#yes I’m using peoples reactions as a sounding board for the rest of it sue me I have anxiety

[thebumblecee]

Happy Saturday lovelies 😘

TK’s eyes dart around the loft like he’s an animal that’s been cornered and looking for a way out. He put himself into this position by coming here unannounced, not Carlos. It occurs to Carlos then that TK has never seen the loft since he started decorating it. He watches TK’s scrutiny pass over every piece of art on the walls and he feels exposed and vulnerable. This was to be their home and even after everything he wants TK to like it.

The silence between them stretches uncomfortably long and he can’t stand it anymore. “Why did you come here, TK?”

[iturbide]

You right about the Corrin focus, an ahnohter good example is how Xander tends to be a completely different character in the supports than in the game - he is purposely made ooc ingame to act as a foil against Corrin. Something they need to overcome. There is also a analyze video about this on youtube. but it is really dishearting, in the supports it is made clear he doesn't agree with Garon - ingame the completely opposite.

heavenlyfury replied to your post: 

And the issue with that focus on Corrin, is that paradoxically their own character doesn’t seem to grow during the story. I haven’t played Birthright, so I can’t speak for that game in particular, but in the others, Corrin doesn’t get to confront their trauma either. They have been abducted as a child, raised far from the world, and turn out to be this super important character in everyone’s backstory, and yet… they’re… mostly fine ? How ??

wow it’s corrin discourse day

Now, to be clear: I have nothing against Corrin from a conceptual standpoint.  I actually really like the idea of their character, and I think that if Fates had been handled differently, they could have had a truly incredible story.  

Unfortunately, that’s not what happened. 

So to the first point: Xander.  I haven’t played the games, so I’ve only heard about this radical character shift between Conquest (where you have access to his support conversations) and Birthright (where there’s only the enemy across the battlefield).  I can’t weigh in on how jarring or how bad it might be.  But just based on an outsider’s perspective, it sounds like they might have been trying to do something interesting and botched the execution.  He’s very much in the Camus archetype of staunch patriots who follow orders for the sake of their homeland…only this is only made clear in one of the two routes, aka Conquest, where his Supports are on full display.  In Birthright, though, they shift too much of the focus away: we no longer get to see him grapple with the morality of his actions, we only get to see him following the orders he’s given and defending his mother country – though, it might be worth investigating whether he’s harshest when there are other people present.  His family is one thing – but soldiers who could report back to his father about his inaction or softness toward Corrin?  If he’s trying to protect his family – and Corrin might still be included, it’s difficult to say – then he may need to keep up appearances the same way that he did with Kaze and Rinkah’s “execution.”

As for Corrin themselves, I really can’t deny that the game really seems to push the focus on them to ridiculous extremes.  I’m hesitant to use the term “Mary Sue,” myself, but I also don’t know a better term to immediately sum up everything IntSys did with Corrin: they have the classic Traumatic Past, they get All the Attention and Everyone Loves Them (and anyone who doesn’t is Just a Hater), they’re Super Powerful and get All the Coolest Toys that they’re Naturally Talented with, the Story Revolves around Them at the exclusion of all else.  When you strip away how ham-fisted the execution was, there’s actually some really interesting stuff in there.  Corrin isn’t necessarily dumb: they’re sheltered and naive, yes, but compounded on that is the fact that they’ve had their memory tampered with on at least one occasion (and possibly more than that, given that they don’t remember Gunther’s visits or anything about Silas).  After the shock of finding a family waiting for them in Hoshido, they immediately lose their mother in an attack, and the very blade they brought is what takes her life.  Regardless of the choice they make, they’re thrust into a war and forced to lead an army they’re poorly equipped to command against a family they care about.  

Had we seen more of their struggles, seen how they grew from it, that could have been a very interesting avenue!  And moreover, had time been dedicated to their families and the traumas they suffered (as a consequence of Corrin’s kidnapping, at Garon’s hands as he fell further and further under Anankos’ control, in the fallout of the attack on Hoshido and Mikoto’s death), it would have made for a far richer story.  Not only that, it would have provided so much more interesting optiosn for supports: on Birthright’s side, it would have allowed them to play on the awkwardness of a lifetime spent apart (and the mistrust that may come with it, especially in light of that attack), attempts to reconnect or keep their distances, leading to the different characters re-learning acceptance and even finding forgiveness; on Conquest’s, it could delve into the slow discovery of the painful truths of Nohr’s history (the Concubine Wars, the deaths of so many siblings, Garon’s transformation and the cruelties his remaining children suffered) and the scars it’s left on the other royals, allowing them to bond more deeply over these traumas and come to support one another in new and powerful ways.  And that, I think, would have made for a really interesting and powerful story – it wouldn’t solve everything, but it would make for a more engaging set of interactions and greater opportunities for character development across the board. 

And this squandered potential is at its most apparent with Takumi.  Takumi is the only one who thinks to mistrust Corrin on their return – and it makes perfect sense that he does, considering that not only was Corrin kidnapped and effectively raised in Nohr, they were brought back by force, knocked out and basically kidnapped again to bring them back.  Takumi shouldn’t be the only one who worries about this, given the circumstances; his horror and deepening distrust after the attack should have been echoed to greater or lesser degrees among the rest of the siblings.  In Conquest, it might have made sense for all the Hoshido siblings to conclude that Corrin was an agent intentionally sent to cause this destruction, which would have made the conflict pretty reasonable; in Birthright, the aftershocks of that attack could have been reflected in in-game interactions and Support conversations both.  Instead, they painted Takumi’s perfectly reasonable reaction as spiteful and mean, which is brutally unfair to him and threatens to break all suspension of disbelief based on just how blindly optimistic these people are being based on the circumstances. 

[timeagainreviews]

5 Moments when Doctor Who SUCKED

Imagine, if you will for a moment, that you are a brand new Doctor Who fan. You don’t even know to call yourself a Whovian yet. You get on a few facebook groups, see a few YouTube videos and discover, much to your dismay, that Doctor Who is, in fact, ruined now. Woe is you who set path down a trail leading toward mediocrity, and eventually utter devastation. I ask you to picture yourself in this manner because I want you to realise that only a person new to Doctor Who would believe such drivel. Everyone else saying this seems to have rose tinted glasses. The rest of us all know that Doctor Who is a show that sometimes requires forgiveness.

Am I saying Doctor Who is a bad show? Not hardly. Much like pizza, Doctor Who is still pretty good, even when it sucks. I would venture to say that one of the things I love most about Doctor Who is how campy and silly it can be at times. Why is it then that so many people are turning their backs on a show that’s filled their lives with so much joy? I’m really trying to avoid the "because sexism," argument. But I can’t help but feel like if you were to switch the Doctor to a male, nobody would be calling the show "ruined." Furthermore, how do you even ruin something that has gone through so many changes throughout the years? Oh right, it’s the Doctor Who fandom. Where the only language allowed is hyperbolic.

Perhaps these fake geeks are mad because making the Doctor a woman takes away their ability to call her a Mary Sue. Especially when you consider the same character once burst out of a golden birdcage and floated to the ground in a wave of Jesus energy. That might mean they’d have to retroactively apply the title to every incarnation. Could the Doctor ever escape the distinction? Unnaturally talented, charismatic, good at everything he does, brilliantly smart. Or is it that these attributes only belong to men? We can believe Tom Baker’s Doctor is capable of walking into a burning furnace to save K9, but hell no, a woman can’t be the Doctor.

You have to face it, Doctor Who has had some terrible moments. Yet we continue to tune in because we forgive it. We forgive when Doctor Who is bad because of the moments when Doctor Who is wonderful. Which I know is how you would describe an abusive partner, but I’m gonna let it slide for a television series. Especially this series. Because unlike that dickhead who never texts you back, Doctor Who can change. If you don’t believe me, please peruse this list of five instances when Doctor Who was terrible.

1. The John Nathan-Turner era

My God, how could I not start with this? While there is no denying there are some wonderful moments in JNT's Doctor Who, it's easily my least favourite era of Doctor Who. And as much as I personally love Colin Baker, his Doctor got the lion's share of poor scripts and erroneous costume choices. Never has a man more game for a role, been dealt such a bad hand.

Introducing a Doctor that was cowardly, and even violent toward his companion, was seen as a bridge too far. While I understand the desire to try something new with the character, this wasn't the way to go about it. While the show begins to pick up around the end of McCoy's tenure, it's evident that this is more the influence of studio notes and the hard work of script editor Andrew Cartmel. I can't think of anyone less suited for the job of showrunner.

It seems that for a good nine years, Doctor Who had a madman at the helm, and not in that cute Matt Smith way. Dressing in flamboyant Hawaiian shirts, Nathan-Turner brought that same brash sensibility to the program. From Six's garish costume, to question mark lapels, to Mel's entire timeline, it's a big fat mess with him sitting in the middle. Add to all of this, the allegations of him being a predatory creep toward young male fans, and it's a surprise the show ever survived. Oh wait, it didn't.

2. Racism

Ok, maybe I should have started with this. While Doctor Who has taken efforts to address its racist past, it still happened. They drop a racist slur in "The Celestial Toymaker." Even the term "celestial," is used to mean "Chinese," in describing the titular character played by the very white Michael Gough, fully clad in Oriental silks. This tradition follows into "The Talons of Weng-Chiang," when Li H'sen Chang was played by John Bennett.

It's an uncomfortable miracle that they didn't allow Patrick Troughton to play the role of the Second Doctor in brownface. Not to say his era escaped the odd bit of racism. While Toberman in "Tomb of the Cybermen," gets a few heroic moments, he also gets none of the lines. Cast as mute manservant, we learn nothing about the inner workings of a black man who died so that white people may live.

Later, the show used characters like Ace to talk about racism. She shows disgust with a "No Coloureds," sign hanging in the boarding house she's staying in. When the evil Morgaine had her under mind control, it was calling her friend Ling Tai "yellow," and "slant-eyed," that she was able to snap out of it. Real Ace would never say such things. But even with that groundwork laid, the new series still struggles. From the Doctor being weirdly dismissive toward black people, to it taking nearly 50 years for the first black TV companion, Doctor Who is still grappling with its race issues. Yet you all kept watching.

3. Ace gets molested

This one is a bit of a lesser known infraction as it takes place in the books after the show had already been cancelled. Kicking off the Virgin Media "New Adventures," is 1991's "Timewyrm: Genesys," by John Peel. In it, the Doctor and Ace travel to ancient Mesopotamia, where they meet King Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh wastes no time going full blown creep, groping Ace and pawing at her like he was Joe Biden.

The Doctor's reaction to this is to tell Ace to just go with it, and that it's part of the culture. While I agree that, yes, Gilgamesh may not be the sophisticated modern man that hugs a bro and supports equal pay, the Doctor's reaction is some straight up bullshit. If you're going to go there, maybe try saying something with it other than "Women are men's property." This could have been a great opportunity for the Doctor to puff up and use Gilgamesh's own primitive mindset against him. "How dare you touch my woman!" the very tiny Doctor could say to the very tall man. It would have been a funny visual, mixed with the Doctor utilising male privilege in a way that helps his companion.

This is really an objection I have against most of John Peel's work. He writes women in that "she boobed boobily," manner. Much to my dismay, Peel is one of the sole writers of the Dalek books, so any time you want to enjoy a tale involving our enemies from Skaro, you have to also partake in his brand of women. I'm talking women being described as buxom babes with shoulder length blonde hair, voices like baby goddesses, and legs up to their neck. While on the other hand, we get men described as having a hat and probably some other features. I may be embellishing, but seriously, John Peel, your women suck. Yet it still spawned a rather large book series.

4. Minuet in Hell

Doctor Who has never been known to nail accents. Tegan is vaguely Australian. And Peri must have moved around a lot due to the fact that nothing about her American accent sounds like a regional dialect. That doesn't mean that Robert Jezek's Foghorn Leghorn meets the KFC Colonel performance as " Brigham Elisha Dashwood III," is any less painful. But bad accents aside, the biggest demon in this Big Finish audio is one of Doctor Who's oldest enemies- sexism!

While I understand that Charlotte Pollard may be a fan favourite among many Big Finish listeners, her character will forever be tainted for me, and it's all due to this story. In it, Charlotte, or Charley, gets literally human trafficked. They kidnap her, force her to wear lingerie in a very creepy and misguided attempt to add some sexiness to the story and force her to wait on rich businessmen at a casino.

Now, allow me to clarify, it's not the human trafficking that taints her in my eyes. People who get trafficked are victims, obviously. What bothers me is that neither Gary Russell or Alan W Lear thought to give her a single line of dialogue where she protests. She doesn't even complain a little. Sure, the Doctor often gains intel by getting captured, but this is ridiculous. Add this to the weird disjointed story, and "Minuet in Hell," easily serves as one of the lowest points in not just Big Finish history, but Doctor Who as a whole.

5. Sexism

(Image by Billy Darswed)

It makes the most sense that this is the last one on the list. Because let's be honest, it's a huge problem in the fandom. A lot of early Doctor Who audios and books smack of moments when it feels as though the writers never considered the existence of female fans. Women are often utilised as a means to make the Doctor look better, and for the baddies to look scarier. Mind you, it's not always been a pantheon of swooners and screamers. We got the occasional Sarah Jane, Leela, and Ace.

Even the strong women are long-suffering. Liz Shaw (and her real-life actress Caroline John) left the role of companion over sexism. Beginning her time on Doctor Who as UNIT's top scientific advisor, she was demoted to assistant, holding beakers for the male Doctor who stole her job. The Fourth Doctor acted similarly when telling Romana her qualifications had nothing on real life experience. The same excuse has been used for decades to keep educated women out of the workforce. "Come back when you've got some experience, sweetheart."

While Rose Tyler was a refreshingly real character with a family and life of her own, it doesn't mean that she wasn't horribly mismanaged. In "The Stolen Earth," we see a darker, more serious version of her character. The Rose we used to know is now fully devoted toward one mission and one mission only- getting her man back. It's as though her personality disappears and is fully dependent on having the Doctor in her life. She rises to greatness so that she might bask in his once more. Maybe it's romantic, but maybe it's bad writing.

If you were to ask me who my favourite Doctor Who writers are, I'd have to say Robert Holmes is up there, and he wrote "Talons of Weng-Chiang," a serial full of yellowface. I'd also say Russell T Davies, who wrote the aforementioned "Stolen Earth," and also saw it in his wisdom to turn Shirley Henderson's "Ursula," into a blowjob dispensing garden brick. Or even Steven Moffat who believes the Statue of Liberty could sneak around New York, undetected, and that nobody notices his predilection toward dominatrix women in stiletto heels.

In my review for "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos," I quipped that Chris Chibnall had not yet written a truly great episode of Doctor Who. However, since "Resolution," I can no longer say such a thing. I may even go as far as to say it's one of the best Dalek episodes ever. It would seem then that, given enough time, he could become a great showrunner. And it seems that given enough time, any writer, yourself included, could one day write the latest "worst episode ever."

Every new era has had its stumbles. Not every Doctor gets it correct 100% of the time. Capaldi decided he was the kind of Doctor to exit through the window, a trait we never saw again. The Fifth Doctor decided to sleep his way through his first adventure. The Eighth Doctor was "human on his mother's side." And Ten took so long to regenerate that I'm beginning to think it was old age, and not radiation that did him in. If you can look at all of these stupid, stupid moments and still say you love Doctor Who, then maybe, just maybe, you can get over a bit of spotty writing, like you always have. Or is it still the female Doctor thing? Oh...

[biasedwriting]

Dirty Notes to Senpai [Super Junior, Donghae] ||1||

Characters : Donghae || OC {Side Xiumin from EXO}

In which senpai Donghae recieves anonymous notes of explicit nature and a certain shy kouhai catches his attention.  (Yes, I am using Japanese honorifics, I was a stupid child back in 2012, sue me). Please do not try this at home.

High School AU

Rating : M (save yourselves kiddies)

Every time Bora took one look at Minji’s face she wondered how on earth the same girl was Kim Minseok’s baby sister. Sure they had some similar features (their glorious backsides) that showed that they were both siblings (their glorious backsides and maybe the similar face structures) but Minji was a complete idiot and Minseok was a genius in comparison. At least that’s what Bora thought.

Minji on the other hand was completely oblivious to the thoughts of her friend as she walked towards her brother’s classroom with his lunch box tucked under her arm. He had had football practice in the morning and was unable to take his lunch with him. So, being the dutiful little sister she was, Minji decided to carry his with her.

Bora watched, rather amused by the girl she unfortunately was friends with fumble around with the box right before peeking into her brother’s classroom and squeaking.

“Bora! Can you please take this to Seok ani?”

Bora took three steps back, knowing exactly why Minji was asking her to take the food in. She crossed her arms and frowned at the shy girl in front of her before shoving her in through the door and saying “say hi to your oniisan.”

Minji almost tumbled into the classroom and looked around quickly for her brother. Who sat at the damn end of the classroom. Which meant.

“Hey, you’re Minseok’s little sister!” Donghae piped tilting his head towards her as she tumbled into the classroom. Minji’s entire face exploded into a bright red as she stumbled over the desks to her brother’s desk as he stood up quickly trying to prevent her from falling flat on her face. He watched Donghae look at her curiously before holding his hand out for the box with his gummy smile.

“Well done imouto.” he chuckled, ruffling her hair as she shot him a glare.

“One more word and I’ll kill you ani.” she mumbled as he patted her head.

“Where’s Bora?”

“Outside, she pushed me in.” she mumbled wanting to hide behind him and never come away because she knew a curious pair of eyes were still on her.

“I must go thank her then.” Minseok chuckled as he set the lunch box on his table before pushing past his sister and making his way outside the classroom. Minji panicked and followed as quickly as she could, completely ignoring Donghae as she trailed behind her brother like a lost puppy. Only to bump into his back.

“Ani, move.” She began only to see him chatting with Bora with a grin. She glared at the back of his head before squeezing past him and watching the two with a blank gaze. This was blatant flirting at her damn cost.

“I should thank you for helping my sister out. How about lunch on Saturday?” He leaned against the dooe frame as Minji gaped in horror.  Was her brother asking her friend out in front of her?!

“Sounds good to me.” Bora replied with a smirk as Minji stomped her feet.

“Excuse me, what the fuck is going on?!”

“We’re going out for lunch on Saturday.” Minseok replied blankly before sending Bora a wink that nearly made Minji gag.

“Urgh! Disgusting you guys! How long has this been going on?”

“None of your business~” sang Bora as the two waved to Minseok who ruffled Minji’s hair one last time before getting back to his lunch.

“Bora!” Minji began by glaring at her friend.

“It’s been going on for ages you dimwit, you were too busy focusing in that dumb senpai. Why the fuck can’t you tell him you want him in your panties?” Bora shrugged as Minji jumped.

“Bora!”

"What?! That’s what I said to your brother.” Bora grinned as Minji covered her face and groaned.

“I didn’t want to hear that!”

“Now you did you oblivious dud. Don’t you have a student council meeting today with your dream senpai?” Bora replied as the two entered their classroom and Minji’s face turned red yet again “you say the dirtiest things about him and yet you’re face becomes a Christmas light when he’s mentioned. What the shit are you?”

Minji opened her mouth to say something but decided it would be better to keep it shut in front of Bora. Bora had a dangerous habit of twisting words and using anything said in the past against people and Minji cursed her every day for it. She considered bashing Bora’s head into the wall, but she liked her too much to do anything of the sort, plus she wasn’t sure as to how her brother would react to the incident. Instead she chose to sigh it off and follow her friend into class instead.

What Bora had been speaking about was Minji’s first student council meeting. She’d finally been selected for her participation in extracurricular activities as well as enthusiasm when it came to work. What made things worse was the fact that the student council president was someone who made her cheeks red and her panties wet.

Lee Donghae.

So when she did enter the room for the meeting a little too early and spotted the object of her affections dancing away in a rather inappropriate (not that she was complaining) manner to the music playing in his earphones, she panicked and dropped her books. Donghae heard the noise and instantly froze before turning around to see the glorious backside sibling floundering around for her books.

He had to admit, he quite liked the backside he saw. He mentally thanked Minseok’s squeeze for loudly pointing the fact out. But it was the thick blush that painted her face that took him aback further as she quickly took a seat before nodding towards him, indicating her noticing his existence.

“Kim Minji right?” he began, walking over to her, holding his hand out as she bowed.

“Yes senpai. Couldn’t be anyone else.” She babbled mentally wailing, wondering why her mouth wouldn’t shut up when it should. Donghae chuckled at her reply before perching himself on his desk before looking at her. She looked down shyly, trying hard to ignore the way his arms had flexed ever so slightly when he had jumped or how sharp his jawline was and how it would feel to touch all of that. Or more.

The thoughts plagued her as more students filed in, ending the awkward silence between the two as Donghae introduced her to the rest of the student council including Luhan, who happened to be Minseok’s childhood friend and had been Minji’s first crush. Luhan parked himself beside Minji and jovially joked around with her as she mentally berated him for ruining her mental moments with Donghae. She took to writing down these thoughts in little bits of paper and crushed them before folding them and hiding them in her notebook without paying attention to the meeting but rather focusing on how Donghae moved, the way his pink lips moved as he addressed the group, how his butt looked great in those pants, how his back flexed ever so slightly when he turned to face the black board.

How his pelvis moved when he had danced.

Her pen moved over the notebook voicing these thoughts and pretending to be taking down notes as she devoured the handsome student body president with her eyes.

“Minnie~” Luhan sing songed into her ear as she accidentally punched him in the gut in an attempt to hide her notebook.

“OW! What was that for?!” he harshly whispered as Minji glared at him.

“What is it Han?”

“Meetings over.” He poked her forehead before standing up and skipping away. Minji dropped her head on the table wishing for a personal raincloud to turn up and shower her with ice cold water. But instead, a soft hand landed on the table as she eyed the veins on it before trailing her eyes over the strong arms and landing on the face that made her heart do various choreographies.

“Donghae senpai.” She squeaked, nearly falling off her chair as he chuckled.

“I hope you liked the first meeting,” he shot her a pants dropping smile “I’ll see you here next week too I hope?”

Minji violently nodded as she bowed and shot out of the room at the speed of light only to bump into Bora who was waiting to see her reaction. The collision resulted in her notebook flying and slips of paper floated down as Minji squeaked and floundered around for the third time in the day to hide her thoughts on paper. Bora was quick to grab one, read and smirk as Minji looked at her in horror.

Bora pocketed the little slip of paper as Minji tried to snatch it back and began walking ahead.

“Bora, gimme the fucking paper back!”

“You’re right about it being a fucking paper.” Bora chuckled, stopping at an all too familiar locker and pulling the paper out. Minji balked, running toward Bora and tackling her but the deed was done.

“What did you go and do?!” Minji wailed as Bora grabbed her arm and dragged her away on hearing footsteps.

Donghae casually walked towards his locker to pick his books up. The bell had rung and he was looking forward to a great afterschool football practice where he would quiz Minseok on his sister. But looking at how Minseok was around his sister, he doubted he would get a proper answer. Humming, he turned the dial of his locker to hear it click and creak open as a slip of paper floated down onto the ground. Curious, he picked it up and froze as his eyes drifted over the scrawl which read :

“Lee Donghae, your pelvis will be the damn death of me. Also, your butt looks great in those pants, I’m sure it’ll look great without them. ;)”

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