#feminist king lmao what is this line

[mythvoiced]

OPEN STARTER | Kim Shin

"Most often underestimate their power over others… men tend to overestimate it."

#the goblin;kim shin #the goblin;open #;open starter #BIG GASP is this the first open i ever wrote for this loser #wait do i have to rewatch the show IT'S BEEN A MINUTE SINCE I DID #anyways get this big ol' loser Just remember i like to have main verse be the one with Alex's Wang Yeo so~ #feminist king lmao what is this line

[bradshawsbitch]

“Shut your mouth before I shut it for you.” With our boy Rooster!

oof, we love our boy Rooster! but we also know our boy can have a bit of a temper... thanks for requesting it!!

disclaimer: It's funny how I promised myself I'd never write this trope, but here we are lmao.

description: the squad is enjoying a night at the hard deck, and some fucker makes nasty lil dumbass comments that makes rooster pissed.

warnings: bar fight, misogyny, feminist king!Rooster, protective Rooster, mentions of blood

(y'all already knew i had to use this gif)

Bradley was, according to himself, usually a very level-headed man. Except for if you mentioned his father. Or his mother. Or Maverick. Or you, for that matter. But other than that he was cool as a cucumber. He never really figured himself to be a jealous type, either - he usually trusted people to do their thing and he did his.

Which is why, when looking back at the incident that had gotten him into his current predicament (you, holding an icepack to his split lip), he figured maybe he had been wrong.

It had all started off as any old night at the Hard Deck. Coyote and Hangman occupied the darts board, Phoenix and Bob were laughing at something that had happened during their flight earlier that day as they racked up a game of nine-ball, and you were dancing to the jaunty tune of Shania Twain's 'Man! I Feel Like a Woman' whilst Rooster sat by the bar, nursing a beer and a big grin watching his girlfriend dance and laugh with Halo. As Shania sang the line 'let our hair down', you looked at Rooster, flipping your hair and swaying your hips seductively with a little secret smile on your lips, enjoying your time letting loose after a week's hard work flying. He grinned back at you, sending you a quick wink and relishing in the giggle that slipped past your lips before you turned to Halo again.

"This is why I don't think women should be in the navy," a voice scoffed from beside Bradley, who turned to look at the man sat next to him for the first time since he'd sat down. Bradley had hardly noticed him at all until he spoke up. Seeing as Bradley considered himself a level-headed man, he gritted his teeth - surprised at how young the man beside him was.

"C'mon man, the first female aviator in the Navy was 1978. Don't you think it's time to let it go?" Bradley grumbled, having read through the female history of the Navy, just because he thought it was important to know. 1978 was a long time ago, sure - but he figured they'd let women do what they wanted before that. But apparently not. The man raised a brow, and Rooster just knew this was going to be a painful conversation to have. But he would have it, because if he didn't - who would?

"What are your reasons for thinking women shouldn't be able to enlist?" Rooster continued, glaring at the lieutenant sat next to him.

"Well, it's obvious isn't it? They're obviously weaker both physically and mentally. And then there's-- all of this," the man gestured to you and Halo having fun on the dance floor, now doing a silly move where you bumped hips before jumping the other way and bumping the other side. Rooster frowned, looking back at the young man.

"Because they can dance?" Rooster was bewildered, and he could feel his cheeks turning red with anger. That level-headedness of his was being tested thoroughly by this man.

"They're sluts, man! They're just looking to fuck anything that moves, okay? Fucking shaking their asses and hanging off any lieutenant that'll look their way. It distracts the whole team, honestly - it throws the whole order off," the man obviously couldn't think of a reason other than his own damn misogyny.

"Don't fucking talk about them like that. What gives you the right?" Bradley seethed, his fists clenched at his sides.

"Oh, I see - which of the whores are you fucking?" the man stood up, laughing condescendingly at Bradley. This made Bradley get out of his seat, standing at his full height, still keeping his distance before he growled out;

"Shut your mouth before I shut it for you, fucker" the man stepped closer to Bradley, and Rooster furrowed his brows as he pushed the man in the chest to make him back down. That was apparently the straw for the other man, who immediately swung at Bradley, his fist making contact with Roosters chin and lip. Bradley was too surprised to be able to brace himself for the impact, and his head snapped to the side at the impact, stumbling for a moment before his eyes grew black with rage. He was shouting now, telling the fucker to get the fuck out of the Hard Deck, easily putting his strong arm around the other mans neck in a headlock, dragging him to the door and giving him a hard shove in the back so that he landed on his back on the ground.

"Don't you fucking ever talk about our girls like that again!" Rooster shouted, pointing his finger at the man before spitting blood right at his face.

The bar had gone eerily quiet as he returned. He saw you making your way towards him, a concerned look etched on your face. He looked around a moment before he barked that everyone should mind their business. Everybody started before returning to hushed conversation.

"Rooster, what happened?" your eyes were filled with worry, your hands finding his face as they gingerly cradled him, and his large hands settled softly on your waist.

"Don't worry about it, darling.." he mumbled as you grabbed his hand and led him to a booth, where you scurried to ask Penny for ice and some medical equipment. You tended to him silently, brows furrowed.

"I was just helping Penny ring the bell," Rooster joked, smiling at your exasperated look. His anger had disappeared the moment you'd laid your hands on him, and now you stood in between his legs, your hands gingerly tending to his split lip. He was looking up at you with so much adoration that you started to feel your cheeks heat up.

"It was kind of hot," you admitted, the sight of Rooster's biceps flexing in his black t-shirt forever ingrained in your brain. Bradley smirked, his hands gliding down to rest at the swell of your ass, bringing you closer to his broad chest, your other hand resting on his shoulder as you looked down at his gorgeous form.

"Yeah?" Rooster smirked, wanting to kiss you senseless for admitting that to him.

#bradley rooster bradshaw #bradley rooster bradshaw x reader #bradley bradshaw x reader #rooster x reader #thanks mak!! #300 celly

[a0random0gal]

Guuys i'm back! And with the finest team black arguments in town! Today our contestant is:

"Alicent is an evil bitch for trying to expose Rhaenyra's sons as bastards, she could have gotten them killed!"

This one is surprisingly popular amongst the blacks, but unsurprisingly dumb. And I'll say why:

First things first, can someone explain to me the reason behind everyone's belief that the strong boys would be killed for this? They are just kids, who took no part in Rhaenyra's lies regarding their legitimacy. The poor children actually believed they were Laenor's sons! (Well except Jace but whatever.)

The real culprits in this mess are their parents, who willingly had them while being fully aware that if exposed on their bs they would be punished. The boys wouldn't be harmed at all, the worst thing that would happen to them would be losing the Velaryon family name, becoming Waters, and getting kicked off the line of succession.

Sucks for them but definitely better that a sword in the neck.

Speaking of their parents. Nyra would have to be disinherited for attempting to put her baseborns on the throne, cheating on her spouse and generally bringing so much shame to the royal family.

Sucks for her too, but you know, reap what you sow girl. You knew the risks.

The one who would actually face serious consequences would be Harwin, for sleeping with the princess and all. Normally he would probably have to be executed, but not before being given the chance to take the black, which he would definitely pick.

So yeah, sucks for you sure, but you keep your head, your dick, and only lose your inheritance. Lmao on second thought this would be a better alternative for him, Larys wouldn't have to kill him to inherit, and he'd be freezing his ass on the wall instead of burning it in Harrenhall.

Happy ending for Lord Strong.

And with that said Alicent would not be causing the deaths of innocent kids and would be able to secure the future reign of her son, so why exactly would that make her an evil selfish bitch? When has trying to avoid your children's inevitable execution at the hands of their half sister been a bad thing?

Team black only really wants Ali to bend over and die, just so that their feminist queen can take over lol. They unironically demand a woman to give up all her agency for someone else, how progressive of them.

Funny how I made this long ass post explaining how Nyra would have to face the consequences of her actions for once in her life but obviously this would only happen in an au where Vizzy was an actual competent king who didn't just live to give his "only child" all that she asks him to.

In our timeline he would just keep denying their bastardry and cutting tongues of all who disagree. And if it became impossible for him to deny reality anymore, he would immediately pardon Nyra and Harwin and legitimize the Strongs, then promptly pretend that nothing happened. It would be infuriating, but also hilariously bad ngl.

#Alicent literally cannot win in this world #i'm telling you one day they will start blaming her for existing #house of the dragon #alicent hightower #hotd #anti team black #pro team green #anti viserys i targaryen #pro alicent hightower #Rhaenyra targaryen #harwin strong #jacaerys velaryon #lucerys velaryon #joffrey velaryon #laenor velaryon #larys strong

[esther-dot]

So I was reading a bunch of your anon asks about R/L (not spelling out names so this doesn't show up in searches lol) and I agree with that anon that said the fandom forgets that GRRM is not some woke author. Way too many metas are written on the premise that he wrote this series with the sensibilities of a 20-something millennial and not a 50 year old man who conceived most of these plot points in the 90s. The refusal for certain fans/theorists (not including you in this I find your analysis and critiques very good and thoughtful) to call out and critique Martin's deeply problematic elements frustrates me to no end. It's okay to say certain things did not age well and the R/L/E dynamic is chief among them. Giving R's wife a gratuitously sexually violent death and a gratuitously gruesome death to her baby and toddler did not age well. Then proceeding to shit on her by having her husband's family's loyalists state that she was sickly and not good enough for him did not age well. Then proceeding to spend five books with those same characters depicting R as the Westerosi Prom King/Football Quarterback/Prodigal Son with basically zero substantial or significant pushback did not age well. I keep on seeing people say, 'Well, no it's because it's all a part of George's Big Plan and Reveal and an example of the the POV trap so don't get preemptively mad at him.' The defense of him essentially being 'No, you guys don't get it...he's going to perfectly execute the story that only exists in mine and his head for 12 years and counting and then you will see how he always meant for R to be a POS and for R/L not to be some star crossed lovers romance.' Yeah, no. I'm not giving him credit for an unfinished story and the fact that some of his fans do this is baffling. We're at this point that even if Martin does reveal R was even a little morally grey, a subset of the fandom will continue defending him like their lives depend on it because they are so married to their headcanons because Martin has not provided any actual content in over a decade (the show whitewashing did not help either). I'm not even going to broach the subject of the white feminist pickmes in the fandom that do everything and anything to defend Lily White Lieanna from any accountability and pushback from her complicitness in what happened because that's a whole other can of worms. LOL. End of my rant I guess. lmao.

My aunt who is around the same age as Martin, wanted to watch Saturday Night Fever with me (I had never seen it). She remembered and loved the music, the dancing, the costumes, the pain of these characters who were trapped and looking for an escape. There were all these good things she wanted to share with me, but I was shocked by how casually they threw in a rape, and how cruel the protagonist was to the girl right after it happened. I could not understand how my liberal, well educated, very up with social norms, aunt wasn't as appalled as I was when she'd last seen it. But she had watched that movie when it came out, hadn't seen it since, so her reaction to it had been fixed in that moment. Like a time capsule.

That happened years ago, but anytime a discussion about R/L and what Martin would/wouldn't do comes up, I think about that, and I try to draw a line between my sensibilities and what he actually wrote because as you and my other anon point out, R/L was conceived in a certain moment, in a specific milieu, and it isn't the one we're currently in. So, while I certainly don't think Rhaegar is the guy that Targ fans believe him to be, I no longer believe Martin intends us to take the other extreme.

Rhaegar called the place where he took Lyanna "the tower of joy," and Martin would have to want us to think Rhaegar is a truly sadistic bastard if that's what he called the place he repeatedly, forcibly raped Lyanna. Considering what Martin has said about how he wants to write morally grey characters, how he has written Cersei, Tyrion, the Hound...I just don't buy that that's where he's going, not anymore.

More broadly, I’ve read a lot of literary analysis, I know how easy it is for people to write really, really interesting essays that I love, but in actually, have absolutely nothing to do with the book/poem etc that it’s discussing. It’s a beautiful thing that we each experience art uniquely, but it does mean we have to be careful when it comes to actually believing what we takeaway from something is the same as what they put in. There’s also a danger in thinking loving the art means we understand the artist’s mind. The same mind can produce something I love and something I hate. Experience that enough times and you realize, you can’t put parameters, a would/wouldn’t, on where they’ll take things.

And, even hardcore Martin fans acknowledge the racist issues with his writing, criticize how he sexualizes little girls...I don't think any of us need to defend him. We all know that these are issues with his writing, we may not agree that they will manifest in the worst way going forward, but it's possible. Unfortunately.

#anti rhaegar #grrm critical #fandom critical #anti lyanna #(just to be safe) #dot chat #< to filter #long post

[homielander]

If you don't mind, can I ask why you thought Alicent's writing went downhill after episode 5?

yeah, of course! i talked about it in another post but that was mainly about rhaenyra so i'll elaborate

i think alicent's progression from eps 1-5 was very logical. episode 6 is where the first issues started for me. pre-time jump alicent was very politically astute and generally diplomatic, even to her husband and especially in the presence of other nobles. one of the coolest things about the green dress scene is that she didn't have to say anything outwardly antagonistic (she still greeted viserys and congratulated rhaenyra), but in interrupting the king's speech donning the colour of her house's beacon for war, she was able to signal to everyone where her allegiances lied. but in episode 6 she's openly scoffing and rolling her eyes at the heir to the throne during council meetings, or mouthing off to the king in earshot of his advisors. i would imagine book alicent delivering a line like "soon or late, you met get one who looks like you" to laenor the way we saw natalie dormer's margaery make passive-aggressive comments to cersei ("i wish we had wine, but it's still a bit early in the day for us"). it's easy enough to pass off as genuine to a spectator but the receiving party and the audience pick up on the undertones. to see alicent so openly aggressive after being very cognizant of all the courtesies expected of her for 5 episodes was..... jarring, to say the least.

episode 7 was the best of a bad bunch, i think. for the most part i really liked what we got in terms of alicent. the biggest complaint i have is the "now they see you as you are" line. like i said, alicent has been pretty open about her dislike of rhaenyra for over a decade now, so the moment doesn't actually feel like the epic unmasking that it should be. imagine how cool that scene and line would have been if alicent had actually maintained the facade of a perfect wife and stepmother for about a decade.

episode 8 was... eh :/. i like it if i abide by the interpretation that vaemond's execution really rattled alicent (which it should have done... fear for her children's lives is supposed to be her main motivation) and she did her best to play nice with rhaenyra for the remainder of the episode. but i don't believe that's what the writers intended, which is further reinforced by alicent misunderstanding viserys at the end of the episode.

episode 9 was ssjhksjkshs. i can't even talk about it without fuming. apparently alicent has never imagined herself on the iron throne even though vaemond literally said the words "it's a queen who sits the throne these days" (or something close to that, i'm paraphrasing) referring to her an episode prior (and in the show's timeline, that moment was just a day ago). apparently alicent's primary flaw in this story is not ambition, but serving men... even though she agreed to crown aegon based on the wishes of viserys, and everyone was fine and dandy with her following those wishes when she thought rhaenyra was his desired heir. it's just nonsensical because in this case, the man she is serving is viserys! which is the man whose wishes the opposing side is also fighting to fulfill! because he's the king!!! so how is alicent less "feminist" than the other side??? even in the show's canon, this theme of alicent being an enforcer of the patriarchy falls apart (especially considering she was supposedly totally cool with crowning rhaenyra an episode ago, and because the validity of rhaenyra's claim also rests on words from the mouth of the king). this one dumbass decision took away alicent's agency, alicent's primary motivator which was to fight for her children, the debate of legalism vs absolutism, and any possible thematic coherence lmao i hate that for her

(btw book alicent would be rolling in her grave over these changes lol. apart from letting viserys's dead body rot for days, she also never spoke his name during her addled last days, even though she mentioned king jaehaerys, whom she read to when she was a girl lmaooo. i appreciate they tried to add some nuance to their dynamic in the show but it's infuriating how show alicent's drive now rests on upholding this man's last words considering just how much book alicent seemed to despise him.)

(also, was book alicent an enforcer of the patriarchy if we consider that she defied the wishes of her husband? i mean yes she opposed rhaenyra but allowing rhaenyra's reign actually wouldn't have meant additional freedom for any woman but rhaenyra. much to think about...)

there's also just a difference in mannerisms that's a bit difficult to process. emily played alicent as a nervous wreck who directs all of her anxiety inwards, while olivia plays alicent as pretty openly neurotic. i think i prefer emily's portrayal purely because it actually aligns with the perfectly poised, shrewd, widely-beloved queen from the book (which we reallyyy needed in the second half of the season imo). don't get me wrong, i don't fault olivia, she's one of the most talented actors on this show -- she just needed better direction. it probably would have helped if she and emily could have spoken a bit about the way they were planning to play alicent.

one thing i will say is that the show is doing well with is alicent's relationship with her children (i hate the way they wrote aegon it's not even real to me anymore but i mean apart from that). it makes the greens so fun and fascinating. i don't think they actually meant to do them a favour there, considering the show shies away from any dysfunctionality in rhaenyra's children to paint her in a better light... but the result is that the green family is far more fleshed out and interesting, so you know. a win is a win.

#btw my inbox is always open for literally anything! #as long as it's not rude but i think that goes without saying lol #alicent hightower #house of the dragon #anti hotd #asks

[thesilverlady]

https://www.tumblr.com/thesilverlady/714253266548047872/unpopular-opinion-i-dont-think-that-aegon-was-a

Not same anon, but septon Eustace was said to document the sexual rumours/scandalous but unlike Mushroom he didn't like writing about it or exaggerated it. So Eustace said that as a teenager Aegon was sulky, lazy and had wondering hands. Now this is pretty much SA by our modern standards but sadly these things are normalised in Westros. I think many parts of Aegon's upbringing, childhood, and Adult life are left ambiguous for us to interpret (just like many parts of f&b) So the question if this kind of behaviour has developed to rape is left to the reader to determine. And i like to not take Mushroom's account of this whole 12yr girl giving him blowjob *ew* because in the original novel (The princess and the queen) it has mentioned that Aegon was with his mistress and he refused to usurp Rhaenyra at first. My main problem of this whole situation is that people keep assuming the worst of Aegon for some reason

And i am not saying that Aegon was kind of a feminist man lmao but to me he is very tame compares to other characters. because a lot of these people who draw the line at Aegon actually love characters who are waaay problematic than Aegon like Aemond who keeps calling Rhaenyra a whore 24/7 , Helaena a broodmare, killed Alys's whole family and then claimed her as a war prize, commit what we can consider a genocide in the riverlands. Or they love Maegor (i love Maegor btw) who was a tyrant and forced women to marry him then killed some of them because they couldn't give him sons. I think we can all like characters regardless of their morality because at the end of the day they're fictional not real so liking only heroic morally good characters is just soo boring ( i prefer villains more) but i hate how the fandom tends to humiliate people over what fictional character they find more interesting. And thank you for being one of the tiniest minority who is willing to engage in discussions rather than being hostile like most of team green/black spaces.

I wanna say I'm sorry for the long reply 😅 but you brought up lots of interesting facts and I couldn't help myself with replying longer.

So, let's start with the "Eustace was said to document the sexual rumours/scandalous but unlike Mushroom he didn't like writing about it or exaggerated it" Eustace, like so many other maesters we see in f&b is extremely biased. I think due to Mashroom's dramatic self lots of ppl feel safer with relying on septon Eustace and I don't think that's a great idea.

Lots of maesters we see from f&b are very sly with pinning the blame to women, especially when showing favoritism for a man. They're also very anti magic and generally anti Targaryen. It makes reading f&b quite challenging because it's easy to just fall into their biased perspective. But you can see the transition during Jaehaerys I ruling, who of course was probably their favorite due to him complying more and more with the faith.

So what I'm trying to say is, while septon Eustace hardly had any love for the targaryens he still favored Aegon II - a man. Who he wouldn't want to bring out such scandalized actions mostly because what would it say about him? A septon siding with such a lecherous king?

don't get me wrong. I still don't buy mashroom's version of that event but I still think the truth was somewhere in the middle and Eustace tried to make it look better for the sake of his own self image and then the king's.

Obviously Aegon's actions in regards of women are more dismissed inside the world of asoiaf despite being punishable because of his status as a prince/king.

Of course as you said many parts of Aegon's upbringing/childhood/adult life are left ambiguous and left for us to interpret just like with many other characters such as Rhaneyra/Aemond and many more.

However there are lines here and there that do help our interpretation. For instance, one of the reasons why I'm not overly fond of making show!Aemond some poor victim of bullying who grows up to be self-restraint man of wisdom is because that's not him. A targaryen prince like himself wouldn't get bullied like this, there's no reason for his brother to side with his nephews that are alledgedy favored by his father instead of his own blood and when the family dinner later happens we get the line that Aemond "remained a wild and willful child, hot-tempered and unforgiving". The word "remained" implies that he was like that in childhood, so the show version falls apart.

"in the original novel (The princess and the queen) it has mentioned that Aegon was with his mistress and he refused to usurp Rhaenyra at first"

here we fall into a problem that comes from grrm being unable to often keep up with his own story. I don't blame him because the world of asoiaf is massive but we should be used on events contradicting one another.

these characters are quite new compared to the ones we know. The Princess and the Queen was published in 2013, its prequel The Rogue Prince in 2014 before they were both expanded further in fire and blood which was punished in 2018. So, personally I prefer going with the latest version because I think that's more reliable with what George wants the readers to know.

So while the Princess & the queen may have used the word mistress, f&b used the word paramour. And in both versions we never see a mention of this girl ever again. A paramour/mistress to a prince wouldn't be dismissed that easily in my opinion, which is what prompts me to believe Eustace came up at the spot that the girl was that as a cover. Aegon refusing to usurp Rhaneyra exists in f&b too.

"My main problem of this whole situation is that people keep assuming the worst of Aegon for some reason"

I mean.... I don't blame you here 'cause you're right 😅 My humble opinion is that Aemond for example is waaay more unhinged and dangerous than Aegon but for some reason Aegon is treated like he's Satan. I completely agree with everything you said. The fandom is filled with bunch of hypocrites. I too actually love Maegor but I don't pretend like it wasn't mentioned he raped women. At the same time, I have moots on twt who love joking about him and praising but then they'll cause wwiii if they see a semi-positive tweet about Aegon II.

in the end of the day, it doesn't even matter if Aegon ii was an actual rapist or not. Back before hotd even existed and some minority argued against Rhaenyra, the word "rape" wasn't even brought up because there were a bunch of other reasons to explain why a reader didn't support Aegon or the Greens. Team black and team green now throw words like "rape" or "grooming" as a gotcha and to be shitty at fans who enjoy dark characters

"I think we can all like characters regardless of their morality because at the end of the day they're fictional not real so liking only heroic morally good characters is just soo boring (i prefer villains more) but i hate how the fandom tends to humiliate people over what fictional character they find more interesting."

I completely agree with you and I feel for the hurt lots of people go through in this fandom. I also adore villains, and favor imbalanced dynamics between ships, which of course brings the nastiest antis to humiliate and shame you all day everyday.

Both team green & team black have many bad apples. idk about tumblr but Twitter has been hell for me - which is why I'm taking a break from that place.

I'm very happy you feel comfy to send me an ask and don't feel hesitant to reply if you wish. Even if we don't agree with something, I get the sense you're one of the normal people who understand this is just fiction and there's no need to become aggressive animals over characters that are ink on a page.

#anti hotd #f&b meta #aegon ii targaryen #should I tag this as anti Aemond? I love that guy but I feel like some ppl may get offended by the way I used him as an example 😅 #tw sa #ask reply #thank you for being so nice btw

[ae-neon]

Tarquin for the ask game!

favorite thing about them

What's not to love????? He's kind and optimistic and fair and determined and strong willed and just so good.

least favorite thing about them

I can forgive the white hair and blue eyes but it's not my thing

favorite line

Him telling Feyre not to tell him what to do. He should have gone in on her disrespectful ass but alas sjm ain't the one

brOTP

Lucien and Tarquin need to meet and discuss the current socioeconomic state of the world

OTP

Gonna break sjm's fingers for making Cresseida his cousin instead of his mate.

nOTP

I actually need Feyre to stay away from Tarquin. Her white feminist energy is too strong and toxic. (Not this being a ship in the rewrite lmao)

random headcanon

He's half merling.

unpopular opinion

He's the only one who should be High King

song i associate with them

I don't have actually have any hm - recs?

But some Brazilian/Cuban/West African Coastal songs match my tropical summer court headcanon. Generally jazzy vibes.

favorite picture of them

Everyone uses at least one picture of this model right?

#ask game #tarquin

[dulcewrites]

I saw someone saying that Rhaenyra wants to be treated as an equal but doesn’t necessarily care if other women are being treated as equal. And then another person commented well what if Jacerys was born as a girl would she have made her heir or Lucerys heir and they said to prevent conflict she would just have the siblings marry. I wanted to know what you think about it. I think it’s true in how Rhaenyra sees herself as the exception in getting what she wants and having it go her way etc. when Rhaenys warns her that men will always fight against a women on the iron throne Rhaenyra just goes “well I’ll create a new order”. Viserys being chosen over Rhaenys was proof they would always want a male on the throne. Before Jaehaerys died he could’ve just made Rhaenys heir since she is next in line but he didn’t. He had the council decide. Even after all of that I feel like Rhaenyra has that mindset where “well my father named me heir so I will be heir I am the exception” even after Rhaenys told her they had a chance to and they never did. And with the whole “well if her first born was a girl instead of a boy” I’m iffy on that too.

I personally do not think book nor show Rhaenyra cares that much about bringing other women into the fold power wise. We have “proof” (I always take things with a grain of salt from f&b for obvious reasons. But this seems to check out more than the outrageous stuff in the book). Two daughters of different families, Rosby and Stokeworth, come to Rhaenyra asking for her to change their succession because their are eldest and their fathers had passed. Rhaenyra say no lol. Now people defend this choice by saying “she was at war” and didn’t want to lose allies. But really if she changed anything the only people it would’ve negatively affected would’ve been corlys (who advised her not to change it) and egg 3 (next in line and who would continue her bloodline).

And it’s just kind of ironic bc a lot of people who like Alicent (myself included) have no problem pointing out she does uplift patriarchal ideals. But when we point out her lack of power in the situation (despite being queen) we are making excuses for her decisions. But Rhaenyra is allowed to be queen and not do shit bc it would “ruin her claim”??? Right….

Like if Rhaenyra wants to be selfish and think herself as the only queen to live lmao that’s her prerogative. I think it’s faux feminist angle that people try to drive with her that makes me a little crazy

Now as for the show, despite how hard the show writers or team black may push it, show Rhaenyra has done nothing to uplift any woman around her. Her reign would’ve not changed a thing… it literally didn’t bc her son ends up being king after her and she never changes anything about the succession. She sets Baela and rhaena up to be the metaphorical cheerleaders to legitimize her SONS’ claim. There was no equals for Rhaenyra and there was never going to be because that is not her character. She’s selfish and one of the downfalls as a queen as well

As for if jace was a girl, would Rhaenyra have made her heir. I think it’s safe to say that book Rhaenyra would’ve done whatever helped her claim… which would’ve been uplifting whatever boy came first. So luke in this case. I could see her marrying them. As for show Rhaenyra.. idk bc they write her weird lmao

#asks and requests

[cielsosinfel]

reading log attempt 2.0 where i don’t go off on essay-long rants

In The Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado: absolutely one of my all-time favorite ever books now, beautifully, amazing written, truly cathartic to read as Machado puts down all of the ugliest feelings of an abuse victim and survivor that society at large tries to shame people out of expressing. So much more than a memoir. I want to shove it into everyone’s hands.

Drag King Dreams by Leslie Feinberg: Love Feinberg, love her non-fiction, love her politics, love what she did for early trans literature, HATE THIS BOOK SO GODDAMN FUCKING MUCH. I deleted the huge essay I wrote about it but i have so many (negative) thoughts lmao. I can imagine there are people out in the world who could really, really use this book in their life, but I am definitely not one of them. Couldn’t actually finish it, dropped 85% of the way of the through and skipped to the end was just :| Women Make Horror: Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre, edited by Alison Peirse: I enjoyed this for the most part, but I went into it expecting something other than what it was, I guess more general film theory about the genre as a whole and how society reacts to it and women creating/partaking in it. A lot of the essays are about very specific movies, and so if you have not watched those moves (which I mostly haven’t, because film-media is hard to me due to attention span issues and hearing issues), then it’s kind of hard to get into it? Which is to say, this is an amazing book but I need to do a lot of studies (watch more horror) to truly appreciate it lmao. (Also I wish the line-up of films explored was more... diverse? In terms of creators, because it’s focused largely on white women, but.)

I will say I enjoy how many of the essays are concerned with exploring trauma via horror and taboo themes that are not sugar-coated! And may even be eroticized without a blaring “this is morally repugnant!” statement (because we should all know these things are morally repugnant but that survivors can have complicated relationships to them anyway.)

Essays I really appreciated: 

Stephanie Rothman and Vampiric Film Histories by Alicia Kozma

Personal Trauma Cinema and the Experimental Videos of Cecelia Condit and Ellen Cantor by Katia Houde

Self-Reflexivity and Feminist Camp in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare by Tosha R. Taylor

Gender, Genre, and Authorship in Ginger Snaps by Katarzyna Paszkiewics

Women-made Horror in Korean Cinema by Molly Kim

The Transnational Gaze in A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night by Lindsey Decker

Gigi Saul Guerrero and her Latin American Female Monsters by Valeria Villegas Lindvall

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever: I hate this book so much lmao I am all down for unlikable protagonists but jesus fucking christ at least make their horrible internal monologuing fun to read. I REALLY want more pro lit fiction with both LGBT leads and this kind of unhealthy, fucked up, obsessive dynamic that ends in horrible things committed by this horrible couple (and things like noncon, incest, etc but i digress.) That are not YA or focused on teenagers. The opening pages that show the end point of the story really grabbed me! But then you find out the protags are both these... prodigy 17 year olds who feel special and superior and like no one can understand them because they’re too smart and see through society’s lies. Which is understandable for teenagers, and also for teenagers who are gay and Jewish and have to navigate living in a society that’s unwelcoming. But lord. The author tried really hard to make everything out of Julian’s mouth witty and scathing and intelligent but it never landed for me. The witty repartee between him and Paul never sounded like more than non-sequiturs or just lines that fell flat, disconnected, like they’re not really talking at each other. I gave up 30% of the way in. 

Currently reading The Route of Ice and Salt by José Luis Zárate (enjoying a lot! exactly what i’m looking for!) and Boys, Beasts & Men by Sam J. Miller (short story collection that isn’t really grabbing me at all)

#reading log #i also read a lot of poetry but idk how to share my thoughts on poetry lmao #mine poste

[antiloreolympus]

7 Anti LO Asks

1. Do you know what really gets my blood boiling about this comic? Persephone and Demeter's relationship.

In the myths, Demeter and Persephone loved each other more than anything. Their reunion is so important - it marked the coming of spring and growth. A whole cult was dedicated to this for crying out loud. Yes, the myths were far from perfect, but the Persephone and Demeter myth showed the strength of a loving mother-daughter relationship with Demeter searching endlessly to find her child that was ripped away and had her innocence forcibly taken.

Now, RS is not the only author to make Demeter this over-bearing mother type in order to put more positivity onto the Hades-Persephone relationship. However, RS takes this trend to a whole new level - to the point where I would even consider it misogyny.

How is it, she takes this beautiful mother-daughter relationship and makes it out to be an abusive and controlling one, and then takes the Hades-Persephone relationship from a forceful one to a loving, perfect relationship with no problems? How is it ok to ruin one relationship to elevate another?

I understand that many versions of the myth try to downplay Hades' actions, and even make it so Persephone actually falls in love with him and there is no rape. But it doesn't change that this relationship was problematic, and meant to represent the loss of innocence.

Then fans have the gall to claim this comic is feminist and then claim on top of that that Demeter and Persephone's relationship was the same in the myth? These fans clearly don't know the myths, and neither does RS.

Making Hades a good person is fine. Changing it up a bit to make Persephone's loss of innocence something else is also fine. But ruining Demeter and Persephone's relationship? Especially when Persephone has to spend half the year with her? So horrible. 

2. im sorry, but rachel cant introduce KRONOS coming back and then dropping it for several episodes to focus on a stake-less trail and persephone not knowing what lingerie to seduce hades in. like thats too much of an earth shaking development and huge stake plot point to just ignore for months to focus instead on something as minor as hxp's relationship, which only points out a huge flaw: why is hxp's relationship so minor in this? isnt the whole point supposed to be about them?

3. I think LO completely dropped the ball over Hades’ characterization. 

From the first ep I thought ok, this is good, we have some bones to see he’s not that lucky in love and is just tired and lonely, and while ignoring the creepy actions towards Persephone, I thought ok, Artemis hates him, Hestia hates, even Ares hates him, maybe once Persephone finally sees the underworld and probably gets to know him it’ll be a clever twist and they’ll be proven wrong. The underworld will turn out to be fair and just, the citizens will love Hades, he’ll be revealed to be a good leader and king and not like his brothers, it’ll be like everyone saying Hades of myth isn’t actually that bad, and it’ll help reinforce why this sweet and bubbly Persephone wants him, she sees the real him, not the mean rumors and assumptions, this is perfect.

And then it just didn’t happen. The exact opposite happened, actually.

We’re shown the LO underworld is cruel and unjust, where the poor dead are forced into slavery and Hades created a harsh class divide with him and him only on top, the citizens hate him, the underworld gods don’t trust him and openly seem ok if he’s taken out of power, he’s not a good leader and king and doesn’t even want the job yet keeps it for his own ego and grip of power m, and on top of it all he is just like his brothers, if not worse. He loves to get violent over any little slight against him, he hoards wealth and resources to enrich himself while his citizens starve and struggle to survive, he’s corrupt, he controls all the media and laws to bend to his will, sleeps with his brothers wife for centuries behind his back while claiming to be holier than thou, he has sex with his secretaries who are made dependent on him for any way to survive, and now he lusts after his barely legal intern who is also now dependent on him for her way to survive, and that’s only what I remember off the top of my head.

LO perfectly set up to prove Hades isn’t the devil or the false pop culture assumption that he’s evil and to show some actual facts from myth, and yet Rachel only ended up reinforcing exactly that and even making him even worse with her made up ideas, all while thinking having Persephone ignore or excuse it somehow makes it not bad or even a good thing. It’s honestly kind of impressive just how bad of writing that actually is. 

4. Chapter 172 is not that interesting. It’s setup had me excited to see Hephaestus and Hera and learning more about echo, but it’s cut so short. Because again the story can’t leave HXP out for 2 seconds.

I can also see why Zeus is gonna go insane. 

5. i agree w/ other anon. LO should have pulled a PJO or a BoZ and just made up OCs and have them interact with the gods than whatever Rachel thinks shes doing, which is lying she's being accurate and faithful while completely changing all of it, removing what is needed, and adding what isnt so that it lines up with no actual myth besides like, various 50 shades fanfic she read in 2015 and some popular tumblr text posts.

6 . the animation studio behind blood of zeus literally can only draw one face for the men and one face for the women and they were still able to make the gods all look distinct and hot while LO can't even bother to use more than 6 colors and can only have the women look as tiny as possible with the biggest boobs while the men are all just lego men.

7. ////FP SPOILERS////

Okay so like I stopped reading LO way back before season 1 ended, and a majority of my knowledge of the series comes from what I read here on your blog which is enough for me lol and I decided to read the latest 5 chapters just to see what's up (on zahard. I refuse to give the actual series any views)

And I just. Could not take the whole scene with Daphne running from Apollo seriously? The anatomy and art inconsistency was so distracting that i genuinely could not find it serious. Even when Thanatos discovers her hibernated body I couldn't take it seriously because of how she looked?

And when Hades had that call (??? Was it a call? Or his inner dialogue? I couldn't really tell ngl) with Zeus and said he's causing Persephone unnecessary distress, and that she didn't pose any threat. B!tch??? She killed a ton of mortals??? She has no control over her powers???? She's literally a fugitive for the aforementioned things??? She apparently woke Kronos up? (Idk if anyone knows about that, again my knowledge only spans to whatever I read here) Hello????

And I have a lot to say about the chapters starting the trial but I'll only mention one thing; Hades saying "I don't think blindly supporting my little brother would be doing him any favours (as a ruler)" had me cackling. This is coming from a guy blindly supporting a girl he's literally only known for a few weeks, who's like what, only recently turned 20? Sit tf down Hades you're not cool, you creepy ass overgrown smurf.

Overall I still hate this series lmao. Regarding art though I feel like I wouldn't be so miffed about the anatomy much if the character designs were consistent and the story was compelling. They literally change hairstyles and body types frame by frame, and it's distracting.

The timeline from what I read here is laughable. 4 years in publication with almost 200 chapters and you're telling me only like a month has passed canonically. That's wild and such poor writing.

And as someone who literally will sympathise with any lead character pretty quickly, the story makes me hate them. It makes me want to root against them. I also hate the fact this trash is somehow top ranked on webtoons when so many other stories are far better then it.

Anyway, many thanks to this blog for existing and allowing me to dump so much text here to vent out my hate for this series lmao. You the mvp fam, hope you're having a good day 🥂🥂🥂

#anti lo #anti lore olympus #lore olympus critical #lo critical

[sabrinaacarpenters]

Hi, I'm here to rant about the Inner Circle in ACOSF.

When I got to the point where the IC is discussing what Nesta should or should not know about HER OWN POWERS, especially when Feyre justifies it...URGH, you ever have the urge to get in a book and just strangle the characters? Yep, that was me.

But then, when Feyre finds out they did the same thing for her pregnancy as well....a part of me did feel sorry for her, because nobody should have to put up with that, BUT I was also like "How does it feel to be at the other end of the stick, Feyre?"

And Rhysand being like "Get Nesta out of this city before I kill her".... did he forget that he was talking about the most powerful person in Prythian at the time?

Anyway, if you have any IC Slander, now or from older posts, send it my way, please!

Hey! You came to the right place for the ic slander lmao

To be honest I was already mad at the ic at the intervention (so basically in ch 1 lmao), so when they voted on Nesta and her powers being kept from her I wasn’t even surprised, it was a peak feminist Rhysand its your choice™️ decision.

I felt really fucking bad for Feyre throughout the whole book tbh, because not only her mate was keeping secrets that threatened her life, but also all the people she considers friends and found family. Acosf just further showed us that the ic will always side with Rhys, it doesn’t matter that he made Feyre high lady - they will always side with him, and look to him first. I was expecting her to be way more mad, but Rhys can do no wrong in SJM’s eyes, so unfortunately it makes sense that it was swept under the rug and Feyre was okay with the fact she was going to die 2 hours after finding out about it and there were no consequences really.

The get her out of this city before I kill her line .. don’t get me wrong but I wasn’t even mad at Rhys - but only because I had zero expectations from him. he’s always treated Nesta like shit, he doesn’t give a fuck that Feyre wants to put the hostility behind them,and he’s treated Nesta as if she shat in his cereal bowl - up until the very end. What made me mad in this scene was the absolute lack of Cassian’s anger at him - it was so unrealistic that his mate’s life was threatened and he was like okay Rhys guess we’re going on a roadtrip then … like what ?? This was once again the example of the ‘Rhys can do no wrong mr feminist king’ and that Cassian’s undying loyality to the ic and especially Rhys is unhealthy.

I have made my peace with it and the ic since then, i was never really that into them as a friend group to be honest (they have nothing compared to the frendships in tog and i stand by that), so the disappointment wasn’t as big for me. The valkyries in one book showed more love and appreciation towards each other than the ic in 3 books, so I’ll always prefer them. I’m even fine with Rhys after everything, I mean he did shut down e/riel so I have to respect him for that lmao, and I ship feysand, because they are perfect for each other, just keep them away from my girl Nesta. The only one I’ll always passionately hate is Amren and I stand by the opinion that she should’ve stayed dead in acowar now she’s just there to be nasty and annoying.

This turned out to be a short story basically, sorry for that 😅 (I didn’t really post about these when acosf came out because I just wanted to focus on Nesta but I do have some anti mor and amren posts if you’re interested, I tagged them with acosf spoilers)

#acosf #anti inner circle #anti rhysand #replies #booksandbeans

[daincrediblegg]

do u think rda is hotter as macgyver or jack? i remember arguing with someone over this lmao and i wanna know ur opinion

*inhale*

So ok. The thing u gotta know is that like base line RDA is just a hottie thottie no matter what and I’ll take that to my grave. But pitting these boys against each other in a gladiator deathmatch of hotness is not beyond me so here is my 4 am high on lunesta analysis

Each has hotness of a different kind (even tho they do share MANY similar qualities the way I perceive them always ends up being wildly different.

Jack O’Neill is categorically and by definition an absolute DILF- and not only that but a himbo to boot- I have further essays in me about how important this combination is and how he fits into these categories in a purer sense than modern fandom iterations of either category but I digress- the fact is he’s a stone cold silver fox with a heart of gold and a brain full o’ rocks and it makes him very powerful

MacGyver on the other hand… every time I look at him I literally say aloud to absolutely no one: “whore” because he is. This man as a mode and virtue of 80’s icon dresses like an absolute bi/demisexual slut, but with it runs a deeper vein of hotness knowing exactly how smart he is, how kind he is, and just his general air of amenable charm makes every woman swoon (and why shouldn’t they??? They have every right he’s the feminist dream boyfriend we all crave) he is just bare bones a good man with all the smart (and yet non man-splainey) attitude like he’s killing the game.

So in this grand battle of dicks who wins??? On a purely aesthetic level MacGyver takes the crown mullet and all, but Jack O’Neill remains king of the dilfs so really why even contest them???

#it is so hard for me to choose #I mean my whole summer wardrobe is inspired by macgyver basically #but jack is kinda king of my heart and has been since high school like?? #jack o’neill #macgyver #sg1 #macgyver 1985 #richard dean anderson #I really love the sheer volume of asks I get on the daily about these boys like truly this fills my heart with joy

[nikkoliferous]

Phase One: Thor

Since I was looking up my past live-blog of the novel and realising how annoying and repetitive reading through it all is because of my having structured it as a bunch of reblogs, I’ve decided to organize it all into one long-ass post instead. In case anyone else wants to read it in the future. Or in case I decide to re-read it. Because I’m hilarious. 😅

SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO

My Hilarious Yet Wrathful Overview Of Phase One: Thor, Redux

—

If your son who’s to become king requires a babysitter to not screw it all up and also the idea of him being king is stressful enough to put you into a coma, maybe, uh… reconsider doing that? Just a thought.

But you see here why Odin was so deadset on Thor becoming king, despite him being ill-suited for the role. It’s not about what’s best for Asgard; it’s about personal legacy. Thor is Odin’s mini me, and Loki is very much not. There are places within the text where Odin laments Thor “lacking his father’s wisdom” (he’s definitely inherited your humility, though, Odin!), but he hopes for Thor to grow into a “wise king” like himself. Whereas he holds no such illusions (lol, pun) that Loki will ever take after him.

now with tag commentary! #this scene is in the script and both novelizations #(though in reading this novel seems to just be a more complete version of the junior novel? #idk i'm confused because they're supposedly written by different authors but so far the text is identical) #and it drives me insane each time i read it

“Haha, I’m a warmongering piece of shit, isn’t it funny?”

I know, I know. I try to cut Asgard some slack for being such a militaristic culture because social changes happen slowly and when you live for thousands of years per generation, it makes sense that your views on things like war would be regressive. The text says Odin has ruled Asgard for tens of thousands of years (so much for taking Loki’s “give or take 5,000 years” line literally; sure, the Odinsleep would have extended Odin’s lifespan, but by that much? Idk).

Still, fuck Odin. Especially since he’ll eventually try to shame Loki for doing the same thing he’s fucking boasting about here. And on a much smaller scale too.

…is it, though?

I actually think Loki’s relationship with being the centre of attention is really interesting in its complexity and we don’t discuss it enough. I’ve said this before, but he strikes me as the sort of person who craves attention but also wouldn’t really know what to do with it if he had it. He craves it as a result of neglect, because he’s never been shown recognition or validation. This is why he seems to revel in it in Stuttgart, even in (or maybe especially in?) his brainwashed state. But he also frequently comes across as pretty introverted and has horrible self-esteem, so I think on another level, sustained, genuine attention would make him feel kind of uncomfortable. Loki seems to believe that in order to be loved or respected, he has to literally be Thor, though. And Thor has always been the centre of attention, so for Loki, attention is synonymous with respect.

I find Loki’s relationship with wanting attention especially fascinating because I too both crave and fear it. As a borderline, I need it. When no one is paying attention to me, I lose my sense of identity. I feel as though I literally cease to exist. It’s excruciatingly painful. And yet, I have no authentic sense of self; I’m just a chameleon, and the closer people get to me, the more likely it is they’ll see behind my mask. They’ll realise it’s all a show and that I’m actually no one. And then they’ll leave. I can’t help wondering if that’s how Loki feels sometimes too.

Wait, what? You mean goat. His horns are shaped like a goat’s. This is a ram: 

This is a goat:

This is Loki:

Do you see now? They’re like a goat. Not a ram. Not a cow. A GOAT.

This book was written before Ragnarok was a thing, so it may be unfair to connect the two, but it still seems worth noting that it was Thor who reduced Loki to being no more than a trickster to begin with. “You could be more,” my ass. Loki’s problem has never been that he was one-dimensional; it was always that the people in his life, including Thor, refused to see any other dimensions to him. Which makes those words particularly cruel—as if they aren’t cruel enough already, what with the physical torture and all. 

Always happy to have cause to point out that

Loki was on Thor clean-up duty their whole lives; he certainly was not trying to kill Thor.

People like to point to Loki’s attempted genocide of the Jötnar and attempted(-ish? lol) conquest of Earth as proof that he’s some kind of violent maniac. But in a little place I like to call reality, Loki was historically far less aggressive and bloodthirsty than his peers.

Question: why is one conqueror evil and the other is righteously entitled to ruling over the Nine Realms?

Asgardian exceptionalism FTW

I can’t even begin to imagine what would lead you to expect such a thing, Odin. 😂

Uh, ‘cause it is?? And also their planet is MELTING without it??

This is all only within the first two chapters, btw. Lmao

—

—

—

“Looking for answers,” my foot.

YOU WOULD THINK SO, WOULDN’T YOU??

#i mean unless you knew heimdall #he only commits treason on days that end in y

—

—

What’d I say? Thor clean-up dutyyyyy 

Just wanna remind everyone that this 

is why he’s smiling during this scene 

because it makes me laugh every time. 😂 

—

My heart breaks every time I remember that second excerpt because literally ALL OF IT happened to him when he survived falling through the wormhole. My poor boy. 😭

But also of note… Loki gets cold (and also does not like being cold). This interests me because 1) as many are aware, the prevalent headcanon that Loki has a low body temperature irritates me and 2) it possibly(?) lends weight to the theory that he may not be fully Jötun, whether by virtue of his birth or Odin’s spell.

Haha, look at this Feminist Icon™ trying to take credit for his female friend’s accomplishments! Truly inspiring. 

#for some reason the ragnarok lovers have somehow decided that thor is both a feminist and lesbian icon #whatever that means 🤷‍♀️ #and i'm still trying very hard to figure out why #is it literally just because he *says* he respects women or whatever in that dumb rambly conversation with valkyrie?

Ooh… you were so close to getting the point, Volstagg. So close. Take your tongue off Odin’s boot for just a couple minutes longer.

Also, the author just forgot the name of the Casket. How did this book get published? 😂

JUST LOOKING FOR ANSWERS, HUH?

Because fuck Loki, amirite? He, uh… he’s a prince too, you know.

Also… Fandral, you dweeb 😂

…am I reading too much into this, or did Odin just literally forget that Loki exists?

On the other hand, the author also seemed to forget Loki existed for most of this chapter, so who knows. 🤷‍♀️

lmao @ Jane immediately trying to convince herself she’s too rational to be attracted to a stranger 

Honestly, though, big mood. 

Just your periodic reminder that Thor’s sycophantic friends KNEW Loki was right and decided to throw him under the bus anyway. 

Just as I’ve always said: That was it. That was their ENTIRE rationale. That Loki *could* have done it, therefore he must have. Please tell me these people have nothing to do with Asgard’s justice system.

…lol, jk, Asgard has no justice system.

Ok, first of all, no.

Second: thank you, Fandral. You’re a self-absorbed cad, but also evidently Thor’s least stupid friend.

Thirdly, how…? First, it was, “Loki arranged all this because he’s jealous of Thor.” Now they’ve suddenly jumped all the way to, “All of Asgard is in danger.” What exactly does Sif think Loki is planning? He’s gonna, what… assassinate Odin and then sell Asgard to the Jötnar?

—

Please stop hurting me.

Just so there’s no confusion: this one sentence explains everything Loki did for the rest of the movie. It explains how a person who has been historically non-aggressive suddenly transforms into a warmonger. To prove himself a real Asgardian, like his brother and father and grandfather. 

—

…why did Odin fall into the Odinsleep in two completely different scenes in this book? I’m super confused.

Also, we really need to talk about how cruel it is of Marvel to keep forcing Loki to prove his loyalty again and again and again when he’s been doing so almost literally since we met him. And by “we need to talk about it”, I mean I need to tie Kevin Feige and co. to a chair and spend a minimum of five hours lecturing them on how poorly they understand their own fucking character.

Let’s just be clear here: they’re talking about Loki. They’re saying Loki, their LEGITIMATE king, is an enemy of Asgard, based on evidence so paper-thin it’s practically invisible. Just… please, let that sink in. Take a moment to appreciate how utterly fucked up that is. 

I’m sorry (not really), but Thor was so much funnier before Ragnarok.

This scene has always kind of bugged me. If Odin removed Thor’s powers, how come he can still control the weather? Confusing.

So what exactly was Thor’s plan anyway, before he realised he couldn’t lift Mjölnir? He was just gonna call on Heimdall to help him commit treason AGAIN, show up on Asgard against the expressed command of his king, and… Odin would just shrug and be like, “You got me, son! I guess I can’t keep you down. Welcome home!”?

…I mean, I guess that more or less is what happened in the end, but it’s hard to imagine it would have still gone down that way without all the stuff that happened with Loki. Idk.  

#look what i'm saying is... thor is not exactly a thinking person #no one on asgard is a thinking person #except loki but he's crazy now so he's also thinking somewhat poorly lol

Cool, Thor. Now imagine feeling that way for ONE THOUSAND YEARS and develop a little fucking empathy for your brother.

But you won’t.

You’ll brush off his feelings of worthlessness as “imagined slights”. 😒

Nice that somebody knows how the royal line of succession works, I guess… 

That sound you hear? Yeah, that’s just my heart breaking. NBD. 

First, they mislabelled it the Casket of Eternal Winters. Now it’s the Cask of Ancient Winters. Author must have been thirsty when they wrote this. Lol 

Look, not to nitpick, but this is not the recommended procedure when you see a storm that you don’t believe is of supernatural origin coming. I’m just saying. Lol 

Uh… ‘cause he is?? And your pals are committing treason AGAIN, Thor, so it technically is responding to a threat to Asgard. Just FYI.

Anyways, this is an important point that doesn’t get made often enough. People want to act like Loki illegally usurped the throne somehow, but even without the deleted scene that explicitly shows Frigga passing rulership to him (a scene which is, for some reason, entirely skipped over in this book, but whatever), understand this: Loki could not have controlled the Destroyer unless he was legitimately King of Asgard. The fact that he’s able to do so is irrefutable proof that his rulership is valid.

lmao you little shit

So… here’s my issue with this scene (and with Thor as a character): He always assumes that Loki’s acting out specifically to hurt him. That Loki’s entire life and thought process revolves around Thor. He does it in this scene, he does it in The Avengers… it’s just a chronic thing with Thor. Everything is viewed through the lens of Loki inexplicably hating him.

But that’s… just not accurate. Yes, Loki harbours a lot of jealousy towards Thor. But that’s not what’s happening in this scene. Loki is not trying to kill Thor here because he wants him dead; he’s doing it because Thor (and his friends) are getting in the way of Loki completing his ultimate goal. Loki tried to solve this problem non-violently, by lying about Odin being dead. It’s Thor’s friends who all but forced his hand by going behind his back and trying to bring Thor back to Asgard against Loki’s (and Odin’s!) direct orders.

For all the humility he’s learned in the past few days, this entire speech is still really all about Thor. About assuming that Loki’s doing this for personal reasons, because he holds a grudge against Thor for some unknown reason. This is implicit in his request to “take [my life] and end this.” It never even occurs to him that his friends are traitors to the Crown and Loki, as King of Asgard, is perhaps justified in pursuing them.

It also needs to be acknowledged that Thor’s apology here is hollow, even if it’s ultimately coming from his heart, because he has no idea what he’s apologising for. “Whatever I have done to wrong you” is not an apology. An apology addresses specific hurtful actions taken and commits to not repeating those mistakes in the future. Thor cannot commit to not repeating the hurtful things he’s done, because he doesn’t know what he’s done. Despite his best intentions, what Thor is doing here is actually kind of manipulative. He’s not addressing any substantive issue between the two of them; he’s just trying to talk Loki down. And it ultimately fails not because Loki doesn’t care or because he wants Thor dead, but because it doesn’t actually change anything.

Finally and only semi-relatedly, we should maybe at some point talk about the fact that Loki, who is stated to be a master tactician, has displayed a weird pattern of hardly ever being as lethal as he could be. He freezes Heimdall in place instead of killing him outright; he backhands Thor with the Destroyer instead of incinerating him; he, well… *gestures vaguely at almost the entirety of the first Avengers movie* Anytime the violence is even a little bit personal, he seems to hedge. Odd behaviour for somebody who’s supposedly super evil.

I’m sorry, I know I’ve pointed it out at least a hundred times before, but I just can’t encounter this scene in any form without taking a moment to appreciate how underrated and hilarious it is.

I also genuinely wonder how many Ragnarok stans who have accused me of having no sense of humour, have failed to laugh at moments like this one. Kinda feel like if you need to have the comedy spoonfed to you in the form of ass jokes, maybe you’re the one whose sense of humour is lacking. 🤷‍♀️

Let’s be super clear: this is not what happened. Loki did not betray Odin; he was betrayed by Odin. He did not open Asgard to its enemies; he attempted, misguidedly, to destroy Asgard’s enemies. And he most certainly did not commit suicide out of a sense of guilt.

I’m not saying Loki did nothing wrong, nor am I saying he feels no regret for the lives he has taken. What I’m saying is there’s no indication that he believes he betrayed Odin or Asgard in the process. Which makes perfect sense, because he didn’t. Everything he tried to do was for Odin and Asgard. It was misguided and horrible, yes, but it can hardly be classified as a betrayal.

The insurmountable burden on Loki is not that he did terrible things, but that no matter what he does or how hard he tries, Odin will never look at him with anything but contempt. Consider once more these passages from the very beginning of the book, at Thor’s coronation:

—

Consider that this book goes to great pains to point out that Odin favours Thor because Thor is a warrior like him. And yet even when Loki embraces that, even when he acts more war-like than ever before, Odin rejects him— just as he always has.

There is a reason why this moment is the last time Loki will ever call Odin his father. Because he realises once and for all that, no, nothing he tries will ever be good enough; no, Odin won’t ever look at him with pride. That is Loki’s burden. That is why he lets go.

The epilogue is really just two pages of making me want to vomit. 

There’s your party where Thor and a certain subset of the fandom insist that Loki was mourned. There’s barely an indication here that anyone even perceives his demise as a negative thing.

“[Sif] could see Frigga thought [Loki was dead] as well” also contradicts the tie-in comic for TDW, so I don’t know what the author is on about there. Unlike the majority of Marvel comics, the tie-in comics are canon to the MCU, so it’s a bizarre statement to make.

COULD YOU SMEAR THE DEAD* ABUSE VICTIM A LITTLE HARDER, PLEASE? Fucking hell.

No matter how many times I encounter this scene, in whatever format, I still fail to become desensitized to how disgusting it is. I realise there’s a good chance that whatever version of events Thor has been told was twisted at best; but how you can look at a man whose son has just committed suicide under any circumstances and say there will never be a better father than that guy, is utterly beyond my capacity to understand.

And Odin’s “you’ve already made me proud” line just feels like extra salt in the wound because, again, Loki let go because he realized Odin would never say those words to him. And yet they come so damn easily when it’s Thor.

Fuck this entire family so much. I think I hate them more than Loki does. Sometimes I wonder what he would think about that. How he would react to knowing that not only is he actually loved, but that he’s so loved that people are genuinely furious at the way he’s been mistreated. That there are people who regularly devolve into full-on rants because they just can’t contain how much anger they have towards the people who hurt him. I think he’d have a hard time wrapping his head around that concept, tbh.

Anyways, to end on a not-completely-depressing note, I’m still waiting for someone at Marvel to explain how Loki knew what Thor said in this scene after plummeting into a wormhole. ‘Cause he references this conversation as Fauxdin at the end of TDW. So like… ?? Did he steal Odin’s memories before he erased them? Because that would be… kind of neat, actually. And very clever. Not entirely ethical, of course, but it’s Odin, so fuck ethics.

WELP, THAT’S IT. Thanks for following along with my dumbassery, hope you enjoyed yourselves. Lol

#phase one: thor #loki meta #thor meta #odin's a+ parenting #frigga's b+ parenting #topic: thor and loki's broken relationship #loki #thor #heimdall #lady sif #the warriors 3 #jane foster #ragnarok cinematic universe #mcu #topic: asgardian hypocrisy #topic: asgardian militarism #topic: odin's family dynamic

[chillyravenart]

Thoughts on Seara Targaryen?

I've mentioned this briefly here but let me add a few more of my thoughts.

I feel like Saera is treated like some faultless feminist icon in the fandom (how surprising lmao) but let's be absolutely real here: she was a spoilt, headstrong princess who was never going to cave into societal/parental pressure. I’m personally not a fan at all but I want to list a few things about her personality and upbringing that may be of some use in understanding her better. Forgive my rambling in advance!

Princess Saera, three years younger, was a trial from the very start; tempestuous, demanding, disobedient. The first word she spoke was no, and she said it often and loudly. She refused to be weaned until past the age of four. Even as she ran about the castle, talking more than her siblings Vaegon and Daella combined, she wanted her mother’s milk, and raged and screamed whenever the queen dismissed another wetnurse. “Seven save us,” Alysanne whispered to the king one night, “when I look at her I see Aerea.” 

Not to forget, George loves hitting characters where it hurts and that's through their children. And George went in particularly hard with Jaehaerys and Alysanne's children. I absolutely adore the older bunch, Aemon, Baelon, Alyssa... but the younger bunch didn’t exactly speak to me the same way. I suppose with so many children, it was natural to have a few bad eggs, and Saera was one of them. Jaehaerys spoilt her as child and she grew up to be very bright but also had a cruel streak too. 

... and long before she was half-grown, Saera had learned the art of getting anything she wanted from her father: a kitten, a hound, a pony, a hawk, a horse (Jaehaerys did draw a firm line at the elephant). Queen Alysanne was far less gullible, however, and Septon Barth tells us that Saera’s sisters all misliked her to various degrees.

The border between innocent pranks, wanton mischief, and acts of malice is not always discerned by one so young, but there can be no doubt that the princess crossed it freely.

Septon Barth also commented on Saera’s disposition, and her hunger for the attention her older siblings received:

“She is the king’s daughter, and well aware of it. Servants see to her every need, though not always as quickly as she might like... If she were the king’s firstborn, or better still his only child, she would be well content. Instead she finds herself the ninthborn, with six living siblings who are older than her and even more adored.”

Saera pranked her sister Daella with cats and bees, dyed the KG cloaks pink, and would show up drunk to the sept for prayers. And since Saera had every whim granted to her, it's natural that she would want more from the world and succeeded in carving out her own kingdom across the Narrow Sea. I definitely don't think she would have been content with living a normal life in Westeros, married to some lord and running his house.

“She wants what she wants and she wants it now,” Grand Maester Elysar wrote of the princess in 69 AC, when she was only two. “Seven save us all when she is older. The Dragonkeepers had best lock up the dragons.” He had no notion how prophetic those words would be.

At fourteen, she told the king she meant to marry the Prince of Dorne, or perhaps the King Beyond the Wall, so she could be a queen “like Mother.”

By fifteen, Saera had other ideas however.

Why dream of distant monarchs when she could have as many squires, knights, and likely lords as she desired? Dozens danced attendance on her, but three soon emerged as favorites. Jonah Mooton was the heir to Maidenpool, Red Roy Connington was the fifteen-year-old Lord of Griffin’s Roost, and Braxton Beesbury, called Stinger, was a nineteen-year-old knight, the finest lance in the Reach...

And initially it was Queen Alysanne who voiced her dismay regarding Saera’s behaviour with her newly acquired suitors. “Saera is clever, but not wise” and she also criticised her choice of female companions as well as Beesbury/Stinger who was rumoured to have sired a bastard. However Jaehaerys brushed it off unconcerned that she would get up to any mischief at court with so many watching eyes. Unfortunately, he was wrong.

Then came the incident at the Blue Pearl with Tom Turnip, and her three favourite lordlings (including Stinger who later fought Jaehaerys in his trial by combat) which made matters worse. I highly doubt any other noble lord would have been ok with his daughter cavorting with household knights in a brothel- least of all a KING. When questioned about her actions, Saera really didn’t do herself any favours:

I could marry all three of them, why not? Why should I have just one husband? The Conqueror had two wives, and Maegor had six or eight.” She had gone too far. Jaehaerys rose to his feet and descended from the Iron Throne, his face a mask of rage. “You would compare yourself to Maegor? Is that who you aspire to be?”

After the horrors Jaehaerys and his siblings had endured under Maegor, it’s no wonder he was so shaken by her blase attitude. And again, Alysanne was able to soften his anger and reconcile him to forgive Saera, but she ran away that very night and tried to steal a dragon which sealed her fate.

Alysanne wept when she heard, for she knew her cause was hopeless. Jaehaerys was hard as stone. “Saera with a dragon,” was all he had to say. “Would she have taken Balerion as well, I wonder?”

One of my favourite aspects of this whole saga was Jaehaerys fighting Stinger for her honour, "This old man," just takes me out every single time. Forty-nine year old Jae, taking out nineteen year old Beesbury just reminds me too much of Daemon vs Aemond - WHY ARE FORTY-NINE YEAR OLD TARG MEN SO BADASS?

I also understand that Saera was a plot device to add filial conflict to Jaehaerys’ reign, after all a successful king doesn’t always make a successful father. Jaehaerys was the quintessential medieval monarch with a kingdom to run and keep in order after a very volatile period and Saera was a royal princess and expected to uphold those standards. As Grand Maester Elysar put it, “He was better with roads than with daughters.” I think Jaehaerys had his flaws for sure, but again, this is asoiaf and I really don’t understand how people expect paternal relationships to be as open and affectionate as they are today- seriously look at how fatherhood has evolved in the last fifty years alone and tell me a medieval king would have been braiding his daughter’s hair and having heart-to-hearts with her. He could have done more to understand her, but then we wouldn’t have this embittered storyline and everything would be hunky-dory. That’s not how GRRM works unfortunately.

I am certain Jaehaerys had loved her as a daughter, and her actions had caused him pain which had hardened his heart at the time. But it is also apparent later on that Jaehaerys was hit hard by this event and also mistook Alic*nt for Saera on his sickbed. I also feel heartbroken for Alysanne who lost so many of her children and felt Saera's loss very acutely too. She also became withdrawn and was clearly shaken by all the losses she had endured.

The years had taken their toll on him, and those who knew him well said that he was never the same after his daughter Saera had disgraced and then abandoned him. He had grown thinner, almost gaunt, and there was more grey than gold in his beard now, and in his hair.

The Old King sometimes mistook her for one of his daughters, calling her by their names; near the end, he grew certain she was his daughter Saera, returned to him from beyond the narrow sea.

Anyway I am glad Saera got to set up her own empire and lifestyle (Hot Girl Saera ™), she is arguably the first Targaryen entrepreneur of sorts too. She is most certainly not the feminist kween this fandom treats her as IMO, raise ya standards! Ultimately I wouldn't say I'm a fan mainly because her character didn’t appeal to me, particularly when I read Fire and Blood. Besides, Saera’s domain lies outside my circle of interest and I'm more concerned with what happens to subsequent characters in Westeros.

Hope that answered your question!

#saera targaryen #asoiaf #fire and blood #jaehaerys i targaryen #anon asks #chillyravenart answers

[lady-plantagenet]

What hasn’t already been said: The Spanish Princess 2

Episode 1: CamelNOT

[Lively Music Plays]

I shit you not... that’s what it said in the CCs.

Tower of London (?)

*Catherine looks at the array of crowns like a museum curator and the proceeds to strut down the halls*

Wolsey: *gives her this strange look which is a mixture between damn girl and the eagle is my spirit animal.

Then Catherine gets fake detained and taken to Henry in what must be a strange variation of the whole Robin Hood/Maid Marian roleplay they historically engaged in.

... did she just call his erhm manhood his kingship? Well that’s original, I’ll give them that. Also funny how Bessie Blount initially looks on in fright... don’t worry girl that will be you soon.

———————————————————————

*the four ladies have a brunch friendship moment together*

I see Blount is among them... I see they are setting her up as Catherine’s friend in order to play up the whole betrayal.

Alright. Jokes aside, I realised how much I’ve played myself. I was inspired by @melusineloriginale ‘s sporks (which if all this TSP episode posts got you in the mood for PG show mockery I urge you to check out here - you’ll thank me later). In truth, Henry VIII’s early reign is a bit too late from my main area of focus for me to make intelligent jokes.

I’ll content myself with just bullet-pointing random thoughts that came into my head, and if some intelligent thought gets through, well that would be the pinnacle. In any case I’ll aim to not parrot some of the stuff that’s already been said, repetition can get annoying.

This image embodies this post, but maybe not the show. I’ve noticed those Starz productions get better by the end.

First Scenes:

- The recap just reminded me how much I will miss Margaret Beaufort in the coming episodes. I know her portrayal was innacurate but Harriet Walter just made everything better.

- They are making such a big deal out of this whole ‘we were crowned together, we rule together’ thing in this episode - it makes no sense. Catherine was an influential Queen but she was definitely no more than a consort and never saw herself as more.

- Ruairi’s new haircut is pleasing to my eyes.

- When she says ‘Abuelo’ it’s super adorable awww

The Ferdinand and Charles V scene:

- Bessie Blount looks so much like Ursula Pole lmao. Also they totally got the Pole children’s birth order wrong and UGH WHERE IS GEOFFREY POLE???

- I like Mary Tudor’s actress and her facial expressions. However, this whole polyglot image they are representing is innacurate. I am fairly certain she knew no spanish and I recall reading a contemporary account which said that she was not very learned.

- I’m pretty sure it would be considered bad luck to prematurely crown your son ‘Henry IX’ while you’re still alive.

- I actually like the whole Grape motif in this episode. It’s probably the smartest thing they’ve come up with so far for this episode. I know a lot of you will be all like ‘there’s no record of Ferdinand being abusive’ but this choice sort of makes sense when you recall Joanna’s treatment. Also I appreciate them for not being tacky and showing flashbacks of more overt abuse eg physical. The sugared grape is also fairly symbolic (the sugar is like a gilding, the grape easily crushable)

- OMG the guy from Garrow’s law is playing Thomas More!

- AND PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME IM NOT SEEING THINGS? Margaret Pole x Thomas More is happening?? Please god that is a historical crackship I am getting behind. Yes. This is what I’m most invested about.

Margaret Tudor and Scotland Scene:

- The whole ironic cutaway to Margaret being all depressed after Charles Brandon’s statement about her charming Scottish king is such a cliché movie technique.

- If this were a more artsy film I would think the whole setup resembling a stereotypical middle-class family breakfast was done on purpose for humorous effects or to create a link with the past. But here I don’t have as much trust in the producers. I think they just failed to capture the time period accurately.

- The modernisms continue: ‘Negassi please stop playing’ idk, there just something so modern about this for some reason ahaha

- Also again, I’m getting tired of all this ‘Catherine is basically queen herself’, ‘Catherine is a political genius’, ‘Catherine Catherine Catherine’ ugh. I don’t think the producers understand that Henry VIII was a very autocratic and traditional ruler. He didn’t make any show of joint-rulership (correct me if I’m wrong).

- The teeth thing is funny, smart and I liked it.

Back to Westminster:

- I like Ferdinand’s actor!

- Also Catherine’s response to ‘who are you loyal to?’ was not that smart. I feel like the producers wanted us to be impressed. What if Spain and England’s interests conflict, ey??

The Joust:

- I care too much for the whole Margaret Pole plotline. I’m so invested.

- I could watch a series of More and Pole just exchanging lines. I love the actors too and this is my hope for this series. The whole frustrated parents is SO CUTE.

- I didn’t know More tutored Reggie, I would be curious to know more.

- The way compton says groom to queen’s stool is freaking hilarious. He looks like a pervert.

- Henry Pole is a darling and must be protected at all costs.

- Oh Christ oh Christ that eyeball shot was just... good job on the special effects guys. Don’t know what the point of that choice was.

- I found the whole armour mentions after interesting, it looked so set up as a PR campaign because Stafford speaking about the armour just sounded like a statement agreed on beforehand ‘should have worn the same’ and the Catherine with ‘steel in the bones’ and Ferdinand’s impressed face (it was him playing them?)

- Am I giving this show too much credit?

- Also whats up with “God save the Queen?”

War Counsel:

- Henry VIII’s actor is quite charismatic in this scene. It’s almost as if Catherine is the hothead and Henry the wise one that speaks less but more significantly. It almost feels like they gender-swapped them.

The Bedchamber:

- Did Catherine breastfeed the baby? I thought it was Anne Boleyn. Doubtful... I’m tired of the trope of ‘you’re a good woman if you insist on breastfeeding the child yourself despite social conventions’. For a feminist show, the writers seem very attached to some 1950s perceptions of motherhood.

- I feel like the age difference between Catherine and Henry is well conveyed.

Scotland Again:

- ‘All the sheep were pregnant’ 👀 oh touché Margaret. oh my. Did she just?

- I know they are playing out this disenfranchised Margaret arc to reinforce how great Catherine and Henry are (cheap technique) and to build up to her involvement in Flodden (innacurate historically but I know what the show will do). But I will say this: the humour is pretty good in the Scottish scenes! But I know it’s unintentionally so... (I highly doubt they wanted us to laugh at Margaret hitting James or calling Alexander a pig).

Westminster and the baby chamber:

- What’s are those red splotches on the babies face??

- Oh that shot of Margaret and silent Reginald :((( it makes me sad.

- And now the Poles are at church! I just love the look of them.

- That scene of Maggie and Catherine was needed, as we didn’t get the best friends vibe much in this episode. The whole thing looked a bit pagan though, but it was nice :)

The whole Ferdinand’s betrayal segment:

- The grape motif again was fitting, him snapping the fruit right before she gets to it even despite her knowing what he’s like and what he’ll do, was a good parrallel.

- I’m tired of hearing of this ‘Camelot’. Even in the novel, Camelot was Catherine and Arthur’s dream and... can we just live it up with Arthur?

- Ursula Pole’s, Bessie Blount’s and Mary Boleyn’s actresses look way too similar.

- I fail to see why Catherine thinks she’s turning into her father... she doesn’t strike me as much of a game-player or subtle two-facer.

- I’m intrigued what will happen with Oviedo and Lina... I feel like they won’t stay in England long.

- He was made knight bannaret... nice... but why does he thank Catherine publicly for this? It was in Henry’s gift that he was made a commoner Knight.. if this transpired irl Henry would have been gravely insulter.

Catherine’s Dead Baby and thereafter:

- Guys. In all seriousness, I don’t think the TV series is trying to imply that Catherine killed the baby with her negligence. I mean, they are so bent on us liking her they wouldn’t do that. It would be a bit too ballsy anyway. Remember the red splotches I mentioned earlier? Could those have been a sign that he was already ill but no one noticed/was in denial?

- The pebbles in hands would have had more emotional payoff if it had been established earlier if you know what I mean. Basically, this episode is too fast and entire arcs begin and end within it which extinguished any build-up.

- Oh man Henry is so sweet in this, how will they build him up as the tyrant he was historically if they keep this up?

Scotland Again:

- I must admit, I don’t like all those nicknames they keep using. But somehow James calling Margaret ‘Meg’ is nice and seems fitting.

- What’s a hermana sister?

England Last Mourning Scenes:

- YOU DID NOT BUILD CAMELOT ughhh

- Why is Catherine giving the speech and not Henry?? It turns out Catherine was more emotional historically then the whole perception of ‘perfect queen of stone’ to which some people hold her. However, I doubt it would have been proper of her to give a speech in such a emotional manner.

Conclusion:

6.5/10

Some of the dialogue was stilted, the costumes are confused as to which era they’re supposed to be (aesthetically distracting) and many other characterisation issues.

I don’t have high hopes for this series in terms of cinematography or art but I sure as hell expect it will be entertaining. So far, everything is just getting set up and I find some aspects promising. As you can tell I am truly excited over how the Margaret Pole plotline. I am also interested in how Henry will be portrayed, with Catherine being so OTT and pushy this episode Im starting to Stan him more. In this show he appears sensitive and serene and kinda... adorable. Kind of like a little brother hanging onto his sister’s skirts.

But in a way that is a disservice to the real historical figure which would not tolerate such a representation. I am very irritated by this whole ‘joint-rulers’ thing which is just sooo innacurate. These STARZ shows have an obsession with showing women turn into men for the purposes of feminism - I see.

Catherine overpowers Henry too often and it sometimes feels like he’s HER consort. Of course, the feminism in this show is schizophrenic as we get the overemphasis of Catherine as a 1950s motherly ideal with the whole breastfeeding angle (“you’re better than other noble woman who would find this beneath them”, “they’re not as motherly as you”).

So the relationship dynamic between Henry and Catherine is a bit off at the moment, but oh well.

Mary Tudor is a bit distracting with her dark hair but I find the actress extremely endearing and promising. I know there will be emphasis on her storyline too and I hope they’ll not be clichéd with it.

#the spanish princess #the spanish princess 2 #lady plantagenet's series reviews #not my best #but I've been ill for most of the week and wanted to get this out before episode 2 comes tommorow #feel free to send me an ask if you you have anything to say #I'd love to see if anyone else thought some of the same things

[grlfriends]

revolutionary girl utena review

ep 1-5

the plot is actually kinda different from what I thought ?? in my mind the plot was: utena was a girl in a princess school who each and every princess would be "conquered" (for a lack of better words rn) in a ceremonial duel by a prince who fancied them, maybe she didnt wanna wanna marry anyone or she liked Anthy already but anyway in my mind utena showed up in the ceremony with duel clothing and then, in a very brave tm like-scene, she would openly declare she refused to be conquered by anyone and tbh I'm not even sure how Anthy would come into the plot... but back into what actually happened in the episodes everything so far is very introductory and just showing what mechanics will be explored further down the line I think?? the op is really good too

also every boy so far reminds me so much of knights of the zodiac?? maybe it's just the design I guess...) and nanami can get these hands, jealousy is a disease and she's the sickest person on earth for all I know

dont ask me why bit I just feel like room of mirrors - gfriend has a very well fitting vibe for it but I'm not exactly sure why hm.... 🤔🤔

ep 6-12

ok so why does this school just have random animals around 😐 I could understand the horse but a bull and a kangaroo?? what ...

touga just says the most random dramatic things and then just casually says anyone who believes in friendship is a fool ?? the guy wouldnt last a day in the naruto universe tbh, he kinda irks me in some way but I'm not sure why so I'll live with this strange feeling for a while I guess

↳ okay so watching ep 10 made me especially kinda creeped out, I know I've watched only 10 eps so far but like can he fall downstairs and break a neck or something already ...

also haha what if I watched that bet on it fmv and gave myself a bunch of spoilers would that be funny or what 😍 this is why i cant have nice things yall.... hope my memory goes to shit when sleep so I dont remember about it this week while I finish it

I feel like the main thing on the episodes are parallels, one way or another I always feel like they're setting up parallels and giving me clues for a bigger picture and a deeper plot arc that is still to come and the bet on it fmv just made this impression stronger, also I wanna say it's done in a good way, one that is both mysterious (??) and "honey you've got a big storm coming" at the same time 🤔🤔 much to think about honestly

↳ just saw ep 11 and even though I already knew this was coming sooner or later it still felt like crap seeing utena lose to dick head, at the end of the episode when he says anthy was always just reflecting utena's own wishes for himemiya (in another way bc I dont remenber the exact words) it felt like 😐 bc yes I knew that (the way she was working her thoughts was simply a copy and paste of what utena was saying) at all time I kept those essays about anthy in my head, I dont think theyll be truly relatable to what I'm seeing rn but yeah anthy rights (even though I know you betray/cheat on utena down the line bc of the bet on it fmv but I'm sure you had your own motivation)

↳ saw ep 12 bc I just couldnt handle being in a cliffhanger and yeah it happened what I absolutely thought it would lmao not that it was that difficult to foresee but yeah, I kinda liked how utena did it for her instead of being like "oh I wanna save anthy from touga" and treating her like a damsel in distress (I know that's kinda her position as the rose bride for what I've been told so far and that this is a subject spoken about in many many essays on tumblr but yeah) bc so far she's been treated as a trophy and a way to get something else, for the green haired guy it was a way to see something eternal, for miki it was a way to hold on into his "shining thing" and for touga it seems (so far) like a way to manipulate (just like he does with nanami) and just mark his position as above everyone else as he seems to view himself?? man I might be saying random stuff rn but it kinda does makes sense in my mind with the information I've had to this point

ep 13-25

honestly 😐😐 through 9 whole episodes I felt like they were trying to make the side characters deeper and show their hidden face and motivations but it felt so shallow...... not even actually shallow, just not deep enough that it would make me care about these characters and the fact there was no actual build to showing us why we're getting to know these characters backgrounds was just kinda meh too, didnt really help that all episodes had all the same formula and the same timing just for the developers made in those episodes be forgotten at the end and also just that pink haired guy could be like "ah failure again", it felt like watching the same episode over and over again, it was really tiring and like?? girl help I do not care about these characters at all, I feel like it could have been done well (like the keiko ep in comparison to the furuba chapter that deals with the yuki appreciation (??) club president graduating.... the way this ep was done and setup didn't really bring me any emotions) overall not to my taste and tbh I feel like I could have skipped all those episodes except for maybe the miki and juri one so 😑

all nanami focused episodes are the worst so far, she's so boring and I cant stand now annoying she is, the diary episode?? the cow episode?? the episode when tsuwabiki fuels with utena?? honestly I know they're trying to show me a better and different side of her but it just doesnt!! work!! bc i feel no sympathy for her, my biggest wish rn is her and touga just disappearing and no more filler episodes🗣🗣

I thought akio was utena's prince?? but apparently he's just anthy's brother and like.. I'm do done with his little talks with utena and yadda yadda, I just wanna see their duel is that too much to ask I'm dying over here (if this lenga lenga continues until ep 25 i will be so mad bc why were so many episodes wasted on such boring and and not necessary side characters backstories?? idc about them at all man aaaaaaaaaa)

↳ ep 25 was good finally we got what we deserve boys 😭😭😭😭😭 can utena just beat up akio already I'm tired of his ass, he exhales both "I'm a feminist I even take women studies classes #herstory" and "if she breathes she's a thot" energy also he has 0 style that mullet is simply horrible I bet there's a hairstylist community who considers him a criminal bc like 😐 it is simply so bad (q bit less when it's tied up but when it's all lose jesus Christ)

also touga thinks he's suuuuch a genius, sooo smart like king, I do not care about you at all can you shut the fuck up please and can we tall about the pink haired guy episode?? wack. honestly thought it would be more emotional or something, I binge watched 12 episodes with his ugly haircut face and did not even feel a thing he can choke I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ANTHY TAKING A SWORD OUT OF UTENA'S CHEST??? OSCAR WORTHY KINGS❗❗❗and then her lame ass brother being like "oh ho ho idk idk" shut up no one cares no one cares I swear to you no one cares shut uuuuup

ep 25-39

first of all, ep 25 was good but kinda reminded me of the nine episodes (13 until 21) where absolutely nothing interesting happened so I hope I'm wrong also can I just say just seeing the preview of the next episode made me roll my eyes so bad I almsot saw my brain?? bc yeah I'm fucking tired of nanami fosuced episodes she's so annoying oh my god nobody cares about a goddamn egg and much less one coming from her let her die or something pls she's so annoying there's nothing I've learned about her that was not against my own will I'm basically rotting over here 🤒

↳ ep 30 has me thinking Akio has a foot fetish or something 😐 bruh leave utena aloooooone I already know your plans and schemes you're not fooling anyone that's embarrassing for u and also... utena you're not very bright are you.... you start seeing every duelist you face with the same exact car and then when you see akio has the same car you didnt even stop to think about it that 1+1 equals 2 ... girl help yourself 😐

↳ yet again another nanami focused ep 😐😐😐😐😐 even though I do understand her better now I still don't find her particularly enjoyable to watch, call me a woman hater but like. idk she's still a bit annoying to me (but touga is straight up evil and is manipulating her so I feel bad for feeling like that tho.....)

↳ ok last 2 eps to go but listen. I thought the akio duel would have happened much sooner, maybe on ep 33 max but well didn't this age well lmao ngl, it did seem a bit too slow paced for my personal taste but also I feel like there's a certain level of drama that comes with slowing the pace down....

↳ aaaaaa yall I'm kinda 😢😭 over the ending omg........... even though it took the best of me to keep going in some parts I still enjoyed the ending aaaaa I thought i wouldnt really like it bc I just usually dont enjoy this type of ending but stil 😢😢😢😢 wait for me utena 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 girl I cried and then anthy walking in the end god utena and anthy holding hands 😭😭😭😭 akio can suck my dick

there's obviously many things I've missed or that I kinda didnt really pay attendance to so please dont take this serious, I was just writing as I watched the episodes so it's more like a thought compilation than anything, still I can see why there's many essays written about it and why it is held as a masterpiece by so many people

#g.txt