#when imo they share much more nuance and character than the others had before

[roseofcards90]

It honestly baffles me how people are dunking on Sada and Turo for being shitty parents much more than I saw when Sun and Moon first came and Lusamine was first revealed to be the villain like huh 😭 where was that energy before??? Because I feel there’s more nuance with Sada and Turo’s characters and their motivations than there were with Lusamine’s (I’m talking about her in the games of course, not the anime. I will also leave discussion for what happens in Ultra Sun and Moon for another post, so I’m only talking about the plot of the original Sun and Moon here). I’m honestly just tired of all the bashing on the Professors and them being watered down to “typical shitty parent in Pokemon” when the game clearly states and implies the exact opposite.

Lusamine is very much shown to have abandoned her kids, openly berating them and saying she has no children right in front of her daughter’s face because they “abandoned her love” and going forth with her plan to open the wormholes and summon the ultra beasts with no consideration for anything else. She doesn’t have the headspace to care about her children anymore in her plan, in huge contrast to Sada/Turo’s plan where despite how extreme it was, was at the core still centered around their son and their family. I think chalking it down to just “well they’re still both bad parents anyway” takes away some of the complexity surrounding their characters in the first place. Also I’m only bringing Lusamine as a comparison mostly because Ghetsis and Giovanni do not have any other depth to their characters in the core games lmao, and I feel Lusamine is a great example of a parent who used to care but had lost that love after her husband’s “death” and along the way of achieving her goal, while Sada and Turo are examples of the complete opposite: parents who still held onto that love and care throughout their goal, but took it so far that they hurt the one person it was for the most out of everything. It really feels like people are portraying the professors’ flaws in the completely wrong way. The problem was never “they never loved their son at all and intentionally abandoned him” it was “they became so invested and deluded in their plan they ended up neglecting the treasure it was supposed to be for.” which is exactly what distinguishes them from all the other parent antagonists we’ve seen so far. There’s a certain tragedy present in seeing a broken family that used to be so happy together that I feel was also in Sun and Moon’s story, but was muddled due to the story focusing on other aspects.

And I’m going to address this right now because I know people are going to say something because they lack reading comprehension: I am not excusing Sada and Turo’s actions in the game and how their neglect had affected Arven. Explanations are not Excuses. You can acknowledge that they loved their son while still hurting him in the end, both ideas can coexist. I merely just want to analyze wtf even happened here for the professor to go down this path. And it’s also worth nothing that we don’t have much answers in the game itself as of right now, since well—the original is dead and we’re dealing with an AI version of them for the entirety of the game. Most of this is coming from the original’s journals in the lab, but I think the game makes a clear distinction that they still loved Arven even after everything. Despite their delusion taking over them, I think they genuinely believed what they were doing was the best for them and their family despite otherwise. The whole point at the end was to highlight how they didn’t need to create that paradise. They had that loving family already, and it was too late for them to realize that Arven only needed them and nothing else.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I want the DLC to address Arven’s other parent and what exactly happened to them (or better yet, meet them in the story which would honestly be an interesting parallel where the professor of the opposite version is the one you get to know more than the original in game one). I know the in game Professor’s journal entry says they “walked out” but what does that even mean in hindsight? Keep in mind this is from the point of view of someone who’s continuously being deluded into their own idea of paradise, who most likely felt grief after their partner left them that they built an entire AI of themselves to help complete the project.

And yet they still say they’re going to build a paradise for “the three of them.” Does that mean the in game professor was also trying in some way to bring the other parent back? What if it was an accident? What if they were sent through the time machine and couldn’t go back, and the in game professor was so distraught their delusion out of sheer desperation made it so they processed it as “(s)he walked out on me, and now I’m all alone.” Of course this all a lot of speculation, but it just doesn’t make sense to me how Arven’s other parent would “leave” like that. Maybe I’m being an optimist about it, but it really does feel like it was unwillingly in some way, where the in game professor’s increasing delusion was the reason why they “left” so to speak.

And that’s not even addressing the 3rd legendary of the game and its role in all of this is. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was meant to parallel the snake/the devil in Genesis, as the sin of temptation since the professor and Area Zero have a lot of similarities with the Garden of Eden and this idea of “paradise” for their family. Where the 3rd legendary gave them the opportunity to create their paradise by giving them access to the paradox pokemon and terastalizing, and thus influenced them so much, it eventually led them down to a path of their own destruction consumed by the delusion that they could create a paradise for their family, but failed to recognize they ended up hurting the one person they treasured most in the end. If the other professor did indeed return in the DLC, maybe it would give the chance to separate themselves from their spouse and make things right with both the region and Arven. Having them be the antithesis to the other Professor’s motivation and making the choice to stay with Arven in the present would be a really cool way to wrap up the story ngl.

Anyways people who portray them as apathetic and uncaring to Arven in fan art and fics I wish you a very “play the fucking game again please”. Even their character design sheets say otherwise, especially with Sada like I cannot imagine the woman described as “not being able to hide her emotions well” would be a cold and uncaring mother like come on 💀 I played Violet for crying out loud and I’m still able to recognize that.

#and also like idk everyone seems to have shitty parents in this game?? with the exception of the mc and their mom #if we're going by what Nemona and Penny say in the area zero dialogue #I think people are just solely focusing on Arven and his parents because they tie so much into the main story #that and I think a lot of people were not expecting the twist with the professors being the real “antagonists” of the story #the professors are very interesting characters to me and it’s surprising how I haven’t seen them be analyzed as much as other characters #where they’re immediately labeled as “abusive parents with no depth” like the other parent characters in past games #when imo they share much more nuance and character than the others had before #I feel like I’m still going to get hate from this somehow 😭 #I can say one thing though and it’s that the disc pokemon is very suspicious #that legendary played a role in something that’s for sure #pokemon scarlet and violet spoilers #pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #professor turo #professor sada #arven pokemon #lusamine pokemon #my posts #long post

[chaos0pikachu]

Top has gotten the shortest end of the stick of all the characters. (Imo) He seems like a plot tool for Mew’s development, not a real person. I thought they would delve deeper into the insomnia but they have not. They brushed over him doing coke so quick as well. That’s literally the only interesting nuggets we have about him. We don’t know about his family life either. It’s hard to feel sympathy or connect with his character at this point when motivations are still so unclear. So Jojo shouldn’t be surprised that he’s so ‘hated’.

I wish he was hated because he's under-developed but I think him and Boston (who also has a lack of nuance issue in the narrative) are hated b/c they had non-monogamous sex. Which the crew (not just Jojo, I'ma call them JNBD for Jojo, Ninew, Best and Den lol) must've realized too b/c they specifically cut a scene where Top was gonna have sex w a rando and cry about it.

Know, that's unfair, I think both factors can be true at the same time. I think some people are struggling to connect with Top b/c like you said, he feels more like a plot device for Mew's character than his own individual character with their own motivations. AND I think it's because he had sex with other people who were not Mew. Because Forcebook is a branded couple and I saw those stans on twitter wildin out.

I think one factor is valid - him being under developed makes it hard to the audience to connect with him as a char - and the is not - who fucking cares if Top, the fictional char slept with someone not Mew they are not Force and Book jfc.

I think it says a lot about the state of the type of hate Top is getting that JNBD are seeing that the scene they cut was a sex scene specifically. Only now that it's gotten to the point of being outright undeniable are people even a bit more sympathetic to Boston. But like, I saw people calling Boston a predator and a rapist like, 3 episodes ago lol and rooting for Mew to share the revenge porn of Boston with his father.

Obviously this is not the entire~~~ fandom but suffice to say fandom hasn't been actually all that understanding of slutty (or really, non-monogamous behavior, y'all know being poly isn't like, an ao3 trope right? boston isn't "self-harming" himself by sleeping around he just...enjoys sleeping around? but the show has been kinda regressive in terms of poly/open relationships anyway they tease at threesomes but never follow through. At this point it feels like a meta joke, lol look at ray saying him and sand should have a threesome don't worry firstkhao fans we're just teasing they're true love fr!)

I think a big factor is fans have to strong a para-social relationship with Force and Book along with First and Khao (like holy shit y'all calm down about these two). So Top sleeping with Boston was seen as a "threat" to the endgame of their ship which should be TopMew but is actually ForceBook (don't even try with me SandRay had like 100 fics before the show even aired, and so did Top and Mew).

I spoke to a friend about this, they don't watch BL themselves but they said it sounded like part of the appeal specifically with branded couples is viewers know going in their ship "wins" they are endgame, there's a low-risk factor involved so it's easy to buy in. And I think they're right tbh I don't follow branded couples because, well frankly I don't care much, so I wasn't expecting this level of fandom bias nor the existence of the branded couples interring actively with the narrative itself. It was a very new experience for me and I think I'll just pass on gmmtv shows in the future.

I don't mind knowing where a story is going, I've watched plenty of romcoms, I'm not in this shit for plot twists, but if the journey really pushes the couple shouldn't be together and I know they'll end up together anyway well then I'm annoying lol

I think it's a shame that Top is gonna end up with Mew. I don't think they fit well together, the narrative hasn't shown me that they work or even could work long term. They have all the chemistry - to me - of white sauce casserole Carol brought to my cookout and only added some pepper for flavor. But narratively, what does Top even want? Why does he want to be with Mew? Because he opened up ONCE to Mew? We never even saw his perspective of their dating life just him giving up drugs in exchange for sex which chepie that was NOT romantic to me.

I'd love a fic that explored Top more as an individual char, why him and Mew don't actually work b/c Top's trying to contort himself into someone else because he's clinging to the sense of security Mew gave him. But what else is there to their relationship? Really? Maybe Top is actually aromantic or maybe he just enjoys being un-committed but feels pressured by society to do so, to "settle down".

There's potential there to explore that I hope fandom does but either way don't bring casserole to my cookout ever again gmmtv

#chaos pikachu speaks #its late my brain is crumbling but yeah

[kibibarel]

I don’t get it. People hate lusamine for being an abusive parent but yet don’t want her to improve as a person?? What do you think about this?

here's the thing about redemption arcs for Lusamine......it depends a lot on how you personally feel about redemption arcs for abusive fictional characters—and abusive fictional parent characters—in general. a lot of people feel that giving abusive characters redemption arcs at all is too unrealistic and sends a harmful message to the audience (this is a particular point with Pokemon, since its primary audience is children), and often the topic just hits too close to home for abuse survivors (back when SM was still relevant, you would see a lot of posts in the Lusamine tag where people would share in excessive detail their experiences with their own actual abusive parents to the point of "i really don't like this fictional character," and it was very clear that those people were projecting their own experiences onto the characters very strongly; for those people, like...of course you're not going to like how SM and USUM end, because you are relating so strongly with a story that was not actually written based on your highly personal experiences)

i'm obviously not in this camp...i love a redemption arc, even if it's a little clunky (which Lusamine's definitely is in places, though i think it's a surprisingly nuanced take for a Pokemon story), because i find them cathartic. there are some things i enjoy seeing in fiction that i might not agree with in real life, and i am personally much more satisfied seeing an abusive character acknowledge and own up to their actions and make conscious efforts to get better than i am seeing them get put down like Old Yeller (which is what many people wanted to happen with Lusamine; a lot of people understandably find it more cathartic to see abusive characters get their comeuppance and never interact with the victims of their abuse again rather than get another chance). but i am also an independent adult with some media comprehension skills, so i understand the point that a child playing the games might take the wrong message away from the story

Pokemon has always had a very strong message of "anyone can change and be better if they are willing to make the effort"...this is why characters like Archie and Maxie (and Lusamine) get to walk away from their villainy with basically no consequences, while characters like Cyrus, Lysandre, and Ghetsis, who are explicitly unwilling to get PokéTherapy despite having been given the option, tend to get quietly bodied off-screen. i think the message that SM/USUM wants to send is "parents and children should be able to talk to each other and respect each other as people" (Hapu actually says this outright before Lillie confronts Lusamine in SM) and "no matter what fucked up shit you did, you CAN get better if you try".......but there's some nuance (as well as some poorly written dialogue because lol Pokemon), so there's bound to be some misunderstandings

you even see a lot of adult fans criticize SM/USUM for having Lillie "forgive" Lusamine, or say Lusamine Did Nothing Wrong because she was just "brainwashed" by Nihilego the whole time, when both of those interpretations are oversimplifications imo...

i kind of forgot where i was going with this but uhhhh TL;DR: people have different experiences that shape the way they view and interpret media. it can be very complicated but you just have to respect that sometimes another person might feel very differently about a fictional character you like. and ok, sure, Lusamine is a terrible, broken person who has done some inexcusable things but you don’t have all the facts, you forgot ONE very important fact...................i love her

#there's also some more convoluted aspects to this conversation like... #how tumblr specifically has kind of a purity culture thing going on where people will sometimes like... #boast about how much they dislike a problematic character for brownie points?? even if they don't necessarily care about the character much #i very recently got back into the DreamWidth RP scene and started writing Lusamine over there #and have received ZERO backlash...whereas writing her on tumblr i have gotten many messages saying i'm a terrible person for writing her #so Lusamine's redemption arc gets a lot of backlash HERE specifically #there is also the fact that Lusamine is a female character and some people just looovveeee Giovanni and hate her #which really makes me raise an eyebrow but that's a whole other can of worms

[shihalyfie]

@sage-striaton replied to your post:

Idk how people can say Frontier has characters that lack depth. Imo it’s a very psychological season. The whole adventure thing is aimed to making them grown in their behaviours and feelings, it’s a big metaphor of their development

I’m sorry for hijacking your response to my post to segue this into another rant of mine, but I want to emphasize that one of my goals with this blog (if I can be said to have any) is that I really, really, really want people to re-examine whether they actually believe in the rhetoric that’s been dominating this fanbase for two decades, or whether there’s more to it. This is especially in regards to the fact that we’re talking a series deliberately written in such a way that it’ll change meaning and nuance as you get older, so it can “grow up” with you in a sense, and yet it seems like -- especially in regards to Adventure through Frontier, due to their position as the oldest series that the majority of the fanbase was elementary or preteen age during -- people are still regurgitating the same rehashed twenty-year-old ideas like they’re undeniable law. It’s one thing if they’re saying it because the series didn’t sit well with them the first time and they don’t want to watch it again, but we’re reaching a recurring problem where it’s sort of “brainwashing” even people who don’t actually believe it but feel compelled to go along with it, or wouldn’t feel that way if it weren’t for peer pressure. Obviously, there are dissenting opinions, and ones that are even very loud about that, but that pressure remains.

The mainstream opinion in the fanbase is that Adventure is untouchable and impervious to any criticism, 02 is its inferior sequel with half-baked characters, Tamers is an auteur work that’s the “deepest” of the original tetralogy due to being dark, and Frontier is devoid of much substance at all. Even those who don’t really believe in this will still be pressured to go alongside it, those who like 02 or Frontier will be pressured to consider it a “guilty pleasure”, and it’s only very recently when certain events revealed that the idea of 02 actually having quite its own fervent and passionate fanbase that likes it on its own merits became properly recognized. (I have actually noticed a huge uptick in 02 fans, especially casual ones, being more shameless in talking about liking it in the last two years; you’re still going to get the obnoxious person “reminding” you how bad it apparently is if you bring it up, but it’s not nearly as prevalent as it used to be.) I’m not talking about whether something is a “good” or “bad” series -- that concept doesn’t really exist to me as much as whether it’s “to one’s tastes” or not, and I think one of the joys of this franchise is that it has things that cater to people with vastly different preferences -- as much as a lot of potential for analysis and intimate thought about these very fascinating series. Even if 02 and Frontier were as shallow or half-baked as they were accused of, I wouldn’t think it’d be shameful to like them for one’s own reasons anyway, but what frustrates me is that I just don’t think that’s true in the first place!!

Not helping is that there’s still a refusal among the fanbase to admit that there were substantial differences in American English dubbing (especially in regards to Adventure and 02), which I don’t mean as a bad thing in the sense that some people prefer to stick only with that dub and consider that version what they want to work with, but in the sense that the treatment of them as “the same thing” has been horribly detrimental when two people, one coming from that dub and one coming from the Japanese version (or a dub more closely based on it), will end up often having an argument doomed to go nowhere because they were never talking about the same thing to begin with. Recently, a friend admitted to me that although they’d switched to the Japanese version a long time ago, they still couldn’t get the image of Daisuke and Takeru having an inherently hostile relationship (they don’t) out of their head due to the influence of that dub, and although they consciously knew better -- at least enough to admit this to me -- it wasn’t helped by the fact that the fanbase itself continues to reinforce this image because of how normalized it is to treat the dub version and the Japanese version as “virtually the same” and for Western fanbase discourse to assume you should be projecting those takes into the Japanese version. If you’re hanging out in English-speaking circles but are working from the Japanese version or a dub directly based off of it, you do actually have to filter out a lot of takes you’re hearing because they won’t actually apply to the version you’re watching, but not a lot of people realize this.

All four of Adventure through Frontier share tons of key staff, especially Seki, known for her focus on wanting the kids in the audience to be able to empathize with and relate to the characters on screen. All four share some of the best character work I’ve seen not only in this franchise, but also in kids’ media in general, and I also stress that a lot of this has a ton of nuance that isn’t always apparent unless you read between the lines. I do understand that a lot of this probably went over our heads as kids, and I won’t say that the choice to execute it this way should be impervious to criticism, but nevertheless, I think it’s important to call attention to the fact it is there, and much of it becomes recognizable once you see it that way; for instance, so much of "it's contradictory character writing!" comes from the fact that the series tries to represent humans in their inconsistent, messy ways, and while it'll feel "messy" from a writing trope perspective, when you think about it as "since this person has this mentality, does it make sense to approach this with this mindset?", suddenly it becomes very consistent. The supposedly “shallow” 02 and Frontier characters will act in ways that match existing psychological profiles meant for actual humans to terrifying degrees, in ways that you might actually recognize even better once you’ve hit adulthood and start intimately understanding things like depression or anxiety in ways you might not have before. Shockingly, “having heart, important themes, and kindness towards the human condition” are completely valid reasons to uplift a creative work in ways distinct from technical writing or cerebrality or how many tropes they subvert or whatever.

On the flip side, people praise Adventure and Tamers for being the naturally “superior” works with better writing, but when it comes to talking about why the writing is supposedly better, a good chunk of the reasons stated don’t actually explain anything substantial, or go back to actually being passive-aggressive dunks on the other series in some form -- it’s because 02 and Frontier’s character writing sucks that badly, or because Adventure had the “best plot” (which may be true if by “best” you mean “easiest to understand”, but that doesn’t mean much to someone who might not be very happy about how its story progression is just a boss rush), or because Tamers is the “deepest” when by “deep” they actually mean “cerebral, dark, and unsubtle about it” without any further meaning (as if Adventure and 02 were idealistic series that never went into anything nuanced and not, say, the fact they went very viciously deep into societal issues between parents and children, psychological horror, and intimate takes on the human condition). I’m personally saying this as someone who does think Adventure and Tamers have a lot to praise in terms of their approaches to realism and the unique aspects each bring to the table, and I feel that people like this are doing them more of a disservice by not bothering to uplift them for any reason that isn’t actually just inherently condescending. I mean, even taking this outside of the original tetralogy for a bit, when I was plugging Appmon earlier, there’s a reason I focused more on its theme and character writing and the use of “dark” writing to convey its sheer range, rather than trying to boil it down to a shallow “it looks cheery but gets really messed up later!”, which is unfortunately an argument I’ve been seeing about it lately.

In the end, when I write my meta, I write it "making a case" for my point of view, and I welcome others to disagree, but if you disagree, I really hope it'll be because you personally disagree, and not because the entire fanbase has been saying otherwise for twenty years and I sound like a radical. I’m not saying that everyone’s consensus takes are completely unfounded, but frankly speaking, this fanbase has some really bad takes, and in the past few years I’ve found it freeing to not only “say what you feel without worrying what others think”, but actually go out of my way to outright try and purge all the preconceived notions and pick only the ones I agree with because I actually agree with them. I encourage you to do it too! And if you do, you might find things about something you like that you didn’t realize before.

#digimon #shiha's ask box #sage-striaton #digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #digimon tamers #digimon frontier #shihameta

[adamsvanrhijn]

ooooh 17, 19 if you want, 32, 38

17. Past or present tense? Why?

both!!! that post going around right now about this makes me :-( because i use both in about equal frequency (though!!! i don't know that for certain... i should make a chart) and people are dissing present tense a lot lol. but! i like them both, and they both tell stories.

i think they each give different vibes and there are some nuances worth considering to craft something of quality in each. converting tenses (which i have to do fairly often because i do write in both and i don't write in a linear way at all, so if passage x is in present and passage y is in past one of them has to Win and the other gets rewritten) and ending up with quality prose is more complex than just changing the verb tenses.

but i like both and use both! sometimes within the same work (in diff chapters/sections obvs, not in the same piece of prose) to express something in particular? but generally it's arbitrary and it's just how the words fall out of my head.

19. Share a snippet from a wip without giving any context for it.

"It's become inconvenient," Oscar specified.

"Has it?"

"And with you blocks away," sharing an address with several mutual acquaintances of theirs (bachelors congregated; Oscar had been careful to deviate from the trend), in an area... well, not more trafficked. But crowds were amenable when one wanted to blend in, and the crowds at Madison Square were more active and more varied than those in John's quarter, where all had impeccable background and pedigree—and all knew them both on sight, saw them both everywhere.

He hadn't known New York. He couldn't be blamed for his decision, and, in Oscar's favor, he'd said before that he should make a different one if he could start again.

But he disliked change once he had settled: the other side of the coin, and the one that would not serve Oscar well in this endeavor.

32. Do you have a word/expression that you always use in your writing?

lmfao god yeah unfortunately. there are very many. i am trying to break some of these habits with tga fanfic as i am writing new points of view? but some of it is just ~*~*My Style~*~.

major offenders:

"breathe[s/d]" as a dialogue tag verb

i feel that my adverbs are repetitive in general but especially "lightly". my prose is very beige and i tend to over-rely on Telling with adverbs in general imo.

lexical trends characters have in canon tend to show up more frequently in my fic than they do in the actual source material, especially when it's ways of expressing contradiction (e.g. thomas barrow downton abbey "but even so")

38. "This never happened" fix-it fics or "this happened but" fix-it fics?

so i don't really write Fix It Fic so much as i write canon divergent aus where things go differently and sometimes result in what i think is a good outcome for the characters that they may not necessarily have been afforded in canon — i am a Canon First Word Of God Second Paratext Third Everything Else Last person, and i like to explore other stories and what if scenarios, but i'm very much a "love letter to the media" fic writer, not an "i can do it better" fic writer.

but in any case, i try to err on the side of "this happened but" because i think it's easier to keep characterization stable and recognizable that way, as well as, when things don't happen at all, trying to ensure there is an analogue event or plotline that allows for similar character development. sometimes i like to take said character development past canon to a place that feels more desirable to me, but that isn't intended necessarily to be a Fix, because i have so many stories going on in my head and i don't even really have headcanons that are 100% stable across my own work, let alone scenarios in mind that feel Better or more certain to me than canon itself does.

#fic talk tag

[morwensteelsheen]

so @tinacharles and I have sort of been having this conversation about the varying levels of culpability of all the men in Éowyn’s life re: her abject fucking misery, which got me to thinking about how that discussion would play out in-universe.

I know it’s pretty popular (and not incorrectly so, imo!) to have Éomer being fairly distrustful of Faramir, but I think it's underplayed just how much ammunition Faramir has to be out-and-out fucked off with Éomer on Éowyn's behalf.

Part of that understatement is a desire, I reckon, to see all the named Rohirrim as basically innocents, manipulated beyond aid by Wormtongue, and functionally helpless until Gandalf and the Three Hunters show up, but that's a take that is, imo, too reliant upon what we get in the movie canon and not reliant enough on what's actually written in the text! The point of Théoden's downfall is that it is his pride and his hubris (and not any magic!) that is his undoing, and it is Gandalf's reminders that his responsibilities are greater than the weight of the injuries to his pride that "brings him back" so to speak. The ability to stop fucking around exists at all moments within Théoden, there is no magic, no great battles, not valiant rescues involved, it's just about him putting his big girl panties on and dealing with his own life. But because there's a tendency to see too much of the movie canon in these characters, their relative culpability in Éowyn's immiseration is largely erased, which is incredibly unfair both in terms of treating these characters with the nuance they deserve, but also in terms of treating Éowyn's misery with the seriousness it deserves!

And a key element of this is Éomer's complacency/culpability in all of this. I often quote the conversation between Gandalf, Aragorn, and Éomer after the Pelennor about Éowyn's ~fundamental unknowability~, but I think it is, uhhh, pretty fucked up that Aragorn, Faramir, and Gandalf are all able to spot out Éowyn's deeply destroyed mental health within minutes of coming into contact with her (and yes, it is true enough that they're all powered-up slightly by magic-ish things) while Éomer, who has spent literally his entire life around her, doesn't really have an inkling of what's actually going on in her interior life. That's really upsetting to me, and is no doubt deeply upsetting and isolating for Éowyn, who has basically no other people in her life until Faramir shows up (you know, after she literally tries to kill herself!).

More than that, when Gandalf and the Three Hunters show up and immediately break Théoden free of his pity party, we don't get a sense that undermining Wormtongue has any actual political repercussions—Hama (👑) immediately names Éowyn as the favoured heir to the throne, which says that she's got a substantial amount of organic support where and when it matters. Yes, it's true they immediately have to go fight Saruman's forces in Helm's Deep, but Helm's Deep is a pretty unique battle in the books for how "small" it is in terms of coalitions: the Rohirrim fight that sucker almost entirely unaided! So if a consequence of unseating Wormtongue had been facing down Saruman's lot on the battlefield (assuming that he would have been prepared to do so at any point before the canonical Battle of the Hornburg), we know that the Rohirrim could have handled it, and what's more, they might have been in an even better position to have handled it, because Théodred would have likely still been alive, alongside however many men they lost at the Battle of the Fords of Isen. A lot of words to say: there's really no indication that there was a danger, per se, to beating Wormtongue's ass down; but we do know that there was some obstacle. Tolkien goes pretty far out of his way to hint that it's a lack of will that's doing most of the work there. As readers, I think we're all mostly content to ignore this element of Éomer's complacency because we do largely see Éomer at his best and most noble, but I think we do a real disservice to both his and Éowyn's characters for not dealing with that more intimately.

Anyways, my original point is that I think Faramir has really good reason to be quite grumpy with Éomer and I think he'd actually probably be supported in that frustration by Éowyn, who would almost certainly be pretty chuffed to finally have someone fighting her corner after so many years. I don't know exactly how Faramir's frustration would manifest—almost certainly not with the level of vitriol and overtness that his frustration with his father manifested itself, but I do think he would be very good at making sure that Éomer is keenly aware that Faramir is Unhappy about his actions/lack thereof. That, I think, adds a really interesting dynamic not just to Éowyn and Faramir's personal life, particularly as they're off starting their lives together, but also their political life, given that Éomer is the new King of the Riddermark, shown to be exceptionally close with both Aragorn and Imrahil, and, of course, is later married to Faramir's cousin—some of Faramir's last living family.

Edit: just picked up the books to double check some stuff so adding cites beneath the cut

On Théoden's 'malady':

"the influence over him that Gríma gained when the King's health began to fail. This occurred early in the year 3014, when Théoden was sixty-six; his malady may thus have been due to natural causes, though the Rohirrim commonly lived till near or beyond their eightieth year. But it may well have been induced or increased by subtle poisons, administered by Gríma. In any case Théoden's sense of weakness and dependence on Gríma was largely due to the cunning and skills of this evil counsellor's suggestions."

From Unfinished Tales, V. The Battles of the Fords of Isen.

On Éomer Missing The Fucking Point:

"But Aragorn came to Éowyn, and he said: ‘Here there is a grievous hurt and a heavy blow. The arm that was broken has been tended with due skill, and it will mend in time, if she has the strength to live: It is the shield-arm that is maimed; but the chief evil comes through the sword-arm. In that there now seems no life, although it is unbroken.

‘Alas! For she was pitted against a foe beyond the strength of her mind or body. And those who will take a weapon to such an enemy must be sterner than steel, if the very shock shall not destroy them. It was an evil doom that set her in his path. For she is a fair maiden, fairest lady of a house of queens. And yet I know not how I should speak of her. When I first looked on her and perceived her unhappiness, it seemed to me that I saw a white flower standing straight and proud, shapely as a lily, and yet knew that it was hard, as if wrought by elf-wrights out of steel. Or was it, maybe, a frost that had turned its sap to ice, and so it stood, bitter-sweet, still fair to see, but stricken, soon to fall and die? Her malady begins far back before this day, does it not, Éomer?’

‘I marvel that you should ask me, lord,’ he answered. ‘For I hold you blameless in this matter, as in all else; yet I knew not that Éowyn, my sister, was touched by any frost, until she first looked on you. Care and dread she had, and shared with me, in the days of Wormtongue and the king’s bewitchment; and she tended the king in growing fear. But that did not bring her to this pass!’

‘My friend,’ said Gandalf, ‘you had horses, and deeds of arms, and the free fields; but she, born in the body of a maid, had a spirit and courage at least the match of yours. Yet she was doomed to wait upon an old man, whom she loved as a father, and watch him falling into a mean dishonoured dotage; and her part seemed to her more ignoble than that of the staff he leaned on.

‘Think you that Wormtongue had poison only for Théoden’s ears? Dotard! What is the house of Eorl but a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek, and their brats roll on the floor among their dogs? Have you not heard those words before? Saruman spoke them, the teacher of Wormtongue. Though I do not doubt that Wormtongue at home wrapped their meaning in terms more cunning. My lord, if your sister’s love for you, and her will still bent to her duty, had not restrained her lips; you might have heard even such things as these escape them. But who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bower closing in about her, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in?’

Then Éomer was silent, and looked on his sister, as if pondering anew all the days of their past life together."

From Return of the King, VIII The House of Healing

#lotr #meta #this counts as a meta right? #faramir #éowyn #éomer #théoden #excessive tagging is for my blog organisation i am SO sorry

[hopeshoodie]

go off in those tags mama

Ok no but I want a dedicated post to talk about characterization in cmm because as much as I’m actually enjoying playing it, the characters are clearly written by different writers.

Or at least, they’ve done that thing where a show goes on for too long and the characters become caricatures of their most extreme traits in the later seasons. These are all my interpretations of the S2 characters, feel free to check me or share yours in the reblogs or replies-

Lucas: They straight up made him a prick, and not even in a logical way. Lucas was a little pretentious in S2 (using a varied vocabulary, being picky about how he presented himself, preferring expensive drinks, etc) but he made a clear effort to skip over it and be polite to everyone. But in CMM he straight up is rude to people, threatening to leave and shutting jokes down. Honestly, that would be more in-character for Rahim to do, because Lucas never openly disliked the humor of other islanders like Rahim did. And you’re telling me that the dude who was established as wealthy doesn’t know what octopus looks like, doesn’t like horses? It’s fine if he does, but no one addressed the dissonance between it and his personality. I’m fine with Lucas being a little gruff with anyone, but he’s not doing it in a nuanced or in-character way.

Priya: Of all the islanders, her and Rahim are the most out of character imo. Priya was established in S2 to be a super interesting character- on her face she’s pretty basic, enjoying boy bands and perfumes and basic chat. She’s very confident and states multiple times that she’s mature, despite doing a lot of immature things when her feelings get hurt. She’s careless with other people’s feelings and likes being pursued more than she likes being intimate. She had taste (according to the other islanders), she was a little bit goofy. We see like… None of that in CMM. In fact we actually see the opposite- they took her affiliation with sunflowers, which she explained as deeply meaningful, and made it a throwaway joke about asking people to wear “only sunflower print” to her funeral. Priya would die in S2 before wearing sunflower print- all of her clothing is un-patterned and she clearly cares about fashion. They stripped every personality trait from her and replaced it with horny.

And that’s the other thing- I’ve wanted Priya as an LI for a year. We wanted her to be the softer sapphic option to contrast Marisol’s slowburn angsty route. But I replayed the wedding episode yesterday, they didn’t edit it to make Priya seem like she was questioning. Instead, they just made her 180 on her sexuality in cmm and made every other line she says just her lusting after MC. It would’ve been so easy to fix, too. Just tone down her “I’ve been thinking about you” every line to be a couple of her being super excited to see MC. Maybe they kiss once in the bedroom, but we cannot have her be ready to commit to dating MC by episode two. It just doesn’t make sense. And the way the justified it by having her say ‘lol didn’t you notice how I always complimented you, I was attracted to you’ felt like a slap in the face rather than a callback. Like Fusebox was saying ‘lol we queer-coded her but then made her straight, remember that?’. I just… Hire a sapphic writer, please. I would believe Priya examined her sexuality after the villa or even after the wedding, but the way she talks about it isn’t nearly conflicted or in depth enough to make sense. Yes, this spinoff is supposed to be fan service, but… It’s a yikes from me.

Gary: They just straight up made Gary a bumbling idiot in cmm. Yes Gary was slower on the uptake than other islanders in S2- he didn’t recognize jokes right away and took things too literally- but he wasn’t outwardly stupid. In fact, two different times we saw him get quiet and try not to admit it when he didn’t understand things. And even then, he always laughed it off. In cmm he’s just brashly stupid in a way that’s not really funny or endearing (to me).

Rahim: This one bothers me the most because I love Rahim so much and because no one’s talking about it? Several people say things to the effect of ‘that’s just our crazy Rahim LOL’, but??? Was he ever established as the unpredictable wildcard in S2?? The only thing I can think of is that he surprised everyone by spending lots of money on dates (but that’s in-line with his character because he’s super awkward until he’s in love and then he’s SUPER romantic), but other than that he was literally never an endearingly unpredictable sort. Everyone agrees the horse thing was weird, but a lot of his other dialogue has this ‘lmao I’m craaazy’ vibe. Rahim was always quieter, avoidant of conflict, nerdy, and awkward. You could argue that his awkwardness goes away as you get to know him, but even if you were with him from day 1 in S2 he never gets this outspoken. Plus he was picky and judgmental in S2, but we see him in cmm just be super comfortable and supportive of everyone else. I love that Rahim’s here, but he’s so ooc he might as well be Henrik if they wanted a ‘goofy, outgoing, friendly’ character on the cast.

Noah: This is the only change that I really liked, but clearly we have to acknowledge that Noah is way more forward. I believe this change, because he’s had time to self-reflect and also he’s not on tv being scrutinized this time. It makes sense for him to be more flirtatious now that he knows everyone and is more comfortable, especially if he and MC are happily married.

I feel like Bobby, Marisol, Chelsea, and Lottie are all pretty in character, but maybe that’s because they just haven’t had a lot of lines yet. And Rahim/Priya are really the only characters that bother me. Don’t confuse my being critical of the writing with the series being bad- it’s not!!

#i'm hesitant to put any negativity in the tag so i wont tag it #tbh it's not even negativity really just my thoughts #also i know you didn't mean anything by it (probably just a reference to rahim's line) #but could you please not call me mama in the future? #im not upset or anything!! #it just makes my brain feel bad #idk i've been experimenting with he/him pronouns and it's not something that upsets me i'd just prefer you not to use mama #bestie and babes is fine lmao #mama just feels loaded genderwise and also it feels appropriative for me a whitie to say

[kachinnate]

,,,,okay i know i just said i wasn’t going to talk about the deh movie but actually yeah imma talk about it for just a sec bc y’all actually make me legitimately distressed sajkfndsmjkgds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLQ_A0H1otc i dont have the braincells to do a shot by shot analysis right now but here’s what we’re lookin at

under a readmore because ghhhhhhh

firstly, let me lead with this: yes, from what we know, there’s a lot of things wrong with this movie. 

the worst, in my humble opinion, being the bts treatment of the (very few) actors of color, and the lack altogether of any production team members of color. that’s something that should be acknowledged, talked about, and fucking dug into especially at the current fucking period of time we’re living in. it’s unsurprising, but disgusting nonetheless, and it set this movie up for failure from the very beginning. i’m a white person so by no means so i feel inclined or like i have any authority in saying what one should feel wrt all of that, however i will say if there’s to be a boycott in not watching this movie, that should 100% be the reason why. it’s fully poc’s choice whether or not to forgive the production team or give this movie a chance for the irredeemable shit it did in regards to handling the movie’s production. the movie imo definitely doesn’t deserve their forgiveness, but again, that is not for me to say. 

there’s some little things too that i can’t fully think of off the top of my head - like, the whole making larry connor’s stepdad thing fucking irks me, for example, but, like...... listen.

if you know me like at all, you know my favorite word is nuance.

so, i’m going to say it outright: the way you people are approaching this three minute trailer shows literally.... none?? no nuance ??? is it no-nuance november over here or ???? like i’m begging you i’m BEGGING YOU to put aside your pre-determined prejudices against this movie and like stop pretending to be a renowned film critic for ten seconds because it’s really not as outright fucking abysmal as you are saying!! and also it’s possible to have opinions that aren’t completely fucking polarized to one side because guess what, the deh movie? a piece of media! what is the shit y’all are constantly preaching about having the ability to consume media critically ? because you’re trying to cancel a fucking trailer based on the contents of the trailer alone !!!!! hello !!!!!!!!

media is bound to be problematic. if y’all were as quick to judge any movie as you did this one, guess what you wouldn’t be watching any movies like ever <3 

anyway lets get into the parts that are probably going to get me cancelled lmao 

ben platt - listen. LISTEN. listen i know he’s too old to be reprising evan we ALL know he’s too old to be reprising evan i’ve heard this same argument since the announcement was made we get it we all know. haha he’s a grandpa yes bestie ur so right ur so funny wow. i do agree that we should’ve maybe had a not-ben-platt evan moment but here’s some things to keep in mind: the arguments of “oooh ABF is right there !!!!!!” 1. who’s to say he was available? 2. the environment of a movie is so, SO much different than that of a musical -- as much as you wanna pretend you know everything from just a trailer, there’s no way of knowing what scenes were added that might’ve made the movie like.. idk possibly more intense story-wise not even COUNTING the fact that just inherently a movie set is different than a musical one? like yes ben platt might be just being used as a device but that’s probably not the sole and only reason. Also, if i see One (1) more comment about his FUCKING HAIR 😃 first of all it’s not that deep like... if you’re so distracted by an actor having their hair different that’s on you, but going as far as to call it bad or distracting or being like Vehemently a way about it? y’all i know it’s most likely not your intention but that is literally just ben platt’s natural fuckin ETHNICALLY JEWISH hair sajknfgkjds!!!! i’m not the first to make this point, but like dsjnfkjdsg!??! y’all are being so mean about it and for WHAT? again, maybe not intentional, but it reads as like high key Very antisemetic and you should.... maybe not 😳 be that way

connor. the thing about a trailer is that they don’t show you all the scenes because they want you to come see the movie. right? can we agree on that? all the connor scenes in the trailer had SEVERAL hard cuts, omitting a lot of the scene -- like the computer lab scene! we see the beginning of it, there’s a VERY obvious hard cut, and then he’s running out! in my opinion my first watch through of this trailer i had a very like “:// hmm all these actors feel a lil like dry”, but man oh man the comments ive seen about connor. holy shit guys. this boy gets 7 minutes of stage time in the actual musical, and the whole thing is we DON’T KNOW VERY MUCH ABOUT HIM. not to burst your bubble, and i by no means hate connor, i love me some good connor lives fics and stuff, but everything we write with connor being alive? that is !! speculation on our part !!!! those are headcanons and us using the little context we have!! connor doesn’t have any significant development IN THE SOURCE MATERIAL that is being adapted into a movie !!! you 1. can’t fully judge a character with already limited screentime in a 3 minute trailer, 2. can’t really call what connor has canonically in the musical as in depth character development !! what is his arc then !!!! he pushes evan, goes to the computer lab, has an outcast loner kid moment, gets upset, takes the letter, DIES. sorry stans, that’s just how it is !! and, AND, everything in between, all the idiosyncracies, that depends on the actor playing connor! speaking of, you know who the actor is playing connor in the movie? that’s right, colton ryan! so, i don’t know, maybe... have some trust in the process, in an actor who ALREADY has played connor on broadway???? and also trust that you will get more connor content then u are seeing from a 3 minute trailer!! dhgnijsdg and some of the comments on like his appearance specifically? like are you really made that he doesn’t have long hair?? they kept his nails and his rings but nahhh the hair was apparently a MUST HAVE (even though like.. not all connor actors on broadway always had/have long hair but w/e).. REGARDLESS. tldr on THAT , the movie would have to do a pretty shitty job if they want to take something from someone who doesn’t have much to begin with and i think y’all are being extremely harsh on this point 

jared. honestly i’m a bit worried too about the like... name change, because it does have the potential to be taking out some representation, but... they did change the name to fit the actor’s ethnicity? it’s a really [hmm] topic because, again, from a trailer and from what we have been told we don’t KNOW a lot of the context, but i think it’s important to remember that uh.. jewish people aren’t just? always white ?? there’s a possibility they changed the last name to fit with the [ethnicity] while keeping him jewish?? ofc there’s the possibility that they Didn’t and ... again hm that’s its own thing altogether but just reiterates the point that you can’t knock a whole movie just based on the trailer. you can’t talk about things you know nothing about. 

alana. same thing as before, you can’t.... completely bash a character based on a 3 minute trailer. there was discussion about how she seemed ‘shy’ when talking to evan, which like.. maybe she is but also that scene was them talking in a library like if u actually take notice of what’s happening in the scene jdskngsd though i do share the general consensus with many others that she won’t get a lot of screen-time but that’s neither here nor there 😔 moving on

scenes and the setting. one of the things i was most like.. tentative about in regards to a switch from a musical to a movie was how they were like... going to do certain scenes? naturally, a lot has to be different when we’re going from a minimal stage set to an entire movie with like.. settings. there are going to be new scenes because a movie lends to have like, physical places that aren’t just [evan’s bedroom] and [murphy kitchen] and [implied school]. so new scenes, new conversations, slightly different pacing.. this is all to be expected right like are y’all geneuinely surprised here or ........

there’s a lot we aren’t seeing yet because this is a TRAILER. again i already mentioned this re: connor but like... again, y’all are making some Claims that just... fucking outlandish. there are so many moments in the trailer that are very obvious Hard Cuts. you don’t have all the information yet. you are angry at a tiny fragment of something that is confusing you because you don’t have all the context. is there a chance that some of this shit is just genuinely Bad? yeah but you really cannot 100000% say it with your chest and gauge it without seeing the movie and understanding what that scene is in context. lowkey uhhh saw some jokes about the zoe scene in the car and :’))) ? jesus? christ????

concluding thoughts because my brain hurts but like. you don’t have to like the movie. you don’t have to WATCH the movie. like all media if you choose to consume the movie you should do so with some CRITICAL THOUGHT. but, just like the novel (and i do not want to have any discussions about that i don’t care if you think it’s good Or bad that’s not what this is about) you guys are going in this WANTING to believe it’s bad and completely polarizing your thoughts on what this is going to be. yeah, maybe there shouldn’t be a movie. i genuinely think we could’ve gone without. but it’s just a piece of media, it’s not a progression like all your (musical is good, novel is bad, MOVIE IS WORSE OH NO) posts are suggesting. they are all just. different pieces of media stemming from a source. at the end of the day it’s just a fucking movie. if you already hate it so much, guess what? you don’t have to watch it! you don’t have to put so much needless fucking hate into a 3 MINUTE TRAILER. you can stop being performative and dissing it for its poor treatment of POC while then going on to make fun of ben platt’s hair and just targeting a different group like! please !!!

i’m not trying to be a fuckin’ advocate for this movie because there’s so much opportunity for it to suck, i do Not have high hopes for it, and i’m not even really sure i want to watch it (i bought the novel when it came out and have yet to read it, and i’m sure the movie will like.. elicit very similar vibes from me lsdngjkdsg like im just not uhhh feeling it) but y’know what? watching the trailer did not bring forth the fucking onslaught of hatred in me that apparently has fuckin posessed all of y’all and like djnsgjksdg plagued my dashboard for this whole evening. don’t come into my inbox trying to like.. argue with me about this (preemptively im turning off anon because i like i Can’t lmao) this is just like... a rant i needed to get out of me real quick. 

SO. tldr for now: have critical thought about shit you consume, there’s no ethical consumption under [the film industry], you can’t judge a movie entirely on its trailer, and y’all need to calm the fuck down 

#garbage.txt #deh movie #ask to tag #irrelevant #bc this is lowkey a vent bc jfc #this isn't @ anyone btw this is just [in general mostly just from my dash] bc.. sighs #anyway im gonna refrain from making any more comment on this its just. frustrating. #edit: ok to rb

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Back at it again with my self-indulgent comic posts. This time! It’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #3, perhaps the most tonally-distinct entry yet, with shades of The Twilight Zone. 

Spoilers!

So, as mentioned, this issue is the most deliberate in terms of both its pacing and its tone, IMO.

What is that tone, you ask?

To quote Alex Danvers, from “Midvale”: Hello, darkness.

THE STORY:

Kara and Ruthye are still looking for Krem Clues in the alien town of Maypole.

(Which is actually just Small Town, USA, complete with vintage 50s aesthetics.)

But the locals are clearly hiding something! So Kara and Ruthye continue to investigate, and they eventually discover what it was that the residents of Maypole were so keen to keep hidden. 

Genocide, basically. 

As I said, this issue struck me as very Twilight Zone; a genre story involving the build-up to a dark twist, all set against the backdrop of an idyllic small town. (Think, like, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” but instead of focusing on the Red Scare, it’s classism and racism.)

The wealthier blue aliens kicked all of the purple aliens out of town, and when space pirates showed up to pillage and plunder, the blue aliens made a deal with them: the lives of the purple aliens in exchange for their safety.  

Which is where the episodic story connects to the larger mission; it was Krem who suggested the trade, and then joined up with the Brigands (space pirates) when he was freed by the blue aliens.

The issue ends with no tidy resolution to the terrible things Kara and Ruthye discovered, but they do have a lead on where to find Krem, now, as well as Barbond’s Brigands.

KARA-CTERIZATION:

Ironically, it’s here, in the darkest chapter yet, that we get the closest to what might be considered ‘classic’ Kara. 

Which I think comes down to that aforementioned deliberate pace--this issue is a little slower, a little quieter. It gives the characters some room to breathe.

That’s not to say Crusty Kara is gone. Oh no. She is still very much Crusty. XD 

But anyways. A list! Of Kara moments I loved!

I mentioned a few of these in a prior post when the preview pages came out: I like the moment where Kara blows down the guy’s house of cards, and I like that the action is echoed later in the issue when she grabs the mayor’s desk and tosses it aside. A nice visual representation of the escalation of Kara being, like. Done with these creeps. (Creeps is an understatement but you get the idea.)

Another one from the preview pages: Kara explains to Ruthye that her super hearing won’t necessarily help her detect a lie, especially if she’s dealing with an alien species she’s not familiar with.

It not only reveals her level of competence and understanding of her super powers, it also shows that, you know. She’s a thinker. She’s smart. 

Amazing! Showing, rather than telling us, that Kara is smart! Without mentioning the science guild at all wow hey wow.

(Sorry, pointed criticism of the SG show fandom.)

Anyways.

I dig the PJs! 

And Kara catching the bullet! Not only are the poses and character acting great, it’s also a neat bit of panel composition:

We start with Ruthye’s POV, and then move to the wide shot of the room. The panel where Kara actually catches the bullet is down and to the side of the wide shot panel--we move our eyes the way her body/arm would have to move to intercept the bullet. Physicality in static, 2D images!

Also, like. It’s a very tense moment, life-or-death, but. Ruthye’s wide-eyed surprise at the bullet in Kara’s hand? Kind of adorable. 

I was pretty much prepared for the page of Kara shielding Ruthye from the gunfire to be the highlight--it was one of the first pages King shared and I was like, ‘yeah, YEAH.’ But, shockingly? The TRUE highlight of the issue?

Where do I BEGIN?!?!

EVERYTHING. About this moment. Is lovely.

From Kara holding Ruthye above the bench to explaining the concept of a piggyback ride, to telling her:

“I’m going to hold my hands here, and these hands can turn coal into diamonds, so they’re not going to let go. I’m going to keep you safe.”

HNNNNNNNNNNNG.

Ruthye’s narration--about how Kara had avoided flying as she was concerned it would freak Ruthye out--just adds a whole additional layer of YES, GOOD, YES, and her line on that splash page is great: “You see, all that time, she was worried about me.”

HNNNNNNNNNNNG. AGAIN.

To say nothing of the STELLAR ARTWORK.

And SPEAKING of that stellar artwork, Evely and Lopes continue to knock it out of the park. Each issue is distinct and beautifully crafted, a true joy to look at.

Before I jump into more of the art, a few final notes of character stuff in general.

Ruthye is the one most affected by the experience in Maypole, as she can’t comprehend how a society of people that look so nice and gentle and peaceful could have been party to such a horrible act.

One of the big criticisms of the book thus far is that Supergirl is not the main character, and I guess I can agree with that observation. Typically, in Western media, the main character is the one who goes through the most change in the story. 

And, yeah. That’s Ruthye.

As I was reading the end, where Ruthye sits on the curb and Kara hugs her, I was imagining how the scene would’ve played, had King stuck with the original idea for the series: Kara as the one learning to be tough/experiencing all of this for the first time, and while I think that could certainly work...

I continue to appreciate that King literally flipped the script; that Kara, especially in this issue, is like, ‘I’ve seen this, I know this,’ as opposed to being the one going through a loss of innocence.

*Marge Simpson voice* I just think it’s neat!

Because Kara’s been a teen in DC comics for so long--ever since she was reintroduced to the main DCU continuity, actually--so this is all brand new territory, here. Having an older Kara who’s SEEN SOME STUFF.

(Alsoooooo, since Bendis made the destruction of Krypton not just inaction and climate disaster, but rather, genocide, and the subtext of a Kryptonian diaspora text, the waitress’ derogatory comment regarding the the destruction of Kryton, as well as Kara picking up the bad vibes the entire time, suggests not just a broad commentary on discrimination in all its forms, but specifically allegorical anti-Semitism. The purple aliens being forced out of their homes and into substandard living conditions, then the blue aliens--their neighbors and once-fellow residents--essentially allowing the space pirates to kill them, making them literal scapegoats, Kara discovering the remains of the purple aliens, and Ruthye’s horror at the ‘banality of evil’...yes. A case could be made, I think.) 

(Which would probably require a post unto itself and a lot more in-depth discussion, nuance, and cited sources.)

(Should mention that King has brought up that both he and Orlando--the other Supergirl writer he talked to--are Jewish, and for him personally, that shaped his views on Kara’s origin story.)

I guess my point is that this issue is perhaps not as out-of-left-field as some might think, and just because there isn’t as obvious an arc for Kara, doesn’t mean there isn’t some sharp character work at play. 

(I could be WAY OFF, of course, and I’m not suggesting it’s a clear 1:1 comparison. I’d actually really love to hear King talk about this issue in particular.)

Anyways.

Here’s the final page, which I think works, because as I mentioned before, there is no easy answer/quick wrap-up to the story of Maypole:

THE ART:

I mean. How many times can I just shout ‘ART! AAAARRRRRRRRRRRTTTT!’ before it gets old?

I dunno, but I guess we’re gonna FIND OUT.

There are some panels in this issue that I just. Like ‘em! From a purely artistic standpoint! Because they’re so good!

Like, I just really love the way Kara is drawn in that top panel. Her troubled, confused expression, the colors of the fading light, the HAIR. 

Evely draws the best hair. I know I’ve said this before. I don’t care. I will continue to say it, because it continues to be true.

The issue I find myself running up against when I make these posts is that I really don’t want to post whole pages, as that’s generally frowned upon (re: pirating etc.) but with something like this, you just can’t appreciate it in panel-by-panel snippets.

(Guided View on digital reading platforms is a BANE and a POX I say!)

Anyways.

LOVE the implied movement of the cape settling as Kara speeds in and stops. 

And, obviously, Kara flicking the bullet away is just. A+. 

And the EYES, man. LOPES’ COLORS ON THE EYES???!?! BEAUTIFUL.

Also, should note the lettering! The more rounded letters for the ‘WOOSH’ of Kara’s speed (and, earlier, the super breath) work nicely, and contrast with the angular, violent BLAMS of the gunshots. 

And, I gotta say, the editor is doing a really great job of not cluttering up the artwork with all the caption boxes. Which is no small task.

(I assume the editor is placing them, as editors usually handle word balloon/caption box placement, but I suppose it could be Evely? Sometimes the artist handles it. Either way, whoever’s taking care of all the text, EXCELLENT WORK! BRAVO!)

Okay I think that’s everything.

Ah, nope, wait.

MISC.

Just a funny observation, more than anything else: Superman: Red and Blue dropped this week, and King had a story in there, “The Special” (which was very good, btw.) Both Lois and the waitress swear a lot so I’m beginning to think that this is just how King writes dialogue for any adult character who isn’t Clark. XD

This is absolutely a personal preference but when Kara was like, “And my name IS Supergirl,” I was like nooooo. I know King is trying to simplify all of the conflicting origin stories and lore but I LIKE KARA DANVERS, SIR. XD

It’s almost assuredly a cash-grab/an attempt for DC to get all the money it can out of a book they don’t have much confidence in, but I like the cardstock covers! Very classy, much Strange Adventures.

(OH my gosh, can you imagine that issue 1 cover with spot gloss???? Basically the only way you could possibly improve on it.) 

Okay NOW I’m done. For real. XD NEXT TIME: Kara and Ruthye go after Krem and the Brigands!

#supergirl: woman of tomorrow #long post #dc comics #supergirl: woman of tomorrow spoilers #kara zor el #comic thoughts #comic opinions #just occurred to me I should be crediting the creative team in these things #I think thus far I've included every title page? #still #will try to be better about that going forward

[elriell]

what are ur thoughts on eris, there seems to be a lot of chaos and seperation in the fandom atm... how'd you feel about his showing up in acosf?

This feels like a tricky question to answer, because opinions about this really do verge on the extreme of both sides. From what I have seen at least, and I definitely feel this has caused a great deal of division amongst fans of the series.

While I certainly didn’t expect an appearance of his character in ACOSF, I am not surprised in the slightest at a potential redemption. As soon as he made the comment about “not knowing what it cost him” in ACOWAR, I got major Rhysand flashbacks... And from the moment I read that chapter I felt SJM was going to go down the redemption arc path as she did with Rhys. (Assuming of course that is her plan.)

Because it is definitely her type of character and one she enjoys writing, example; Rhysand & Rowan.

So! We have a month before it releases so let’s talk about it all, good, bad and ugly, as always everyone is free to share their own opinions but can we keep it civil it is just a book after all and not reason to attack anyone, one view or another.

A big reason a find it so incredibly hard to answer this question is because I do dislike Eris for his actions, from what we have been told about him from day dot he is not written to be a likeable character. But here is where the big issue lies I feel like SJM is going to try and flip the table on us, as she has so many times before.

And at the end of the day we can either go with it, like for example people had to accept Rhys for his appalling behaviours in ACOTAR or ignore her attempt at a redemption ARC. [Up to you.]

And here is how I think it is going to go, I think she is going down the path of unreliable narration, I.E Lucien’s clouded view, and the IC views from Mor.

It would not be a shock to me at all, and we have seen very prominent example  of this very thing between Feyre’s skewed POV to Nesta’s reality.

“It wasn’t entirely my fault that I was scarcely able to read. Before our downfall, my mother had sorely neglected our education, not bothering to hire a governess. And after poverty struck and my elder sisters, who could read and write, deemed the village school beneath us, they didn’t bother to teach me.”

VS.

“I didn’t know you couldn’t really read,” Nesta said as she paused before a nondescript section, noticing the way I silently sounded out the words of a title. “I didn’t know where you were in your lessons—when it all happened. I assumed you could read as easily as us.”

“Well, I couldn’t.”

“Why didn’t you ask us to teach you?”

“I trailed a finger over the neat row of spines. “Because I doubted you would agree to help.”

This is a classic example of how unreliable narration can cause a massive perspective hinderance. Feyre made the audience believe her sisters did not care/want to teach her, yet they had no idea she was illiterate. And even further still she never even asked for help, she assumed what the answer would be, but the ripple effect of this is that we as readers will now go three books thinking this is a fact rather than her personal assumption.

“A shadow crossed Eris’s face. “There are few things I regret. That is one of them. But … perhaps one day, now that we are allies, I shall tell you why. What it cost me.”

The fact is we know very little about Eris, we are told what a rough childhood Lucien suffered at the hands of his family [Eris included] but then by that token the same should apply to Eris. We have so little information about his childhood, and about his character save for the opinions of Lucien and Mor (and company).

We have as a fandom touched on this time and time again, whether certain characters and actions are redeemable. Some people will stand by Rhysand’s actions in ACOTAR and others will find it unforgivable, the same applies for Nesta most commonly. But really it can apply to almost any of the characters in the series, Azriel tortures people, Cassian wiped out a whole village, and so on, I do not think that it is fair to criminally punish some characters above others IMO.

Now if you want to hate them all and stand by your feelings, go for it, To each their own, but everyone (or next too all) have done something highly questionable over the course of the series.

The people Rhys has killed, minds he has invaded. Azriel/Cassian’s victims, they were all someone too. They all had a potential partner, family, life, dreams & goals. But because we do not see or hear about them we are desensitised of it. We overlook it.

With Eris, we have two of his victims for lack of a better word, in front of us. Some readers love them, feel protective of them and therefore prioritise their POV over every other. Does that make sense? And that is fine.

Completely, everyone is entitled to enjoy or express their view however they see fit, but I personally do not want to demonise people for wanting to make a more informed opinion on a character and not shutting out the possibility of there being more to his story, for better or worse.

I do believe whole heartedly that nothing Eris has done is any worse than Rhysand and/or the IC, the only difference is he was raised in a crueler environment, amongst cruel people. As readers we sympathise with Az and Mor for their upbringing with good reason, because we know of it, yet condemn Eris when we scarcely know his.

A much larger can of worms is the question of culpability, and I have seen so many incredible meta’s about childhood trauma and it not being used as a excuse for toxic behaviours (mainly in respect to Nesta in this fandom) but I do think it is a important key to understanding the overall character... And note, I do not say like but rather understand/empathise with him more clearly, because right now I do not have any real compassion for him.

And as I said above all of them have done some fucked up shit, it is up to you as  reader to decide for yourself whether you consider the particulars forgivable.

I could go on and on about the details and nuances of all his individual relationships but no one wants to read that, and me ramble on and on and on...

In summary, love him or hate him, he is in the next book. We just have to wait and see what SJM’s plan for him truly lies. Fo all we know he could still be an antagonist, but I highly doubt it.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#i could go onnnnnn and on #but i shant #eris vanserra #acosf #a court of silver flames #acotar #not really anti anyone tbf

[lunar-magnolia]

@honestlyshamelesscollector thank you for asking me this!! I'm really happy to share my thoughts, I hope to answer your questions in the best way possible akdjsk

I absolutely agree with you about Xie Lian. He does indeed grow a lot, even though he does so in a traumatic way.

***A little disclaimer: these are just my thoughts here, first impressions having read the novel once, plus watched the donghua and read the manhua a couple of times. I'm no expert at all, but I have lots of feelings about this akdjskfmf

**Putting a read more because long lmao

Young Xie Lian's dream was to become a god and save the common people. And present Xie Lian does it everyday, as much as he can. The biggest lesson he got growing up was probably the fact that he can't save everyone at the same time, but saving (or helping) even just one person was enough. He might be a god, but he is still one person. Having godly powers doesn't make him omniscient or give him the ability to suddenly work on a bigger scale than he could when he was human.

Book 4 in particular highlights just how much the present Xie Lian has changed from the Crown Prince that Pleased The Gods, filled with the idealism of a young man and maybe just a little bit spoiled, to the kind and humble Scrap Immortal that does everything in his power to help the people he comes across.

We see him starting to change as soon as book 2 though. When he tries to both save the Imperial Capital from being invaded and save the Yong'an people from the draught, it's the first time Xie Lian faces the limits of his godly status and power. He divides his time to keep it going for a bit, but in the end he's exhausted and overwhelmed, and he can't do it anymore. Even though he is a god. The inevitable consequences of his own actions and the fall of Xianle challenged his idealism and destroyed his heart so hard that he almost gave in and took his revenge on innocent people. But one person is enough, right?

One could argue that Xie Lian never really had it in him to do it, and I'd probably agree. The whole waiting for someone to help him before releasing the curse, and then trying to sacrifice himself when it eventually was too late to avoid it was enough of an indication for me. It only took the kindness of one person to make him change his heart. If he truly sought revenge, one person wouldn't have been enough. And damn if that didn't ruin Bai Wuxian's plans wonderfully lolll

Xie Lian knew in his heart that the people of Yong'an didn't deserve to pay the price for what happened to Xianle. Even though Bai Wuxian tried (and for a while succeeded) to make him believe it.

Straying from the path that Bai Wuxian wanted him to walk was not as easy as it seems. Bai Wuxian carefully paved all the paths for him, pushed Xie Lian in the directions he wanted him to go with the most violent methods I've ever seen, but Xie Lian always found a way to avoid it, also thanks to Hua Cheng's presence, even when he didn't know it was him (I have so many feelings about that imma cry skfjkefj). Hua Cheng always believed in him and knew what Xie Lian was truly capable of, and boy was he right gdi.

When Xie Lian went through the betrayal of Jun Wu, Hua Cheng's presence reminded him of who Xie Lian is and what he's become. The doubts Bai Wuxian put in his mind, the danger of the Human Face Desease threatening to be freed again, and the resolution to not give in into grief and pain and staying true to the person he had become were again overcome thanks to one person. Xie Lian could have never actually become what Bai Wuxian wanted him to, no matter what he threw at him.

In the end, Xie Lian learnt how to save the common people for real. And he realized that didn't have to do it alone! Instead, the common people themselves were part of the solution (the human array to contain the resentful spirits yknow). It does send an important message, and it's probably the most important thing that Xie Lian learnt: that one person alone cannot save all, if all don't want to be saved. It's a group effort, it takes time and heart and not everyone has it in their heart to risk their lives for the sake of others. Godly powers can only do so much, and a god cannot change fate from above. A god must instead support and protect the people, work with them, give them a boost, and in the end the people will save themselves.

It's a really nuanced and complicated process, I don't know how to explain it properly ajdkfjdl.

It's also worth mentioning that the relationship with Mu Qing and Feng Xin had all the potential to prevent much of what happened to Xie Lian. But just as Xie Lian was young and inexperienced, so were they. And despite all, until Xie Lian stopped thinking of them as servants, he couldn't grow. He had to lose them to truly understand the depth and worth of people believing in him. Which doesn't make it any less painful or sad... Things could have indeed gone differently, but the outcome would have never been the same. I'm glad in the end they kind of sorted it out though.

And the fact that Mu Qing and Feng Xin still cared for Xie Lian when he ascended for the third time was so evident in hindsight. Made me smile when I realized.

Also I liked that in the end Xie Lian didn't go rule the heavens or even go back to it, and instead stayed in the mortal realm to continue doing what he did for the past 800 years. Considering that young Xie Lian said clearly that he wanted to become a god, it's an important thing. It shows that in his mind the concept of gods and their role has changed, and he will stick to his new views despite the possibility of achieving what his young self wanted. Though this isn't just a consequence of book 5, it was shown even earlier when he first visited his palace in the heavens. Xie Lian didn't want to enter it, it made him uncomfortable, and instead sat outside waiting for Shi Qingxuan.

There are so many things to say about Xie Lian but idk if I have the competence to express them all akdjskfj I love his character to bits. His development was not banal in any way, and even though we didn't see all the 800 years it took for him to change, we do feel how gradual that was. Just think of when he met Banyue.

He was still a bit idealistic, telling her that his dream was to save the common people, but he already grew enough of a thick skin to understand when it was worth to pick a fight or not, and he wasn't picky on food (even cooking it himself in his helmet, with outrageous results). It might not seem much, but all things considered, it was a change.

In his first banishment he learnt how hard life was without his Crown Prince status, but he still picked fights with people and refused to eat some things because they weren't as high quality as the food he used to eat at the Royal Palace.

During his second banishment, he learnt to be humble and how problems couldn't be solved with just the right idea. He learnt the grayness of morality and life, how right and wrong are not absolute concepts. He experienced the worst fortune (by his own choice) and learnt how to not let it get to him, how to grow enough of a thick skin to get up each time and not take his frustration out on others.

Truly, Xie Lian is a great character. I have read the novel only one time so far, but I'm planning to reread it soon. So who knows, I might notice more things next time around! This was just my first impression Ahah

As for things I wish that were better explored in the story, I'd say Pei Ming's growth and maybe Ling Wen's motives (though I might have just blinked and missed this last part, because I was still reeling from the Black Water arc lmao).

About Pei Ming, I think he went through a considerable growth since the first time we see him, when he tries to save Little Pei from banishment. At first he gave me the impression of being the usual arrogant womanizer, who would do anything to avoid having his reputation tarnished. But blinking to book 5, we see that he's... Idk, it feels like he's taken that shameless arrogance and put it away, especially after interacting with the Rain Master. Their story is extremely important to his development imo. Their shared past held a place in his heart, and it resurfaced when he met the Rain Master again. I think he was deeply signed by her actions in the past, and he never forgot her.

It's shown when Pei Ming refuses to be saved by the Rain Master and refuses the sword she wants to give to her (which incidentally is the same sword that, yknow, she used to sacrifice herself in front of him back in the days). He says (or better, the people around him say) that it was out of pride, because he couldn't accept that a woman saved him. But he never confirmed or denied it, instead he ran after her "to help".

At the end of the story Pei Ming is not as loud and proud of his reputation as he was in the beginning, instead he seems humbled.

I think the Xuan Ji case also had an important role in his development. Considering how we see her dissolve having found peace after talking/fighting with Pei Ming during the Mount Tong'lu arc, I do think that Pei Ming himself must have reflected on himself a bit too.

He also lost his two best friends, Shi Wudu and Ling Wen, so... Yknow, my hualian ship captain must have had some changes.

Especially when it comes to the Rain Master, I feel there are good basis for a good friendship between them, despite the past. The Rain Master never showed open animosity towards him, instead she helped him. It seemed to me that Pei Ming is the one who believed she hated him, but it was never confirmed.

And maybe if you squint there could be more between them, if you're into that ahah. I wish we could have seen more of his grown version, though I do understand that it happened in the epilogue and the book is already as long as it can be ahaha. So really I'm not that sad it didn't happen, I'm happy that there are signs in the background that "hint" at that instead (if they can be considered hints, idk ahha).

About Ling Wen, ehhhh I want to reserve the right to reread and reconsider. Right now I feel like the Brocade Immortal thing was almost unnecessary? I like her background, how she became the biggest civil goddess of the heavens, but I didn't get why she created the brocade. Again though, I might just go back and reread that part later. Tbh I was reeling really hard after the Black Water arc, so I just blanked on some things akfjskf

Did the Brocade serve any purpose in the end? Aside from being the catalyst of Ling Wen's story arc and being one of the two mighty ghosts in Mount Tong'lu (and also giving that nice hualian scene where Hua Cheng was trying so hard to get kissies from Xie Lian ahaha). Idk, I'd like to hear your thoughts about this!!

I think I rambled enough, if you got to this point wow you're amazing! And thank you for going through this long rant Ahah. I hope it makes some sort of sense! Thank you again for the questions, talking about tgcf made me really happy!

#Tgcf #heaven official's blessing #tian guan ci fu #Xie Lian #Thoughts #I have lots of feelings and I can't wait to reread the novel #Gosh truly a masterpiece #So many good points made here and there about so many things #Also Xie Lian my beloved #He deserves everything in the world and he got it in the form of Hua Cheng #I love them so much y'all #Long ass post #Tgcf spoilers

[arizona-trash-bag]

I can totally explain a bit of my thinking behind seeing lwj as autistic and wwx as autistic/adhd!! Before I get into specifics though, let me preface with where I’m coming from. I first saw CQL and then read the EXR translation of the novel. I prefer MDZS to CQL, but also want to acknowledge that because I do not read/speak Mandarin I am inherently experiencing this story second-hand and therefore am probably missing out on a lot of nuances. I am trying to learn Mandarin, but it will be a long time before I am even a little close to fluent lol.

Another preface- obviously not all autistic people present in the same way, and many of the things that I will mention are not solely specific to autistic people either. It’s one of those things where all of it added up together points towards asd, but each one individually would not on its own indicate asd, you know? Also, I will say that many of the things I picked up on for both characters are autistic traits that many autistic people have vs the clinical characteristics (much like most of the case I could make for wwx’s adhd would be adhd traits he has rather than symptoms that would lead to a real-world diagnosis.) Edit: OH! I almost forgot to say, that also all of these traits I’m listing are from a western perspective, and I would LOVE to read more about how autism presents in different cultures and to see conversations between autistc Chinese people specifically, so as to see if these traits are specific to western autistic people or not, but again, I do not speak Mandarin or Cantonese or any other Chinese dialect, so that’s a little inaccessible for me atm.

Ok, SO, for both characters I would list: strong sense of justice, lack of care for society’s opinion (I feel like it could be argued that lwj does to a certain point, but imo he operates more from what he morally considers to be correct and from a place of familial duty vs catering to the opinion of society at large), and then more vaguely, they both seem to be “nerdy” (this doesnt feel like the most accurate term, especially because it's not like being scholarly is specific to their characters, especially in ancient fantasy China- it’s more that their particular hmmm, flavor?? of love of knowledge feels very neurodivergent to me, vs like, being scholarly because it’s the thing that is expected of a Young Master, if that makes any sense at all- like the difference btwn someone getting an engineering degree because it is expected of them vs because they genuinely love engineering), and lastly for both- I would say that they are canonically kinky, and while I can’t cite any statistics, there’s a pretty high correlation between being autistic and being into kink. Obviously, not every person who is not vanilla is autistic, and not every autistic person is into kink…….but there is a high correlation.

For lwj specifically, the things that made me think he might be autistic are his lack of outward emoting combined with his depth and breadth of emotions, how he seems to thrive in and quite enjoy the very structured environment he grew up in, and then the last one off the top of my head (side note, I feel like a week from now I’m going to randomly think of other examples lol) I’m not actually sure IS an example, because I know (thanks to the awesome post from hunxi that you linked to that I had read previously) that his succintness does not equal autism, but I do kind of feel like it is very autistic to Always be so formal and to Always talk in textbook perfect language.

For wwx, I also think he likely has CPTSD! I’m not going to list anything for adhd or cptsd since we both agree on those :) As far as being autistic goes, there is, of course, the high prevalence of adhd/asd comorbidity. For specifc traits- while autism can show up as lack of facial expressions/tone, it can also show up as being overly exuberant and overexpressive. Especially for younger autistic children this can show up as being overly friendly/no boundaries w/ strangers (just?? going home with a random man who says he knew wwx’s parents???), making unusual connections that others do not can be both asd and adhd, his disregard for social status (disregard might be a strong word, and also I feel like this might be one of those things that got lost in translation and if I had read the original text I might have a different opinon, but what I mean here is the way that often autistic people learn certain social rules and try their best to follow them, but often do not pick up on specifics related to social hierarchy that are not spelled out for them- I think jyl’s take down of jin zixun is a great example of the /oppossite/ of what I’m talking about, and is a very neurotypical interaction. An example also of what I mean by disregard for social hierarchy, but from my own life, is how I’ve reflected on past convos w/ my boss only to realize that what I thought was just an interesting conversation about our opinons on a particular subject was actually them trying to tell-me-as-my-boss something they wanted me to do. We ended up doing things the way I wanted to do them because I didn’t realize that they were telling me to do something because they didnt explicitly say so, and because I just don’t pick up on when people are saying something from a social hierarchy pov. Idk if this makes sense or not, so I’m happy to try to expand if you would like me to. I feel like wwx could be described as having alexithymia, which is very common in autistic people, but could also be due to his cptsd. And then, I don’t feel like this is a true point because it is kind of based on headcanon? but wwx feels very demisexual to me, which is much more common for autistic people than it is for allistic people. But him being demi is not canon, just my perception of him (I see him as demisexual gay w/ massive comphet, but I know lots of people see him as bi, which also totally makes sense!!)

Tbh, I’m having a harder time than I thought I would listing wwx specifics. I might go through the book sometime this weekend and see if there are specific moments that pop out at me, but tbh w/ him its more that he Feels very adhd/asd to me?? Idk, I was diagnosed w/ adhd when I was 8, and all 4 of my siblings plus my father have offical adhd diagnoses. I’m 29 now and was only diagnosed as autistic earlier this year.  All of my close friends have always been either adhd, asd, or adhd/asd. There have been multiple people I have met that I’ve suspected were neurodivergent who have later told me they started looking into it and are now seeking formal diagnoses. I mention these things, only to give full context when I say that I have spent a lot of time observing the differences between interacting with neurotypicals and neurodivergents. I mean, obviously, it’s possible that I could just be projecting, but to me, Wwx gives off late-diagnosed/heavy masker autism/adhd combo vibes. Again, maybe I am projecting, but I did try to analyze whether I was or not previously, and determined that since in the past with other favorite characters (who I probably share more similarities in personality with) I did not feel like they were neurodivergent, so I figured that probably I wasn’t? That feels like a very convoluted sentence, but what I mean is that I have not thought that about other characters who have been my fav, so I figured that while I do project in certain areas that this particular area probably wasn’t one of them. Or, to say it in yet another way, since i did not project any of my neurodivergencies on past favorite characters, I figured I probably didn’t start doing so now.

I would love to hear more of your perspective on this, particularly because I worry that I do not have the cultural touchstones to realize when something wwx or lwj is doing is not actually a sign of being neurodivergent. I try my best to research things I don’t know about and to listen to fans who actually do have that cultural understanding, but there’s only so much I can look into on my own when I only speak/read english. And also, I love mdzs and I love talking about both adhd and autism, so I’m glad to talk about these subjects with someone else who also likes all of those topics :) Sorry for sending a book of a response and also I hope you are having a great day!!

wow wow wow anon THANK YOU for doing your research and acknowledging your blind spots you seriously made my day. I wanted to get to this as soon as I made that rant while sharing cyan’s post bc this is specifically an example of a well researched proposition based on actual lived experience and critical thinking.

I almost want to ask you to come forward so we can take this convo elsewhere for a more nuanced discussion bc you’ve already hit upon an issue that’s been holding me back from making a big blathering masterpost on the matter - that the ND experience is so unique and individual, and no one person can dictate someone else’s experience. at the end of the day, if you personally relate to these characters and gain more understanding of yourself and your experiences from them, who am I to take that away from you?

in a public space though I have to make the discussion very broad in order to accurately contextualize these issues, bc in typical autistic fashion I feel morally compelled to Do My Best and Get It Right even as the masses show no inclination of returning the favor, so apologies for the boring backstories I have to get out of the way before we can approach anything resembling new ground.

first from a diagnostic standpoint, while I recognize the traits you listed (and appreciate your clearly nuanced understanding of ND expressions) and would find value in exploring them in a personal context, they are not unique to adhd and/or autism and wouldn’t constitute a basis for diagnosis in a clinical setting. I know that's probably beside the point for this anon, but there's enough edgy teens hoarding labels out there without tacit encouragement from scientists (yes I am technically a scientist, even though my ideologies these days range from conventional to... wildly esoteric, shall we say)

from a cultural standpoint, it’s important for me to emphasize that the concept of neurodivergence is a uniquely western notion. for those unfamiliar, the term 'neurodiversity' was only coined in 1998. I was born in 1991. I existed for a whole 7 years as an autistic person before the idea of being neurodivergent was even a thing. this ND acceptance thing is very, very new - people were not making tiktok confessionals about their adhd diagnosis journeys when I was growing up.

china, like most asian countries, is about 20 years or more behind on just about every social issue compared with western countries. to better illustrate, the experience of being ND in china falls much closer to the conventional experience of disability (i.e. being eugenicized out of existence) than the tentative ND acceptance movement that’s been kickstarted in the past 20 years in the anglosphere.

safe to say, there is no ND coding going on in chinese media. characters are either explicitly ND or they're not. there's no basis for a creator subtly inducing ND-like traits in a character, because there's no such thing as ND awareness in the cultural context of where mdzs was written and consumed. any resemblance is purely accidental, as they say.

as to how this resemblance could exist - I could go into the layers and layers of historical, cultural, social and religious context that make up these characters and the xianxia genre as a whole. for this anon in particular i'm happy to, because they've done the work. please please get in touch in some way where we can have a fully fleshed out chat if you're interested in taking this further, I realize i’ve basically addressed none of the finer points you’ve raised but honestly it’s another level of discussion to be had that cannot be summarized in one blog post haha.

as for those who would scream 'but special interests!!' at a character whose sect was founded by a literal monk - what would be the point?

PS. to comprise a starting point for why it's possible to see ND4ND everywhere in media if you looked hard enough - I refer you to the seminal red oni blue oni trope 💁‍♀️

#neurodivergence #neurodiversity #actuallyautistic #autism #adhd #danmei #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #mdzs #lan wangji #wei wuxian

[bluemoose86]

My Thoughts on Honerva’s Arc (S8 of Voltron: Legendary Defender)

SPOILER WARNING for Voltron: Legendary Defender, obviously. Also obligatory disclaimer: the following is solely my opinion and should be treated as such. I know there were several production problems that led to the show becoming what it is, but I am not informed on those issues and won’t be speculating on how they specifically influenced the show.

I’M GONNA SAY IT: Honerva’s arc could have been soooo interesting if the lead-in had been better instead of tacking it onto the end of the whole “beating the Galra Empire” mega-arc. Honestly, the end of season seven felt like the natural end of the series, and if they had changed a few things it could easily have been an open yet resolved ending. The main plot-line has been wrapped up because all the major Galra Empire villains from the show (apart from Honerva obviously) have been defeated, but there’s still a lot of work to do in order to completely free the universe. The show could have ended with the Paladins getting ready to re-launch and looking towards the future, which also opens up the possibility for spin-offs or even a sequel series. IMO, everything from season 8 (and the weird Altean Robeast attack at the very end of S7) would have been much better if it had been its own series. There could have been more focus on Honerva’s downfall, how she plotted to use the Altean colony just as her son did, all the details that felt rushed at the end. And they could have developed their sub-plots more, especially the Allurance (Allura x Lance) romance if that was the direction they wanted to take. Plus we could have seen a lot more of the side characters that never got a chance to shine! Shay, Romelle (my beloved), Axca and her place at the Garrison, the MFE pilots, etc etc. 

Anyways, back to my original point: Honerva’s arc had so much potential. Seeing her transform from this shadowy, almost faceless entity who only exists to support Zarkon to a spotlight antagonist in her own right is really interesting. Reclaiming her Altean heritage while simultaneously corrupting it? Being so desperate to regain everything she lost 10,000 years ago that she would do anything and everything to get it back? Seeing how her mindset has come full circle–a woman who loves her family more than anything–yet how it has changed and warped over the millennia? That’s some good shit right there. Honerva in the show might believe she has returned to her original state from 10,000 years ago, but if you compare them, you’ll notice how even though there are glimmers of the same person, they are exponentially different. It could have been such an interesting and nuanced take on her character and really expanded on the earlier themes of “good vs. evil” that we see early on in the show. 

Another interesting part of Honerva’s character is her interactions with the Alteans on Lotor’s colony. It’s clear that she only uses them as means to an end, since she uses them as a battery for her Robeasts and kills Luca as soon as she starts talking to Romelle (and I think she kills others as well). However, if this arc had been developed over a longer period of time (say a series?? or even a 26 episode season honestly), that relationship could have been much more complex. In S8E2, “Shadows,” the entire episode is devoted to flashbacks of Honerva’s life, ranging from Lotor’s childhood to the three years Voltron disappeared. In one of those flashbacks, Honerva appears at the Altean colony that Lotor created, announcing that she is his mother, that the Alteans are great and the Galra are horrible, and that Lotor and the fake sister colony have all been murdered by Voltron and now she must help them avenge their savior’s death. The Alteans agree and Honerva takes one of them, Merla, to Oriande. As the two overlook the magical palace thing that Lotor, Allura, and Honerva visited in order to gain their magic powers, the following exchange happens:

The second image is could allude to a couple things, but one of the possibilities is that it’s referring to her own mindset–how she will do anything to bring Lotor back. She understands how Merla feels because she feels the same way. However small, and however brief, there’s a connection between them. And not just to Honerva and Merla, but to Honerva and all the Alteans because they (presumably) have the same feelings as Merla. It would have been interesting to explore how Honerva views the colonists. Does she relate to them on some level because they share a deep love for her son? She exalts Lotor the same way the colonists do, even referring to him as a god during the last Kral Zera in the show (and possibly ever). Or does she resent them? Does she harbor hatred for them because they loved and adored him when she could not? Because they spent all that time with him before she even had the chance?

Not to mention the fact that the colonists are Altean, the same as she is. In fact, there was a massive missed opportunity to explore Honerva’s views of her own culture. A major part of her arc is regaining her identity as an Altean and pride in her culture. She de-camoflauges herself, though only in private at first, she learns Altean alchemy, all the good things. And yet ... she destroys everything. She proclaims that Alteans are the best of all the races, that the Galrans are lower than scum and that Galran blood poisoned her son. Yet she goes on to manipulate and use her own people, killing them without hesitation in order to further her own plans. She destroys Oriande–or at least the statues–a place greatly revered by Alteans that she searched for her entire life. If she reveres her heritage as much as she believes, how can she turn around and destroy it the way she does, with seemingly no remorse? Add to that the fact that Lotor’s (supposed) aim for most of his adult life was preserving Altean culture. Imagine if the show had gone through with resurrecting Lotor, as it was hinted at. Assuming Lotor came back sane/with his full faculties and wasn’t being controlled by Honerva at all (which would be a long shot I know but hear me out), how would he feel knowing what his mother did? Maybe he wouldn’t care about the “using Alteans as batteries thing” since he basically did the same thing, but how would he feel about her defiling Oriande, even if she only destroyed part of it? Would it wake him up to the horrors of his ways–this person whom he despises doing the same things that he did? Probably not. But it’s interesting to think about.

I actually had more to say but the train has left the station on this topic, so I’ll just end it there. TL;DR: Honerva had so much potential and she, like pretty much every character in season 8, was robbed of her chance to shine. To everyone who made it to the end, thank you and I hope you enjoyed!

#voltron #vld #voltron legendary disaster #thats hilarious #voltron legendary defender #honerva #vld haggar #haggar #vld season 8 #vld analysis #vld meta #voltron meta #does this count as meta? #I have no idea #character analysis #long post

[morievna]

My problems with Haruki’s arc and why it could be done better

Hello, a bit late but still happy halloween ^^

Something a bit different this time - more of rant than meta. As maybe you noticed I don’t post usually about Haruki – it is not that particularly dislike him, just his storyline is not that engaging to me and I feel a bit lukewarm about him. Don’t get me wrong – in real life I think it would be great to have friend like him, but fiction works differently. I was thinking why I feel this way about him and I wanted to put it into words.

Since it is my personal opinion therefore goes disclaimer first - my intention is not to bash Haruki or anything like that. Most of my criticism is more about story, because I think Kizu Natsuki could done it better. Some of choices regarding his arc are really weird to me. Although I love Given a lot, it is not that I consider it perfect story. Nothing is perfect after all.

Okay, so let’s get started.

Honestly, to me it feels like Haruki is more of sidekick even though he is one of main characters. To me it stands out how Haruki’s story is done differently than rest of the band. He is usually there to support other characters or help them moving on, but in regards of his characters development there is not that much going on. I mean – at beginning we had learnt that he is kind, caring and dependable person and currently… we don’t really know more aside that. Of course, these traits are admirable, but it is not how character arc should be ^^

For why it is important:

We tell stories because there is a universal lesson. It’s why we feel humanity in far away galaxies and in magical worlds, it all relates back to the same, very human need. Maybe it’s overcoming trauma, or learning how to be independent, or just bettering ourselves in some way through universal experiences. There must be something your character learns about themselves. They should be a very different person at the end of your story than they were at the beginning, otherwise the story isn’t really about them, they’re just in it.

[source]

The last two lines are especially good explanation why I have problem with Haruki.

For rest of main characters we have characters development going in two ways – honing their music skills and more personal side – working on their flaws, overcoming trauma, following the dreams. Even though their family background is vague, it still gives some explanation for their behavior. We see them interacting with various characters and see how they relate to others. Live performances served as important plot points, where we see them reflecting on themselves, making  decisions and moving on with their life.

But with Haruki with have very little of all of that.

There is no information why he started playing music or why it is important to him. We just know that he is doing it for fun, which is very little comparing how much time was spent on Mafuyu writing songs or Akihiko reminiscing on his dreams about violin. I mean – is it his passion or is he doing it just to be close to Akihiko? I am not really sure. Though Haruki considers his abilities as mediocre, we don’t really know why he thinks like that. His music skills are not really in the focus of the story – only comments are like “ bass and drums are in good sync”, which don’t really are about his skill, but more about what state is his relationship with Akihiko.

On the other side, there is no better situation with Haruki’s character growth. We can see that he has not much of self-esteem and always puts others before himself. But it is done rather in sketchy way and comparing to other characters it is not given that much attention and time.

Let’s look on it closer.

Haruki’s arc started for good after first live - we got more of his POV chapters after that. As mentioned earlier, he believes to be mediocre at everything and later we see him feeling inadequate and not at the same level as others.

Even though both of them are talented he seems to idealize it very much and kind of assume it all came effortlessly – it is a bit weird to me especially considering how much time they all spend practicing in the studio, but I guess it is to show how low his self-esteem is.

Then the issue with his self-doubt skyrocketed after whole situation with Akihiko – although Akihiko had done a lot wrong to him, what mattered the most to Haruki was fact that he refused his help and didn’t even wanted to share his worries with him. It seems like the most he fears that he is not needed by others.

He tends to put others before himself even not thinking about his own well-being beforehand.

And then all of it is suddenly solved by this scene after Haruki playing badly at practice and never brought up again *facepalms*

Though I get from that scene that Gusari’s intent is to tell us that leadership and soft skills are as much important as music skills but still… the way it is executed and whole context is just not satisfactory to me.

Akihiko telling Haruki that it is his own fault for playing badly – sure Akihiko it has nothing to do with what you done *facepalm*

Akihiko telling Haruki that he should focus on solely him  - surely it feels like good solution to focus only on person who hurt you a lot not that much time ago *facepalm*

Overall, i also don’t like how it kind of feels like Haruki’s music skill doesn’t matter and he just should be supporting others and not thinking about anything else.

Though Akihiko’s words helped Haruki, it is very unconvincing to me. This scene feels to me like it was done without thinking through what happened earlier between these two. Even though there is good intent, execution is could be way better – because it makes Akihiko look arrogant and not really being empathetic to Haruki’s situation. I preferred if it would be more emphasis that is okay that Haruki played badly this one time and more like assuring that it is okay for him to take time to heal after what happened.

So in short – we got character which is dependable, who is anxious whether others find him dependable and then his love interest told him that yes, he is dependable and problem solved xD

Which is disappointing to me. I mean  - obviously positive feedback is important and valuable, but still imo self-esteem should grounded not only on that.

What I dislike about all of that is that it puts Haruki in box of being dependable. It is like only that matters when it comes to him. Even more background characters like Hiiragi, Shizu or Ugetsu are given more nuances, but he is defined just by this trait. It looks like his main role is to support other characters and hence he isn’t given more characters development and stay the way he is whole time just to preserve current dynamics in the band.

Next ~~

The other problem I have is that Haruki’s storyline orbits too much around Akihiko. I mean I get it that he is his main love interest and sometimes love stories are like that, but it is just too much. Because of that it feels to me like Haruki is more passive as character – like he is not in center of his story just only reacting to what Akihiko does and wants. Even conversation he had with other characters are mostly about Akihiko. Even when he is not main topic he is briefly referenced. All of it feels like in Haruki’s arc it is Akihiko who matters the most.

Especially looking close on his subplot about playing as support:

he started that to cheer up because was feeling lonely and his one-sided crush for Akihiko weighted down him

Haruki didn’t want to tell Akihiko about playing as support, because he suspected that he will not like it  

Haruki put on hold playing as support because Akihiko was displeased about that greatly

later when their relationship was on better terms he decide to play with other band

It is like what Akihko wants and thinks of him is most important to Haruki. Like that he that matters to him the most and makes his decisions because of that.

Maybe I wouldn’t mind that much if their dynamics were interesting to me. However, their interactions feel to much repetitive to me – it is always Haruki acting flustered around Akihiko or commenting how he is handsome/adorable/whatever.

On the other side, it is a bit odd to me how different Akihiko treats Haruki than Ugetsu. With the latter he is often more patient and understanding, but around Haruki he usually behaves like big spoiled kid. In addition, there is problematic stuff that happened between them that is well, problematic and could be better resolved imo.

Don’t get me wrong – it is still better done than most BL, but still the way it is executed is a bit off-putting to me. It feels like only one aspect is brought up the most – that Akihiko didn’t rely with his Ugetsu problems on Haruki – and the rest are kind of forgotten by the story. Besides, sometimes I not even sure if Akihiko know how much he hurt Haruki by his action – he looks so much shocked by Haruki’s reactions multiple times to the point it is just weird to me.

Because of that his apology rings a bit empty too. It is not like I want Akihko to apologize more or having to prove himself. For me it would me enough if it would be line somewhere like “i know I’ve hurt you a lot” . But no, even during confession scene he talked mostly about himself all the time XD Though he admitted to be childish - it is not the same as regretting wrongdoings. What he done was too severe to be so overlooked even though Haruki forgiven him completely. Or dunno maybe it is again just me being too much of Capicorn.

To sum it up, for me Akiharu relationship is much too close to het romances in mainstream media (like in Marvel movies), where usually you got main male character who has to save the day and his love interest which main role is supporting him on the sideline. And usually she is his kind of reward for his “manning up” when they got together at the end of the story. Therefore these characters are often flawless embodiment of being pure, kind and innocent. They exist as safe haven for protagonist and don’t have usually any arc in the movie. 

And it is the way  Haruki was framed in the story – as being only Akihiko’s salvation and not full-fleshed character who matters as much as him.

Okaaay, so I am done complaining. I don’t want to end here on negative note, so I will add where I hope story would go^^

Basically I want  Haruki to think of himself more, to realize that he doesn’t have to be genius to be good at something, to find out that there are things he is really good at, to realize that he is too hard on himself. That he doesn’t have only to support others, but he matters as person and musician too.

I also want to him to be more independent and be more assertive sometimes. To not putting others before himself and finding out that is okay to selfish sometimes. Even though it would means some tensions and challenges for Given. But I think it is necessary for his growth as person.

If Akiharu is endgame for real, then I want their relationship to be more balanced and it should be shown that Haruki’s needs and wants matter as much as Akihiko’s. And Akihiko should be more understanding and not that he is still too insecure about Haruki’s playing as support (like in the last chapter *sigh*). If not, then I would preferred them to stay as friends.

To put it shortly – I want some proper epiphany for Haruki that he is the one he should love in the first place ^^

Thank you for reading and stay healthy <3

#given #given meta #given manga #haruki nakayama #nakayama haruki #kaji akihiko #akihiko kaji #kizu natsuki

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

What is your opinion on writing a chapter/book in first person and then changing all of the first-person singular pronouns to third person pronouns? I hope this question makes sense, but I think it would be an interesting way to approach writing a third-person close narrative by simply writing the story in first person pov and then transferring it all to third person pov! (Asking this because you just uploaded a video on close third person narratives <3)

This is actually a piece of writing advice I vehemently disagree with! BUT if this works for you—absolutely go for it and ignore everything I’m about to say!

I’ve had to do this a few times for a few classes across high school and even university, and I have literally learned nothing about POV by doing it. In my experience, transferring one POV to the next will teach one thing: how to transfer one POV to the next. It will most likely NOT teach you how to actually write that POV (and that’s because POV is complex and can’t simply be boiled down to an equation of which pronouns are being used). POV is oftentimes critical in how you construct your character’s voice - so a third voice is going to differ from a first. If you switch them by changing the pronouns, this difference between POVs is not considered, and the POV may risk reading as flat.

The way I write a close third narrative and a first are not the same because there are different things to consider. This is SO hard to verbalize, but if you write across multiple POVs, you might understand this feeling - you just know the difference between writing first present VS first retrospective VS second present VS third limited, etc etc. If I’m writing a first, I’m much, much closer to the stream of conscious of a character. If I’m writing a third, I can get very close to that stream of conscious, but it’s always filtered through the narrator (like I said in the video, this narrator can be close to the point where they and the character are essentially the same, or they can be much more distant). You can’t consider these nuances when switching pronouns.

Here’s an excerpt of Rewired (bear with me - this is old lol but I haven’t written a novel in first person since!), which is a novel written in first person present tense:

Dad took me to Gianni’s on the drive back down. We’d visited it on our way up, and he knew I liked the pizzeria for its deep-dish. I can’t remember if my father was Italian. He might have been. My parents had gifted me a disposable camera for Christmas, and I took grainy flash photos of the drink machines and tiny paper lanterns. This isn’t Gianni’s, and it’s 2:00AM.

Harrison orders us a deep dish large enough to feed all six of us, minus Emily because she doesn’t do dairy. Darren pumps napkins and caplets of ketchup onto his tray, and Foster brings eight straws, like two of us will screw up opening them, for some reason. Ris brings his car keys and Emily over to us at the same time and drops each off at the table before b-lining for the ticket machine.

This is what happens when we transfer it to third person:

Max took Reeve to Gianni’s on the drive back down. They’d visited it on their way up, and he knew she liked the pizzeria for its deep-dish. Reeve can’t remember if her father was Italian. He might have been. Reeve’s parents had gifted her a disposable camera for Christmas, and she took grainy flash photos of the drink machines and tiny paper lanterns. This isn’t Gianni’s, and it’s 2:00AM.

Harrison orders the group a deep dish large enough to feed all six of them, minus Emily because she doesn’t do dairy. Darren pumps napkins and caplets of ketchup onto his tray, and Foster brings eight straws, like two of them will screw up opening them, for some reason. Ris brings his car keys and Emily over to the group at the same time and drops each off at the table before b-lining for the ticket machine.

IMO, this transferred version reads super clunkily/awkwardly! There’s a roboticness to the sentence structure and the third isn’t really contributing to much in the narrative. To me, this reads very much like I’ve transferred first person to third haha. Third might give more room in this narrative - it might even switch the way details are presented to increase flow rather than jumping between small slivers of memory to the fictive present.

Here’s an excerpt from Feeding Habits, which is written in third present:

Trust looks like a road trip to Buffalo. This is not Harrison’s idea, nor is it Lonan’s—it’s all Suz. When Harrison eventually comes inside, staticky from the car, awkward, ready to flee, and his mother cooks everyone dinner and they all eat it around the kitchen table like some makeshift family and she serves dessert—her first attempt at baklava—and she cries briefly in her bedroom and exits okay and gathers both her son and Lonan in front of the television, she informs them they must communicate, hands them both envelopes.

And this is that same excerpt transferred to first present:

Trust looks like a road trip to Buffalo. This is not my idea, nor is it Lonan’s—it’s all Suz. When I eventually come inside, staticky from the car, awkward, ready to flee, and my mother cooks us dinner and we all eat it around the kitchen table like some makeshift family and she serves dessert—her first attempt at baklava—and she cries briefly in her bedroom and exits okay and gathers both me and Lonan in front of the television, she informs us we must communicate, hands us both envelopes.

The amount of discomfort I feel reading this ^^ LOL. Similar thing happens here: disjointed flow, robotic sound. What I like about the third person version is that there isn’t particular emphasis on one character (which I needed for this particular scene). To me, that focus shifts to the “I” when we change it to first so we lose a lot of Suz, who is so important in the original.

Let’s think back to my lens metaphor from the video. When you choose a POV for a story, you also place the story’s “lens” at a particular angle/distance. If you “transfer” this, you’re disrupting that placement because while it’s technically in the “same” place, it now must focus through a new framework, which is not what it was intended to do (like a camera now having to focus through a thicket of trees when it’s supposed to only capture a picture of the sky). It’s like choosing acrylic paint as your portrait medium expecting it to do the job of graphite.

It’s absolutely possible to transfer a first narrative to a third, but you’ll likely have to do more than just change the pronouns since point of view is complex and not exactly a situation of copy and paste. That new third narrator will change the way that story is filtered (which will adjust the voice, possibly even structure, and even things as small as the line level of course).

Perhaps I’m being cynical though, so I’d be curious to hear from others who’ve been successful using this transferal technique--what did you learn by doing it? Every time I’ve done this I’ve struggled to understand how it helps, but that could 100% be me so please share your experiences!

TL;DR: if you don’t know how to write a particular POV, the most helpful thing to help you learn is to actually write the POV! Get to know what different POVs offer by intentionally choosing one for the next story (or even paragraph) you write!

Hope this answers your question!

#asks #writing

[veilder]

When you think back, do you remember what made you ship Convin in the first place? And can you tell me a bit more about the relationship you headcanon for them? (@connor-sent-by-cyberlife)

Gosh, okay, this is such a loaded question for me, lol! Because I love them so much. It’s gonna be hard to try and distill that into one post. But I’ll try my best! XD

So, right off the bat, there are the canon characters. And, while I find canon!Gavin pretty awful and think a relationship between him and canon!Connor would be a bad idea, there’s still a very real tension between them. It’s not rooted in anything positive, for sure, but there is a lot of passion behind it. They both fill the classic enemies/rivals roles for each other and, well... I’m a really big fan of the enemies (to friends) to lovers trope. So right off the bat, they’ve already kinda sparked my interest, yeah? There’s something there, something not fully formed, but dang, it has a lot of potential! Which is where fanon comes in. I think it’ll come as a surprise to absolutely no one that I absolutely adore a fanon Gavin Reed. A more nuanced take on him where he’s not just a racist caricature and is instead a real, human person with thoughts and feelings and motivations. And, while I don’t really remember my actual introduction to fanon!Gavin, one of the earliest things I read that I remember really sticking with me was the amazing fic, Mind-Blowing, by  Redd000. That fic had such a wonderful iteration of a Gavin who not only had a very complicated backstory and a lot of interesting interpersonal relationships, but also a dynamic character arc that brought him from the canon douchebag we all know and hate to a more empathetic character who could learn and grow and admit that maybe he was wrong. Another very early fic I read that made me really fall in love with fanon!Gavin was A Scratched CD by consecrated. It was one of the first Convin fics I ever remember reading and just... really falling in love with. And it really went a long way toward making me just adore the potential relationship between the two of them.  Now, this was still back in the early days when I was still giving other ships a try and seeing what I liked and didn’t, but between already having a sort of bias for the enemies to lovers dynamic and now seeing the absolute goldmine of potential that a relationship between them could deliver on, I was kinda sold. And I think maybe the final nail in that coffin was the esteemed Traces by berryblonde. It was... such a memorable fic for me. The twists and turns of it were amazing. The backstory the author built up. The slow paradigm shifts happening throughout. The case and the way all the players fit together. It was just... It was and is still one of my favorite fics on the Archive. Highly recommend to anyone looking for not just a good Convin fic, but a great casefic/mystery/drama in general.  But the thing all of these had in common was just such a wonderfully built Gavin Reed. Seriously, I was quickly at the point where I couldn’t even read him as a villain anymore, it just seemed so strange to me. Because all of these fics painted such a nuanced, complicated man. One capable admitting he was wrong and doing his best to right his wrongs. Whether platonic or romantic, it was his interactions with Connor that always drove him forward towards becoming a better man. And, as a flawed human being myself, there is something so appealing about that. Of seeing a redemption arc play out like this again and again, of seeing that second chances can be had, that even the worst people can turn themselves around and get back on the right path. It was so... affirming. And it all just kinda tied things together in my mind, too. That Connor was this catalyst, this reagent that burst into Gavin’s cozy worldview and shook him up enough to have to reevaluate himself in the upheaval.  But what’s more than that, I also think Gavin is a great catalyst for Connor’s character growth, too. Because, much like Hank, Gavin is someone who’s character growth and dynamic shift would be such a positive influence on someone like Connor. Connor, who spent so much of his short time alive being the villain. Doing bad things for bad people. Doing his best to shut down a movement that ultimately granted him and all his people freedom. I feel like Connor wouldn’t be a stranger to regret, to that urgent desire to change, and to the fallout left in the wake of that. I think, ultimately, Connor and Gavin’s arcs would almost mirror each other. That there’s a lot both of them could take away from the other in regards to forgiveness and maturing as people and second chances to do what’s right. I think Connor needs to let go of his hatred of his machine self just as much as Gavin does. And there’s something in that symmetry that just... It speaks to such a deep understanding between them. A shared experience between a human and a machine. Something they can both empathize with in each other. And that, more than anything, is the basis of a good, healthy, long-lasting relationship in my opinion. I think they would be very good for each other once they both move past their hangups. Two people who can grow both together and as individuals. I just think it’s a beautiful dynamic and such a strong foundation to base a relationship on. It makes me believe that they would be a couple who lasts.  And then there’s the fact that they both are very competent people, too! (In fanon at least, lol! XD) I absolutely love that sort of buddy cop vibe these two would have (sometimes literally) where one of them is super analytical and the other is reckless and spontaneous? While being total badasses, too! But both working together would balance each other out perfectly. I feel like Connor would help make up for Gavin’s tactlessness while Gavin helps Connor feel more human. They’d both shake each other up, help each other out of their comfort zones and into a fuller experience of life. They’re such great foils for each other and I think it makes them so balanced in terms of a relationship, too. And that goes for the banter as well. They can both be sarcastic little shitheads and omg, it’s so funny the way some authors write that! Top tier banter is a sign of a great Convin fic imo, lol! They’re just the perfect characters for that sort of humor! XD But I really believe having a sense of humor you can share with a partner would be such a boon to a romantic relationship, too. And, y’know... seeing them laugh at and with each other just makes me smile. I love knowing they enjoy each other’s company so much and that they’re so happy together. Gah, it makes me absolutely melt. Ultimately, this is how I love to both read and write them. As two flawed individuals trying to move past their past transgressions. Growing. Changing. Learning that they’re not so dissimilar. Understanding each other more fully than they’d ever expect. Bonds deepening, affection growing, a language of their own developing between them. And then, the pin dropping. The realization. And a love that can and will last. All the while being quippy little badasses, lol! (And if you want a great example of all of this, I’d be remiss not to recommend perhaps my favorite Convin fic of all, Mission: Unexpected, by J11nxed. It’s so good. It’s the fic I always go back to when I need cheering up. And it’s absolutely the dynamic I try for when I write Convin myself. It’s a long fic but it’s so worth reading!)  So yeah... That is... the most basic answer I could give to this, lol. I just... really love this ship a whole lot and I’m actually so glad you asked about it because I love sharing my thoughts on it with others. And, y’know, hoping that maybe my words would get them to give it a chance if they haven’t before. Hopefully, there aren’t too many typos, lol! There’s no way I’m going back through this freakin essay, omg. XD But yeah, hope this answered your question sufficiently, friend! :D

#dbh #meta #connor #rk800 #gavin reed #convin #reed800 #I just have a lot of feelings about them okay? #please no judge #there are a lot of #fic recs #in here #so perhaps y'all can enjoy those! :D #timebird84