#anti s&b

[kallypsowrites]

Shadow and Bone season 2 is a string of scenes that might be intriguing as one shots of a fanfic, or might be direct adaptations of single scenes, but the surrounding context either does not support the scenes at best and absolutely ruins the scenes at worst.

If the show is viewed in gifsets of the conversations, a casual viewer might get excited. There are direct lines from the books! There are scenes from the books! There are lovely little shipping moments. But if you actually watch these things in order, adding in the absolutely garbage pacing of the show and you realize that most of these moments are just forced into the narrative for reasons of hollow fan service, they kind of lose their meaning.

There are lots of classic Darklina lines from the books, for instance. But all of the emotional complexity is gone.

There are lots of Kanej moments, but they’re from Crooked Kingdom, which means they are happening WAY too early.

There are lots of Wesper moments, which are of course adorable, but it means there’s very little direction for their dynamic to go in the spinoff and will probably involve creating shallow conflict for the sake of drama

There are Helnik moments, but Matthias really has NO reason to be in the show at all.

There are lots of Malina moments, but the pacing of their relationship is such that it feels like an after thought at best and forced at worst. Like the writers suddenly remembered: ‘oh right, they’re supposed to kiss...ah, well, lets just throw that into the first episode, that’s a normal time to have a romantic relationship begin’.

Kaz’s confrontation with Pekka Rollins is great until you realize that his main emotional arc has already been explored and nearly resolved before the Crows spinoff. Inej’s emotional arc is removed completely as not only she is robbed of a confrontation with Tante Heleen, but also doesn’t seem to have any aversion to romantic touch. Her trauma is just...completely deleted.

Jesper is a grisha! And he has already accepted and embraced it in this show, so he can’t have that arc in the spinoff.

Matthias, Nina and Wylan still have lots of stuff left, but you’ve basically spedrun the arcs of half the Crows.

And while the Crows have some good moments but in the wrong place, the actual shadow and bone characters are absolutely decimated. Alina is given ‘girl boss anger’ because the writers think that means agency. Mal has practically nothing to do accept die. The Darkling has all pathos and care for saving/protecting Grisha removed in favor of making him a one-dimensional evil guy so that the characters can be justified in fighting him. Zoya has no purpose at all and could be removed from the story.

Nikolai might come off the best writing wise but even he is given the character inconsistency of working with the Crows to justify their actions in the previous season.

There are a lot of things to talk about in how bad this season is. But ultimately, its that the whole is SO much less than the sum of its parts. The cast is incredible and they make a lot of terrible lines work as well as they can. But add it all together and you get a terrible mess.

#shadow and bone #shadow and bone season 2 #anti shadow and bone #anti s&b #s&b season 2 #s&b spoilers #shadow and bone spoilers

[kaz-brekker-crow]

So so evil what they did to Kanej. Their relationship is literally built on Kaz ensuring Inej has her freedom and autonomy at every turn, and in the show he OWNS her INDENTURE. And the only reason why this isn't registering as fucked up to anyone is the fact they completely erased Inej's story and character arc.

#six of crows #soc #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #anti shadow and bone #anti s&b #kanej

[nagararitsu]

truly there is nothing worse for a book than a bad live action bc tell me why some of u r drawing jesper to be paler than inej. and why r u trying to make kaz’s haircut look decent. and why is wylan a brunette. and even more concerning why r u drawing wylan to look like 12 and the rest of the crows like 24. u know they’re all high school age right. right. death to the wylan van sunshine trope

#wylan van sunshine thing was popular before the show but like god I feel like it got worse #hate it #anti s&b #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #soc #gv

[thereisnolumos]

darklina thoughts: I wanted to get into the shadow and bone Fandom(books and show) because of the amazing gif set of the darklina kiss I saw

Like who are these two that are sharing such a beautiful kiss. And look so aesthically pleasing together with the darkness and light vibes. I was so excited to find out who these two were because these kind of ships are my everything. Than I find out and 😨😱😤😠🤬!!!!! It was like running full steam a head with tons of excitement and crashing face first into a wall when I find out everything about this Fandom. Both about the books and show. The author and this beautiful ship. And I'm like God why do authors do this ship. Tease us with everything we want and the full potential. But than do a completely one 80 and waste are time on things we don't care about, or find insulting or toxic, and tells us are tastes are dumb and toxic. So now I just read fics and look at beautiful art of Darklina and the potential they could have been. It's just so annoying because this stuff happens all the time!!! And don't get me started on what I heard about the author. I don't know if their true. And wish I could find out real stuff about her. But if it is. God she is so messed up for doing this to us.

I only got in the fandom bcs I randomly saw a teaser for the first season and Ben Barnes was there in all his dark glory. I knew nothing about the books, but the way that show was promoted I was expecting the epic dark romance, villain who’s not really a villain gets the girl all the vibe. Plus cool world build and complicated detailed story overall.

I got none of that.

That show was interesting and hopeful for the first 5 episodes (we will always have 1x05🖤). It wasn’t as detailed and complex as I expected, but it had potential and the main pair - the one they based THE ENTIRE promotion on by the way - was having one of the most fiery and spark inducing chemistry I’ve ever seen on the screen, so I kept my hopes up for the overall plot and focused on them. And then… then they backpedaled SO HARD on everything that made that show interesting for the broad audience, I wonder how they didn’t give themselves a whiplash… though considering the horrible quality of s2 they probably did

Though I didn’t like the way s1 ended, I still thought there is hope, and “we need a conflict for our main pair, I guess”. I truly, wholeheartedly believed that creators and writers of the show are not complete idiots and know how to read the room and what the most of their audience is there for, so that’s what they’ll deliver. But oh my, how wrong I was.

The second season is downright unwatchable with how horrifyingly terrible it is. I only suffered through the entire thing for Ben, who, bless his heart, tried his hardest to deliver the complexity and depth of his character, who he only agreed to play if they “won’t make him a cardboard villain”. And they did exactly that in s2, or tried to, bcs Ben Barnes and his talent didn’t let them, despite all their efforts. The rest of the cast I guess didn’t have enough experience to fix the worst writing imaginable with their acting, so most of the characters became absolutely bland and uninteresting and SO IDIOTICALLY STUPUD, I yelled at them constantly, scaring my cat the entire time.

Also, as much as I understand it from exploring the fandom, the creators and writers of the show are die hard fans of the Crows, and they don’t actually like Alina’s trilogy at all. So… why didn’t they just do the books they wanted I’ll never know. Instead, they forced the Crows in the plot they were never a part of (making all of them okay with selling a girl to slavery in the process. Despite one of them being the former slave and the other one being the one who got her out of it… make it make sense, I beg of you), in the second season they wasted SO MUCH time on their plot lines that 1)didn’t matter one bit for the overall story, 2)were absolutely uninteresting to everyone who isn’t the Crows fan beforehand. In the end we got half-assed Alina and Aleksander’s story with half-assed Crows’ story. They should’ve just made the Crows show, without touching Alina and Aleksander

I haven’t read the books, but from what I gathered in the fandom, though still committing the same sin of putting all the promotion and marketing into the Dark romance trope without actually delivering on it, and force feeding the fans one of the worst and most toxic pairings ever with Malina, at least Alina and Aleksander’s characters weren’t made so cardboard and stupid, and there was tragedy in their story, not the shit that they gave us in s2. Though I absolutely DESPISE the fact that Alina looses her powers in the end and goes on to live Mal’s dream life… Like WHAT THE FUCK?? What levels of internalized misogyny do you need to have as a woman, to write this plot line for your female protagonist???? I can’t.

On Mal’s toxicity: at least that made him a fleshed out character in the books. Absolutely horrible one, how could the author make him “get the girl” is beyond me. But at least he had a personality, however terrible one. In the show, I guess understanding, that no one would root for that asshole, they removed his toxicity almost completely, but that made him as bland as stale porridge. There wasn’t ANYTHING left on his character. At all. How anyone could’ve rooted for him I absolutely refuse to understand. Any woman deserved better than Blade😈

I don’t know anything about Leigh Bardugo, except for the fact that she butcher my native language and makes me furious. If you don’t know the language at least on a medium level, perhaps don’t use it in your books. Or at least hire someone who does. The way she butchered it, I’m not sure she even used Google translate…

So yeah, I’m with you on only reading Darklina fanfics and admiring fan art. I’m not at all sad that they cancelled the show, and I’m even giddy that those creators and writers didn’t get their wet dream of the Crows spin off. They didn’t deserve it after the shit they pulled in the second season. I do hope that they won’t ruin any other shows in the future. I am sad for the actors, who deserved much better and who were actually good at their parts, while the writing was okay. Poor Archie Renaux suffered the most, his character didn’t have good writing at all, not for a single scene. I hope we’ll see more of all of them.

And we need Ben and Jessie to do a film together. Preferably a rom com, but I’m not picky. Just that their characters are together. Such chemistry can’t be wasted

#shadow and bone critical #anti shadow and bone #anti shadow and bone writers #anti s&b #anti s&b writers #anti leigh bardugo #darklina #the darkling #pro the darkling #pro aleksander morozova #pro darklina #anti malina #alina starkov #aleksander morozova #ben barnes #jessie mei li

[bitchthefuck1]

The 2022 tumblr fandom ship list saying kanej is from Shadow and Bone is my villain origin story

#the disrespect #disappointed but not surprised #six of crows #soc #shadow and bone #anti shadow and bone #s&b #anti s&b #kanej #inej ghafa #kaz brekker

[questioning-pisces]

i’m finally free from the chains and i can read soc without thinking of THAT show and cast

#anti s&b #anti shadow and bone #the cast is awful #the writers are awful #they threw away character development in favor for sped up love stories #biphobic portrayals #jesper is not light skinned #nina is a plus sized woman! #why did they cast an abled actor for kaz #the dark face for the inej stunt double?? #all gross #shadow and bone #six of crows

[freckles-dean]

Sad to lose the cast, but I actually screamed a ‘thank you’ to the sky at the cancellation because that's what you get when you absolutely annihilate a group of beloved characters and their story lines and the only way to go was down.

#shadow and bone #six of crows #can we go back to only talking about the books pls #anti shadow and bone #anti s&b

[alexiaugustin]

the fact that people are so obsessed with show!wesper is so funny to me because introducing a ship via one night stand is the one thing and the nasty biphobic implications of jesper forgetting about it aside.. one of these people very clearly said boy you do not fuck well and cleansed his mind of all memories for some time. like this is what y’all love more than the books lmfao??!?😭

#don’t reply to this post by writing weird fanfiction excepts about them or by telling me that he forgot for comedy. #nothing funny about these writers stereotyping a bisexual man by basically being like. he can’t keep track of all the ppl he fucks hahahahah #?????????????????? #if that’s comedy miss me with that shit #anti shadow and bone #anti s&b #wesper #shadow and bone

[aaronstveit]

i know i rbed a post about it yesterday but i'm still so mad about what s&b did to wylan. they took literally his whole personality away. they took away his bashfulness and anxiety. they took away his cunning and his mischief. they took away his quiet courage and his jealousy. they watered him down to a bland outline of a person and then ruined his whole dynamic with jesper as a result. their whole thing in the books relied on their friendship, the slow burn, and their emotional turmoil, especially in crooked kingdom. they lost everything that made them special when the show had them hook up before the season even starts. they ruined all the reveals with wylan's backstory. they literally could not have done a worse job with him. and it sucks because jack wolfe probably could have done a wonderful job with wylan's character had it been written properly. but he never got the chance.

#i'm just so mad i'll never NOT be mad #this is somehow worse than all the bad characterization i've seen over the years w everyone thinking of him as like #some sort of uwu softboy #ugh ANYWAY #personal post #wylan van eck #anti s&b

[ghostampede]

a soc adaptation that was just that duology abd respected it’s characters and knew how to show their povs despite not being in their heads would’ve been so good, we have been robbed <//3

getting to just see how kaz acts with others vs seeing his face when he’s alone or sees inej, hell seeing how each of the crows are in their vs how they’re perceived by certain people through visuals and sound design alone, the gorgeous lighting throughout the rugged and fun dark streets of ketterdam in contrast to the whimsical nature of fjerda, jesper’s gambling problem being a legitimate issue that builds up, the crows still getting to be kids cause thats the Point (my ghost wouldn’t associate with your ghost type of stuff before they witness more Terrors), inej’s trauma being explored actuality and how kaz and her mirror each other in some ways, flashbacks meshing with present time in a very cool way, visual metaphors that weren’t in the book or were interpreted from the book, hints at wylan’s character in s1 that push just slightly beyond what the book could’ve done, wylan flashbacks in s2 that were never fully explored or seen, things having time to build throughout the book through like timed tension you can’t get through reading making an immersive experience cause god damn the kids are fighting and even im uncomfortable but in a good way, amazing fight scenes and heist scenes in the ice court, the way the framing and filming changes dramatically in big hectic moments vs the aftermath, hearing the word Investment with no background music or anything and all the weight that word requires, idk im not a showrunner but i have visions of what their show could’ve been and it makes me so sad because even if they do get their spinoff, i personally have zero faith in it after s&b :(

#anti s&b #six of crows #matthias helvar #nina zenik #kaz brekker #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #i am sorry if you like s&b ig #i just thought it was actually criminal #and as someone who is very passionate about what i like #i can’t help but imagine an alternative #idek if this makes sense #i hope you see the vision #do you see the vision #who knows #dorian writes

[kallypsowrites]

So...the show revealed that actually Nikolai (as Sturmhond) had commissioned the Crows to steal and bring Alina Starkov to him.

But um...why??? At the time the Crows are commissioned, Alina is safe at the Little Palace? Under his family’s control? And its not that he wants to take her away from his family. He brings her right back to her family. And its not that he’d want to take her away from Kirigan. Because at that point Kirigan is fully on the side of his family.

What was the plan? To take her and then...go somewhere else with her? To fuck around with his family? Alina being taken would be likely to start a war. So like.......why?

It’s the stupidest rewrite and it wasn’t needed. Sturmhond/Nikolai could have just found about Alina when she fully revealed herself in Novyi Zem. But they wanted to have a weird reveal/Crow interaction so...*shrug*

#anti s&b #shadow and bone #shadow and bone s2 #s&b s2 #s&b spoilers #shadow and bone spoilers

[kaz-brekker-crow]

Yeah, it was bad when Kaz broke his cane in half and started singing "disabled people aren't real!" While doing the jig, but I'm just a simple bitch who just gobbles it all up! 😍🥰 Remember guys, that we should just be grateful that a SOC adaptation happened at all, 😔🙏🙏 reminder to stay respectful of the actors.

#shadow and bone #shadow and bone season 2 #kaz Brekker #s&b #six of crows #soc #anti shadow and bone #anti s&b

[elviriel]

remembering s&b season 2 lines such as "we're not vultures... we're crows" and "i think i'll go get some dinner" and having a complete meltdown tbh

#anti s&b #anti shadow and bone netflix #like... what happened lmao #not that season 1 was the pinnacle of good writing #the signs were there i will admit but damn #season 2 was smth else

[infernal-crows]

You know what! Shoutout to Shadow and Bone. I'm gonna start my break from school with re-reading the SoC duology to actually see my favourite characters again.

#yes this is salty #yes i am bitter #that's my god-given right! #← says the bitch who hasn't Done A Catholicism in forever #soc #anti shadow and bone #anti s&b #I'm sorry to the enjoyers i know this will pop up in your search just block me or block the tag #tumblr's fucked like that

[cabin12kid]

I'm almost done with shadow and bone season 2 and as a soc book stan who couldn't have given a fuck about the shadow and bone book characters...... I'm in so much pain.

#I very nearly almost recommend just not watching it if you were just exclusively a soc fan #but also like this cast is fucking amazing it's not their fault the show writers suck #ALSO WHAT WAS THAT TONEJ COMMENT #YOU FUCKING *inhales* #it's okay if you didn't understand the books :) #maybe in the future we leave adaptations to people who did though #yeah no that's about his polite as I'm going to get about it #n e way #anti sab show #anti s&b #idk what to tag this so people don't have to see this sorry

[aimlesspost]

clicking play on the new shadow and bone season knowing full well theyre going to massacre my boy

#'my boy' meaning the six of crows duology #man... id say i hope they dont fuck it up any more than they already have but i just dont have confidence in these people #shadow and bone #shadow and bone season 2 #six of crows #anti s&b #just to be safe