos, and roughly 3% left a comment. When you look at the numbers themselves (640 kudos and 230 comment threads) it doesn’t seem as big of an issue, but when you actually do the math it becomes super obvious.

I know this might come off as arrogant, but as someone who primarily gets their motivation and also a lot of validation from interactions, seeing these small numbers really suck. Because it does suck, that only 8% of my readers left kudos. It does make me wonder if this fic that I’ve spent the past month pouring my heart and soul into wasn’t something people liked, or if it wasn’t good, or if they just didn’t bother interacting. My comments are pretty much 100% positive, so I’d like to believe it’s the latter, but even still it makes me wonder.

If the reason is as simple as people not bothering to interact — please try to change that. I can’t stress this enough. If you like a fic, let the author know. This stuff is so discouraging. What I’m about to say has been said many times, and you’re probably sick of hearing it, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Because it doesn’t have to be a lengthy comment. A kudos or even just a ”good work!” is enough, and I’m 100% sure other authors will back me up on this. We’re taking time and effort out of our day to give you these stories — often entire books — completely free of charge. I think, as both a reader and an author, that the least we can do is show up for each other and give each other the support and love we all deserve.

That’s all from me. Have a nice day/night, and let’s try to do better <3

Edit: I’ve been informed my ratio isn’t bad at all, which is nice. I am new to uploading, so that’s my bad. But I still think my point stands. Why is it that only 10% of readers bother interacting? Why is that the norm? I think we should try to raise that number. Of course, fanfic writing isn’t just about stats and interactions, but it still goes a long way, and so many people in this community deserve it.

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

i have seen a lot of posts about lucanis & illario lately, that specifically call out that some of the things Lucanis says about him are kinda mean. usually in context of 'yes what illario did was fucked up but they BOTH went thru the fucked up training and lucanis says shit to him too' etc etc. and i'll be honest as someone who does have a contentious/estranged/very-low-contact sibling relationship. everything lucanis said came off as super mild to me and they should both be WAY nastier to each other actually. yes even when you include their dynamic in wigmaker job which was both more lighthearted And heartfelt. but like if you want realism they should be going from that to 1 minute later annoyed enough to break out the super cutting remarks dragging up the worst things the other has ever done/said, specifically becuause they know it will hurt the other most. then i would believe it more tbh.

[pynkhues]

Okay apparently there was a whole thing last year of someone talked to Chris Stack after seeing him Stereophonic and he said he was invited to film IWTV s3 in April, but he couldn't because of another project, which we now know is Stereophonic's West End run beginning in May. So multiple thoughts. For one, that seems to confirm at least some Nola flashbacks, since I doubt they'd only film one or two and have him be in one, though of course anything's possible. I figured there would be Nola flashbacks but it's cool to have some strong suggestion that there might be several. And maybe now he can do it! Since the filming would be happening when the show is running rather than in rehearsals. I also wonder if filming was initially supposed to BEGIN in April, or if it was beginning earlier and he was just being brought in in April? Maybe it suggests filming was supposed to start earlier, since if they film the episodes in order, you'd think Nola flashbacks might be in the second half of the season, at least. Plus there was what that person told you about Sam being on call to start filming by February, though I wonder if that was definitely to start filming or that he was on call to work on other things. If they were supposed to start filming in April, then April to June is not a big shooting difference. Though I guess even Feb 1 to early or mid-June isn't a HUGE difference, it's four months, so...who knows! And of course we don't REALLY know how long it takes them to make the show, they've never had a "normal" production season, so that doesn't tell us that much. Hmm.

That's super interesting about Chris Stack, anon, and if it's true, definitely seems to imply that there are going to be a few NOLA flashbacks, which deeeelights me, haha.

I actually don't think the person I know was wrong? I deleted my original post about it for y'know. Reasons. But the producer I know had spoken to his Aus agent, who said Sam wouldn't be available due to IWTV from end of Jan/the start of Feb at the latest, which - given it seems like he's been in America since the first week of Feb recording and rehearsing - has been true? I think I might have misinterpreted that (full disclaimer!), to be about filming, but that could be a Sophie Fuck Up as opposed to the person I know being wrong, because they were asking in the context of his schedule to film something else, not to know the schedule for the show.

But yeah! I guess we'll find out soon enough given April's literally tomorrow, haha.

[jq37]

Descendants: The Rise of Red is kind of a bizarre movie to talk about critically because, imo, it almost doesn't make sense to talk about it in the usual terms of good vs bad or enjoyable vs not enjoyable when the way more obvious tension is finished vs unfinished.

Because, more than any other movie I've ever seen, it does *not* read as a full movie. And I don't mean in a "this movie has a cliffhanger" kind of way. The Empire Strikes Back and Across the Spiderverse fit that description. They end on big dramatic cliffhangers that point to a resolution in the third installment.

But Rise of Red just sets all this stuff up and then...ends without concluding anything. It doesn't feel like the first movie in a trilogy (or duology). It feels like the first act of a two-act musical. It very specifically reminds me of the end of the first act of Into the Woods where all the main characters sing the song Ever After about how they all fixed their problems with magic and nothing bad will ever happen to them again and then the narrator ominously says "To be continued" before the curtain drops. But in Into the Woods you know there's a second act and this movie wasn't sold as the first act of a bigger story. Like sure, it has the, "You didn't think this was the end" tag at the end like all the other movies, but those movies were complete, self-contained stories even though they had sequels. This was NOT a full story. It's half of one story.

Like, if we're supposed to take this as a full story, there are so many bizarre choices:

Why did they make sure to mention that Cinderella and Charming fell in love at the ball at the top if it wasn't meant to set up Back to the Future style, "Oh no, I accidentally got my mom banned from the ball so she's not gonna fall in love with Dad and I won't be born" shenanigans?

Why did Maddox very pointedly have that bit about "you could lose your mom completely" if that was never going to come into play? Red never did anything to endanger Bridget or endanger her own birth so it doesn't make sense as a warning in that way.

Why was there all this focus on this Carrie on prom night moment for Bridget if we LITERALLY NEVER SAW CASTLECOMING? Why dance around this moment and talk about it all cloak and dagger with no specificity if they weren't building up to some big reveal that it wasn't as straightforward as it seemed? And like, they leaned in HARD with making Bridget the nicest, sweetest, cotton candy princess as a teen so I need WAY more than, "She got pranked by known bullies she's been enduring with a smile very handily up to this point" to buy that she went from that to "murderous dictator". And even if she did become murderous, I find it insanely hard to believe that she'd include her best and only friend on the list of people she wants to suffer unless there was a betrayal. I find it INSANE that there wasn't a falling out scene at any point in this movie with how thickly they were laying on the admiration and camaraderie.

(Note: And adult Cinderella def has guilty vibes re: the Queen at orientation. Which I know I'm not imagining because it's literally spelled out in the Jr Novelization!)

Before the time travel element of the movie started, I thought they were going for something like they go to the past and realize that Bridget was bullied not by the VKs but by the spoiled royals, and Ella ends up joining in the bullying once she gets with Charming, betraying Bridget and justifying her whole "Love Ain't It" philosophy. Or Ella ditching her at the last minute to be with Charming meaning she has to deal with the monster prank alone and it was the being alone rather than the prank itself that hurt her (though that is NOT a good enough reason to go all off with their heads on your subjects). The fact that, as far as we know right now, it literally was just a relatively mild and reversible prank that caused all of this is just, such flat storytelling, you know?

But! All of this makes way more sense if this is meant to be the first act of a single contained story. And I don't wanna be all "Pepe Silvia, secret good 4th episode of Sherlock" about this but I did see this picture:

Which seems to indicate that this was written as a Part One. Which, if so, idk why they wouldn't advertise it that way but whatever. The point is, if that's the case then it means that we're potentially in bad pacing territory rather than straight up bad storytelling territory. Because this isn't a bad place to be halfway through your story:

The heroes, warned that time travel is dangerous, have gone back in time to change the heart of a brutal tyrant before she can stage a coup. They seemingly succeed in their mission and when they come home, everything is great! But then, the side effects of time travel start to catch up with them. Chloe realizes that, in breaking the vase, she prevented her mother from going to the ball and falling in love with her dad (who was conspicuously absent from the final scene btw) which means she's starting to be forgotten and erased from the timeline. And Red realizes that though this new version of her mom is as sweet and kind as the teen she once met, she's a complete stranger to her (fulfilling the Hatter's warning that she could lose her mom completely). So they have to go back in time once more to make sure the Ella and Charming fall in love again, perhaps at the cost of whatever bad thing that happened to Bridget happening again and bringing back the original version of her future self. But, now with more context of how her mom became that way, Red can now talk to her mother and persuade her to give people another chance.

Boom, that gives us time to go back and hit everything we haven't yet hit. We can pay off the time travel tropes that were set up but not explored. We can go to Castlecoming which feels so obviously set up to be the centerpiece of this story (like, come on, Back to the Future literally does the school dance thing. This is Time Travel Storytelling 101). We can actually get info about what the prank was and why it affected Bridget so completely.

(Note: This is a side thing but it really strikes me as so crazy that Bridget would so SUCH a big 180 here. Like, I know the Queen of Hearts is a silly, goofy, campy villain, but she straight up murders people and there's no way to get around that if we're taking her out of the surreal story she comes from and putting her in a (comparatively) grounded story. If I wasn't doing a betrayal plot, I would make the twist that the spell that turned Bridget into a "monster" didn't just have a physical effect, it had a mental effect and it magically twisted her personality to be the way it is now. So they broke the physical half of the curse, but neglected the other half and it's been festering the whole time, turning her as evil as she was sweet. Because like, a simple physical transformation isn't that big of a deal to have such heavy security--Bridget made cupcakes with a transformative effect and that was totally fine. I'm not saying that that's what's gonna be the case. I just think it would be an explanation that makes sense for why she changed so crazy much that makes more sense than a simple prank or even a betrayal. Her mom wasn't even evil! How did she go from zero to murder without even an evil mom to push her onto the path? But I'm super digressing right now.)

(Note #2: OK, one last thing. The trap on the book presumably would have hit the VK's and trapped them in Merlin's office regardless of what Chloe and Red did, right? That's like, net zero influence on the timeline. I genuinely can't tell if that's a straight up plot hole or set up to be like, "Oh no. Actually when she said that she was turned into a monster in front of everyone it was meant in a less literal way." Like she was just made to look bad and that was the real thing that pushed her over the edge. Like idk. It really feels like the only thing they really did that would change the timeline was get Ella banned from the dance and presumably out of the way where she couldn't hurt Bridget. OK NOW I'm done.)

Anyway, my point is that this is not how I would have structured my movie and I think this was a super weird way to go into the second era of Descendants movies, but they can still tell a complete story if that's their plan. I'm genuinely really curious to see if this pans out to be a fairly competently told story that just happens to be split over two movies or a complete fumbling of the narrative bag because it could really be either at this point and it's fascinating to me.

[itischeese]

Should I (attempt to) go back to posting weekly with less polished works, or post less often but much more finalized works (ie actually edited)?

(please note that the piece I posted most recently was, in fact, edited.

Also, If I post polished works less often, I will inevitably post much less of what I write; only the stuff that can be made good.)

[peaceblank]

Man, it's so annoying how recently there has been several things that really emphasize just how much it takes for some people to accept a character is jewish.

Be it from heavily coded in the text with an added word of god, to literally shown or out right stated in the text. Somehow, people will still crawl out of the woodwork to say, "well that doesn't mean they're jewish".

Meanwhile, in almost every piece of media a character could do absolutely nothing in regards to any religion and everyone will immediately just assume they're some flavor of christian. It is treated as the default and not something that has to be revealed. You do not need to dig and sift through the characters entire existence to justify having them celebrate christmas, but god forbid you have the briefest hint of giving them some other religion. People will come out of nowhere asking you why you would do this, demanding you cite your sources for why you would dare sully this character like that.

[whitestopper]

I don't care either way about straight vs bi Eloise, but I think it would be really funny if this is her and Michaela's dynamic in S4

[coolspacequips]

Have been reading this sci-fi romance and like UGH u ever really wish a book was just at least a little better??? There's stuff in this that's interesting but also a lot about it that's so... Juvenile and kinda undercooked lol...... But it's so hard finding good romance bc for a lot of romance readers this is enough, except even then not really since they prolly didn't fuck nasty enough in this book for the ppl that just need the merest pretense to read smut (which is fine if that's what u like there's just an oversaturation of this, esp when you can have a light plot/heavy smut story with slightly better writing and internal world building without having to explain and describe the 'boring' parts 😅)

[throughdarkeningskies]

when I was a teen and I read everything I could get my hands on, I had this rule in my head to seperate 'literary' fic from 'chick-lit'. and the rule was this: if they have sex and its bad its literary. if they have sex and they enjoy it its chick-lit.

alternate variations:

- if there are dark serious themes explored and everyone is dark and serious about it it's literary. if dark serious themes are explored but the characters crack jokes about it its chick-lit

- if a man writes it its literary and if a woman writes it its chick-lit

- if its written with the most dry boring-ass prose possible it's literary. if its written the way an actual person would talk its chick-lit

[corbinite]

I don’t want a fionna and cake series. Please hbo just let this show have a narratively satisfying end pleaaase. The ending of adventure time was so good and such a good sendoff and it only WORKS if it’s an actual ending, it only works if we��re actually saying goodbye. Literally the whole message of the finale was that sometimes you have to let things end and accept that things will never be how they were, and that there’s beauty in that acceptance because no matter what changes it doesn’t erase what you had. You cannot literally have that be the entire THESIS of the last three or four seasons and then keep drawing it out for cash and nostalgia