#the writing was decent and the storyline was so good imo!! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

theskysungqueen · 2 months

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to make things brief cause I suck at organizing what I have to say, the live action was definitely Something™.

Cast: 10/10 kinda biased personally but yall can't take this from me

Gordon as Aang and Dallas as Zuko were the standouts imo. Gordon needs some direction on line delivery and the angstier scenes but overall he's very charming and I'm so proud of him for getting so much exposure!

Ian as Sokka was great, I just wish he was allowed to be more...messy? like Sokka pretends to be chill and all that but he's actually dramatic so I hope that gets improved in the next season if there is one

speaking of improvement, Kiawentiio as Katara brought out a softer side to the character but sadly diminished her spark and passion. I like that Katara now actually feels like a younger sister, it makes sense within the context of the story that Sokka and Gran Gran would shelter her after what happened, but as someone said, her anger is so central to her character and I just wish that got shown more. It's more of a script and direction problem tbh, if you look at Kia's interviews she has the sass and feistiness Katara needs

Lizzy as Azula is great, the writing is a bit clunky though so she did the best she could with it. Can't really comment on Mai and Ty Lee yet because they're kinda just there but it's a nice setup

Maria as Suki? perfection show stopping never the same she is a queen and I love the tidbit of Suki backstory which she never really had in the og show. I love her being such a loser around her crush we love to see girlfailures girlfailing. I wish the writers didn't make them KISS though 😭 slowburn ftw

the adults were great

Writing: 6.5/10

There were genuinely good moments and I love the concept of mixing up certain plot points to condense the story

But they just suffered from too much Telling instead of Showing WRITERS PLEASE LISTEN TO THE CRITICISM YOU HAVE TIME TO IMPROVE PLEASE

Omashu, mechanist, and Jet plot mixing as a concept was fine, but it dragged on and my friends and I got bored of it. I like it in theory but if it was going to take THAT long couldn't they have just separated one of those storylines for a different episode?

I appreciate that they tried to develop the water siblings' relationship by making them the stars of the Secret Tunnels, but I would've changed the way they "conquered" the problem (really? badgermoles respond to love? cute in theory but like why). If anyone's watched Barbie: A Fairy Secret there's a part where Barbie and her frenemy accuse each other of why their friendship failed, and it helps them make up and breaks the curse put on them. So that's what I would've done, force them in a life or death situation in which they have to say the unsaid things, maybe hug it out and boom

The way they handled Koh and the Spirit World was a Mess™ but the effects were decent

Zhao meeting horrible ends in every incarnation is so deserved

Yue having more agency was a welcome change AND I LOVE THAT SHE WATERBENDS. Then waterbends even when the moon is gone. It's such a nice visual nod to the fact that she has the moon spirit within her

That said, the show could definitely use more visual storytelling, less weird dialogue. Like it's so strangely common for shows or adaptations these days to exposition dump. Like they did not have to make Yue say that the ocean spirit was angry, literally just show me the dead moon fish and I'll get the idea. Then Iroh says "That's Wrath" that's just redundant now isn't it

I like that they saved Katara bringing Aang out of the Avatar State until last even if it could've been done better

HOW DARE THEY MAKE ME LIKE HAHN HE WAS A JERK IN THE SHOW BUT THEY MADE HIM A GENUINELY GOOD CHARACTER. Yes to brown men not being portrayed as jerks but also in the original it was a nice contrast to how far Sokka had come because Hahn reflected who he used to be. But live action Hahn </3

I like that they showed the deaths and blood. I wanted a live action that was both lighthearted but more realistic when it came to the injuries and death, and that'd kind of what I got

Other thoughts + overall

You can tell they put so much heart into this show, watching the bts, the bending boot camp with the correct martial arts, the easter eggs, the nods to the comics, the beautiful adaptations of Cabbage Merchant and Secret Tunnel nomads, there's so much passion behind the show it's a shame it suffered in its writing

which is why if they read reviews and criticism from the bigger name fans (TheAvatarist, HelloFutureMe, etc.) it would really help them improve for future seasons! The cast is stunning already and they have great chemistry (hopefully gets improved too!)

The live action is just a different angle to the show. And I'm saying this as an Avatar fan–the original wasn't perfect, either. I had some problems w it but the overall show was genuinely so good and heartfelt, those problems weren't glaring enough to put me off (unlike The Dragon Prince, sorry). The live action definitely wasn't perfect, but it tried to give us a new look into Avatar. Again, no adaptation will ever be a 1:1 remake and none should be. Where's the fun in that? But while the show is so full of heart and with actual fans working behind the scenes, I doubt if they listen to any criticism that they can't pull this off better next season.

#atla #avatar the last airbender netflix #avatar netflix #netflix avatar #avatar the last airbender #netflix atla #avatar live action #aang #katara #sokka #zuko #iroh #azula

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nanistar · 1 year

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may i ask why you hate mapleshade? like is it more of a fandom thing/author thing or do you just not like her character? sorry if thats a weird question lol

i think the idea behind her character is cool but the erins are the erins and they fucked it up imo. also the way the fandom treats any discussion about her and other characters in her book is so annoying i cannot stand going into the mapleshade tag on tumblr

which is a shame cause like i said, i really like the concept of her character and i feel like it had alot of potentional

not a weird question, i get it. i gotta start by saying i have no ill will against people who like mapleshade or even like the points i'm about to say. btw! sorry this is long i got really into it

starting chronologically (according to canon, not publication)(publication order is: all ivypool darkforest books (2011 and prev) crookeds promise (2011), great battle (last hope 2012, she permadies here) and maples vengeance (2015)

i actually really liked mapleshade's vengeance, all things considered. it comes last in the mapleshade storyline according to publication date, and up until then we really didn't know much about her, and i believe this is where she gets a personality other than "random DF lady" and "rude ghost villain". the erins are not good writers by any means, but i felt that mapleshade's internal monologue and the way she saw the world was genuinely pretty decent. they portrayed her as obsessive and manipulative and as an unreliable narrator. it was one of the first books i read upon returning to the fandom in 2018 and it was a thrill to read, because i hadn't been spoiled on it.

the erins have a habit of writing surprise/accidental pregnancies as plot points, which has the implication of like… flings/one night stands. it's best not to think about it. it's pretty obvious upfront that appledusk is not as in to her as she is in to him, but she doesn't see it. she talks about him in her narrations as a sweet and loving man and talks about their family and future together, but when we the readers finally see him, he's calloused and doesn't really care about her. i think she even sees him with reedshine at a gathering and gets mad before she thinks "oh he's just doing that so no one gets suspicious" (not quoting or anything, i havent read the novel since 2018) girl. their relationship was obviously just a fling to him, but to her they were in love. i liked the way this was written as opposed to all the other times in warriors weve seen a man have a hissy fit because a girl rejected him. (ashfur is the glaring example but also crowfeather, brambleclaw) her denial and refusal to accept what she was seeing (that she was the side piece) was the interesting part.

she has her children and then ravenwing spills the beans. why on earth would he do that? why would it benefit the clan or anyone? from a logistical standpoint, thunderclan lost 3 potential new warriors and mapleshade never implied she was going to riverclan. anyway, he didn't even have proof. he just assumed. i think he rightfully got what was coming for him, since if he would have kept his mouth shut, 7 cats including himself wouldn't have died. sorry mini rant i don't like him. anyway we know the rest of the story. kits die, maple kills ravenwing for telling her secret, she kills frecklewish for not helping (no, she couldn't have jumped in to save the kits without probably dying herself but she COULD have stood up for maple in thunderclan, and she was upstream so she could have yelled out and warned maple of the flood but im NOT getting into that and i dont care) and then she goes to kill reedshine but kills appledusk instead. did he deserve it? he was kinda a dick but mapleshade was like stalker-obsessed with him (i think she uses the phrase "my appledusk" in her narration but i might be wrong) after what was ostensibly a one night stand. perchpaw wounds mapleshade to the point where once she flees the scene, she dies of blood loss. cool

the story of a mothers love (and a mother's loss) is an age-old tale. in a franchise where all female characters are doomed to become boring cookie-cutter mothers, this loss and violent rage was awesome.

everyone told me to read crookedstar's promise, because it was the best super edition. i.. do not agree with that. tbh i thought it was long and boring and went nowhere. crookedstar suffered many tragedies in his life, and he lost everyone he loved, and then the book suddenly ends with him going "im ok (:" and dying. (i was reading a pdf and not a physical copy so it was VERY abrupt for me. i legit sat there like.. so that's it? i read 500+ pages for that?) i can't really blame mapleshade for this (since shes not real) but it does factor in. her idea of revenge against appledusk was to torture an injured baby? who then grew up and had no idea who the fuck appledusk was? why not raise him and give him the love he craved so that when the time came, he would be more likely to do her bidding?? her motives here make no sense. not super important. anyway.

and then she's seen occasionally in the dark forest and she tries to drown ivypaw for no reason once. idk she was obviously just a background character in these scenes (since they came first) but the fans saw a female in the dark forest and were like. thank god a woman. can you blame them. then the erins built her up from that.

anyway mapleshade has this generations long story of manipulating younger cats, and a POV book where she's obviously obsessive, controlling, stalkerish and chooses brutally uncommon violence as a way to get back at those who wrong her. (she unburies ravenwing's body so crows can eat it, and she uses adders to kill frecklewish, despite the fact the snakes could easily go for her.) she puts HERSELF in danger to do these things because she's impulsive, she justifies all her actions to herself by saying its revenge for her children and in the end, she pushes the last remnants of the kittens she thinks she's fighting for away. this is a cool story about a woman who's pushed to the edge and takes everyone down with her. for ONCE its not a man with deadwifepain.

and what does the fandom do

they girlbossify her. they fight over if she's in the wrong or not (she is. she killed people.) they take everything about her that made her compelling and turn her into "grr my husband cheated on me and me kids are dead. sad." she gets turned into the most basic, boring, cookie cutter "evil" lady. she kills people for fun and not because she had a reason to or a goal (in her mind). she suffers the most tragic kind of loss that there is and gets no time to grieve before she is run out of her home, and her reaction to this is pure RAGE, and the fandom turns her into this boring, slay QUEEN!!! (not the pregnant cat kind), always been evil, always been hardcore, ~So CrAzY~, "my eyeliner is sharp to stab men" girlboss. where's the nuance. where's the passion!!? she's a miserable, impulsive, manipulating failure. she blames others for her mistakes and bad judgment and punishes others for her shortfallings. she can't be vulnerable and broken, she can only cry because dead kids and then kill evil husband and evil husbands wife. she's even sometimes portrayed as like "boss" of the dark forest, wrangling all the men. barf.

so to answer your question, it's the general fandom* portrayal that i hate, but i honestly wouldn't trust the erins with her at this point. (the erins are influenced by their fans, for example (old person voice) back in my day, firestar and scourge being brothers was just a fan theory.) i'm glad they permakilled her in the great battle so they cant bring her back to ruin anything. actually thinking about her to write this out and reflect on why i don't like her made me sympathize for her. i like text mapleshade with a little bit of fanon sprinkled in for flavor.

and hey. usually when the fandom adopts a character, they're right. the fandom likes to get really in to random bg/side characters and give them lives they would never have in canon. but sadly (or not, depending on your opinion), when those get popular and breach containment, they spread everywhere and suddenly people think this IS canon. look at how many of us thought that brambleclaw killed hawkfrost directly after he killed hollyleaf, because that was the easy way to portray the great battle in MAPs, only to have someone point out, years after this has become the common sequence of events, that brambleclaw actually hunts him down, brings him back to camp, and then murders him POW style!!!

*btw. im in no way saying that all mapleshade-based projects or aus or whatever are bad, even if she is sexy girlboss in them. some of my favorite maps portray her like that.

anyway. TLDR:

everyone say "i'm sorry mapleshade"

#mapleshade #sorry this is long and if i got facts incorrect i dont really care #apologize to mapleshade for what weve done

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spikeinthepunch · 8 months

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i dont mean to reminisce on DAI/DA in general so much rn as some kinda jab to bg3, just nostalgic and there arent many high fantasy rpg (or any rpgs) that have details branching relationships. i am super biased for Dorian but thats because his romance was SO good imo. and again, it was unique for not falling into the often bland 'everyone is bi just because'.

but rn after getting to the first major stage of Astarion's relationship i think i can also agree w those who are saying the romances seem less romance and more sex. and i love sex, i want to fuck these guys a lot, really. but its the fact *everyone* is like that. they ask on the end of act 1 if you want to fuck anyone, and everyone has the option to. and thats cool sometimes but lets be serious, its not realistic and it kinda takes weight off of some characters if they all wanna fuck with barely knowing you. you get next to no options to converse with them in detail through the first act. especially in Astarion's case, i didnt get anymore options until he bit me, and even that was not long before closing act 1. it is def harder to get higher approval with some characters just in act one. but even prior i somehow got Lae zel high enough she was eager to fuck just because i killed some people. and she was hardly in my party at all.

like okay, i have more acts, so im sure i will learn more about Astarion but its still the fact that the first relationship anything i could do was just led by asking for sex? regardless of my stance on sex (and i love it), i want variety. and variety can't just be their backstories, it has to be their stand on relationships, intimacy, sex, etc. if you game if going to take pride in its romances. remember DAI? remember all the stuff you could ask back at your base? questions about them that honestly had a decent amount of branches or at the very least there were a good number of topics? their impressions affecting options and story choices coming up quite often. you still had to get to know them but i felt like their approval was well paced and obvious.

not getting anything else to ask Astarion through almost all of act 1 except "what can you tell me about yourself" to which he says nothing was kinda lame. i can ask Shadowheart what she thinks of the current situation, etc... you can ask Gale a good amount about his condition. and my approval was neutral too. But even for them, there was very little you could get out of those choices anyways. and additionally with DAI not jumping right to sex, i liked how you could like... you could have small intimate interactions with them outside of the big scenes. and the pacing felt good, the story quests for them also coming in 'acts' with the overall story.

idk man, i just hope the romance storylines in bg3 pick up. i did see complaints coming from ppl before i started but i kinda wished they were exaggerated, but i care about writing and pacing so its kinda hitting me that its not wrong.

#also. astarion's first sex scene was so short compared to minthara #which i did and reloaded #i know you can be any gender w these guys but like.... come on man

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sevensoulmates · 3 months

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Aight...here's my thoughts on the season 6 finale. As a SEASON finale, yeah it was pretty decent. I enjoyed the bridge collapse as an emergency and I thought that the season character arc culmination was where it needed to be for most of the characters with two notable exceptions.

This is about to be long, so if you want to read my ranty thoughts, it's under the cut:

Now, if this actually ended up being the SERIES finale? It would've been Okay for everyone with the big glaring exception of Buck and Eddie.

If they really ended the show this way....dear god I would've been PISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDD.

And not just because "waah! I want buddie!" but because imho it doesn't work for the journey Buck and Eddie are on individually (or together). It felt like the writers were like okay, we may not get renewed after this so we're giving Buck and Eddie the potential for new relationships and that's that. But....these relationships don't actually feel like a "happy ending" or "potential for a happy ending" they feel very much like another stepping stone on a story for these two that is very much incomplete.

If it had ended here, I personally feel like it would've been a metaphorical death for these two characters. In the sense that they're still in the middle of learning what they need, what they want, where they actually want their lives to go. In real life, people die unexpectedly, in their middle of their life, and all of those loose ends never get tied, but in a TV show? The hope is that the writers know where they want the character arcs to go and how and that by the end of the show, they reach a satisfying conclusion to their individual arcs. The season 6 finale was not that. Fuck, the entirety of season 6 was not that. Season 6 felt like a transitionary season, almost like season 1 where the show was still getting its sea legs and figuring out a direction for the characters to go moving forward. Which is bad if this actually ended up being the very last season of the show.

In the show, Maddie, Chim, Bobby, Athena, Hen and Karen are all in much different places in their lives than Buck and Eddie. Everybody else knows who they are as characters, and all of their plotlines don't really revolve around "who am I?" but rather "how does [insert plot line here] fit into who I already am?" For Buck and Eddie, they are still very much on their "who am I?" journey. And it is far from over.

Eddie's character arc in season 6 was very much at the point where he's made it over the big emotional hurdles in his life that revolves around his trauma of losing Shannon, the PTSD of war, the emotional abuse he suffered at the hands of his parents, and the question of whether or not he's a good father for Chris. All that's left is the big "who am I?" and we started to see some of that in his storyline revolving around Chris starting to grow up and gain some independence, leaving space open in Eddie's life to start thinking about what he wants for himself. The show keeps on having external characters harping on Eddie that he needs to get a partner, and he keeps going around in circles with that ever since he started dating Ana. To me, this season did not show me that what Eddie actually needs is a perfect woman to swoop in and make him not lonely. In fact, it's shown quite the opposite. I get wanting Eddie to have something happy at the potential end of the series, but it feels weird given that the WHOLE SEASON the writing kept showing us that jumping back into dating and finding a good woman to settle down with is not actually the solution for him. I can't say whether or not this is setting up for queer realization arc, because I don't work for the show, but in terms of the actual writing itself....there's not much else that makes sense. ((This is also not to say Eddie is fully "healed" of his trauma, he's just in a better place in terms of handling it than Buck at the moment imo.))

As for Buck, the whole sperm donor storyline was a massive regression in terms of his personal journey. It was a trauma response at the very best. To me, Buck has not yet gotten to the point where Eddie is in terms of actually being able to heal his personal traumas and not let that hurt effect his current decisions. He's still very much in the thick of his pain. This sperm donor storyline is very obviously a manifestation of his guilt surrounding being a bone marrow donor baby, not being able to save his brother's life, still feeling like the only time his parents care is when he's injured or helping someone else out, and still feeling like he's the odd one out when it comes to the rest of the firefam who all have their own "individual families". To me, at this point in the series, the only part of Buck's story that has reached its natural resolution is his relationship with Bobby. Those two have worked it through and have reached a point where they can acknowledge how they feel about each other and not let their individual trauma affect their professional or personal relationship.

But good lord, Buck has not actually faced most of the other stuff. And having that baby on his couch was nothing if not a brand new trauma to add to the list. If the series ended with Buck as he is now, I would've been horrifically sad for him. Because literally nothing else of his story was resolved. I hope this is worked through in s7 and beyond.

All I have to say is hallelujah that the show didn't end there and that ABC swooped in and snatched them up. Hopefully with this new found freedom with ABC we can actually start to see these storylines come to their natural progressions instead of just pushing it off later and later until neither of them ever gets a happy ending.

#911 rewatch #season 6 #season 6 finale #season 6 might actually be my least favorite season at the moment #I'm gonna need season 7 to swoop in and fix it #or at least put us on the path to fixing it

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destinyc1020 · 11 months

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The critics' average score is 4.8/10, so they are not really "review bombing it". It's just that the standard deviation is not large and there are currently just 2 reviews that are higher than 6/10, so that depresses the RT score. If you read the reviews you can see that the complaints are not the performances but the writing and extremely slow pace. They just didn't like the "mystery" aspect to extend for 5 episodes after they figured out what the mystery was since the first one

Thanks Anon.

Soooo are more critics gonna review it soon and bring this score up on the critic's side or WHAT? 🥴

Anyway, the main cast is amazing, so I can't imagine that critics would ever have an issue with anyone's acting in this.

Tom always does awesome with his acting in his roles imo. 🤷🏾‍♀️ It seems it's just the scripts. 👀

I actually don't think that Tom needs a new agent. He shares an agent with Austin Butler if I'm not mistaken. I just think Tom might need someone who carefully combs over his scripts to see if they would be good writing/decent storylines perhaps?

It seems most of the complaints about his projects (the ones the critics didn't like at least) have been due to poor writing/scripts/storylines ("CW", "Uncharted", "The Crowded Room", "Dolittle") or poor directing ("Cherry").

The fans usually seem to like the projects though, so go figure! 🤷🏾‍♀️

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jeffersonseaplane · 1 year

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okay I have way too many thoughts about sab season 2 so here goes *deep breath*

on the "main storyline" side: as someone who hasn't read the sab books but has read soc duology, I rlly liked alina's storyline this season and thought it was decently paced for how few episodes there were. i loved mal and nikolai being friends and not having a random awful love triangle and that alina didn't love nikolai except for platonically! made sense.

baghra kicked ass and ben was again amazing as the d*rkling. loved seeing alinas struggle and his side even though i hate him, because we got to see genya. (SIDE NOTE GENYADAVID WRECKED ME.)

mal being sturmhond was actually a nice twist imo. the twins ROCK and i love tamar and nadia sm. adrik too he's so cute.

on the crows side: even though i adore the crows (and there were zero faults with the cast's performances, as usual), i found myself a little disappointed with some of the writing. some decisions to put book scenes in early made sense (MORE SENSE THAN SOME OF YOU WILL GIVE THEM CREDIT FOR, considering they want to feed us crumbs IF the show gets cancelled), but generally it was disorienting to see the ck plotline, or at least part of it.

i think that the one great thing abt the ck plotline is that it opens up new implications for matthias and pekka's motives, both towards each other and towards kaz, and i love that idea. it's something i'm the most excited for, honestly.

kaz's backstory was well-done and well-acted by jordie, young kaz, and current kaz! freddy continues to be an absolute superstar and one of my favorites in the cast. one thing about kaz, tho: i HATED that the dregs weren't already his crew...like girl who tf is running the crow club. kaz is older in this iteration but not by THAT MUCH...anyways i do think it'll provide basis for the big bolliger/not trusting kaz scene at the beginning of the real soc plot but i still didn't like it.

the other major thing i hated was how rushed wesper was (this one is pretty obvious), but let me also volunteer this: it made sense. of the crows, they have the least traumatic relationship (even tho they have personal traumas yk), and because we can't guarantee that the show will get a spinoff, SOMEONE has to end up happy. thus, no slow burn. annoyed about it, but it's not unreasonable + i adore jack and kit together.

kaNEJ THIS SEASON OMG. the scene in the chapel at the end of the season...wow. i thought it was superbly done and made sense in the storyline of the show, despite being from the books. yes, they had some slightly rushed moments, but again, no guarantees for another season. also this means they're probably planning even more development for a spinoff!!

helnik...cal and dani blow me away even when they're not together?? how do they do that?? amazing. i loved the tension; it was just like the books.

jesper's powers becoming stronger after he hallucinates aditi were a nice touch imo. when colm comes around he'll have to reckon with himself even more now, so that's actually interesting + good setup. he was amazing in episode seven!!!

INEJ SAVING ALINA AGAIN. the implications it has for her religious beliefs are so wow. also, her looking for slavers with sturmhond (MAL!) and the crew is great bc we'll see her again, but it also gives her a minor amount of closure. not full closure, but enough to keep fans wanting to see her again.

on a general note: my favorite episodes were five and seven. i thought five did character interactions super well (specifically nina/kaz and kanej), and seven brought the characters from both storylines together in a way that was, imo, better than last season. also, in episode eight: ALINA USING THE DARK CUT ON THE PAREM SOLDIER?? WOWOWOWW I LOVE THAT I'M SO EXCITED. people will be mad kaz knew about parem before van eck told him but my guess is that the van eck kidnapping stuff DID happen and we just didn't see it yet (wait for spinoff!!)

i'll definitely have to write more posts as it settles in, but yeah...that's the gist of it lol. basically: i will always be a show defender, even if there's clumsy writing and some hamfisting!! i love that damn show!! i am really excited to see them again (praying for a spinoff) and i loved the way the season ended tbh.

#six of crows #shadow and bone #shadow and bone season 2 #sab s2 #spoilers #sab spoilers #six of crows spoilers #be nice to the cast pls they are so hard working and did an amazing job with what they were given

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mimbotomy · 7 months

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7, 24, 56?

Prompts found here!

7. How do you choose which POV to write from?

It’s a bit of a process IMO so I’m just going to go through it! Starting with my process for a multi chapter long fic with multiple POVs bc that’s mostly what I write lol.

My first step when starting a new chapter is to flesh out/rewrite my outline according to the previous chapters, changing any continuity errors, changing the tone if needed, etc, etc. Then I make of list of all the potential POVs and think about what notes I’d want each one to hit - their feelings, thoughts, how they would react to the action - and I’ll often write a couple short little snippets to see how their voice and internal dialogue works with the action of the chapter. Since I only really write Odyssey fic, a lot of this step focuses on our girl Kassandra and debating whether or not I want her POV or someone reacting to her, and then what kind of reaction I want! Then I start writing! And honestly, I go back and rework things or completely rewrite things to a different POV in the middle of this step more often than I would like to admit RIP.

My process for single POV fics, of which I only have two bc I like seeing different people’s view points, is mostly the same, but I spend a lot more time debating between Kassandra’s POV and reactions to Kassandra. Deciding on the POV for There is No Escape. . . was a lot easier bc after I decided I wanted this fic to take place after Hades’ canon storyline, the story became less “Kassandra and Zagreus fight Underworld baddies” and more “Zagreus’ decision to help Kassandra and the bond they form over their journey down and out of the Underworld.” And having it from Zagreus' POV, in a world and story format he knows and understands gave me the space to focus on relationships and characters rather than Kassandra reacting to the Underworld. And I had already down a Kassandra POV for A Miscalculation, which had a similar storyline of Kassandra saving Phoibe from the Underworld, so I wasn't necessarily chomping at the bit to completely rehash that.

But I went back and forth for a much long time between having the Children of Kephallonia be entirely from Kassandra’s POV or alternating between her and Phoibe’s before deciding on the former, bc I realized my plan for the story gave me the opportunity to have Kassandra reacting to herself and her own skill and power that I don’t really give myself to do in my other fics. One of the scenes that I thinks best explains this is in Chapter 6, The Interloper, where Kassandra is surprised that Brasidas doesn’t seem to believe that she can scale a three story wall in armor without being spotted bc she lowkey thought everyone could do that, and Ikaros says, “Maybe it’s just easy for you.”

This ended up being a little longer than expected but that’s my process!

24. Worst writing advice anyone ever gave you?

Writing in past tense! Not trying to shit on anyone who writes in past tense, bc I have read some truly amazing books and fics written in past tense, but I feel like my work became a lot more fluid when I started writing in present tense. It helps brings me into the moment and I think my work is now more detailed and easier to read bc of it. Easier to write too - flows better IMO.

56. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

Characters! Or more specifically, I think I’m pretty good at getting inside a character’s head and capturing their unique voice and I think I also do a decent job at exploring and fleshing out character relationships from canon. Honestly, I think a lot of my skill there has to do with the fact that I write a lot of crossovers (3 on AO3 and at least 5 rattling around in my head or on google docs please pray for me 🙏) bc it forces me to really think about Kassandra and the other characters, whether from Odyssey or Marvel or Harry Potter or Hades, to figure out how they would act and react in situations so far beyond the comfortable confines of canon.

For example, I personally saw a huge shift in my writing after I started my Odyssey x Marvel crossover: my Kassandra and Ikaros became even more tightly connected, she became more devout to the gods and both a little more and a little less arrogant at the same time, and her relationship with Phoibe solidly shifted over to the mother-daughter category, all of which ended up becoming big parts of my next fic The Children of Kephallonia and every fic since.

Also, I think I’ve gotten pretty good at writing fight scenes and giving Kassandra a unique fighting style, but those scenes are usually a lot shorter 😂

#for lack of a better tag #ask game

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screamingay · 1 year

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started ranting about doctor who to my gf and realized i actually have a lot of opinions (which start off summarizing hbomberguy's takes from the sherlock video but it was kind of a revelation for me) so if u want to hear them ive copypasted and edited them a bit for u guys under the cut <3

so like to set up how bad steven moffat is he explains why doctor who was so bad when moffat was the showrunner in a way ive been trying to articulate for years

basically he's a decent writer who was good at individual episodes that make reference to the doctors history but when it came to actually writing that history and the big events that would become the doctor's history he sucks so so so badly

like in the empty child he was amazing, he prioritized the story of the episode while giving the doctor an air of mystery and references a long and complicated backstory without compromising any charm or humor

but in the very first episode where he had reins on the entire show and its storylines he resorted to just a monologue from the doctor about how cool and special he is and that trend continued the whole time he was in charge. the entire universe suddenly revolved around the doctor

like. chibnall was clearly trying to subvert that by only using brand new aliens during his first season and having extra companions (three of them jesus christ) but he didn't address the heart of the problem and somehow made it even worse. the charm of the doctor was always that they were just a traveler bouncing around the universe and helping people or having fun or whatever

and of course there was always the tragic backstory and the genocide and being the last of his kind and all that but that always came second to the humans he loved!! the first time the master came back in tennant's run it was martha and her family and jack that saved him!! and chibnall tried to do that with yaz but it just didnt feel as impactful bc of how overpowering the master & timeless child plots were (dont even get me started on the timeless child shit retconning the entire history of the show to make the doctor quite literally the most important being in the universe)

moffat on the other hand went all over the place with it and wrote in intergalactic cults deadset on killing the doctor and when he did try to make companions special and important he completely took away their agency in the process

to me clara was a decent companion and had some great moments for me until she turned out to be not real or a metaphor or forgotten or dead or somehow retconned into existing since the show started in 1963 it was all so WEIRD and misses the point of making a companion important. it made her so important she lost her humanity imo

and then there was bill who also died and was mutilated beyond recognition and it just makes me think about how rtd never did that to companions. they were special not because of time magic or destiny or fucked up deaths but because they were just humans. with families. martha got to go back to her family. donna had to forget but she was happy in the end. rose was supposed to live out her life in the parallel universe with her own mortal doctor, and she did, but moffat STILL found a way to bring her back as a metaphor because his desire to deconstruct female companions into concepts and tragedies was just too strong

that's not even getting into what he did to river. or amy...

none of this is to say rtd is perfect of course, i'm really nervous to see how he deals with everything that's been thrown at the show in the past couple decades but considering he plans on staying for a while i really hope he manages to put a better twist on all of it. honestly the thing im most curious about is the special effects.. the show has been leaving very heavily on cg lately but chibnall did introduce a few decent practical effects and puppets so i hope rtd pushes for more of that. im getting off topic tho

that's all i have for now i hope u enjoyed and if u wanna discuss anything pls feel free although that's all the brainpower i have for today come back tomorrow <3

#the thing about doctor who is that it's still doctor who even when it's bad. which presents a dilemma to every new showrunner #in that they have to find a way to either incorporate the previous canon into their canon or find a way to discard it. in canon #how funny would it be if rtd started and immediately said all the timeless child bs was a fever dream

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katatonicimpression · 7 months

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I'm curious about your thoughts on the whole theorized Monet/Pietro thing

Tldr: neutral with complaints about tangentially related topics

I. Is he her type?

So, the only people she's been shown to be genuinely into are Everett and Jamie. And that one time she bragged about sleeping with two hot French dudes, in a scene where it's ambiguous as to whether she's making the whole thing up.

(Incidentally, this is this whole thing where Monet could genuinely be read as having fucked literally only twice in her entire life (Jamie and Darwin) and while I don't subscribe to this reading, I think it's noteworthy that it's compatible with the text. Either way she has a lot less experience than people assume and a lot of it is straight up bad (see: Jamie and Darwin: a one night stand who disrespects her, and bad decisions sex that she immediately regrets))

So, if we can glean a "type" from this, it's pretty basic (sorry M). She likes conventionally attractive guys who are decent people. Pietro (currently) fits that pretty well. Also, just in general, yeah I think she would find him attractive.

I did see a comment of someone using her relationships with Guido and Sabretooth as evidence of her interest in older men which...

Jamie already covers that

She is never into Guido. That's not my reading; that's text. He bullies her into a date then beats her to death. She shows no interest in him.

The Sabretooth thing emerges in Uncanny X-Men (2016), a series where she is consistently ooc. Even then, even despite the fact she is massively out of character, she still only shows an ambiguous fondness for (magically not currently evil) Victor.

II. The age thing

So, when we say older men here we really mean Jamie and Pietro who are both a decade + older than her. Pietro being the same age as the O5 so technically 70-something but portrayed as late 30s, maybe early 40s. Monet is early to mid 20s.

Is this a problem? Eh, I'm not too bothered. They're both adults, and met as adults.

But, if I may.

If you think Warren was too old for Paige, logically you should think Pietro is too old for Monet. If you're an age gap purist for white girls, you should be consistent about it. Just in general I think she's a character that people mentally age up, when actually she's the same age as Jubilee who is, in contrast, constantly infantalised also for racist reasons. So they can high five over that I guess.

So yeah the age gap isn't a problem for me but I do wish people would remember it's there. He's a dad on cusp of middle age, and she's a young adult.

III. Will it work?

Probably not in the long term. I think it makes sense for them to be attracted to each other. I (headcanon) think it makes sense for her to be drawn to other Europeans just as a random thing.

That said, they're pretty different. They're different lives, combative personalities and class differences could cause conflict. I see it being a fun thing that fizzles out imo.

IV. No, will it work as in will it be a good storyline?

Oh good god no. Duggan is really incompetent. He has time and time again shown himself to be incapable of writing actual arcs with movement and growth. His previous forays into romance have been written the same way he always does. I.e. "here is thing. End of story." It's bad.

That said, it may still end up being something salvageable, writing wise? So far, what we've seen is some vaguely suggestive dialogue that isn't ooc so, like, yeah seems fine.

#this is a lot of words to say very little

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kiwi-tai · 2 years

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9 favorite shows as gifs

Thank you for tagging me @willkimurashat @eva-neill-green @fujihime-litg @mrs-youcef

This is once again in no specific order because they’re all very different shows and all top tier imo.

1. Parks and Recreation

My favorite sitcom I have rewatched it soo many times and was so sad when it got moved to streaming on Peacock but then my cousin got Peacock and now I leech onto their account to watch it.

2. Schitts Creek

Elite sitcom! So funny, so heartfelt, Dan Levy you are my fav nepo baby and I accuse nepotism for this show. And Miora Rose iconic.

3. Space Force

Another tragic betrayal from Netflix by canceling this show. I love Ben Schwartz and space.

4. The Get Down

This was the first betrayal I ever experience from Netflix and you may be saying hey I’ve never heard of The Get Down before we’ll it’s because it featured a fully poc cast and told a beautiful story of the start of hip hop and fall of disco from the perspective of young teens from the Bronx in the 70s and Netflix didn’t promote it at all. It was directed by Baz Luhrmann ya know the guy that did Romeo and Juliet with Leo DiCaprio. This show was beautiful and amazing and I cried when I found out they canceled it. Still the story ends pretty well with only a slight cliffhanger that Baz later clarified what would actually happen so if your looking for a show to watch I very highly recommend this one . It’s incredible, the soundtrack is amazing, there are lgbt characters, I mean I can’t ever say enough.

5. Once Upon a Time

The chokehold this show had me on since I was 11. Unparalleled. I love everyone in this show like family, each character means so much to me it’s insane. Last season was eh they were trying too hard to keep it alive but that’s shows now a days. Gif of the queen herself.

6. Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin

Speaking of shows that had me in a chokehold the orginal pretty little liars was one of them. I was obsessed and they lost me the last few season after trying to hard to keep the show alive. A good show has an ending you don’t have to keep adding more to it. That being said I did not think this reboot/spin-off would be good but oh boy is it. I mean there is a slasher killer, it’s beautifully shot, and the cast is great.

7. Derry Girls

I absolutely love this show! I love everything about it. I pretend I have an Irish accent every time I watch it (sorry to any Irish followers but I think it’s a pretty decent attempt). This show is hilarious and I can’t wait to watch the final season.

8. Shadow and Bone

This show led to a downward spiral into the Grishaverse series and I am perfectly okay with it. I am still read every book in the series I’m on the final six of crow book rn. This show is soooo good I cried first episode for some reason. The cast is so hot. The characters and storylines are everything.

9. New Girl

Last but not least, this show is iconic. The friendships, the jokes, everything. Love it.

Omg I’m editing and adding a tenth because I can’t believe I forgot it

10. DEADLY CLASS

This!!! this show is one of the greatest shows to ever exist and I’m sooooo mad it got canceled. It’s based on a comic it’s one season I highly recommend despite the cliff hanger (because technically no cliff hanger if you jsut look up what happens in the comics). I love this show so much I did write a fan fic about it on Wattpad it’s called Medusa if you want to check it out. Literally Marcus (pictured above) the most incredible and stupid character ever I love him; the sass he has amazing. You will love all the characters as much as you hate them sometimes it’s great. Lana Condor is in it and so is Benedict Wong. If you like marvel movies the Russo brothers are producers.

Tagging whoever wants to join!

#tag #I love the get down so much you don’t understand #also if you don’t want to watch the show I still highly recommend the soundtrack it’s hip hop and disco it’s so good #also my love for deadly class just as strong as the get down

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actualaster · 1 year

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Alright, so, Thoughts on Lightfall.

Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit, though it's not without issues. On the whole I feel it did more right than wrong, and I can very much admit that several of the things I find to be flaws may very well just be down to personal taste in writing choices rather than objective problems.

So, in general, it's mostly positive with some discussion of areas that I think might have been better handled.

Naturally spoilers abound below.

Also discussions of new/revamped gameplay mechanics in addition to the storyline stuff.

Going to be a bit disjointed and achronological because my brain does not vibe with the concept of time in general.

So, first of all, NIMBUS. I love them. They're a great character. I want to see more of them in the future. Canon on-screen nonbinary rep in a character who is great, who has speaking lines AND is a major character in the expansion, AND doesn't just get killed off? YES. It seems like a previous Cloud Strider, Stargazer, may also have been they/them? There's definitely another they/them as an average citizen in the lorebook AND somebody who seems genderfluid.

So Neomuna just casually embraces being nonbinary and it's NOT just a Cloud Strider thing it's just a normal part of their culture. Love that~

Alright, now for everything else.

I really enjoyed the new aesthetics of Neomuna! Very pretty~ I especially love the sparkly, glittery stone (or whatever) ground and caves, that's just such a pretty thing and it's always a top tier design choice. Also really love how they made the Cloud Striders so dang tall! Makes sense with their augments and whatnot, but still, great choice~

Still haven't poked around all the Lost Sectors but I loved the arcade (and the Goblin just... scanning a game cabinet lol. Absolute favorite Vex right there, a shame I had to kill it)

Haven't messed around too much with the new weapons and such, so I can't speak to how I enjoy the new perks or anything yet thought I like the aesthetics of them again.

The re-worked mod system is pretty solid, IMO. It streamlines a lot of stuff. Could use more tweaks, I miss some of the older mods and such, but the team will absolutely be monitoring things and adding new mods and tweaking existing ones and such as we go. It's a massive overhaul so it'll take time for things to fully settle, and I'll probably tweak things around further in the future.

I do prefer the perk system for the seasonal artifact as well, by the way, less of a pain than trying to slot mods into your gear and sacrificing stuff. Still struggling with stunning Champions but that's mostly because I'm still getting used to the new setup and fiddling with weapons and such.

Loudout system is great, no more needing to change up mods or appearances when you swap classes lol.

I do wish they'd maybe increase the slots we have for weapons, or something. It's getting hard to juggle and energy slots between what i need to complete bounties, what I need to stun champions, and what I run for everything else, especially if I've got an exotic catalyst or two I'm trying to work on...

Also, while Strand is fun, it feels... Slower for abilities to recharge, somehow? Might just be because most of my other sub-classes have ways to recharge themselves in PvE faster and all. Especially the loading time on the grapple grenade. I very much get why it's like that but also since it doubles as a movement mechanic and not just a combat mechanic it's a little... Tedious. But there's not really a good way to adjust that, I think, because it's not like destiny has a dedicated "extra movement method" button or anything.

Anyway that might feel a little less clunky as I unlock aspects and try to put together a decent Strand build. Need to find a decent high-stat Exotic to pair it with, tbh, the one I'm running now is just kinda.. Meh, it's what I've got on hand lol. So that might very well be coloring my opinions on it, I can fully admit that's a strong possibility. (But, also, I fully expect Bungie to tweak Strand going forwards as more and more players get their hands on it and they can see on a large scale how it's working and where it's struggling).

ANYWAY enough about that! ON TO OTHER STUFF.

So, overall, I liked the story they told. I do wish we'd delved more into the what the Veil is, however. It's obvious by the time you're doing some of the post-campaign stuff that not even the people of Neomuna have a solid grasp on what it is, and I would have liked to see that explored more... I know they're probably going to drip feed us some of that info over the seasons but I feel like that's extremely relevant to THIS expansion and I feel that expansions should balance being self-contained and setting up the next part of the story (unless it's a standalone expansion in which case it should be entirely self-contained).

Lightfall... Felt like it leaned a little too heavily on the "setting up for the next part" side of things. It wasn't bad, but I feel like we could have explored a bit more in the expansion itself. Maybe not part of the main campaign, but as a post-campaign quest or something to learn a little more about the Veil, and such.

I don't want to describe it as "filler", because it's not, but it did... Hrm... How to explain it... Like, obviously it's the link between Witch Queen and The Final Shape, that's just kind of what the expansions are--continuing the story and linking the entries that came before with those that came after. But Lightfall... It felt a little more like it was meant to just be a bridge and less like it was taking itself seriously as a full story in it's own right.

It's not bad, exactly, but it felt a little... Off. Like it wasn't quite able to come into it's own as an expansion outside of it's role linking WQ and TFS. An excellent effort was made, and that is a fine line to walk so I don't want to give the devs too much grief over it! But it does feel like it managed to fall a bit short on that.

Some of it was the pacing. The pacing felt a little... Inconsistent? Like some areas, such as Rohan's death, felt kind of rushed--we barely had time to get to know or care about these characters before he's sacrificing himself for us! And others felt like they dragged a little--Strand mastery, mostly. That somehow manage to feel like it both took up too much time and too little time.

I think that part is more... It felt like it took forever to get to the serious training to master it, and once we hit that it came very rapidly. I think that maybe if it had been a focus for one more or one less mission it would have felt better paced.

But also part of that might be less to do with the actual Strand and more to do with the content of the missions themselves. I did notice several of them had extended "no respawn" segments which were... Grueling, if you weren't very well-prepared and that can absolutely be coloring my perception of the pacing. It's hard to pull them apart, really.

Battles in segments did seem to drag on a bit, and some of the new stuff you do in Neomuna (the "terminal override" activity) seem to drag on, becoming more of a test of endurance than anything else.

Now, some of this is undoubtedly because we're all still adjusting to the new mod system and we all started out at low light compared to the recommended stuff with the new expansion and all. As we all start to get up there in light level, get better gear, get a handle on the new system, etc. I suspect these will start going faster.

So I don't want to be too hard on that aspect because, y'know, we just came off a "we've got YEARS of experience mastering the system and we're at the top of our game" in terms of gameplay so there's gonna be a learning curve for many of us again and I don't want to ding the devs on that too badly if it really just feels tedious due to needing to get familiar with things and better gear and such.

Plus, like. I know I'm not as big a fan of the battlegrounds style stuff because they take longer and I prefer quick, intense bursts of combat rather than extended firefights, so that's likely also my personal taste coloring how I feel there.

That said, not all the battle segments seemed to drag on--and several of those that were longer absolutely made sense and it really added to the emotional feelings of the mission with how they lasted longer.

Like, the run-up to fighting Calus?

When Caitatl shows up to fight alongside you with her troops through wave after wave of enemy? It felt like that fight took forever--but that worked great because it really fed the sense of "shit, fuck, NO, we have to hurry, we don't have time for this!" and that sense of "can we make it? No, we have to! We have to endure!" desperation that really, really fit the "the enemy is about to fucking win we HAVE to stop them!" that was being built up.

Actually, honestly, the more I think about it... The more I think that may have been the point all along with the combat segments that felt like took longer? To build that "we don't have time to be wasting here" sense of impatience to hurry and try to stop the Witness from getting the Veil.

But, also, again, they may have just taken longer and feel too long because I'm not totally used to the new system and still building myself up again--and I would imagine that the same could be true for others who also felt they were lengthy.

Calus' death, though, that was great. The battle was annoying because I was still trying to get a hang of swinging around with Strand and kept getting knocked off, but that was a skill issue not a game design issue lol.

I liked how in the end he became desperate, and his death just... Felt fitting. He met the end he was always destined for. Honestly a of the imagery around Calus was great, they did a great job of showing that while he gives service to the Witness he's still not actually satisfied and that his "gains" are just... Hollow. Empty. Just like him, really. All superficial opulence with no substantial filling.

His Chalice, a beautiful thing that was never filled, was a fantastic metaphor for Calus himself.

Speaking of interesting things, though.

The Cloud Striders vs the Guardians. One that chooses a life cut drastically short, not as a tragedy, but as a joyful sacrifice to protect and serve their people, a heavy mantle but one taken up willingly by those who are passionate about the cause. And one that has immortality thrust upon them without warning, without consent, and without any sort of purpose innate to the lifespan change.

They're a fun little twisted reflection of each other, and something I hope gets explored further even if only in the lore--that's a really, really neat concept that has a lot of fun potential for compare/contrast, you know?

AND, ON TOP OF THAT, the Guardian hesitates to cut their own existence short--the choice to shoot their Ghost, to save everything? (Or at least delay the Witness' plan)? And they hesitate, they can't quite do it in time (and once it's over there's no point). It's understandable, Ghost is your friend, somebody you care about and I think it makes perfect sense that we'd hesitate. I mean even outside of the narrative of "they can't have us kill Ghost because then we wouldn't be immortal anymore and that would really kind of screw with the whole 'players are immortal beings who come back over and over and over and just Get Better from grievous wounds on the fly'" thing. It just makes sense in general.

But there's also, there, that moment of hesitation in the face of sacrificing their immortality--when Rohan chose to cut his already truncated life short without hesitation to the same end.

It's not that I think we were wrong for our choice, or that his sacrifice was better or anything.

I just thing they're fascinating inversions of each other--parallel lines traveling in opposite direction.

And I think that was really well-done.

Also, speaking of well-done, the cutscene at the end of the new exotic quest for Deterministic Chaos, where the remains of Sagira's shell are enshrined in the Hall of Heroes right behind Rohan's monument/server. That was such a good touch, it was so perfect. It just feels right.

I just.

Yeah, the expansion had it's issues (what doesn't?) and things I would have changed up a bit but overall it was very enjoyable and did some amazing stuff with imagery, metaphor, and implied parallels for players to take note of. My biggest gripes are with gameplay, and those will very likely be lessened as the new mod system and subclass get tweaked and we all start getting more experience with them and such.

A fun time that deserves some criticism but really doesn't seem to deserve the more vitriolic hate I've seen.

So, on the whole, I'd give it a very solid 8/10.

#kage plays games #kage plays destiny #destiny 2 #lightfall #lightfall spoilers #anyway i hope this is at least semi-coherent lol #i have Feelings and Thoughts but Words Are Hard so #lengthy post

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scripted-downfall · 1 year

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What do you think that we might see in season five of Stranger Things? What would you like to see?

Eddie.

Sorry, sorry; @typicalopposite said it'd be funny and I can't say I disagree... but I also wanted to give an actual answer along the lines of my usual ones, so! Here goes:

I predict that Max will wake up (and I hope she does). Joyce and Hopper seem to be heading towards having their date actually happen, so I kinda hope that'll take place (though it'd probably be in one of the soft, around-the-edges moments at the end if so). I predict/hope that Erica will have a decent role in the season, as I absolutely love her. I hope that LuMax have some happier moments to make up for the absolute devastation of last season. (I confess that I'm not deadset on this one, as I have a bit of a contentious relationship with Lucas... I love Caleb's acting, but the character is very much not one of my favorites.)

I don't have many predictions about the state of the season's actual conflict, but I agree with most of the speculation that I've seen about Will getting Vecna'd. There's a definite connection there, at any rate, so there will likely be something similar happening, even if it's not exactly the "Vecna-ing" we saw in s4. Due to what I'm about to say in the next paragraph, I could also see Mike getting Vecna'd, for similar reasons as the above. To be honest, though, I have fewer predictions about the conflict that might arise than other people probably do; I'm more a character-analysis kinda person than a plot-analysis one.

I, personally, think that Byler is going to be realized. I'm not really a hardcore Byler shipper --- it's not one of my top ships, and I don't obsess over it the way I tend to fixate on others --- but I certainly ship them together in a passive way (e.g. I certainly think that there's reciprocated affection there). And I've seen enough clues --- in the acting, the writing, the cinematography (my beloved), etc. --- that I think there's at least a good chance that it'll happen. I hope it does, even though I don't have a personal investment in it; not only do I hope it happens for all the many people who are invested in it happening, but I also think it's what would do justice to the storyline as it's been developed and to a large portion of the viewership. (And those who would be offended by it going canon are, imo, no big loss). Also, Will deserves all the happiness, and, if he thinks that's Mike, then I hope Byler becomes canon.

And as for what I want to see but recognize it might not happen:

I hope that El gets a decent character arc. I've heard theories/requests that she is going to/should die, and just??? What? Why? I mean, she's another character that I don't tend to like much --- again, acting is good; character is not my favorite --- but she deserves better than she's gotten. She definitely deserves happiness, and I very much hope that her happiness comes in the form of her own happiness and not a relationship. I think Milven is unhealthy, and she deserves better. I want to see more of the friendship --- or, if you prefer, romance, but I, personally, see it more as a friendship --- between El and Max. And I hope deeply that she doesn't just get shoehorned into some fate that isn't good for her.

I was torn on whether to put this up in "I think it will happen" or not, and I don't really know where it belongs; my inclination towards pessimism knocked it down here, though: I hope that Robin gets to have a good, well-developed relationship blossom. Sapphic relationships are few and far between, and I only rarely see well-developed ones; also, I love Robin and she deserves happiness. s4 makes me a bit leery that this will happen, though, I must confess. (Also, I've seen compelling stuff for both Rockie and Ronance, so I really don't know which I prefer.) I just want her happy!

I hope that Steve does not get together with Nancy. Indeed, for the most part, I hope he doesn't end up in a relationship at all. (There's one exception to follow in the paragraph below.) I've said many times that he and Robin are chaotic platonic soulmates and I stand by it; additionally, he's got a better family than ever before in Dustin and the others. All of these relationships are better than sticking him with some random love interest --- or, worse, making him "crawl backwards" to Nancy --- and... idk, I don't know how to put it into words, but I mostly hope that he just has a happy life with his found family and doesn't get stuffed into some romance for the sake of a romance that wouldn't do justice to his character.

And, finally, to follow the Duffers' leads and finish with a callback to where I started: I definitely want Eddie to come back, and I very much hope that, if he does come back, he doesn't then die again right after. I admit that I haven't seen much lately about how he might come back, so I don't know if what I'm about to say is still accurate, but... the Kas theory seemed pretty compelling --- especially given the Netflix icon release --- and there's definitely a pretty easy avenue for that to happen without then killing him. (Explaining what I mean takes six paragraphs, so I'm not going to go into it here; luckily, the reason I know how long it takes is because I already made a post to that effect! So, click here if you're interested!) Also, I have my own personal desire for how that could happen --- I just described it in a post here --- and I just think it'd be Very Cool. (Also, if this happens, even the intellectual fear that it likely won't happen can't stop my heart from hoping that Steddie becomes a thing.)

I hope that's a decent answer to your question! Thank you!

#answered asks #scripted downfall asks answered #the curiosity door is open (sd)#st5 #st5 speculation #st5 predictions #typicalopposite

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lesbianmaxevans · 24 days

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ok just finished sex education s4, so disorganized thoughts

I like most of the new characters -- I adore aisha and abbi especially. joanna was insufferable. I wanted to like o, but the writers clearly wanted her to be the "villain" this season and she was so underhanded for like 75% of the season and then we're supposed to accept her apology and get over it in the last 2 episodes which didn't work for me

why did so many characters from the previous seasons disappear????? where was ola????? rahim???? steve??? layla???? I missed them so much.

CAN I GET A HELL YEAH FOR AIMEE/ISAAC? also aisha/cal was so *chefs kiss*. adam/jem was also cute.

glad to see abusive partners being discussed, but like damn why was that storyline given to vivienne??? I feel like the writers always throw so much bad stuff at her like can she just have a good time for more than one episode?

I DESERVED JACKSON/VIV ENDGAME!!!

adam working at the farm was really cute. I love seeing his passion for animals. I don't like that this means that we didn't see him with the other students tho.

jackson's screentime being devoted to a cancer scare was. very weird. I guess it fits with him having anxiety and diving into that but idk I didn't like it. his other plot being him trying to find his dad was fine, but the resolution was really disappointing imo

jean is still one of the worst parents of all time, I'm glad otis was allowed to chew her out a bit, even if the narrative wanted to make him seem unreasonable.

otis/maeve has been annoying as shit for 3 seasons so I'm completely fine with them having goodbye sex and ending things lmao

maeve + isaac friendship my beloved!!! cal + eric + aisha + abbi + roman friend group my beloved!!!!

cal + jackson's dynamic in s3 was one of my fave things, I can't believe that they only shared like 3 scenes this season -_-

adam and his father's arcs of unlearning their harmful behaviors was really lovely, even if I'm slightly annoyed to see so much effort going into redeeming abusive white dudes (especially when some of the other villified characters (from more marginalized backgrounds) did not recieve nearly as much sympathy from the writers)

ncuti!!!!!! so glad he's getting so many opportunities now he was incredible in the final season even if I feel very ???? about his storyline

maeve going places with her writing is so 🥰

the sit-in protest for isaac was so sweet!!!! and very important for isaac and aisha to both discuss their grievances with their accessibility needs not being thought of by the school

liked it well enough but the completely new school setting and a bunch of characters who had been important in previous seasons + a whole lot of brand new people made it quite jarring. I think it'd be even more so if I did a full series rewatch without the hiatus breaks. wrapped things up for maeve, otis, and eric pretty decently, I feel like most of the other characters didn't get as much closure.

#Sex Education #Rachel's textposts

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redotter · 4 months

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I'm rewatching atla as one does and it's really weird how a show that is so beloved has such a bad first season, or at least bad first half of the first season (imo it gets good after the Storm episode) - that's between a sixth and a THIRD of the whole runtime. So when you recommend it to someone, unless they are a child, you have to add the disclaimer that they have to push through a big chuck of the beginning. Most people drop shows after only 3 episodes that are not interesting enough, yet atla thrives after all this time despite its first episodes being ranked the lowest.

Don't get me wrong, the first season is still a good watch, and it has its purpose in setting up the story and characters and all, but it very much feels like it's aimed at young children. The structure is episodic, the adventures have a lesson, the characters narrate what is happening in case you're not following etc. The animation is also not great, the jokes don't always land, the cut scenes are really awkward... It's like everybody working on the show were still figuring out how to make it.

But hear me out. For me, it starting bad is part of what makes atla so good, and I think it's also part of why it became so popular. Because one of its appeals is that you don't see it coming. You start watching a decent but not worth the hype cartoon AND THEN it slowly transitions into an anime* with really good writing and complex characters and smooth animation and so on. Like imagine you're watching scooby doo and 50 episodes in there's an overall heart wrecking storyline and shagy is battling his sister with epic music in the background. I don't think you achieve the same effect if you recommend someone atla and tell them to just skip the first episodes, and not only because they'd miss important details about the worldbuilding. idk for me at least, the pipeline from "this is pretty nice but I really don't get why my friends love it so much" to watching 3 hour video essays about the psychology of zuko while crying is a big part of what makes atla so special lol

*I don't want to get into the cartoon vs anime debate, in this context i used cartoon as a simpler and child oriented animated medium and anime as a more complex and teenage oriented animated medium

#atla #atlab #sorry just wanted to word this out

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yorkscoffee · 5 months

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played fae farm during the trial week on switch ... the npcs are made of cardboard and there r some weird bugs and quirks in the game but i had a good time. may or may not have gone a lil insane and completed the whole story and made it to almost the end of summer year 2

gonna write out some thoughts

one of the weird quirks is that u can't name ur character. they will just simply be named after like ur steam or switch or whatever profile. unless u make a phoenix labs account then u can change ur name that way, but if u go offline at all it switches back to the profile name until u log in again (pause > multiplayer > login button; u don't have to actually do multiplayer just log in). very annoying when i do not like to play as myself in these games & also just a strange decision in general imo

character creator is decent but i would recommend going to the voice selection and hitting "silent" before actually getting into it LOL the noises the character makes get so annoying after a bit... the pronoun selection is nice (he she or they) & u can go back into the character creator using a craftable mirror so u can switch all that stuff up whenever u want

the storyline was cute; not exactly deep but the artwork was neat. i liked all the rhymes and the storybook-y feel. the sprites have nice designs. wisp mother should be a romance candidate but she is not

gameplay felt nice; i liked the auto tool switching and the double jump a lot, & having spells and potions that helped with farming was cool. very light on tutorials but if ur experienced with the genre its not too hard to figure out (idk how it is w/o experience bc i cannot un-experience things). having year-round plants that u use magic fertilizer on to change them into seasonal varieties was funky

animals are pretty quirky and a lil buggy. sometimes i would try to water a plant or something and a chicken would teleport to me from across the farm and get pet. or they would just wander away from the Sign That Is Supposed To Keep Animals Near It and get in the way. fences cannot stop them they will simply walk thru it. also in my experience my cows and sheep would stop giving milk and wool if i didnt enter the barn the day before, even if they had food? weird lil quirk there but once i figured it out it was fine

u can pretty much ignore the animals and their affection will still go up & theyll still produce things as long as u feed them, and also the only punishment for not feeding them is they don't produce things. very forgiving. something i thought was really interesting tho that they dont actually point out in game is that petting ur animals gives u some regen on ur stamina and magic and probably hp, which is Super handy and a neat mechanic that got me to continue paying attention to my animals anyway

decorating ur house with specific furniture gives u a "cozy home" bonus; basically this is how u increase ur hp/mp/stamina, which i think is also a pretty neat lil mechanic

also flower breeding is a mechanic. 6 types of flowers, 6 different genes, 12 unique colors. works pretty much like acnh but also u can breed 2 different types of flowers (so like a rose and a tulip) and u'll have a 50/50 shot at getting one or the other. i got almost every color and i will be haunted by the white zinnia until i have an actual copy of the game. also the genes are actually displayed in a lil tooltip when the cursor is over the flower which is really really cool and good and i love that feature so so much it makes everything so much easier and less frustrating

the game doesnt tell u this iirc but crops and flowers can be moved if u go into the uhhhh build mode. like u can just pick up a whole plant and move it wherever. very handy for both flower breeding and just organizing things in general. u can just pick up and move almost anything, & if u can't u can tear it down and get all materials back. u cannot do either thing to a crafting station that has items in it though u have to get the items out first if u want to break it down or move it

flowers r very important if u like customization also. u unlock 2 color palettes (a grand total of 6 colors) automatically and u have to buy the rest. most of them cost like 30 of a particular flower + some other item + money. u can recolor furniture and outfits with ur unlocked color palettes which is nice

combat was fine, bonus points for the potion of i just want to mine please don't perceive me. also bonus points because there is actually a storyline reason for the monsters to be there; always hate it when a game is like "videogame... have combat. videogame Must have combat. i put monsters in cave. now this is a real video game :)" like nah tell me where those slimes came from. in this case the monsters are objects animated by wild magic and they have cute designs and goofy lil names like cannot (a cannon) and skello (a cello)

there are 3 dungeons in the game & the latter two have funky lil puzzle mechanics. if u aint like that then theres things u can make to skip most of em. i thought they were neat & being able to remove them pretty easily meant they didnt overstay their welcome. they also require specific potions so u don't like "die" (get teleported out of the dungeon, which is also what happens if u lose all ur hp) which would probably be cooler if pausing the game would pause the timers on the potions. i assume that sort of thing is because the game was made with multiplayer in mind; this is presumably also the reason why having anything pause time at all in singleplayer was added in an update after launch

(pausing also does not pause monsters. they will murderize u with the pause screen up. on switch u can just go to the home menu 4 a proper pause at least)

the npcs are as mentioned largely made of cardboard; most of the ones u can't befriend (most of the merchants) have the same pool of lines, and the ones u can have a few personal lines and a bunch of lines referencing things uve done in the game even if its been like 10 years since u did it (common in the genre). there are no events with the non-romance npcs or interactions between any npcs except for like some animations; every conversation witnessed is an npc talking to protagonist. the only events are the dates with the romance characters, which are just them and protagonist sitting around and talking with absolutely nothing happening. the dialogue is cute at least

romance npcs' statuses will sometimes get stuck for some reason (this happened to 2 of them when i played) but that i think should be fixable with the "reset relationship" button, which is a pretty cool feature (tho my understanding is it's also a bit buggy sometimes so ymmv)

festivals are just decorations in town and a shop in town hall (including the fae festival, which one would expect to happen in the fae realm). characters have a few unique lines referencing the festival. sometimes they reference... the Wrong festival. goofy lil oversight i think. birthdays are on the calendar but have no impact in-game

marriage is also very nothing; u get a cute wedding scene and then ur spouse just vibes around the farm sometimes. there is no dialogue about this. also other romance npcs' relationship status change to "past sweetheart" or something like that and u cant progress with them at all since ur not allowed to be friends with them

gift giving is also only for romance npcs and each one has a random item that is the only thing u can possibly give them that day. but like talking to them gives good enough points regardless

job quests (questlines related to each skill u have, given by npcs related to that skill) are neat lil "challenges" but u can only pick up one at a time for some reason. weird design choice imo. they give u a hat for doing all the quests and an outfit if u do all the quests And some 100% requirement (like getting every crop at least once for the farming quests, making one of each polished gem variety for mining, etc) which i think is pretty neat

overall i think i would compare it to story of seasons: pioneers of olive town (particularly in its initial state) in that the npcs are very nothing but the gameplay loop is very good and fun; between the two i would say fae farm has the better story tho lol

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