#the whole antagonistic flirting thing is just not for me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

munsons-mutiny · 1 month

Text

Let’s talk about the Watch What Happens (reprise) and why Only Davey could’ve sang it.

Like at this point they’re pushing the Katherine and Jack agenda, why shouldn’t she be his inspiration to keep going in this moment???

And the answer is cause she can’t grasp the situation fully!!!

Let me make it very clear that this is Not Katherine slander. I love her. I think this scene highlights the differences in their struggles and upbringing in a really brilliant way.

When she sees Jack wants to quit in this scene she’s so harsh with him. Doesn’t try to empathize with his situation at all, wants him to just buck up and keep going! Because for her, in her situation, with her upbringing, that’s the only way to get anywhere! She wants to be a reporter? Well she can’t listen when she’s told no. She has to push ahead no matter what. She can’t show fear and she can’t show weakness cause she’ll be called a girl like it’s a bad thing and have it used against her. But she doesn’t see her privilege in this! That in coming from a rich powerful family her physical safety can not be put in jeopardy! Her worst case scenario is moving back home and having to deal with her family’s idea of what it means to be a women in this time period. And don’t get me wrong that’s horrible, it would be a terrible and unfair outcome.

But it doesn’t threaten her physical safety!! (Not to say this is true for all women in her position but the show paints a picture that her dad does genuinely love her in his extremely misguided way and we never see him threaten her physical well being or even to stop bank rolling her). She can’t understand that sometimes you need to let a fight pass you by to survive. She doesn’t understand what it really means for Crutchie to be in the Refuge until later. So she pushes hard and it would’ve just ended in a fight where her and Jack miss each other’s points entirely.

But Davey gets it. Maybe not to the extent Jack does, but Jack said it himself Davey’s dads physical safety being jeopardized at work has threatened his whole family’s housing and food security. Something that could’ve been prevented with a union. He knows that this isn’t safe, he fully grasps the danger they’re in, to an extent that Katherine can’t because she’s never threatened by it. Not really. For her and her rich friends she involves this could just be a pet project (she would never view it that way of course) but if this all goes pear shaped all she has to live with is the guilt not the consequences. Her life continues with maybe some delays depending how long her blacklisting lasts.

But for Davey this could be the choice that means they can’t afford food or can’t pay rent. This could be the choice that means Les can’t go to school and his dad doesn’t have a safe place to recover. He gets it, he matches Jack’s fear, but he can’t backdown when they’re making real changes that Jack is having a hard time seeing in the wake of losing Crutchie to an institution that is a large source of his trauma. He needed empathy and hope not an ass kicking and Davey delivered.

Without him that scene would’ve ended with Jack running away a lot sooner and a lot more permanently. Rant over. Hopefully this is semi-well articulated it’s late and I couldn’t sleep til I got this out.

#newsies rant #this is why I love javid sm too #and don’t really ship Katherine and Jack at all #they just have such a sibling ass kicking way of pushing each other #which they both need sometimes!!#but idk not enough empathy for me to ever ship them #the whole antagonistic flirting thing is just not for me #antagonistic besties on the other hand #there’s a reason you don’t send a boyfriend to do a best friends job #jack kelly #davey jacobs #katherine plumber #katherine pulitzer #livesies #watch what happens reprise #newsies #javid #just a lil #mine

78 notes · View notes

batneko · 4 months

Text

I'm forced to listen to Christmas music all day at work, so here's a Last Christmas bowuigi idea for your enjoyment featuring everyone's favorite* trope: misunderstandings!

*(lol nope)

Bowser has unintentionally achieved "friendly rival" status, and is invited to a big lodge to go skiing and snowboarding for a week. He still feels awkward around everyone, but they're all pretty welcoming, and he's not even the only former antagonist invited. Still, he's not quite willing to mingle with the whole crowd, and finds himself spending more and more time with fellow wallflower Luigi.

Luigi is a good listener. So good, in fact, that Bowser finds himself opening up a lot more than he meant to. So good that even Bowser realizes he's been dominating all their conversations. By the end of the week he thinks they're getting along well enough that he might actually call Luigi a friend.

Then, on the last day, he gets a note from Luigi asking him to meet in private. He's happy to do it. Looking forward to it, even. Maybe he can make things more balanced between them by listening to whatever it is that's so important. It had to be preceded with a note.

Then Luigi confesses that he has feelings for him. And Bowser doesn't believe it.

He's certain that this is a prank, and furious that Luigi would toy around with him like that. So he tears into him, breaking down all the reasons he would never even consider a relationship with him. He gets mean. He gets personal.

By the end both of them are heartbroken and convinced they were wrong about each other.

A year passes. Bowser is still sort of kind of friends with the others, and still gets invited to things, but he doesn't talk to Luigi at all. Bowser doesn't know who else was in on the "prank," so he's back to being cautious about who to trust.

Luigi and Mario are close, but they don't tell each other everything about their dating lives, so Mario doesn't press when a depressed Luigi says he got rejected and he'll get over it eventually.

He does, mostly, but seeing Bowser doesn't help, especially since the crush never quite goes away. There's a part of him that knows - even if he thinks it'll never happen - that if Bowser changed his mind Luigi would jump at the chance.

Next winter there's another trip to the ski lodge, and Bowser is invited, and Luigi resolves to put it all behind him and move on. Ask someone else out. Someone... safe.

But Bowser sees that Luigi has his eye on somebody else, and all the anger he thought he'd gotten over rises up again. How dare he act like nothing happened? How dare he think he can just have a normal holiday fling, as if he didn't use that exact premise to shatter Bowser's heart last year?

So Bowser starts blatantly flirting with Luigi whenever they're in a group. Compliments, playful teasing, one or two double-entendres. Whenever Luigi tries to talk to Bowser alone, Bowser walks away and refuses to say a word, but the rest of the gang think that Bowser is Staking His Claim.

The plan works, and Luigi's hopes of a new relationship are dashed before they can really start. The worst part is that the first time it happened Luigi had almost fallen for it. If he hadn't seen the glare Bowser shot him when nobody was looking, he might have done something foolish. Like flirt back.

It's a week of torture, but finally on the last day Luigi manages to corner Bowser and confront him. Ask him why he's doing this, why he feels like he needs to ruin Luigi's chances.

"Are you kidding? After what you did to me last year? You think I'd just forget?" "What I did to you?" "You didn't think I fell for that, did you? I don't know if you were recording it or if someone was waiting to jump out and laugh at me, but-" "You thought it was a prank?" "Yes! ...wasn't it?"

It takes some time (and some more yelling) but eventually Bowser accepts that Luigi wasn't lying, and they both have to re-think the entire last year... as well as what they know about each other. Bowser realizing that he was right the first time about how nice Luigi is, and that he could have had something great if he hadn't jumped to conclusions. And Luigi realizing that if Bowser thought a genuine confession was a cruel joke he's probably not nearly as confident as he acts.

"Give me a second chance," Bowser blurts out. "You're interested? After everything you said about me last year?" "I was mad, I was ranting, I don't even remember what I said." "I do." "Give me... a third chance."

Luigi says he needs time, Bowser (reluctantly) says okay, but also says he will do anything to make it up to Luigi. Favors, public humiliation, anything.

"If you still think I'm the kind of person who wants you to publicly humiliate yourself, you really don't understand me at all."

Neither of them sleeps well. In the morning while everyone is packing up, Bowser sees Luigi step into a quiet corner with the person he'd been planning to confess to this year. He's practically steaming from jealousy, but Bowser forces himself to stay away. He's not going to get a fourth chance.

But as he's about to leave, Bowser is stopped by Luigi. He hands him a scrap of paper with his phone number, and beckons him closer.

"Kiss me." "You sure?" "My brother is watching. So is the princess. You know what it'll mean if you do it, so..."

Bowser doesn't have to be asked twice.

He does get punched thirty seconds in as soon as Mario puts everything together, but it's worth it.

#bowuigi #luigi #bowser #super mario bros #luwser #bowigi #green shell

138 notes · View notes

myths-tournaments · 6 months

Text

Awful Characters Round 4 (2/4)

Propaganda under the cut!

BENNY

The first thing that happens in new vegas is that benny fucking shoots your character in the face, steals your shit and leaves you in an open grave. Benny is by all accounts a bastard. He kills you, steals from you, he killed his last boss, he is the single most duplicitous man around. His gang are all about honesty- except him. He's a lying, cheating bastard. The guys who helped him catch you? He skipped on paying them and left them to get shot to death. His new boss, mr.house? He stole his robot, broke it open, got someone to reprogram it and decided to use it to TAKE OVER THE WHOLE OF VEGAS. Benny literally kills people, lies to people, steals their shit and takes charge. That's all benny does. He gets fucking CRUCIFIED if you don't help him out just because so many people fucking hate him. And yet. And yet. Benny is the single most compelling character in the whole game to me. He's just a little guy! He's just there! You can get shot in the head and come back and he goes "what in the goddamn" and then if you try and flirt with him he's like "uhhh sure? Okay?" And leaves you a polite note in the morning. He's fancy. He wears a stupid suit. He has a tiny gun with shitty bullets. He's catholic. He talks like an old timey news presenter. Literally nobody else in the entire game does that. He's got an intelligence of 3. He's my funtime boy. My silly little man. He's so funny. The antagonist in this game is a guy dressed like a tablecloth who looks at all times like a confused dog who doesn't understand what a tv is. And like. He's compelling. He robs from you, shoots you, but…. he never seems to actually wish you harm. He kills and robs and lies but like. He apologises for doing it to you. When he sees you again he doesn't attack you, he's just… confused. He tries to defuse the situation. You can convince him to talk to you, alone, with no guards and it's not that hard. If you spare his life, he doesn't go after you, like. Even if you sleep with him he doesn't take advantage of that and kill you, even if you try to. He… he just leaves. He gives you an apology. If he gets kidnapped by Caesar He just… apologizes again. He tells you his whole plan to take over the city, too. He thinks he'll die, and he wants something of him to survive. He's happy that you made it. And if you let him free, he just… leaves. He knows he's beat, he doesn't want to cause any more trouble. He walks out and leaves. The NCR will kill you if you cross them. The legion will crucify you. House? He'll blow you the fuck up. But benny, the guy who lies and cheats and schemes, he's honest. He's polite. He's… harmless. You can kill him with a single shot if you want. And he can't kill you. He doesn't kill you the first time, and he'll never really hurt you again. Benny just wanted to win. When he knows he's beat he just leaves. No lingering, no harm, he's off, off into the desert heat, and never seen again. Isn't that just insane? like have you ever known an antagonist so polite? He just leaves!! He offers you a drink!! His plan is genuinely probably the best one for the people of new vegas!!! He's. Benny is Benny. Anyway if you want to see some REAL propaganda go to the blog letmebegaytodd and look in the #benny tag. You'll Understand < https://www.tumblr.com/letmebegaytodd/717051175751614464/in-another-life-i-wouldve-really-liked-just> <- look at this shit man

AZULA

Azula explicitly considers herself a monster. She says needlessly cruel things to her brother and friends. She kills the show's twelve-year-old protagonist and masterminds the idea of burning down the entire Earth Kingdom to force them to submit to Fire Nation rule. I have absolutely seen people get called abuse apologists for thinking she's a cool character. But she's also a (canonically) mentally ill fourteen-year-old who was raised by her father to see her ability to be weaponized as her only value. Her mother, arguably the only adult in her life who could have had a positive impact, had a strained relationship with her because she was more difficult than her brother, and then disappeared when she was nine. Her uncle, who was her brother's main healthy role model, took absolutely no interest in her. She watched her father belittle her brother for years and eventually throw him away when he failed to meet his expectations, so that was a threat she was always facing. She really had no chance. And she also has moments that suggest she wants some sort of meaningful connection with another person. She lets her brother take credit for killing the Avatar so he can come back from exile, even though it means she'll be bumped back in the order of succession and offers him advice that seems genuine. Her spiral into a mental breakdown starts when her friends betray her. She's just a much more interesting and multifaceted than a lot of the fandom gives her credit for.

#awful characters tournament #tournament poll #awful characters round 4 #fallout new vegas #benny gecko #benny fnv #avatar the last airbender #atla #azula

180 notes · View notes

syncopatedid · 4 months

Text

Since the anime's airing, I've also been catching up on the manga of The Apothecary Diaries and I am absolutely smitten with these two. Smitten, I tell you! A low-key simp + high-key romantically-blasé protagonist is the kind of dynamic that will mean we get the whole nine yards of slow-burn development from "antagonists" -> friends -> confidants -> something more? Maomao certainly isn't oblivious to Jinshi's beauty nor his attempts at cringe teasing/flirting with her, even though she has a natural immunity against his shenanigans and remains ever cautious about the whims of people within the palace.

Maomao is also an inspiration as a strong female character who manages to navigate a world that is not kind to people of her class and gender. While it does feel like the story skims through a lot of unspeakable things Maomao had witnessed growing up, to me, it does serve to perfectly emphasize Maomao's "detached" character and her perspective of the world. She is a reluctant protagonist in this story, just trying to survive the best she can given her circumstances. And while she's certainly more educated and street smart compared to other girls in her situation, she's also realistic about her place in the world and knows her own powerlessness, merely finding her own way to co-exist with it and minding her own business (the girl just wants to be left alone with her rare poisons man). Being thrust into palace politics and catching the whims of one Jinshi, however, means inevitably putting herself in dangerous situations. Yet she's also really lucky and very loved and protected by those around her, including those who are in power to effect change, and that is the ultimate power that our Best Girl Maomao wields like a Mary Sue, but a well-written one. Still, her barriers are way up high when it comes to her feelings, and it will take a lot for her walls to come down. It's been 65 chapters into the manga, but the relationship goal post between her and Jinshi feels as if it's moved one step forward and two steps back (*throttles Jinshi with a stale baugette*), but you genuinely do want to root for these two to be more than servant and lord, romantic or otherwise, because their circumstances are a lot more similiar than they are different, as are their complicated feelings about each other. There's also something to be said about this gremlin of a girl who is so desensitized to the world of lust and romance but you know she absolutely owns a PhD in kink studies thanks to her sisters' upbringing. If Jinshi ever learns the extent of her knowledge I think Jinshi.exe will shut down for good and I just want to follow this series and be there for that eventual punchline.

#the apothecary diaries #kusuriya no hitorigoto #thinking out loud #Best new watch this season #so shojo it hurts #Anyway kudos for securing Takeo for the simp role of Jinshi after the og had to go it couldn't have happened to a better Seiyuu #I watched it because his name was on it but now I'm totally sold on the entire plot so him being in it is just a nice bonus lol #Please do not drop the anime after one season I am begging I have a mighty need for later chapters to be animated you don't understand

91 notes · View notes

fayes-fics · 2 years

Text

Kinktober Drabble #12: Hate Sex/ Squirting

Kinktober Masterlist

Pairing: Anthony Bridgerton x fem!reader

Warnings: 18+ smut, minors dni, fingering, squirting, smidge of vaginal sex, arguing as foreplay.

Authors Note: Unbetaed. This is also an anon suggestion fill from a while back here (idea: ‘lovers in public, rivals in secret’). Nonny I hope you enjoy this, same for everyone else. <3

In public, you are his intended. You appear on his arm and dance together, the picture of a chaste romantic match. In private, you argue, bicker, and then fuck mercilessly. Your antagonistic dynamic makes for quite the most explosive secret sex.

The night of the Bridgerton Ball, you goad him more than ever before, perhaps crossing a line by flirting with his brother. Touching the man’s arm, you see the look of confusion flit over his face and, across the room, the look of thunder upon Anthony’s.

“Miss y/l/n,” suddenly Anthony is next to you, “I shall give you a tour of my London home.” It sounds like an offer, but it’s not; it’s a command to follow him. You’ve seen almost every corner of Bridgerton House by now, especially the quiet ones he can fuck you in. But you acquiesce, looping your arm in his and smiling, people giving you polite nods as you move through the crowd, looking like a happy courting couple.

Tonight he leads you to his private study.

“How could you?!” he barks the minute the door is shut and locked.

“What?” you smirk, knowing full well what he is so riled up about.

“My brother? Really?” his tone dripping with disdain.

“Don't pretend you don't love it when we goad each other. Just last week, you flirted with that young widow; just to make me so angry, I took you out into the grounds and into my throat.” you volley at him.

His eyes flash heatedly, but his nostrils flare in annoyance. “There's a line, and it’s my family,” he insists.

“Well, what's done is done. Are you going to fuck me or not, my darling intended?” you challenge, hands on hips, the last three words a snarky retort.

“Maybe I won't,” he opines haughty, crossing his arms.

“Fine,” you throw your hands up, moving towards the door. “I'm sure that bohemian artist brother of yours will be up for some fun….” You cannot resist the low blow, knowing it's like picking at a proverbial scab that will scar if you keep messing with it.

“Don't you dare,” Anthony growls, grabbing your arm and manhandling you against a bookcase, breathing heavy.

“Then give me a reason to stay,” you draw your lips into a thin line and raise an eyebrow, your grip on his shoulders harsh, digging your nails into his jacket.

“I’ll do more than that,” he tugs up your dress and chemise, his cool hand questing hard against your mound.

You inhale sharply and groan at the sensation.

“No undergarments, why am I not surprised,” he chides, “you act such a wanton hussy.”

“Fuck you!” You spit out the harshest language you can think of, base words you seldom utter even under your breath, but still push against his fingers, now sodden as they slide against your clit.

“You’d better,” he snarls, “but first, let's get you to ruin your dress shall we?” two fingers plunging into your pussy without warning.

You cry out and huff breaths through your nose as his fingers curl and start to rock almost violently forward, swinging hard against a spot a few inches inside. Instead of it being painful, you pant wide-eyed, feeling something entirely new, like nothing you've ever experienced.

“So there are still some things I can teach you, it appears?” he growls, panting with the exertion, using the strength of his whole arm to push in and out at a blistering speed.

“What the fuck Anthony?” each word a harsh staccato as your whole body tenses.

“You've never had anyone do this before, have you?” his face just a touch conceited.

“No,” you exhale hard, holding onto him for dear life, keening with each fast stab of his fingers.

“Good. I'm the only one who can bring you this intense pleasure, only me.” The possessive, arrogant litany rockets you towards something hot and intense.

He is forcing filthy sodden, squelching noises from your body, and all you can do is hunch over him, the need to curl up against the overwhelming sensation so strong, wordlessly panting needy noises.

“Now let’s make a real mess,” he rumbles and his thumb rounds on your swollen clit, pushing it up against your body harshly. You scream, uncaring who can hear, your whole world pinpoint focussed on a pressure that suddenly releases as a strong gush, your knees giving out, and you feel nothing but a blinding wave of pleasure.

You hear him proudly saying, “Oh fuck yesss,” but it’s distant and fuzzy.

He is holding you up against the bookcase as you come around to realise you have soaked his arm, your dress, stockings, shoes even the rug beneath your feet.

“Look what a pretty mess you made of yourself and me.” He comments as he removes his fingers gently from inside you.

“Anthony,” you can barely form words, “what the fuck was that?” You are disconcerted by what you see but also so sated you can't bring yourself to do anything but cling to him.

“That, darling, is what you get if you challenge me,” he chuckles, nuzzling your face as you hear trouser buttons opening. “I can't wait to find out how you feel now,” he adds, pulling one of your legs over his hip. He surges his cock deep into you before you can do anything but cry out.

“Oh god, yes, you feel amazing,” his voice thready and debauched.

You wrap your arms tight around his neck and bite his earlobe.

“So do you,” you murmur, “now let’s do this.”

You proceed to fuck so hard against the bookcase that three books fall out and narrowly miss your heads. You wouldn’t want it any other way.

tagging: @makaylan @foreverlonginguniverse @iboopedyournose @wysteria-clad @colettebronte @aintnuthinbutahounddog @margofiore @writergirl-2001 @heeyyyou @enichole445 @ambitionspassionscoffee @chaoticcalzoneranchsports

#anthony bridgerton fanfiction #anthony bridgerton smut #anthony bridgerton x reader #anthony bridgerton x female reader #anthony bridgerton x you #anthony bridgerton x y/n #anthony bridgerton imagine #anthony bridgerton #bridgerton fanfiction #bridgerton imagine #bridgerton #kinktober #kinktober 2022

536 notes · View notes

hughjidiot · 5 months

Text

Total Drama Island Reboot Season Two: Episodes 2, 3 and 4

Okay wow, was not expecting three new episodes at once. Again I am baffled by both the local and international release schedules. But I'm continuing to watch and enjoy this reboot, here are my rough impressions of all the characters in all three episodes. Spoilers below the cut, obviously.

Chase is out second. Pretty obvious boot with how he behaved in the challenge, but that's just how TDI is sometimes. Glad he went early if I'm being honest since his whole subplot with Emma had run its course and there wasn't much more to get out of Chase. Speaking of which though...

Emma was out fourth, which kind of surprised me. I thought she might get an arc of finally forgetting about Chase and moving on, but then she goes and gets eliminated. Maybe they're saving an Emma arc for if gen 4 gets a third season? Who knows. A little disappointing but not a huge loss.

And between them, Millie is out third. Not surprising if I'm being honest; Millie had a chance to train up to be a stronger player with Priya's help, but neglected to actually study for it. And then in episode 2 when she tries to think creatively to help her team win, her lack of social skills is what did her in when she failed to consider how pissed her team would be for tricking Damien down the most dangerous slide. Her elimination feels like a natural consequence of her own actions and shortcomings instead of the contrived coincidences that Total Drama was guilty of many times in past seasons.

Then there's Damien himself. So far he still hasn't done a whole lot, but he's definitely shown to have become more self-confident with the way he called out Millie and how he was willing to brave that rickety bridge in episode 3. Time will tell if he makes it far.

Zee continues to be hilarious. Not really having much of an impact in terms of plotlines with other characters, but he always gets a laugh out of me. "Not thinking is my specialty!"

Gotta say, I thought Priya would have at least shown a little more of a reaction to her bestie being voted off. Still her plotline with Caleb is interesting. I can picture this leading to drama down the road where she realizes Caleb has just been trying to build an alliance rather than flirt with her. Or who knows, maybe Caleb will develop genuine feelings for her and it becomes a ship. Could go either way.

Speaking of Caleb, he represents the biggest difference between the writing of the reboot and previous seasons. Not once does the show portray him as antagonistic in trying to manipulate Priya into an alliance; he's just trying to form a strong partnership to make it farther in the game. Helps immensely that Caleb isn't actively cruel like Heather and Alejandro; he's genuinely chill despite his determination. Him literally carrying most of his team in episode 3 was awesome, not gonna lie.

Nichelle continues to dominate and be awesome in challenges. However I can't help but notice she's not really trying to get close to anyone, like Caleb is with Priya for example. I have a feeling that could come back to bite her if people vote her off for being a potential threat ala Caleb in season one.

I'm loving Axel so far. She's much better about being a team player but also hasn't lost her edge. I also like how we're getting depth to her, like her love of poetry. And then there's her romance with Ripper which I did not see coming. More on that later.

Holy shit, I was hoping for more of the MK/Julia alliance, but I wasn't expecting this much! I'm loving MK's unorthodox strategy of disguising as an intern to get inside information, it's very unique.

Oh and MKulia might become a thing. "Oh stop it, you'll make me blush!" "If MK's brain drove a cool car, I would totally date it." Watching these episodes I was like Wait are they gonna go there? Oh my god they might actually go there! And if they do, I am here for it!

Wayne and Raj continue to be very wholesome and hilarious! I love the dynamic they bring to Team Skunk Butt, wanting to play fair while Julia and MK cheat. And stuck in the middle...

is Bowie. I'm loving the drama of his character arc: he's still willing to pull the same underhanded tactics he used in season one and is all in on MK's strategy, but now has Wayne and especially Raj are acting as his morality pets. Some are predicting this could lead to a Rajbow break up, but I honestly don't think they'd do that. What I think will happen is Team Skunk Butt loses a challenge despite MKulia cheating again with Bowie's knowledge, Bowie feels terrible, and to make it up he offers to eliminate himself if one of the Hocky Bros is about to be voted off.

Last but not least, Ripper. Gonna be honest, he was my least favorite of gen 4 in season one; I didn't care for his focus on gross-out humor and he survived eliminations over characters I liked more. I didn't expect much from him going into season two so I was blindsided here. Not only is his gross out humor significantly toned down (but still present) but he proved to be quite endearing with his insecurity over his crush on Axel. I was especially stunned in episode four when he actually tried to connect with Axel's interest in poetry and actually wrote a poem for her, something I could never see season 1 Ripper doing. And Axel reciprocating with a kiss despite not seeming interested in him earlier? My haw hit the floor. Before I was hoping he'd be an early boot, but now I find myself actually wanting to see Ripper stick around and see where things go with him as a character and his potential relationship with Axel. I... actually like Ripper now, which is a sentence I never thought I'd say.

A few minor issues aside, I am loving this new season so far. I haven't genuinely enjoyed Total Drama since the original TDI 15 years ago.

30 notes · View notes

loveislandthegame · 6 days

Text

thoughts on todays volume! in case you are unaware, android users got to play the volume very early, while ios users were given a late release. lmao. (i have both ios & android, but my phone is old & i didn’t want to add “slideshow frame rate” to a game that’s already glitchy af) somehow i managed to escape the horde of unmarked spoilers 🙏🏽

first off, felicity is stunning !!! i'm surprised she had an actual sprite rather than getting the zeph & cassius treatment . if she's not coming back that's such a waste of a really cool & pretty design

friend is really generous, jin . i get OG LI is trying to be nice or whatever but be so fr 😭 the only thing that sienna has been is a boring antagonist, she’s not shown not one single ounce of personality besides being delulu and coming at MC sideways (and it’s mainly because FB now struggles with writing multi-faceted characters…which is why they have AI allegations in the first place…)

speaking of delulu : theo , girl... how many times do i gotta tell you i'm all in on claudia unless they actually let us be poly at the end

MC somehow came out unscathed in movie night, plot armor for the win ! the guys pull MC for a chat before the boy's choice recoupling. the pit in my stomach when i read that.

theo flirts again, but this time our responses are flirty, rude af, or "you should focus on claudia." i didn't want to pick any of these but i picked the flirty one because at first i thought it could be "jokingly" said. interestingly enough, he says something among the lines of how he didn't expect MC to be interested in him because she's with claudia . i didn't want that to bite me in the ass later so i just replayed and picked the rude option (so it seems that it's "canon" for theo & claud to simultaneously crush on MC? at least if she's bi/pan etc.)

i saw this coming but still, this has to be a joke … 😭😭😭😭😭

there’s like what, three volumes left ? unless FB decides to drag this out with a “season 8.5,” this should’ve been a players choice recoupling (hell, it technically could've still been boys choice, with MC getting first pick for winning the heart rate challenge, or because she was selected by the viewers, literally anything lol)

it'd be one thing if OG LI was like, "i chose you because i wanted to keep you safe . even if we're not meant to be, i still care for you, i want you have a chance with the one you want," blah blah blah, but FB never lets us be in a friendship couple, he's just gonna keep pining for MC ... moving on

i forgot to screenshot the first part but it was basically claudia fantasizing about her and MC living in a huge house like the villa, MC was like "how are we gonna afford that"

my MC is a musician, so cuteee

i...what ? 😬 genuinely , what . i read this like 5 times and i still don't understand. unfortunately he did couple up with me, that's why i'm forced to hang out with claudia in the damn shower instead of being out in the open with her . somebody get this grandma to bed

i kinda love the cowgirl outfit. it's terrible, but i love it in a kitschy way . also i just kinda went with it because the mermaid outfit was clipping through MC's braids (as you can see the hat has some weird layering issue, but it's the lesser of two evils)

claudia's outfit wasn't paywalled, and i didn't get the gem option to give jin the viking outfit so he came out looking like this lmfaooooooo

okayyyyyy cowboy carter!

logan arrived way too late imo. again, unless FB plans on extending the season (or he's not romanceable ?) people who get with him are gonna get less time than oliver, angie, youcef romancers. you know how little time that is ???

as for the whole hazel and liam thing ... horrible. , she really deserves better, like me 💋

#love island the game #litg #litg season 8 #litg tempting fate #litg s8 #litg spoilers #spoilers

14 notes · View notes

idleorbitals · 8 months

Text

OF ep 2 watch through ...part 2

(part 1)

sand he was inviting both of you *so* explicitly what is your move here. sand will complain repeatedly about this into the next scene but no one asked him to cancel his date. baby is in denial

side note ray enjoying begging sand so much?? side note also this is how we find out ray blacked out and sand left him their last night together? ouch

ohhhkay the extensive flirting in the car. "one night stand boy, huh?" sand patently enjoying himself /so/ much but whining the whole way. they are both in trouble and neither of them know it yet but sand is going to find out really soon and ray is not going to find out until they both are in much more trouble

top has trauma-induced insomnia and he's serious enough about it to make this face. I'm still proud of mew for checking if he was trying to pull one on him and then being kind about it when it seemed like he wasn't

alright tho didn't we just establish that your much comfier bed is right over there? mew no one did this to you but yourself

I like these mockumentary cutscenes more than I thought I would. mew silently smirking as he checks off boxes is doing heavy narrative lifting and I'm into it

the foreboding music the lighting the lingering on the photo of ray and mew boston what are you planning?? is he about to become a real antagonist? can't decide how I feel about this

ray is sort of into sand insulting him? is this because he doesn't have the power to hurt him yet or masochistic kink

...ray baby no. you're gonna be Learning

sand brings up the /who are you, my dad?/ except this time it's /who am I, your dad?/ convo again and ray makes this face:

alright

oh here we. fokking go

sand going "what am I supposed to be, your hooker" and ray saying "sure" and sand doing soft surprised pikachu for like ten seconds. ray doubling down and sand telling him to save it. instead of saying "I don't sleep with people for money" he says "I sleep with people I like for free" and we send silent thanks to screenwriters who understand the sex industry and have the cultural vocabulary to write compelling nuanced and still quippy conversations about sex. not to be heterophobic but queer people make better tv

anyway sandray are both playing a game and they both keep getting surprised to be one-upped. this is a very enjoyable dynamic to watch and they seem to be enjoying it too

...for now

at minute 8:30 sand's last vocal sound leaves his mouth. for thirty full seconds ray smokes and asks him leading flirty questions including "am I interesting enough for you?" and "are you open to someone like me?" and for thirty full seconds sand looks from rays right eye to his left eye and back again and lowers and raises his jaw infinitesimally and just generally:

this boy is done for and I can't even be mean about it I'm right there with him

anyway at shortly after minute 9 they break the tension and kiss each other. they kiss each other! ray is the one leaning around from his cigarette to do khaotung's little smoke plume of high art but sand is very much matching him in coming in for this kiss. I love this framing so much. firstkhao have the absolutely ideal dynamic to pull this off*

*if anyone saw that one person copy pasting SANDRAYYYY SWITCHHH into the live comment box the entire end credits that wasn't me but I was there with them in spirit

they break away and sand says if they go further they won't just be friends and ray says some kinds of friendship start from sex you watched the same thing I watched I don't need to describe it but here I am. do you remember though that this was the look ray was giving sand while he said that because ho boy

sand pronouncing that ray is going to keep wanting him but they're going to stay just friends right after he says we won't be just friends after this...what level to tackle this on. narratively this definitely feels like foreshadowing and I think he's right on the money on the first bit. but we know that sand is not going to get out of this remotely unscathed whether or not it could possibly be argued that he hasn't already lost that battle. sand showing his hand by contradicting himself out loud as well as internally?

they stub out their cigarettes Significantly and start making out again. can't coherently screencap this scene. it's so excellently done. top notch dynamic again. firstkhao are getting better at this with every go.

ok I do have one minor gripe

for some reason in the middle of sand pushing ray back onto the couch they have inserted a shot of ray on top of sand. it is from the beat that comes after the last little mockumentary cutscene—it's not a double, it's the exact same shot, just colored differently. screenshots below from 10:11 and 11:02

editing mistake? intentional insert to lengthen the scene? I like this shot too but it breaks up the flow of the scene oddly and I want it gone from the first part

mockumentary cutscene: even harder to focus on when I know what's coming back on screen right after but worth mention. obviously sand is reflecting on some past mistakes here. he knows he's playing with fire and he's denying it vocally and also not changing his behavior. self-awareness level relatable honestly. do we think he fell in love with someone he didn't want to? or fell in love freely and then got screwed over? why is he mr. one night stand boy

also don't know whether to credit ray or khaotung for this longest gayest look ever at his own pants. sublime

okay back to the couch for our not-quite-ten-second final indulgence. ray's on top this time. I don't even like sex scenes that much I know what I am saying

I see, like sand's, my words are not matching my actions. and yet

*trembling* sandray.... switch....

all ofts watch throughs

#ofts #only friends the series #ofts meta #firstkhaotung #raysand #sandray #that devolved a little #also it took me so long to finish i took two breaks and posted snippets forgive me #i'm overflowing with um. i don't even know #consider me truly fucked over by this show #where did my saturday go anyhow #ofts watch through

39 notes · View notes

nanagloom55 · 1 month

Text

I want to talk abt Sabine, again !! please correct me if anything is "wrong" in my interpretation. (neurodivergence got me, sorry lads)

I saw some people on the clock app reacting to Sabine's quest, and it's not that i completely disagree with what they said, but idk i need to give my opinion...

To give context, I'll explain Who is Sabine, and HOW i see her.

Sabine is one of the main antagonists of SSL and SSO, more recently she got a redesign (which isn't bad, I'm actually quite a fan of it). Some people like it, some people thrist over it, someone people hate it... Yea, you see it, Sabine's whole personnality is NOW based on her physical appearence. In SSL and early SSO, she was quite the problematic girl, and she wasn't that noticeable compared to now??

Anyways, back to now, I noticed that SSO is now using her as a mascot (just look at their tiktok and IG, it's full of SABINE thirsty posts). She's basically an object now. Object of the community, and i remember y'all this girl is barely eighteen, even if we don't really see it...

The redesign IS GOOD, it's objectively good, but uh... Star stable please, stop that thing with her, some people like her as a character, not a damn object.

Even the whole flirting thing.. The quests are between a pain and corny sh¡t, I wish i could see the Sabine that pointed out all the billshit about Jorvik, that nothing makes sense. I want a girl actually showing a damn personnality trait instead of being... what she is rn.

The Jorvik festival's quests are good. But would be even more cool without that... weird ambiance, atmosphere.

They suceeded with Katja, why not with Sabine ? Katja is a good character ! No thirst or anything, just cool violin and traumatised girl.

(sorry for bad english, again)

#sabine sso #star stable online #ssoblr #Sabine could have been so good #im sad now

17 notes · View notes

theflavorofmyautismisspicy · 2 months

Text

Why I like Vanessa/Natasha

Here’s some incoherent thoughts about why I think they have a lot of potential together (and also some thoughts about their characters in general I kinda just went off with this at times)

They share the same struggle since both of them get judged for their hobby because it’s not something that’s seen as “traditionally female”, with Nessie being into soccer and Nata being into skateboarding. Something I also find very interesting is that due to this Vanessa hates pink high heels as she feels like they represent what the world is expecting her to be just because she’s a girl and Natasha hates pink ballet shoes for the same reason. Maybe pink shoes were just the only thing that the writers could think of to represent a thing girls are expected to be interested in, but I still think them both having hate for such a specific thing really just shows similar their struggle is. They also have similarities in their personalities, they’re both shown to be stubborn, moody, sarcastic, have hard time accepting help from others, passionate about sports and they both also have a softer side to them.

Speaking of which, I know a few people have already talked about this but it was honestly just such a missed opportunity from the show to not have these two become friends😭 Like they could’ve bonded over the struggle they share, it would’ve been great for Vanessa to get a female friend (maybe a controversial opinion but I’ve actually always interpreted Vanessa being able to let go of her internalized misogyny at the end of s1e4. Like that episode is painful with its “strong female character is when a girl hates other girls and is more like one of the boys”, even as a child it left a bad taste in my mouth. It’s very much this clip from Sonic Boom https://youtu.be/dWBn0nS8s0A?si=HxN5Xq90vPPQrLE0 expect the writers stopped listening before Knuckles started speaking. However I don’t think internalized misogyny was really a problem that Vanessa had through the series, I don’t really think she acts like that way in the other episodes, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part. However the writers could have made the internalized misogyny not being a thing she deals with anymore more clear, if that was their intention like I hope it was, by giving her a female friend). I think it would’ve also been great for Natasha’s character and especially her redemption arc if she bonded with Vanessa and even made amends to her since that’s who she caused most problems for. It has always bothered me how that was just never acknowledged so having them fix things between them would’ve been so good. Have them skate and play soccer together !!

Okay now it’s time for me to sound a bit delusional and say that these two had some very gay enemies tension in some scenes. Like the “hey Adora” sort of tension.

I couldn’t stop thinking about this scene after I first saw it when I was like 8 but I couldn’t understand why. Peak antagonist flirting with the hero

Yeah that’s the look everyone gives to their enemy

Natasha, did you really just go to hang out next to Teufelstopf on your free time just in case Vanessa would ride by and you could yell a few mean words at her? Man you’re obsessed🤨

Can’t believe toxic yuri was invented by a kids show about soccer.

And lastly to tie it all together, I just think these two have a dynamic you could use in a lot of different ways in fanworks. There’s the whole enemies with gay tension and evil flirting I just talked about. The whole “hey Adora” dynamic is always interesting. There’s the possibility to give these two what the writers didn’t dare to do and have them bond with each others and realize they’re actually quite similar. Enemies to friends to lovers with Natasha facing the fact that her dislike toward Vanessa was probably born from her jealousy towards her (like her thinking “she’s a girl yet she’s allowed to play soccer but I’m also a girl and I’m not allowed to skate? If I can’t have that neither can she!”) and then having a redemption arc and becoming friends with Vanessa and then falling for her. If you think internalized misogyny was still a thing Vanessa struggled even after her introduction episode (all though I personally don’t agree with that, I’m not surprised people read it that way, the show fell really flat with its “feminist” message) have her unlearn it thanks to her friendship with Natasha and then realize “wow I’ve been suppressing my true feelings and I actually want to kiss girls, especially Natasha”. They could light pink shoes on fire together and call it a date. Maybe make them date in secret because their friend groups don’t get along and create a Romeo and Juliet like situation for them to deal with. Or have them be sporty girlfriends in an established relationship that watch each other play and then flirt.

So yeah in conclusion, girls should kiss girls👍👍

#writing this was so fun #might write one about deon too #all though i don’t really have to like explain why i like that ship #since they’re already one of the most popular ships in the fandom #but i do like talking #i like markus/natasha too #but nata has two hands she can date them both #die wilden kerle animated series #dwk animated series #dwk vanessa #dwk natasha #proofreading this and damn I had a lot of criticism towards this show #doesn’t change the fact that I love it a lot and obsess over it #having criticism of the things you love is good actually

7 notes · View notes

campoverlook-if · 2 months

Note

I was just reading the post about O. And whenever there's a character like that what I love more than anything in an IF. Is the chance to properly get under their skin. They remind me of my baby Imre from we wretched creatures. Jude writes Imre so fucking well and everyone absolutely adores him except for MC that can literally be like..

"You're bullshit doesn't work on me"

I love antagonistic romance options for characters like O because bold flirting with characters like that make them feel like you just want them for all the shallow reasons like everyone else and getting all shy and flustered makes MC someone that just is putty in their hands aswell.

So this is me advocating for options to just stare at O when they try a line on MC 👀🤣

I have trust issues with this whole cast anyway 🤭

Oh yes, they are definitely the type of person who needs to be called out on their bullshit now and again. They’re a bit of the opposite of Lucas who’s much more arrogant about his superiority complex. O knows they have to keep that stuff under wraps or things will stumble, so their relationship with the player will be very interesting to say the least.

And you’re right to have trust issues! Some of these mfs CANNOT be trusted with your life (let alone a child’s 😂)

#camp overlook #asks

9 notes · View notes

kindatired · 2 months

Text

Genshin Impact: First Impression

I know, "You just NOW getting into Genshin after four years?'

Well, I didn't want to play on my phone so I waited to buy a laptop. I did bought a MacBook for school but then I found out that even though this game runs on IOS it doesn't run on MacOS...

(I should've known since the game isn't on the Switch...

Why most of the games I want to play isn't playable on the devices I have- Anyways back to the point.

I just finish Mondstadt in Genshin and so far I really like the story which makes me excited for what they have in store in Liyue. So this is all my thoughts about the first Archon quest, all in one go.

This chapter was a nice introduction to the world of Tevyat and I like how we already have to worry about two antagonistic groups (The fatui and Abyss Order)

Matter of fact let me list down how I think of each character:

The traveler:

I wish they have more character to them especially during the cutscenes. Despite being the protagonist I feel like they’re just in the backseat most of the time with the exception of them needing to action scenes. (Due to this my version of the traveler is that they're snarky but their heart is in the right place.) But I like how they showed us what the other sibling is doing because most stories they will have it a mystery right before the final arc

Paimon:

She’s cute but also WHERE IS HER PARENTS? At the start, she said that she was saved from drowning and I was like “Who was watching you?? Do you have any friends or anything?” I truly believe she will be a plot point in the story considering she can float around and have a space aesthetic to her

Venti:

I really like how mysterious he was at the start of the story and then later we see how much of a doofus he is. (Not saying he's dumb but carefree) Despite not wanting to be a ruling god, he still cares for his city in his own way. I don’t know why but if you mix Pit and Palutena together and then boom there’s Venti.

Amber:

I love her design so much. It's simple yet effective especially with the red bow. I feel like the team knew this too which is why she comes with her own plushie which is so freaking cute! Her character quests is fun too when she taught us to get our own glider's license. I don't know why but she gives the first classmate you befriend in class energy (Probably because she is the first person beside Paimon that we met in the game)

Kaeya:

I’m down bad I like how he has a laidback personality yet he’s always behind the scenes. Despite the front he puts up, you know he’s doing something else. Kind of wish we get to see more of him but I’m satisfied with what we got

Lisa:

At first I thought she was going to be a flirt she kinda is But I found it funny how she’s has a “I don’t have time with this bs” attitude on her side quest but still have a lot of patience for people's BS at times. I can't exactly remember but I think when she was trying to find all the overdue books, she went "I might as well make it fun" and brought the traveler and Paimon along too.

Jean:

Once I take a step back and think of all the things she had to deal with during this arc, it was definitely something. Abyss Order, The Dragon, The Fatui and trying to keep the citizens calm. She doesn’t get enough credit where it’s due. There's this one line delivery in the English version, I can't exactly point out when but it was about how the Fat couldn't get the upper hand in the situation. I don't know why but her tone of voice was passive aggressive, like she was praying on their downfall.

Diluc:

Mix opinions on him due to him sending us to find four of those ice flowers and I had to spend a hour and thirty minutes trying to find the fourth one. So yeah I have bitter feelings about that Serious note, he's probably my favorite character in Mondstadt if we're not including Amber and Kaeya. Bro is the Batman of the game, they even call him the Dark knight

Abyss Ice Mage:

Yeah I dedicated a whole section to this NPC because Imagine being electrocuted by Lisa and flamed by Diluc within a week. Like bro was put in the wringer (rightfully so). Kinda hoped they appear in the future story so this trend of Ice Mage being comedically abused continues.

My thoughts of the story:

I thought the first archon quest of the story is neat. It has nothing too spectacle as it works as a exposition to the world of Teyvat and it done that job very well.

The twist of knowing where the traveler's sibling is doing was definitely something I never thought would happen. Usually in most stories, they would have the sibling in prison but nope.

Your sibling is doing fine just helping out the big bad organization that is trying to destroy Teyvat.

Now this may be a reach but I like how each character has the freedom of accomplishing their goals by their own way.

First you have the traveler, by default they have the freedom of not being born in Teyvat as they are not from this world. Because of this, they have the ability to use more than one element. Another note is that because the traveler isn't bound by the nation's rules as they wasn't raised in Teyvat, they're always the person with a third option, sort of like a spectator...

is this why they're so quiet? So he can hear the opinions of others before making their own conclusions???

Paimon also has freedom as she doesn't have a parental figure which allows her to tag along, traveler on their quests.

Moving on to the people of Mondstadt, even within the Knights of Favonius who are under strict codes, handle tasks using their own method.

Example of this is the uniforms.

While Amber, Lisa, Kaeya, and Jean share the same motifs as being in the same group, their uniforms are completely different. You know how in magical girl shows, where you have sailor moon, where every soldier wears the same design but different color palette? Then there are other shows like Magica Madoka, where the girls where completely different outfits? The knights of favonius fits the latter, with the exception of the NPCs.

Even the way they handle tasks are different. Amber make sure she does her best to follow the rules but with a bit a flare. Lisa is a tad strict but her approach is passive. Kaeya always tries to find a loophole in the situation to see the whole picture. (Example: Him "staying behind" in the city, to get more information about the Abyss Order). Jean who follows the rules, but know there are times when the rules have to be bend.

Then you have the outliners like Diluc and Venti who are not apart of the knights. Diluc doesn't trust the knights to completely solve the problem so he acts as a vigilante, to pick up the pieces they fail to notice.

Venti who is the god of freedom, decided to not rule his region like the other archons. Instead, he watches it from afar, like the guardian he is, and steps in when the time is right.

All these characters are different in one way or another but they all come together to work together because they all share a common goal. Still even if you do things your own way, you still have to bear the responsibility of your actions.

Venti was too nonchalant in his approach of protecting his region which resulted in a Harbinger, La Signora, taking his Gnosis.

I say he was nonchalant because he was focus on the current problems of his country, which was storm bringer, and not future problems such as the Fatui. Because he wasn't focus on them, he let his guard down when the problem with storm bringer was solved.

I know this may be a stretch and I'm just writing what pops up in my head but that's what I got from the message of the archon quest.

Speaking of La Signora, how the hell did no one saw her attacking Venti and traveler or at the very least heard it? I know Barbara did but you're telling me that only ONE person heard that shit?!

So after talking to Venti it appears that we have to go to every seven regions to find the traveler's siblings. Or in this case, try to convince them to not destroy this world.

The fuck do we look like Pokemon Trainers?... Because I can sing the theme songs if you want

Either way, I had fun with the story. Gamplay-wise... I'm not really much of a gamer myself. I don't go into the mechanics of the game.I play fighting game, barely knowing the combos and just smash buttons to win

However, I can say the gameplay of Genshin is easy to get into. Unfortunately, it's a rpg so I have to farm for materials... yay, I guess. But it's not as bad as Fate Grand Order, Fate grand order farming system is a shit storm especially considering how it's a turn based but doesn't have a auto-farm system.

(for those who want to get into the story of FGO, just look it up on Youtube, do not play the game. )

When exploring, I often hesitate of where I go, because the game doesn't want you to explore said region yet, They will send Paimon telling you "Let's explore that later" only to yeet you off the cliff.

Speaking of Gameplay Paimon, she always setting us up. There was this purple spot, and she told us to blow it away to see what it is, only for it to be the eye of the storm... Its not like it was hard but it was annoying to fight it.

At least she let us control the time though.

Overall, I had fun with the game, I'm looking forward for Liyue and thank you for reading all of this as I was writing as I go so I know there is MANY grammar errors in this review.

Can't wait for Liyue because then I will get to see the character that convinced me to play the game.

#genshin impact #genshin impact review #genshin venti #kaeya alberich #diluc ragnvindr #lisa minci #jean gunnhildr #genshin impact amber #paimon #lumine #aether #Genshin Impact thoughts #hoyoverse #mihoyo

17 notes · View notes

myths-tournaments · 6 months

Text

Awful Characters Round 2 Part 1 (5/8)

Propaganda under the cut!

SHEN JIU

YES he abused a child and killed an entire manor of people, but it was probably only one child and allegedly the people sucked. Surely this is not behavior deserving of being turned into a human stick or having your body possessed by a weeb. I love him because sometimes mean people are fun and also who can resist a good redemption tale (he deserves one).

BENNY GECKO

Anyway if you want to see some REAL propaganda go to the blog @letmebegaytodd and look in the #benny tag. You'll Understand < https://www.tumblr.com/letmebegaytodd/717051175751614464/in-another-life-i-wouldve-really-liked-just> <- look at this shit man

#awful characters tournament #tournament poll #awful characters round 2 #svsss #mxtx #shen jiu #shen qingqiu #fallout new vegas #benny gecko #benny fnv

184 notes · View notes

goblins-riddles-or-frocks · 3 months

Note

"He has never done anything wrong" is simply false. Just because his actions have reasonings and actually understandable intentions along with more personal and evil ones doesn't absolve him of his actions. The whole thing with that darkling guy was that he had no intentions except evil ones and that is the guy with more nuance? don't make me laugh. its not just about morality, even the worst to worst characters need to have more motivations than power and revenge on repeat.

I think you might want to reread what I said and try again:

I really wouldn’t call Grim (lame ass name ugh) a villain in like how the plot trajectory goes. Like Aster kept calling him a villain in her promo stuff but he… doesn’t do anything to narratively justify that. There’s a big third act betrayal (that makes ZERO SENSE) so he is like objectively fucking awful but he’s also not really framed as such. Like I’m fully waiting for Nightbane to be like “no actually he’s never done anything wrong in his life, in fact he single handedly invented feminism” à la ACOMAF

Anyway, I really should not indulge this anon further, as hilarious as this is. But for general context, one big twist in Lightlark is that pre canon Grim (the Rhysand/obligatory morally grey love interest with the exact same description in every romantasy ever) was convinced that the only way to win their stupid ass tournament thing is for the protagonist Isla to fall in love with Oro (Tamlin). But oh teh noes Isla already loved him! So his plan, framed as a huge sacrifice, was to… wipe all of her memories of him and their relationship without consulting her about it… so that uh.. hopefully? maybe? she’ll fall in love with Oro when the tournament begins. It’s just so precarious and flimsy to begin with!

Meanwhile he completely undercuts his own goals by showing up and immediately diving into terrible banter with her. And taking her out on a date through not!Velaris and randomly… hand feeding her chocolate. The entire book is just cartoonish but he basically takes every single opportunity to flirt with her and there’s at least one make out scene randomly set in an abbey (there is zero established religion in this book!!!!!) that I am glad to have mostly blocked out of my memory. Like he is NOT doing anything to further his own goals of pushing Isla towards Oro.

Isla ends the first book (lmao understandably) furious with Grim and randomly deciding she’s in love with Oro. But the narrative framing is obviously one where Grim made a tragic mistake and/or that his actions are justified if misguided. He’s just so blatantly a Rhysand! I haven’t read the sequel yet but just from the sheer ACOTAR of it all, I’m certain the second book is going to be speedrunning the ACOMAF trajectory where the narrative justifies all of his actions and conveniently forgets anything wrong he may have done.

He’s frankly barely a character, he’s just speedrunning Rhysand tropes. His motivations make no sense and his reasoning is so bizarre! The reason I was saying making him more evil could be more interesting is that, in the completely alien other world where Lightlark is remotely competently written, a scenario that acknowledges what an insane violation it is to like unilaterally decide all this for someone he supposedly loves could be genuinely compelling. If it’s acknowledged as cruelty and having no consideration for the protagonist’s desires and ability to make choices for herself. Also like damn literally all his screen time is just shitty banter and embarrassing angsting about being a monster like please just give me some variety— let alone actual genuine character work.

I don’t even like Rhysand. But his trajectory from ACOTAR to ACOMAF is at least appropriately drawn out. He’s actually framed as genuinely antagonistic and dangerous on introduction, and the points where he does help Feyre in the first book do a good job of very gradually shifting her perspective on him. And when she hates him the narrative at least mostly tries to lean into it. I already felt like ACOMAF was too annoying with its banter and the obvious foregone conclusion of their romance from very early on, where the reader isn’t allowed to come to their own opinions about him. But it’s way more competently done than anything in Lightlark. The relationship has way more time to breathe.

The Darkling meanwhile is a traditional villain who masquerades as the morally ambiguous sad boy love interest for like half of the first book. (But his fandom has never been able to let go of that initial framing rip). His motivations are pretty simple— at the heart of it, he just wants control. There’s depth to how he tries to achieve it. How he tries to present his motivations as much more reasonable and just than they are. He often undercuts himself too, but it comes from a point of deliberate characterization. His arc is one where he’s spiraling due to his waning control of the situation— and the protagonist— and becoming far more volatile and vicious for it. He’s horrible, but like that’s the point lmao

#this is soooo funny #unfortunately I’m too opinionated to not take this chance to talk characterization #a mysterious stranger has appeared #all the bendy punctuations #i ramble sometimes #grishaverse #acotar #lightlark #book talk

10 notes · View notes

darkfictionjude · 5 months

Note

Random thought. I think the antagonistic romance option is the most genius thing. MC has very little to gain by trusting any of the ROs.

Imre my love.. is a stranger for the most parts and the prince of the town. Wtf would he want with MC would be my first thought in MCs shoes. Nia betrayed MCs trust by just discarding them during a difficult time and Lorcan is.. Lorcan enough said. Doubting their intentions is a natural human response and feeling conflicted about it is very on par with everything MC has endured.

Besides Nia who you have a history of actual good memories with it fits the other two so well. And what I love about your writing is the fact that during the patrol car scene and the party. The ♥️ option isn't the typical flirty/shy options. I think those work well when you are further into the relationship with the ROs and you've built some trust to be able to have those typical romantic responses to each other but for me so far your writing choices have been mainly thoughtful instead of the usual norm of MC trying to charm someone or being a blushing mess. I feel like it would take time to reach that level with these broken humans.

I went on a whole rant about this to my husband earlier and he says I have a problem but that the story sounds cool. Which is a compliment from a man that religiously only reads non fiction. 🙄 btw thank you for the brainrot.

Yeah I thought of the antagonistic option because one of the things I’ve noticed on some IF games is that responses for romance sometimes shoehorn the player to act friendly to gain romance points even if the RO is being shady and an asshole, you can’t say anything cruel or you lose points and don’t unlock scenes and I just think that’s not conductive to real life. And I don’t like the idea of forcing a player to be nice to an RO they want to romance who treats the mc like shit.

Plus it made all the ROs super shady to have them begin on equal footing basically. Nia might get a slight head start for shared history but it’s only a tiny difference because as of right now that relationship is non existent.

And yeah I wanted to have choices that would logically fit an mc who has never been into a romance, who has never been truly flirted with and who knows not a single thing about love and so doesn’t have the mechanics yet to be flirty or blush or charm. Mc in the car describes their feelings in memories and physical sensations (the ROs scents and movements) because they don’t understand exactly what it is their feeling (that has alot to do with the thing they mention, how their body reacts on its own accord to what their brain understand)

And your husband needs to see the IF light! 💜

#anon asks #anon rambles that I love 💜#mc crown #the romance #the ROs #we wretched creatures

10 notes · View notes

amarriageoftrueminds · 8 months

Note

something i’ve been thinking of lately is how we always associate peggy & her actress with white feminism, but when you actually think about it it’s not even white feminism. white feminism isn’t even the bare minimum and yet it still fails the quota to be considered white feminism. it’s just me feminism. she doesn’t even support white women as a collective lol.

like there’s an interview of the actress where she talks about the 2nd season of ac & her comments about the female antagonists made me violently cringe. she was like (paraphrasing), “oh yeah they’re ambitious women like peggy but peggy is a good person and they are just power-hungry narcissists”. i watched both seasons and i can tell you if her only takeaway from whitney and dotty is that they’re narcissists, she’s either not very intelligent or too self-absorbed to really think about the characters not played by her. like what’s narcissistic about being brainwashed in a spy program which you were forced into as probably a baby, or about wanting to be respected for the human genius you are?

the female sidekicks are ridiculous too. again, all good-looking able wasp women but they both have 5 minutes of screentime each + always playing the silly awkward best friend trope. & the woman playing peggy never ackowledges them or their actresses, unless of course it is to conveniently say that s3 would’ve included a peggy x angie relationship after the show was canceled, despite the fact that when asked about it months ago she’d said “we can’t do everything”

like she’s not even nice to able-bodied able-minded upper class wasp women; how do we expect her to support the interests of women who are actually marginalized??

Excellent points, 'nonny.

Funny, isn't it, that there isn't really an extant term that sufficiently describes just how egocentric she is?

(What's even whiter than white feminism? Albino feminism? Leucistic feminism?!)

And- christ, what an absolute staggering failure of self-awareness, for Atwell to call other peoples' characters narcissistic! 🤯

It's as if (she? Peggy?) lacks the capacity to see anyone beyond herself as... a real, entire person. She and the writers seem to think that merely not criticising other women is the same thing as actually supporting them.

Funny how the villains of AC have somehow achieved both competence and rank, despite this insurmountable misogyny that Peggy keeps telling us is the reason she hasn't amounted to anything at the nepo-job she's flaking out on.

Interesting (but not at all surprising) that the villains are also the only other WASP women / of her SEC in Peggy's show.

Connect the damn dots, writers! Your Lil Miaow Miaow is an entitled villainess!

Because if a working class woman looked as good and was as important as Peggy and was competent as well...

Well, what would there be left for Peggy to be? How would she distinguish herself, at all? She would cease to be Special in any way.

My mind always goes back to Pepper Potts.

Hyper-competent, classy, beautifully-dressed red-headed woman?

Who can afford to have a whole other hyper-competent, classy, beautifully-dressed, red-headed woman in the same movie as her, and even flirting with the same man, because Gwyneth Paltrow is not so easily threatened. 💅

Imagine if they couldn't have Thor in the same movie as Steve because being handsome and blonde and muscley and good is his thing. Or were only allowed to have handsome actors if they were playing villains, so as not to undermine Steve's heroic Specialness. Would be pretty pathetic, wouldn't it? 😬

In AC -- perhaps intending to retcon CATFA Peggy's indifference to her fellow women and failure to pass the Bechdel Test -- they try to set up token 'Peggy Supports the Women!!' moments.

But her other actions belie that.

Example: stabbing a guy with a fork for pinching Angie.

But it just begs the questions:

Why does this protectiveness only start after Angie has ass-kissed Peggy?

Why does that random fat guy get stabbed for annoying women, but sugar daddy Howard Stark merely gets a telling off?

(J/K! We know why -- she'll need his penthouse!)

And why are we supposed to see Peggy as protective of women, when it's Peggy herself who's the idiot putting their lives in danger in the first place?

(And for no better reason than because she wants someone to pay attention to her, or because she wants to show off and overestimates how clever she is, in a way that disastrously backfires -- not on her but on those lower down the foodchain, of course.)

She gets Eileen fridged murdered because she wore a blonde wig despite knowing she had a blonde civilian room-mate at home.

Pretty stupid, no?

And what's worse, then she goes out and immediately befriends yet another blonde civilian woman!

Why does she persist in putting innocent women in danger?

By her own admission, there's an entire floor full of female agents whom she could've easily struck up a friendship with at any time. Why not one of them?

(Answer: because having other female agents around reminds us Peggy isn't special... unless they're an unthreatening fat girl there for comic-relief, of course!)

Is Peggy that desperate to only be around those she can condescend to? Waitresses and housekeepers? She doesn't want equals, she wants servants? (So the writers can play with their Downton Abbey fetish?)

Then there's the way that, every time Actual Feminist Daniel Sousa tries to say something feminist in the office, Peggy shuts him down and treats the very attempt as if it's a personal insult.

These writers are so ignorant of what feminism is and how it actually works that they think a thing can only be feminist if a Woman does it.

The hypocrisy of Peggy stopping Daniel speaking up for women's rights generally because -- as you said -- she knows her value and only this one particular white woman matters.

(And then Atwell, in classic clueless tin-eared style, quotes that line out of context on her IG for her Pride Month. 🤦‍♀️ Is her message meant to be: 'hey folks, if you hear someone speaking up for gay rights, do what Peggy did and tell them not to! Let the oppressors carry on as they are, because... hey, as long as this one white person loves themselves?? no one else's opinion matters...' 😌

#Girlboss #Super-humble-about-it)

In s2, they tried to walk back that silly line (which... y'know... Peggy casually destroying any chance of career advancement those women on the other floors could've had? For a pithy soundbite? Great job!)

By having Peggy mansplain to Daniel, Rose's employer, why he should employ... Rose... his employee... 😕❓❓❓

When Rose is only there because Daniel believed in her enough to take her with him and give her a job.

(Unlike Peggy, who just took her servant and her sugar daddy. Oh and her giant wardrobe.)

And Peggy doubts Rose herself. But then -- hypocritically -- pretends to Daniel's face that she didn't. And she has the audacity to scornfully compare him to Jack Thompson, for seeing Rose that way.

(That's you, Peggy! You just described yourself!)

There's also the... very weird vibe about Peggy, when she goes to visit Violet, the new fiancee of Daniel.

Daniel, who... wasn't even dating Peggy, but nevertheless moved to the entire other side of the country to get away from her.

(Hmm... is it just me or is there a definite pattern of ESCAPE in the men Peggy battens onto? 🤔 It's giving You / Crazy Ex Girlfriend).

Anyway, Peggy put on this super weird chummy 'I'm SO super nice and Totally NOT bothered about him moving on so quick!!!' persona with Violet, which she never had with anyone else at any other time. Kind of creepy? Like an aristo trying to pass for a peasant, or something. And her idea of being Hip and Cool and Relatable to the working class was to... share a story of her triumphs at English public school? 😬 Oyvey. Read the room, Camilla.

#long post #antisteggy #antipeggy #toAyourQ #dat's me #hey nonny #cynthia glass #p*ggy meta #mcu critical #steggy is hydra trash party #meta #mcu meta #ac meta #what's whiter than white feminism? ALBINO feminism? LEUCISTIC feminism?#my meta

14 notes · View notes