#you act as if someone liking a specific trope or something is the worst thing a Human Being has ever done but why don't you take it to

[wenellyb]

You can like or dislike fanfiction, but I don't understand people who come to Tumblr to constantly complain about fanfiction...it's like going to someone's house to call their decoration ugly.

It doesn't matter if it's true or not ...why would you do it?

And the complaints are always weird like: "blablabla why do people think in tropes now?" "Why would you want to know what happens in the story, what's even the point of reading it then?"

You want to know why??? Because that's the whole point of the Romance genre!!! The predictability, the promise that no matter what they go through, in the end, there will be a Happy Ending for the protagonists.

I don't read a lot of fanfics but I do read a lot of books and e-books (as in unfortunately I have to pay for those😂). And you know what a lot of authors use to describe their books? Tropes!

An enemies to lovers story with a slow burn, a fake relationship story, a mariage of convinience, a best friends to lovers story etc... And this is coming from published Books.

Maybe it's because the market is saturated and it's the only way to stand out, maybe it makes it easier for their readers to find specific books, I don't know. But I do know that they use tropes to describe their books.

Why sh*t on fanfiction, fanfic readers, fanfic writers when actual published authors do the same??? What is the point exactly ?

And can someone explain to me what's so wrong about using tropes? What's wrong with looking for stuff to read by searching specific tropes? It makes it easier when you're looking for a specific story you want to read and helps you know what you will like or not. Which is great, especially when you're going to pay for the book.

Maybe you don't have a problem with fanfics but with the Romance industry in general? But then why target fanfics as if they were the problem?

[fastboatsmojito]

Nightmares - Scott Miller

| a/n; this isn’t technically for Moontober bc nightmares is day twenty seven and I have something different planned, but I woke up about an hour ago from a nightmare myself and this felt like the appropriate response tbh

| cw; just some angst and a little fluff, talk about nightmares, probably very self-indulgent idk what to tell you, one bed trope whoops, not super proofread as per the tags <3

| wc; 800

☾⋆⁺₊⋆

You woke up suddenly, out of breath and sweaty, sitting up and trying to will yourself into thinking about anything else.

“Jesus, you alright?” There was an unfamiliar softness in his voice, probably just from being woken up by your panicked breaths, though you jumped anyway, shaky as you looked over at him, uncharacteristic worry on his face as he sat up.

“Shit sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up. Just a bad dream.” You mumbled, words caught in the back of your throat proving difficult to come out, both exhausted from a restless sleep and energized from the pure panic and anxiety. That was always the worst part, being too scared of your own subconscious to go back to bed, involuntarily keeping yourself awake to stop yourself from drifting back into the personal hell you’d found yourself in before.

“Do you.. want to talk about it?” His voice still came out low, though the gruff from not having talked on purpose quite yet was peeking through. He wasn’t too sure how to comfort anyone at all - questioning himself more than you, you weren’t so used to it either; his words rather than his voice alone surprising you this time.

You shook your head, less responding to his question - though it sufficed, more trying to shake out the mental picture and get your brain to function correctly because it wasn’t difficult to understand nightmares but understanding why they happen didn’t seem to help much.

You had a sleep journal, you corrected them as best you could in your head after writing them down, you drank stress relieving tea and read articles and books on dream study and what it all means and it helps but it doesn’t fix the deepest, strangest anxieties that build up over time. The bizarre collection of everything you’ve thought about in the last month coming back to haunt you in a way that feels personal because it is.

Your brain knows the absolute worst combination of everything you’ve thought about or seen or heard, and if you eat too much fucking dairy or think about one specific thing for just the right amount of too much time, none of the rest of it matters anymore. And maybe you weren’t doing enough but maybe you just needed someone to tell you that it wasn’t real because hearing it from yourself so often was getting a little old and -

The tears were sudden - they usually are, soft and warm running down your face and you didn’t notice until a tear dropped down onto the hand still clutching your chest.

And then a warm hand was cautiously rubbing your back and your overly-worried coworker was trying to understand. Surprising himself again when a simply reassuring ‘you’re alright’ found its way out of his mouth, yawning quietly after and probably trying not to roll back over and fall asleep - bless him.

If it were just a few days ago you would’ve been shocked at the mere fact you were even in the same bed - a little mixup caused by none other than Javi, but sharing a room was excuse enough to get a little too comfortable for ‘professionalism’.

You gave up on the whole ‘oh I’ll just sleep on this tiny, uncomfortable chair for a few days until it’s sorted’ act days ago, diluting your dignity and climbing into bed with your similarly less than enthusiastic coworker who gave up on that shtick after the first night.

He wanted to go back to sleep - he really did, his eyes were practically closing themselves. But he surely couldn’t sleep next to someone actively crying and though he could be mean and - more accurately; a dick, he wasn’t completely emotionless. In fact he found himself scared that you were hurt or something was wrong and he had no way of fixing it when he woke up to your rushed breaths next to him. He still wasn’t sure he could really do anything, he didn’t tend to have dreams very much at all let alone bad ones.

There was no protocol to go over in his head about comforting a coworker-turned-roommate after a nightmare. He couldn’t exactly control your brain for you, though after a second thought he would if it’d help more than the apprehensive hand on your back.

Once you’d calmed yourself down enough and wiped the slowest string of tears from your cheeks you turned to look at Scott with something akin to a smile in the darkness.

Hoping that it made up for the lack of spoken gratitude that was clouded up in the panic in your head for the quiet comfort he wasn’t really looking to be thanked for anyway.

☾⋆⁺₊⋆

[howlsofbloodhounds]

A little trope I kinda like and find interesting is when Killer is portrayed as a snitch. Like he catches news of others trying to escape or any plans to attempt to overthrow or betray Nightmare and he goes straight to the Boss to tell him.

Could be for any reason. Spite, because Killer was not invited to this little escape plan. Not wanting to be left alone with Nightmare again. Loyalty, orders.

(conditioned to obey these specific rules after the first time he allowed other variants of Horror, Murder, maybe Cross/XChara to attempt to get away out of curiosity.

To see if it was actually possible, only for these past escape attempts to fail spectacularly in one way or another. To further prove to Killer that escape is impossible. And Nightmare tells Killer to immediately inform him of any future inconveniences, punishing accordingly.)

And then eventually maybe Killer evolves from his passive observer, snitch role and instead attempts to teach new comers to just survive instead. Perhaps if just to see if it’s possible for any of these things to learn.

And he does it in like a, blunt, detached sarcastic manner. It’s not overtly kind or in a traditionally helpful way.

Stage 2 Killer, characterized by his apathy and curiosity, taking a pragmatic and sometimes harsh approach to "helping" the others (particularly Murder, who he is always tasked to watch) adjust to life under Nightmare's rule. I think he’d also like getting to exert control and have power over someone else’s fate, too.

His methods would be more about survival and compliance that kindness or empathy, reflecting his own acceptance of his role.

He’d provide Murder with blunt, no-nonsense advice about how to avoid Nightmare's wrath and stay out of trouble.

This could include tips on how to behave, what to avoid saying, and how to recognize Nightmare's moods—such as paying extra attention to the way Nightmare’s tentacles behave, and building a rapport with his tentacles. (Pets, praise, not resisting against them.)

“If you don’t want to get hurt, don’t look him in the eye when he’s angry. Trust me."

“Don’t talk back. It’s not worth it. Just nod and do what he says."

Demonstrating how to act in Nightmare's presence, showing the benefits of compliance and submission, even if he does so in a detached or sarcastic manner.

“See? Just like this. You play along, you survive. Simple."

To make Murder understand the seriousness of their situation, Killer might use fear, recounting personal experiences or exaggerating the consequences of defiance.

“You think you can escape? I’ve seen what happens to those who try. You don’t want to end up like them."

Killer would test limits to see how much Murder can take, helping him toughen up in the face of adversity. This can be seen as cruel, but in Killer’s mind, it’s a way to prepare Murder for the worst.

“You need to toughen up. If you can’t handle this, how will you handle him?"

Killer would encourage Murder to be practical and focus on survival rather than escape, emphasizing the futility of resistance.

"Escape is a pipe dream. Focus on surviving. That’s the only way you’ll make it."

To force Murder to adapt, Killer might expose his weaknesses, making him confront his fears and adapt to the harsh reality.

“You’re too soft. If you don’t toughen up, you’re dead weight."

Killer might create situations that mimic potential dangers or challenges, forcing Murder to adapt and learn how to handle them.

“Consider this a test run. If you can handle this, you can handle anything he throws at you."

But Killer could also quickly lose interest in whoever he’s trying to teach, seeing it as pointless and meaningless anyway, boring.

He likely won’t give any praise for doing what he sees as the bare minimum or just something he thinks someone should already know how to do.

He likely won’t show any actual sympathy, empathy, or concern; instead he’s more likely to just encourage whoever he’s trying to “help” to ignore and neglect their own needs.

Whereas someone like Cross in this teaching position might do the pupil’s other half of the work when eyes aren’t watching to allow the other to get much needed rest, Killer would likely tell them to stop complaining and keep going.

He might get so bored he purposely does or says something to provoke Nightmare into punishing him, in an attempt to feel something or have something to do, but scold anyone else for doing the same—giving reasoning such as it hinders the rest of the group.

Whereas someone such as Cross may attempt to take the blame for someone else’s mistakes and their punishment out of the good of his heart, Killer may only do it if it’s beneficial, helps keep control of the situation, and if the mistake was truly because of something Killer did or didn’t do properly to explain the task to the person.

Otherwise Killer would likely give advice on how to endure a punishment if it can’t be avoided, how to figure out why it’s happening (if there is a reason), and to learn from mistakes without repeating them.

It gets especially interesting when this is all just a part of Killer’s responsibilities as Nightmare’s Right Hand, to not only keep them all in line but to also keep them all healthy.

Because even if Killer does objectively kind things like giving food/drink, offering blankets/pillows, or showing how to treat various wounds, the others might be able to see his apathy underneath the joking, silly facade and understand it’s just another task to him.

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

...The love potion is Hell Viagra. Guys tHE LOVE POTION IS HELL VIAGRA-

Like okay maybe its not *exactly* that. I don't think Viagra like, actively turns ppl on or whatever, BUT I think it's primary intended purpose IS something similar. It's get horny juice. Cuz like, think about it for a second. Why sell something that's JUST advertised as a date r*pe drug? Why would you do that? Like, I get that it's hell, and bad people gonna do bad things, but the audience for that kind of thing is probably relatively limited. Plus, there are definitely people down there that would be VERY put off by a company that sells something being actively advertised as for date r*pe. Like, a lot of the sinners we see seem to be. Normal people. Which is also why Val shooting up the hotel would be considered bad for the Vees image- A lot of the truly nasty shit the Vees do has got to be kept at least kind of under wraps because a decent portion of Hell's population probably still wouldn't be okay with actively supporting that shit, no matter how much they're being encouraged to indulge in their worst impulses. It's like how, in jail, a lot of the time ppl will gang up on the worst criminals and beat the shit out of them or smthn. Like even the drone ad that explicitly stated one of the features was spying on your neighbors felt more like it was implying just spying rather then like, peeping on them naked. People are more likely to openly say they've been sticking their nose into their neighbors business then they are to say they've been peeping. Still not good, but like. Vaguely more socially acceptable and appealing to a wider market.

There's also the fact that, from the advertisements we've seen, it doesn't really look like that's what it's being advertised for? One of them is Velvette doing a magical girl pose and the other is Val(who is the porn guy. Aka the romanticized sex genre) and Vel just like, laying there together all sexy like. It's vague, but none of it, besides the name if you're genre savy(which I'd like to point out that not everybody is involved in media criticism enough to realize the issues w/ the love potion trope, which wasn't even taboo until a couple years ago tbh), really screams "use this to make people have sex with you against their will!" That, along with the fact that the love potion definitely CAN'T act how love potions normally do in fiction(making the person who ingested it fall deeply, head-over-heals in love with specifically the person that gave it to them), because that would be too difficult to mass produce, and the other usual approach(fall in love with the first person you see) is just too impractical unless someone is truly desperate, I think the use that gets ADVERTISED is "use this to make your sex better and more fun, just like in those pornos we also sell!(buy our shit)" rather than date r*pe.

That doesn't mean I think the Vees like. Actively discourage other uses though. A sale's a sale and one of them is fucking Valentino there's no way they care that much. Any negative reviews along the lines of "somebody used this to fucking drug me" probably get deleted and nothing is ever done about it because, in the end, as long as the suffering is invisible nobody's gonna care. This take doesn't really make the Vees any less shitty, it just makes them more ~realistically~ shitty.

It also makes the love potion a little bit funnier. Like just a lil bit. Bcuz it means you can make Hell Viagra jokes :)

[traewilson]

So yesterday I saw Inside Out 2 in the theaters. Gotta say, I left quite conflicted. The film itself is good, pretty darn good, in fact. But all my thoughts about it that aren't just "the animation is purty", or "it made me laugh once or twice", were largely negative? It is decidedly, I dare say objectively worse than the first in most respects. This film gives the established characters much less to do that aren't Joy, and the new emotions are wafer-thin that aren't Anxiety. It isn't nearly as funny or as emotionally impactful as the first. If you're expecting any plot beat to hit as hard as Bing-Bong from the first, curb your expectations.

The old characters who aren't Joy aren't given anything interesting to work with. The new (non-emotion) characters are mostly bland and undercooked. One of these characters just plain disappears from the movie completely, never to be seen again, and it's so ODD. It's a kind of narrative sloppiness you usually dont get from animated films from Disney specifically.

And then there's the new emotions, most of whom are wafer-thin and barely even characters. Anxiety being the main antagonist is given dimension and nuance almost rivaling Joy, but Ennui? A one-note joke character. It's funny because Ennui is a big word so Joy calls her "Ui-Ui" instead. Embarrassment has a bit of nuance being the one emotion from the new batch to be friendly towards the older emotions, specifically Sadness, but otherwise again his whole bit can be summarized as: Ha Ha, Big Guy Be Bashful, Please Laugh. There's no spin on the joke. It's just that ancient moth-bitten joke, again. But Envy is I think the worst of the bunch. The character does nothing throughout the film. All they do is cheer on Anxiety. They don't even really act envious which is really really odd? You'd think they could be a twist baddie - where like Envy wants to take the controls away from Anxiety and run the show herself. This is one time that tired Disney trope of the twist villain could've worked. But THEN we wouldn't have the seemingly mandatory now Realistic Panic Attack Scene, so, this character just Exists. A vestigial character that adds nothing, does nothing - it just Is. Criminal waste of a talent like Ayo Edebiri. Darn shame. Maybe in the third one you'll get to do something.

The film tries to follow in the footsteps of Turning Red, in regards of being a analysis of life as a child entering puberty, and it's a wet fart in the wind compared to what Turning Red did. It doesn't have the honesty, the heart, the integrity - it's toothless. It's too generic to be of any use to someone in the same position as Riley in the real world.

But this isn't why I'm writing this. No. There's a specific scene in the movie that just hasn't left my head since I saw the movie, and I have to get my thoughts written down and out there so I can stop thinking about this already.

Minor unimportant spoiler here. So in one scene, Anxiety is compelling a team representing the imagination, if I recall correctly? Anyway, she's compelling the imagination - represented like animators working on animation - to draw up as many scenarios as possible that affirm their paranoia. Joy and Gang enter, and stealthily start drawing up potentially positive outcomes, upsetting Anxiety. Joy gives a rousing speech about how they should draw the things they genuinely believe in, and not let Anxiety push them around, culminating in a chair being thrown at the Apple commercial Big Brother monitor Anxiety is speaking to them through. The mind cops show up, Anger immediately tries to pummel them (based,) and the gang is forced to run away.

To me, this is yet another in a long line of Disney not so subtly trying to control or manipulate discourse through their art / product. Now, an important disclaimer: Of course, all art is trying to say something to the audience - at least any art worth its salt does. But this isn't any one artist's messaging; this is the Walt Disney Corporation's messaging, to my thinking. The difference should be stark between the messaging of a lone human being and a monolithic megacorp's executive staff. Be aware: this is my read. If you don't see what I see, cool and fine. Just keep an open mind.

This sequence has no bearing on the rest of the story. It's a digression that only exists for the sake of the message contained within. It obviously is addressed partially to Disney animators. Disney is acknowledging they've been overworked before, and it gives them the false hope they have a voice within the company, that they can defy their boss and make a stand. They can draw what they want! They can say no! This is, of course, nonsense. Disney does not support this. If their workforce acted out like this, they would all be fired, and Disney wouldn't lose an ounce of sleep over it. I feel like it's a message to the audience as well - a virtue signal to give the dullard audiences the impression they're Good Guys when they most definitely are not that. And I feel it's sending another message to both animators and audience - the solution isn't actually changing anything. The bad leader is calmed down, put back in their place within the system, and the old leader restored. This kind of messaging is mind poison to a susceptible mind, young or old. You dont change anything. Only the leaders can fix the problem with leadership, and the solution is simply to get the Right Leaders in charge again, for everybody to reconcile their differences. I see Anxiety as the Republican Party in the eyes of the executives / writers and directors - mentally unstable, but well-meaning. A vital component to the functioning of the Body, but one that needs to be kept pacified or it will run out of control and cause damage; try to dominate the Body and cast out the people who know what they're doing. Anxiety is, to my thinking, conservatism in the eyes of the team / the executives. You could extrapolate extrapolate it out so that Anxiety is literally Donald Trump. Admittedly the evidence is slim. The domineering (orange) authoritarian who monopolizes the power around themselves. Envy is the mindless sycophant who blindly agrees to everything Anxiety says - the Marjorie Taylor Greenes, the Ted Cruzes, the Lindsay Grahams. Ennui holds the controls too, but does nothing with them beyond introducing sarcasm to Riley's mindscape. Ennui is the passive fool who sees everything going down and just Does Not Care enough to do anything to stop it. And Embarrasment, in the eyes of the team, is the Good One who is doing good behind the scenes, helping Sadness. The liberal image of the ideal Republican. This is, I admit, a major stretch, and it's ultimately just my read. But I don't think I'm completely off base here.

Uhh, so yeah. Not Pixar's best, and not really spectacularly bad in a way that's at least memorable like Cars 2 or Good Dinosaur. No, it's just another Pixar movie. And you know? I almost think that's worse than if it were a spectacular failure. Cars 2, Good Dinosaur, they make me really stop and think. They're fascinating. Inside Out 2 isn't interesting. It's emblematic of the continued downward spiral of Pixar into becoming an empty shell, fully filled by Disney.

But hey it played the Triple-Dent Gum jingle again and Anger hates cops so 8/10

[besttropeveershowdown]

The Worst Trope Ever Showdown: Round 1, Side B

Love at First Sight

Falling in love with someone upon meeting/seeing them for the first time.

Propaganda:

No shame to people who enjoy this trope, but I can't see it as anything other than lazy and boring, and also a bit forced. It's like the writers knew that these characters had to get together, but they didn't feel like showing the process of how they fell in love. So, they just have the guy spot the girl from across the room and decide he loves her because her hair looks nice or something. IMO relationships in fiction are much more interesting when they build up and the characters realize their love for each other by actually spending time together and getting to know each other. There's no real reason to be invested in their relationship when it seemed to just spawn instantaneously.

It feeds into the heteronormative idea that men and women cannot be friends without falling in love with each other. Also it’s just really annoying, especially from an aro/ace perspective, like why are you acting like this??

Dying for Unborn Child

I can't find a TV tropes page for it specifically which surprises me, but maybe I just have no idea what they called it. Obviously it's a subset of death by childbirth, but it's more than that. Essentially, a woman (it's always a woman when I've seen it and it's not a trope I'd wish on trans people) is pregnant, usually not on purpose, and the setting has determined that if she lives, the baby will die, and vice versa. So she chooses to die or kills herself to save the baby in her womb.

It's just anti-abortion propaganda and misogyny and the sainted self-sacrificing mother all in a hideous little package. It happens in Lost Girl and Angel just to start with, and it's agonizingly contrived in both. There's literally no reason these women had to be written to die. But they're so good-hearted, or their pregnancy has made them so good hearted, that they simply must end their lives for the sake of the fetus. They may even be making up for past wrongdoings by...making a baby and sacrificing their body for it. Because the most important thing a woman can do is incubate. It's gross.

[voxofthevoid]

fucking yikes im so sorry you get these kind of notifications, and of course theyre anonymous😒 coward cant even say it with their chest about a FICTIONAL character, in something completely optional to read. anyway, im a big fan and i reread your fics all the time! ppl complaining about gojo being ooc for being a bottom make me giggle everytime tho like no shit? fr?? gojo fucked canonically in the manga?? whens THAT getting animated and which chapter was it. can you link me 👀👉👈

and again, its not the source material. Its fanfic shared with you, not made for you. Its like walking into an ice cream parlor and demanding a steak, except even worse because the food is free!!! No one is holding you at gunpoint to sit down and read the whole thing huffing and puffing about how "its not what you ordered." and if you didnt read it, why are you here.🧍‍♂️

and imo the market is oversaturated with top gojo and bottom gojo satosugu. You're doing the lords work righting the scales one yuuji at a time🥰

"No one is holding you at gunpoint to sit down and read the whole thing": You'd think so, but some of these people do act like I'm at their house holding their entire family hostage while they read my fic with bloody tears streaming down their face.

Listen, if I had that kinda power, I'd manifest in my friends' houses to cuddle them to death. And hopefully cow-eye them into feeding me (looking at you specifically @eusuntgratie).

Delulu anon is the only one who's been a dick about it so far (and I think that one's just got several screws loose), but variations of this happen enough in my comments that I've constructed whole mental categories.

There are the nice ones, who basically say some variation of "I'm not usually into bottom!Gojou, but I'll read it from you." That's great! I generally take any version of "not my thing, but you're an exception" as a compliment, and the commenters generally mean it that way. There are also the neutral questions about who tops, usually before the fic gets explicit (yes, even in the fics where Gojou goes "fuck me, Yuuji ❤" well before the porn), and while opening my email to just that, without a peep about the fic so far, is about as appealing as eating burnt toast, I do answer and leave it be. It's fine.

And then you have the people with main character syndrome who cannot seem to conceive that any goyuu fic author would gleefully and exclusively write top!Yuuji. I've had people act like they're doing me a favor by reading my fic or assume it will be switching at the least. There was one...memorable occasion where someone liked the deaging fic overall but didn't like top!Yuuji, so they told me they'd be "stealing" the concept. Deaging is a bog-standard trope, so that's stupid as shit, but fucking Christ, the audacity. That was, IIRC, a fairly popular PWP author, so it's not even that they need any help to get eyeballs on their work.

There's just this persistent disbelief in the goyuu fandom about someone (me, I'm someone) writing top!Yuuji over and over. And it's clearly not that JJK fans just cannot conceive of Gojou taking it up the ass; like you said, there's plenty of it in satosugu, and I have it on good authority that nanago and sukugo are the same. It's just the combination of Yuuji and Gojou that gets this "one way only" attitude, and yeah, I know precisely why, but I've been in fandom for some 15 years now, a decade of it on Ao3, and JJK is the worst about it I've seen.

Sorry for the *gestures above* rant, but every goddamn month, this shit happens, and I am clinging to civility by the skin of my teeth.

But, far more importantly, please know that it put a bigass smile on my face to know that you like to reread my fics. Thank you, anon 😘

[sketching-shark]

Bangs head on my desk. Its sooooo fucking hard I have literally most of the LMK fandom blocked and I still can’t fucking escape that mid ass pairing I want to explode. Honest to god it sucks because I actually like analyzing LEMH and Sun wukong’s dynamic when it comes to the original story and like the idea of a character trying so hard to be this other person they just fundamentally erase any aspect of who they could be. That shit is interesting (especially if you interpret the two as actual family bc there’s a level of. Tragedy there) but NOOO mfs wanna focus on shipping clones/siblings together instead and painfully writing both characters ooc instead of just making an oc good fucking god. ( that being said I really like the art you draw of LEMH. It’s really cool. Keep up the good work 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾)

fregarewargtfds I once saw someone describe the LEMH & SWK ship as jttw retellings's reylo and. hm. yeah.

BUT YEAH YEAH YEAH to this day one of the things I find most baffling about the western monkie kid & jttw fandom is this widespread refusal to even recognize LEMH's actions in the og classic. Because it's like: here we have what could very well be one of literature's first instances of the "evil twin" trope and it's being done SPECIFICALLY in a way to create the maximum amount of conflict and uncertainty for SWK!

Because on one hand the false monkey of the true and false monkey king arc is essentially the very embodiment of everything that SWK ever wanted; LEMH, in copying SWK so completely, does it in such a way where he gets to be both a yaoguai warlord with a loving family AND a holy pilgrim bound for glory at the exact same time, whereas SWK is constantly being forced to choose between the two! But LEMH's also doing it in the worst way possible! He beats Tang Sanzang into unconsciousness, steals their stuff for his own use, and in so doing drives a serious rift between SWK and the pilgrims!

He clearly doesn't give af about the Mt. Huaguoshan monkeys outside of how they can serve as his personal tools to fulfill his own aims! He just wants them to use their own powers of transformation so that they can serve as his own obedient group of pilgrims! He even eats one of them as part of a merry feast he throws for himself after a violent encounter with Sha Wujing, and immediately has that monkey replaced with another! And he's doing ALL of this wearing SWK's face and adapting SWK's mannerisms! EVERYONE thinks that it's SWK doing these things! It's like LEMH's very existence is throwing it in SWK's face how this horrible version of himself is closer to achieving ALL of SWK's desires than SWK ever was, and that no matter how much SWK tries to change for the better even the two sides of his beloved family automatically think even this version which would inflict such violence on them is the "true" him! No wonder SWK hated him so much!

And AUGH the possibility of LEMH either being a manifestation of SWK's worst impulses or of being his brother just ramps the tragedy and horror of this situation even more! Like if it was part of SWK inflicting all this pain on the people SWK loves most, well there is truly something messed up about this situation where even if it's not technically "you" going along with your worst impulses they will still hurt people! Could you ever trust yourself again? Should you? How much of the blame for this situation lies with you? And can it be enough to fully acknowledge you have violent impulses but don't act on them?

And yes @the-bitter-ocean even in interpretations where LEMH is some random yaoguai who decides to commit identity fraud the story from his point of view of him throwing away his identity so completely that there's basically nothing left of him is just...goddamn. In his ambition he literally reduced himself to one part of SWK's story, just one more obstacle for the Monkey King to overcome.

And SCREAM if LEMH was SWK's brother? Imagine this situation where for SWK he's confronted by what is essentially the culmination of his failures to protect his family, where his beloved brother (I'm saying beloved because SWK loved all members of his monkey family very much) ended up despising SWK so much that he has essentially destroyed everything that he was or could have been in his bid to be the "real" monkey king and bring glory back to that name, but does so in the worst way possible to the point where SWK feels he has to take down LEMH himself. And then for LEMH, you can see how love and admiration for his brother would be twisted into resentment, envy, obsession, and hatred due to the series of atrocities the Mt. Huaguoshan simians faced in large part as a consequence of SWK's challenge to the heavens and his own sense of entitlement, so that eventually he convinced himself he would be a more "true" monkey king than the monkey king himself, and thus completely discarded his own identity to take on that of his brother, and in doing so basically tossed his own morals given how his "version" of the monkey king cares for no one but himself.

Sorry for the rant! But all the pieces for a whole series of interesting tragedies are! Already! Right! There!!!!! Why are we all so hellbent on ignoring/rewriting them!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[reversemoon255]

5th Review - Gundam the Witch from Mercury

I’ve probably said this before in a Gunpla review, but I was really looking forward to G-Witch. I’m always a fan of when a series shakes up the usual cast tropes, even if it’s just costume colors, so Gundam doing their first show with a female lead was very exciting. And judging by a lot of the reactions I’ve seen, many Gundam fans and many new viewers from outside the fandom enjoyed the shift as well. Now, as someone very familiar with the Gundam meta-series, it’s not my favorite. I’d say it’s probably fourth? Which is still high on the list, but it does lack a few things I usually look for. However, characters and story are areas where it excels, so let’s get into my thoughts on them.

The Good: Despite some of the overall complexities of the plot, mostly involving the business and political side of things, it was fairly easy to follow. The story usually followed either Suletta, Miorine, or Guel, with many other smaller side-plots and check-ins with other characters throughout. It was also constantly shifting, never sticking to a status quo for too long, while simultaneously juggling a great deal of foreshadowing and character moments. Considering quite a few Gundam series have very rushed endings, and G-Reco’s pacing specifically has issues, the fact that G-Witch’s writing is so tight and well-balanced is a testament to how much care was put into it. It also doesn’t feel like “Everyone lived because they were popular and we rewrote it;” it felt like this was the plan from the start and they didn’t alter things due to fan reactions.

Moving onto our main characters, Suletta actually felt like our main character. I say that because several previous pilots (like Mika and Setsuna) have played second fiddle to more extroverted co-stars, such as Miorine, and having her hold her own in the spotlight is a good show of Gundam evolving as a meta-franchise. As a character, Suletta starts out very timid and slowly becomes more confident. As one of the main themes of the show is the relationship between parent and child, Suletta’s is simultaneously the best and the worst, as her mother is the only one who actively tries to help and praise her, but is also by far the most manipulative.

Speaking of her co-star, while Suletta handles the piloting for this series, Miorine takes the brunt of the more complex stories. She balances her time, importance, and relationship with Suletta better than some of the aforementioned teams I’ve mentioned, possibly due to the two of them being in a relationship themselves. She’s stern, stoic, and generally unfriendly at the start, but grows to be more open during the show’s run. On the note of parents, her father probably cares about her the most of the MC parents, doing everything he can to protect her from behind the scenes, but comparatively is very bad at showing any affection without a bullet in him. Also, it’s amusing how, as the more she tries to protect Suletta from her mother, the more she acts like her.

Guel is arguably the third main character this series, having a significant amount of screen time, and having dynamics with both Suletta and Miorine, not just one of them like some other characters. He starts episode 1 very coarse and aggressive, but we learn extremely quickly that his actions are more him trying to please his father above his own wants. The speed at which you go from disliking to liking Guel (something the show is surprisingly good at both ways) is very quick; by the end of episode 3 you already know he’s a good guy. Speaking of his father, he’s one of the (shockingly) very few character deaths we get this season. His impact on Guel is less that of his character and more of Guel trying to live up to his legacy and expectations. He was also outwardly the worst of the parents, but shows he does genuinely care about his kids in his final moments, caring more that he found his son than anything else.

Next are the Elans, who probably fit the mold the least of any of the characters, there being 3 of them aside. Unlike the rest of our main characters, none of the Elans really have any family. Elan 4 barely remembers his, Elan 5 had Dr. Winston but their relationship is much more generic than that of parent and child, and Elan Prime has the Peil co-CEOs but again their relationship is too generic or underdeveloped to classify it as parental. The only significant relationship formed by any of the Elans (apart from Suletta) is Elan 5 and Norea’s brief spat. But perhaps not having a family is exactly where he slots into the theme. Anyway, Elan 4 and Elan 5, though very different, both follow a similar developmental path (though one clearly took longer than the other). They both start off entirely devoted to their job/survival, and after meeting a girl they find similar to themselves, open up and start considering things greater than themselves. Granted, Elan 5 never loses his snark, but you can tell he’s well meaning.

And the last main character is Shaddiq. He plays the villain for most of the series, but a very charismatic one. As the villain, he doesn’t really change all that much compared to the other characters, being the most straight-forward and goal-oriented of everyone. He also flips the parent-child relationship on its head, being the only child to actively manipulate their parent and other characters like the other MC parents do. His character almost stands as a mirror to everyone else's.

As for any other random positive anecdotes I have about the series:

I’m not really talking about side characters (it would take way too long), but I really like Chu-Chu. She’s great and I like how she simultaneously does and does not grow.

My favorite moment is when Guel does the very anime tropey Sword-VS-Hug, and his kouhai shows up with a fire extinguisher and tells him he’s not cool.

I’m always a fan of a happy ending.

The Bad: I’m very much a Gundam mechanics person. It’s why I love series like 00, Build, and other things like Knights & Magic. And for a series all about Gundams, the Gundams are kinda boring. I was initially very excited about Aerial, with it having its offensive Bit Mode, its defensive Shield Mode, and its performance based Bit-On Form. I was really hoping Aerial’s evolution would be similar to something like G-Self or Core Gundam Rize, where it would get different Bit configurations that result in different big accessories and Bio-On Forms. Instead we got Rebuild, who was all, like, “let’s put all the bits on a big gun!” It’s weirdly more uninteresting than regular Aerial, especially since the gun was rarely used, and the Bit-On form was super underplayed. The other MS aren’t much better, just recycling ideas from UC, X, and Turn-A, and giving them a mix of 00 and G-Reco’s aesthetics. I will give credit to Swarzette for being a more interesting Rebuild, changing the shield to a sword and having multiple Bit-On configurations, but it was barely in the show. Same with the Demi Barding, having a lot of cool elements, but having almost no screen time. This was very much a character story, and the machines suffered for it.

Also, Prologue should have been the first episode. While it was cute to release it early as a teaser for the series, there are several moments, including a huge chunk of the ending, that hinge upon you having seen Prologue. It also serves to further explain Prospera’s motivations (who is, BTW, my least favorite character and the sole reason I paused watching the series until it was finished), as well as set up several other characters and plot elements that come to fruition near the back quarter of the show.

I thought about it for a few hours; this may be the best written season of Gundam, yet why don’t I like it more? And the conclusion I came to is: it’s super depressing. I was very much reminded of Citrus (a series I hate yet have simultaneously read all of), where it always ends on a negative cliffhanger to draw you into the next episode/chapter. The balance of positive to negative moments and interactions in the show is heavily skewed, and if you’ve read any of my other series reviews, you’ll know I really appreciate positivity in shows and characters.

Overall, I stand by that G-Witch is the best written Gundam series to date, but its overall depressing tone and lack of interesting mechanics keeps it from dethroning my top picks. However, I would still put it in my top 5, and am very glad Gundam chose to go outside its comfort zone to give us this very different season.

[sallertiafabrica]

1, 7, and 14?

1. the character everyone gets wrong

More than one honestly, but the one that gets most on my nerves is Marinette. And the worst part is that I can’t even blame fanonfication on it, as canon is the main culprit of this hellhole I live in 🙃

I friggin’ hate that meek girl that can’t fuction around her crush characterization and that needs other characters to constantly preach to her. It’s annoying, demeaning, disrespectful, and URGH. No kiddin’ so many folks end up disliking Marinette (there’s alsp the stalking and jealousy plots, but those are the writers thinking these things are “cute” and “romantic”, so I wouldn’t pin those on Marinette).

And on the other side of the coin, there’s what I call the Characterization to Overcompensate..... and like. I get the appeal of portrayin a usually disrespected character as stronger and “sassy”, but when doing this, I feel like people strip Marinette of what makes her her, y’know? Taking off all the fun parts of her characters for the sake of an angry powerhouse that comes off with a “holier than thou” attitude more often than not. And after a while, it gets tiring.

I’ll admit to using the skin of this Overcompensating writing trope during Trickster’s earlier half, but it was for the sake of a character exploration and to see what an angry/tired/depressed Marinette that didn’t lose her marinette-ness could look like.

(shout out to Classic!Félix, though, for also being incredibly misunderstood by the fandom at large, hahahahahah.. ha... 🥲)

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

Most characters that aren’t Marinette and Félix I stay in a state of disinterest to annoyance unless some particular characterization pushes me to either hate or enjoy the characterization of that specific work. With ONE exception–

Chloé. I know. I know. The redemption’s seeds were planted on canon, and I agree that they should’ve gone through with it if they setted it up in the first place, but– I just. don’t. care. for Chloé and she’s everywhere.

Ngl. Low-key regret making her slightly sympathetic in Trickster, cuz it gave folks the impression I like her and want her redeemed when. I fucking don’t. I couldn’t care less what happens to Chloé, I just needed someone to fulfill a specific role in Trickster and she happened to fit the bill. I have no strong feelings for her. But then she keeps getting shoved on my face at every single turn, and now every time I see her in fics I have the urge to crush something between my hands.

She’s being the villain/antagonist will keep me in the “couldn’t care less” to “kinda amused” side of the reaction board, but to me, the best use of Chloé is “so disconnected from the main plot, it’s HILARIOUS”. Anyway, Flora and Amber ftw

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

Several things, but right now, I’m particularly peeved with the “There’s a New Villain!” plot, but it’s just Hawkmoth rehashed. Actually, making Hawkmoth-esque villains in general. It gets tiresome after a while. Like– pick a new storyline!!!

[mothbeasts]

3, 8, 12, 16, 18

3 (screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr) :

oh this is hard i've seen MANY bad takes in my time on tumblr dot com. my personal favorite bad take that i've seen with my own two eyes was someone shipping solaris with juniper while also claiming that the fabricator was like a sister to her just because the specifics of that one go so deeply against my own personal interpretations (and what i feel we learn about all of them in canon) that it makes me physically ill. which is probably a me problem but y'know

8 (common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about):

got this one in another ask and will be answering it there :]

12 (the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them):

branching out for this one and saying hive knight from hollow knight. he's my favorite underrated background character and i think everyone should like him now. unpopular not in the sense of "everyone hates him" but more "hardly anyone knows and/or thinks about him." he is so strange... guy who devotes his entire life to his queen and then dies about it after getting the plague. his last act is to kneel in front of her corpse. something is so deeply wrong with him. i think he's fascinating.

16 (you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc) ):

hmm. gonna have to go with "prism adopting agent phoenix post-ieytd3" for this one. i just don't see it personally.

18 (it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...):

solaris. end post.

[rollercoasterwords]

hey I don’t want to pick on you or anything I just have a couple of things for you to consider re: your post about never criticizing fic/fan works in public and your responses to that anon. I completely agree with you wrt stuff like prose or characterization. But in terms of something like racism, I will say that as a Black person, I find fandom in general incredibly resistant to seeing any fandom behaviors or tropes as being driven by racism. Privately approaching someone who you may not have a relationship with and who is almost certain to be some degree of defensive or hostile is a big ask. I just think of all those posts I see about how hard it is for people to even comment positively on a fic they loved. We all know it’s hard to approach someone to talk about their work, even if it’s positive! and it seems like an unfair burden on poc for us to always be expected to overcome that reticence so that people aren’t offended/embarrassed by the public critique of any racist content in their fan work. I think that critiquing these racist tropes and behaviors (even using specific works as an example) can actually be an act of community because we’re discussing how to treat each other better and how to acknowledge that fans of color are also reading and viewing and our experiences matter also. Like the point of calling out racism isn’t to shun and disgrace everyone who has done something racist (which is everyone in the world) it’s to help people stop being racist and to show racism is not tolerated or acceptable. Just another perspective for you to consider! I know you’re not like the arbiter of fandom and you’re not responsible for what other people do. Thanks for reading!

i do not feel picked on don't worry!! i really appreciate this message i actually feel like this helped address some of my questions re: differences in posting publicly vs taking it to the fic writer privately when it comes to like. how draining/how much of a burden either of those things can be.

i definitely get what ur saying here that going directly to the fic writer just. is not always going to be the best option for an individual trying to figure out how to address racism in fandom. and while i personally tend to err on the side of addressing issues privately, i agree w u that discussing them publicly can be just as much an act of community + education. i think where my wariness comes from is that i have seen a lot of call-outs that are more witch-hunts where it is sort of burn-them-at-the-stake vibes, and that's more what i was responding to when i made my original post.

but i think the flipside when i talk about things like being in community, assuming the best in each other rather than the worst, etc is that it all needs to be going both ways. so like - when addressing issues, starting from a place where we assume it's misinformation and not intent, but then on the flipside for writers who are having something in their work pointed out as problematic, i think it's important to assume that the people pointing that out to u are (as u say) also coming from a place of community + trying to help educate, not just putting u on trial to humiliate u. like, none of this works if it's not a two-way street. and so i get how seeing writers frequently become defensive or hostile when having their racism called out is gonna mean u develop different tactics for addressing racism--like, that makes a lot of sense.

anyway, thanks for taking the time to send me this message! i feel like it helped me understand a bit more of what that anon might have been getting at; definitely gave me some things to reevaluate when talking broadly abt how we address issues in fic. while i do think that, generally speaking, it's best to go to the writer first, there are definitely situations where that isn't going to be the case + i don't want to act as if there is always one correct set of steps to follow in addressing issues!

[meltingpenguins]

Something I still don't understand (sorry to bother you with this, but I love your analyses and maybe you can help me)... everybody is angry at Aziraphale for wanting Crowley back as an angel, but in the TV series, in season 1 already, Crowley always seemed to regret his Fall, even when he's alone in his apartment (so he's clearly not lying because he's alone) or when he's drunk, I've always felt like he was saying he didn't deserve to Fall and he wished he hadn't. But then at the end of season 2, he goes all morally superior and omg I hate what they did with his character in the TV series, I hate it so much! So, all in all, I guess my question is: did it feel like Crowley wouldn't have wanted to be an angel in the TV show? because if he didn't, they should have made it clear(er). To me, it felt like he very much didn't want to be a demon, and I'm 1000% sure Aziraphale asked if Crowley wanted to be an angel again for Crowley's sake, as an act of love, nothing else, not because he couldn't love a demon. I don't know, it just bothers me every time I think of it, and I thought to ask. Thank you in advance.

The issue is the writing:

S2 ditches all continuity and consistency for the sake of milking the money cow that is a specific kind of shipper. So personality are ditched for whatever is needed to make stale, uninspired, paint-by-the-numbers shipping-drama happen.

It's irritating, unnecessary and just... why?

Yeah, s1 crowley (as well as book crowley in a way) was someone who wanted to understand why he Fell. in s1 there already was an unfortunate undertone of this crowley being angry that the Almighty doubted HIM, but there was some saving grace (hah!) that instead of that it was genuinely crowley trying to make sense of things.

Said it in a different post, but book crowley had some regard for his brethren in Hell, and even seemed on board with Hell getting a piece of the pie, just not by burning down the rest of the buffet.

But s2 crowley? There is only the worst kind of 'chosen one' tropes played perfectly straight.

And the writing is so awfully manipulative from s1 on already. The show is making Showley out to be infallible, everyone (inlcuding Az) is inferior to him, everything would be better if people would just do as showley says etc.

But this level of bad writing goes hand in hand with the general vitriol towards older fans, which is just sad to see.

This is a little rambly and not very organized, but eesh, s2 is so... Seltzerberg have more love and respect towards source-materials when they're writing their spoofs.

I'd just love to know -why- but if you are asking questions in this fandom right now... funny isn't it?

[eeriesnow]

Ok now YOU tell me your 5 most annoyingly fucked up tropes/themes

THIS'LL BE FUN I have a varied mix here

5. This one is niche I suppose but when fiction tries to tackle various political ideologies and then proceeds to completely misrepresent said ideologies, yeah that bothers me. Cause it's typically a thing where they misrepresent them in a way that makes them look unreasonable/childish and then only engage with them on that front. Sometimes it's intentional and sometimes it just seems like a lack of knowledge. Truly, it is my personal hell as someone who is an actual anarchist to have to witness media that depicts anarchism's only tenets as "hehe chaos and murder". I guess it's partially related to how I myself really like tackling politics in my own writing and seeing such dishonest take downs wears at me

4. Blease No More Good VS Evil for your "X vs Y narrative". no not even when it's for children. nobody chooses the side of evil that's fucking stupid. Please do the bare minimum and have your Evil Dudes or whatever at least think they're doing something good, or acting out of survival, or think there is no good path. Legitimately if your narrative is just flat good vs evil it isn't a good story by default there is nothing to engage with. evil characters are fun but if they say shit like "I am choosing the side of evil" i am going to cartwheel into a brick wall

3. Kinda specific but sexism in a dark fantasy setting (or just general fantasy sometimes). Typically it goes for a setting that resembles medieval europe or whatever, and has sexist attitudes (and also violence towards women) that resemble it. What usually ends up happening is that female characters are just victims of the worst shit the entire time and either have their entire arc revolve around "wrow woman" and the struggles with a sexist world or they're just given a minimal role in the narrative, which actually ends up sidelining them in the way the story may be trying to critique! Like in a world where there exists really awful sexism and such your female characters can have more going on than being a victim of it or fighting against it. This also goes for really any other group that gets this kind of treatment, it's just one that comes up very often.

2. It's really easy to put abusive parents into a character's backstory but frankly the rarity of it being properly explored and integrated into a character is disappointing. Also like it's the same thing every single time which is to make a parent maniacally evil and usually only show a character when they themself have accepted that their parent abused them. Like no it's 1. more interesting and 2. more accurate when a character has yet to realize they've been abused and also for the parent to me much more of a mixed bag. It also kinda makes people think abuse from parents only looks like the absolute worst it can get which makes it hard for real people to identify abuse!

SHAKING YOUR HAND ON THE PTSD THING. Also there really isn't very good writing on CPTSD that distinguishes it (as someone that has both I think there needs to be more awareness on the difference!) Plus from an artsy perspective it's hard to find representations of what having an episode really feels like which honestly is a shame cause shit's wild.

[lajulie24]

22, 24, 54

22. Are there certain types of writing you won’t do? (Style, pov, genre, tropes, etc)

I tend to say “never say never” about most things, but in general I won’t write noncon, or the whole a/b/o thing. (I’m not necessarily averse to writing something in which past abuse or trauma or its effects are mentioned, but I’m generally not going to write the actual thing happening.) Again, never say never, but I generally don’t write modern AUs either — I like staying in the GFFA. And this isn’t so much a style thing, but I’ll write to a prompt if I request prompts (or if I’m doing a fic exchange and writing according to my giftee’s prompts) but I don’t really take requests. I did one once that was a full-on request and I think I learned that when someone requests a fic they have a very specific idea in their head of what they want, so even if you write the best fic ever it’s never going to meet those expectations. And really they should just try writing the idea in their head themselves, even if it wouldn’t come out perfectly.

24. Worst writing advice anyone ever gave you?

Oh, that’s a tough one, I think because if I realized it was advice that didn’t work for me, I usually forgot it. One example I do recall is someone saying in a post that you should never use adverbs, and that you should try to avoid repeating the word “said” and giving like a bajillion synonyms for “said.” I use a ton of adverbs, and I did try substituting for “said” and realized that it makes no sense to do that. Sometimes it works — like you want to get across a particular way someone is saying something — but a lot of times it feels like it distracts from the actual dialogue. So I went back to just using my ear to decide when “said” feels right or when some other verb sounds better to me.

54. What’s your favorite part about the fanfiction writing process?

I really do enjoy a lot of things about the writing process, but one thing that feels so good is when I’ve been envisioning some scene in my head for a while and finally manage to write it out, and the act of writing makes the scene kind of change and morph as I’m writing it, but that turns out to be a GOOD thing. That, and when I get into a groove with writing and all the sudden one of my characters does something or says something that I was not actually planning on. Just, something pops into my head and I’m like “ooh but what if Leia said THIS instead?” I also love the act of bouncing ideas off other people and then one of us is like “oh, I’m gonna write that” and then we do. Or the bouncing ideas around thing makes me come up with something that was even better than the idea I was originally planning.

Thanks for the ask!

Get to know your fic writer asks!

[gavinom123]

3 + 11 + 13 + 16 ?

You didn't specify a fandom, so I'll just pick ones I feel passionate about LOL

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

FUCKK it has to be after Muu's MV came out, I saw someone say she faked her T1 MV... which is literally impossible... The Milgram fandom lost all of its reading comprehension the second the series became more character studies than murder mystery and you can see it in the T2 results... her whole MV is her lying to herself about how she felt about her murder and her ex-friends/bullies... she doesn't want to see herself as a victim, so since her MV isn't presenting her as one since it reflects her mental state, suddenly she is lying about something that she literally has no control over.

11. number of fandom-related words you've filtered

Honestly... not too many? I pretty much only filter for spoiler reasons, I'd rather know whos reblogging/posting things that make me uncomfortable so I can block them rather than filtering it out of my dash. I think I have like 4 spoiler filters up currently

13. worst blorboficiation

I already answered this for WH, so I'll answer this for ZENO now! The way people characterize Kuro in a lot of the fandom really rubs me the wrong way.. They tend to reduce him down to solely his need for love, and not only that people tend to put that focus on specifically his need for love from Aki. While I understand it's a significant part of his character, it's also something he grows past in his development, and I see a lot of focus on it only after his Zeno activates but before Aki regains his own memories so it's just not to my taste to be completely honest. I'd love to see deeper analyses into the nuances of his character outside of his search for affection, but honestly I'm not sure if we'd get it from this fandom LOL. I would write analyses myself, but I'm more of the passively absorb every aspect to this character type than "ah yes he acts like this because of this aspect of his past here is the evidence" character essay type...

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

OH MY GOD I FINALLY HAVE AN EXCUSE TO TALK ABOUT THIS WHY DOES EVERYONE LIKE QKAI. Like it's cute, don't get me wrong, but I dont understand the basis for it outside of Q-taro being one of the people to bring Kai up again later. They don't have like any super significant interactions together, and it ends up feeling a lot like a case of them being the leftovers of pairing everyone else off with one another...

Questions! (Still taking these its nice to chat abt fandom opinions :) )