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she-posts-nerdy-stuff · 6 months

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Hi lovelies, I know I reblogged a post about the S&B news earlier but I just want to put my own words out here real quick.

I’m slightly late writing this because I spent the last 30 minutes or so watching the wonderful wonderful wonderful brekkerbybrekker on Instagram live and it was honestly just a full half hour or me crying whilst I watched her cry. I feel like we all know her but if anyone doesn’t she’s on insta and tiktok and she’s absolutely brilliant so do go give her a follow.

The Grishaverse has been part of my life actually for only 2 years, nearly 2 1/2, and I say only because I feel like I have been part of this world forever. I read Six of Crows in May 2021 and I had finished reading the series by September. I think it was in June that I started watching the TV show, after I’d read the first Shadow and Bone book. So although I read the books first, or in the case of S&B the books that were relevant to the season, I have never existed in this fandom - and definitely not as an active part of it - without the show there. And really the main thing I want to say is please please please don’t let this fandom end because we don’t have the show anymore. I know it existed before me but I also know that we got a lot more traction because of the show, you can see that in the way the popularity of it spiked before the release of season 2, and I don’t want to lose this because I love it here so damn much. It really hurts that we won’t be able to see our beloved, wonderful cast in all the futures we’d hoped for, and I really hope they know just how much we love them. This is a difficult revelation, but we will continue on together because we are a strong and wonderful community joined by such genuine love for such a beautiful series of novels.

Over the next few days I’m planning on reblogging the analyses of season 2 that I posted in March so if you’ve joined me since then (which I think a lot of you have since we’re so close to 1.3k thank you all so much) and haven’t read them then give them a look because I really think there’s so much wonderfulness to celebrate about that show and that’s what we need to keep doing now. I also might end up writing some new analyses of the show since I will almost definitely be rewatching it.

Deep down, I honestly really thought we were gonna make it

I know that not everyone will get why this provoked an emotional response from me and that’s okay, but please don’t be disrespectful of the fact that it did 🖤

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the-somwthing · 12 days

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I gotta talk to people so bad so I’m just gonna spout something that’s been on my mind for a while

I see a lot of people always describing Joel and Scott’s rivalry as one sided. Like, Joel just hates Scott and Scott doesn’t care? And while I feel like that statement is technically true, it doesn’t really describe the situation very well.

It sort of implies that Scott’s never out to get Joel, and Joel is just coming after Scott for no reason. I won’t deny that Joel does like to come after Scott without provocation sometimes, but like… we are ignoring the fact that 3/5 Joel final deaths have been at Scott’s hand?

In two seasons, those kills were a result of a deliberate hunt to get rid of Joel specifically. In Last Life, I’ll give him a bit of a pass, since Joel did kind of start the fight with a big explosion and had been the “villain” for the entire season, it makes enough sense to try to end him like that.

But in LIMITED LIFE?? As a Joel viewer I am NEVER getting over the feeling of watching his final episode (not negative, just baffling in a way I find pretty fun lol). Scott randomly says “Joel needs to die” and everyone just agrees I guess? And then Joel is being witch hunted. “Oh but it’s because he was getting so many kills! Duh!” Grian had more. Grian LITERALLY got a quad kill (ON SCOTT FOR THAT MATTER) and Scott’s like “JOEL is the problem, the murderous evil of the server”. LIKE HELLO?? They’re literally allies, Scott could’ve said “we need to get rid of the bad boys” but he was COOL with Grian. He was letting Grian LIVE. Like HELLO??? WHAT DID JOEL DO FR 😭 Joel was literally just trying to survive btw, his fighting back was very defensive rather than offensive, and would back off when not being actively attacked. With the exception of trying to get kills cuz he was on less than ten minutes, of course. But Scott had been hunting him before then.

And then I guess I have to mention Secret Life’s Scott-Killing-Joel. I don’t think that final kill was especially targeted on either of their sides, the battle just turned out that way. I could rewatch to see if there’s more to it but for now this is how I see it.

Okay, I’m turning this into a full analysis of their rivalry, idc, I’m literally obsessed with their dynamic. I’m adding a cut here.

ALRIGHT WHERE WAS I. RIGHT. Finished explaining the final deaths, but there’s stuff before that! Let’s take a look at their rivalry 🥰

Let’s go in order, shall we? 3rd Life!! I am obsessed with them in this season ahahahhaga anyways. Joel comes after Scott unprovoked. Simple, this is how everyone sees their rivalry. HOWEVER. Joel is FULLY WILLING to work with him anyways. Maybe you could excuse the dark oak thing as it was early on and they were just trying to take down a monopoly. But in the finale they reconcile and spend much of the session together. They established early on that Joel had been trying to kill Scott, but they’re both perfectly happy to team up instead (which btw they did because they both happened to be allied with Scar).

Then Last Life. Joel does hate Scott in it, but I’m not sure I would say it’s without reason. Joel being boogey in ep2 was majorly important, and he killed Scott. But that wasn’t targeted. He had attempted multiple times to kill other people. Scott was one of the only (and closest) people who didn’t already know he was boogeyman. Then of course Scott tells Pearl they can fight back and has her kill Joel, sending him to red. Perfectly reasonable for all parties imo, and a good enough reason for Joel to target Scott seeing as being red early on had a huge impact on him.

Of course LL is also where Joel says Scott just looked at him funny one day and that’s why he hates him, which is a great line. I do believe he would bother Scott just for the rivalry, but unlike in 3rd Life, Scott had done things to make Joel never consider stopping.

Then Double Life. Erm. Literally nothing, except that I believe the only reason Scott and Pearl were the last pair is because Joel wasn’t there to kill them, since apparently he’s the only one who can make them lose lives. Wild. They were guaranteed to win ever since the lava portal trap. (obviously I’m joking but like how is he the only outside force to kill that pair). I will clarify for analysis sake that Joel’s first kill on them had nothing to do with Scott, and the second kill was to Scott but it was because of the life colors, not really anything about their rivalry. It was technically targeted at Scott specifically but not cuz he hated him, instead because Pearl had a weird “alliance” with the reds.

Then Limited Life!!! What the heeelll was happening lmao. I already talked about the final moment so before that. Erm. I’m blanking out I’m listening to bad romance it’s distracting me. You know what let’s move on I can’t remember what they did, the final death I explained previously is enough data for now.

Secret Life. Oh boy. I’ll say it again, I was secretly hoping for more Scott/Joel dynamic when it started but I doubted it would happen but we got FED!!! I was so excited when I saw the assassin task (as was Joel). Anyways. Throughout the season Joel was doing the whole hating Scott thing, Scott caught onto the bit and played into it somewhat by talking more about how Joel always hates him for no reason. We SHOULD be able to disregard Joel targeting Scott for the assassin task as it was a task, but to be fair after reading it Joel said “oh my gosh is this my dream?” He was super happy to be assigned to assassinate Scott LMAO. That has to count for something.

I feel like the rivalry was fairly obvious, so I need to point out the outlier moments in SL. While Joel goes on about how Scott should die, he happily trades with him and swapped gifted hearts with zero hesitation. In the final session, he and Scott ended up on the same side. I believe Joel may have been slightly annoyed at being on a team with him but accepts it nonetheless. The only reason Scott ends up killing Joel is because their team won, so they had to turn on each other. As previously stated it wasn’t especially targeted, it was a 2v2.

And then if you noticed from me saying 3/5 games, I’m not counting Real Life, but I’ll bring it up here. Scott literally says “since it’s real life we can be friends now since we’re friends in real life” (one of the many reasons I consider RL noncanon tbh, Scott literally mentions in-universe that this season is different so they can act differently, also what is the in-universe explanation for “friends in real life”). Aside from a reminder that Joel doesn’t actually hate Scott irl and this is just fun game rp stuff, this shows that Scott really did catch onto the rivalry bit, and really does just bring it up more. Joel had just arrived when Scott brought it up. Joel agrees to being friends in Real Life. This holds little relevance to my analysis since I don’t view RL as canon but you can keep it in mind.

Now that I’ve laid out their rivalry in a simplified summary, let me ACTUALLY analyze it! What did I mean all the way back at the start of the post when I said “Scott and Joel’s rivalry being one sided is somewhat accurate but I feel it misrepresents their relationship”?

Well, I believe it’s true that (at least up until Secret Life), Scott didn’t care about the rivalry while Joel did. But that doesn’t mean Scott never targeted Joel, as I said he’s witch-hunted him twice. It’s just it was never personal to Scott. I once saw a post(s) I really enjoyed, an analysis on Scott. Saying that he doesn’t actually value being loyal, he values being fair. Then there was the addition that it’s based on what he thinks is fair. I feel like this is 100% true for his thing with Joel. Scott views Joel as a force that has to be stopped, he’s gone too far, he needs to be stopped, it’s only fair for all the suffering he’s caused. He doesn’t stop to think about how killing is the whole point of this game, how other people are doing the same things, how many times he has killed Joel. Joel hasn’t killed Scott permanently before, he has killed him though, but not as much as Scott has killed Joel. To Scott, that doesn’t matter, Scott kills Joel for a reason, for justice, while Joel kills just for the sake of it. Whether or not that idea is true is up to you to interpret for yourself, but to Scott it’s true. Joel is more of a wildfire that needs to be put out than a rival.

Let’s look at Joel’s side of things. He does hate Scott and target him for no reason. The rivalry is one sided, where Joel sees a rival Scott sees some random danger that needs to be dealt with. I can’t tell you why Joel hates Scott. It’s not really the point of my analysis. I’ve seen ppl say it’s because of previous series they’ve had together (they’ve been rivals for ages!) but for my headcanons they don’t remember those, tho very few feelings from their past lives may linger, so perhaps that does explain it. For the sake of my analysis though we won’t be looking deep into why Joel likes to poke at Scott. It’s cuz he looked at him funny one day remember?

So we establish that Joel needlessly attacks Scott. But if you’ll notice from my summaries, he is fully willing to put aside that hatred. It’s conditional (yes it is the default, but still). If Scott treats Joel kindly, Joel will attempt to reciprocate it. Let’s look at this again:

3L: Joel targets Scott, Scott kind of just gives him a disapproving look every time and doesn’t fight back. Joel ends up feeling somewhat guilty, and in the end has no problems teaming up with Scott.

LL: Scott was the main cause of Joel turning red, Joel targets him constantly. Scott ends up permanently killing Joel to put an end to his madness.

DL: erm. Well it’s worth mentioning Joel never specifically targeted Scott for no reason. ALSO WORTH MENTIONING SCOTT BURNED THE RELATION??? This season was a bit of a switch-up. I need to rewatch to see if Scott had any good reason to do that lmao I don’t really remember, I hardly remembered he was responsible.

LimL: Scott deems Joel to be a server menace who needs to die, Joel (who doesn’t really understand why he needs to die) tries negotiating many times but Scott insists. He kills Joel.

SL: Joel gets task to target Scott, is thrilled. He fails miserably, losing people he cares about in the process. Vows to kill Scott, it’s like his main goal now. Still accepts every peace offering from Scott with little to no hesitation, to the point of eventually teaming with him until they’re forced to go against each other and Scott kills Joel again.

So basically you can see, every time Scott does something to wrong Joel, Joel goes hard on the rivalry, while if he doesn’t and offers peace, Joel will lay off. Secret Life was a weird middle ground, where Scott had done things to wrong Joel, however those things weren’t entirely his fault so when he offered peace to Joel, Joel would still accept. A confusing time for Joel I’m sure.

I will say a disclaimer here, I’m not saying Scott shouldn’t ever fight back against Joel. If he’s targeting you for no reason, it’s your decision if you’ll try to befriend him to make him stop or fight back. I support fighting back. I’m just saying that befriending him is a proven method to work, but I don’t think Scott has exactly noticed that and instead just assumes that Joel will stop at nothing to end him.

Another thing I wanted to talk about but forgot what the natural and intuitive transition into it was gonna be. Scott has permakilled Joel 3 times. Joel has permakilled Scott 0 times.

Joel had started the series off picking on Scott for no reason, and has never succeeded. Scott has won this battle three times. At this point, it’s honestly finally somewhat justified for Joel to come after Scott. That guy has specifically targeted and hunted him out of 2 seasons, and took him out of a 3rd as well. Joel has taken Scott out of 0. At this point, I feel like Joel needs that closure, to finally kill Scott, and who knows if he’ll ever get it. If you look at the fandom, even fans are hoping Joel will kill Scott because of this. So imagine how Joel feels! But obviously Scott wouldn’t just let him (okay. Well. Actually. It’s Scott. He kind of lets people do that all the time. But only allies…). Scott will be waiting for Joel to target him once more, and deal with it the way he always does. But who knows if it’ll turn out different?

Which reminds me that I pinpoint SL as the season Scott finally notices this “one sided rivalry”. We all know Scott loves drama, so when he finally noticed Joel had been hating him the whole time, he kept bringing it up. And it wasn’t just for SL only, he brought it up the moment he saw Joel in RL. I don’t count RL as canon but it does prove that Scott hasn’t let go of the rivalry now that he’s finally realized it. I don’t know if there will be a 6th season, but if so I wouldn’t be surprised if Scott brings up the rivalry. Idk if he would make it a big deal, but he would surely at least mention it.

Anyways, if you think I’m done with my little analysis, you’re wrong!!! I’m done with the things I see as pretty factual, but now we’re gonna get into more fanon headcanony type of territory!!!

…but, maybe I’ll make that its own post. Stay tuned and thanks for reading!

#trafficblr #life series #traffic analysis #< is that for this fandom or like. real life traffic. lmk #life series scott #life series joel #secret life spoilers #limited life spoilers #double life spoilers #last life spoilers #3rd life spoilers #ALSO WARNING THIS IS SOSO LONG IT TOOK OVER AN HOUR HELPPP

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on-a-sunbeam · 1 month

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Revenge and Dollhouse for the ask game?

YES HI!!! Uhm I’ll do Dollhouse first!

My rating (1-10): I’d give it a 6, maybe. Which is to say that I enjoyed it A LOT but also I have just like. A Few Critiques. Just one or two.

My favourite character: ADELLE!! There is no contest here at all I loveee her

My least favourite character: Okay, this used to be super easy because I really hated Topher at first, but I have grown to tolerate him so. I mean I hate like almost all the clients and also Sierra’s handler, but you’re supposed to hate them so it’s not really specific to me, I guess. I’ll say Nolan though, for obvious reasons.

The character I think I'd be friends with: I think Ivy because I have friends that Ivy reminds me of heh

The character I think I won't hit off with: Maybe Ballard? He seems very serious I don’t know

My favourite episode/scene: EVERY SCENE WITH ADELLE. I’m kidding but only slightly. Uhh I really liked A Spy in the House of Love, though, and I think Echoes is pretty funny. Belonging has um. A LOT going on in it, but I will say I really liked Adelle in that one, too.

Whose clothing style I like best: Unfortunately, I’m legally obligated to say Topher because I dress exactly like him. It was slightly detrimental to my whole initial hating-him campaign that every time I saw him I went ‘ah I would wear that’

Times I watched it (and if I would again): Once! And I definitely would again; despite its flaws I do really like it and it’s not super long either. Plus Adelle.

Aaand Revenge!!

My rating (1-10): 8.5! I love it a lot

My favourite character: UHHH HARD tie between Emily and Victoria. I do also really like Amanda so I don’t know.

My least favourite character: It’s been a hot second since I’ve watched this, so no one’s really jumping out to me. I will say though that I somehow forget that Jack exists half the time. I really don’t know how I manage that when he’s kind of a Main Guy, but it’s still a little surprise every time he shows up. This doesn’t even happen to Declan, just to him.

The character I think I'd be friends with: I’m not saying Ashley is normal, per se, but I am saying she’s MOSTLY normal. I feel like we could hang out and chat while I was blissfully unaware of any scheming.

The character I think I won't hit off with: I have a weird soft spot in my heart for Tyler but we most certainly would not be friends

My favourite episode/scene: SHOOT. Okay, I liked the party where it all came full circle to the beginning, and I feel like there were some really good twists, but I really like the scene where Amanda dies (which is stupid because I love Amanda but). Also I know this is SUCH a small thing, but for some reason that group shot of the Grayson’s after Victoria kills Helen means everything to me. It’s so silly, but I love it so much.

Whose clothing style I like best: Nolan, maybe? I don’t know, I feel like he had some iconic looks.

Times I watched it (and if I would again): I have a confession to make guys, I actually have not finished it yet 😔. I’m actually still in the middle of season 3 because I’m slow at watching things sometimes. But I have really liked it so far, so odds are pretty good it would be something that I will rewatch!!

Sorry, I just thought of an answer to the least favourite character thing. I HATE AIDEN. I HAVE NO RHYME OR REASON I JUST DISLIKE HIM.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the ask though!!!

#yayayay i love talking about silly lil shows :D #also I SWEAR I WILL ANSWER YOUR MESSAGE #it is taking me a million years i’m sorry :(#revenge #dollhouse

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trollprincess · 5 months

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Okay, so some of you might not know this because I did this before I returned to Tumblr from the bird site, BUT. Last year I dictated almost two entire books to my phone.

Let me explain. One of my jobs is a twelve-hour weekend night shift. Six PM to six AM Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so thirty-six hours with the other four hours paid just as long as we do the entire weekend. I first took it so I could have the rest of the week off, and then proceeded to go back to work at dog camp those days. For the most part, over the last five years, I have only have Mondays completely off solely because that’s when my therapy sessions are.

Anyway, my weekend job is full-time, dog camp is part-time. The weekend job is factory work, making helmets, a lot of which are for the military. (Which, as a pacifist, I manage to stomach because hey, it’s just protective gear.) The thing is, like a lot of manufacturing work, it’s boring and repetitive. Think about how bored you are after five or so hours of an eight-hour shift. Now imagine it’s one o’clock in the morning, you still have five hours to work, and you would literally rather shove nails in your eyes than work. It sucks.

Meanwhile, my free time is spent trying to work at my third job (making @disasterarea-podcast) and attempting to work on getting published. I had all these grand ideas about getting traditionally published back in my twenties, and now I’m 46 and I’m struggling just to come up with any ideas at all a lot of the time. Three jobs doesn’t help. Depression and anxiety don’t help. So for a while there, I had terrible writer’s block when it came to my novels.

So last year, I decided to try something. I have these massive baby-pink noise-canceling Bluetooth gaming headphones with a mic which I wear to work. Why not try dictating a first draft to my phone? Obviously it wouldn’t be exact, since voice-to-text dictation isn’t perfect under the best of situations, and certainly not with loud factory noises around you. But I tried it on dictating notes for my podcast a few times and it worked pretty well, all things considered. And a bad first draft is still a first draft.

So I figured, fuck it, and one night I just started dictating a story off the top of my head. No preparation, no outlining, no worldbuilding - just pantsing HARD with nothing but an annoyance following a Teen Wolf rewatch and a resolution not to edit until after I churned out a first draft.

It took fifty-one days.

Eighty thousand words or so later, I had a dreadful first draft which needed an absolute fuckton of editing and continuity correction and character work. BUT I had a finished first draft of a novel. Which is something I hadn’t had in a good long while.

So I tried it again for NaNoWriMo. I got up to 65k words. So I won NaNoWriMo, but I put the story aside because I hit a bit of a wall. Still! That’s almost two full fiction manuscripts in one year, AND the nonfiction memoir I wrote about my road trip to disaster sites during the pandemic. 2022 was a good writing year.

So I did what I do with first drafts and put them aside for a while. I knew they were awful. I knew they needed a ton of work. And maybe that was a tad intimidating, which is why I only JUST picked up the NaNoWriMo first draft to work on it and finish it off. It’s queer, it’s got time travel, it’s got disasters. It is right up my fucking alley. I may be just a tiny bit obsessed with that story.

Unsurprisingly, going through it now is taking more than a little while. I sit down, I spend an hour working on it, I maaaaaaybe get two paragraphs polished. If that.

But the fact that I’m working on ANY fiction is kind of remarkable. And fingers crossed, maybe I can get this damn thing, and the other manuscript, AND my road trip book, finished and polished over the next year so I can submit the fuck out of them.

NOW. Someone send me a twenty-pound bag of rooibos vanilla chai and ten pounds of red licorice laces. Mama’s gonna need it. *cracks knuckles*

#writing

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inconsistentlywrittensoul · 2 months

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Buffy Season One Review

I’m on my first Buffy rewatch in a long time - I think over a decade? I have watched the entire series enough times that the episodes are all still kind of burned into my brain, but I’m curious what my reaction will be now I’m a bit older.

Anyway, I’ve finished Season One, and I thought I might do a quick review of each season as I go. Can’t promise I’ll be able to keep it up, but I’ll give it a go. So…

Season One Review

S1 is… fine. It’s okay. It’s not as good as later seasons, but it’s not bad; it’s shallower than later seasons, but having expected that I found there’s a surprising amount of depth here. (Partly because I’m watching after reading @herinsectreflection’s excellent analyses, which inspired this most recent rewatch.)

I actually don’t think there are many bad episodes in S1 - the problem is, there’s hardly any good episodes either, and none that rise beyond just being ‘good’. They’re mostly just perfectly serviceable - the metaphors are a bit blunt, the humour’s a bit broad, the MIDI soundtrack kind of sucks, the vibes are kind of cheesy and immature, and overall, it’s just…

It’s Power Rangers. It’s a bit deeper and scarier, and the action scenes are worse, but basically, Season One is Power Rangers. And that’s not bad - I kind of like Power Rangers, and it’s not a bad season by those standards - but it’s not what Buffy is trying to be, or what it will become.

Season Score: 5/10 - It’s fine.

Big Bad - The Master:

In some ways, the Master is perfect. It makes sense that Buffy’s first villain is this kind of ancient and powerful vampire - he’s not as interesting as later villains, but it feels appropriate that Buffy has to beat this more generic Big Bad to move on to them. And he has a strong enough presence that he can actually bear the mythic weight that is placed upon him - it makes sense that he’s the one that killed Buffy, that he sired the Bisexual Vampire Squad; it never feels inappropriate that he has this important place in the mythology of the series, and he can carry that weight in his rare later appearances.

Unfortunately, in this season, he’s a Power Rangers villain. He sits in his lair, sending out minions and screaming in frustration when they fail. (Even finally facing the hero directly in the finale, beating them easily before they get a power up and return the favour - classic Power Rangers villain stuff.) He spends most of the season both trapped and sickly - while at full power he’s a compelling, intimidating presence, for most of the season he seems weak and kind of effete, like a homophobic Bond villain. At his best, he's montrous yet civilised, brutal but witty; in his weakened state, he lacks the contrasts that make him compelling.

Still, he is charming, he does work well in the finale, and he’s always a delight in his rare later appearances. So…

Big Bad Score: 5/10 - He’s fine. (... and not in that sense.)

Rewatch Reevaluations

The biggest change in my perspective since my last rewatch is around Angel. When I was younger, I didn’t really think much about the age difference between him and Buffy; now I’m older, I’m extremely aware of it, but also, it seems like the show is too. The episode where he shifts from ‘random mysterious stranger’ to ‘potential love interest’ is Teacher’s Pet - an episode about an older sexual predator preying on teenagers. Then in ‘Angel’, we don’t just see him creepily staring at Buffy, we see him lie to her about it afterwards, in an episode where the age difference is a major topic of discussion.

In general, his obsession with her comes across as way more creepy and pathetic than I remember, and while part of that is just my interpretation, I do think think the series is aware of it; I think him following her around and staring at her from afar is meant to be kind of offputting. I’m curious how I’ll feel about their romance going forward - I remember on previous watches I thought their breakup in Season 3 was unmotivated, and I suspect I’ll feel very differently about it this time around.

I’m also generally more aware of some things after reading @herinsectreflection’s essays. In particular, I’m noticing Buffy’s relationship to death - from her ‘seize the day, because tomorrow you might be dead’ philosophy in the first episode, to her rebelling against and accepting it in the last… and her Faith-like smile as she enjoys mortal combat with vampires at the beginning of ‘Prophecy Girl’. I’m also much more aware of Giles as a very flawed figure torn between paternal affection for Buffy and sending her to her death - which is explicit in a few episodes, but I’m more aware of it as an ongoing arc, rather than just some isolated emotional beats.

Other than that, one thing I’m noticing is how much weight the show gives to the death of minor characters. It’s easy for an action/horror show to start treating death casually or flippantly, but so far the show is careful to give each death an emotional impact, to make every death matter… at least ‘til the end of the episode, at which point they’ll be promptly forgotten about. Sorry Jesse.

And unsurprisingly for a 90s show, I am finding the sense of humour a little mean and kind of misogynistic, especially towards Cordelia. That said, though Xander is often the face of this meanness, I honestly don’t dislike him, even in S1. The thing is, either the show is aware that he’s being an asshole, in which case it’s an intentional character flaw, which is good; or it isn’t, in which case I tend to blame the show itself rather than the character. Maybe that’s a little generous, but it lets me enjoy the character, so I’m willing extend that generosity. I am curious how I’ll feel about him going forward. I'm glad at least Cordelia gets to be more of a character towards the end of the season - it does make the jokes around her feel a lot less mean.

Honourable Mention Award for Underrated or Forgotten Characters Who Deserve to be Mentioned Honourably

3. Zookeeper Furry from ‘The Pack’. Just a really solid one-off villain performance, in an era where performances tend towards the broad and cheesy side of the spectrum.

2. The Black Cat from ‘The Witch’. Looks like stock footage, never shares a shot or even a set with another character, and achieves nothing except slightly startling Giles, after which he just continues as if nothing happened. Yet despite doing basically nothing, it achieves greatness by earning a place in the opening credits. Truly an inspiration.

1. Principal Flutey. With how much he gets overshadowed by Principal Snyder, it’s easy to forget how great Flutey is as a character. From tearing up Buffy’s permanent record and taping it back together again in front of her, to being eaten by Hyena-possessed students, Flutey is a delight whenever he’s on screen - he’s genuinely a highlight of Season 1 for me. Principal Flutey, I salute you, and hearby mention you as honourably as I can.

Episode Rankings

Might not do this for every season, but hey, it’s a short season, so why not. Starting from the top:

'Prophecy Girl' - Obvious choice, needs no explanation.

'Angel' - Strong character work, introduces a bunch of ideas that’ll be important for the rest of the series, and solves the problem of making a single vampire a threat by giving her guns, which I respect.

'Welcome to the Hellmouth'/'The Harvest' - A solid introduction to the series; I wouldn’t call it great by most standards, but it competently introduces everything the setting, characters and the premise of the series, which is impressive in its own way. Luke is perfect in his role - he’s a compelling presence that feels like a genuine threat, but he’s not so interesting that he distracts from the important things.

'The Pack' - A solid guest performance from the zookeeper, Principal Flutey’s last stand, and some juicy thematic and character goodness makes leaves this Monster of the Week episode at the head of the pack. (… I am so terribly sorry.)

'Nightmares' - Character! Themes! Imagery! This episode has it all, at least by the standards of Season One.

'Out of Mind, Out of Sight' - The first episode that treats Cordelia like an actual character. Also, invisible assassin school! Everybody loves invisible assassin school.

'The Witch' - A perfectly competent MOTW episode, this gets a boost for featuring the cat that accomplishes nothing.

'I Robot, You Jane' - Yeah, the 90s hacker schtick is goofy, but this ep’s not bad - I like the goofy robot demon and the surprisingly good demon prosthetics for its non-robot body that barely appears in the episode. I like the idea that scanning a magic book can summon a demon into the internet itself. Also, Jenny’s here.

'Teacher’s Pet' - Another MOTW episode that does its job adequately. I’m inclined to think of this as the Most Typical Season 1 Episode - it perfectly represents the season at its baseline.

'Puppet Show' - I kind of like some of the ideas in this episode, but the puppet’s a creep and parts of the plot feel contrived. (Why are they sure the demon will leave as soon as it has the organs? Why would Giles get into a guillotine under any circumstances?) Overall… Eh, it’s fine.

'Never Kill A Boy on the First Date' - There’s some good stuff in here, especially around Buffy’s relationship to Giles and to her own Slayerhood. Unfortunately, the plot just doesn’t work - even this early on, one vampire just doesn’t feel like enough of a threat to build an episode around, and generic serial killer vamp is no exception - he's certainly no Luke. It’s a plot entirely concerned with setting up the larger arc around the Anointed One, and that would leave this episode feeling empty and boring even if it was for an arc that was actually, you know, good.

So that's Season One. I enjoyed it fine, but... I'm definitely looking forward to the series really getting good. If somehow you've actually read this far: Thank you for putting my words into your brain. I take it as a great compliment, and hope you liked them - or, failing that, that they invoked in you a great fury, such as only the worst opinions may conjure.

In any case - and regardless of whether I can be bothered to write any more of these - I will continue my rewatch into the Actually Good seasons of Buffy.

#i'm actually a couple of episodes into s2 #and honestly #even Some Assembly Required is a significant improvement #it's not great Buffy #but it IS Buffy #the show has arrived #it's become itself #btvs #btvs rewatch #review #meta #btvs S1 #long post #really long post #maybe went a little overboard on this one

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samandcolbypost · 6 months

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Sam stop being stubborn and listen to Colby for once. DONT GO ALONE. 3 years ago taught you nothing? 😭

I don’t really think it’s accurate but at least the first part meats the first part is what I’m talking about.

Sagittarius

“It's not that they are stubborn per se; it's that they won't listen to anyone who tells them what to do. Sagittarians are adventurous and open-minded, so they're willing to consider new ideas and learn from people. It's just these free-spirited individuals cannot be controlled or manipulated.”

Sam really needs to listen. It wasn’t fair for Colby because it was supposed to be both of yours big moment, but I don’t think it’s right to judge Sam especially because it was something he needed to find out too. He could’ve just woke up Colby and at least let him know, especially for safety since no one else was awake during that time and something could’ve happened. Colby was mad and he had every right to be, also because Sam casually mentioned it while they went to the basement. 🤦🏻‍♀️ But they communicated in a healthy way so that’s something at least. (I’m actually glad to see that because now we know what they do when they fight and it’s even more of a reason to love them) yea show us how it’s done! Some thing we all need to learn from.

—

Colby threw the tick down only to go back in and grab water. 💀

—

Okay everything I just wrote didn’t even save soo I’m going to have to try again. 🙃

—

I love this down to earth moment after what they were told about “were okay” moment.

—

I hope Colby is okay going into the woods especially since they’ve been warned. We see him running at the end so I’m hoping that means he goes back to the house.. also hoping they have walkie talkies just in case.

—

We all know Colby is some kind connection because he feels energy sometimes, but can we talk about how twice Sam has done the Estes method he started shaking. I don’t know if it’s a connection per say, but it’s definitely weird. He felt like something was pushing him down, and the last time he felt he couldn’t even move. (I felt like Colby was still mad from the prior conversation because when he said “what were you doing” I was like 👀 I’m glad he realized to take him out of it at least, because I couldn’t even see him shaking on camera) I might be over analyzing why I think Colby said that too but anyways.

—

I don’t mind Larray and Bella. I don’t think it added anything to the video like some have said, but overall it wasn’t horrible.

—

I still am sticking to my box theory with Cody and Satori. I don’t think they’re horrible people but I also think they are lying up a storm. I feel somehow sound can be manipulated to sound closer and further away, and a lot of the sounds comes from Cody’s area..

—

Sam and Colby tried the method and it didn’t work except for what they heard at the very last moment. I kinda wished it worked for them but I figured. 😕

—

The camera equipment not working was kinda freaky I won’t lie. The fact it does this a lot even with their batteries being full. Also who or what was coming up the stairs?? I feel it could be the 4th tour guide or Zach, but how Colby responded on Twitter says otherwise. I guess the spirit just wanted to make an appearance in the video.

—

I’m rewatching clips as I do this to remember (which is how this got deleted to begin with 🤦🏻‍♀️). Anyways, someone just posted a clip and you can see something outside the window when Colby is standing by the window, either about to go into the well or when they finished the Estes method idk.

—

Props for them staying in the rooms by themselves I could never. Especially when it’s a haunted house and knowing anything could happen.

—

I could never go to the graveyard like they both did, and Colby going in the next video. Hell no. I don’t do bugs, ghost, the dark, and especially when I am warned.

—

Dave being a Dave 🤪😡 I’m kinda scared of Dave but I hope it’s just messing with them.

I don’t know how spirits can travel through the water? I thought they can’t leave the house unless they died outside or something. So I’m not sure how the aquifer could let them travel.

Somewhat of an Ep 2 review because I didn’t do it

Believe: Josh getting touched because he wasn’t even moving, the scrapping noise, the door opening.

Not believe: Satori and Cody, the one small door opening on its own. Do the owners/caregivers just stay there or something? I can’t say anything about this house if they are just chilling in a random room while S&C investigate. I think they stay in a different house but I also don’t know for sure.

I’m on the fence about the noises again I wish I could know the truth.

#sam and colby #sam golbach #colby brock #my review because I don’t feel like doing a full one right now #I did skip my review for Ep 2

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gx-gameon · 2 months

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I just wanna say that your AU, where Jaden is adopted by Yugi, is amazing and so adorable. I wonder how the others and his parents will react during Season 4. I can't wait to read what happens next. You're awesome. Is there a fanfic of this I could read on other platforms aside from Tumblr? If not, that's okay. I love reading this AU.

Thank you so much!! This ideas been bouncing around in my head for years at this point. So I’m glad people are liking it.

Now here’s my sad news. I have never been able to watch season 4 of Gx. I’ve always wanted to but never had the opportunity. Maybe once I do my new watch through of Gx I finally will. I’ve got the vaguest outline of the plot. But I’m not comfortable enough with it to give you any plot yet. I got to do some research first.

At the moment it’s just on tumblr. I do have an AO3 account but I have some stories that I want to write for one piece that have front billing for me when I finally find time to start writing again. Which probably won’t be until the summer with how my job is going.

I do want to write this in full at some point. But I want to do a rewatch of Gx first. Right now I’m almost done with the digital arc of DM season 3 and I forgot how many cute moments there are in it between characters. But once I finish DM I’ll start Gx again and maybe start writing some official plot.

But right now it’s whatever strikes my fancy or whatever people ask about.

I wasn’t planning on talking about Jesse so early into this madness but I love him and people asked. So crystal boy’s in.

If you want anything expanded on just ask!

I’m so glad you guys are enjoying this. I’m having a lot of fun with it.

#jaden yuki #judai yuki #yugi moto #yugi mutou #yugioh gx #seto kaiba #dad yugi #rivalshipping #spiritshipping

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vcrnons · 8 months

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hello j!

relate your mutuals to svt songs go!

Mutuals as SVT songs, let’s GOOO<3

- @ikigaisvt : circles. i’ve said once and i’ll say a hundred times that sammy is, to me, like if a comfort blanket was a person. i play circles so often that it’s possibly gonna be in my top 5 on spotify this year, and every time i need to be reminded that everything’s going to be okay, it’s my go-to track (of any artist i listen to, not just svt). something about it just brings me such a warm, calming feeling from the deepest parts of my soul, and that’s what sammy means to me too. i genuinely cannot scream about her incredible nature enough, and even if i could find the words, i’d be a blubbering mess before i could finish saying them. i didn’t even have to think about this one. sammy, circles is for you.

- @irlvernon : wave! i adooooore this song so much you don’t even understand. it’s just one of those tracks that like… it doesn’t matter what mood i’m in when it comes on shuffle, i WILL, immediately, crack a smile. it’s a never-skip song okay. something about it feels so floaty and free and i just get that energy from max too. i cannot be a grouch when you’re in my dm’s. it’s scientifically impossible. i don’t know what that’s about but i’m VERY happy that it’s true. you’re wonderful. mwah.

- @aceofvernons : xan is home;run to me every single day of the week. you’re very very very very very (x10^15) cool and you bring me so much joy. i see your tags on any of my gifsets and need to take a seat before my knees give out from beneath me. your responses to my unhinged vernon asks could give me the energy to get through anything. so this works because any time i listen to home;run, i just get filled with so much pure happiness? one of those songs you wanna scream at full volume in the car on your way to wherever the fuck and i need you to know that in my head, xan is in the passenger seat screaming it with me.

- @ncteez : light a flame. do i need to explain this? i feel like it explains itself lol but OKAY fine let’s go. light a flame is such a soothing song and it’s SO easy to listen to but it’s also so MF HOT? look. if i deep this track for too long i start getting butterflies. and that’s how it feels reading anything hon writes, first of all, but just her ✨ energy ✨ is very light a flame. those pretty woozi high notes are her sweet, softer sides and the deep wonwoo parts = her ability to completely derail my week (complimentary). tldr hon, ur hot and nice and i like u.

- @hwanghyunjinenthusiast : anyone! okay this is an undeniably fantastic song and the video for it makes my brain short-circuit which are also two things about rj that are literally just facts. in the same way i always go to rewatch any of the anyone performances and tell myself i’m able to handle it, i go crawling into rj’s inbox with usually something feral and i always come out feeling like i’ve been hit by a train (affectionate, complimentary). HER BRAIN. IS HUGE. and it causes me real strife but i keep going back for more because it’s delicious and that’s just. how anyone makes me feel. one of my absolute favourite svt bangers for one of my dearest, most precious mutuals.<3

- @eoieopda : domino!! this was one of the first svt songs i ever listened to and i maintain that it is one of the best in their discography. domino is so lovely and bouncy and ANY time i see jade on the dash, i’m about to do a cartwheel i swear to god. also here’s some lore nobody asked for: if i need to do something, esp at work, and i feel like i’ve got a mental block trying to start it, domino is one of my ultimate hype songs. whichhhh is relevant if you’ve ever seen jade’s fic feedback. the BEST hypeman (/gn) ever. i want to put every single comment they’ve ever left me in a locket and wear it over my heart forever.

- @xukmins : snap shoot : max’s energy is V E R Y snap shoot to me. i can’t really explain that properly but it is, it makes sense in my head. she’s very bouncy and exciting and energetic, and truly any time i think about max or she’s in my inbox, i really just see so much brightness and fun and the happiness that you could always see in the snap shoot stages.<3

- @haechannabelle : _world!!! i don’t know if it’s the mv for it that springs to mind when i think of world but i immediately start thinking of bright colours and summer and that’s what i think about with annabelle too? your art is always so vibrant and even if it’s not of an artist I listen to, im always sat there looking at my screen like 🥹🥹🥹 because your pieces are always SO gorgeous. but you come across as so vibrant and bouncy too and this song just fits you SO well in my head.

- @cheolhub : is it. cringe. to say all my love. OKAY LOOK we don’t rly actually talk a bunch but i see sar in my notifications and it’s like someone put a fuzzy cardigan around my shoulders and has come to hold my hand. there is not a single part of all my love that i don’t adore; i could have it on repeat for a whole day and not get bored just listening intently to every member’s voice and remembering all the reasons i adore seventeen. to that end, i could equally scroll sar’s blog for a whole 24 hours and be sat with hearts in my eyeballs the entire time.

( i’ve definitely forgotten some lovely people and i’m SO sorry for that aaaaaa. i went back through my recent interactions & stuff but i do also have the working memory of a walnut && will no doubt be kicking myself in like two hours time for not including one of my loves in this ;_; pls forgive me. you’re all so very dear to me & don’t you dare forget it.<3 )

#💌 - mailbox.#💝 - nonnie.#❤️‍🔥 - moots.#if there’s a big ass typo in this no there isn’t I re-read it 5 times to make sure but I know I’ve missed one #I GOT CARRIED AWAY IM SORRY #I have a lot to say about you all ;-;#running away now good & bye <3

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sinigangsta-ao3 · 7 months

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hi, it’s me. 👋🏼

Just wanted to pop on here because it’s been a while since I’ve really done much in fandom. Life has been hectic, and I’m working on some personal projects, and I’m dealing with some health concerns. All manageable, but barely so.

I had hopes to finish up some fics this month, with the intent to use NaNoWriMo to make serious progress on some WIPs that have been put on the back burner. But deadlines have been pushed up that I’m furiously trying to meet… And those deadlines are also kicking up some really strong feelings of imposter syndrome and self-doubt about my artistry. But I’m trying my best to push through… 😭😭

I guess I just wanted to say that I’m busy, but every once in a while I think of all my little wips and how much I want to get back to them. Which I will eventually.

I miss my little AUs. I actually miss really obsessing about fandom sometimes. Maybe the brainrot will come back in full force now that I’m rewatching AOT (again) in the weeks leading up to Nov 4th (and also to get my mind off stress). But we shall see.

Hope everyone’s doing okay 💕💕

#personal post #personal update #hi I’m still here #nina-bean writing

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hannibalzero · 10 months

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Hi. What brought you to Obikin? What made you think : "Ok. I ship it."? (I ask with all the curiosity and respect).

I don’t mind sharing! It’s kinda a complicated answer. Sooooo way back in 2005 I went to see Revenge of the sith. I was 13 years old and just discovered deviant art. I know I’m old haha. So I saw the movie and thought that Obi-wan was acting more like Padme should of been, confronting Anakin trying to make him see what he’s doing is wrong. Padme did a little of it, shame they cut the knife scene. Okay we we are at the point where Obiwan yells “I loved you.” And Anakin yelled “I hate you.” Not meaning it. He never meant it, he just wanted to hurt obiwan. At 13 it hit me that, oh ohhhh they really loved eachother. More than the brother, master or anything. They where soulmates. This was wayyyyy before the force dyad was introduced. Anakin needed Obiwan and Obiwan needed Anakin.

Then I saw a tv special where George Lucas talked about who Obiwan and Vader are two sides of the same coin. They are Luke and Leia’s father.

Okay so back to 13 and being a budding yaoi fan girl. This was before it was cringe. There was this picture of a mpreg Obiwan and a protective Anakin Skywalker. The image stuck in my mind for a while. I moved on to different ships and yeah I still liked Star Wars but anime boys were life!

So moving forward I was 27 and just finished up watching the new starwars stuff. Yeah I had fun but eh? Kylux is a great ship btw. I missed the old stuff and rewatched the movies 1-6. Yeah it was cheesy but knowing it was written for children, Lucas little boys apparently. I saw them through a new light. I remembered that old mpreg obikin picture and thought I would see what the Obikin fanfiction looked like now a days. I read a few back in the day but nothing great.

I was blown away by the new fanfics and writers on ao3. I was very impressed and then inspired, maybe I could write something? There isn’t any more fics I can read! I’ve roleplayed for years I could write a bit. So I did, just to see if I could write alone. Honestly I was expecting to be ripped a new butthole for bad writing. At 18 I tried writing fanfiction for yugiyo and yikes…yikes man. But the Obikin community was loving and encouraging. I kept going. My writing improved, they loved my crazy random ideas and silly world building.

I love Obikin, the relationship between Obi-wan and Anakin. The fun cannon of Star Wars that can easily fit anything. They’re complicated relationships between Quigonjin, Dooku, Padme and yoda. The amazing fan-artist, how Ewan Megreger is handsome. ( one of my first crushes) along with Hayden Christensen. (That photo of him giving a lightsaber to his daughter?! 🥺)) being a romantic I wanted to give these characters a happy ending.

But the community, is what made this my favorite ship.

I know that was a lotta text, but you deserved a full explanation.

❤️🐰❤️🐰❤️🐰

All my love

Hannibella .

I think this is the artist. Geez 2005…that’s a looong time ago!

Side note? I miss iPods :(

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cuddly-asexual · 4 months

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Okay @buffintruder and @allpurposepanda convinced me to do this fic writer asks post, even though I didn't write too much this year. So here goes!

1.What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year? How did it turn out and would you do it again?

I wasn’t consciously thinking about trying something new, but I did write a fic from the point of view of a child which was pretty fun. I think it turned out pretty well. I think most media tends to miss what kids are likely to notice and think about (at least based off the kids I work with), so I did try to make sure I included those things. For example a tall bookcase might seem towering to a small child, or how a relatively short amount of time can seem extremely long to them when they’re simply waiting. I would definitely do it again, it’s fun practice for getting into the minds of characters you like even when you never see what they were like as children.

2. How many fics did you work on this year? (They don’t have to be finished or published!)

I definitely didn’t finish much this year, but I chipped away at quite a few wips. I posted 3 fics. I have another unposted, but finished. I wrote a few paragraphs for one of my wildermyth characters. I rewrote a decent chunk of a school nurse files fic. Other than those it was mostly just a few words here and there on my various unfinished works. Surprisingly most of my creative energy this year went to drawing.

3. What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer?

I don’t think I learned anything new about myself as a writer. I’ve known for sometime that writing is a bit spontaneous for me. I guess I’m coming to realize that I’m pretty good at writing dialogue, which is always nice.

4. What piece of media inspired you the most?

Well if we were talking about drawing that would be one thing monkie kid, but for writing probably Wildermyth. Even though I didn’t finish any of the pieces I’m writing for it, the writing in the game itself was so lovely to read. It felt like someone was reading a storybook to me, kind of like a bedtime story, with a soft voice.

5. What fandom(s) did you write for this year?

I wrote more original stuff this year, but I wrote for A3! and Kamen Rider OOO. School Nurse Files as well sorta.

6. What ship(s) captured your heart?

Haha the made up ship in my brain of one of my Wildermyth characters, Ystral, and the star in the Minuet event, good LORD they didn’t leave my brain for weeks. In-Pyo and Eun-Young from School Nurse Files also dominated my mind for a while there too. I rewatched the series again this year and man those two are so AAA. They were on my mind more last year, but since I posted a fic about them this year I’ll mention that Goda Eiji and Ankh make me go insane. Also I haven’t started any fics for them yet, but I had lots of ideas for Alear and Pandreo from fire emblem engage.

7. What character(s) captured your heart?

Again, mostly oc’s. I worked a lot on one world in particular so my baby, Aurelius (full grown woman in her 50’s), took over my mind for a while there. I’m also constantly thinking about Juza and I had been missing him. I had lots of thoughts, for both writing and drawing, about Clayton and Al from The Deep.

8. Did you write for a new fandom or ship this year?

Wildermyth was probably the only new one this year. The only new things I was into this year were channeled into drawing more than writing.

9. What fic meant the most to you to write?

Ooh this is a tough one, but probably my Juban fic for Juza’s birthday. First, because I really wanted to write it for his birthday. Second, because I wanted to explore a specific aspect of his character, his thoughts on touch. Juza grew up pretending to be someone he wasn’t because of the way others treated him, but when he came to mankai he’s able to be more himself now that he’s surrounded by people that support him. One of these things being that he actually quite enjoys physical affection and it was nice to write about him rediscovering that part of himself.

10. What fic made you feel the happiest to work on?

Working on my Wildermyth fic made me feel giddy like a school girl, you have no idea. My heart fucked SWELLED for these 2D bitches. And it’s not even done yet.

11. What fic was the most satisfying to finish writing?

My OOO fic for sure. I had been sitting on the idea for a long time and I finally kicked my ass into gear to finish it and boy that was a fun writing session. I just really wanted to show how evil I was for that idea hehehe.

12. What fic was the most difficult to write? Did you finish it?

My School Nurse Files fic eludes me constantly. I definitely like parts of it, but I’ve rewritten the beginning at least 3 times, I just don’t like how any of them came out. I have yet to finish it, but I haven’t given up on it yet!

13. What fic was the easiest to write?

Probably my Juban fic. I’ve written Juza and Banri enough that they come to me pretty easily. As long as I have a concept ready I can write anything for those two.

14. What were your shortest and longest fics this year?

Just going with the finished ones of course. My shortest was the first part of Ocean Memory, my original work about some oc's, at 734 words and my longest was my OOO fic at 1431 words. Pretty standard for me I think, a little on the short side this year.

15. Rec a fic you wrote or posted in 2023

My OOO’s fic please, I had way too much fun writing it. I love when a loved one gets body snatched by something that pretends to still be that person.

16. What were you go-to writing songs?

I usually just play my big instrumental music playlist that has everything from video game music to movie soundtracks to experimental ambient electronica, but this year was probably a lot of the Grindstone soundtrack.

17. What were your go-to writing snacks?

Don’t have anything specific, but I usually always have a coke on hand.

18. What was the hardest fic to title?

THAT FUCKING OOO FIC. This title eluded me that’s why I just said fuck it and picked something stupid. “A Wish Is a Dream Your Heart Makes”??? bro WHAT.

19. Share your favorite opening line

Opening lines are not really my forte, I’m not really sure I have a favorite, but I like the imagery in my Wildermyth fic.

He sees stars behind his eyelids now. Countless, warm and flickering like soft flames.

20. Share your favorite ending line

That he was happy and healthy and loving life brought endless joy to her heart. Pallas was truly a precious child.

Technically there’s a line of dialogue after this, but anyway, I love writing Aurelius being happy about baby Pallas expressing his feelings.

21. Share your favorite piece of dialogue

“Hey, Settsu. Do you wanna cuddle?” It’s an odd sentence, something he’s never asked someone before, but Banri’s name feels like it belongs there. He doesn't miss how the other perks up, then tries to disguise it as a stretch. Banri pulls out of his hold to face him. “Never thought I’d hear that from your mouth,” Banri smirks playfully. Juza lets out a chuckle. “Never thought I’d hear it from my own mouth either,” his gaze finds Banri’s. “It feels…natural though. Saying it to you.” He can’t read Banri’s thoughts, but he sees the other make an expression that’s something between fondness and annoyance. “Ugh, you really just said that,” Banri falls onto his back, face in his hands, with a groan. Juza raises an eyebrow in response. “You gonna join me down here or am I supposed to cuddle myself?”

I really liked this exchange between Juza and Banri. The way Banri jokes to make everything a little less intense (also he’s absolutely flustered), and how Juza responds with genuine honesty. I think I captured the vibe I wanted super well.

22. Share an excerpt from your favorite scene

He sees stars behind his eyelids now. Countless, warm and flickering like soft flames. They bring him comfort. One of the many reminders of that night almost a year ago. Ystral's leg glows with a soft blue-white light. The tips of his fingers begin to show signs of it as well. A small smile finds its way to his mouth as he admires the way they sparkle. You wear it well. A familiar whisper circles around him. His smile fades. A pang of guilt makes him want to deny the statement, but the thoughts are gently guided away, replaced with wordless reassurances. The unpleasant thoughts could never win. Not when the very stars opposed them.

I had a lot of fun with this opening scene to my Wildermyth fic. Writing anything with stars gets my creative juices flowing and boom we get crazy poetic shit like this.

23. Share the final version of a sentence or paragraph you struggled with. What about it was challenging? Are you happy with how it turned out?

Gonna be real, I have no idea.

24. What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?

Every time I write Banri I somehow make him even more mushy and soft, so it’s a surprise every time.

25. What did you use to write? (e.g. writing programs, paper & pen, etc.)

Just Google Docs really.

26. If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year?

Finishing that OOO fic after watching it stare at me for like almost a year.

27. Did you do anything special to celebrate finishing a fic?

Not really. They were all pretty short, not super life-changing pieces.

28. How did you recharge between fics?

Play games, draw, rewatch stuff to get back in the mood.

29. If this were an awards show, who would you thank?

My friends who listen to me rant about my crazy ideas all the time. Juza for being an unending font of inspiration.

30. What’s something that you want to write in 2024?

SO MANY THINGS. My Wildermyth fic for sure. I have some ideas for The Deep that I also really wanna write. I really want to write something longer for once. I think my goal this year is to write a 5k word fic. I have so many ideas I’m sitting and still so many more wips to finish. Good luck to 2024!

#woooooo really srunched my brain for this one #my fics #text

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adultswim2021 · 3 months

Text

Robot Chicken #79: “Please Do Not Notify Our Contractors” | September 13, 2009 - 11:30PM | S04E18

I have to finish a Jeopardy board for my “online friends” game night tonight, so I’ll make this as brief as I can, which is usually not very. Four longish sketches for me to comment on!

One is a parody of the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I think. I only saw that movie once ever in my entire life. I don’t think I like Indiana Jones, like, at all. Anyway: This is about the knight that is guarding the holy grail, and how he got along for all those years before Indiana Jones got there. It also explains why there were so many other grails there to confuse him; they were fast food cups from him ordering in. I don’t hate this premise, I just hate hearing Breckin Meyer doing a British accent. It just sounds like a high school drama student approximating Monty Python sketches to me.

There’s a sketch where a father hides in his young son’s closet to prove to him that there’s no such thing as a bogeyman. It backfires, because he learns that his son is domming his teddy bear and now he’s trapped in there as to not confront this terrible truth. I’m not sure if I missed the full joke of this sketch; there were key phrases that seemed to suggest that the kid was playing out some role playing fantasy he has or reenacting a trauma from a previous living situation? He does say the teddy bear is adopted? Like, I’m honestly not sure if the joke is that the kid is planning to rape his adoptive father or something, I genuinely feel like i missed a key detail. NOT SPENDING MORE TIME ON THIS TO FIGURE IT OUT, SORRY.

There’s a very long sketch where it’s Beast from Beauty and the Beast on a dating reality show where he fucks and sucks various beauties of various backgrounds. Technically this is a new idea, I guess, but the tropes of reality shows have been fodder for comedy for so gosh darn long, and none of those jokes seem particularly inspired. The funniest joke in this is the running gag of the angry mob that keeps interrupting it, but then I remembered about January 6th and instantly got PTSD from it :(

Okay; the best sketch of the night was Montage, about a superhero of sorts who helps people by showing up an enacting a montage. There’s been comedy about the montage trope for years, but the part where he does a montage to age up a house thief so that he becomes too frail to complete his crime is pretty inspired. And the ending was really good, where Montage’s nemesis End Credits man shows up, for both being a clever joke and also letting me know that the show was about to end.

EPHEMERA CORNER:

youtube

The Office (UK) (September 19, 2009 - 12:00AM)

I recently watched a video where a British man defended the post-classic era of the Simposns. It only solidified my personal theory that as outsiders to American culture, British people are less likely to be able to discern the very clear difference between good and bad episodes of The Simpsons. But this is a two-way street, mostly resulting in Americans not realizing Ricky Gervais sucks until he became the most cartoonishly awful version of himself.

Did I love The Office back then? Yes. I haven’t tried to watch it in full in probably 20 years or so, so I don’t know if it “holds up” (I mean that in the least obnoxious way possible). I only got into the American Office after exhausting rewatches of the British one, after being told how much better it got after it’s first season (of which I saw the first episode, a remake of the first British episode, and hated).

The Office airing on Adult Swim is one of my favorite bits of Adult Swim lore. Because it was promoted for weeks with Ricky Gervais being, for it’s time, funny and cheeky in promos. You got the impression he riffed them all out, letting his naturally-amusing arrogance drive them with inspired one-liners. The show’s odd runtime meant that Adult Swim had to air it in 45 minute time slots with extensively long introductions with Ricky Gervais talking about the episode for a few minutes before letting it play.

The difference between the promos he cut and the intros, despite being the exact same camera setup, was stark. Ricky would pretentiously prattle on about how David Brent was (I used to do an impression of this and it made two people laugh really hard, so I consider it one of my greatest bit) “huuurrtiiing”, almost like we’d failed as an audience by this character buffoonish. Ricky was basically preparing us for watching a Ken Loach film, and not an above-average BBC Sitcom. It could very well be the first instance of me thinking “this dude seems like he sucks”.

Surprisingly, these intros seem to be missing from the internet. I keep teasing the fact that some day I’ll dig out my DVD-Rs and try and find this stuff to post somewhere, but who knows at this point. I genuinely don’t know where they are and I have so much fucking shit I need to purge just to get to the pile that MIGHT contain them. But maybe some day. Enjoy the one promo I found, which doesn’t really illustrate what I’m talking about almost at all. Sorry.

MAIL BAG

The Boondocks pilot got leaked online archive DOT org/details/boondockspilot

Nice!

#adult swim #adultswim2021 #robot chicken #Youtube

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rughydrangea · 1 year

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I just finished the Hanadan movie, and I must share my thoughts on this whirlwind journey I have undertaken these past few weeks. I must!

So, my only previous interaction with this property was the kdrama version, which I watched in... 2014. Yikes, that was a long time ago. It was one of my first kdramas, and I would say I had a good time watching it, even though it’s terrible. The thing about the kdrama is that it’s just so deeply stupid that it’s actually incredibly watchable. And although I haven’t rewatched it, I remember being genuinely into whatever LMH was doing. In retrospect, I’m not sure if I would say he gave a good performance, but I find him to be a deeply charismatic actor, and he really was on the wavelength of the drama in a way that worked, and compensated for the fact that all of the other main performers were actively terrible (okay, I liked the gangster kid! He didn’t do anything but he was sweet).

And honestly, I think the reason it took me so long to watch Hanadan, even though it has been sitting on my hard-drive for like seven years, is that I assumed that it would be just as dumb as the kdrama, and I didn’t see the point in sitting through that story a second time. But this winter break, I decided to watch it.

And I really liked it! Here’s the thing: it’s still deeply, deeply dumb. And the jdrama is arguably even more over-the-top than the kdrama? But it works so well. It is UNREAL what a difference an ensemble that can actually act makes, and especially having a leading lady who is capable of representing human behavior onscreen. Inoue Mao is so good at showing Makino as a relatable, down-to-earth person who nonetheless fits into the cartoon world she lives in. A huge part of why the romance here works so well is that she is so winning that the viewer totally gets why Domyouji falls for her like a ton of rocks, and supports him exploding his life to make room for her in it. When she punches him and he looks at her like his world is finally in color, you get it, because she really is that dreamy. And the actors actually have chemistry! Watching them bicker and fight and laugh and pine at each other is enjoyable! (These are the basics of screen romance, I know, but the kdrama clearly though they were optional.)

As for Domyouji himself... even I, an LMH fan, must admit that there’s no comparison. For one thing, much as I enjoyed the GJP perm--you could see LMH actively willing it to look good in every shot--Domyouji’s perm is just unironically great? He looks incredible, and he just kind of slinks and struts around everywhere in a way that is very compelling to watch. This character is definitely way more intense that his kdrama counterpart--the argument could be made that Domyouji is a full-on psychopath. I mean, his favorite activities are beating people up and calling girls that aren’t Makino ugly. He’s so genuinely volatile and violent that it’s hard to disagree when his own friends call him a beast. IRL, if I’m Makino’s friend I’m telling her to do everything in her power to stay away from this guy. But the fact that he can be this scary kind of just makes the cartoon fantasy even stronger? When people who know Domyouji say that it’s only around Makino that he acts like a human, it’s undeniably true. She doesn’t make him a better man, or inspire him to improve himself--she is the force that transforms him from animal to person. That’s romance, baby! Like, it’s not healthy romance, but it’s a cartoon world so who cares. And Matsumoto Jun just sells Domyouji’s unpredictability and vulnerability and rage and childishness so well, and every time he looks sadly/longingly at Makino something inside me broke. I’m not about to go dive down an Arashi rabbit hole, but if this were the version I had watched in 2014, that may very well have happened.

I don’t have a ton to say about Hanazawa Rui, but Oguri Shun was fun and quirky and I enjoyed him. But I do have to take a minute for Nishikado, because I think Kim Bum, an actor I like, is horrible in BOF. The whole point of that character is that he is a massive playboy, and Kim Bum just displays negative sexual charisma over the course of the drama. It torpedoes the character. But it turns out that when you put a deeply sexy actor in the role, it’s suddenly more than watchable. Ah, Matsuda Shota, looking at you is one of my favorite things to do. (Watching Nishikado avoid Yuki was a more compelling romance that whatever Kim Bum and KSE were doing, I’m sorry.)

So, yes, I had a great time. The plot got increasingly stupid as we made our way from the first season to the second season to the movie, but I didn’t care. Watching this made me feel like a teenager again, but in a good way, somehow. It’s loud and euphoric and silly and it hits the same music cues over and over again, but damn if it didn’t work. Is there any trope under the sun better than “oh no you’ve fallen on top of me and your fiancée just walked in”? No, there is not.

#sorry it's late and i'm loopy #i really didn't mean to talk about the kdrama this much!#my memories of it are very hazy #anyway yeah this was great #i could say more about how attractive i fiind matsujun as domyouji but i want to preserve some dignity #hana yori dango #my commentary #boys before flowers #i mean i talked about it enough

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captainsspnanon · 1 year

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C3E49 reaction

A very VERY enjoyable episode. It’s been a while since we’ve had one where there’s so much conversation and RP and it’s a breath of fresh air.

I’m a bit disappointed in Matt for not having the leylines as a projection in the background. I would have LOVED seeing that get slowly stronger each long rest - or even just only being able to see it once it was ‘full’. But speaking of leylines, props to Matt for acknowledging the fact that Chetney HAS seen this, two or three times. I know he didn’t plan for it, his descriptions were very much the ‘this is the most magical thing you will ever see in your life’, but he kept true to the fact that Chet is old as balls.

Good choices all around for the Sendings. Big fan of Ira being brought back into play, because I feel like he’s definitely going to fuck shit up for the party in one way or another. He’s powerful, but he’s very much on his own side and I like the dynamic that’s bringing in.

Honestly I am LOVING the dynamic that Laura is playing here with Imogen and her mother. Imogen knows realistically that her mother is on the wrong side, but there is the emotional desperation to have Mother Know Best and Be Loving and Be Right, so Imogen rationalizes based off of her emotions and craving for connection. Consistently she has described her mother as needing help the past few episodes, where to the audience it seemed pretty clear that Lilianna was where she wanted to be. I wouldn’t mind seeing Imogen turn during the battle, not the Dark Imogen like I keep seeing around, but just a daughter desperately wanting to believe in her mother.

I suppose I really should finish EXU Kymal - was this stuff with Opal foreshadowed in it? I only saw the first half of the first episode and then never got around to actually finishing it. EXU was not particularly to my tastes (much like how I struggle with some of the one-shots, it was just so CHAOTIC that I couldn’t. Orym held the only braincell.)

Sam’s faced when FCG flipped the coin for the Changebringer’s alignment! Laughed so hard I cried and had to go back to actually see the expressions.

I don’t know what I took away from the Ashton and Laudna conversation, except that I’m glad they had it, and I hope they have more. I don’t think it changed the way I viewed either character, but it has the opening to.

Fearne & Orym!!!!! Look, I don’t care how small the moments are. Liam and Ashley have been my desperately wanting scenes of them together, whether Caleb and Yasha, Vax and Pike, or now C3. I EAT ALL THESE CRUMBS. BEST FRIENDS FOREVER.

Yeah, we all knew D was Devexian XD

Also a fan of the mini shopping session we got. I enjoy the shopping sessions as long as they don’t take a whole episode, and they definitely got some good loot. A 19 con necklace?? DAMN good. Hope the gold gets shuffled ‘round in the party though. It’s hard for me to compare how dnd-poor they are compared to the Mighty Nein. I’m sure critrolestats has the actual gold amount. I just feel like the Nein was more poor, accurate or not XD

As much as a short combat would have been fun, I’m actually quite pleased that we just got a few storms and a very short encounter ending with a goldfish. I have a sneaking suspicion that Matt’s random encounter chart was kinder than usual, more designed for poor rolls to delay rather than destroy.

I’m....not a fan of the message bloom. I actually went and rewatched the moment where Orym got the seed, and it was this quiet serious moment and he was told “you are an Ashari, are you not? Make it grow.” and then it’s just a longer one way one time sending? Pretty big of a let down, tbh. (though I, much like Orym/Liam, completely forgot about it.)

Keyleth coming in. How do I feel about this..... it’s really hard to say! I think I’m more okay with it because they didn’t ask her for it. They gave her a status update, but also very easily accepted when she said she was busy - and I don’t see the party changing their minds and trying to push harder, in or out of character. Keyleth coming to join was very much a Matt decision here, which is why even though I’m a bit iffy about it, I’m more willing to accept. I’m HOPING that it’s more that she’s fighting Just Off Stage Left the entire time, dealing with The Army That The Bells Hells Would Have Snuck Around Anyway, or something like that. Have a show of power, have it work for the story, but not actually have it change how the narrative would have gone, if that makes sense.

EDIT: how could i have forgotten to mention the Imogen/Laudna scene??? Shockingly, I’m still not shipping it? Even with the declarations of I love you, it still feels non-romantic to me. I’ve seen people say ‘who says I love you to friends?’ um, me. I have told friends that I am not interested in romantically in the slightest that I love them, and they have said it back to me. ‘who cuddles with their friends?’ early 20s? me again. also, fearne and orym cuddle every night. BUT, I will say that if we get more conversations like this, I can see myself getting more comfortable with the ship.

Very happy that the solstice is going to be likely the next episode (maaaybe one or two more if we have heavy combat/sneaking/etc), because I am so ready for what Matt has in store. ....though if they do stop it, that’s going to be a hell of a lack of payoff. I have a strong suspicion (as I think basically everyone watching does) that the Keys are going to work no matter what the Hells do. On to episode 50!! (omg are we like halfway through the campaign? it still feels like it might be a shorter one to me, I can see it only lasting 100 episodes)

#cr spoilers #critical role #bells hells

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