#the most incoherent worldbuilding too

[cto10121]

Twilight Clown Takes—Part 7

Featuring Twilight being both queer and homophobic, more deranged Rosalie fan dumb, and a random simping for Sarah J. Maas. On nom nom away

Twilight Is Homophobic AND Queer!!1!!

Or…and I’m just throwing it out there…Twilight is a romance and the romance genre are notoriously heterosexual???? To the point where one of its nastier tropes is the predatory gay villain (looking at you, Outlander)????

Hell, even now the number of homosexual characters in romances are low, mostly just limited to supporting characters. I suppose it’s improved in recent years, but even in fantasy romance you get, like, Mor from ACOTAR.

At least Clown OP has the self-awareness to know they are indeed writing fanfic.

But regarding the “Edward/Bella would never last and they would get divorced!!” clownery…what canonical basis is there even???? They could barely last six months apart without having a complete nervous breakdown. Yes, they are blinded by their own insecurities and delusions, but they eventually communicate and resolve their issues fairly easily. Their love proves greater and helps them overcome these.

You would think Kristen Stewart would have an easier time playing Bella if she were so obviously bi-coded. Instead we got the most awkward and ill-fitting performance of a major character in years, to the point where her version of the character is among the most hated film characters—ever. Part of it is definitely the stupid script and questionable direction, but there is also a matter of casting type. Bella is a modernized romance heroine while Stewart is a grounded indie actress who at BEST can play a major fantasy heroine—a more emotionally intelligent version of Katniss. Perhaps an animated TV show will be beneficial in that respect, in actually casting for the character.

Rosalie Fan Dumb

Bella: *wants to be a vampire*

Rosalie: How dare you, an autonomous individual different from me, make a completely different choice than what I would make!!!1!! 😡

Clown OP: Complexity 😍

Seriously, we have got to have a long talk about this fandom’s idealization of Rosalie resenting Bella her own autonomy and pissing on her own choices. Edward literally has the exact same position as Rosalie (except that homeboy doesn’t hate Bella for it and understands why) but he is criticized so much more harshly. What the hell is going on?

Also, Bella was gung-ho on becoming a vampire anyway, so this pregnancy did not change her plans in the slightest. Hell, it was her plan to get changed right after birthing Renesmee, so it was all on her terms. Let’s not pretend she was at any point coerced into vampirism! For all this whinging about Bella’s agency, it’s the anti fandom itself that refuses to acknowledge it.

Except that in Midnight Sun we do see Rosalie’s hostility from Edward’s POV and boy, is it super petty and irrational—she cannot even stand to be in the same room as Bella! It’s completely juvenile, which is well, par de course for vampires frozen in their adolescent state.

But again we have the victim blaming. Bella’s existence doesn’t endanger the Cullens; it’s the Cullens’ existence that endangers Bella, as Edward correctly notes and angsts about. The only way Bella endangers the Cullens is that she knows their secret—but of course, she would never tell, so it’s moot point. It’s not even on the table after the car accident scene.

Sarah J. Maas? You mean the author with prose like unseasoned rice? You mean the author with 80% of the most boring ass worldbuilding and 20% actual erotic sex scenes, her actual strength? You mean the author who literally turned her first love interest evil and stripped him of all his personality in the sequel just so that her female MC could end up with the fan favorite antagonist (who drugged her and made her dance suggestively in front of people)? That Sarah J. Maas? A better writer than Meyer? Really????

#🤮 #twilight #twilight renaissance #anti anti twilight #twilight clown takes #not antis thinking maas is a better writer than meyer 🤣 #i could barely slog through the second book #and so light on the sex scenes!!! when that’s her biggest strength!!! #i was promised good faerie dick goddamnit!!!! #the most incoherent worldbuilding too

[tired-reader-writer]

Okay so for some unknowable reason I fell into watching a let's play series of a horror game, and now I'll definitely be jumping at shadows for the foreseeable future until the spell wears off. I'm not good with horror. I knew this, and yet I felt compelled to watch it—

But enough about me, let's kinda vomit out the AU brain mulch that has formed in my head in an incoherent manner.

This has to do with Hilmes, Ranna/Ashaya, and the Haunted Temple™ that will be featuring in the fic.

I would highly recommend you check out the link first to get some context on what the everloving fuck I'm talking about because this thing ain't coherent, baby!

Also, some stuff might contradict each other, I'm still trying to suss out what works and what doesn't, this is basically unfiltered brain soup.

Folk tale added to the Temple, it's deep in the woods, “don't go into the woods, don't go into the ruins, it'll eat you up” is a cautionary tale everyone knows about.

Wonky time mechanics. You wander into the Temple, you've only been there for a hour you swear but you come back out months later.

Folk tale as a foreshadowing device: a royal princess was said to have been snatched up by a bandit in this region— some say she was kidnapped, others say she fell in love with this bandit. Who knows, really? Is the tale even true?

The above folk legend as a foreshadowing device for Ashaya being 1) a secret princess, 2) joining the clan though I guess it's not much of a foreshadowing since they'll most likely be gone w Farangis in the same chapter the myth is mentioned [because the clan got mistaken for bandits and got killed in the first chapter, remember?], 3) falling in love with Alfarīd aka a bandit.

The tale could also be an “explanation” for a princess that actually went missing— a young woman who wandered into the temple for some reason (unclear) finds out something so terrible that she can't bear to face the world outside again.

(it's about Kaykhusraw's betrayal)

I'm still not sure whether I'll actually keep the princess part. It could be a neat bit of foreshadowing for Hilmes discovering smth, maybe he sees an imprint of her, but I feel there's no way to communicate her journey effectively in the story since nobody actually knows what happened to her

Still though, I like the idea of Parsian royal women having worldbuilding and perhaps even plot relevance. I don't think the family tree thing from the novel extras (iirc??) even provided female members of the royal line. Tanaka, I swear.

It'll be forever before we actually get to that point but I'm actually worried about writing Hilmes' (terrible terrible) time in the haunted temple turning into a side quest problem if you know what I mean? An arc/event so divorced from the rest of the plot and world that screeches the pacing to a grinding halt. I mean, the temple tumble is necessary to his character growth, but it really has the potential to become... tedious to read.

For the record, I'm worried about Alfarīd and Ashaya's scenes having this same problem too, since they break off from the rest of the cast to have an adventure together. But at least having them have a plot progression that ties into other plot threads is easier than doing the same with Hilmes because they're not trapped in an isolated location.

Wait, info about the bells can actually be revealed here, and not have the clan remember throughout? Or if they did remember the bells existing then the locations of where the bells had vanished to could be received from the temple.

They'll need to decode it first, though.

Okay, I'm not sure what to do with the Rukhnabad. I was originally gonna have Hilmes not pull it out and cause problems but I... kinda need the damn thing for the plot. Maybe he gets Shooketh™ from whatever he learned in the temple that it compromises his ability to be chill about the looming threat and he yoinks it out of desperation—

(or maybe Ashaya can be the one to take it, as a twist, though what would their reasoning for doing so be?)

SYMBOLISM SYMBOLISM SYMBOLISM

Okay, so, death.

Sherine (Ashaya's original name before they changed it upon joining the clan) is dead. She died when she disappeared into the woods.

The clan has a death-and-rebirth thing going on. Someone joins the clan, they either choose to keep their name or not, but the self they were before they joined is gone, dead to the world, essentially. They could not belong in the living world, hence why they joined the “dead”. Folks who had complicated relationships with the parents who gave them their name, their old families, their old selves, those people typically discard their names (as Ashaya, Kashi, Kazai, etc did) while those who had a positive relationship with their families but lost them in a traumatic way would keep their names (as Farangis and Gieve would). I know I've talked about this before but I can't remember if I put it in a post or in a comment.

Y'know the changeling thing? The died-but-came-back-wrong thing? The same principle, it's not literal, mind you, it's a metaphorical, symbolic thing.

So, a secret royal child goes into or near this place and is reborn as someone else (Ashaya)

Only years later, another secret royal goes into this place, gets trapped in it, and is reborn anew (Hilmes)

Words are not wording rn but you get the idea, right?

Also, mentioned somewhere that the temple holds onto things of the past, aka if you have a belonging on your person that represents something from the past that you cling onto, bye-bye item, you're not getting that back.

Aka, the temple snatched Hilmes' mask because it's a representation of his fixation w the past and everything that's tied to it aka his trauma his identity his sense of self etc etc

Hilmes can't get out bc he built his everything around his past, ergo, his whole person is a figment of the past

Like recognizes like, hence why he's trapped until he's forced to build a new identity that doesn't revolve around his, well, everything

Ashaya probably didn't get trapped bc, well, kid's not fixated to the past they just wanted out (from their shitty family situation)

Bloodstains, screams, inexplicable items vanishing and manifesting, hallucinations/visions that were probably actual memories of the past, Hilmes is not gonna have a fun time

The temple's haunted but in like, an intangible way, so to speak? No literal spooky ghosts floating about, they're fused to the building so the building itself is a haunting, you get what I mean?

Maybe there is one tangible ghost Hilmes can actually see. Maybe two, if I end up keeping the royal lady.

Okay, maybe I won't keep the royal lady.

But something could guide him through this whole ordeal and lead him to whatever truth bombs it wants to reveal.

Could his parentage be revealed here? Unlikely, the temple's hauntedness is it basically reliving the past over and over, not much space for... hm.

Maybe Kaykhusraw's journals could appear inside— no, no, probably too far-fetched.

So many specifics I need to nail down.

#arslan senki #the heroic legend of arslan #heroic legend of arslan #wolfpack au #winds of wolfsong #hilmes #ranna (oc) #ashaya (oc) #gods I need to sort out her tag #AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[rawliverandgoronspice]

hey! do you have any thoughts on demise as a looser/more fluid/symbolic/metaphorical figure in the context of the story of the series- like thoughts on what he represents, and stuff like what his curse could mean thematically rather than the more essentialistic absolutistic "literal satan" interpretation that most of the (at least western) audience seems to take?

i know he may be somewhat contentious as a choice introduced by the writers especially considering from an outside perspective what he kind of did to the majority of fandom analysis and discourse, but i've been thinking about how it's quite possible the writers had a more paganistic approach to what it means to be a deity and how demise doesn't even really have a NAME so much as he is supposed to be some sort of manifestation/personification of the concept of demise, and maybe also of hatred, and also i don't know, like, what the point of that hatred is or why there has to be demise/what implications there could be of this worldbuilding

hope that was coherent enough to make sense of anything i just said but yeah i was just curious if you do!

Heyy sorry never replied, replying now!! Thanks for the ask!

Yeah it's exactly how I'm taking Demise, and I think what you mention connects more to what little I know and understand of shintoism.

In French, Demise has an absurdly long name and is basically called "The Avatar of the Void", which I think is... interesting? It makes me extremely curious as to how Demise is called in original japanese --because to me, "Void" is about the absence of things more than their destruction. It's about the absence, not the inevitability of things crumbling down that comes with Demise. I don't know which of these concepts are the closest to the original vision (if it's Void rather than Demise I think it recontextualizes everything we thought we know about this world and characters, but in my opinion it feels too incoherent with the rest of the world, so my guess is that it was a poorly thought-out translation --but I might be wrong!), but to me it's all in the title: Demise. The curse is that every golden era must end with a reckoning.

I think the curse is extremely compelling in that mythological sense, the way Demeter and Persephone's tale is about the joy and pain of passing seasons; it's the given cause for this world's fate as it is condemned to rise and die continuously; and that their eternal, bright future will always be opposed. To be honest, I'm not even sure it's a *bad* thing. Conflict is not only inevitable, it needs to rise to the surface instead of being suppressed to ensure things do not remain stagnant and shortcomings are being acknowledged and addressed --which is also partially why the suggestion of TotK's golden forever after really doesn't sit right with me, especially since nothing was learned and nothing truly changed in the course of its runtime.

I think the curse sucks when people think it means that Ganondorf is a generic evil demon man without motive of his own. It especially grinds my nerves since I somehow never hear this argument being made for *any* other villain in the franchise. I know they look alike the most (and TotK didn't help matters here), but I never *ever* saw people arguing that Vaati doesn't have motive, for example. Or Majora. Or Zant. Or even literal nothing characters like Bellum, who by all means looks more like a primal demonic evil acting on instinct than anyone else. Somehow, we get to assume they have internal motives that, while obviously wicked and self-serving, are their own! But somehow, Ganondorf, the actual main antagonist of his series with the most amount of games hinting at his backstory and internal moral code, gets flattened as an evil puppet with no internal life whatsoever. It's genuinely bizarre.

Anyway sorry sorry! Thanks again for the ask!

#asks #thoughts #demise #skyward sword #ganondorf #zant #vaati #majora #tloz #zelda fandom critical #totk critical #thanks for the ask!! #I don't get how you play wind waker and still go “yeah he's just an evil spawn of satan and that's all there is to him” #you don't have to like him or sympathize with him! but there's obviously something more than raw evil there #it's so weird to see what's basically a popular fan theory bulldozing past actual canon content #and making its way into the way nintendo itself is starting to perceive their own character #anywayyyy

[night-market-if]

Hey! I recently found this and just got done with the free demo, and while I look forward to play the full thing I just had to come here and sign my praises for the pacing with Milo.

As someone who in real life is a real quick judge of emotional connection, it’s the first time I’ve read an IF where the slight interest happens at the same time as I realise I want to romance them. While I know one can argue the chapter 2 kiss is questionable at best (for as many times as I read it I still feel bad picking it as a canon choice, even though I love it oh so dearly.), for me the fact that the moment I read ‘Pleasure District’ I thought “Oh, I hope we get a flirt option about that, I already want MC to kiss him so bad, please let MC make a flirty joke about it.” and then there was, in fact, a whole kiss.

So just, having Milo, MC, and I all go “Yeah, that was a bit intense, but not complaining.” was just, I don’t even have words for the delight. In fact I sat with it for a few minutes and reminded myself there would most likely not be another kiss until at least the last third, if even in the first book at all.

And then chapter 3 came with its “c’mere”, dancing in the streets, and a second (or first) kiss, so utterly soft and tender? I know I am blabbering, but I am not exaggerating when I say that is by far my favourite romance (Interactive or otherwise) that I’ve ever read. You know there’s something or probably many somethings weighing on his shoulders, there is so much to Milo one doesn’t know and that he may never wish to share, but there is also so much innate trust and joy—It’s so well written. I wish I had the eloquent words to say this properly and professionally, but all I can say is it makes me so fond, and so patiently curious for the day I learn what troubles him.

I’ll shush now, though, as this is already way too long. I just felt you deserved to know, even if it’s incoherent, that you’re a wonderful writer of romance and friendship and worldbuilding and character—and I am very much looking forward to getting my little grabbers on the full book and learning what the night market has in store.

Thank you! I am so happy to hear that you've enjoyed what you read so far. And I do try to really focus on character development and world building. That is incredibly important to me.

With only having read the demo, I can say that you are in for a very wild ride on your Milo romance. But, there is a lot of depth and layers to that romance and a lot of really kind moments as well as heartbreak. Going into book 2 I'm trying to keep the same momentum with that level of characterization.

Thank you again for all your kind words. I love reading the long rants that come in. It makes me feel like I'm on the right path. :)

#the night market #interactive fiction #milo next #character development #anon love

[olderthannetfic]

Is it just me or have popular sapphic books in SFF gotten kind of bad? There's never been a lot of them, so I should probably be happy to get anything (ha), but the few I've read lately have featured 3/4 of the following elements: purple prose masquerading as lyricism, incoherent worldbuilding that prioritizes style over substance, paper-thin characterization of the FMCs, and war crimes (with no one held accountable, typically - no, but why is "be gay do war crimes" such a thing?).

The way some people talk about sapphic books has gotten weird too. People who only ever read the most generic YA/YA-adjacent fantasy romance see one and go "oooooh" as if they'd ever read anything that isn't an ACOTAR clone. There's this aura of virtue and specialness hanging about, even a shield against criticism of aspects that have nothing to do with the romance. "Oh, you dislike the purple, ahem, baroque prose? How straight culture of you. You might find this more to your liking." *throws the newest Brando Sando"

Also, the relative lack of heat in some (not all) of these books gets talked about as if smut were unclassy and queer ladies too evolved for lowly forms of carnality lol. I hate it!

--

I see this complaint often.

Maybe the smaller amount of content magnifies annoying trends that would exist but be avoidable in het romance. Maybe it's all because f/f is constantly held to some radfem-y standard of perfection. Possibly, people haven't looked hard enough for The Good Shit (though having looked some myself, I think, for once, this isn't a major factor).

[bomberqueen17]

caught up

Ha so i managed to watch all the episodes of the new Witcher season this weekend, so now i can -- let's be real I wasn't avoiding spoilers before, but like, I've read the books right, it's like, there's only so much they can do to surprise me. (below discussion is not in-depth or spoilery, more general and I don't have a ton of time so not meant to be anything profound)

I see they've taken Cahir's character in a delicious other direction-- book!Cahir is a dutiful young fanatic whose youth and relative inexperience is kind of critical to his character (and kind of parallels Ciri's contemporary journey, as she goes from being an idealistic child through all the things she goes through, he also is humbled and shamed and loses his idealism and his fanaticism gets a layer of tarnished desperation and then he finds his humanity etc-- chefkiss), but the Netflix version is an older, more deeply-committed fanatic, more intimately and personally tied to the ruler he serves so faithfully. They've also done some worldbuilding for Emhyr's missing years that I think is very interesting. It's funny, Cahir's actor is too old (but a great actor), and Emhyr's is too young, they've tried to age him up but he's like. Well he's like thirty. It hits weird. But, television, that's how television is.

I was using my sister's television since i had the house to myself, and could not figure out how to get subtitles on, so any of the lines that were whisper-growled-- that is to say almost all of them-- were largely unintelligible to me. But many of the ones I could make out were also just-- word salad, pretty things strung together for the vibe, so I don't feel like I missed out. You just had to get the gist, and sometimes it was an incredibly impactful book line that they crammed in there kind of unearned, but if you recognized it you could imbue it with the correct meaning yourself. This is not really a criticism. The whole thing was so rushed because they had to cover like 20 episodes' worth of material in eight, so it was just cruising on vibes and did so I think admirably, conveying a lot of worldbuilding complexity without having really a moment to get into it, and shorthanding character development in snappy one-liners that were pretty effective if you just. Suspended disbelief about literally any kind of logistics.

I did like some of the details they did choose to give us. Cool themes with Ciri, which I think convey the entire message of the book extremely well. And like-- when she's exposed to a bunch of sunlight, they showed her suffering with sunburn. That's a great grounding little bit of detail, even if it went away by the next scene because there wasn't time-- such a good detail, really eloquently conveyed by the framing and the actress and the props.

It's like.... an incredibly abbreviated art form, where they're doing grand gestures of vibes to get the story across.

Absolutely perfect for fanfic, LOL. There's really no well thought out detail to contradict so you've got a largely blank canvas. I also have deep regret that I don't think I can retcon my fic Keira into the Keira from Netflix who was both hot and had like, the perfect earthy practical personality, fuck she's good. Relatedly I loved the detail of how in the books Margarita Laux-Antilles was described as the most beautiful women in the world, and they cast a fat Black woman to play her, an absolutely gorgeous fat Black woman, and there in every scene of the sorceresses being beautiful were several fat women being beautiful too. It's something, ok.

I kept being like "omg woman hot" as i was watching, which was funny. I was by myself though, so it was fine, no one was there to witness my incoherence except the discord channels i kept typing into the wrong ones of.

one tiny sort of spoilery bit: i loved the delicious scene with Ciri confronting Cahir, but it was so rushed it was awkward, instead of showing us much they just had to have Cahir say it, and it was-- well the vibes were fucking delicious, but the execution kind of clumsy. But as I don't plan to rewatch, have zero fear that in my head I will rebuild this myself into something absolutely fucking perfect and id-tastic. Alas that we lost the book vibe where she clearly hadn't really realized he was a person until she knocked his helmet off and saw his stupefyingly blue eyes etc., and his terror and such, but i'm just gonna go ahead and fold that back in there in my mental recreation of it, don't worry. LOL if it worked for you as shot I Do Not Blame You.

oh also i'm in love with Philippa and now i feel bad i was so careless with her in my fic. Maybe I need to give her a bit more depth. I used her game characterization, I admit it, and Netflix did so well by her I'm sort of ashamed I didn't think of her like that.

#the witcher #the witcher netflix #tv watching #about the author #b watches tv like once every two years #cahir mawr dyffryn aep ceallach

[niennawept]

Random ask! Okay, I never finished RoP (didn't like it) but I find it irritating how often Silm fans just assume *no one* liked it. Often quite innocuously, but the assumption is there. So I love your positivity about it.

If you like, tell me why you love Adar. He was definitely the most interesting character to me.

Ahhhh! I'm so glad you asked! I'm sorry it took so long to reply, but I felt I needed time to distill it so I wouldn't ramble too much.

Spoilers below the cut for anyone who hasn't seen TROP, and still wants to

It's implied in one of the later episodes that Adar is an elf of Cuiviénen because he's one of the first orcs (he and his family prefer uruks - so I will call them that from now on). I already had a build-in interest in Cuiviénen. It's one of those times/places in Tolkien's worldbuilding that I'm just bursting with curiosity about. What's it like to wake up an adult? What's it like to discover parenthood? And language presumably? And cooking and clothing and everything? I wish we knew more about those first elves. And the thought of one of them being here in the Second Age and twisted into the father of uruks?! That leads me to my next point.

He was changed! He's ruthless and pragmatic and a very organized leader, if his results are anything to go by. He's not squeamish about doing objectively terrible things. BUT! He's not completely lost his elveness, nor his goodness, which I view as separate things, though I think the show wants us to equate them. Morgoth himself couldn't completely stamp either thing out of him and that's so compelling to me! He could easily have taken some form of revenge on Arondir who just killed one of his sons, but he doesn't. He offers to let the Southlanders go, if they will swear fealty (in order to not fight them). It makes me wonder about the others who were twisted into uruks. Were they the same? Different? A spectrum of degrees of corruption? To me, it also echoes returned thralls. Gwindor has always found a soft spot in my heart and it's hard not to see the parallels.

The fact that he doesn't belong perfectly anywhere. He's not fully elven and he's not fully uruk. He has experiences that each group can understand and can never understand and I just think that's incredible! This character as an island between two peoples with different traditions and cultures!! [incoherent screeching about the THEMES]

Bonus: When I was a lot younger, I had "first orc" OCs. I can't remember the details of any of their stories now, but something about the idea of being captured and changed appealed to me as a story-telling device. I liken it to the Borg in Star Trek, how people are forever changed by the experience of being assimilated but they can be reclaimed too.

I think that answers your question in more detail than you could ever possibly want. Thank you so much for letting me ramble about the blorbo from my shows 💖

#niennaanswers #polutrope #adar rings of power #gosh - he's just all of the things I like to explore in a trenchcoat #I am so normal about this uruk

[ac-liveblogs]

Fontaine's worldbuilding is ... yeah, very confusing when you think about it. It really looks like it wants to have the cake & eat it too, it wants to tackle Serious Issues (child traffic + sexual exploitation) while also making sure that the players like the playable characters who is supposed to be responsible for this. This game's ability to believably write narrative consequences is practically non-existent to begin with but ... why ... to this extent, huh. I hope you enjoy FSR at least?

They're just too scared to commit to the bit. Sitting through Lyney raging about Wrio imprisoning his siblings while Wrio is just throwing up his hands like "hey it wasn't that bad I wasn't that mean also I was justified also this is your fault +L +ratio" is like. I'm sorry. How am I meant to feel about this character or this situation? At all? Bad that Wrio hit Lyney's trauma buttons by accident, I suppose, what an unfortunate situation?

Or the absolute incoherence of Neuvillette not being able to ask Wrio about anything to do with Meropide - even to prevent an international incident - so he has to send us to investigate, but also, he and Wrio are on very good terms and Wrio is absolutely fine letting him and his employee (Clorinde) enter the prison all the way to the Forbidden Zone... nonsense, it's absolute nonsense.

I'm sure you could rationalise it if you treated them like real people, but in fiction it muddles the message being conveyed to the reader when you keep having characters backtracking on the traits they are trying to establish a person or place as having - especially if you're doing it mere sentences apart, Neuvillette. Is Meropide completely unwilling to work with Fontaine No Matter What or not? Whatever makes Wrio look better at that exact moment in time, I guess?

I think the absolutely incoherent writing in and around the trials were still worse, but like. It reads as super insecure? They have absolutely no faith that people will like their characters enough to buy them if they're Not Good People, so they just aim for the lowest common denominator every time (Fatui excluded, but even then...).

I don't understand why people accept this. Genshin has managed to, via cowardice, gameplay limitations and incompetence, crafted the most boring cast I have ever seen. It's incredible that they make characters like Wriothesely, Collei, Cyno or Dottore boring.

Samurai Remnant is fun! A way denser game than I expected though, I'm taking my time with it. I hope they revisit this concept again, I think it's a good format for Holy Grail Wars.

#replies #ac plays genshin impact

[wifeglor]

14, 21 for maemag, 22 for gap pussy

hi hi!!! (From this list)

14. What are your favorite smut tropes?

I feel like you know them already :D But hmmmm more seriously... I think in general, I have "will think about something I initially found off-putting too hard and decide actually it is hot/fun/wtv" disease, so this would be a long and very inclusive list. I love a good power dynamic in smutfic (good in the sense of a fine vintage, not moral good), whether it's like a fun thing a sweet couple is playacting, an underlying reality for a ship, or outright dubcon/noncon. Obviously "power dynamic" can fit a billion tropes, but I love very many of those tropes for that underlying reason lmao. Also, I love when there's a lot of emotion, be it DRAMA, or angst, or hurt/comfort, or anything else. Obviously those strike different notes and it depends on the story, but like while I think it can be less "sexy" than pure porn I LOVE SO MUCH reading a good like "magical healing dick" conclusion to an arc of longing and woes. It's an orgasm of the SOUL. Or "magical healing baby spawned from magical healing dick," I am Not Immune to this (it's about the Cherishing). Also, I love those ppl on AO3 who are out there writing the most fucked up (affectionate) monsterfucking oneshots ft. worldbuilding with their original characters and original universes--doing Eru's work. ALSO I remember once upon a time being judgy about omegaverse and laugh because wow that really didn't last long on my part as soon as I opened those fics and realized there was longing inside.

21. Share a smutty headcanon about [character(s)]. (Maedhros/Maglor)

Wow who are these characters I've never heard of them before...

I feel like I need a whole essay to try to get out all my thoughts about them and it wouldn't entirely make any sense, but I think the one-headcanon version is like. Maglor longs to be claimed by Maedhros and please Maedhros and be absolved and loved and worthy & this translates well in his brain to being penetrated. Maedhros longs to feel like he can effectively take care of Maglor/make Maglor happy (something I think he has real despair and doubt about, but the resigned despair and bitterness that he can't correlates to how much he WISHES to) and also that his control issues/endless responsibility-taking are Working Actually And Perfectly Good & this translates well in his brain to penetrating Maglor (which is on unspoken offer from Maglor whenever Maglor is in the same continent and Maedhros is still breathing). Much love. I think that dynamic remains in play between them regardless of the sex act but this sure is my preference for them.

22. Share a DVD commentary on [one of your smut fic/smutty scene from a longer work]. (Mapmaking, known in my google docs folder as "gap pussy")

YEAHH okay. So this one has been lurking almost a full year (I think) as a handful of incoherent notes in my notes app, which sort of sketched out a lot of the dirty talk and action. This was very convenient for finally sitting down and writing it!! Which I had a lot of fun doing; every fic of mine for smut week has been pure self-indulgence. This fic owes a spiritual debt to Death and Taxes, an amazing russingon fic by TheLionInMyBed that was formative in my Maedhros thinking like... very early in my entry to Silm fandom stuff. I just loved Maedhros combining his politics and strategy (never turned off!) with sex and romance in such a blatant, funny, affectionate-but-instrumental way. Also, I've been making "Maglor's Gap " jokes since like. Forever, so it was bound to happen sometime.

The actual "strategy" on Maedhros' part here (aka the policies he wants Maglor to enact) is purely styrofoam porn setup and maybe doesn't really make sense, but I figured that's not what we're here for so I didn't pay it too much mind. What I did want to come through in that aspect of the story was Maedhros' affection for Maglor (kinda understated I think in this fic, but he doesn't want Maglor to die in like, say, dragonfire, and he will do all he can to prevent that. He wants Maglor to be as secure as he can, even though maintaining the siege/leaguer & his own trust & strategy mean Maglor is at great personal risk in this critical position) and Maedhros' tendency to taking leaderly responsibility (he's aware of the risk and that he's asked this of Maglor, & Himring will help out the Gap).

Also, in my head this is a spiritual sequel to my magnum opus Thine Ever, Makalaurë, despite the fact that in between these 2 Gap-era moments, Maglor by miracle of Yavanna's touch gained a pussy. This is a period I associate with a lot of hope for them and a sort of renewing of ties, testing and forging of Maglor's devotion and Maedhros' reliance on it, and Himring!Maedhros=sexiest Maedhros. I'm finding it really fun lately to write humor and dirty talk, both of which are kinda new terrain for me, so that's been delightful on my end. New terrain... ha

#answered #jouissants #💖💖💖 thank you so much for the ask!

[vetinarivimesy]

Gargh I genuinely wish I liked this show more - I like the returning characters, I loved all the intriguing hints of new lore stuff, aesthetically it looked fantastic... The casting was mostly perfection. I could even (mostly) put aside my increasing annoyance at post-Lucas-Star War's increasingly negative stance on the jedi that seems to be influenced by the fans who were adults when the Prequels/90s films came out who insist that those films were all about how the jedi were evil actually, when... No seriously those films were aimed at 12 year olds how did the very basic genocide is bad actually message fly over their heads so collectively?

​But ye gods I really felt the whole, Filoni's been working on 20 minute episodes his whole career with this one. 

I think the thing that properly tipped me over from, I'm enjoying this show, but it's frequently frustrating, because I am unfortunately a fan with opinions... into no, this thing is just frustrating as the finale rolled to its extremely predictable end that he'd not so much done an Empire ending, as promised, yet again, to answer the questions he'd been posing throughout next time... Only next time is hardly guaranteed, as sadly epitomised by the waste of Ray Stephenson's rather intriguing character - let alone the way both Claudia Black and Wes Chatham were essentially one step above being glorified extras.

Eh I liked Mando S3 and even BoBF I adored Andor and Kenobi - I'm hardly impartial. I even quite like Ahsoka for what it was, rather than allowing my sheer annoyance at what it wasn't get me too enraged at all the George Lucas never implied that moments with his worldbuilding - stated very publicly to be the opposite to Filoni's takes several times.

I loved the new galaxy, the Purrgils, getting to see the Rebels gang again, most of the Baylan and Shin stuff and Claudia Black getting to be a terrifying Nightmother, the Kintsugi troopers, and the extremely blatant Stargate type worldbuilding can I copy your homework stuff. Even Huyang in live action, as frustrating as the constant jedi-negging by proxy was... Ezra was perfect. Love the little crab people and seeing Chopper, as toned down for live action as he was.

But Filoni, Dave, Hat-Man, please, if you're going to do glacial and epic mysteries that end on an Empire style cliffhanger at least give us some reassurance that you have a plan and know how all the plot-threads are going to go? And that your worldbuilding is in fact internally consistent actually and not just based on vibes with some degree of yeah this does have coherence... The occassional utterly incoherent aside, for you to go oh yeah, the New Republic are all fucking terrible actually, as bad as the space nazis actually, moments were not reassuring. And in the hands of a different writer I'd have been fascinated by the Sabine getting the force stuff... But I really sincerely do not trust you with this.

You keep leaving extremely important character and worldbuilding moments off-screen, not even summed up, just stated in a sentence then rapidly glossed over. With excruciating lengths of time given to portentious dialogue and incoherent ramblings about how the jedi deserved their own genocide actually.

No? Too much to ask? One and a half plot-threads proved too much to keep spinning..?

Of which, admittedly James SA Corey/David Abraham/Ty Franck you are not you could barely keep one plot thread going coherently let alone the half-dozen or so they kept spinning all the way through.

Actually, no, you know what. Fuck it. This has annoyed me enough that I am going to go off and watch Wes Chatham not be utterly wasted in a glorified extra role, in a sci-fi series featuring mysterious rings and huge conspiracy theories by corporate and fascistic government powers alike fuelled by greed and capriciousness but above all about humanity overcoming.

At least that one doesn't flanderise its own characters and worldbuilding for the rule of cool, and the at times seemingly glacial (but not actually) very deliberately paced plot actually serves a purpose that comes together into something spectacular.

Its that or Farscape to wash the bad taste out. But that's another property heavy on the evil space fascists who never quite seem to get an in-universe comeuppance.

#ahsoka series #ahsoka spoilers #the expanse #star wars #fandom #fandom salt #every single damned episode of this thing felt like one of the twenty minute animation episodes streeetched out to breaking point #and thats being polite about it #order 66 #genocide mention #stop making the jedi the villains of their own genocide challenge

[yasyassie]

So I watched a 2020 barbie movie the other day and... I have mixed feelings

I can see the barbie essence in it. I appreciate the message that life is what happens when the cameras are off, that we shouldn't focus on our online image or care about what others will think of us, and we should fight to be heard, express ourselves freely... I truly think that the best thing about the movie is the ideas of social media, appearances and truth, which are especially relevant to the young kids that will/have watched the film.

The characters are nice, and Ken has my entire heart because oh his golden retriever energy is so endearing! I can confidently say that I like him better than 2010s Ken. Is he less funy? Ok, yeah, he is, but he is so sweet! Not sure if I can compare him to early 2000s barbie's love interests though...

I liked the representation too, I appreciated the fact that barbie's friend group is more diverse than before, ALTHOUGH I'm still waiting for mattel to give us the wlw rep we deserve bc deep down we all know that barbie is sapphic. She has a pink dolphin that is the epitome of sapphic, I won't elaborate.

But come on are we using the "barbie casually finds a girl that looks exactly like her and become friends and switch places" plotline?? again?? it's the THIRD time

The music is honestly... bad. I'm sorry it's so terrible I couldn't stand it. I'm a big fan of the soundtracks of 2000s barbie bc they used classical masterpieces, and 2010s soundtracks were really iconic as well! (Queen of the waves, Can you keep a secret, Keep on dancing, Here I am) but this movie just gave us... nothing.

But what made me sad was the OUTFITS?? PLEASE they were so goddamn boring it made me mad. Where are all the sparkles and the colours?? They took all the fun and beauty of Barbie dresses and made them into the most basic clothes that could literally be found in any fast fashion shop ever. I'm sorry but I don't watch barbie movies to see her in a Zara dress??!! As a kid, I wanted every single piece of cloth that barbie ever wore, but I don't think I would've liked... this

Especially when you compare it to THIS

And I'm not going to lie, I didn't like the animation either. It was too... CGI-y for me, honestly.

So I started rewatching Barbie in a mermaid tale just to be reminded of the times when they used to make movies that were still based in the real/contemporary world but used loads of magic and good worldbuilding + main characters with very different personalities and goals.

(and btw, Barbie is supposed to be 16 in both movies but she is much more teenage-like in mermaid tale)

A lot of the things in the princess adventure movie (2020) just seem too unrealistic because there isn't really any magic involved, and while I know it's supposed to be a kids movie, I didn't feel like Mermaid tale (2010) had such incoherent plotpoints or resolutions.

Anyway, I appreciate the messages, but I wish they brought back all the fun and sparkles and magic from old movies!

#not me ranting about barbie #bring back old barbie magic #and absolutely stunning dresses #please #barbie #barbie movie #barbie in a mermaid tale #barbie princess adventure #new barbie #old barbie movies #barbie the movie #barbie cinematic universe

[freckliedan]

omegaverse mention!! i will now be a lil insane about omegaverse in your inbox if you don’t mind

a/b/o is so fun and good when you’re willing to play in the space! exploring it outside of pairings is very fun for me personally. omegas getting their own version of the alpha voice?? high enough level of distress not only causing scent to sour but also damaging the scent glands from the amount produced?? betas actually getting animalistic traits instead of just being normal humans?? all very good and fun!! playing with pairings also fun omega/omega good great learning things about themself through the other love that for them alpha/alpha good yes power struggle maybe trying new things yippee! i don’t have anything for beta pairings actually i don’t see them much and also i feel like the few i have seen tend to lean more normal and i like my omegaverse in the werewolf animalistic traits realm what is even the point if you don’t get to make your characters purr

anyway while typing all that i realized i might have a slight special interest in omegaverse also sorry for getting incoherent there at the end head empty no thoughts only omegaverse fanfic i’ve read. in conclusion the autism won i hope you have a nice day

anon thank you for being the realeat motherfucker in my askbox you get me!!!! i have a slight special interest in omegaverse (& mpreg generally) too, ESPECIALLY things that get really creative with it. i'm less drawn to werewolf leaning things but it's not that i dislike it, i just like other things so much!!

i especially love fic that gets INTERESTING with the nonhuman traits. there's an old destiel fic i read that does LOADS of legwork and gets into flock dynamics bc everyone has at least one set of wings?? pinnacle of going the distance.

or like!!! a fic i once read had betas as adaptable; their sex characteristics would adapt to be either more omegalike or more alphalike based on who they ended up mating with. and fic that gets into what transness and queerness look like in omegaverse worlds are my FAVE FAVE!

i've read and enjoyed omegaverse that does like.. reverse power dynamics for the worldbuilding as a whole, where omegas tend to have institutional power/be more dangerous. done right that shit SLAPS!

the two most interesting mpreg fics i read this year? neither of them were omegaverse. one was eggpreg where EVERYONE regularly laid eggs & everyone's eggs could end up fertilized by semen OR by vaginal fluid, not just by being penatrated, and then you had to tend to the egg for months as the baby grew? and the other was a truly balls to the wall bonkers (<-compliment) concept where instead of it being werewolf vibes there were. marsupial biological traits AND eggs and that coexisted in a world with normal humans, complicating things immensely?

anyways. god. there's so much room for cool worldbuilding in omegaverse. i have a couple long time mutuals on my other main blog who i've discussed like. an omegaverse setting where people have truly any assortment of sex characteristics and you cannot assume what reproductive parts someone has just from looking at them. we might do something with it someday.

life could be a dream. and werewolves are hot.

#jam replies #anon #omegaverse #mpreg

[brown-little-robin]

Writers Truth & Dare asks:

🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

🦋 ⇢ share something that has been on your heart and mind lately 

🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here

hi thank you!! nice questions!

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

I consistently adore fics where people who are bad at being functional human beings but (critically) just good enough at functioning that they fly under the radar for a while—have to learn what "living" and even "thriving" look like. Preferably with messy breakdowns and even messier rebuilding processes. Who would write it best? AUGH, I have multiple favorite authors and can't honestly choose just one, BUT. @phantomrose96 is doing like. THE absolute exemplary job of a longfic with a core theme of healing, to me, in A Breach of Trust. (if you're seeing this, sorry for tagging you in a post that's mostly about me. I talk about ABoT regularly and I thought I'd tag you this time. ok love your work bye)

🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

I'm on spring break!! I get to be with my family for five days!

Slowly but surely, I'm learning Japanese, and it's giving me SO much enrichment you have no idea. not only does it make anime and manga way more interesting, it's also just...... such a complex language and culture to try to immerse myself in. I could work on this for a lifetime and never master it. what a gift.

I'm in a creative writing: worldbuilding class and it's fabulous. I get to make powerpoints about the bureaucracy of portal spirit travel as homework. incredible

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Hmmmmm, that's hard...... the most esoteric might be the symbolic meanings of different colors and patterns of koi! Black represents fatherhood + masculinity and red represents motherhood + femininity, in case you were wondering :}

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

ohhhhhhhh man ok I must preface this with: I love all of them. But for me, in terms of sheer "yay!!" emotions, it's a three-way tie between:

incoherent screaming and/or emojis

intellectual/thematic analysis of one or more specific moments from the chapter

and the rare but extraordinarily powerful "hey your fic made me go get diagnosed with something so uhhhhh thanks I guess"

🦋 ⇢ share something that has been on your heart and mind lately

well. not to get too personal, but—I've been trying to be nicer to myself by not making every day into a "failure" versus "success" scenario. It's a stupid long, hard process to unlearn that, because that was a coping mechanism that got me through a lot of teenage and young adult years, but I'm working on it. and it feels better, if less clear-cut, to do things out of love or joy or even logic than out of.... the kind of desperate, shameful... survival mentality, of thinking every day HAS to be categorized into a success or a failure.

🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here

I never do these games but for you, Rebekah, I'll do it. here goes.

ok I've written on my current wip but I'm not comfortable sharing because the writing is Not Settled Enough Yet. so you'll just have to trust me <3

Still taking asks from this list! but if I get another rollerblades I make no promises lol

#just finished another reread of ABoT and it's on my mind #ask games

[darkpoisonouslove]

Ranking for the seasons of Winx?

I can't believe I haven't done this already. Okay, but I'm keeping it short:

8. Season 6 - too much wasted potential

7. Season 7 - doesn't waste potential only because there's hardly any in the entire season, most childish, annoying and has time travel

6. Season 8 - first three episodes are good, last three episodes are godawful and between all that it's just mediocre

5. Season 5 - tries to have some structure but only becomes predictable and boring, fails to do justice to the characters and emotional moments (some of the time, not always)

4. Season 4 - Lots of potential, bad execution, but still manages to have intriguing concepts and pull off some things

3. Season 3 - too much structural incoherence as it progresses and Valtor loses his effectiveness as a villain, the finale is underwhelming, still has extremely emotional moments, interesting arcs and creative worldbuilding (Black Willow, my beloved!)

2. Season 1 - has the best structure of all the seasons but doesn't focus much on the other girls besides Bloom, does a good job of establishing the world but without exploring too much of it, has the Trix in all their glory, epic finale

1. Season 2 - best character work of all the seasons, interesting episodic conflicts while managing to carry the overall storyline well enough, the Trix still work as villains (more or less), the Hallowinx episode, convergence, more worldbuilding and exploration of other realms and last but not least - has Layla (unlike s1)!

#winx club #seasons ranking #ask #anon #opinions

[thetruearchmagos]

Thoughts on Swift Seas And Whirlwinds

After spending so much time worldbuilding for Chainbreaker, a few thoughts've come to mind with SSAW and the conflict on which around centers, the Islander War.

Can't really think of a coherent format for it, so you're getting the raw stuff. Also, I'm writing most of this while half awake, so... apologies for incoherency.

Tagging @athenswrites @theprissythumbelina @hessdalen-globe @caxycreations @nerdexer @lividdreamz

3rd-Party States;

In coming up with the reasons why the Republic of Nouvolouis decide to start a war, I've decided it be more interesting to have a few to play with. One of them has to do with the RoN's relationships with the - currently unnamed - other sovereign states that made up the former Goilac Empire.

The gist of it is that, with the fall of Raimond's democracy, many imperial-era ideals and leaders would gradually creep into the Republic's institutions of government. Internally, this would lead to further oppression of the Aukarugyal minority of the Republic's southernmost province, and externally it would undermine previous republican attempts at repairing relations with those newly independent nations to the north. Successive regimes would amp up their coercion, but with the ascension of the Republic of Ngaionui - a former Imperial client state and colony - to the United Commonwealth, it seemed that the UC was going to be getting uncomfortably involved in the region's affairs. Now, this isn't actually too accurate an assessment of the UC's fairly reserved policy towards the fallen empire, but it did serve to stoke fears amongst the most revanchist elements of Nouvolouian government that the rest of their former subjects might get funny ideas.

From this paranoia would spawn the plan for a war. A short, sharp invasion of the westernmost and nearest island of Ngaionui would seize the island. After successfully repelling any Commonwealth counter stroke and suing for a fait accompli that would recognise RoN hegemony over the island and region at large, any other states considering joining the UC would have seen just how risky and ultimately pointless such a decision would be.

Unfortunately for the regime, reality, and the UC Navy, would be less kind.

---------

A Joke;

Something I've always wanted to explore in the 12 Worlds was media and the cultural 'zeitgeists' of the various societies and groups in it, and humour is one way of doing that. It is, however, pretty hard to make a niche, in-Setting joke funny in an understandable way, at least without diluting the exposition and sentiments I'm trying to convey through it. Here's a try at one I've been thinking about, communicated very poorly.;

"That a letter from your brother out at Rooster?" "Yes, sent last week, surprised it got here this early. He asks how the new roads are." "Oh, can't complain." Of course, there were no new roads, as Jean's brother damn well knew. They'd all helped put up the posters promising new roads, bridges, even schools and power cables, soon to appear winding all across the untamed jungle between every Auk village and the civilised country. But the diggers and builders never went past the last outpost, and wouldn't for as long as angry people with guns still stalked the trees like jaguars. That was precisely the reason men like Jean were here.

And now it's time to poorly explain the joke, a key component of humour as we all know. Rooster refers to... well, nothing right now, but I'm thinking it'll refer to some sort of well built up military base / depot in the rear, closer to that 'civilised country', which covers all the land firmly and solidly under military administration. 'Jean', who I've made up solely for this piece, is currently posted at one of the dozens of outposts the Nouvo Army built across the 'Auk' province. This forms part of the government's attempt to remove what little autonomy its population have, under the facade of providing them with the same services and infrastructure enjoyed by the Goilac majority in the heartland. Such development would also ease the exploitation of the province's natural resource wealth, as seen by the construction of various canals running across the jungle. That many culturally significant landmarks to the Aukarugyals rest on or near sites of interest to the Regime is somewhere between an unfortunate coincidence and a happy accident.

#writeblr #worldbuilding #writeblr stuff #my worldbuilding #writing

[bronanlynch]

extremely funny to me that most of this is like. yeah I'm still into the same stuff as I was last week. except I watched an entire anime don't worry about it

listening (podcasts): my usual slate of podcasts this week. still enjoying the Great Gundam Project episodes on Wing, love to hear them talk about the ways in which the ending becomes thematically incoherent because I too was uhhhh not sure how to feel about the ending of Wing

the AMCA bonus episode on their Starcruiser experience was also excellent. I'm glad they're glad they went but I think it sounds kind of miserable and like I would have hated it if hypothetically I had gone to D*sney while it was open

as usual shout out to Palisade. I'm so excited for the new Kesh princess and also I love every time we see my beloved double agent poster child Elle Evensong

also, there was a new Media Club Plus this week, and I love to hear Keith (generally disinterested in fictional romance) discover that Kurapika & Leorio are in love

listening (music): still on my Three Days Grace kick. shout out to Animal I Have Become. AMV song of all time. no AMVs to rec here because once again the lack of a Fire Emblem 3 Houses anime means there's no Dimitri AMV to that song

reading: my only reading this week was my two before-bed books, Rule of Wolves and Water Outlaws. Rule of Wolves continues to be fine I guess. today I want to complain about how this is yet another example of a fantasy world that draws from real history & has societal/governmental systems based on patrilineal inheritance and the importance of passing on your position & wealth to your biological offspring that acts like homophobia magically does not exist. there's inexplicably one (1) married lesbian couple. like. as if the author forgot to incorporate queer people into the worldbuilding and then just slapped some lesbian side characters in there without thinking about what it would be like for them in that world. got some Skyrim "you the player character can get gay married but literally no one else can" energy going on

Water Outlaws, on the other hand, continues to fucking rule. there's a politician who fucking sucks, and a lady scientist being coerced into doing unethical science-magic, and also so many women who do crime & fight with so many different cool weapons

watching: forgot to talk about the Ahsoka show last week. this is because it continues to not be a very well-made television show. at time of writing, I haven't seen the finale yet

rewatched a couple more episodes of Hunter x Hunter to keep up with Media Club Plus. really solidifying my Kurapika bias this time around <3

and now for the main thing I watched this week, the entirety of Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 (for full disclosure I had previously watched the first 11ish episodes last summer before getting distracted by LoGH, and then restarted it last week to watch from the beginning with my roommate). truly it is a fucking delight to watch something that's had so much influence on so many other stories that I'm into and find out that it's also really enjoyable on its own merits as well as being extremely cool to find out where so many genre staples come from. I love the weird synth beeps in the soundtrack, I love when the animation gets super stylized and you can see the pencil shading, I love the gorgeous painted backgrounds. I was already starting to become a Cares About Mobile Suit Designs guy after GWitch/getting into gunpla but now I fully am that kind of guy because there are some incredibly fun designs in there (shout out to the Mad Angler, the coolest fucked up whale submarine I've seen in my life). I love the White Base crew and I love all the bits about how they're being exploited by the military even though they're traumatized teenagers being forced into perpetuating the horrors of war. I love when characters in Gundam just straight-up say the themes of Gundam.

ok now that I'm done gushing. I do have mixed feelings about the last ten or so episodes. (I know the pacing gets a bit wonky because the show got cancelled, that's not what I'm talking about) the thing is, is that I really want to like the Newtype stuff. I think it fucking rules that Amuro is neurodivergent in a way that's seen as useful/profitable and therefore the military is exploiting him even harder (it sucks for Amuro obviously but like, it rules for me, the guy who likes to explore that sort of theme). however. I don't think it's necessarily a great look to have some people start to develop special abilities that make them far more powerful than ordinary humans & refer to them as more advanced/the next step for humanity in the same story where the antagonists are fascists who repeatedly invoke Nietzschean ubermensch rhetoric like. it's kind of the flipside of how oppression allegories are so often deeply flawed because they give the prejudice a basis in the objective truths of the world (legitimizing the justification for the oppression by making the oppressed group dangerous in some way, i.e. the fire powers in Promare). here it's kind of a reverse of that, in that the Newtypes are framed as superhuman rather than subhuman, but that lines up with the fascist rhetoric and makes it based in the factual reality of the worldbuilding in a way that I personally am not super comfortable with. anyway.

like I am gonna watch more UC so I'm curious to see where any of this goes and I'm sure my analysis will develop as I see more but. my initial reaction is. hmm don't love that

playing: continuing to play Ace Attorney 5. 5-4 is still fun so far! however I am a little disappointed that I only got to play as Apollo for such a short time. that's my boy and I miss him already :(

making: no pictures this week but we made chicken florentine from this recipe (with added mushrooms). sorry for being basic but butter/garlic/herbs/white wine is a good flavor combo that makes your kitchen smell very good

drinking: for once something slightly less blatantly seasonal, Pumphouse's Crafty Radler (blood orange & peach flavor). which fucks. often I find peach-flavored drinks don't have enough peach because peach is kind of a more delicate flavor. this nailed it, the peach and the blood orange both come through really nicely

in non-alcoholic drinks, shout out to mulled cider and also mulling spices in general. godtier spice combination

writing: most of my writing was for a zine fic so I can't talk about it yet. also I've been editing t4t yurivain but uhhhh less than I meant to because I can't edit and watch anime at the same time

#every single section is so short except the one where i start writing an essay abt anime oops #can you tell i miss being in academia so so so badly #dreaming.txt #weekly media roundup post