#its hype is long gone and the fandom is fucking dead

[toutallyahoe]

The thing that drives me insane is that when i search for TOP male readers, they give me BOTTOM male readers. Like.....is it so hard for them to just give me the fics with Top Male Reader????

Like 90% are bottom and the other 10% are top but not with the fandom i need for.....

i know that feeling, especially the last one you said. there are so many bottom male reader works 😔😔 and im not saying bottom male reader inserts are bad, just not the content for me (it also pisses me off when readers whine about "so many top male reader inserts" in a TOP male reader insert book, like bitch the fuck you say? we only have like fucking 6% on the "male reader" works here, so stfu bottom)

it really suck when there are so little top male reader inserts, especially in the fandoms im in where there is like two at best and none at worst, reasons why i even started writing because the content i want isnt provided for my poor simp ass 😭😭💔💔💔

but seriously, the tag system here is some times wack. ao3 also has the same problem as well wattpad (wattpad had always been wack af tho) and quotev's tagging system is lowkey none existent tbh

whats more shitty is that when you search "x male reader" or "x gn reader" stories, "x female reader" works gets mixed in and its even showing more results on the fem ones than what you searched for *sobs* i just want what i search not that shit 😤😤 again not saying reader inserts who's the mc is a female is bad, just not the content im looking for

#its literally the reason why i write at this point because yall arent providing the content im searching for #my daeling cn knows this pain aswell #*sobs* #yall dont know the absolute feeling of pain and despair when you search all throughout the internet for a smidge of content #the fandoms im in are majority is being: so little that it feels like only three people are a fan of it #its hype is long gone and the fandom is fucking dead #mostly females are a fan of it hence the x fem reader works and only about five x male reader which one is like the only top male reader on #the fandom im in is an undiscovered one #and agsjsjfbsjfjsjrbsbf #just #the pain #i search even through fanfiction.net and deviantart for a smidge of content but nope #nothing #also dont please for the love of fuck dont go and comment about yall wishing the top male reader books *should* include bottom male reader #or fem reader because thats just fucking disrespectful and yall have your own content #jesus fucking christ let us tops have some of our own when yall literally have majority of the x reader inserts #tou responds #ask #anon

[brw]

Tony Stark and Reed Richards for the character ask thing

TONY STARK

how i feel about this character: 😬 ngl i... don't care for him. at all. i don't vehemently hate him, there's definitely times where i appreciate him & his personality but it's few and far between and i... genuinely do not get the hype. i think its mostly mcu fans' fault for my dislike, its just he's fucking EVERYWHERE now, it's impossible to miss him? like he plays a big role in EVERY avengers comic now, he gets ongoing titles all the time, and it's just so frustrating especially when you consider characters who used to be more or less on the same level on them (like hank pym! who, by the way, has been dead for 6 consecutive years! that would never happen with tony!) or even more popular than him now get streamlined because of the mcu's popularity. by himself, i don't really mind him that much, but with how famous he is now and how large and frankly annoying his fan base is i just... now really do not like the character.

all the people i ship romantically with this character: short list here; reed, because i find their dymanic of reed as someone who does everything for his family and will do everything and anything he can to protect their interests above everyone else but also wants to keep his hands clean and believes, genuinely, in the good of the world, and tony as someone who will do horrendous things in the name of the greater good who always has the bigger picture in mind interesting. i also don't know a lot about it but he seems cute with rhodey? even if i think rhodey deserves a bigger chance to be his own character away from tony as is sometimes denied i can always appreciate a good best friends to lovers dymanic :)

my non romantic otp for this character: um? i honestly don't know 😭 i don't like him enough to say, i guess him n reed again? him n rhodey again? help 😭😭😭

my unpopular opinion of this character: he does not deserve the fame he has. like, i dont mean to sound jealous or whatever but pre 2007 movie he was not the most well liked character or even that popular. like obviously he had fans because he had solo series on and off for a very long time but it just feels SO ridiculous that tony stark has a bigger fandom than the fucking fantastic four. THE FANTASTIC FOUR. marvel's first superhero team, and yet??? like okay. he might have things to offer i don't see. he obviously does, i mean, he got three movies and multiple solo series. but he has most certainly not got enough as a character to overshadow the fantastic four, the x-men, etc and i will never forgive the mcu & mcu fans (and mark miller, he deserves blame too) for making it so. again, by himself he's fine but it is ridiculous to me that a one note white character that appeared in his third film (harley keener or... whatever) has 2000s more fics than THE PROTAGONIST OF INTO THE SPIDERVERSE, MILES MORALES. it is just... so vile and frustrating to me.

one thing i wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon: he didn't exist <3 jk jk um i'm not sure? i guess it would be funny if he was like... stick thin underneath the armour. like idk. he's in the armour 24/7 it makes sense to me for him to be a skinny little nerd under there. like completely fucking small. like you can't be a superhero AND be a billionaire and avoid all those taxes AND run the avengers AND run multiple massive corporations and still work out... even if you take away eating and sleeping there's just not enough time... it would be funny if he was just a tiny little boy underneath all that djndndbf

my otp: gonna say him and rhodey again. like i say, can never resist a good best friends to lovers dymanic.

my cross over ship: jdjshdhdh literally none i don't think about him enough to consider it <3

headcanon fact: 100% think he was the one to offer reed that money to star in a p*rno it's just so funny to me to imagine dhsnndnd

REED RICHARDS

how i feel about this character: HE'S MY BOY! I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! like i guess it's paradoxical considering how similar he is to tony in some ways but man i just love reed so much. i so genuinely think reed richards is what tony stark fans want him to be. like they (mcu fans) make up elaborate headcanons of him being a good dad and an ethical billionaire and its like no that's reed richards? canonically he's gone broke bc he refuses to get money off his inventions... u have the wrong man... anyway he's also an asexual LEGEND i do not take criticism and ofc. autistic icon. literally he's so autistic it makes me <3 i love him dearly.

all the people i ship romantically with this character: it would be easier to list the people i DON'T ship with him lol. sue, obviously, victor ofc, and ben are the big ones, but i just LOVE his dymanic with t'challa and i think they would rlly work it... i also love the idea of him with namor, idk with victor it's just so funny to imagine reed as like. bizarrely attractive to rulers of foreign countries. blackagar faces the same problem <3 i also do believe him n hank pym dated in college for a bit... all their weird little microaggressions towards each other just makes me feel that way... again i do like him w/ tony and i made this weird au where he and emma frost got together which if prompted i WILL talk about. probably. more but yeah <3

my non romantic otp for this character: while i do LOVE them together as lovers i just love. benreed generally <3 like they're LITERALLY besties they love each other sm and i'm tired of pretending they don't????? so many people ignore this relationship and it makes me so sad!!! they're best friends they love each other fight for each other fight with each other theyre literally besties... smh put some respect on the benreed name 😤

my unpopular opinion of this character: i don't think this is that unpopular but it is in certain circles so! i genuinely think reed is the best marvel dad! like you can talk abt others all u want but the fact is that reed is the only character i can think of who has always been there in his kid's lives and has consistently put their needs first. like not saying other characters are bad but even at his worst writing he's always done his best for his kids and certainly has been full of love for them. other characters at their worse have. murdered their own kids <3 genuinely he's the best marvel dad and sure there's not a lot of competition but. yeah <3

one thing i wish would happen/had happened with this character: I WANT A CANONICAL AUTISM DIAGNOSIS NOW. literally he is SO autistic & there are... no big autistic marvel characters! at all! literally none! the closest we have is legion (who was written in an incredible ableist way and autism hasnt been used to describe him in a solid 30 years) and monet (and it turned out it wasn't monet but one of her twin sisters impersonating her :/) so it would just mean so much to see a canonically autistic character like reed who is older & has a wife and kids who he loves and who they love in return on panel. like so much of the rep we DO have is like, young kids or teens and idk an autistic adult would just mean so much to me. especially one like reed who is as selfless & loving as he is.

my otp: tie between doomreed and reedsue! any option that gets this noodle nerd lots of love i'm good for tbh

my cross over ship: him and ralph dibney from dc should date... they have so much in common... stretchy autistic man who's very smart and kind of silly who loves his wife sue who pegs him 🥴 they'd have so much to talk about sjbdhdhd also imagining the look on ben's face realising there's TWO of them is. so funny.

headcanon fact: he's aromantic he's asexual and neither of these stop him from his very meaningful & passionate relationship with his wife :)

assorted character ask game!

#oh boy i do not shut up. #long post #thank you for asking! #esteicy-blog #tony stark #anti tony stark #i guess?? idk dhdjdh #ch: i believe we endure #ask games} answers

[bigskydreaming]

I don’t read comics a lot, but the whole thing with Dick trying to revitalize Arkham sounds interesting, and I’d never heard of it before. But was it still a facility for the “criminally insane”, or was it just a mental health facility in general? Because it is usually for people who commit crimes, or have I misunderstood? Sorry I know so little

I also was fascinated by the possibilities there and so focus on it a lot, but unfortunately it wasn’t delved into nearly as much as I’d hoped, given how much of Dick’s life has been devoted to a never-ending battle against the same handful of people who resort to crime as much because of mental illness as anything else….as well as Dick’s own understanding of the flaws of the justice system AND the fact that in the story arc that happened literally just before Bruce was thought killed, Dick himself was kidnapped and kept locked up in Arkham and drugged up and kept in a straitjacket by his captors.

So no, as far as I’m aware, there was never any concrete indication it was made a mental health facility in general as opposed to a facility for the criminally insane….

BUT.

I mean, my own personal take on that, given the required reading between the lines comics often demands due to the constrictions of having only so much space per issue…..was that like. There’s literally no stretch of the imagination or any combination of brain cells that could ever convince me (or to my mind, literally anyone) that Dick ever felt Tim could be described as criminally insane?

So my read was always just that the only way that scene made sense was if it was taken with Dick’s current investment with the Arkham project in mind, and the implication being that Dick just saw it as a place with the potential to be used to have an emotional breakdown in peace without anyone in either the cape or civilian communities being any the wiser, because Dick was WE CEO and thus the ultimate overseer of the Arkham remodel, and thus could guarantee Tim’s safety and privacy there in a way he couldn’t in literally any other mental health facility anywhere. 

There’s literally no other place where Tim could have gone without drawing attention as either ‘the third Robin, and who currently needs a place to possibly breakdown for a bit without every superhero and villain whispering about that because of the stigma attached to such things’ or ‘the highly visible third son of Bruce Wayne, and who currently needs a place to possibly breakdown for a bit without every gossip rag and twitter pundit loudly theorizing about that because of the stigma attached to such things.’

Arkham, despite its reputation and past with the Batfamily, was literally the one and only place Dick could guarantee Tim’s privacy at that specific point in canon, so long as Tim wasn’t willing to do so with him or any of his friends thus far.

To be clear, I freely admit that this is a bit of a reach, making the most out of what I honestly think was one stupid line that never needed to be written in the first place….but that everyone has gone to great lengths to embellish and hype up at Dick’s expense…..

Without anyone taking 5 literal seconds to think through “hey in what universe does it make any sense in context, to believe that Dick was saying that he because he in any way, shape or form thought his little brother was criminally insane.”

I mean, if Dick ACTUALLY believed that, on ANY level, that’s the kind of bomb dropping in a story that DEMANDS follow through and further exploration…..that literally never happened. Thus it being clear that regardless of anything else, the writer at least clearly didn’t think it demanded further follow up, and that Dick’s intention with it, was like….not to suggest Dick felt Tim had suddenly become Joker Junior because he was convinced Bruce wasn’t dead.

Like. What? C’mon, fandom. That makes zero sense. Whatsoever. To ANY degree. But people are just so determined to make Tim into Dick’s victim in all of that, they make the most of one specific line dropped in a conversation where Dick clearly is at his most frazzled and desperate and has no idea what to do with everything on his plate and is lobbing Hail Mary’s left and right in an attempt to come up with some way, any way, to help at least one of his loved ones.

Its like, Kalen’s Law of Batfam Discourse: Wherever possible, people will seize upon the worst possible interpretation of one specific line or action by Dick, in order to highlight as proof of his ultimate villainy.

Even if that interpretation makes absolutely no fucking sense, upon any kind of closer examination at all.

[wickedlyqueer]

Hey I just recently got into the fandom and want to start reading some gelfie fics but I don’t know any! Could you recommend some? What are the most popular ones?

Hell yeah you do! :D

Since I’ve already made a similar list before I want to start with some awesome current fics (because the fandom has never been more active on AO3! and I want to celebrate that). Since you specifically asked for the most popular ones I’ll also include those that are generally considered the must-read gelphie fics.

CURRENTLY UPDATING

Between The Lines - tiniestgay

You like fake dating AUs? You like the movie To All The Boys I Loved Before? Well, good news! Melissa (@gayforthropp) is doing a gelphie au about this movie and it’s fucking lit. The premise is that Elphaba has written three love letters whenever she really crushed on a girl. Only, these letters make their way out one day and Glinda is one of the recipients… Hmmm. 👀

A Face Like Starlight - TheSecondQueenOfSol 

This fic is so good! It hasn’t updated in a few months, but it’s one of my absolute favorites of 2018 and I can’t wait till the next chapter. It’s a Hogwarts AU (a fluffy one!) and over the years Glinda and Elphaba slowly start an understanding and then some more. It also has enby-Elphie! Need I say more? @themistsoftime is awesome and I hope to see more of their work because it’s amazing.

Expectations - show_me_the_universe

The concept of this fic is so fascinating and creative! Rachel (@two-gay-witches) has decided to create a gelphie fanfic that follows the songs on Hayley Kiyoko’s album Expectations. So reading the chapters, and listening to the songs really makes this fic so original.

It hasn’t completed yet but it’s definitely worth the read! As are all the other AUs she started (rachel, ily, but one fic at a time ;)), but this one stands out to me the most.

Strange, Sweet - neednot

Nita (@need-not) is a master at poetic prose. Honestly, I don’t know how they do it. Strange, Sweet is a Phantom of the Opera-esque AU and it’s as thrilling as it is intriguing and I cannot wait to read more! If you can’t get enough of their work (like I do) you can also read the completed fic Far Safer that is a book-based AU and is really worth your time!

Wiretapped Life - tinyace 

Oz is split in two. Glinda is in her 40s and concocts a plan to ‘disappear’ and tries to find Elphaba, who she hasn’t seen in over a decade. Through her memories, the reader learns about her history, the decisions she took and the relationship she had with Elphaba and how politics ripped it all apart. 

So yeah, I’m writing this fic, but I’m hella proud of it so I’m going to promote it lmao. Note that I rated this fic 16+ mostly for its heavy topics. I can’t stop you as a minor, but please be careful. Because this fic goes deep into complicated politics, trauma and a whole lot more.

I haven’t read every fic out there, but I do know that @splish–splash–sploosh has read every fic on AO3 (and conveniently they also are an active writer with lots of one-shots, definitely worth checking out!) so they might have some more recs for you!

MUST READ (FANDOM FAVES)

Okay now for the ‘popular-who-are-popular-for-a-reason fics’ I’ve made a similar list before. Fics I don’t mention rn are still very much worth checking out. Under a cut bc it’s getting long and most people have seen these before.

Wagyubeefy

Do you like modern AU gelphie? Do you like trans characters? Do you like complex characters that sometimes make bad decisions and them fucking up and dealing with a fuckton of trauma? Boy howdy, you need to read the entire work of Emmanuel right the fuck now. Most work is 18+ so keep that in mind, though. But so fucking good, so incredibly interesting.

RidiculousMavis

The golden standard of gelphie fics and the only reason I’d go on ff.net tbh. It’s all very bookverse and it’s so fucking good. Read their entire oeuvre. They have 8 delicious gelphie stories. It’s so fucking good. All of it is so fucking good!!!!! 

GretchenMaurice

An absolute legend amongst mere mortals. Has written about 750k words solely dedicated to gelphie. Gee (@lily-onher-grave) has taken a well-deserved break, but if you like your slowburn, you gotta go with her work. Loved by the entire fandom. The absolute slowburn queen. What a treasure to this fandom she is. We’re glad to have her.

Beta Nova

You’ll catch me dead before I stop hyping their work. Emerald City Lies is the most perfect fanfic I’ve ever read. It’s witty, the gelphie dynamic is so fucking spot on and it’s INCOMPLETE. AND IT’S WORTH EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF YOUR LIFE OKAY!! A gelphie 80s AU where they are both in tv journalism. Just read it and have an absolute blast!!

tinyace

I asked Melissa if I could put my fics on the ‘fan favorite’ list and she said yes. Closing off, I just wanted to mention my two other completed multi-chapter fics, because I’d love for people to read them!

Walls of Sanctuary can only be described as a fucking rollercoaster. It’s the Wicked characters in a loosely based Hunchback of Notre Dame narrative. There’s romance, death, political resistance, and a ton of gelphie. 

My Bike’s Gone is a fluffy high school AU with a twist: it’s based on the dutch school system! It’s short and sweet (~20k) and people tend to read this after I’ve broken their hearts in Walls of Sanctuary or Wiretapped Life :). I guess I’m titled ‘angst god’ in the discord for a reason. whoops!

Well, that’s my long list for now! There are still some incredible fics that aren’t on this list bc it got so long. So definitely check out some more writers (though I think you’ll be contend with this for a while) because we’ve got some talented fuckers in this fandom! ^^

#Anonymous #fic rec #gelphie #wicked #wicked the musical #wicked fanfiction

[tlbodine]

A Decade of Horror Recommendations

With 2020 approaching, we’re reaching the end of a decade that has been uncommonly good to the horror genre, especially the last few years. Here’s an overview of some of the stand-out titles and my recommendations. Feel free to ask me about any of the titles on this list and I’ll happily share my more in-depth thoughts on them! 

Note that, of course, I have not seen every movie that’s come out in recent years, so I’ve probably missed some titles -- feel free to jump in with your own recommendations! 

Also this post is really long and has gifs, so I’m putting it under a cut. Sorry for the dash spam, mobile fam. Tell Tumblr to fix their shit. 

2010: Supernatural Horror Starts Making a Comeback 

Some stand-out films: 

Insidious: An important film for modern horror history, helping to usher in the new wave of paranormal/hauntings/demon films. It lays the tropes for a lot of the films that would get big in upcoming years. I thought it was pretty solidly decent. 

Devil: A clever script about being trapped on an elevator with the devil. It’s a bit too ambitious and doesn’t quite live up to those ambitions, but it’s solidly decent and refreshingly original. A hidden gem for the year. 

Black Swan: Maybe the height of Darren Aronofsky’s career as a household name. Not my favorite of his movies, but a pretty solid psychological suspense. 

Frozen: No, not that one. This is a clever movie that embraces a narrow scope: some teenagers get stuck on a ski lift and have to endure the elements and some hungry wolves below. Not a great movie, but worth watching as a study in what you can do with limited resources. 

Black Death: Quick shout-out for a dark and grisly historical horror involving witchcraft and torture. It’s not a fun movie to watch, but it’s got Sean Bean and Eddie Redmayne, and I feel like both original screenplays and historical horrors are rare enough to warrant support. 

2010 also had its share of predictable franchise tie-ins (a Saw movie, a Resident Evil movie, remakes like I Spit on Your Grave and The Crazies, etc.) The Horror Renaissance was a few years in coming. 

2011: The Year of the Predictable Remakes 

So many franchises getting flogged to death this year -- tripe like SCRE4M, Final Destination 5, Human Centipede 2, a Hellraiser reboot literally no one watched, and Paranormal Activity 3. Blech. BUT. 2011 also brought us a couple of my favorite movies ever: 

You’re Next: I would credit You’re Next with re-defining the “final girl” in horror. Also it’s a damn good home invasion movie with buckets of gore and a smart script. 

Cabin in the Woods: This one’s a bit divisive -- some folks really hated it I guess -- but it’s such a loving deconstruction of horror, and it’s wholly original even while being comfortingly familiar. Also it’s hilarious. 

2012: A Few Important Titles

I feel like 2012 was full of movies nobody has actually ever seen or talked about. But some of the good ones that I’d recommend: 

Sinister: Like Insidious in some ways, but maybe better.  Also, “Snakes don’t have feet.” Honestly just a very good, solid demon/haunted kid movie. 

V/H/S: A must-watch for horror buffs. It didn’t invent the found footage genre, but it did refine it and really show off what it could do best. 

Smiley: OK so like. This is not really a great film, but I think about it a lot and recommend it a lot. It’s stuck with me quite a bit somehow, and in some ways it feels very much ahead of its time as a creepy prediction of what internet culture would be like at the end of the decade. “We did it for the lulz.” Seriously, watch this movie today, and remember that it was made eight years ago, and see if it gives you chills too. 

I guess I should also mention Prometheus here, which lots of people liked. I was not one of them, but it was a heavily talked-about film I feel like and of course an Alien franchise tie-in. 

2013: The Year the World Remembered It Liked Horror 

This was a big turning point year, launching some new franchises instead of just re-treading old ones: 

The Conjuring: I personally hate all of these movies, but they are huge and you can’t swing a dead cat in the modern horror fandom without encountering one of them. The first Conjuring film was at least decent. For extra credit, watch it as a triple feature with Insidious and Sinister and do a compare/contrast. 

The Purge: Not only the start of a successful franchise but also a pop culture phenomenon and a damn good movie to boot. 

Mama: I love this movie. I have this movie on DVD. It’s kind of bittersweet and may not completely follow through on all of its promises, but it’s still quite good and has some lovely performances. 

Warm Bodies: Not really a horror -- kind of a romance -- but it warrants mention here because zombies were a hot item in 2013, and that’s a current special interest of mine on account of having a zombie book of my own coming out that is more than a little influenced by this story. (the film is a pretty good adaptation of the book, although honestly you could just skip the movie and read the book and get a better experience.)  

Willow Creek: I feel like I recommend this movie a lot, but that’s just because I think it’s very good and a very smart use of its own resources. A found footage mockumentary that actually manages to make Bigfoot frightening. Totally worth the watch. 

Mr. Jones: Here’s another hidden gem, also in found footage style (I feel like that was a prevailing theme in the years after V/H/S) but it’s surprisingly fresh. It’s a folk horror piece that doesn’t go at all where you might expect despite its thoroughly well-trodden ‘couple in secluded house’ setup. 

A bucketful of remakes and sequels this year too, including an Evil Dead reboot, V/H/S sequel, Insidious sequel, etc.  I should also probably mention World War Z, which was not actually very good and also had nothing in common with the book of the same name, but does mark an important moment in the mainstreaming of the zombie revival, especially considering it came out the same year as Warm Bodies. 

2014: Fuck Yeah People Actually Like This Shit Let’s Make More 

I feel like maybe our current horror renaissance started this year. Some recs: 

The Babadook: No surprises to anyone who follows my blog, but I love The Babadook and I will defend it to the bitter end against its detractors. It is one of my favorite horror films of all time and one of the best of the decade. 

It Follows: Ok confession, I actually did not like this movie at all. I thought it was ridiculous and over-hyped. But it makes the list because a lot of other people really, really loved it, and I accept that they saw something in it that I didn’t. Watch it and make up your own mind (and report back with your findings). 

As Above, So Below: This may be the most claustrophobic film ever made, and it deserves to be studied on that merit alone. It’s also pretty creepy and I suspect a lot creepier for folks who are unnerved by Christian horror/mythology (I am not, but I know lots of folks really are). 

Housebound: A hidden gem from New Zealand, this one is worth a watch because it takes a familiar haunted house premise and gives it a surprising and honestly delightful twist. 

Jessabelle: Not a great movie, but deserving of a spot here because it’s a Southern Gothic and features a main character in a wheelchair, which I think is neat. 

13 Sins: I feel like I’ve written about this movie for the blog before, and I recommend it a lot. But it’s clever and is a great early example of the “killing game” genre that has become increasingly prevalent (I mean, aside from the Battle Royale/Hunger Games version). 

It was neat to see so many original horror stories (as opposed to reboots/franchises) coming out, and that’s a trend that would continue (and is something that makes horror one of my preferred genres - there are more original stories in it than in many other types of film). 

2015: Hell Yeah Let’s Ride This Horror Train 

So many excellent movies this year! Ahh! 

Crimson Peak: Guillermo del Toro’s love letter to the Gothic. What I love about this movie (aside from Tom Hiddleston) is it plays all the tropes straight. It’s not trying to be a new spin or reinvent the genre or break all the tropes. It’s just a gothic horror story, told exactly like what it is, by a guy who makes damn good movies. I felt like that was really brave and surprising at the time. 

The Visit: M. Night Shyamalan had basically made a joke of himself after a string of awful movies, but this movie was enough to earn back a bit of respect in my book. It’s a clever premise and a smart use of found footage. 

The VVitch: Creepy-ass slow-burn supernatural historical horror, sign me up. I actually don’t like this movie as much as a lot of people (see above: religious-themed horror doesn’t push my fear buttons much) but it’s beautifully made, thoughtful, and artistic in a way that makes people sit up and pay attention to just how good the horror genre can be. 

Krampus: This movie is extremely silly and I love it. A holiday favorite I watch every year now. It’s hilarious, and imaginative, with some really creepy visuals and a thoroughly satisfying conclusion. 

The Invitation: For me, some of my favorite horror movies are the ones where the film is uncomfortable to watch before the actual horror stuff starts up. This one has an almost unbearably tense build-up and pays off in an incredibly satisfying and creepy manner. 

2016: Horror Goes Hella Mainstream

I feel like 2016 was another year of just...lots of kind of fun unique premises tossed out like spaghetti to see what would stick. And I am here for it. 

Don’t Breathe: Home invasion gone wrong is a great trope, and this one gets extra points for having the single most disturbing sequence utilizing a turkey baster I’ve ever seen in film. 

Hush: Speaking of home invasions. This one is pretty standard fare -- homeowner fights back! -- but the deaf main character is a neat twist. 

Lights Out: It’s pretty cheesy at times and the plot sort of falls in on itself, but the opening sequence is genuinely frightening and the movie almost literally killed @comicreliefmorlock so that’s a commendation I guess? 

Train to Busan: An Asian take on the zombie survival story. It’s a really good movie (if horribly bleak) and it does such an excellent job of making you genuinely care for all of the characters. 

The Autopsy of Jane Doe: A really neat premise with some wonderful slow-build horror. The storyline kind of goes off the rails, and it asks a lot of questions it doesn’t answer, but it’s quite good regardless. 

The Forest: I was disappointed with this one -- it just failed to live up to my expectations -- but it’s decent, and it’s a good attempt at capturing the creepiness of Japan’s Suicide Forest. 

Before I Wake: This one was sad more than scary, I thought, but it fits so neatly into a certain aesthetic that I am always a sucker for -- dreams and nightmares bleeding into reality, yes please. 

Split: Say what you will, I thought Split was amazing, and James McAvoy deserves a goddamn Oscar for his performance in this movie. 

The Monster: A hidden gem that’s worth watching to see how well it delivers on its premise: two characters stuck in a car with a monster outside. It’s not amazing, but it’s neat, and sometimes it’s nice to have just a straightforward creature feature with a bit of emotional heft for good measure. 

2017: Did Somebody Say Blockbuster? 

In hindsight, they’ll probably say 2017 was the start of the horror renaissance, but we’ll all know they’re a few years too late. Still, this was another great year: 

Get Out: Funny, dark, deeply uncomfortable and with some real meat to it -- Jordan Peele knows how to make a great movie. This absolutely deserves all the awards. 

It: Not a perfect movie, but a good adaptation of a difficult-to-adapt book. The kids are great. Pennywise is menacing, but that fucking flute lady is the scariest part. 

It Comes At Night: I didn’t like this one much, but a lot of folks did so it makes the list. See above re: It Follows. 

Gerald’s Game: Everything that’s wrong with this movie (ie, the ending) is wrong in the original story, so where this movie fails it’s a matter of sticking too close to its source material. But the premise is truly, genuinely horrifying, and the degloving scene almost made me vomit. So that’s cool. 

Happy Death Day: Another horror-comedy, with a healthy dose of self-awareness. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and that’s what allows it to be fun. 

The Babysitter: This movie is hilarious. It’s also super bloody and clever and clearly made by people who love slashers, and the affection shows. 

The Ritual: So-so in the acting and pacing, but the creature design is A+ and the concept is really neat. Seriously just watch this one for the monster, it’s super cool looking. 

I should probably mention Mother here, but I can’t speak for it as I haven’t gotten around to watching it yet. It’s a very divisive film. One of these days I’ll watch it and let you know.

2018: There’s More Where That Came From 

If 2016 was the year of filmmakers just trying stuff for the hell of it, 2018 was the year of talented filmmakers and studios realizing that, oh shit, you can make really good horror movies with mass appeal. 

A Quiet Place: I’m glad I caught this one in theaters, because it really deserves to be watched in a dark, quiet room where no one dares to make a sound. The ending left a lot to be desired, but it was a clever premise. 

Hereditary: The best horror movie of the year imo. Painfully uncomfortable - I’m not sure I could watch it again - but highly recommended. 

Apostle: Watch this one in a triple-feature with The VVitch and Hereditary. A really good period piece with a character you actually want to root for. 

Bird Box: I didn’t like this movie much, but it was hugely popular. I bought the book recently and suspect it is much better. Still, it’s worth a mention for its impact on mainstream viewers (lots of people who don’t like horror really liked this movie). I won’t budge from my initial opinion that it’s just A Quiet Place meets The Happening, though. 

What Does 2019 Hold? 

We’re only halfway through the year, so we’ve got some time to see what is coming down the pipe. Lots of things to look forward to! But some solid titles so far this year that I’d heartily recommend: 

Us: Jordan Peele is at it again. It may not be as good as Get Out  -- there’s some plot holes where the internal logic of the world is at odds with the message it’s trying to send -- but it’s thoughtful and gives plenty to chew on. And there are places where it’s just unbearably tense and creepy. 

Brightburn: I had high hopes for this movie and was not disappointed. This is a super (ha, ha) good film. 

The Wind: A Gothic on the American frontier. It accomplishes what I think It Comes At Night was supposed to do, but more effectively (for me anyway). Bonus points for being written and directed by women. Double bonus: Caitlin Gerard, the main actress, is also the lead character in Smiley. 

I have not yet watched Velvet Buzzsaw, Ma or Midsommar this year, but I really want to. I’m also looking forward to the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark film despite having some reservations about the whole concept. 

#horror #horror movies #horror movie recommendations #movie recs #long post #gifs #horror by the decade

[kdtheghostwriter]

SNK 116: V Has Come To

Alexa: play “Roundabout”

When I first saw the Kanji that represents “rumbling,” my first two thoughts, in immediate succession where as follows: “Oh, shit, is it already happening” and “Oh, no, wait it’s just like JoJo.” (Fun fact about that ED, since Ded Memes live here. The little To Be Continued arrow always flies in before the drums hit. Like everything it gets adjusted for the purposes I suppose. Anyway!) Honestly, every chapter in this volume has ended like the episode of an anime, including this one with its hero/villain stare down and triumphant proclamation from the narrator. More on how those tables have turned later.

 I want to spend most of this essay talking about Eren, since I spent most of the last one talking about his older brother. I’m not so much surprised at the direction his character has taken after so many years of pain and abuse. What does take me aback is how so many people are apparently sympathetic to Zeke while hating Eren, especially considering how Eren had a comparatively awful upbringing while spending a lot less time being shitty to people.

But maybe I shouldn’t be too shocked. Even as the main character, he’s always been controversial. Whether by people who want him to be paired with one character or another, or those who just plain don’t like him. Even in-story, good will has been hard to come by. One minute they’re honoring you and your friends in front of the Queen. A few years later, you’re locked underground as a fugitive of the military-controlled government.

It was the Chapter 112 recap where I broke down the nuance of a pro wrestling storyline – specifically in regards to their character-driven nature. I used performers like Shawn Michaels and Brett “The Hitman” Hart to outline the natural progression of a character from fan favorite to hated ne’er-do-well. Now, I’ll be using an example much more relevant to the story. The Rise then Fall then Return then “Turn” of Daniel Bryan.

Most important thing to note about Daniel Bryan is that he’s not supposed to be in the ring at all. A series of concussions and other injuries forced him to retire from active in-ring competition. This was directly after a year-long saga of him trying to prove himself as a main event player. After what seemed like endless waves of red tape and front office hurdles, he achieved the absolute pinnacle of the business. Winning in the main event of the year’s biggest show, WrestleMania, and becoming the World Heavyweight Champion. It was always going to be downhill from that point. What couldn’t have been predicted was the suddenness of it.

Three years pass and Daniel Bryan announces his imminent return to active competition. His first match back is yet again at the Showcase of the Immortals. He receives a hero’s welcome and for several months is riding a familiar high as the most popular superstar in all of wrestling. And then, he fights AJ Styles and something changes.

I must note here briefly that at this point in the latter part of 2018, AJ Styles himself is enjoying a year-long run as champion of the world’s largest federation. He and Daniel Bryan were scheduled to have a match at the Crown Jewel event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Yes, the same Saudi Arabia that allegedly orchestrated the murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi. Daniel Bryan, along with other members of the roster, refused to make the trip. As such, his WWE Championship match was pushed up a week to be contested on TV. Bryan lost this match, but that would not be the last time they faced. In fact, the very next time the two squared off, Bryan captured the title, albeit via some nefarious means. It was after this match (followed by a match with former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar) that something broke within Daniel Bryan.

The WWE’s relentless media schedules as well as the punishment of months of fighting on the road finally broke him down mentally as well as physically, and he decided that enough was too much. Daniel Bryan utilized his newfound platform as champion and killed the movement that catapulted him to worldwide fame. In its place, a message of repentance. He replaced the leather strap of his title belt with one made of hemp and naturally fallen oak. He railed against the paying fans for their unchecked consumerism and even admonished his boss, billionaire Chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment Vince McMahon, for exploiting their more reductive tendencies.

This is going to sound weird because, honestly, these things change month-to-month but, yes, Daniel Bryan is supposed to be the bad guy here. And for a segment of the audience he absolutely is. Live crowds across the country (excluding his home state of Washington) hate Bryan with a fiery passion. Meanwhile, all of Twitter asked all at once, “Wait, you want us to…boo him?” It’s the most famous Heel Turn in recent memory due in part to the circumstances and the performer involved. This was the most popular wrestler in the world not six months prior. But even though the crowd still loved him, they were not clamoring for him like they had been. The magic of the Yes Movement was largely gone.

In Shingeki no Kyojin, I’ve witnessed this cycle ad nauseum. It’s the ebb and flow of fandom. I’ve been reading this series long enough to recall a time when Eren was seen as a useless, whiny geek as opposed to the badass world-beater he is now. There was a time, believe it or not, where Reiner was as polarized and hated as Eren is now. Before that even! Reiner was little more than the cute, air-headed jock before he and Bertholt revealed themselves as spies. Isayama reveals him as his favorite character and he’s been the darling of the fandom ever since. Second perhaps only to Commander Handsome himself who is even more popular in death. Annie still has her fans, despite only being in maybe fifteen percent of this manga.

My point is the same that Isayama has been getting at for the past three volumes or so. (Maybe more than that if we accept Kruger’s monologue as the first example.) Your notion of how the world works has been fucked from the start. Good and evil; right and wrong; Marley and Paradis. Reality is only as good as your perspective. The author was not content with just stating this, though. To prove his point, he deconstructed his own carefully planned narrative, rebuilt it backwards, then flipped it upside down so that now, we’ve come back ‘round to this.

Funny thing, life is. When your idols become your rivals. Eren once confided in Reiner for support in his darkest moments. Now, it’s very likely he’s going to try and kill him. Simply for getting in his way. This is more of the framing I’ve talked about before from Isayama. This looks like any other match card from an actual title bout. To show you what I mean, I’m going to line up several examples.

Seeing it now? Classic promoter tactics. Building up the hype. People rib on the Dragon Ball series for doing this sometimes – in the case of Z – to a comical extent. But really, this method can be seen elsewhere in stuff like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, One Piece, Yu Yu Hakusho, Lupin the Third; I really could just name twelve more titles.

This is a rematch four years in the making. Yes, they met in Liberio but I don’t count that as a fight, considering Eren won long before anyone even transformed and Reiner was literally begging for his death. In present day, the Warriors have caught The Usurper off guard and they have much needed backup. This conflict has been set up like the apex of any Marvel movie. The mismatched group of heroes converging on one point, because the only hope they have of defeating the super villain is if they do it together.

This is why Pieck didn’t pull the trigger when she had the chance and also why Eren didn’t transform and splatter her and Gabi against the dungeon walls. Pieck is part of a team. A team with a plan. Part of that plan involved getting Eren Jaeger out in the open where he would be exposed to an all-out attack. Eren had prior knowledge of the Warrior Unit’s arrival and knew his best option was to track their location and cut them off. Pieck was likely dead whether she cooperated or not. What Eren didn’t account for was Porco, who was actually in plain sight amongst the other Jaegerists, but in a world where photography has just recently been introduced, one could not expect them to recognize him out of his Titan.

 Pieck trusted her friends, and now they are all dropping in to Shiganshina to aid in her rescue. Eren did not trust his friends, and now they are all dead, mutilated or locked in a cell and they won’t be coming to his rescue. In another manga, this would be the turning point of the story where the Big Bad got his comeuppance and learned the ultimate lesson about the Power of Friendship and the series would end with the two brothers embracing in a pile of rubble. This is not any manga. Eren has three Titan powers at his disposal. (Four if he can get his hands on Porco again.) Unless there is a legit airstrike of some sort or some other secondary offensive, Reiner has no chance of winning this. Maybe he doesn’t have to, depending on what the plan is.

We still don’t know what Eren’s plan is either! That’s probably the biggest difference between him and Daniel Bryan. The Daniel Bryan character was developed weekly on television over many months and his motivations up to this point have been fully fleshed out. Eren’s motivations are a mystery to everyone except Eren. Even his brother Zeke doesn’t know what he’s up to. Zeke who, by the way, can magically appear in this upcoming battle as well. No, I don’t think Eren is the final “bad guy” of this story. I just wish he was, because he’s damn good at doing it.

I do not know how this ends. I am, however, sure of one thing.

  Stray Thoughts

- I wouldn’t say either Eren or Pieck had the other fooled at any point. They were at an impasse and Eren decided to move the plot along.

- Eren isn’t the classic mwahaha villain (yet) but wow is he angry. And not the violent, explosive anger we know him for. Cold, cunning, calculated. I genuinely feared for Pieck’s life despite her holding the gun.

- I know we’ve been conditioned by this story to search for subtext, even when it’s not there, but I wouldn’t read too much into certain…stuff that happened with the 104th. The point here was to re-establish what we already know about the crew. Jean is a very perceptive lad and almost certainly the next Commander if anyone survives this story. Armin is…having a moment.

- I have to wonder how good Magath’s intel is for this op. Does he know that Shiganshina is deserted? Has he accounted for Zeke’s appearance? Does he know the God of Destruction is nearby?

- Yelena has been a favorite of mine since her debut, when everyone thought Connie grew three times his size. I won’t call it a Heel Turn because it doesn’t count if you weren’t wearing the White Hat to begin with.

#snk meta #snk 116 #shingeki no spoilers #eren jaeger #eren kruger #pieck #gabi braun #porco galliard #yelena #onyankopon #armin arlert #mikasa ackerman #jean kirschstein #connie springer #nicolo #reiner braun #theo magath #character study #everything is a jojo's reference

[nekokoaa]

How are you? I love your writing so much!!!can you do bakugou and his s/o cuddling after a really long hard day of training? like suuuuuper fluffy ^-^ 💜

Fandom: BNHA

Characters: Bakugo 

Warnings? Haha, super fluff.

Awww thanks for the compliments and I’m great, by the way. Finished all my finals so I’m hyped about that! Now I’m free and just obsessing over Detroit: Become Human. But anyway, enjoy this one, love. *activates fluff warning* 

Ai 

XxX

 Thud.

It was the sound of Bakugo colliding with his bed, its springs squeaking underneath the weight of his body. He sighed heavily into a painful groan, his body throbbing in soreness and pain from all the stress it underwent just an hour and a half ago. Purple and brown bruises were lazily covered with bandages. He didn’t bother to fix them. He just wanted to lay there and do nothing. 

A second thud sounded off and the space next to Bakugo dipped. You threw yourself right next to him, your face flat on his bed as you moved to kick your slippers off your feet. You made a groan like Bakugo’s and turned yourself on your side to face him.

“I’m dead.” You commented, your eyes glancing at the plate of cookies upon the desk beside Bakugo’s bed. There was a propped up note next to the plate and you saw the words “For you and your friend – Mom”on it. Bakugo’s mother was pretty much used to you coming to stay after school. She didn’t know about your relationship with Bakugo yet as it was fairly new, but she did know the two of you were very close and she always looked forward toseeing you arrive home with him. You also looked forward to eating her cookies so when saw them on Bakugo’s desk, it was like you gained a mini energy burst.

“Hell yes, your mom’s cookies.” You cheered, using the bit of energy you gained to lift yourself up. You felt and heard the crack of your joints as you crawled over Bakugo. He was still unresponsive. You assumed he was knocked out completely. You wouldn’t be surprised if he was, Bakugo’s training session looked insane.You were amazed that he was even able to walk himself back home.

You reached for the cookies on the plate and was able to snatch one before laying on Bakugo, your stomach against his back. You took a bite of the cookie and hummed softly.

“Hmm, I’m alive again.” You finished the cookie and it was so soft and had the rightamount of chocolate chips. You really had to get the recipe from Bakugo’s mom.

“What the hell are you doing?” You then heard a familiar grumble from under you and you giggled when you saw Bakugo pick his head up from the bed.

“Eating a cookie on your back. You know, your mom makes the best damn cookies.” You reached for another one but Bakugo lifted his body off the bed before you could grab it.

“Ge toff. You’re too fucking heavy.” You rolled off his back and on to the bed, a large smile was on your face when you looked at him.

“Katsuki, don’t you know how to talk to girls?”

“Hmph, you’re a girl?” You slapped the bruise on his leg and it made him yelp. He growled at you and you just folded your arms.

“Don’t mess with me.” You puffed up your cheeks while Bakugo was rubbing where you slapped him. He glared at you and you stuck out your tongue at him.

“Alright, that’s it.” You squealed when he raised his hands above you. His face twisted into a cruel smirk as his eyes were glancing at your hips. Oh crap, was he…? 

“Wait! Don’t you dar—Ah!” You held out your hands to stop his incoming fingers, but you were too slow. His fingers pressed against your sides and it was like a feather was tickling your hips, back, and feet. You squirmed underneath him, laughs bouncing out of you as you pushed against his chest. Bakugo knew you were ticklish there. He found out when you were hanging out at his house one day. You tripped over the carpet in the living room and Bakugo grabbed you by the waist to help you steady yourself. You started laughing at his gentle touch and you threw yourself out of his arms at the unbearable tickle. Since then, Bakugo’s been using that as a weapon.

“Don’t mess with me, huh?!” He continued to pinch your sides with no remorse and you couldn’t stop your laughs and squeals. Bakugo looked so pleased that he was getting a reaction from you. He always enjoyed your laughter so the fact that he could make you laugh at will made him ecstatic. Sometimes he would poke your sides when you two would walk in the halls alone and he would take pleasure in making you jump, and you would hit him in the arm for it.

“I give! I give up!” You cried, your eyes wet with tears. Bakugo showed no signs of stopping, he cracked out a laugh as you were at the mercy of his fingertips.

But then he suddenly stopped. His hands left your sides and feathery feeling ceased all around your body. You blinked at his sudden movements, and like an eel changing its colors, you watched his cream-colored skin blend into a rosy red. He held a hand to his mouth and his eyes were glancing away and back at you through his furrowed brows. You didn’t understand his reaction at first, but you noticed his eyes weren’t glancing at your face. You followed his eyes and it landed you right at your chest. Your shirt was lifted on one side and your blue and white-polka dotted bra was peeking out from under it. 

“Wah!” You quickly pulled down your shirt and rolled on to your side. You pressed your arms against your chest. You felt your heart pounding rapidly. Your cheeks were the color of his crimson eyes. He saw! Hesaw! He saw!

“I didn’t see nothin’” He grumbled but the red on his cheeks were blatant liars. He laid down beside you, his eyes still not directly on you. You felt the bed dipped next to you and it only made you even more aware of his presence. The two of you have been friends for the longest time. It was only until after you found out you had feelings for each other was when you both became conscious about your bodies. Gentle touches and hugs were more than just between friends, it was a reminder of how much you two liked each other. 

“Hey.” Bakugo was now looking at you, his face was still slightly red, but it seemed like he regained most of his composure. “I didn’t see nothin’, alright?” He repeated it much softer than before, but it still sounded like he was frustrated atsomething.

“Alright.” You nodded, a small smile on your lips. You knew Bakugo clearly saw your bra. There was no possible way he couldn’t have but you thought it was sweet that he was pretending he didn’t. It was probably because he didn’t want you to feel embarrassed. Bakugo had never seen anything other than clothes on you so he didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable. At least, that’s what you thought he was doing.

You shifted closer to him, the heat that radiated from within him was making your sore muscles relax. You suddenly felt very tired like all that energy you gained from that cookie was sapped out. Bakugo knew what you wanted the moment he felt your hands against his chest, your fingers curling into his shirt. He too was exhausted. He used his last bit of energy to tickle you into submission. He felt his eyes growing heavier by the minute, his mouth wide as a yawn tore through it. He brought himself even closer to you. His arms went around your body and his legs began to tangle with yours. The sweet light aroma of your shampoo filled his nostrils and drove him mad. He absolutely loved this smell. It was his obsession. His drug. He had to remind himself later to tell you to never change your shampoo. 

“Katsuki?” You moved your hands to his back. You looked up at him and his crimson eyes were looking right at you. It was almost like they never left you.

“What?” His voice was even more calm. You could tell he was getting sleepy. You decided you should probably make this short. 

“Do you think I’ll be a good hero…?” It was something you were always conscious of. Being in class 1-A was a huge accomplishment but you couldn’t help but question if you were going in the right path. Everyone in your class was so spectacular. They looked like ideal heroes including Bakugo. You wondered was that how they saw you too? 

“Hell yeah, are you kidding? You have a great fucking quirk.”

“Yeah but, it’s not really as great as everyone else’s.”

He was glaring. “You need to stop thinking about other people. They don’t matter.”

“I know.” You buried your face into his neck and you heard him suck his teeth. 

“You think I’m going to let you become a bad hero…?” Bakugo mumbled his words, his lips pressing against the top of your head. You blushed. You assumed he kissed you, but he could’ve been falling asleep. Like a lion cub, he was innocent and calm when he dozed off. All of his energy was gone and waiting to be charged up again. His chest raised and fell as a tired sigh left him. He shifted his body, and his arm around you grew looser.

You kissed his neck in response and you heard his soft hum, his skin vibrating softly to his deep voice. His crimson eyes were gone, shut behind his lids like the blinds that cover his windows. His breathing was reduced to a slow and steady rhythm.

“Katsuki?” He was already too deep in sleep. He was completely knocked out and this time you felt that there was nothing you could do to wake him. So instead, you closed your eyes to his soft snores, adjusting yourself to where your body was completely against Bakugo’s. It made him lie on his back and half your body was on top of his. You wanted to join him in his dreams, be with him in his cognitive world.

“Night… Katsuki.” You yawned before laying your head on his chest, ready to end this exhausting day of training.

#this was cute #i liked writing this #bnha #bnha request #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha scenarios #bnha x reader #katsuki bakugou #bakugo x reader #bakugo katsuki x reader #nekokoafanfictions

[azeher]

On Queerbaiting, Bad Voltron Bad, and Adashi

I finally found the time and patience to bring you this post. Take it however you want. Unfollow me, love me, fall in love with Ryan Renolds... Just take your pick.

The only disclaimer I’ll make is that the Voltron crew and the marketing team of DreamWorks are very capable of queerbaiting. I’ve accused them of doing exactly that before, but I was just getting ahead of myself. I just don’t think they’re queerbaiting us after all, not on purpose (the voltron crew at least. The marketing team can go eat a spoiled banana). But at the end this is like the Schrödinger’s Cat, we won’t know until we get to see the very last episode of the final season. I mean, korrasami was queerbait until the very last seconds before the credits rolled.

BUT, the crew has made quite the mistakes along the years, and I’m gonna make a list of them:

1- Opening their mouths. Just really, they should have stayed quiet, taken the initial praising and shown gratitude and that’s it. The very first and biggest mistake they made was thinking it was a good idea to talk about the show to the fandom. Not only they never knew how to handle it, sometimes they forced themselves to lie. By creating such an narrow relationship with the fandom they allowed them to ask them for things they wanted into the show. They allowed them to ask them questions they didn’t know how to answer and sometimes they had to be purposely misleading to avoid spoilers.

2- Believing their own misleading answers. And this is how I know they’re not queerbaiting on purpose. Because they tend to get passionate when promoting the show, they’ve said things in ways that could be misinterpreted by the audience. They think they’re saying something harmless, that the small difference between what they say would happen and what actually happens will translate well, but it’s never the case.

3- Not trying to know their fandom. This isn’t entirely their fault. It’s obvious the fandom they got wasn’t the fandom they were supposed to get. I.e., the fandom should be made up of grown ups that loved the 80s Voltron and came back out of nostalgia, and of little kids looking for cool space battles, and of teens that like action and humor mixed together. Because that was their target audience. Rather they got a fandom pertaining to an entirely different genre. They got people who don’t really care for the plot (don’t even try to argue with this. The hundreds of posts I’ve seen the last three years claiming smt along the lines of “Voltron would have to pay me to watch the show for the plot” prove me right) because it bores them, and are only focused on the one thing the show openly isn’t about: Romance.

4- The writing. Legend of Korra didn’t have perfect writing. Voltron doesn’t either. This studio puts all of its effort and talent out there, you can tell, but they still have a long way to go. Still, what they do is not bad, despite what spiteful people want to make others believe. This studio has some of the most beautiful animation out there and their strengths rely on art, humor, fight sequences, music and very dramatic scenes. Those are the five things they’ve mastered. But their writing and character focus are lacking. This is not something they can’t fix. Instead of trying to drag them down and boycott these amazing and talented artists and writers who are also human beings, we could give them the support they need to improve and keep delivering stories and characters we can fall in love with. I mean, we fell in love with these characters even when the writing wasn’t perfect. This season, whether some of you want to admit it or not, had the best writing they’ve offered so far but to dissect this statement would mean making yet another long post and just no.

5- The characters’ arcs. We’ve already established they don’t know how to write characters or romance. They’re good with other sorts of relationships but romance is the thing they’re worst at. And they also suck at being constant with characters’ arcs. The biggest proof? I didn’t know the fucking protagonist of Voltron was indeed Keith until like season 4, and I only found out cuz I watched some episodes of 80’s Voltron around that time and was struck with the realization. It was impossible to tell because so far all the focus of the story had gone back and forth between Shiro and Pidge. Then Keith and eventually Allura got their own arcs. So, how about Pidge makes that math cuz it doesn’t add up? How was acceptable for them to be unclear about who the central figure in the show was? Keith was introduced as the fourth character. And they even formatted the first half of the first episode so it looked like Lance was the protagonist. The second half they were already giving up on him and turning him into a joke and Shiro finally emerged as the central figure.

6- Romance. So they completely suck at romance and they made a good decision about leaving it out. But did they really? Cuz the show says yes, but the crew’s comments and awkward writing say otherwise. And this is what takes us to the next and saddest mistake:

7- ADASHI. I know you all read this far only to get to this point. I’m gonna include Ezor and Zethrid here as well because they’re also consequence from the previous point. Shiro is an amazing character and him being gay IS indeed a big triumph. We will forever know such a great and important Asian character is canonly gay. But the writers made all the rookie mistakes they could make surrounding his sexuality, AND Ezor and Zethrid’s relationship. Don’t get me wrong, I for once don’t mind these lesbians being on the dark side because they were still pretty badass and cool even though they were villains, but they took their ambiguous villainess too far, which wouldn’t have been a bad thing wasn’t it because they were the only lesbian couple in the show. So rookie mistake number one: Picking the wrong characters to be your representation when you’re gonna be so limited with representation. They also killed them off, which, well, they kinda deserved, but again, they were the ONLY lesbian couple, so how about give them the chance to redeem themselves (and your own writers)?

They introduced Adam and established he and Shiro simply didn’t work together but then killed off Adam without allowing us to get to know him, and without allowing him and Shiro to get some kinda closure. But the crew, again, didn’t know how to handle the way to go about hyping the show, and were yet again misleading by letting us believe we’d spend some time with Adam. They genuinely thought there was nothing wrong with killing him because he was no longer part of Shiro’s life and because war’s like that. So rookie mistake number two: Not being honest about the fate of one of the two confirmed queer characters in the show. When you have so few queer characters, and you really think you had to kill one of them, don’t treat it like a spoiler, BE honest, so the public knows what to expect. Soften the blow. Maybe they could have said he wouldn’t be in the show too long, and we would have made our guesses. Rookie mistake number three: Pick him as one of the casualties. I understand the intention of this was to make Shiro lose someone because of the war, but did it really need to happen? Did Shiro really need to lose someone? I’m sure no big plot point in the story would have changed if Adam had lived. Rookie mistake number four: Kill him before we got to know him and before he talked to Shiro again. If the purpose of his death was to impact Shiro or us, it would have had a much bigger effect if they had had time to interact again.

Now, could Voltron as a whole fix all of these mistakes? Yes. Yes they could. For starters, they should start talking with the truth. That would actually help to heal the fandom a lot. At this point, being quiet won’t serve of any purpose. Now it’s their real time to talk, but honestly.

Second, it all depends on how they wrap season eight. If they’re really planning on making a healthy queer relationship canon and explicit, that could be their salvation. They’d have to do it right, and it is possible, but fairly hard, especially with romance not being their strength.

Third. Adashi. Yes. Again Adashi. Remember when I said I had complicated feelings about what they did to it? Well, aside from what I already said, there’s this extra bit. And it is that they truly could have had a good reason to kill off Adam. I know that it makes you angry, but this is a possibility. Maybe the point is to let Shiro move on, find love again. He’s healthy now, not fearing about dying anytime soon and he’s matured. He wouldn’t make the same mistakes. And there are not reasons to believe Adam won’t be featured in another future flashback that could deliver that sense of closure we and Shiro need. So, in short, the reason I’m not as angry as I should be, is because this can still be addressed in the show.

It’s easy to be pessimistic and not to trust the ending. For all we know, eighth season might be just 13 episodes of quiznak writing and the mice founding their own theme park, but until the box gets opened we won’t know if the cat is dead.

#adashi #queerbaiting #voltron #vld spoilers s7 #and these are my final thoughts #this is what i think and this is what i feel #so don't bother me anymore

[fromtheringapron]

Reviewing Google Audience Reviews of WWE Raw

One day, I searched Monday Night Raw on Google for reasons even unbeknownst to me. What is it out of boredom? A sliver of hope that I’d discover Raw had been canceled and replaced with a rebooted Prime Time Wrestling? I don’t know, but I did stumble upon some treasure in my aimless journey: Google Audience Reviews of Raw! This is apparently a new feature to Google. It allows people like you and I to give our baseless, uninformed opinions on any TV show at any time. Isn’t the Internet great?

But, man, if that wasn’t good enough, the real treasure are the reviews themselves. Such an intriguing look into the jaded, ignorant, infuriating, hilarious, and naive group of folks who make up WWE’s fanbase. The thing about the Internet, for better or worse, is that it gives a platform for all sorts of people to voice their opinion, even on a silly wrestling show. However, I’d like to think that also means it gives me the platform to give my opinion on their opinion. There are countless Raw reviews in this new section of Google, but here are a few that have really caught my eye:

Review #27: The AEW Truther

Okay, I’ll start out by sussing out some bullshit: All Elite Wrestling has a lot of promise, but we need to stop with the narrative that they’re going to be breathing down the WWE’s neck right out of the gate. They haven’t even put on their first show and don’t have a TV deal. In addition, outside of the diehard Internet fans and wrestling journalists, the casual fan who tunes into Raw isn’t going to give a fuck about AEW, mainly because they haven’t heard of it. So, no, “us Pro Wrestling fans” aren’t just going to turn to that. Again, it’s got potential and the excitement over it is valid, but I can’t help but feel the ones hyping it up the most will be the first to voice their disappointment when it doesn’t match even a fraction of what they expected.

With all of that said, I absolutely agree with this fan on the egregiousness of WWE putting an actual fascist dickhead and a convicted rapist into their Hall of Fame, especially when there’s inexplicably more rage geared toward the likes of Koko B. Ware and Torrie Wilson getting inducted, two people who were company employees for several years. I’m usually never the one to be up in arms over who gets inducted in the Hall of Fame because it’s a fake hall for a fake sport at the end of the day, but I do earnestly believe the focus should be on the workers who clocked in the hours.

Review #352: The Benoit Truther

Look, even though many will disagree, it’s okay for you to think Daniel Bryan sucks. Everyone has their own unique set of faves and least faves, and yours is no less valid than anyone else’s. Consensus in the fan community is boring, anyway.

Well, within reason anyway, because I’d like to think that the probability of Chris Benoit rotting in Hell right now is something we can all agree on. And, honestly, still listing Benoit as the greatest of all time feels wrong on a deep, moral level. The dude did some great things in his career, yes, but that’s besides the point. That doesn’t cancel out that he murdered his wife and son. Is defending the name of someone who will always be associated with a slaughtered family a hill you really want to fight on?

I don’t want to make it seem a comment like this is totally uncommon. It’s not much different from the various Youtube comments that linger on to this day about how Benoit should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. It still infuriates me though, largely because it feeds into the cesspool of Benoit apologia that’s only swelled since that fateful weekend in 2007. It’s the kind of language that words Benoit as ultimately a tragic figure whose poor brain was so damaged that his crimes were practically unavoidable, an explanation that wouldn’t be afforded to him if he weren’t so widely regarded by smarky wrestling bros. And that’s a bunch of shit.

The first half of the review isn’t so bad, which is why I didn’t include it. Maybe this fan just isn’t aware of what they’re saying, and I get that, but intentions can only go so far with me. The scariest part though? 78 people found the review helpful. The most of any review I’ve seen so far.  Fuckin’ balls.

Review #658: The Anti-Bullying Crusader

Okay, so I kinda love this. It’s such a nice reminder in a time where kayfabe is long dead and the WWE roster, regardless of heel/face alignment, will post pics with each other out in the town on social media that there are still fans who eat all of this shit up. I obviously know nothing about this person, but the review conjures up the image of an ornery senior citizen sitting ringside ready to whack those dastardly heels with a cane.

The bullying argument is hilarious. We all know WWE’s anti-bullying campaign Be A Star is hypocritical, disingenuous bullshit, largely birthed out of Linda McMahon’s failed run in politics. Like, how many of their storylines involve and normalize bullying? How many times have guys like The Rock and John Cena engaged in homophobic and misogynistic taunting on-screen over the years? There’s nothing wrong with informing your younger viewers on why bullying in real life is wrong, but you can’t deny the WWE has certainly trivialized the message. 

And it’s even more ridiculous when someone stops watching because of all the fake, scripted bullying on the show. Honestly, my friend, what are you expecting out of a wrestling product then? Bobby Roode vs. Heath Slater in a Handshake Contest? Also, this fan has been watching since they were five years old, no doubt remembering a more innocent time where Steve Austin would give the Stunner to someone who completely didn’t deserve that. 

I also love the last line. After bashing Raw for its bully-enabling platform, they at least concede that the ladies are killing it right now. Such an encouraging feminist stance!

Review #229: Everyone Had Fun and Nobody Got Hurt

Um, what? I do get what this fan is saying in the sense that, yes, wrestling is just play fighting, but “their policy of no violence”? Do I need to bring up that Roode/Slater handshake battle for the ages? And the wrestlers may sell fake injuries on TV all the time, but they can sustain injuries that are real as hell and carry some severe long-term repercussions. I feel like I’m being way too harsh, but come on now. If you’ve been watching since 1999, you’ve probably seen plenty of guys take unnecessary, dangerous bumps that shorten their careers. Watching even a small bit of Mick Foley’s work can probably tell you that.

With that said, I do love the refreshing stance in loving wrestling because it’s scripted. People usually hate on wrestling for that reason alone, largely because the business has historically gone to great lengths to make it seem real. It’s great to have someone who basically says, “You know, this is scripted bullshit and I’m okay with it.” And honestly, girl, I feel the same way. We need more people like us.

Review #44: Garden Variety Lapsed Fan #15,712

This certainly is a take. I can’t comment on what it’s like in other fandoms, but so many wrestling fans love to engage in the narrative that WWE stopped being good a long while ago and the current product is the worst it’s ever been but because they’re such a diehard fans they’ll stick around until it gets good again and willingly suffer through all of it due to the innate goodness in their hearts or some shit. The only difference in each of these arguments is that the date of the tipping point always changes. There are fans right now who’ll tell you WWE circa 2019 is the worst it’s ever been, but this was also true back when I first started traversing the Internet back in 2004 or 2005 and fans then were talking how that period was the worst it had ever been.

With that in mind, I find this review a bit refreshing in the face of Attitude Era truthers, who’ll repeatedly tell you wrestling, and seemingly all of pop culture, stopped being good sometime in the early 2000s. But as we near closer and closer to 20 years since that era ended, the more likely we are to see younger fans who have no real nostalgia for it. It won’t be long until we hear more and more talk about the salad days of Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, and others. This fan says WWE stopped being good in late 2016/early 2017, which obviously wasn’t that long ago. I’m sure some fan daydreaming about the days of the Monday Night Wars would find this completely baffling.

It begs the question: when exactly was the WWE good? Has it ever been good? I don’t think any one answer is the sole correct one. None of these perspectives are invalid by any means. Every era of wrestling has had its pros and cons, and everyone has their own set of standards on what they consider a quality wrestling product. And, to be real, I don’t want to excuse the WWE of their shitty, at times irredeemable, booking and creative decisions. Fans have been driven away for numerous, valid reasons over the years.

But there’s that whole notion that nothing can ever bring back those early feelings of puppy love, and that’s just as true with the way wrestling first captivates you. Perhaps the constant frustration with present day WWE is partly the inability to rekindle what first hooked you in and never being able to recapture that feeling because, well, it’s simply not possible.

Review #788: Our Savior

We are not worthy of this review. A true diamond in the rough. So many good bits here. The prediction that Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose will compete in a “no holes barred” match, which sounds like something out of a Sean Cody wrestling parody. The invention of the “Tang Tang Championship” featuring the likes of “Pop Scott Dulson and his tag team partner." The referring of Baron Corbin as not only “Barry Korgan,” but also as “Brian Corbin.” The passage that merely says “All winding.” The passage that merely says “Bobby Lashley.” That it’s not even a review of Raw, the TV show, but more a comment on the existential nihilism we feel in the Trump era.

I’ve never seen a review that makes no sense but also says so much. I love the complete refusal of punctuation marks. Who needs those archaic things, anyway? It just makes it all one, continuous thought, a stream of consciousness that could make even James Joyce blush. I also dig the experimentation with spacing. After all, why do we need to just one space? Why not several? It’s important to give our thoughts the space they need and this fan understands that. Plus, it makes for poetic reading.

The review ends on an ominous note, with the fan’s last message being “My name Matthewhisee.” Is this meant to be a threat? A coded message of some sort? Matthewhisee, if that is your name, please let us know more. The world needs your insight. Oh, and to the 7 people who found this review helpful, you are the vanguards of the resistance. Bless you all.

#wwe raw #wwe #google

[sweater--child]

The Voltron Thing

I don't often talk about Voltron. I think I only have the one post on it, and really the post more addresses the archetypal look for the moody character in basically everything (I'm talking about Nico di Angelo and Keith looking incredibly similar). I do watch Voltron, and for the most part enjoy it. I don't post about it because, to be completely honest, the majority of the fandom is very toxic and just kind of terrifying. If you want to disagree, I want to remind you that I was once told to kill myself for saying Keith was my favorite character (I've got a thing for broken boys with daddy issues, bite me) and have been repeatedly verbally abused for saying that I thought Pidge's gender was up for interpretation. I also once had a girl rant and scream at me (about how klance was superior after I mentioned that for the most part I'm a multishipper) until I literally had an anxiety attack. And of course, these are just some of the things I have personally experienced. That's not including the many shipping wars (which I've seen have included accusations of pedophilia, death threats, homophobic/transphobic remarks and accusations, etc.), the verbal abuse of actors and writers, the verbal abuse of other fans, death threats towards fandom creators and towards the original creators, and blackmail. Fucking blackmail. My point is I don't normally touch the Voltron fandom or go any where near it. BUT after watching the newest season and after repeated messages with /demands/ (not asking or requesting- but demanding) and several threats (like seriously? What the actual fuck guys, calm down its a cartoon), I will talk about some of the issues I have with the newest season.

Also- this thing is weird and rambly because I'm not gonna put more effort into this. I made this purely because it was demanded and to address some issues, not with the show but with everything going on around the show.

Spoilers, you've been warned.

We're gonna start with the thing that has broken flipping tumblr, Adam. To be honest, I stay away from most of the side content and promotional material and prefer to let the show speak for itself. However, the adashi/shadam ship blew up everywhere (seriously, I couldn't go on Instagram for weeks without seeing it) and I finally tracked down the information because I was major league confused on where nerdy boy appeared from. Adam's death wasn't what I was expecting, but it happened? Would I have loved to see him alive and have a happy Shiro for once? Yes. Am I going to attack the creators and accuse them of homophobia? No. To be honest: I'm holding my judgment on Adam and Shiro until after Season 8 (and yes, I do plan to watch season 8) BECAUSE we don't know what they have planned. Knowing the creators and the style of Voltron, I do think we will be getting more of Shiro and Adam's backstory and more of their relationship pre-Kerberos. I think the major thing I was disappointed by was the lack of confirmation from the show itself on the nature of Shiro and Adam's relationship, but again, I'm waiting for season 8 to make my conclusion on the adashi situation.

The thing that bothered me: the randomly thrown in hetero ships. Has there been teasing for klance? Yes, but to be honest, I never actually expected them to confirm it. I don't expect klance to become canon. And I'm okay with that, I'm a mature adult and I can enjoy my ships without them being canon. No need to blackmail people or harass them. No need to send pointed tweets or nasty emails. (Am I salty? Yes.) (And honestly, I'm more interested in Keith and Lance's individual chracter developments than their love lives.) Hell, I don't even care if they date other people. What bothered me was the thrown in ships. This is a thing a lot of shows do that I have complained about time and again. They kinda go 'oh shit, need love interest. Hey this persons single! They'll be perfect!' And then throw then together in the most awkward way. Acxa got the redemption she fucking deserved! And then they threw her and Keith together. Allura has been ignoring Lances flirty nature all this time, but oh no the show is ending soon and Lotors gone. I'm not gonna flip out though (it's a cartoon, not the end of the world). However, I will summarize my thoughts in this: If a show decides to disregard a hinted at queer couple in favor of 2 hetero couples, at least let them make sense and have actual tension. BUT I say this knowing that there is 1 more season and this relationships have not been fully confirmed. Do I think klance will be canon? Probably not. But I hope for a more open ended solution, without confirmed relationship in which the viewer what they believed happened.

Now this is where people are going to call me out and retaliate saying that I don't care about media representation- in which you would be wrong. I'm not going to sit and defend myself about this, because you probably don't know me and I owe you nothing. I would love for more queer representation- I would love for more queer couples. Yes, Adam died, but I don't think it was meant to be anything more than a tool for Shiro's growth and it falls in line with Shiro's story line. I do not believe it was meant to in any way be a message about lgbt couples or individuals. Adam was just meant to be a casualty of war to make the show more impactful.

Do I think there has been queer baiting? Yes and no. Klance has been hinted at and talked about and there was a lot of hype about Adam. Being fair- a lot of these came from the fandom? Shiro's given a boyfriend we know nothing about and the fandom blows up and dies. Every time Keith are seen together on screen or in promotional material people screech about Klance. Shiro is shown in promotional material with Adam because leaving Adam behind only to return and find him fucking dead is huge to his development- it's promotional material meant to draw you in so you wnat to know more. Keith and Lance are shown a lot. Well: 1. Most recognizable characters, 2. Have had major character development and have at times been the main driving plot of the show, 3. To someone who has some how been unaware of the Voltron disaster over the last couple years, showing them the shows 2 pretty boys is gonna draw them in. I don't think it has been purposeful 'queer baiting'.

And, if we're going to talk about the representation issues, let's talk about how the fandom represents themselves. Cause you know if I wasn't part of the queer community and didn't know a whole lot about the community and only saw queer kids harassing adults on social media, blackmailing companies, and sending threatening emails over a gay couple, I wouldn't be thinking too highly of the queer community. And then that puts creators in a bad position because if they give in? Theyre just catering to these people. If they don't? They're homophobic and enforcing heteronormativity. Like wtf did you expect? I constantly wonder what this show could have been if the creators weren't having to deal with such a toxic fandom. When you do these things you are representing yourself, your age group, the fandom, and the queer community. You are a representation worse than this show could ever be.

Which leads me to my biggest complaint: the fandom. Obviously, ive already touched on this (a lot), but my god, is it bad. I go on Twitter and see tweets to Lauren, and thw actors. I see people with pictures of long, threatening emails. I see kids, and yes I'm saying kids because everytime I look its someone between the ages of 13 and 16, making scathing remarks and accusing people of being homophobic. Not even talking about the crap that's happened in previous years and seasons, this fandom disgusts me. I woke up this morning to fucking messages with demands that I talk about this. I know and follow so many creators who refuse to create for the Voltron fandom because it's so endlessly toxic. I don't know if you think you're cool or powerful or whatever for accusing and threatening but you're not. You just look stupid for throwing a fit over a cartoon originally aimed at kids. Also like saying youre not gonna watch the last season because you didnt get the ending you wanted? Really?

I had more to say but I'm done. This whole post has put me in a bad mood but I'm going to leave with this: if you really cared about lgbt representation or lgbt rights, you wouldn't be complaining about a cartoon to a bunch of people just doing their jobs. You're just upset the show didn't go how you wanted, get over it. I'm sick of seeing people attacked for nothing. Y'all are toxic and need to learn some manners.

#voltron #vld #voltron legendary defender #voltron legendary discourse #voltron season 7 #calm down #klance #adashi #shadam #voltron is toxic

[serenagaywaterford]

Have you seen Amanda Brugel's last instagram post? I'm beginning to worry Serena doesn't survive the season

HEY ANON! SERIOUS QUESTION: ARE YOU TRYING TO GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK LOL?! Now, cue me frantically pouring over the post!

I’m curious. What makes you think that it’s ominous? It could be my wishful thinking, but nothing screamed out at me from it? Am I blind, lol? I mean, of course, there’s Ever waxing all FOMO over it, but that’s expected cos she’s not in the show all that much as it is. And the photo, if I’m reading Amanda right, is from S1. Is that why?

Maybe it’s wishful thinking but I don’t think they’ll kill off Serena–yet. Mainly, she’s one of the central characters, and certainly the central (human) antagonist to June specifically. (We all know the real villain is Gilead and male power. Fred is a secondary antagonist imo, and more like a stand-in for Gilead itself to make it easier to see the true evil.) There is a great deal of focus on her thus far, to develop her and weave her into a story that, if we’re all being real, the Waterfords should have been gone from already and certainly by the end of S2 but we know there’s going to be even more about both of them. And there is quite QUITE a lot of potential to move Serena across the “villainy spectrum” towards neutral or even true anti-hero without it being a deus ex machina/jump the shark sort of thing. And that sort of story is pure gold for a writer. It can be milked for a long time and works easily with drama, and the feminist themes of the show. I don’t want to say “redemption arc” cos that would require A LOT of work and I think most viewers are still stuck on 210 (once again–that was a HORRIBLE MISSTEP FOR THE CREATIVE TEAM the way it was written. I’ll say that forever because so many, many people missed the underlying point about it), but movement is possible.

Also, Miller seems to really enjoy the character/actress, and Yvonne’s got a LOT of hype on social media/critics circles. I think even if you hate Serena, you recognise how stellar Yvonne’s doing. Like, that’s why Serena is so hated (other than people not understanding Serena)–Yvonne plays her so exceptionally well.

I have NO idea what the contract situation is like, but I’d suspect she has a 5-year deal, like most. Quite frankly, the only reason I can see for killing Serena off is that Yvonne wants out, to be with her new baby. It must be dreadful to have a newborn and be working 6 months on such a dark, cold show about the oppression of women and horrible things about children. But she is a professional so we’ll see.

Or, I suppose, if they want SHOCK VALUE. Cos, who really expects Serena to die? I know a lot of vocal idiots online cream themselves over her dying a painful death and wish her horrible death constantly, but those are just loud online idiots – and if I’ve learnt anything from decades of fandom, it’s that showrunners rarely give a shit about those fans or take them seriously. They’ll pander to a degree, but they deep down don’t care. (Obvs there are exceptions but most showrunners and writers have a goal and view and it doesn’t change based on the whims of rabid fans on Twitter and Tumblr. There was a time in my life that I believed they cared. They do not, lol.)

But hey, this is complete wishful thinking cos she’s my babe and I don’t want THT without her. So I live in denial that they’ll kill her off. She’s honestly the most complex and second most developed character in the entire series. It would seem short-sighted to dump a character like that.

Honestly? I think it’s far more likely that Rita will leave the show than Serena, if we’re looking at Amanda & Yvonne. Which is a shame too cos she’s the only Canadian in the main cast and a good character. It all depends I suppose on the direction they go with the Resistance/Mayday and the Waterfords. Rita and Serena could BOTH go by the end of the season.

I’m gonna rant now about the characters that SHOULD go…

In terms of characters that have run their course, I vote for the main males. Both Fred and Nick are totally redundant to me now–and this has nothing to do with my dislike of Nick, I swear. Just on a narrative level, he no longer serves much purpose if we’re supposed to be watching a show about women fighting back against a repressive patriarchal fascist regime. (I don’t need some cutsey romance subplot, thanks. And I don’t think June requires it either, not when she’s on a mission to get HANNAH back and make to Canada to reunite with her HUSBAND and bff, all whilst saving ALL the children and women of Gilead. She’s got quite enough going on. The story is supposed to be less depressing this season so the argument that the N/J thing brings “lightness” and “hope” to a bleak story is also outdated too.) He’s just redundant. Served his purpose, and it was an important purpose, don’t get me wrong! I understand his very integral role especially in S1 but it’s just run its course, imo. I think even Nick stans seem to recognise this on some level cos they’re always terrified he’s going to be killed off almost every episode lol.

I may not care for Luke either, but he actually will remain important to the story, I think and I can’t see any good reason to get rid of him. He needs to remain alive. I think it would kill June to find out he’s dead.

Fred is just… a cartoon now and needs to go. How many more Evil TM things can he do? Yawn. We don’t need the personification of Gilead anymore I don’t think. We get it. Both Nick and Fred have dodged certain death now and it’s just like, OKAY, with June I get it cos she’s the protag, but them? Give me a break. Lazy. The only reason I don’t think they’ll kill off Nick is pure fanservice. I can’t see any rational reason other than that. Those LOUD fangirls will have a fucking meltdown. (I’ll say that when I speak to non-fandom people offline about the show, the vast majority don’t really care about the N*ck/June storyline nearly as much. Most people I’ve spoken with care much more about the larger issues–and it was crazy cos I was talking to a friend that I hadn’t seen in like 4 months about THT, and I know isn’t a fan of THT–like she watches it but isn’t in fandom. Just casual. And I brought up Serena (of course I did) but I was very critical of her, and she (who knows ZERO about my true feelings for Serena lol) was defensive of the character. It blew my mind cos she’s really not the type to defend problematic characters or villains. (I honestly thought she’d be a Nick fan, N/J fan, and Serena hater. But she’s a JUNE fan first and foremost, doesn’t really care for N/J but thought it was cute at the time, and doesn’t hate Serena.) She even brought up points that we Serena fans say, completely unprompted by me. So, I think in terms of casual fans, they’re a little more perceptive than the vocal majority of N*ck/June fangirls that dominate fandom. God, it’s such a relief to talk to offline people sometimes. By and large, they seem far more reasonable when it comes to this show and where the focus should be. (I should probably mention that almost all of the people I’ve spoken to about THT have been over the age of 25 (many over 30), which probably has something to do with it tbh.)

Both Fred and Nick are props for the female characters, and I think June and Serena are developed enough at this point to stand on their own without the need for either of those dudes. I don’t need men to help tell a story about women, thanks.

But again, I’m just some online voice. The producers and showrunners don’t give a shit what I think. They don’t even know I exist. And that’s probably a good thing (considering my obsession with having June/Serena fuck, lol. I’m gonna wager they don’t wanna see that.).

I’m just gonna pretend I am not now freaking out about Serena being killed off in S3. As much as I think it may be a terrible idea, I honestly don’t put it past this show…

#i'm not shaking nope

[nautilusopus]

1, 10, 46

1. How did you get into FFVII?

As much as I bitch about how the original game was the best and everything afterwards was terrible, I’m actually comparatively a latecomer. Funny story – I was just gonna shit all over this game and call it a day, initially.

‘Twas the far off year of 2008-ish. The emo subculture was alive and well, nobody would shut the fuck up about Haruhi Suzumiya and how it was the Greatest Anime Ever, Legendary Frog’s career had just started to peeter out, and Let’s Plays were only just starting to become A Thing. Since the market wasn’t oversaturated to the point of self-parody at times, it was anyone’s game back then. You had your Chuggaaconroy, your Slowbeef and Beetus, your Pokecapn, your Red Chocobo/Orbital Grouse, but little else. I’d just gotten done watching the Brand Spanking New Sonic 06 LP and I figured, “hey, anyone can do this! I’ll just find a famously bad game and tear it a new asshole on the internet and get and become internet famous”. 

Back then it was also in vogue to talk about how terrible and overrated VII was and how it was actually an awful game, and I was right at the goddamn forefront of that particular bandwagon. If you’re ever going through some long-forgotten internet forum crypt and find some Guest taunting people about how Final Fantasy VII is a Bad Game for emo fags and Cloud is gay and cuts himself and Sephiroth isn’t as cool as Kefka? There’s a good chance it was me (I had played neither VII nor VI at the time, it’s worth noting. I just knew that was the thing you were supposed to say.) The number one rebuttal at that point to most of the shit we’d say was “dude did you even play the games?” and the answer was no, but of course, you didn’t need to, right? You could ascertain everything you needed to know about it via Internet Vogue Opinion Osmosis. So that was obviously all there was to know about the game at all, end of story. 

Also I saw a bit of Dirge. Did nothing to help my opinion of the franchise at all.

So, I had my Definitely Shitty Game, I picked up a used copy for fifteen bucks (a real bargain, even back then), and I sat down to complain loudly about everything that could possibly be complained about and prove all those haterzz wrong. I did pretty well for the first three hours – The Graphics are Bad™, Cloud is a Douchebag and I Hate Him™ (that’s another thing, I fucking despised Cloud at first), Aeris is a Mary Sue™, Tifa is Boring™, Sephiroth is Gay and Fucks His Mother™, Who Is This Black Man Why Did Nobody Tell Me About Him™, et cetera. Wall Market earned a few brownie points with me just out of shock value alone, since before that point my main exposure to T and M rated content had been Metal Gear Solid and the tone that adult content is handled with in each of them is quite different. 

Then I hit the Shinra Tower segment and found the President dead at his desk and went through the chase scene afterwards. Been a diehard fan ever since. Never looked back. 

It’s difficult to describe the exact moment where I realised “hooooly shit I was wrong about everything this game is fucking amazing”, but I think a lot of it can be summed up with the idea that it took every preconceived notion that I had developed about what the game absolutely must be like and smashed them to pieces. The characters were expertly written, the story was complex and surreal and bittersweet and funny without ever feeling like they needed to sacrifice levity for drama or vice versa. You have to realise, if you were generally familiar with traditional RPGs like I was back then and then went into VII expecting the same traditional RPG setup, this game would have blown your goddamn mind. A lot of what’s taken for granted about how story-heavy games are written nowadays stemmed from VII, and in complaining about it being overhyped, one does have to realise it was hyped as much as it was initially for a really good reason. I knew about Aeris by then, everyone did. What I didn’t know about was the sheer magnitude of everything else in the story that nobody ever fucking talked about because how could you possibly, and people are still debating about it all to this day. You can’t gush about the brilliance of the plot twist on disc 2 and the subtleties it reveals about Cloud’s character the same way you can about “Oh man did you see when Aeris dies that was so sad guys”, or the questions the game poses about what makes you you in terms of validation and guilt and identity, and the mature insightful take it had on mental illness that is rarely matched even to this day, and the innovative way where they decided that death wasn’t heroic or glamorous or beautiful or tragic but instead just sucks and hurts a whole fucking lot and comes to everyone in the end the way you can about “WHOA THAT SUMMON CUTSCENE WAS FOUR MINUTES LONG AND THAT DRAGON BLEW UP A CONTINENT”. 

(And then I played Dirge and Crisis Core and saw the movies and was crushed because it went and proved thirteen year-old me right about all the stupid bullshit I said because it was the opposite of everything I ever loved about the original. God damn you, Nojima, you hack.)

VII is a good fucking game and it has the box quote it does for a damn good reason. Go play it. 

Since then I’ve always tried to avoid buying into internet hype about when a game is supposedly bad, because I almost made the same mistake all over again with Undertale. It says a lot about VII that I actively tried to hate it as much as I possibly could whether it was necessary or not and still wound up absolutely loving it. You never know, is all I’m saying. Make your own decisions. 

10. A NOTP?

ACGZsvs Statutory Rape Gangbang

1.Cloud is 14-16, that’s gross. Like, with Zack, it’s alright I guess, but everything else is gross. 

2. All of these people are his fucking bosses and outrank him ten times over. In a military setting. That’s extra gross. And fraternisation. (Also are you telling me Shinra doesn’t publicly execute any sort of insubordiation via firing squad on live television, especially with their top weapons?)

3. It’s illustrative of basically everything I hate about the fandom and the Compilation and the way Crisis Core went out of its way to write everyone that isn’t a the young white male marketable/shippable character out of everything even remotely resembling relevance, and how the fandom is not only absolutely fine with this, but completely on board with it all because it means they get more prettyboys to ship. Aeris is Zack’s accessory. Tifa isn’t even fucking in it. Barret? Who the fuck is Barret? Oh he’s not willowy enough and black so who cares. Nobody cares what happens to the story or the characters (or even Cloud’s arc, good god) as long a they have more material for their doujins. I hate it more than I can possibly find the words to express.

46. Favorite song in the OST?

Ah geez, this is actually a really tough one for me. I guess there’s four that really stand out for me.

I really like Cait Sith’s theme, which is actually my ringtone and has been for years because I really like jazz or anything remotely resembling jazz.

Pretty good one. Works nicely with the electric keyboard midi. 

Jenova Absolute, the one I linked to earlier, is another favourite, and also my favourite boss theme, even moreso than J-E-N-O-V-A. I actually went and learned how to play it on the piano and everything, and a full arrangement of that with multiple piano tracks was gonna be my “200 follower” present to you all except then I got mic problems and then I got really lazy and then I forgot about it, so the ETA on that is “eventually probably”. 

You Can Hear The Cry Of The Planet is a really good one. Very pretty, kinda spooky, vaguely alien, and sort of ominous considering what’s coming, which also plays in my favourite (also really pretty, kinda spooky, vaguely alien, and sort of ominous considering what’s coming) location in the game. It’s a shame this is the only place it plays in one location in the game. Sometimes I drive all the way back here just to listen to this one track. 

The last one is another exclusive track that’s very pretty and vaguely alien (well it plays in that marshy area on disc 3 but that doesn’t count) and plays during my favourite scene in the game.

Even hearing this sets off the same step-on-my-goddamn-heart response it did all those years ago. It’s sad. Not even like “sad”, sad like you’d usually think when you hear “sad”, it’s just… sad. That’s it. That’s all he had and that’s gone and that’s it, and he just kinda unhinges because it’s all he can do. I consider this one Cloud’s theme as much as his actual theme is his theme.

Fuck I wanna play this game again now.

#tw: self-harm #asks #forfdorfsorf #tw: rape #Squid Alienates VII Fans #fury-brand #longpost is long

[agl03]

Hello. I've seen a lot of people trying to really lower their expectations on the side Fitzsimmons side... (which shows how much the writers fucked up this season....) but I mostly watch the show for them so if I do that I got nothing left :'((

Hi Anon!

I know a lot of people are watch solely/mostly for Fitzsimmons and I know the fandom is disappointed right now.  

Here is what I mean with my manage expectations my personal position at this point.

Over hiatus we had lots of hype and were treated in pretty much a Golden Age of Fitzsimmons fluffy fics as it was the first hiatus where Fitzsimmons were canon and I wasn’t worried about half of my ship being dead or who knows where.  And then came comic con, and all the hype and talk seemed to only confirm what I had been envisoning all summer was coming.  That we’d see the  surprise and honesty I pictured what we saw in 4x08  as the standard…only with more kissing.

And while I am still disappointed, I wanted a long time for this ship to be canon and really wanted to see it.  When I take those summer expectations out of the equation I can really see what they were doing with FItzsimmons.  Your right, they still should have at least given us a little bit more, but I get what was going on.

I feel what they wanted to portray was Fitzsimmons had to deal with what many couples have to deal with.  In that their work/jobs keep them apart.  They had yet to find that balance.  The separation compounded by the secrets each had to keep.  This all reached critical mass as they had their fight about AIDA, FItz disappeared, and Jemma was Macenapped.  That was their “something has to change” point….or I hope it was.

From the lack of kisses/sexy times standpoint, AOS simply isn’t that kind of show.  I have to remember that now.  Even with StaticQuake, once they got together there was only one forehead kiss.  The show shows the first sexy times or kiss almost as a way of “establishing” the relationship and then,  unless it has something to do with the story, we wont’ see it again.  So now I don’t expect it, if we get it great, if not sadly that is just how the show is written.  

Another factor I personally didn’t take into consideration in my original expectations was Philinda’s resurgence.  They needed to take time in A to set that up for what is coming for them in B.  That time spent setting up both Philinda and Mackelena meant less time for Fitzsimmons.  And in a good way Fitzsimmons relationship not being a huge focus was a good thing.  For me it means we don’t have something super scary about to come at us….because both Philinda an Mackelena do.  

When I take out my expectations for things like Woman on Fire and stolen kisses, and the surprise (which in my head is the new necklace until canon proves me otherwise) we did have some strong Fitzsimmons moments.  Especially in 7 and 8.  

We got they are living together, sharing a bunk and bed.

We got the Love Nest (come on seeing them living in it!)

We got them joking with each other, that easy banter back

We saw them facing issues like a normal couple

We got casual “I love you’s” as in its been said so many times, its established, and didn’t need a huge scene…though I still would have loved to have seen the first one.  This one was just as powerful.

In 7, despite them being separated most of the episode, and despite Jemma not knowing he was gone.  There was no question how much they meant to each other.  We did see Fitz hurting and desperate to get back to her.  We did see every single person on the team acknowledging how much they knew Fitz meant to Jemma.  It also made Jemma not knowing and what Mace had done with her all that much worse.   And the their reunion at the end.  Is one of my top Fitzsimmons scenes ever.  That hug, the way they just clung to each other, was much more powerful for me than a kiss would have been.  

In 8 was Season 1 Fitzsimmons at its best.  Working together, in the same room, finishing each others sentences, and talking in Unison saying the same thing.  We had quiet moments of affection.  Fitz’s comforting touch as they set up the arch and the couch cuddles.  

And there was a lot important groundwork that had to be laid…that sadly kept them apart.

Jemma’s new job taking her out of the lab, the SADIST story isn’t done yet.

Fitz working with Radcliffe on AIDA, which that will be a HUGE arc in B.

They needed to establish the Fitz/Radcliffe father-esque relationship.

Fitzsimmons dislike/distrust of Mace.

Jemma’s connection to Nadeer and her brother.

That all being said I have adjusted my expectations going into B.  

I know and accept they won’t always be on the same story.  I wanted them to have something outside of their relationship and now I have it.  

They will still come together and work together as well.

That there will be times where their jobs keep them apart.  This is nothing new, they’ve been working separately since Season 2 started and its rare for them to be out in the field together.  

Things like sexy times are now like the FItzsimmons backstories…we won’t get it unless it means something to the story/to set something up.

AOS doesn’t do a lot of PDA with any of its ships so things like a kiss will be a nice surprise.

They are together and in love.  I just have to be okay with the show only having so much time and not able to show it as much as I want.  

Any moments we do get will be all the more special.

I agree, the writers still went too far the other way.  I hope they know that now like they realized the Space Rando was a step too far in the contrived roadblock department.

Please don’t get too discouraged.  I really do have hope that now that they played the job allowing them to be torn apart and now we will see more of them together.   It still won’t be all the time but we will get more than we had in A.

#fitzsimmons #aos meta #ask agl03