the thing is i'm hyperaware of the fact that i'm Weird About Andrew Dabb but it comes from a place of me realizing back in fall 2021 that i wanted to identify why exactly i didn't like him and deciding to do a close watch of his spn eps. and when i realized i was enjoying parts of it, i decided to see what i could turn up any of his non-spn work. (this is something i've always tended to do with creatives: tracking down older stuff for a more holistic view of their work.)
i was so stuck on how much i hated some parts of his writing (s7 dabb-loflin is horrendous) and couldn't get past that... then i found out independently that he was showrunning the upcoming netflix resi show (a franchise i both love and have complicated feelings about) which filled me with dread that the guy who co-wrote 07x22 would helm a show with a predominantly black cast -- especially with the ultimate villain, albert wesker, played by a black man (RIP lance reddick, you are dearly missed). i wanted to be optimistic but i was ready to be infuriated and was so nervous that i'd hate something i'd been looking forward to as some camp horror tv.
but then. oh. OH. it was everything i ever wanted from resi and never thought i could have. i could not conceive of a resi like this. a resi where women and poc are treated with empathy and as nuanced characters with interiority. where they are the central characters. the video games have their own issues but the movies are truly egregious when it comes to black characters. so to have a predominantly black cast (and a black female protag, no less!) and have them treated respectfully was amazing. this was a show that had heart and a somewhat diverse writer's room and bts crew (not saying it was perfect) and you could see that difference in how characters were treated and how the plot and direction was handled. (i think having female directors and producers in particular helped a lot.)
for those who have not seen the anderson/jovovich movies: there is always a token black character and they will always die by the halfway mark bc they make stupid decisions. it's non-stop tits and ass shots of jovovich (which feels super weird when the director is her husband). alice (jovovich) is an Action Girl who is frequently subjected to sexualized violence but unfortunately, i love the camp horror of it. it's complicated. the video games have their own issues with the portrayal of women and ada wong being DLC feels really shitty when she's so pivotal. women are largely either helpless or Strong Sexy Action Women.
like i really cannot express just how much 8 episodes of tv so wholly changed my opinion of a writer/showrunner bc it showed such growth. a showrunner is only one piece of the puzzle of a tv show but they are the ones guiding it and the ones who have substantial influence in the hiring and development/direction of the story.
it's like. i don't forgive dabb for 07x22 and the shit he wrote with loflin (or solo, tho he improved a lot without loflin), but to see how resi turned out and to read/watch interviews with him and the bts crew is like. oh, okay. i think this person gets it now. i don't think i can forgive and forget bc s7 makes my blood boil, but i can accept that growth has happened here and that's what we should want from people.
also i'm gonna say that when i look at how i am Weird About Dabb and take a step back, i can see that i'm about as weird about him as some folks are about other writers and actors from spn (and willing to acknowledge his faults). i just chose a weird writer to be Weird about.
sorry but i just have a lot of feelings about resi.
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Okay I wanna ask you Blorbo wrapped questions back lmao. I'm also curious about who you thought was coolest, who you rotated in your head the most and who was most fun to write. But also, did you have anyone that was kinda driving you up a wall but then something clicked and you really figured out how to write them? If not, who's still driving you up a wall?
Kendrick! I think you saw that I got too excited and answered my own questions over here but who has been driving me up a wall is an excellent question, lol. There are a few who aren't actively driving me up a wall (what's up with Aza huh) but the people who I still haven't got a hold on are Declan, Horatio, and Sid.
I'm almost hesitant to say Declan because I don't think I have a hard time writing him but I also feel like I haven't fully keyed into the fact that he's an autism creature of a man (and also making it clear that the way the rest of the crew does things behind his back is not them infantilizing him because of it but more complicated than that. They do think he's fragile but that's because of how he's handled his grief). Also like. He literally trusts his crew with his life. But he is so so bad at talking to them and I haven't totally figured out how that all works out.
Oops this got long so here's a cut
Horatio got a character lift in this version. He's always been a sweetheart but that evolved out of him having A Sense Of Justice while also being generally pathetic and wet and soft. Now he has the Standing family deviousness that goes along with it and I don't know how to write that. Because also he looks completely different to Sid, who knows him very well and who he's open with, than he does to Avis, who hates him somewhat for the circumstances of his birth (she tries not to because it's not his fault) but extremely much for being sun-coded in the "cheerful" and "unavoidable and intense" ways. So like, what is he plotting (especially about getting Sorian and Avis back together) and how is he plotting it and how does this dovetail with the happy-go-lucky florist which is equally as much who he is?
Sid on the other hand is challenging in the sense that writing him feels fine. He's a real everyman if you will. Except I don't get his character and I think that's a major stumbling block for AOM as a whole. Yeah, on some level he has to be the sad traumatized guy but like. How does he handle his parents trying to run his life once he takes a massive step outside of their frame of reference? How does this work with Avis's story? (Can I successfully shove these two stories into one thing that is a whole? They have so many themes in common help) In his earliest iterations he was the devil-may-care I'm-doing-my-best guy who mildly tormented Horatio Sense Of Justice and I guess they've sort of flipped? Except Sid is always the Doing My Best guy.
Also when it comes to Anni and Zel, Anni is so easy to write with all the technical stuff and much more challenging with the romance stuff and I don't want it to be that way aaaaaaa
As for who did click, I think I'm getting there with Patience (even though I haven't worked on TFA in a while), Rodney worked better when I just let him be soft, working out Fay's whole divorce history helped make her easier to write (she's not pretending to be the good suburban mom. she just is sometimes and other times she sucks), the fact that Wylie hates himself cracked his whole character wide open, and lately I've realized that a critical part of post-divorce Sorian is that he's tired. He's tired of Avis needling him, always being there but never being there for him. He's not even sure he deserves for her to be. But he kinda wishes she would just leave and move on so he can too.
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𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋𝐒 𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐒' 𝐆𝐅 — ♡
one piece social media + dating
feat: shanks
》 i had to edit half of these photos to have red hair lol
♡ liked by d_mihawk, B.B_buGGY and 8.8k others
_ynln: this man is definitely 'wanted'
tagged: sh444nks
sh444nks: i know you're obsessed but gosh stop flirting with me 😒😒
↳ sh444nks: i have a girlfriend already geez 🙄
↳ _ynln: not with that attitude you won't 😐
↳ sh444nks: WAIT IM JOKING PLEASE 😭🙏
↳ benn__b: I hate you guys, you're literally a meter away from each other right now
YASXPP: Yo captain you're looking a little too fine right now 😍🫵
↳ luckyroux.x: For real Yn gotta start gatekeeping these photos 🤤
↳ _ynln: can u guys stop trying to steal my man 🤨
↳ YASXPP: He was our captain before he became your boyfriend, get in line (liked by luckyroux.x, sh444nks)
♡ liked by luckyroux.x, _ynln and 10.3k others
sh444nks: gf taught me abt angel numbers, that's why my user is now 4️⃣4️⃣4️⃣
tagged: _ynln
_ynln: the yn effect (liked by benn__b, luckyroux.x)
↳ sh444nks: my angel 😇😇
↳ _ynln: nah stop 😔💗
B.B_buGGY: Simp
↳ sh444nks: mad you don't get any huh 🥱
↳ B.B_buGGY: SHUT UP SHANKS I DO GET SOME
↳ sh444nks: get some skincare that's what u rlly need 😭
↳ sh444nks: also what the hell is wrong with your user
↳ B.B_buGGY: MY SKIN IS BEAUTIFUL
↳ B.B_buGGY: I was drunk
YASXPP: Damn captain you're not gonna post me? 😩😩
♡ liked by sh444nks, benn__b and 6.1k others
_ynln: im gonna miss this little sucker 💓
sh444nks: he’s so annoying though
↳ _ynln: shanks you literally have no say, luffy is literally a mini you 🤨🤨
↳ sh444nks: this is so offensive my love 😔
sh444nks: nah this isn't even cool, luffy stole my girl
↳ d_mihawk: He just has more game than you. (liked by YASXPP, luckyroux.x, _ynln)
↳ YASXPP: YOOO WTF AHAHAHAH
↳ luckyroux.x: LMFAOOO 😭😭
↳ sh444nks: MIHAWK WTF BRO
benn_b: Nah cause Luffy had us nervous all the time, little shit
↳ _ynln: HES SOO CUTE THO!!
↳ sh444nks: what about me yn!
↳ _ynln: no
♡ liked by benn_b, YASXPP and 9.5k others
_ynln: happy birthday my ancient artefact 🎉
tagged: sh444nks
sh444nks: i love you but damn im not THAT old 😭😭
↳ _ynln: love u 2!
B.B_buGGY: Break up
↳ sh444nks: ayo?!!
YASXPP: ANCIENT ARTEFACT NAHH AHAHAH
↳ luckyroux.x: STRAIGHT VIOLATION
d_mihawk: Happy birthday you drunk slop
↳ sh444nks: knew you loved me mihawk 🥺🥺💓
↳ d_mihawk: die
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