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graendoll · 2 months

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I'm almost through season 6 of the queer EMT show and I have a couple of thoughts I really need to get off my chest.

Before I dive in I want to share an observation. It feels like there are two tiers of main ensemble cast and I'm basing this on the character development of each of them. Tier 1 feels like its Bobby, Buck and Maddie who have gone through the most dramatic character arcs, while tier 2 is Athena, Hen, and Eddie. I can't decide which group Chim is in tbh and this is hardly scientific so...

The point of all that is that everything else I'm going to say is based off my observation that Buck is more fleshed out and developed as a character than Eddie.

So now to the point!

First, Buck absolutely adores Eddie. Like is definitely 100% in love with the man. I'm only on episode 14 of season 6 so I haven't even gotten to the onscreen bi realization or the coming out scene outside of gifs on this here hell site. But currently, the way Buck looks at Eddie is so fucking heart eyed its ridiculous.

The hysteria when Eddie is in danger - the screaming at the mudslide, the absolute hard reboot at the shooting? Buck is completely beside himself at the idea of losing Eddie. He literally cries on Christopher's shoulder at the thought of losing him and Chris losing his dad.

This is not standard BFF behavior, I'm sorry.

And don't even get me started on the couch metaphor...I have too much to say about that to include it here.

But what I do want to talk about is the coma episode. Because I feel like that episode was a purposeful "no-homo" episode and here's why:

Buck is in an alternate universe and runs to Hen and Chim, sees Maddie and Bobby. But Eddie is literally just referenced once as "the angry guy" and his contribution to the entire episode is to bring Christopher to see Buck while hes unconscious. Which is weird!

Yes, Eddie rescued Buck and yes he tells the medical team to do better than their best, but compared to Buck literally hauling Eddie's limp body into an ambulance? It's a pretty vanilla response.

And then he doesn't show up in alternate Bucks reality. This is, i believe, one part writers trying to no homo the thing and one part writers implying that Eddie and Chris are a replacement for Bucks "real family" which undermines the entire guardian arc in a very weird way. So it definitely seems, during s6 at least, that Buddie was flat out not happening (again...I'm on e14 only).

So if Buck is in love with Eddie through narrative and acting choices (based on recent PR from Oliver S implying hes lowkey played Buck queer) where is Eddie at? What gives?

I'll tell you what gives.

Eddie is the most repressed motherfucker on the planet. Eddie goes to a call involving a vibrator getting stuck in a woman and he barely clocks that's what's happening.

This man has only had missionary sex for the purpose of baby making and it shows. I have definitely HC'd that Eddie is demi but he's also just locked down so tight. No wonder he spent a whole season beating the crap out of random strangers in illegal fights!

So, what's my point?

My POINT is this. Eddie may be queer underneath all that repression, but he has no idea. None. Zero. Zip. Eddie thinks he can't find a wife and mother for Christopher because he's BROKEN, not because he's maybe just not that into women.

And yes, Buck coming out might give him a clue. Tommy being gay might show him something he hasn't really seen in terms of what a gay man looks like. But that Catholic guilt ridden man has a LONG way to go before he will confess to the fact that he wifed up his bisexual BFF because of non-platonic reasons.

We'll see how the story pans out. But anyone who thinks season 7 is going to end in a Buddie romance is likely incredibly wrong. I mean I haven't seen the episodes yet. So give me a week. But it seems unlikely. Eddie's character is in a very different place than Buck.

Doesn't mean these two don't live together in marital bliss rent free in my head though 😜

#911 #911 show #eddie diaz #evan buckley #buddie #meta #kind of #more like ranting #911 season 7 #911 season seven

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devotioncrater · 1 year

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The thing is this: we knew that Jack wasn't going to be endgame for Keeley. We knew that from the jump. So now I'm trying to piece together why, to me, their breakup feels off and weird.

And it comes down to three main questions which are all interconnected.

1. Who is this for?

2. What is the context, both in show and in the broader sense?

3. What is the message underneath the choices the writers have made?

Who Is This For?

While the show itself is geared towards adults in the USA, there are storylines within that are written for specific demographics of the general audience. These are the implied audience.

Henry's storyline this episode was a nod to children of divorced parents; Sam's storyline last episode was geared towards immigrants and people of color (although, as others have pointed out, it also felt off in how it was handled); and Colin and Trent's storyline in episode six was for closeted queer people, gay men in particular. Keeley and Jack's implied audience are queer women.

But just because a storyline is written for an implied audience does not mean it excludes the general audience. If anything, it can be argued that it helps broaden the general audience's views on different stories they otherwise may not seek out or watch.

Which is why context is important. It plays a big role in how the general audience outside of the implied audience will form their opinions on the characters, the show, and the issues discussed. Context — especially in shows set in Today's World like Ted Lasso is — also informs how the general audience should interpret the underlying themes/messages.

It is worth noting that storytelling does not exist in a vacuum. Writers have a choice in how to present storylines and they have a responsibility to acknowledge how their choices interact with the real world. Life imitates art, art imitates life; societal norms inform stories, stories inform societal norms.

What Is The Context?

The context here is layered.

It isn't as simple as the microlevel of Jack breaking up with Keeley because she doesn't want to be associated with her anymore. To reduce it down to that level ignores the bigger picture. It's the same as judging a portrait painting based only on how, say, the eyes are rendered. (We knew the portrait will have eyes, but do the eyes fit to the face? How do the eye expressions shift the vibe of the portrait? What message is the artist trying to convey through the eyes?)

Let's talk in-show context, beginning with the characters and then expanding outwards.

Keeley, a bisexual woman who worked her way up to where she is now, is running her own PR firm. Jack, a queer woman who is the daughter of a billionaire, is her investor/employer. The chemistry is there, they get together even though Keeley is still upset over her breakup with Roy.

Jack sweeps Keeley off her feet with expensive gifts and trips. Keeley doesn't mind them, but Rebecca warns her (and the audience) that it sounds like love-bombing. Rebecca takes it a step further by comparing Jack to Rupert, who is established to the audience as an abuser. This idea of love-bombing — and by extension, the idea that Jack can be abusive like Rupert — is further reaffirmed when the waitress tells the two their bill had been taken care of by Jack.

Onscreen, Keeley establishes boundaries with Jack. The two appear to have discussed the love-bombing conversation offscreen, too, as they joke about it in Taste of Athens. The expectation for Jack to be like Rupert is subverted in the croissant scene, but still lingers in the background because of her remaining similarities to the man (wealthy/powerful/keen interest). We the audience need time to trust her after how Rebecca casted doubt on Jack's intentions.

Things seem to go well after that, with the two waking up together and Jack making plans to take Keeley to a family event. Then Keeley becomes a victim of a leaked video, and Jack begins to distance herself because of it. When Keeley says she doesn't regret making or sending the video, Jack leaves after victim-blaming and slut-shaming her.

Again, we knew Keeley was not going to end up with Jack. Their breakup was in the cards, this aspect was no surprise.

Expanding outwards now to other relationships in the show, Keeley and Jack are contrasted against Nate and Jade in both episode seven and episode eight. Where Keeley and Jack are established in a sapphic relationship, Nate and Jade are just beginning their own heterosexual one. Where Keeley and Jack wake up and have breakfast together, Nate and Jade do too. Where Keeley and Jack breakup, Nate and Jade's blossoms and cements labels.

Which, sure, fine, that's how it goes. But if we further expand outwards, we see that Keeley and Jack are the only sapphic relationship in the entire series. An entire series which featured, up until this season, exclusively heterosexual relationships. And still does, now that these two have broken up. There isn't another gay relationship onscreen (unless you count Colin and Michael, even though we haven't seen Michael since episode 3).

Speaking of Colin, sidebar here: The phone scene with Issac and his reaction to what was on Colin's phone is now the second time this season the writers have dangled the expectation of Colin potentially getting outed. Which, judging by Colin's knee-jerk reaction to both Trent and Issac finding out, would be a traumatic experience for him. Being outed is a traumatic experience regardless. This repeated use of fear also specifically plays into the Gayngst (Gay Angst) trope.

If we expand another level outwards, we have the in-show damnation of sexism and slut-shaming and victim-blaming. Multiple characters offer sympathy to what Keeley's fallen victim to. Rebecca, Barbara, Jamie, Roy — they all condemn what's happened and express their support to Keeley in their own ways. This provides context for how the general audience should interpret the underlying message of "A woman's private photos or videos getting leaked online is not her fault. It's an act of violence normalized by a sexist society, and the blame needs to be placed on the person who leaked them."

But who at their core doesn't show that support to Keeley? Who acts as an oppositional view to the underlying message? Jack. Jack, a woman. Jack, a queer woman.

She has her own motives. In a toxic spiral, she begins by cancelling on the event, then she downgrades Keeley to "my friend" in front of a peer, and finally she verbally expresses that it's bad for her personal and professional image if she's seen linked to a woman who's private affairs got leaked. The line in the sand is drawn: Keeley's livelihood is not the priority, Jack's image is.

And this sequence of events all reaffirm Rebecca's earlier mistrust that Jack is not a good person. While Jack is no where near Rupert's level, how she handled what happened with Keeley is still terrible.

And like, yeah, it also serves to show that both men and women are capable of causing harm and abusing their privilege and being egotistical. It reflects real life in that way. But look at the context of the show's treatment of its queer characters in a broader sense and how that context interacts with both the general audience and the implied audience of queer people.

The only sapphic (or queer, if you don't count Colin/Michael) relationship onscreen within three seasons is set-up to fail. The love interest is placed in a position of power over Keeley, which is pointed out by a straight character. Then the love interest is revealed to be toxic, which was also foreshadowed by the same straight character, and she slut-shames/victim-blames Keeley before leaving.

This was a deliberate writing choice. There were so many different avenues the writers could have taken. They could have had Jack fallout with Keeley over the leak in a less internalized misogynistic way, or even over something completely irrelevant to the leak itself. Jack, being a new addition, does not have the same groundwork put into her character to where she is confined to how she'd react. It wouldn't have been OOC of her to genuinely support Keeley, because we don't know her well enough to pass that judgement! On the flipside, it isn't OOC of her to leave, either, because of the same reasoning. But then the discussion becomes: what kind of character is Jack, and what does she represent both symbolically and narratively?

Storytelling doesn't exist in a vacuum.

Going outside of the show now, if you look at queer women stories in television/film, you begin to see the repeated pattern of queer women characters being written as toxic — or worse, predatory — and this characterization is rooted in real life lesbophobia and misogyny. There are tons of resources out there that detail the damaging, pervasive idea that queer women — lesbians, especially — are the same as predatory men. In a patriarchal, misogynistic, heteronormative world where women are hyper-sexualized yet demonized for taking charge of their sexuality, society shames queer women on all fronts.

And because queer women do not center men in their relationships, society historically has viewed sapphic relationships as "lesser" or "not a true relationship" or "just friends/gal pals". It's dismissive. (Until, of course, the fetishization kicks in. However that is a can of worms not to be opened in this meta.)

Queer women barely get screen-time as it is, much less outside of period pieces, and so when every other confirmed relationship shown onscreen falls into the same pattern, the same routine, it's exhausting. It's the same message/theme over and over and over again: "Queer women are toxic. Sapphic relationships don't work."

So why, then, did the writers of Ted Lasso introduce a sapphic plot for Keeley and choose to make it toxic? For a show that takes pride in subverting expectations, there is nothing subversive about this.

We can't judge this storyline by just the eyes. We have to look at the entire portrait painting and then go from there.

Which leaves us with the big double question of: What Is The Underlying Message Here? Why Choose To Portray The Only Sapphic Relationship On The Show In This Way?

#ted lasso spoilers #ted lasso #keeley jones #jack danvers #idk im just. really fckigng tired of seeing queer women relationships fail onscreen #ted lasso meta

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good-realtor-bad-realtor-dynamic · 1 year

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New Sunny podcast is out and, as teased, it's about the guys' upcoming films, Fool's Paradise and Blackberry, out on 12 May!

Meg showed up at 9:00 which some people might say is late.

Shopify ad is full of Succession references, "Glendall Roy!!!!" and Logan Roy-isms: "FUCK OFF!"

There are a few new clips for the creeps.

Fool's Paradise

Hollywood satire with a focus on persona, ego and stage names, hence why the main character is accidentally named "Latte Pronto" and a passive observer reflecting the surrounding characters' projections.

Explores different sides of the industry with the big cast and spirals into chaos by the end as the ppl behind the stars are revealed

Charlie started on the script during Sunny S10 (~2014) bc he felt certain '70s and '30s style comedies weren't being made anymore.

Felt he'd never be cast in them even if they were

Directed because he didn't want to give up control of his script especially if he was going to play the passive lead without a voice

Influences: Being There (1979) starring Peter Sellers and directed by Hal Ashby; also films by Woody Allen, Albert Brooks, Robert Altman, Coen Brothers, Paul Thomas Anderson, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin

Charlie plays the MC but Ken Jeong's character is the protagonist

Movie follows their journey together looking for real relationships in Hollywood.

Reshoots focused on making Ken the heart of the movie

Charlie worried that he was pushing Ken too much, but Ken was willing to do many takes to get to a non-sarcastic heartfelt place

Jon Brion's score is very classic old-fashioned Hollywood and used a lot of old recording techniques to add to the timeless fairytale feel of the movie

Glenn loved Charlie's script from the first draft and every revision

Charlie and Rob, the Original Glenn Girlies, found Glenn and his glacting choice to do a "vaguely European" accent (like Jan?) for his Business Manager character to be the funniest part of the film

Film contains Sunny easter eggs and actors like Peter McKenzie

Blackberry

Glenn was nervous about playing a character based on a real person, especially since he only had 3.5 weeks to prepare and couldn't do as much research as he would have liked.

IRL Jim met Glenn at the Toronto premiere and seemed to approve his onscreen portrayal.

Glenn felt like he lacked film experience where characters have arcs, so it was a challenge to keep track of Jim's anxiety levels through the story while shooting out of order.

Read the script many times and talked to director Matt Johnson about every scene because he didn't have the benefit of being a writer here like he does on Sunny

Worried about being too unlikeable but committed fully to the character because of his experience with Dennis

Glenn played Jim very earnest and sincere, and not at all for laughs — that's where the comedy comes from

Rob and Charlie found Jim to be nothing like Dennis or Glenn because even though they both experience rage, Jim is competent and has a cold killer look in his eyes -> DENNIS IS NOT A COLD CALCULATING KILLER.

Matt Johnson shot with long lenses on gimbals so that the cameras were far away enough for the actors not to know if they were being filmed and what was on screen — this adds to the handheld thriller but kinda comedic aesthetic of the whole film

Charlie was excited that a director finally let Glenn go full Glenn all over this movie and wished he was in every frame

Also wished he was the one directing the movie showing off Glenn

Rob, Charlie and Meg are annoyed that people are so surprised how good Glenn is in this role (we know and agree!) and predict that he will get more roles off this performance

Glenn has a theory on why he thinks things are shifting for the Sunny cast BUT HE DOESN'T GET INTO IT BECAUSE THERE'S NO TIME LEFT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The girlies were all too happy and nice-looking today for me not to screenshot away.

I'm so excited to watch these movies... can't find any showings for Fool's Paradise yet, but Blackberry is playing at my local cinema later this week, and I will be there!

#iasip podcast #always sunny podcast #tasp #glenn howerton #charlie day #rob mcelhenney #fool's paradise #blackberry 2023 #blackberry movie #rcg #68 fool's paradise and blackberry #glacting #sur rambles #sur

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pencil-peach · 8 months

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G Witch Onscreen Text: Prologue

I'm going to try my best to transcribe all of the (relatively important) text that appears on monitors and screens throughout the show, and talk about what they mean. Because they put WAY too much work into them just for them to be completely ignored. And also because I can.

More Under the Cut awooo awooOOooooOOOooo

TEXT: CONFIRM THRALL >>> LP-03

Not very important, clarifying communication is active between THRALL (Control) and LP-03 (Lfrith Prototype 03)

TEXT: PMET LINK REGRESSION TEST. INTERCONNECT

Device and Program Supporting Selection for Control Test

STATUS: READY

Just a Pre-Test status screen to make clear it's ready for the Permet Link Test

TEXT: GUND FORMAT [DISCONNECT] ERROR PHASE

Here we see the error message that's displayed when the Layer 33 Callback Test fails.

TEXT: PRESS BRIEFING: MS INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE OFFICIALS WARN ABOUT GUND FORMAT INTERPLANETRAY NEWS NETWORK

Here we see the news station (INN) reporting on the ongoing investigation by the Mobile Suit Investigation Committee into Ochs Earth and the Gund Format.

TEXT: (Top Left) SPACEFLIGHT OSTEOPENIA

(Bottom Left) MICROGRAVITY MUSCLE ATROPHY

(Top Right) SPACELIFE-ASSOCIATED NEURO-OCULAR SYNDROME

(Bottom Right) EQUILIBRIUM DISTURBANCE

(Middle) IMPAIRED SPATIAL ABILITY

(Bottom) HEALTH THREATS FROM COSMIC RAYS

This is a graph showing the various health risks humans suffer from prolonged exposure to cosmic rays in space, which is one of the issues the GUND Format was originally created to solve.

TEXT: BIOINFO INTERACTION SCORE per Second

DATA STORM OCCURENCE MAXIMUM: 4.89888 BACKFLOW: 187.69

WARNING: DATA STORM could damage GUND linker.

This graph is displayed when the reporter is speaking about the appearance of physical damage to GUND pilots emerging as a problem. It's difficult to tell exactly what this graph means, but I'll give my best deduction:

The graph is measuring the amount of interaction a pilot is currently having with a data storm, measured in seconds. The higher the Interaction Score, the greater a pilots exposure to the data storm. Thresholds of exposure are called "Stages" (as seen in the second image.) Based on the coloring, the higher the current stage of exposure, the more danger a pilot is in.

TEXT: WHAT ISSUE DO YOU WANT POLICY MAKERS TO SPEND TIME DISCUSSING?

(Left)

[Earthian Issue] Yes Poverty Reduction 95% Fair Trade 89% Educational Gap 89% Taxes 85% Employment 83% (Right)

[Spacian Issue] Yes Defense/Security 98% Free Competition 92% Infrastructure 90% Energy 87% Welfare 86%

I actually really really like this graph because of the stark difference between Earthian and Spacian issues. The issue of Gundams and defense doesn't even break the top 5 of what Earthians NEED policy makers to discuss. It's even more depressing when you realize the prologue is set 21 years before the main story, and not only have these problems not been addressed, they've actually gotten worse for the Earthians.

TEXT: HAPPY BIRTHDAY

It's Eri's BIrthday :3

There's zero way to deduce what the text on the whiteboard or the laptop in this picture could mean, but I really love this picture of Cardo and Elnora, so you should just look at it anyway.

TEXT: INSTALLATION COMPLETED C03_DISCONNECT TIMER

What this means is hard to pinpoint exactly, but presumably this person is working for Delling, and has uploaded a file into the main server of Folkvangr that will disconnect it from the network, so that there will be no way for anyone in the institute to call for help once the massacre begins.

TEXT: CONFIRM YOUR INTERNAL PMET SYSTEMS LINKED DEVICE AND PROGRAM FOR SUPPORTING SELECTION FOR CONTROL TEST

Just the screen that appears when Eri is linked to Lfrith. Presumably this screen appears for anyone who links to it.

TEXT: NO SIGNAL Code: CO4 CONNECTION IS LOST.

The Disconnect Timer we saw installed onto the Folkvangr server has just gone off.

TEXT: GUND FORMAT INTERCONNECT

ERICHT SAMAYA LAYER 34

The scene where Elnora sees that Ericht has not only gotten a callback from Layer 33, but has gone even further.

What I really like about this scene (and maybe I'm reading too much into it,) but look at the way the text is formatted on the screen. It's distinctly different than how it was when Elnora was trying to get a callback from Layer 33, specifically because, for some reason, it's displaying Eri's name. It didn't display Elnora's name earlier in the episode, and so the only way that makes sense is if, when Eri was talking to Lfrith and introduced herself by name,

It was listening.

(You can even see this during this shot. The display on screen is reacting to her voice)

Bonus: We can't see what the display on Nadim's Lfrith is saying when he goes permet score four cause he's currently having his brains melted out of his skull, but I'm gonna assume it says something along the lines of "You are currently having your brains melted out of your skull."

That's all for the prologue ! This will probably take me a long time to finish. But eh, I'll have fun with it.

Click here to move on to Episode 1! >>

Click here to go to the Masterpost!

#g witch #gundam the witch from mercury

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augustheart · 7 months

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doom patrol finale review

character-by-character breakdown:

vic's ending is definitely the best. i love this for him and i think it's the natural progression of his character in this show especially considering little moments like his relationship with baby doll--he's so good with kids of all ages and this is definitely where he would've ended up... maybe not regardless of what happened after he became cyborg, but i think this was definitely an "all roads lead to compassionate mentorship making a difference home" ending for him. i also think he and derrick should get married but that's secondary.

larry's ending is second best for me. to be clear i have no idea what the fuck they're gonna do now but i am very happy for him. we should all wish to be endgame with sendhil ramamurthy.

i really, really wish i liked k's ending but because tv-verse casey is so Nothing i don't care for it. i have complex feelings about the original morrison plot point the underground's coexistence in this way is based on but i think the show handled it fine. but i'm glad they're happy and i think them going by K is nice because it's a reflection of the fact that k-5's chosen name in the underground is k-5, not kay challis. they can't identify with that name because of trauma, but they can reclaim the girl. i may be talking myself into liking it more just by writing this. but i still wish tv casey was actually a character/anything like her comic book counterpart. she doesn't even get to have her own paragraph here.

i think i like cliff's ending. i don't like that it presents being with clara in florida as home when i don't think that's been the case at all throughout the show, but i do think i like it other than that. especially as someone who has been a fan of this character in the comics for years and wants him to be able to finally rest after outlasting so many in his life. i also find divorce having so thoroughly infected cliff's family to be hilarious. only clara and mel escaped the divorce curse.

laura's ending is good. no notes.

rita's ending is so, so close to being good. i actually really like it. she was the first with niles and she's the first to leave without him. but i don't care about agent ! in the slightest. sorry. he just doesn't mean anything to me. but i do think her getting her happy ending is good. i wish larry brought something of hers with him when he left, though. they love(d) each other so dearly until the end even when they were annoying the shit out of each other.

dorothy not being in the finale at all and only being mentioned once is very weird. where's my baby girl!

in terms of other things:

i think they should've wrapped up the actual plot of the season in the last episode so this one just could've been a homecoming finale, because as it is it felt rushed and weird. (i have similar criticism of the stargirl finale, but i give that a little more wiggle room because at least the climax happened. like. onscreen?)

clint mansell's score still goes beyond crazy because he's never composed something that doesn't fuck supremely imo

i am inherently prejudiced against stories that are like "and then they all went their separate ways but remembered their wacky found family fondly" at the end but i think the way they did it here was probably the best they could've done if they wanted to go that route.

i think my season ranking is 1, 4a, 3a, 4b, 3b, 2? maybe? as you can see those middle two are kinda wishy-washy, but i do still really like (...for the most part) the beginning of this season and of season three.

i have more thoughts but i'm having trouble formulating them. if anyone wants a more detailed look at something i left out then feel free to ask.

#this post is long as fuck under the cut btw #doom patrol #dcutv #doom patrol spoilers

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fountainpenguin · 10 months

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So I'm genuinely curious over how Leonard is one of your favorite characters in the series. In both Pahkitew and RR, he was around for only one episode with his shtick being that he took larpring so seriously that he legit thought they he was a wizard with that mentality being the reason why he was the first to be eliminated in both series.

Yes, and he SOLD IT. I'm a fanfic writer and I'll always fall for the characters who are legitimately fun to write. I would make him a main character in a story any day (and have, and they're some of my faves). I actually use Leonard as my base inspiration for several characters even in my current fanfics because he is THAT strong of a character (to me).

He's a shameless, charismatic sweetheart of a team leader who will grab fast food with you, spill all his secrets, and give you the world unless you mildly inconvenience him, and then he'll instantly swivel to "Wow, I literally do not respect anything about you :)" and I'm in love with it.

Also I'm just gonna say it: I will ALWAYS go for the character who wants to summon a dragon to destroy everyone who's ever wronged him. Leonard is SO conflict avoidant but also he's down for everyone who's ever been mildly rude to him to suffer a horrific death. Do not excuse him from his crimes; we all saw him make multiple attempts to commit murder. Smh.

This is the same guy who throws confetti when he's excited. The duality of man. He WILL dance on your grave.

This is Leonard's actual audition tape. This is what he submitted to the producers. It's him complaining about how someone stole his unicycle. Why did he submit this? Why is he like this? Love him.

youtube

(Cnt'd Leonard ramblings under the cut. You will regret this.)

It's the way he chuckles at his friend and takes a moment to clarify that no, he's not made of paper. Like. If his friend asked him to come over and then the follow-up question was "Are you made of paper?" then you know this is someone in Leonard's friend group and you know he was 100% willing to whip out his unicycle and go to his friend's house in his full LARPing gear. He has no fear of judgment, no shame, and he must have incredible balance and I just think that's fun. This boy lives for himself. I love characters who are unapologetically all-in with what they love and who they are.

It's the way he says "I'm making a video" as if he's just... doing something unimportant. WHY did he submit this? He's already set up as this character who brushes off the professional side of the competition in favor of doing whatever the heck he wants, and that's hilarious. The amount of confidence he oozes every time he's onscreen is just... palpable. We know he was canonically bullied in school, but man oh man, that clearly does not stop him. He fears nothing and I fear him.

Most of the characters let Chris push them around because they'll do whatever it takes to move to the next episode and try to win a million dollars. Leonard is ONLY here to play and make friends. He made the active choice to be stubborn and throw away his chance at the money because if he couldn't play the game his way (in character) then he didn't want to play at all. And that is so interesting.

Look at his bedroom. Look at how into this aesthetic he is. He's heating a cauldron on an electric burner. He's got candles. He's got scrolls and a crystal ball. He's got so many books. He LOVES what he does and he's unapologetic for it. He's so authentic and pure and good and I love him for it.

Leonard runs around in his full-on robes, his fake beard, and... converse shoes. He's committed to the outfit in so many ways but he needs comfy shoes to be happy and I respect that.

Look how cute he is... his body language is just. fun. Just stands there all smiles while his girlfriend throws confetti. Having a fantastic day.

Then that next scene where Tammy keeps throwing confetti on him and he just stands there with his eyes pinched shut and he's trying not to hurt her feelings is... super cute.

Leonard brings a "Let's have a good attitude and be loyal and friendly" vibe to the team that Dave specifically cannot stand. Every single other person on that team liked Leonard. Dave is just mean.

Leonard's first interaction with Dave was walking up to him and trying to cleanse him of evil, which is so funny to me. Dave is "the normal guy," Max was sitting right next to him and just gave his spiel about how evil he was, and Leonard took one look at Dave, who was sitting there and doing nothing, and said "No, THIS is the one who needs cleansing." Absolutely savage (and he was right).

His parachute failed. Everyone else is screaming. Leonard shows no fear. Tries to save himself with magic. He has a whole spell book. Went straight for the wing spell. Still falling to his doom. Just chilling. His commitment to the bit is unparalleled and I love him.

Leonard's super compassionate, I think... Threw himself in front of Dave and ordered him to crawl to safety, then grabbed a weapon and readied himself to face his enemies. Leonard is way more dramatic than he needs to be, but you can tell he's super loyal because he's willing to put himself in the line of fire for others. For no reason.

We know Leonard watched the OG Total Drama series, because he grabs a pipe, whips it above his head, and tells Chef to "go back to the shadows of Wawanakwa." Sure, we can assume most of the contestants watched the previous series before they auditioned, but I appreciate it for Leonard specifically because he really looked at this show and said "Yes, this is a smart place for me to go LARPing." Considering how he threw in the towel in episode 2, refusing to break character, I think he watched the previous episodes and thought he would meet like-minded nerds rather than compete for money. He wanted to make friends :(

Leonard gets a bad rap for being bullied and unlikable, but like... he's SO charismatic. He's a natural leader who speaks up when he has ideas. Sugar, Ella, and Beardo are all over him immediately. Sky turns to him and asks him to take charge and when Leonard suggests linking arms and chanting in order to build a tower, Sky and Shawn are among those who cheer. Episode 1 Leonard was everybody's sweetheart <3

Leonard's not "the weird kid nobody likes." He's the flippin' team leader. And he did exactly what he promised to do, which was lead the team to build a wizard's tower (It's not his fault he didn't expect a moose stampede to knock it down).

Dave is a GROUCH in episode 1 and straight-up mocked the tower in front of Leonard, and Leonard is still all smiles and love and hugs. You can NOT fight Leonard's commitment to purity and sweetness. You will lose. I love him so much.

Leonard is SO silly. He keeps getting in so many risky situations and walking away unscathed, and every single time he's like, "Yeah, I was fine because I'm awesome." I just think he's fun.

Leonard is just so ??? /gestures. He climbs on rocks and stands on them. Just because he can. He just kinda... touches things. And plays. Loves telling stories. Loves having fun.

It's the way that all his teammates are complaining about how they had to sleep on rocks last night, and Leonard rolls his eyes with a massive smirk on his face and says "Pfft. I levitated all night." Like. Why is he committing to this? He makes me laugh.

[It's the same subtle sass he flings around in R-Race when he has no trouble riding his camel and others are struggling. It's so uncalled for. He's just sassy sometimes.]

It's the way that Ella confuses even Leonard. Why is Leonard SO into his LARPing characterization but he still just... stares at Ella like he doesn't "get" her? He does this multiple times. They are not on the same wavelength. They do not vibe. It's SO funny to me because you would expect those two to adore each other, but... Ella likes being his cheerleader and Leonard's just kinda... not into it.

It's the way Leonard gets flattered when Sugar compliments him and then glares at Dave when Dave comes out swinging with his unrestrained Leonard hatred. Leonard doesn't get snippy with him. Ever. Even when Dave literally screams in his face that he thinks Leonard is useless. Leonard doesn't bat an EYE. Doesn't flinch. Just stares him down. Leonard never snaps, but always puts up with it... that character type always speaks to me. idk man. There's something about characters who simmer in silence, especially when you know how wild they can be, that always hooks me.

It's the way that Leonard has his little hand symbol that he keeps using over and over. Leonard was MADE to be eliminated early, that's his entire purpose in the show... he IS cannon fodder, but I think it's cute that he still had his own special body language.

It's the way Leonard was so shocked that he was in the bottom two on elimination night. It's the way he curled up, hugging himself and pleading to not be chosen. I just think he's cute. It's the way Leonard, who is SO TALL, gets thrown over Chef's shoulder like a sack of potatoes and Leonard just kinda... wails and stretches his arm back towards the campfire. He's baby.

Listen, I know his final act was attempted murder but he's innocent, your honor. Yes, I know he also tried to commit murder in R-Race but I demand you free my man. He did nothing wrong.

My favorite characters are the ones that are fun to write and/or practically write themselves. You get one taste of Leonard and that's all you need. He ingrains himself in your mind. You can have him do anything you want and you're right. That's the best kind of character when you're writing fanfics.

This one's probably not going to show up well, but here's a screenshot from my 'fic "The Story Where Courtney Takes Feral Zeke to Prom" (dA title; "Precious" on FFN)

He's just. Leonard. He is SO funny. Just delightful.

Leonard can be swayed to do anything as long as it's fun. And he's a charismatic leader who can sway others to play along with him, especially in a post-elimination fanfic. He is bubbly and full of adventurous spirit, and once you put him back in a non-competitive environment where everyone's a little bit bored and looking for ways to stay entertained at the elimination station, there's no doubt in my mind that everyone would love him again.

He's NICE. He's FUN. This kid knows how to research. He knows how to reach out to people. He'll fight for you. He'll throw himself in the line of fire for you. He just wants to play and be your friend. He's a charismatic sweetheart and I like him. You will never write yourself into a corner as long as you have Leonard in the vicinity. He's too big and loud and will fight anything.

I adored Leonard so much already, and then R-Race drops and we find out he has a girlfriend?? And they met when they were stuffed inside the same locker?? And they absolutely adore each other?? His only critique about Tammy is that she throws too much confetti on his head?? Incredible, 10/10. Nowhere else can I get this character. When will I ever be this funny.

Seriously I cannot emphasize enough how much I love the Leonard/Tammy ship. They are SO in tune with each other. They just straight-up arrived to R-Race in full LARP gear sipping sodas. What. Right out of the gate, sets them up as the silly beans they are. You can instantly feel how much better Leonard vibes with Tammy than he did with Ella. Love that for him.

Leonard and Tammy just... love to play. They ran around the airport throwing confetti at people. That is a thing they actually did. Why are they like this. You just know their relationship is so, so good and healthy and they adore each other. When Tammy got eliminated, her first reaction was to cast a time reversal spell, which is the SAME THING Leonard did when he got eliminated in TD. I love them.

Leonard went after the outcasts in his attempts to make alliances. He went for the adversity twins and for Crimson and Ennui. Ugh. I love that. He knew nothing about them except "those are the ones who are going to struggle to have allies." He's so good.

Also, shout out to the R-Race animators for keeping Leonard's special hand gesture exactly the same in R-Race as it was in TD. That's my boy.

And if you're still not swayed, you gotta keep in mind that my niche when these seasons were airing was in writing post-elimination 'fics, told from the POV of the character first eliminated in each cast. Getting to the elimination area early cements you as "the guy who knows what's going on." Beardo was out first and he wasn't a talker, so Leonard slid right in there. Beardo's super introverted... but Leonard? Oh my goodness gracious, if you've never tried writing Leonard then you have no idea how useful to the narrative he is.

I LOVED the dynamic I wrote between those two in Beatin' Path. They instantly fell in as BFFs, because Beardo was super shy but would go along with anything Leonard wanted to do, because Leonard's charisma is off the charts and he is GOOD at making things fun. Leonard was very good at including Beardo in his play. Beardo is so good at being the sound effects hype man. They just... loved it. Had a blast. They were having fun, so I was having fun. That's the best kind of fanfic.

Look at my sons...

Look at them... They're the worst.

I love Leonard. He's so nuts.

So part of the charm IS the fact that he got out early (twice!!) and had an extremely charismatic personality. He only wants to play, so when you put him in a non-competitive environment where he is free to play, then he THRIVES.

I just play him as this super accepting, kindhearted character who wears every emotion on his sleeve. He will tell you all his secrets. Leonard has no shame. Here's one of my favorite scenes from a late chapter I never posted. This is quintessential Leonard vibes to me:

Beardo can be going through the worst possible thing and Leonard is just so charming and charismatic that it's hilarious. I love him.

?? Leonard is Unapologetically Leonard. I am so in love with his... bizarre interactions. I know I'm posting a lot, but I just have so many things I love:

I just ??? love him. He's simultaneously out of touch with reality and living in his dream LARPer world but he'll also grab sodas with you. He's so good.

One of my worldbuilding details in my Total Drama 'fics was that cartoon physics were very real, but I did it in a silly way. Everyone had one specific "gift" that they grew into during puberty (and Cody giving Beth "the Talk" about this was the subject of my one-shot "Of Ants and Cartoon Physics").

Leonard's gift was that he had an inventory and I also wrote him as a kleptomaniac. And it was SO fun. I LOVE Leonard.

Like, I just wrote Leonard picking up random things and putting them in his sleeves. Sometimes he'd just put mice in his shirt and they would go into the void. He was the only character who had an inventory. He ran around with knives. It was lots of fun.

On a side note, the biggest reason why I stopped working on my R-Race elimination story (Lions Under Palm Trees) wasn't lack of time or passion, but... there's an entire arc about Junior hitting puberty and coming into his cartoon physics gift, which was generating extreme amounts of static electricity. I LOVE what I did with it, but I just kept dwelling on my 'fic and getting nervous that I had taken it too far beyond canon and people would be weirded out, especially since I was already making my POV characters two people the fandom had no love for.

Technically the gifts I gave characters match things that happen in canon (ex: Heather's gift was that she has retractable nail-claws, which she actually did in the New York episode of World Tour). Zeke's gift was that he's immune to food poisoning, which iirc was based on his character interview where he explains that he has a strong stomach, combined with the fact that it's implied he's had to live off raw rats in World Tour and possibly other seasons too. So my things were based in canon... I just felt like people would be turned off that there was SO. MUCH. of that kind of stuff in this 'fic. It kind of took over the plot and I just couldn't decide if that was the vibe.

But I'd go back to my Leonard 'fics in a heartbeat if I had the time. There are some NASTY hard-hitting moments in there and I love them so much. Leonard is an angel. I mean he's the worst but I love him. Topher is a menace. Tammy makes bad choices. Ugh. I love it.

I love Leonard...

#Total Drama #td Leonard #Ridonculous Race #total drama fanfic #ridwriting #Beatin Path #Lions Under Palm Trees #screenshots #Precious #The Story Where Courtney Takes Feral Zeke to Prom #Long post #I love him so much...

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mlobsters · 6 months

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supernatural s11e23 alpha and omega (w. andrew dabb)

so i've often complained about how dean and cas's relationship is talked about a lot more than seen onscreen (we're best friends! ok when?) but this part of this season has been a lot more of dean showing how cas is high priority to him. it feels a little out of nowhere to me i guess, because i never got whatever vibes they were trying to establish (i didn't come into the show with any sort of bias other than i knew destiel was The Thing and got blindsided by wincest feelings out the wazoo). anyway, i just try to accept that the show is gonna try to sell me on dean and cas being close, and try not to bitch (too much) about not getting it. clearly failed that brief today

oh, i thought lucifer bailed because he thought amara was gonna off him via cas, apparently it was amara who yoinked him out

LOL chuck clinging onto sam is really cracking me up. he looks so small and sam looks like he doesn't even notice there's a person hanging off him

CROWLEY Well... that was a complete and utter dog's breakfast, wasn't it? CAS I didn't know dogs had breakfast. DEAN Cas is back.

i was 🤔 because since i (clearly) watch gbbo i know the phrase is dog's dinner lol. if a dog eats in the morning, is that not a breakfast, cas?? haha and dean's response to sam like obviously cas is back, based on the doofy comment (and voice, amirite)

based on their reactions and the dramatic music i was expecting something a little more exciting than an especially pretty sunrise

oh, the sun is dying. that is very dramatic. i don't know that would be the conclusion most people would make from that view

oh no, is this british men of letters? 😴 you know MoL storylines are my favorite. and a new batch of them

really. because we don't have enough characters. i hate the music, i already hate the premise and it's only been literally a minute

CHUCK Sam. I get it. Even if we could lock Amara away, it wouldn't do any good now. I'm dying. And when I'm gone, a cosmic balance between light and dark—it's over.

beating the dead horse of "what about the other deities" and here's the problem right. you know (they probably know) they'd make a fucking mess if they tried to address it. but they did address other religions and deities in the past several times! oh what is God just the most important god or somethin :p i know it's a no-win situation, but it still irks me on the regular

CAS I was just... so stupid. DEAN No, no, no. It wasn't stupid. You were right. You were right to let Lucifer ride shotgun. Me and Sam wouldn't have done that.

all right. bend the story around so it wasn't a fuckup

DEAN You know, sometimes me and Sam have got so much going on that...we forget about everyone else. CAS Well, you do live exciting lives. DEAN Yeah, that's one word for it. But you're always there, you know? You're the best friend we've ever had. You're our brother, Cas. I want you to know that.

and i'd offer that he's the best friend they've ever had because he's been semi-indestructible and resurrected all the times he has died when their friends pretty much never get that kind of service.

i try to really be fairly neutral when watching and writing these up, i obviously have some bias towards sam and dean as a unit because the show sold me hard on it from the get-go. but i think the lack of relationship established to me, and the very large presence cas and destiel has within fandom and even just the outsider perception of spn based on that large fandom presence - well. stuff like this, i just don't like it. it doesn't feel true to me and it kinda sorta pisses me off. and it pisses me off that part of my feelings about the character are based on some dumb kneejerk reaction to the fandom stuff. and it's perplexing.

the previous show i was into was teen wolf. stiles/derek is obviously the prevailing ship there - and there's almost nothing in canon between them. really working with crumbs. the ship that is much smaller but i can totally vibe with is scott/stiles. but i happily read all sorts of sterek fic too and it never bothered me like this does. so i'm reminding myself that it's not that it's a ship i think is more fanon based than canon that is the problem. or even that it's the popular ship. i think it's an amalgamation of the weird mismatch for me in the show, the fanon-sold-as-canon meta i see sometimes (which i avoid meta in general now) and (honestly) the virulent hate directed towards wincest shippers that i'd stumble into when just browsing the spn tag. anyway. (maybe if i keep explaining, someone will understand!!)

she really does look beaten down

SAM So, we don't really have a choice. I mean, look. Y-You've got darkness and light. You take one side away and— CAS It upsets the scales—the whole balance of the universe. SAM Exactly. But you take both away, and now both sides of the scale are empty, so...

*raising my hand to ask about when they killed those other deities*

CAS Well, what about souls? They fuel your demon deals. Souls are living batteries. They're full of energy. They're full of light. Each one is as powerful as...100 suns?

okay so would this process destroy the souls? i mean better than being tortured in hell, but the ones that are ghosts.. surely they're not all destined for hell after they get taken care of? guess it's a moot point of the earth/universe gets wiped out. ends justify the means etc

well that was cute

got their shiny rock stuff full of people and billie lurking around, of course, why not. we don't have enough people involved in this. man i'm crotchety this evening. ah right, because billie has access to a lot of souls? having flashbacks to whatever fucking season that led to the leviathans lol. marcia, marcia, marcia!

is amara having a crisis of conscience or something

AMARA So you hate him. WOMAN Well, a little bit. Sometimes. But you know family. Even when you hate them, you still love them.

eyes about rolled back into my head. so all the things we said about amara, scratch that

i do like the little flirting between crowley and billie though, that was cute

ROWENA You won't carry the bomb. You'll be the bomb.

oh for fuck's sake. and they're busting out the mushy music, not surprisingly. i refuse to get upset over this because i'm sure it's also going to be walked back very shortly. like hey amara doesn't want to kill everyone anymore because she was sad about some flowers she killed and realized the importance of family from a conversation with a rando in the park

dean's gonna (not) die-die and get thrown in the empty and he hasn't even talked to sam about it. power through. (the part of me that empathizes too much with sam had the brief moment of despair, "dean's going to leave him again! forever")

oh, come on. pulling the dead parent card? this is the kind of thing that edges into emotional manipulation for me. there better some really good fucking hugs in this episode in payment for this bullshit.

no no NO funeral planning. i actually had that conversation with my dad with terminal cancer when i was 16 and no. (he didn't want the wake to be sad but i mean. fucked if i can remember what it was like) not when it's all gonna get taken care of miraculously some other way. do not push these buttons for some shit that got cooked up halfway into the episode. i said i wasn't going to get upset and clearly that was a failure.

so do we find out chuck was lying about something. is the british mol thing just like, introducing a new plotline for next season.

look at that, amara and chuck are all peachy now.

AMARA Dean, you gave me what I needed most. I want to do the same for you.

...they couldn't zap dean back home before they left?

TONI We've been watching you, Sam. What you've done, the damage you've caused—archangels, Leviathans, the Darkness, and now, well— the old men have decided enough's enough. I mean, let's face it, Sam. You're just a jumped-up hunter playing with things you don't understand and doing more harm than good.

great. couldn't go to the good old nugget of the police or fbi being after them, gotta step it up to some supernatural police

so what dean needs most is his mom. ok, sure

#supernatural #spnwatch #spn 11x23 #spnwhinge #spn clip #spn mushy music #spn musical score #andrew dabb

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outeremissary · 1 year

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4 & 5 for Dungeon Meshi? (I'm assuming you've been asked PF related questions)

DUNGEON MESHI IN THE INBOX?! This is THRILLING

From this prompt list.

4. what is your favorite CANON ship?

So a funny thing about Dungeon Meshi is that there are uhhh. Zero canon ships I think. Unless you count Chilchuck the middle aged halfling getting left by his wife or any of the several very one-sided crushes scattered among the side characters. I think that there is actually no romance that happens onscreen, the only mentioned romance is in one guy's backstory and was his brother marrying his crush. So I guess I don't have a favorite canon ship??? I'm just going to show you the most divorced halfling in fiction instead.

I think his adult children have also stopped talking to him but it's too late at night for me to fact check that one

5. who is your favorite character (and maybe why?)

Oh it is ALWAYS so hard because there are so many fantastic characters in this series and I'm going to do two anyway because I can't help myself. But seriously there's not a single bad one, everyone is so delightful down to the most minor side characters. but anyway!!!

First of all, Mithrun!

Mithrun is the captain of the squad of elvish scouts sent to the island, and is a relatively late arriving character (the Canaries arriving is a foreshadowed sign of the central conflict escalating to something serious). Mithrun is a terrible, lethal warrior with singular drive who strikes fear into most characters who meet him- he uses taunts so cruel they cause one of the main villains to despair, he's quick to suggest assassination as a solution to problems, and his creative use of teleportation has grisly, torturous effects on foes. He's also severely disabled. Without significant support, he struggles to function in daily life due to an inability to translate his body's needs into actions tending them. His life is managed with a combination of strict routine managing basic tasks and aid from comrades who ensure that he eats, sleeps, and carries out other essential physical behaviors. In social situations he's also blunt and generally opaque in his behavior, usually cutting straight to the point and often excluding others from his reasoning. Despite that, he's someone who has a certain charisma: his comrades consider him an inspirational leader and feel strong affection and loyalty towards him, and he's willing to take risks and extend trust towards others. He also still possesses a certain cunning that makes him very fun to watch. This has all been a lot of exposition to try to explain things, hahh...

Here's his cover by the way. All the covers are composed to be comedic and often aren't based in any real event, but you can see that teleportation at work!

Anyway, I'm fond of Mithrun because I enjoy seeing a character who's very, very ND-coded who's good at a job that isn't "inventor" or "knowledge guy," which I think is a niche that a lot of characters like that tend to fall into. He's badass, he's cool, and even though he's straightforward he's never naive. He's incredibly competent and strategic. He's also got a very dramatic, tragic backstory that's deeply intertwined with the plot and gives him a lot of really fun interactions with major villains- those are also the scenes that tend to draw a lot of high emotion out of him, and I love high emotion and drama! And yet despite the development of his condition being a central point of his tragic backstory, there's still never any lingering on "curing" or "fixing" him, which is... really nice, honestly. He has close, supportive friends and a life he's content with, and in some extra comics suggests that he doesn't like the person he used to be, even if to other people that was the time when he was full of potential. Both the persistence through significant trauma and the rejection of the telling of his life story as a pure tragedy are things I really enjoy.

But yeah another thing I love about Mithrun is that he's canonically just a little nasty and is drawn with these perpetually fucking chapped lips. He's jsut like me fr

Also you are being spared so many Mithrun Images by the late hour but I do happen to have this just at hand on my phone. I know this doesn't mean fucking anything without context but I want to look at this image so now we all have to look at it together. It's so so late

ANYWAY. There's also a SORCERER in Dungeon Meshi! This one. This little cunt. A fun fact about me is that there's a folder on my computer devoted entirely to images of this guy, whose name is either Thistle or Sissel depending on which translation you're reading. According to the guidebook, which is currently in my hand, Sissel is official so we'll just go with that for the rest of the post.

I fucking love Sissel. I love Sissel so bad. There's something so wrong with this little (4'3"/130 cm) guy. Look at that image. You already know why I love Sissel. It's because he's got a rancid, unstable little megalomaniac personality and he thinks he knows better than everyone about everything.

Just look at him. My little guy. I love a bitch who meant well once but has become lost in his darkest obsessions.

But like, more coherently, I also really enjoy Sissel as a villain who starts out as this legendary figure of fear- the "Mad Sorcerer" who's presumed to be immortal and all powerful- who's then gradually revealed to be deeply, deeply pathetic. He's so lost in his obsessive protection of those he loves that he hurts them and then throws a fit when they won't forgive him. His power lies in being a master of monsters, but he's so aggressively uninterested in the creatures at his command that they're constantly dying on him and the main character turns them on him just by knowing basic ecology. He has literally infinite power at his fingertips and he's so aggressively unimaginative that he can't do anything wit hit except react to what he thinks are threats. He's built up as a final boss character and Mithrun nearly kills him in less than a minute. He whines about someone cleaning his room. My pathetic meow meow. My cringe and fail sorcerer. I fucking love this guy. He spends a whole chapter carried around as a backpack and used as a human shield. The main character forces him to eat a homecooked meal. He's so!!! Lame!!!!

Anyway it would be a literal crime for me to end a Dungeon Meshi post without any mention of women. Look at my meme boy. Look at the monster wife.

I spent. More time than I intended. Looking for the page where she tore off her shirt. This isn't nsfw this is fine this is fine

Anyway very sexy of Falin to not only haunt the narrative but come back wrong as that.

#I was just going to answer the pathfinder ask that I got immediately before booting up princess maker 2 and losing my night #but. for dungeon meshi I can sequence break #ask game #me at my most incoherent.#I'm not fucking joking when I say Dungeon Meshi is one of the best fantasy stories I've read #ask me emithing #camelliagwerm #userharps #my love of shitty elves is so strong dungeon meshi understands me so well

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moononmyfloor · 2 years

Text

Not many Cdramas caught nor retained my attention in the 2nd half of 2022, but the few I did watch were pure gems. However I didn't think I have enough entrees to fill 30 days with, so I cut the number down and also conjoined some. Without further ado here we go!

My C-Drama Review of the 1st Half of 2022

(Concept loosely based on anniedelavoye' s. I did hers last year but then realised I simply cannot submit only one entry per day NOR wait a whole year to do a review. I do things by bulk 😆. So I broke the reviewing into two halves so I can do this with fresher memory and also more dramas will get the spotlight.)

1. First Drama I finished in the 1st half of 2022

Love Between Fairy and Devil! Lots of praises have already been sung about this show, I don't have anything new to add.🤭

2. New Favourite Actor/Actress

Zhai Zilu, Zhou Dawei, Wang Youjun, Chang Long.

All caught my attention this year, all very promising! I hope they have successful years ahead! (And please don't end up being evil people :( 🙏)

3. Best Performance

Wang Xiao and Yan Bingyan as Zhou baba and mama in Examination for Everyone. These two veteran actors brought this two characters and their dynamic to life SO realistically and endearingly, you could almost touch it. It was like seeing my own parents onscreen. Mad respect.

4. Favorite Drama OST

This is an odd answer but the first few seconds of the opening theme song of Fei Teng Ren Sheng captivated me. I was like: "Hold on. That's one BEAUTIFUL melody?" And I replayed and replayed that part over and over. The rest is good too but it was really the part before the verse that I felt was quite unique.

I also liked this song from Side Story of Fox Volant.

5. Most Watched Genre

I think I should remove this question here onwards. I never pick a drama by genre, I have no aversion to almost any. I do have a preference to Period dramas and Slice of Life but they are not really taken to account if everything else about the story doesn't appeal to me. So this question goes nowhere and indicates nothing in my case.

6. A Drama I Dropped

Light Chaser Rescue. Its first episode was one of the most annoying I have ever seen in my life. The ML cool-hero driving and the FL sassy-heroine force hitching a ride and the entire sequence of the car crash rescue had me 🙄. A show either has to own up the wackiness or should be full on realistic, for me. This was neither here nor there.

7. Favorite Character of 2022 2nd Half

I don't think there was anyone I fell head-over-heels for this time, but did like Madam Danchuan in New Life Begins a lot. I just love her aura of power, how fiercely protective she's of her women, AND how she will always allow you to have the final choice. She never forces her authority to make decisions for others, no matter how good she might internally think it'd be for you.

I also liked Bai Lu a lot, she's just a minor character but she stood out most to me among the Solar Term girls. She's sassy, and I think if I am to travel into NLB verse I'd like to be Bai Lu. Just like her I don't particularly care for men, I want to mind my own business and just chill with my jiejies lol.

8. Best Cinematography

I should remove this question too because I feel like I'm not professional enough for this, haha. Sometimes I love the visuals of some dramas only to find out that from technical aspects it actually sucked.

9. An Older Drama I Watched

Red Sorghum (2014). It's a CRIME that Red Sorghum's drama version has only ep 1 eng subbed, but also, having watched the movie I know how brutal it can get so maybe its a good thing only ep 1 is subbed, and after all ep 1 ends in a kind-of conclusive place so it does feel like a standalone story of its own, and I HIGHLY recommend watching it.

Do yourself a favor and watch this single ep because baby Zhou Xun and baby Huang Xuan are SO CUTE! Like toe-curlingly cute, I was squealing the whole time! 😍😍😍😍😍😍

Also it has some GORGEOUS backdrops!

https://youtu.be/zh55pwzBNag

10. A Drama that kept Me on Edge

Nothing really. I mean I did eagerly wait everyday for new eps of NLB and Da Kao but that's not the same.

11. A Drama Location I Want to Visit

I kind of want to visit Hengdian replicas of real locations, then visit the actual thing (such as Forbidden City) and try to compare and contrast lmao. I wonder how similar they are!

12. A Popular Drama I Didn't Enjoy

Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty. Not due to any particular fault of the drama itself, the production and visuals and aesthetics all were excellent, and all the ingredients were right there. I simply felt it didn't particularly offer anything I haven't already seen. The first ep reminded me strongly of Legend of the Demon Cat, which was a movie I loved a lot and still had a pretty fresh memory of. Sometimes strong acting and unique execution will carry a story that is otherwise pretty tried-and-tired, but unfortunately that was not the case here either.

13. Best Scriptwriting and Directing

Though I wouldn't say they were the best overall scripts, New Life Begins had the BEST female character writing I've seen in ages, and Da Kao (Exam for Everyone) had the most thorough writing of family dynamics.

Directing-wise, I liked what I saw but nothing that particularly blew my mind.

14. Best Production

The Long River. Even though I didn't get to properly see it yet, I heard they made an artificial Yellow river simulation for all the flooding scenes and there are LOTS of those scenes in this drama and... whew. It's not often you get a proper serious historical drama and when you do, it's usually difficult for any other drama to beat them production scale wise anyway😆.

15. A Drama that Made Me Laugh

Mr. Bad. The "character from a story comes to real life and messes with the other lead's life" premise will always be full of potential for unhinged shenanigans, and Mr.Bad doesn't fail. The main leads are so fun and the dynamic never boring, and Chen Zheyuan is SUCH a hoot with his expressions.

16. A Drama that Made Me Cry

NLB and Da Kao did, but they were more like tears of exhilaration. Instead lemme share this very good crying scene by Wang Yibo and Wang Jinsong in Being a Hero haha.

17. Most Satisfying Drama

New Life Begins owns my whole heart and soul! You can read my review for ep 1-14 here, and my current opinion of the drama remains the same if not better!

Even though it is a fluffy and ahistorical drama, lots of "proper" period dramas could learn from NLB about how to write your women as intelligent, dimensional individuals and not caricatures fallen victims to irrational jealousy and hatred. Since it's a feel good romcom everything always turn out for the better and that may not always be the case in history, yes. But this approach that these women tried to make a difference still holds valid regardless the genre.

You should learn that Past =×= 100% Oppression, 0% fighting back when it came to women, the same way Modern times doesn't mean 0% Oppression and 100% feminism (laughs in sarcasm). The foundations of how far we have come has been laid since centuries ago, AND there are lots of fronts that we have actually backtracked/regressed in compared to the past as well. Progressiveness is rarely linear.

Ok I digressed. Back to review 🤭.

18. Most Dissapointing Drama

Hu Tong. Life in Beijing hutong neighbourhood across eras told through 3 women of 3 generations of a family is quite possibly one of of the most interesting premises I've heard, but the first episode dissapointed me thoroughly with its unconvincing, in your face and over the top characters and storyline. Such potential, gone down the drain. If the drama didn't take itself seriously, neither would the audience.

19. Favorite Wardrobe

Hao Jia's wardrobe in NLB and Dongfang Qingcang's in LBFAD. The fine details and embroidery are 😘🤌. 100% would wear both styles, depending on the day lol.

20. A Drama That Deserves a Shoutout

Our Times. An omnibus type of drama where you'll be told slice of life stories of people in such interesting and niche jobs that you rarely get to see portrayed realistically in dramas. Such as traditional Chinese theatre dancers, or a sports coach in a rural area with minimal facilities. Also if you get uninterested with one story you can jump few episodes ahead to the next, so that's kind of a plus too, haha.

21. A Drama that Taught Me New Things

Are You Safe. Taught me lots of valuable tips about cyber safety. Unfortunately that was the only positive thing about this drama and I think it won't be presumptuous to say literally 99% people who watched it will agree with me.

22. Best Relationship

The care and nuance all the families were written in The Examination for Everyone was through-the-roof excellent. Unnecessarily stereotyped toxic Asian family portrayals out, empathetic and 3D Asian parent-children dynamics in! Gosh, I saw myself, my family, my society, my culture in this drama. Thank you and much love.

23. A Drama I Wanted to Watch but Couldn't

The Long River. No subs 😭

24. An Upcoming Drama that I'm Excited for

JoL 2 and Under the Microscope! 🤩 (Please come 😭)

More posts by me

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cidthesquid · 5 days

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Blog Update +Style Savvy: Trendsetter Extra Photos

Hello all! As previously mentioned, I plan to start playing "Style Savvy: Styling Star" Sometime in June!

Along with starting the new game, I'm thinking about making some changes to how I write my blog entries. No huge changes, but'll give a more detailed update after the photos.

(I forgot just how much fun this game can be! Finally Got Elite too! I played an extra hour today just to take a few more screenshots) -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

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Ok, so updates/changes:

I'll be keeping this a bit short, as I injured my arm recently, so typing is a bit difficult. This may also delay my first post for styling star a bit, But I still do plan to start playing it in early June.

I mainly play Style Savvy on my phone via an emulator, and since the games can be played almost entirely using the touch screen, it should be still fairly comfortable to play:

(And I'll still be able to use the onscreen buttons for other actions)

As for changes to the blog's content, again the base format will remain the same.

A mix of fun screenshots, my thoughts on the game up to that point, and some personal stories that I feel are relevant.

But after I recently had some tests done that gave me confirmation on a few things including an anxiety disorder, it's become clean that some of the issues I've mentioned in the past may be unresolved issued fueled by that, and until I can find a resolution for the core issues, the area's it branches off into can't really be solved.

Sorry if this sounds a bit vague, but in short, No, I won't stop sharing personal stories in these blogs. But in an attempt to keep the tone a bit lighter and upbeat. (Always my original intention) I'll likely start only sharing things that are more relevant to what's happening in the game, or what it reminded me of, and I'll also try to only share topics that I've already worked through, or at least understand to a meaningful degree.

I personally think this will be a better balance for everyone, but it's by no means set in stone, it's just the plan going forward. -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Here's a (real) example how the 'new style' of sharing could be handled: For a while I've been thinking about trying to 'get better' at designing outfits, style savvy has taught me some of the basics when it comes to clothing styles, and I've been trying some really early color matching. But I still feel there's so much I don't understand, such as accent colors, how pattern are used, layering amounts, seasonal colors, etc. On one hand, learning about all this could help me make way more dynamic designs, But on the other, adding all these extra 'rules' may remove some of the 'fun' I have when just throwing together an outfit.

It can also be a bit difficult to tell if I feel I need to improve my designs, because I actually 'want to', or if it's some felt obligation, because "that's what you're supposed to do". As everyone else, naturally gets better at something by just doing it a lot. But my 'natural progress' is generally much slower (and less noticeable) so it may be time to supplement that. I've been having quite a bit of fun with my 'fairly basic' outfits/designs, just looking for fun yet expected/traditional pairings, and fairly monochromatic color matches. (it may sounds silly, but it;s more like a science than an art to me) ...I don't think there's anything 'wrong' with my current approch, (even if it may not always feel that way) ..but I've decided to at least be 'open' to the idea of advancing, even if it's not as natural to me, as it is to others. So the plan will be to start slow, research, and try applying a few ideas at a time, to see how i feel about the results. By taking it slow, I think I'll be able to learn what I actually want!

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But anyway, Thanks for reading! I had a lot of fun making this, so I hope you had fun reading it as well.

As always, all comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome!

You literally can't bother me, (unless you go out of your way to be a jerk), so post whatever you need to say!

#syn sophia #fashion game #style savvy #style boutique #3ds #new style boutique #trend setter #trendsetters #stylesavvy

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stupid-sloot-headcanons · 22 days

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🔥X-Men (I’ll always have a soft spot for them because they were my childhood, but actually checking out the comics and revisiting some stuff makes me realize just how messy they are 😭)

When you remember when these comics were being released, a lot of X-Men is very progressive and what some people lacking in their prefrontal cortex might call "woke." Claremont will always have my respect for creating a lineup of heroes and going "I want the new leader and main protagonist of the group to be this beautiful Kenyan woman with godlike power, and I want the one woman on the original team to become the most powerful and have a fucking awesome and tragic arc to send her off." That only scratches the surface regarding the strides X-Men made in terms of representation: Kitty and Magneto being openly Jewish and Kurt's faith as a Catholic being integral to his character, Roberto being a mixed Black Brazilian whose powers activate when he's being hate crimed at a soccer game, making parallels between mutants and minority groups, and despite his initial Zionism back in the day I do really think that basing Xavier and Magneto off of two opposing Israeli leaders was a smart move to dive into the differences between them. Many ppl still believe that they're based off of MLK and Malcom X, but Claremont has said before that this isn't the case.

He draws off of a lot of cultures without making it seem like he's going "here are my token Black characters, here's my token implied gay (fuck you Comics Code, Mystique and Destiny are lesbians and Mystique's also genderfluid), here's my token Asian" etc.

As far as other hot takes go... X-Men 97!Roberto fucking sucks and I hate every second he's onscreen. That is not my Sunspot lol. Also Jubilee having a love interest is fine but it should have been a woman to hammer home the "coming out" narrative that they went with for Roberto's """""arc""""" if you can call it that. I mean come on, the only same sex couple in this show about the gayest and genderest comic book team is a pair of lesbians in the background of two episodes and a stray "blink and you miss it" reference using Morph's pronouns. Also the pacing in 97 is so fast but oddly enough, it kind of...works? They nailed down the 90s cartoon writing and dialogue that's just cheesy enough, and that also includes the insanely fast way the plot develops. Adapting the entirety of the Inferno arc in ONE episode should NOT have worked as well as it did, but it actually ended up being okay.

Gambit (SPOILERS FOR X-MEN 97) dying and staying dead is fucking great. A permanent death in a story like this is so refreshing and it's a wonderful contrast to the status-quo purgatory of so much capeshit.

Logan having a crush on Jean should have stayed as a crush, 97 making Rogue in a love triangle with Remy and Magneto despite that not being how it was in the comics was dumb (and led to a lot of people shitting on Rogue for no reason/misogynist reasons) and every X-Men love triangle sucked until they said "fuck it, make it poly" in the recent Krakoa arc.

Speaking of Krakoa, I haven't read it in its entirety but considering Hickman's sudden departure and his track record as a writer, I'm predicting a fascinating concept and cool ideas that won't be realized in a satisfying way and may even shit the bed when it comes time to wrap everything up.

Also a lot of the diverse characters in that Claremont era can sometimes have a "well meaning group of dudes not part of the group they're representing" tinge to them. Like one of the main Canadian antagonist monsters that fights Wolverine and Alpha Flight is called the W*ndigo and it's kind of jarring to read knowing about the taboo about that figure. Sometimes those jarring moments are intentional and meant to make you uncomfortable, like the n-slur Kitty drops in God Loves, Man Kills--which I think you can't adapt unless you go all the way with how dark and fucked up and charged. X-2 changed Stryker from a religious zealot to a fed and I get WHY, considering the time it was released and filmed in the US, but you take so much away from the original story. Also this comic starts with two mutant children being literally fucking lynched. Still, Kitty saying that may make sense in-character but it's still shocking to me what made it past the Comics Code and what didn't. Like no censorship of it, no nothing, she really says that shit full-on and that's definitely something that wouldn't happen today.

#sloot's essays #sloot bitches about things #.x men

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adhdo5 · 2 months

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OK Imperial Radch trilogy thoughts bc I started reading another book from the library and I remembered

Huge fan. Big enjoyer of what this has going on. It can get a little heavy handed or redundant at times but it's never to a level where I'm questioning the immersion of it, and it's certainly capable of subtlety and does it frequently. Some conversations, especially in Sword but really throughout, are very blatant and edge on banal "racist gets owned by based spaceship" power fantasy, but it's not unmotivated and never quite so bad as to feel unconvincing for the characters as presented. More on this later however

I am generally easily endeared to characters but these books make it easy for almost all circumstances. The only character I found disappointing was Anaander Mianaai – I found her uncompelling when onscreen in Sword and my interest in her plans flagged heavily in the first part of Mercy. Still, by the back half of Mercy, Mianaai had done her job more than effectively overall. She was responsible too for some of the most excellent horror paragraphs in a book that is generally not horror, and I appreciate her dearly for that. The series does the same with all of its other less compelling elements – at all times some facet is interesting (world building, character motivations, wanting to find out what happens next with some aspects of this arc) and demands continued attention. At no point did I feel the need to gloss over any element entirely, and I feel effectively rewarded for that investment

It's been praised for its linguistic considerations, which are absolutely delightful and welcome texture to the world and context for how the central characters interact with it; it's a widely praised aspect of the series and I did like it dearly. I think it is part of in general a story that makes the most of its concepts, just about all of which are intriguing and creative, and which have Payoff Reveals of several scales that are absolutely fantastic and that carry the intrigue very well and contextualize character drama excellently. The way the trilogy portrays inhumanity is delightful and extremely dear to me, especially with its conclusion; both that and other adjacent fantastical elements are core to statements about emotion and experience that I found extremely profound, familiar, and touching

As an anti-imperialist text. I'm not very qualified to talk about this but from what I can tell it is, while sometimes surface level and flirting with the space-white savior trope at times, aware of this and done, generally, with care. Thought is put into the depth and nature of the oppression of the colonized subject and criticism of the protagonists is certainly present, especially through Ancillary Mercy, though there is still an element in which it acts as a power fantasy wrt how the privilege of the protagonists is handled – however I really run out of salient things to say here. For what it does as a fun scifi novel series it succeeds, and certainly so for the fact that it reminds me of the theory I have to get back to reading

Overall excellent series of books I kind of want to get a hard copy set to own and reread for the subtler touches and full context experience. Hard recommend

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yanderelmk · 9 months

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Don't you find it a bit hypocritical to be preaching the respect of celibacy/asexuality/sexual and romantic disinterest of characters from - let's be honest here, a fantasy adventure novel that was quite biased towards the theology of Buddhism versus Dao/Taoism and not religious text or scripture as you seem to imply, where romance and sex weren't the focus to begin with so weren't going to be focused on anyway in any character driven narrative.

When you yourself are head-canoning/playing out your own romantic views on characters who - despite their marked difference from the source material - also have given no canonical showing of romantic or sexual interest in others?

Ohhh boom, professor, you totally burned me. Oh how will I ever recover? /s Look kid, you clearly think having a keyboard and an internet connection means you're some kind of high-and-mighty literati with an IQ the rest of us can't even comprehend, but I'll try to break this down for you:

Romance and sex are major points within Journey to the West, specifically abstaining from them. Zhu Bajie's biggest struggle is in not chasing after women every five seconds. It's what his whole arc is based around.

Not only that, but the Tang Priest himself was nearly raped and was sexually harassed several times throughout Journey to the West by several female demons. So what do you mean "romance and sex weren't a focus to begin with"?

The entirety of JTTW is about Buddhist principles and the path to enlightenment, and part of that is abstaining from worldly pleasures, the most dangerous of which being sex or getting married.

And to get to that second point you must have been so proud of yourself for typing: Lego Monke Kid is a children's cartoon that's clearly adventure-focused. They're not going to spend time showcasing every single character's romantic/sexual preferences. We can make inferences based on what the writer's Tweet or hint at in their show, but to expect them to outright display their preferences when extremely popular LGBTQ+ kid shows like Steven Universe and Owl House have been cancelled for doing less is downright foolish and shows just how ignorant you are.

Some of those tweets, by the by, have included creators lamenting that they can't make SpicyNoodles canon. Pigsy and Tang have already been as close as they can be to a canon MLM couple without saying "We're gay and in love". By "canonical showing", I think you mean you're one of those people that thinks if the characters don't do exactly that you refuse to count it as canon. If any of the characters were confirmed by the creators (onscreen or off) to be aromantic or not interested in romance, I would not write for them. LMK is already severely inaccurate with writers intent on distorting basic historical facts, and not only that it's not meant to be taken as part of the Buddhist mythos.

That's like saying Hercules is part of Roman mythos (or if we go with the inaccuracies- Greek mythos). "As I seem to imply"? Well, smartass, have an excerpt from china.usc.edu (and, as I'm certain you need pointed out, that .edu means it's from a verified educational source):

A strong background in Chinese folk RELIGION.

Because you need everything spelled out for you...my grief was with people who take the Buddha himself Sun Wukong and try to erase the fact that he is celibate, and that as a Buddha he continues to be celibate. Doing otherwise would show a lust for earthly connections, something all Buddhas are meant to shed and all enlightened beings have shed.

Every story in the Bible is just that- a story. The same for things relating to the Greek, Roman, and Norse gods. However, you don't seem to be dogging after them for being "fantasy stories", hmm? I suggest you take a look at your biases.

The overall point: JTTW shows us the origins of two Buddhas, an arhat, and a Celestial Immortal while also showing us lore relating to other gods. LMK is a kid's cartoon that doesn't even get the fundamentals right and is out-and-out fiction. If I were writing for Sun Wukong the Victorious Fighting Buddha, I can assure you it wouldn't be within the context of a yandere blog. But I'm not, I'm writing for the goofy children's show Sun Wukong that's so inaccurate I feel no qualms about calling him a character and writing scenarios where he gives the reader a kiss.

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litcest · 11 months

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"But, before I even begin to tell the story, let me just mention that, Hamlet’s obsession with his mother, Gertrude, is so strong that Freud himself linked their relationship with his Oedipus Complex (here’s another play I should write about, Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex)."

That is an absolutely beautiful thing to learn when a surprising amount of your personal vision of Arthuriana is based on The Once and Future King by T.H. White, in which the relationship between Mordred, King Arthur's tragic bastard, and Morgause/Morgawse, his mother and one of Arthur's half-sisters, is 100% a Freudian mess.

Honestly, I read that passage and immediately thought of this quote:

"People write tragedies in which fatal blondes betray their paramours to ruin, in which Cressidas, Cleopatras, Delilahs, and sometimes even naughty daughters like Jessica bring their lovers or their parents to distress: but these are not the heart of tragedy. They are fripperies to the soul of man. What does it matter if Antony did fall upon his sword? It only killed him. It is the mother's not the lover's lust that rots the mind. It is that which condemns the tragic character to his walking death. It is Jocasta, not Juliet, who dwells in the inner chamber. It is Gertrude, not the silly Ophelia, who sends Hamlet to his madness. The heart of tragedy does not lie in stealing or taking away. Any feather-pated girl can steal a heart. It lies in giving, in putting on, in adding, in smothering without the pillows. Desdemona robbed of life or honour is nothing to a Mordred, robbed of himself—his soul stolen, overlaid, wizened, while the mother-character lives in triumph, superfluously and with stifling love endowed on him, seemingly innocent of ill-intention."

Mordred's relationship with his mother in TOaFK is INCREDIBLY fucked-up and fascinating, btw. And as canon as it can go without ever being shown onscreen. After her death, even Arthur himself and one of Mordred's half-brothers, Gawain, eventually conclude and explicitly state that he must have been in love with her and jealous of Arthur for having had a one-night stand with her as a young man.

Although love may not be quite the right word for such a mess of emotional manipulation, psychological abuse, and obsession... not that Gawain and the rest of Mordred's half-brothers are that much better off in that respect, lol.

Nonie, I'm not gonna lie: I know nothing of Arturian myths except for what I learned in BBC's Merlin (which did have pretty incestuous vibes going all over the place). I'll definitively check The Once and Future King. Half-siblings canonically having sex and lot of submet between a mother and son? SIGN ME UP. Also seems like Mordred is another candidate to name the Oedipus Complex.

"It is the mother's not the lover's lust that rots the mind. It is that which condemns the tragic character to his walking death. It is Jocasta, not Juliet, who dwells in the inner chamber. It is Gertrude, not the silly Ophelia, who sends Hamlet to his madness."

I love this part of the quote, it's just beautiful and perfectly explain's the tragedy of Hamlet. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

#asks #book recs #gertrude and hamlet

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frogblast-the-ventcore · 4 months

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I've been having thoughts on Star Trek recently, and what I would do to make appeal to me more. Very few people will likely see this, but I wanted to get my thoughts out of my brain. I'm aware that many of the things I describe as issues come down to real-world factors (multiple writers, costuming, realities of being a show made by humans), but I'm choosing to ignore those.

My top 5 things that would improve Star Trek in my personal opinion. Under the cut. Stuck the one that's probably gonna be most controversial first, to get it out of the way.

1) make Starfleet more openly military inspired

This boils down to me finding stories with militaries in them, and military sci-fi, engaging. I would change three major things, and a lot of minor things.

The three big things are: give Starfleet an actual Marine Corps, give Starfleet an intelligence service (that actually has an onscreen presence), and give Starfleet space fighters. Two of those things solve some major issues the series has, the other is just fun, but all of them bring Starfleet much much more in line with modern navies. And Starfleet is a navy, it is a military. The series dances around it, but that's what they are, so they should drop the pretenses and say that's what they are.

The Marine Corps and intelligence service ideas fix big issues the series has had. Having actual Marines makes it so that Starfleet wouldn't be incompetent in ground battles, like we see in DS9 and other shows. Plus you could leverage the tech of the setting for some really cool kit. A semi-related point here is: stop waffling back and forth with the phasers to make them look not like weapons (the TNG era shows were really bad with this). Just make them have the general form factor of a modern pistol or an actual rifle with a stock. Stick with the later TNG era idea of the phasers firing pulses instead of beams, those just look better on screen. I know the series is about spaceships doing spaceship things, but an actual organized ground combat only makes sense. You cannot take on planets and win wars without putting boots on the ground to hold it.

For the intelligence service, it makes it much easier to have espionage style stories without making the main characters do everything. Real militaries don't have ship captains leave the ship to go do commando raids. Give Starfleet Intelligence (and Section 31 - we'll get to them) actual special forces units to do that stuff. Have them attached to the ship for specific missions, and follow the actual team on their mission, so we can see competent examples of special operations on the show. I want my Space Green Berets dammit.

For the space fighters, this is mostly just for rule of cool because any realistic phaser array would be instant death for fighter craft, but you can hand wave it away with an explanation that most main phaser arrays/disruptor cannons/what have you are not optimized to shoot at small fast targets like fighters and shuttles. This also allows for CIWS to come into play if the fighters are firing photon torpedoes/missiles at enemy capital ships. Pulse phaser based CIWS turrets are an awesome idea and would look very visually cool imo. Plus having a space fighter corps just adds the element of having more potential characters to examine, and makes for very cool set pieces (imagine a Star Trek version of BSG's Starbuck and Viper vs Raider battles for example).

The little things are things like, have the characters give salutes, have visible medals/award ribbons on dress uniforms (which tbf, the various series set earlier in the timeline actually do, I don't why they dropped this), have more military inspired jargon, naval traditions, songs, etc.

Finally, they really need to have a consistent uniform with nametags and POCKETS for God's sake; I would very much base the uniforms off of Star Trek Online's 2410 Odyssey uniforms, they're a truly excellent Star Trek uniform "family", and has distinct duty, dress, utility, medical, and admiralty uniforms that do a much better job of differentiating between specialist roles.

2) establish firmly that the Federation is socialist, not communist

This is more me getting annoyed at pop culture meme-ification of the Federation, but I want explicit mention of the Federation being socialist, in the sense of a middle ground between capitalism and communism.

I'd start by making it expressly clear that the Federation as a whole has a currency. Call it whatever (credit was used a few times). Have it based on a non-physical abstract value (say something like energy usage for a replicator). But have it exist. Have a form of physical currency of some form for purposes of trade with other interstellar nations as well. Sure, by all means, have Earth itself be a utopia where a combination of Federation social safety net policies and similar United Earth-specific policies make it so no one needs currency to live *on Earth*, but having an entire interstellar civilization have no money makes no sense.

Adding to that, I want an actual explanation of the social safety nets that the Federation provides. What does a life on nothing but the bare minimum standard of living in the Federation look like. I would wager it's very good by our standards, but not by theirs; an exploration of how those values and expectations have changed would be cool.

Next, have corporations be a thing that gets explored. Have some be state-owned, have some be private owned. We already have examples of corporations and such in canon (Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems for example), but no idea what that looks like. I think exploring what the Federation's economy looks like under an interstellar system of democratic socialism would make for interesting stories. Not to mention, just based on the interstellar scale of the Federation, there would definitely be the equivalent of megacorporations, and exploring what a megacorporation would look like in a socialist environment would be interesting in my opinion.

3) add more grey morality and move away from "people are perfect, the Federation is perfect"

To Trek's credit, it has started to do this in more recent entries, and ofc DS9 made it clear that the Federation was not a perfect utopia, I just want more of these things. Section 31 ties into this. I don't honestly mind that they exist. Every other interstellar polity in Trek has a shadowy organization like Section 31. Not having one may be a good moral statement on the part of the Federation, but makes no practical sense. Have them be a subunit of the larger Starfleet or Federation intelligence community, make it so they're under extreme scrutiny and oversight after what happened in DS9, but the Federation needs an organization to counter things like the Obsidian Order and the Tal Shiar.

4) make the series sexier/more appealing to monsterfuckers, and showcase more nonhumanoid aliens in general

This one is very much personal to me, but I'm pretty tired of having only the most human-looking aliens be the ones that get the romantic attention. Give me Star Trek Online style Tzenkethi, have species like Tholians be acknowledged as just as attractive as a human, have species that aren't just "human with makeup" be a part of Starfleet crews, show us what adaptations for those non-humanoid body plans/life support needs would be like. And have somebody fuck a Gorn already.

5) explore topics the series has shied away from

I want to explore things that the series either left unexplored, hinted at, deemphasized, or dropped.

A big one of these is religion within Starfleet, and specifically human religion. I find it not very believable that human religion would have gone away after contact with aliens, especially considering real world discussions and decrees from human religions on this subject. In addition, we mostly see alien religions as something either practiced in isolation from others (even of their own kind), or as something shown in a more negative light. Regarding it's place in Starfleet, the original series had a chapel onboard the Enterprise. I would add those back to Starfleet ships (at least ones big enough for them), and have actual chaplains onboard alongside counselors to handle religious matters.

Another thing to explore is interspecies relationships. This one is something that does come up in Trek, but not often, and how it's handled is inconsistent in my eyes. I want more of this, and more of it involving characters that aren't human.

Semi-related, a society like the Federation, that has come into contact with species like the Denobulans (for example), would very likely have a much more liberal interpretation of what constitutes an acceptable relationship - we ought to see more romantic relationships, family dynamics, and friendships, that are beyond our own modern human norm, and these sorts of relationships should be afforded the same level of respect.

#star trek #opinion #science fiction

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