#where the plot is not complex. so you get the complexity through internal narrative. the more busy your plot and world are

[howtofightwrite]

Hello! I have a very particular sort of scene that I've been trying to get right for over ten years now and I can't make it work; I hope perhaps you can help.

A husband and wife duo who have Mixed Feelings about one another are trying to break out of a facility. (He was recently discovered to be a spy, she is a conscripted soldier in the facility. She was sent to escort him to execution but hesitated - I'm not sure where, in the cell, in the hall? - and - he took advantage of this hesitation? she was arrested as a traitor? - I don't know that either, yet - and they end up running through the halls together to escape)

The facility is vaguely sci-fi; think Star Wars Original Trilogy-style weapons, and there is space travel, but technology isn't... wildly advanced. Like it's not all digital and holograms and hand-wavey stuff, it's only a little more advanced than what we have available now. (Like SW OT.)

Point A is them in the cell. Point B is them on a spaceship breaking free.

I cannot get them from Point A to Point B with any kind of plausibility, or without staggering incompetence on the part of the soldiers and commanders in the facility.

They would likely be armed with only her sidearm, unless they happened to grab rifles off of further escorts sent with her?

I'm sorry this is so vague, thank you in advance for any help!

Personally, I’m of the opinion that any scene that’s been marinating in the brain for a long time (especially for years) has deeper structural/internal issues than just putting together action. Just from reading your question, I can feel the way you’ve laid this specific scenario out breaking your own suspension of disbelief. You’ve got several problems that have built up over time and, now, they’re all working against you.

Change if it’s Not Working

One of the best pieces of writing advice I ever got came from being forced to memorize my martial arts school’s Ten Steps to Mastery as part of my first test for black belt. I only remember the first five and I can’t guarantee they’re all in order.

Set a goal

Take action

Pay attention to detail

Practice, Practice, Practice

Change if it’s not working

Regardless of whether you’re practicing a front kick or writing a full length novel, flexibility is important. The more we try to force something to work, the less likely it will. Training flaws into your technique means they’ll be more difficult to correct later. So, don’t forget to stop and look at the larger picture if you feel yourself getting stuck.

Remember, change isn’t failure. Writing is a complex process and not every idea, plotline, character moment, or scene is going to work out when fit into a larger context. And that’s okay.

Outside emotional exhaustion and stress, my writer’s block kicks in when I’ve taken a wrong turn in the narrative or am avoiding a difficult emotional moment that my characters need to face before their story can progress. Something has made me/them uncomfortable and instead of facing it, I’m attempting to avoid the uncomfortable feeling by throwing some other distracting piece, usually action, in the way. I call these moments false notes. I usually hit them when I’m coming at the story from an external perspective (what have I seen other characters do in other stories/films?) rather than an internal one. (What would this character do?)

If something isn’t working, stop trying to make it work. Instead look for what you’re missing, and where the pieces aren’t connecting. It’s usually further back than the scene you’re working on.

My characters are always right. I’m either not listening or going about it the wrong way.

Food for thought.

Your Heroes are Reactively Active

We hear a lot from the writing community about the importance of Active Characters. These are characters who are doing things to move the plot forward. They make choices. They take action. Then, there are passive or, what I like to call, reactive characters. They are characters who react to things in their environment, whatever that is, but they’re not actively making choices. Passive characters get a bad rap in American storytelling tradition (more so than in the wider Western storytelling tradition.)

Passive characters really shine when working with characters who are in settings where they’re struggling to survive. In the real world, passivity is one of the best ways to survive abuse. Any victim of long term or systemic abuse can tell you that standing up and fighting back, especially in situations where you have no power or means to change your circumstances, makes the situation exponentially worse. You’ve got to gray rock it out, suppress, and survive.

Lastly, there are characters I like to call reactively active. These are characters who feel like they’re being active but are actually just reacting to actions taken by other characters. They appear a lot in YA Fantasy, but they’re everywhere. And, because these characters are always reacting to another character’s (usually the villain’s) actions and choices, they get an easy out when it comes to escaping narrative consequences for the things they do. It’s a deceptive sleight of hand used to maintain a character’s moral purity. These characters appear active on the surface, but, underneath, they’re passively reacting to the narrative events inflicted on them. They don’t take action. They respond to action with action.

Let’s get back to your scenario.

We have a husband and wife in some sort of heavily or, at least, decently fortified, military installation. The husband has been outed as a spy, put in whatever functions as a prison or holding cell within the complex, and scheduled to be executed. The wife is a loyal soldier who must now choose between her love for her husband and her love of duty.

This has the makings of some good drama.

The first obvious problem point is that these characters are trying to do too many things at once. They’re coming to terms with their deep feelings of betrayal, experiencing a last minute change of heart, making a snap decision to escape, and rapidly coming up with a plan to escape in the heat of the moment. If this feels unbelievable, it’s because it is and, even better, doubles for putting the characters in a reactive or passive state. The wife character isn’t acting, so much as she’s reacting last minute to the immediate, impending danger. That would be fine if she wasn’t also having to help carry the burden of coming up with The Plan.

There’s the surface level here, where the last minute change of heart is mimicking the kinds of behavior seen in countless other forms of media regarding escape scenes. However, this narrative decision happening in the heat of the moment is also allowing the character to skate over the emotional consequences of her own betrayal. She’s not choosing so much as she’s being forced to make a choice. And that is removing her agency.

If she makes the choice earlier, starts putting The Plan in place with the help of some friends/colleagues (even if it happens largely off page) then executes at the cell, she takes back her agency and retains her status as an active character.

The difference here is in the processing time. Characters can’t plausibly escape fortified lock up without a plan or, really, The Plan.

The Narrative Structure of Last Minute Rescues

The first problem in your scenario is that you have two characters, neither of which are doing the pre-planning legwork required to successfully execute The Plan. Rescues are like heists, they either take a village or require characters who are extremely meticulous and actively manipulating the village to fill in the gaps. (James Bond does Option 2 beautifully, but even he has a team behind him.) Usually, both happen to some degree. The burden is segregated out into different pieces for different characters. Normally, there’s at least three. The character locked up is trying to figure out a way to escape, but comes up short. The one on the outside who is putting together the pieces needed to execute the rescue/get away. And, sometimes, the one on the inside who is experiencing a change of heart, who, at the very last minute, turns heel and assists with the rescue (most often in the turn of misfortune where a piece fails and the rescue is at risk of being bungled.)

All of this additional weight/build up/expectation of the non-existent plan is being put on two characters and crammed into a single scene.

Think about the rescue of Princess Leia from the Death Star for a moment. How many characters are required to make that escape work?

Seven.

All of them. If a single character in the entire group is missing, the whole thing falls apart. Even Threepio is necessary, mostly because Artoo can’t talk. This off the cuff, by the seat of our pants rescue requires all seven characters and they still end up bungling it to kill their samurai master.

You need one to turn off the tractor beam so they can actually escape. (Doing the real work.)

You need one to figure out where the princess is being held, unlock the doors, and figure out where they are.

You need two to bullshit past the guards going in and one to pretend to be a prisoner.

You need one to bullshit past the guards a second time to save the one that can’t talk with the floor plan.

You need the princess to be the one to get them back out because she’s the only one with balls.

And none of it mattered because the escape was a trap all along.

While you don’t need these specific roles for everything, escaping from a heavily fortified facility is not a two man job. That’s where the feelings of implausibility and extreme incompetence are coming from. There aren’t enough characters helping to clear the way or be there as a safeguard for when things go wrong. This feeds into the next problem.

Soldiers, Spies, and Their Squads

We have another unintended scenario brewing at the same time. And that’s the exhausted retail employee going on a rampage and slaughtering their surprised colleagues. This really knifes your tension. By reacting to the immediate danger, the wife is not making an active, conscious choice with full knowledge of the consequences, and those consequences are killing people she knows, respects, is friends with, shares a camaraderie, or who are at least familiar to her. These other soldiers aren’t faceless goons. It’s a lot harder to pull the trigger on someone you know than someone you don’t, especially someone who has the same values that you do.

Soldiers aren’t characters who work alone. They have a squad. They’re part of a unit. They have a support network surrounding them that allows them to do their job to the best of their ability. Spies are the same way. They also have a support network which allows them to act to the best of their ability, even when it feels like they’re acting alone. Spies have handlers and they have assets, their job requires they build their own support networks so they have someone who can get into the places where they can’t. Those people may be witting or unwitting assets but they’re still there.

Both of these characters should have fairly extensive support networks to fall back on when in crisis. They’re in crisis. The crisis is both physical and emotional. Where are their people? Two characters who are social archetypes whose jobs and survival during wartime are reliant on building trust and skillful communication have no one willing to put their lives on the line to help them out? They only have each other? That’s staggering incompetence.

Spies aren’t assassins. They’re social animals. Soldiers aren’t lone wolves. They’re social animals. If there’s a structural failure here, it’s happening with your secondary characters.  Ignoring the importance of secondary characters is a mistake that a lot of new writers make and I can feel those early mistakes being carried forward in this scene. This is what Hemingway meant when he said, “kill your darlings.” If an idea isn’t working, if it’s holding you back, kill it. Look at the problem and your work from a new angle. One good line or one good scene, regardless of your emotional attachment to it, doesn’t outweigh the entire work.

Plans and Floor Plans

If you’re having trouble coming up with a character’s escape, step back and take a look at the facility itself. Whether it’s breaking in or breaking out, you, the author, need to have a clear visualization of the entire picture so you can find the weaknesses or fracture points.

Plans are easier to conceptualize when you know what the dangers are and what defenses have been put in place to prevent what your characters are attempting. Which parts of the fortress are better fortified than others? Where does this military expect to be attacked? What have they done to prevent it? What are the patrols? Who are the techs? How does the military support itself while fending off attempts to damage its resources? Who handles the supply lines?

The boring minutiae of your world is what makes it feel real. Action is dependent on your world building and this goes deeper than just their weapons. The social systems in place guide how your characters fight. It’s there in how they perceive their environment, and how they recognize usable tools. If you build a functional and consistent world, the action will take care of itself because violence is a natural response to environmental threats. Violence seeks to exploit established systems, to gain an advantage over them. If the violence is imagined separately from the environment, the violence won’t feel real because it’s not reactive and it’s not reacting to environmental stimuli. From there, it’s not logical.

Ask yourself, why do we use guns?

Then ask yourself, why do your characters use guns? What does it allow them to do that they wouldn’t be able to do otherwise? Or, what does the gun do better than other weapons that makes it the preferred choice?

The answer for the real world and your setting might be the same, and they might be different. Both will influence how the character uses their weapon. How they use their weapon guides how they fight. If you’re lost, ask yourself questions.

For example, let’s take a last look at the prison.

Prisons are built with the expectation of keeping multiple people contained for an extended period of time, preventing them from leaving in the event of an escape, and preventing those who are sympathetic from breaking in to rescue them. What have the characters in your setting (not your protagonists) done to facilitate that goal? What safeguards have been put in place to prevent someone from leaving and entering?

In the real world, prisons are built in a way that two people can’t just walk out. There are points of entry and exit that are designed to be remotely controlled from secure locations and cannot be operated or accessed on the ground. You’d need someone (like R2-D2) who can access the remote functions to get someone past the exits that they can’t open themselves.

-Michi

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#howtofightwrite #Michi answers #writing advice #writing reference #writing tips

[dismemberment-on-a-tuesday-night]

Hi! If it's ok to ask, I've gathered from your blog that both Ezra and Christopher have NPD. I can see it in Christopher but Ezra's presentation is not something I've ever seen before and doesn't seem to align with my (admittedly limited) knowledge. Could you explain what part of his thinking/behaviour is a result of NPD? Or, will we get to explore it in the story?

NPD is deeply misunderstood, which is nothing against you. I'm not surprised you don't recognize the symptoms that to someone with NPD (such as myself) would be rather blatant.

The main thing to bear in mind is that NPD is characterized by severe highs and lows regarding self esteem and general emotions. We don't have a real concept of self worth outside of what others think, so we suffer from perfectionism and constantly crave any form of positive attention.

Being complimented, shown desired affection, and admired by other people raises our self esteem to the point where we think ourselves superior to other people. Being insulted, neglected, and shunned does the exact opposite, making us feel like the scum of the earth, sometimes to the extent of being suicidal.

Because of this, we can come off as egotistical and manipulative, which are unhealthy defensive mechanisms. We just don't have a middle ground. NPD is usually caused by growing up in an unhealthy environment, often times because of abuse or neglect.

In one chapter Ezra internally refers to having an emotional crash, and this kind of narcissistic low is exactly what he's experiencing. His "perfect" life was disrupted and his mental health along with it.

One of the brilliant (in my prideful opinion) parts of the story is how Christopher's manipulation of Ezra is directly based in them both having NPD. All the flattery, complete attention, and unconditional love meant to keep Ezra in those lovely narcissistic highs. Compared to real life, where Ezra had to deal with being harassed and insulted, among other things. Being around Christopher, even unwillingly, seems heavenly.

People with NPD are highly susceptible to love bombing and similar manipulation tactics. And our god complexes make it very easy to accept that people could just be completely obsessed with us and have no alterior motive, ignoring massive red flags.

On that note, people with NPD do tend to get quickly obsessed with people close to them. It's almost never to the point of stalking, but it can still be quite severe.

I'm a very friendship orientated person (my girlfriend being a very close friend I can kiss and might marry, which is fantastic) so I'm going to talk about this through the lense of platonic feelings. They also apply better to the story.

The way I see it, there are two kinds of friendships. The first is the transactional kind, where they compliment me and try to talk to me, so I compliment them back and talk to them, win-win we're both happy. The second is the obsessive "I would go on a killing spree for this friend and if anyone looks at them the wrong way I might just" kind.

Obviously this doesn't mesh well with societal norms, and can be very toxic. I am very skilled at keeping these feelings under the wraps (aside from with a few people) and acting "normal". However, some people aren't as outwardly regulated. Obsession is hard to deal with from either side.

This is all to say, Christopher gets obsessed with Ezra, plot happens, and he's very good at keeping Ezra happy. Ezra quickly gets obsessed with Christopher as this savior of sorts and forgets that he ism't here of his own violition.

This is a very narcissistic narrative and, frankly, I can't see something like this happening with egotypical characters.

-Abraham ♡♡♡

#Abraham original: Hot off the press #whump #Eden #Ezra #Christopher #Npd #Actually npd #actually narcissistic #actually cluster b #npd safe #cluster b

[variousqueerthings]

Oh, I love puppets! / I'm just passing through, like fish in the night

It's The Girl Who Died/The Woman Who Lived tiiiime, and this is one of the big recurring thematic episode holders of the season, and possibly... possibly I should watch them again at some point, when I'm not over-inundated with what in hindsight was a bit of a bonkers schedule of getting through M*ffat-era in a relatively short space of time, because I think some of it lost me a bit. not the plot, just a couple of Things here and there, which actually goes back to the first couple of episodes, where they were mentioning a Hybrid, but I'm like. wait did I miss something? was this Hybrid relevant or did it just Appear as another legendy type thing? why is it being mentioned like everyone knows what it is out of the blue?

this not because I remember the Hybrid being mentioned in these episodes, but because "Me" mentioned them in the finale episode and I was like... wait, hold on a second, I missed all this build-up, does it tie back into these episodes... I cannot tell you, I honestly can't, I cannot remember, I didn't note when the Hybrid was mentioned. but I will rate what I do remember!

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 10/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 3/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 7/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 5/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 3/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 8/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 7/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 10/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 8/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 67/100 (if I can count….)

this season is so far pretty consistently in the high 60s. it's a good season, but a few things are definitely starting to look like A Pattern (this is why it's great to have a System, I can be like "it's not just vibes, see I have a System, and if people tell me the System is highly subjective, I can knock over a water deliberately and run away in the confusion)

OBJECTIFICATION: as far as I can remember there's nothing here on that front. we've been cured at this point, I tellya

PLOT-POINT: Clara isn't really going through an emotional journey in the first episode (the Doctor sure is though boy oh boy) and straight up isn't in the second one, unfortunately. we'll get to that.

COMPLEXITY: okay so on the surface, these are quite simple, chill plots, I enjoy them both. the snag is... what the fuck just happened with Me??? immortal Me???? really immortal Me???? I wrote way more about that in the point below, but yeah I think they should have made her... less immortal. durable perhaps. long-lived. but ooh that was... that was very very immortal huh

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: one thing I've noticed, that I dunno which point to put on and so has ended up here (but maybe it should have been on the "plot point" point, is that several times throughout this season we've smash-cut to "Clara is in danger in some way/close to death and then the Doctor gets her out of the situation"

I note this because I feel like it's there as a recurring joke, but also it comes up in "Face The Raven" that Clara seems to be enjoying herself too much with these life-and-death situations, but... I don't think it's clear enough. Idk if I'm being pedantic or not, I really really don't, but I'm not a fan of these "insights" into their adventures being uniformly about danger as a Joke

couple of times, sure, but... do you ever go somewhere just for the joy of the experience? why no snapshots into fun/beautiful/joyous experiences? like back in Rings Of Akhaten, it felt like yes there was danger because of circumstance, but the point of the journey was to experience, in fact the thing that tends to keep companions coming back is "anything could happen next that is wondrous, despite the danger (although the danger could become intoxicating, this isn't the goal from the outset, and how companions interact with that danger when it appears in balance with the joyous experiences gives a lot of the tension of their individual stories)."

this is a thing that happens at the beginning of this episode and is irrelevant to the rest of it. Clara's relationship with danger beyond "she weirdly doesn't care much" isn't as explored as I'd want it to be. genuinely why do we never see them setting out to have a good time? what do these scenes tell us about their dynamic, and are they telling us this On Purpose, or am I reading too much into them?

I'm jaded I tell you, jaded!!!! I never know when M*ffat is doing something because of "fun setpiece opening" or when it genuinely Means something. Fuckit I'll read into it: Clara has a weird fucking relationship with danger, because she seems to have been casually on the verge of death several times and brushed it off in a super chill way within the same episode! there we go, read into it

the other way to read into it is Clara has a weird fucking relationship with danger, because the Doctor's influence has made her believe she is literally invincible and nothing really bad can happen -- this despite her boyfriend yeeting himself into the atmosphere after becoming a cyberman

anyway, there is actually some real ongoing Plot stuff in this lol, I went off on a tangent to begin with because of that being the beginning: this plot is not... really related to Clara. it semi-is because of the end of the season, but I do think it's weird that this double-episode about Me -- who will later travel with Clara -- doesn't really cement a bond between Clara and Me. like yeah, they get on in the first episode, but in the second episode where we meet Me properly -- the Me we'll know moving forwards -- Clara just isn't there. I genuinely don't get it, because I've said that there are episodes where it feels like Clara is redundant from a thematic and lore/plot-building perspective, but this episode which sets up Me, doesn't also set up little threads that could make us look back end-s9 and say "ah yeah, I can imagine what kind of co-travellers these two might become"

but back to Me. IIIIIIIIIIIIII have questions. I actually think this is way bigger for some reason than a lot of more commonly discussed lore-building. like, sure, Time War, granted I was 10 or so so maybe that's just in my read of the story as indelible, but then bringing Gallifrey back, yeah, makes sense, it's a show that goes on forever, Timeless Child, yeah why not, [spoilers for the last special in case you haven't seen it] doesn't change much, but the Doctor just... made someone immortal? Immortal immortal???? meet them again end of the Universe immortal??? just travelling around in another Tardis immortal???????? you can just do that?????? why does this shock me so much, idk. maybe it's because with the Doctor you can really fuck with stuff, they're already an alien who can change their face, I get you wanna shake that up sometimes

this just casually happened midway through a season and is -- as far as I can remember -- irrelevant outside of this season of the show. it's sooooooooooo. can we talk about how this works please??? what. what was that for??? so many questions about Me-as-concept, but I guess she's just... out there. still potentially immortal?? she's gotta be more immortal than the Doctor is, how can she be totally unharmed after whatever the fuck trillions? trillion tillions??? of years???? okay stop thinking about this now, brain broken

fuckn Jack was made immortal by the time vortex itself and is less immortal than she is, okay I'm over it now. so many questions

COMPANIONS MATTER: Clara kind of does in the first one, in that she's the point of contact with Ashildr. but then she's literally not in the second one at all. I wonder if JLC had a commitment, it feels like a commitment thing. RIP because that was genuinely an episode I think Clara should have been in

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: this is a turning point for the doctor, and I do note it's happened roughly halfway through his run, in which he basically realises that he has to save this girl, because this face -- in turn -- was saved back in Fires Of Pompeii. truthfully I don't think anyone questioned Capaldi looking exactly like... well, Capaldi, but fuckit, it's Doctor Who, fuck around a bit + it's for good and not evil! (+ hi ten hi donna!!!)

the point is that the Doctor's been having a bit of an identity crisis ever since this face arrived, and spent all of s8 running around seemingly just dissociating from themself and everyone else in the Universe, and s9 they've sorta been going. oh hey people. I don't want to be an asshole anymore. I got flashcards! (I wish actually the flashcards had been there from s8, I think they would have made s8 Doctor much more fun to engage with for me)

these episodes really feel like the episodes to fully nail that, although s9 has been going in that direction from the start. can I trace it back to anything particular in s8, yeah, I guess, it's sort of thereee in certain interactions, especially in the last few episodes. truth be told, now I'm a little away from s8, it's like I can't quite remember just how pissed off and distant he was all the time, I've just got to trust my notes saying he was (this is why we take notes kids -- the kids are me, I did not take notes for s9 so now there is a very limited amount of time I have to write these reviews before it stops existing for me)

I think this works. I have... questions... about the "can't travel with another immortal" bit which I'm putting here, because while I like the Doctor finally voicing their thoughts on some of the internal stuff that's been going on (which, notably isn't to Clara, but then again the Doctor often doesn't tell their emotions to companions, because they must be Spared, get some therapy king, and apologise to Martha Jones someday) -- while I like the Doctor and Me having that conversation about "the mayflies" (which I'm also into as descriptor), I feel like it's a bit of a cop out, similar to back when River Song was like "naahhh can't travel with you because scheduling issues uh Real Plot Reasons I swear" and just like then, I feel like they wrote their way into a corner with this one

I think personally Me should have flat out refused the Doctor. Or have it be like with Jack Harkness -- You Feel Wrong To Me, because Me is frankly a nightmare creature according to season 9, and by this I mean not in personality (remarkably chill considering linear immortality spent Alone until the end of the Universe???) but simply wait what you can just make people immortal like that??? Doctor Who Explain!

I think the Doctor should have been wahaaaay more disturbed having created a fuckn Creature, not just because she may do immoral things because she forgets what it's like to be mortal, but because it's some fuckn Horror Shit that's going on here. I mean, it's there and I'll read more into it, but it's so. "oh yeah, this is a thing I can do, and I chose to do" and not "wait was this a really really really fucked up thing to do??? am I the bad guy???????????? do I remember life and death as concepts???????????????????????????" this is noooot Fires of Pompeii where they handy-dandy yoink out some people so they don't burn to death, this is bringing someone back from the dead and MAKING THEM IMMORTAL. this is more Time Lord Victorious than Just Save Someone

I can tell this will be in my head for awhile....

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: looots of fun references in these episodes, generally just a good time. the only thing is... immortal Me. is. so. immortal. the most immortal. I spit on your other immortals. how did you immortal so hard?? harder than any other immortal character??? did it have to be so, for writing reasons???? (you can probably tell at this point I will be returning to this concept in the finale review!)

“SEXINESS”: I... genuinely do not remember. I don't think there's anything weird here. I should've taken notes, but past me was having a time.

INTERNAL WORLD: there's two worlds here and both are actually fine. I feel like we're not just in these times as set dressing (like I often felt with the paternoster gang and the victorians). the Vikings are a coherent village and I care about them (maybe not totally historically accurate but that's not the point with this, it's the feeling that they belong in the world set up for them) and the 1600s part 2 was given enough to feel lived in. I think it especially helped in both cases that we were seeing people around the leads who felt real -- that's what has often been missing in the past of this era, that it's not just the Super Impressive Immortals And Aliens And Important People but that people exist in these kinds of stories (and they're all important)

POLITICS: this was super unintentional and I'm mostly having a laugh but...

Lady Me: My chosen name is "Me." The Doctor: No it's not [deadnames her].

Doctor Stooop you literally chose your own name in canon!!!

generally, okay, I'm being a meanie here in over-analysing, but I do wish what is very similar to an orlando-type storyline were more queer. orlando is like. my jam. and this character is basically orlando. and she crossdresses. but a queer writer would have been soooo much juicier with this narrative. it's especially noticeable as we've got a couple of literal gender-crossings with Time Lords, but I do think the show is still in its... not infancy but let's say toddler-era when it comes to queer intersectional feminist vibes. it's basically still doing the "girls rule, boys drool" type thing

FULL RATING: 67/100 (if I can count….)

I CANNOT STRESS HOW PERTURBED I AM BY CASUAL HALFWAY THROUGH A SEASON IMMORTAL CHARACTER CREATION. fuckn. who knows when I'll have finished rolling that around in my head

they're good episodes, this is a good season, but. and I write this having recently finished said season. the things it's setting up will not be paid off for me, which is a shame. I enjoy this season, but I enjoy it more for its parts than its whole. I like a lot of the ideas it's putting out that will end up coming back in the last episode. but it's. the way it casually does things and asks me to go along with them, when I'm going, "no nonono wait, I have questions about this one, you can't throw away the rule book entirely," and just adds plot and emotional beats without build-up to those beats. I like those beats, but why didn't you build to them??? (this was a problem in the first double-episode, it's a problem in this double-episode, and I know it'll be a problem in the last three episodes, post Sleep No More)

mayflies though. I do like the mayflies

#im watching nu!who #im watching capaldi who #episode the girl who died #episode the woman who lived #the measurement #oooh i started this write-up at 10 and it is now 1am.. go tf to sleep

[stormyoceans]

dear, are you trying to tell me that podd guy has just appeared when HA is almost over? omg what a waste of potential!

PRETTY MUCH YEAH ;;;;;;

long story short [SPOILERS FOR ANYONE WHO HASN'T SEEN EPISODE 10 YET] we got an offhand comment from trin (guy's character) way way waaaaay back in episode 2 that hinted about them knowing each other and then we got nothing until now, where we found out through a flashback that they used to be friends. one night, while they were out with friends, wave (podd's character) got drunk and trin helped him back to his room, but when trin tried to take his shirt off wave misinterpreted it and thought trin was taking advantage of him. trin did admit to like wave, but wave said he didn't like trin and punched him, then they punched each other, which caused wave to miss out on the debate club competition

honestly im.. very much not fond of this plot ;;;;;; like i can appreciate the narrative parallels at play here, since what happened between trin and wave is also what happened to zo and his previous crush, but like everything happening in this show there's just no build up, no depth to it. i do think we're probably gonna get a scene with wave apologizing to trin, but honestly it doesn't feel like enough, to have such a complex storyline and dynamic be reduced to three scenes total, especially since i have no idea if im supposed to sympathize with wave (did he actually like trin but has a whole lot of internalized homophobia?) or think he's just an asshole ;;;;;;;

but yeah i mean. i didn't expect them to have a lot of screentime but i do wish we could have had way more of them, especially since podd and guy seems to get along really well and they have a chemistry so good you can actually feel it from a couple of still images alone

GUESS WE'RE SIMPLY GONNA HAVE TO MANIFEST MORE PODDGUY FOR GMMTV 2024

#just want to point out that i don't hate this show!!!!! #there ARE some very nice moments between jokezo #but the writing and the consistency and the use of the side characters is objectively not the best #ANYWAY PODD/GUY/PAPANG/PEPPER BL IN 2024 IT'S NOT GONNA HAPPEN BUT ALSO IT WILL IM MANIFESTING IM ACTUALIZING IM REARRANGING REALITY #now excuse me as i go giggling twirling my hair kicking my feet about the 'dear' /////// #hidden agenda #m: ask

[rue-bennett]

I tried to keep this short but no... sorry. I also know that it sounds like I hate the movie but I really did have a fun time. I have smaller problems with the story but this is the main one and idk if it's just that I dont get it and I also met not remember certain things because I only got the chance to see it once so far

my biggest issue, which was also the one I was thinking about while watching the movie, is that I don't really understand what barbie's character arc is? I mean, if the theme is why do I exist, what was I made for, what's my place in this world and what does it mean to be a person.. then that's pretty strongly shown through ken and not barbie. by the time the ending scene came along with barbie seeing the slide show of women with sad music on top I was kinda wondering what was going on? like oh she wants to be human now when did this happen?

I understand what they might have wanted it to be/portray I just thought it was all over the place. is it about overcoming your insecurities, or accepting your flaws, or appreciating the complexities of what it means to be a person or that you can be more than one thing?? (high school musical did it better). It's as if they had a bunch of thoughts about different themes and character arcs and then wrote meaningful moments for them and mushed them all together.

It never feels like barbie felt this overwhelming pressure to be perfect, felt not good enough or insecure about being stereotypical barbie. If they had a scene in barbieland where she wanted to do something outside of her stereotypical barbie role and couldn't, or showed that she felt a lot of pressure being ken's girlfriend, or that once she began to experience human emotion she felt incomplete going back to barbieland (where it would have fit in with being an allegory for growing up/stagnation/fear of change).

At first I thought, well that's okay because she's supposed to be one dimensional /a projection and only gain personhood when America's feeling spill over, but even in the real world there wasn't a lot of implication that she felt inadequate or insecure. It also doesn't work because ken still had hints at internal conflict and unhappiness in barbieland and then that developed when he went to the real world and spilled over to the other kens. all the other barbies should also be theoretically capable of having internal conflict or complex emotions while still being in barbieland.

I know they made a joke about casting Margot when barbie said I'm not pretty anymore. if that's her arc, her feeling pressure to be perfect because she's stereotypical barbie and she can't be anything else I just don't see the through line. it had nothing to do with Margot. Most of the conflict she's in is external. I understand that they wanted it to be rooted in internal conflict about self worth and identity but didnt take the steps to show where that came from.

It's sad because by the end her most consistent conflict was that she just.. didn't love her boyfriend. even then she doesn't treat ken any differently than any of the other barbies treat their ken's so it's not a failing on her part (not wanting/being something she should want/be). not gonna lie I felt really stupid in those last 10 min because it felt as if there was a good chunk of the movie that was just missing.

I feel bad about criticising it because I think everything about it is great but the plot... even then the main problem of the screenplay is that it's comprised of a lot of individually great moments that don't fit into a consistent narrative. from a comedic perspective it hits it out of the park, I have no notes. It's just ironic to me that all the moments surrounding the main theme of the main character seem to have been the weakest overall and the ken comes across as far more human by the end of it.

it's not just barbie though, I also think America and her daughter ended up being underutilised and mostly just existed as mouthpieces for the feminist speech at the end that snaps barbie out of her funk.

we know that America's depression? or mid life crisis? was the catalyst for barbie being influenced (I have more thoughts on that but it's just nit picky stuff) but did we ever find out what it was exactly, was her arc about reconnecting with her daughter (implied by barbies psychic visions??) because they don't seem to have any real or concrete conflict. was her internal conflict yeah its really hard to be a woman and life kinda sucks?

if barbie meeting real women was supposed to be a part of her journey into understanding the complexity of what is means to be human, I don't think they were that useful because they only really exist as a plot device for barbie to gain human feelings and then to expose the patriarchy which I also thought was a bit ham fisted and ironically the weakest part of the story even though I don't disagree with the sentiment.

Given that America's crisis was the catalyst for the events of the movie, her and barbie should have been going on a parallel journey or should have been foils. it would have ended with America's crisis resolving and barbie becoming perfect again but choosing to become human because even though it's messy, she would always exist within the limitations of being an idea. That's obviously what they wanted it to be and you can see hints of that I just don't think it was executed well.

I don't wanna be one of those people that holds women this movie to unnaturally high standards. I see very little legitimate criticism and some of it has been brushed off with the "holding women to extra high standards" but I don't think asking for a coherent character arc for your lead is too much to ask for.

sorry for the ramble lol but I was holding this in for a week

No, thank you for sharing! I actually think you hit the nail on the head with a lot of this and I agree with a lot of it. It did feel somewhat incomplete and I have seen quite a few people talking about how Ken felt like he had more of a character arc than Barbie and I hate that I kinda feel like that's true. I do hope it'll get better on a rewatch (reader: I really enjoyed this movie like I said last night I think I gave it a 4/5 despite that being kinda high given its intense flaws too, the thing is that it is uneven! Very high -- especially in comedy and some of the emotional moments -- and very low -- some of the other emotional moments and plotting and yes hamfistedness).

I think your point about a lot of Barbie's conflict being external rather than internal is accurate and probably not the intention of Greta but just what sort of happened. I think that she wanted to be human because she no longer fit into Barbieland once she started feeling emotions, she couldn't go back and couldn't pretend that the world was perfect when the human world was hurting, but full of beautiful emotions and real women and stuff. At least that was my interpretation. Very The Little Mermaid and all that.

I definitely agree that the Barbies should've been explored more... or the movie could've been a bit shorter. Tbh. Some scenes dragged on and others flew by. I think it was at its best when it was being camp and then the emotional moments and sort of glitches in reality would've been harder hitting maybe? IDK. I'm still sorting out my feelings.

For America, I think she and her daughter started getting along again and her daughter Saw The Light of Barbie and so that helped America heal her inner child. Or whatever. Idk yeah I think your point about having a lot of ideas but not quite plotting them together in a smooth or totally sensical way is accurate.

It's like very good but so close to being a better movie.

#asks #anonymous #barbie spoilers #movie talk #long post

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

For AO3 Wrapped: 12, 27, and 29!! <33

12. How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year?

oof. so, there's a few ways of answering this. there's ones that i have in my docs, and there's ones that will realistically be published.

the structure of pottery shards is already set. it's going to be three multichapter narrative fics, and i have at least five character studies asides (sam, steve, bucky, tony, and luke, may do more if the need arises) planned that also reveal events that don't fit into the limited POV of the multi chapter narrative (like, the background accords drama going on right now--the brunt of it is luke's and tony's story to tell, but it would be a huge narrative divergence from the focus of kintsugi, and there really isn't a good alternative POV to relay the events otherwise. so, most of it will be character study based, but it'll be filtered through some relevant events). the first step of kintsugi is like, relatively close to being finished? I wanna say it's 2/3rds there. so we have seven works lined up the barrel for pottery shards. I want to say realistically we're probably going to get through kintsugi, 3-4 character studies, and start on the second multi chapter fic in the upcoming year. so 4-5 WIPs from the pottery shards verse.

the lisa castle series has 3 narrative installments that will almost definitely get out in the next year. I can't decide if i want to end it on the 4th or go for a 5th, so that may be put on pause because i'm deciding where to take it still. ~3 WIPs from the hells verse.

i want to finish it's not a whore HOUSE it's a whore HOME series and get it off my docket. it's just got one WIP before it's done. so 1 here.

i have at least 2 from the acts of contrition verse, one is almost definitely going to go out in the next year. ~1 here.

I really want to start the Peter Parker Roommates AU, which won't be a series, once some of these wrap up, so probably one entirely new project that would be started. 1 WIP.

So, realistically, we're talking about 10-11 WIPs of varying lengths. Some of them are gonna be pretty short, some of them are gonna be multichapters that are at least started in the next year.

If the question is how many WIPs do I have in my google drive that have at least a page of writing and have been plotted in their entirety or close to, the answer turns into 41.

27. What do you listen to while writing?

i put on episodes of bojack horseman on really low volume sometimes.

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

ooooh that's a hard one. i think i'd probably go with this:

Matt’s clever, right? So goddamn clever. He has it all planned out. He’ll never tell a single living soul about his powers, because that’s dangerous, and because he can’t trust anyone with it, and because the only person he should have ever told is in the pressure of the ground making oil so another rich fuck can dig it up in a million years. The industrial complex is ever-churning, after all. 

What is a poor man’s body except oil to grease the works?

He’ll never tell a single soul, and that will be that. Can’t steal candy from a baby if the baby’s hidden it. No one can take advantage, because no one knows there’s anything to take advantage of. 

There’s Stick.

not really sure why. I feel like there's a kind of bitter callousness to the internal monologue that i deeply vibe with. i really like the line of the "making oil so another rich fuck can dig it up." and then just having the line be "there's stick," because, like--in glaze defects, we don't really see what stick does to him. we see the effects, but the most we get of stick himself is like, one sentence. stick's a horrendous thing that happened to matt, but in his own internal reflection, he's entirely absent compared to what matt perceives as his own failings. I just like the vibe.

[navree]

Finished my reading of F&B, and to my shock Rhaenyra's character is pretty dark there... Like they've whitewashed her to an extreme degree

And there is no prophecy , no righteous goal etc.. and that's really good tbh because in that way the whole conflict feels more human. Like people irl don't need prophecy to be ambitious or power-hungry . Aegon is not a crybaby , Alicent is more ambitious and shrewd, Daemon is definitely much darker than his show version but also much more interesting...

I wonder why they didn't keep with the main characterization of the characters and tried to flesh them in the show instead of changing them completely.

Yeah they've lightened Rhaenyra up a lot in the show, though to be fair we haven't gotten to some of her darker stuff, but even things that have already happened, like her involvement in Vaemond's death or the Silent Five has been incredibly watered down.

Things like the prophecy providing a goal and some plot contrivances I think are largely there for two reasons: one, George told the showrunners that Aegon the Conqueror had foreseen something involving the war with The Others before he decided to conquer Westeros, and they added that into the show, two, because it's a prequel. Because Fire & Blood is a textbook and mostly just a supplementary piece of reading and not a story in its own right, it doesn't need to be connected to anything involving the main story other than the fact that it's about the Targaryens and there are Targaryen characters in ASOIAF. But because House of the Dragon is a direct prequel, a narrative that is adding some background depth to the original narrative of Game of Thrones, there does need to be some interconnectedness. There needs to be a thread tying one end to the other beyond just "Dany's a popular character and the Targaryens have the most recorded history about them when compared to the other major families", and the prophecy tying into the central conflict of GOT is that. I've been on record saying I don't think it was a good idea or very well done, but that's what they did.

As to why they changed certain things, it is largely to make them more palatable, and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. For one, I'm personally a fan of Aegon as played by TGC being this pathetic pretty boy, sopping wet kitten with big needy eyes, desperate for love bundle of issues type of character, I think it's very fun and creatively fulfilling (and Tom and his tear ducts are killing it). For two, when converting any written narrative into a visual format, you're automatically put at a disadvantage by removing things like inner monologue, internal character voice, thoughts and observations, and really anything that cannot be externalized via facial expressions and spoken word. You can try to make up for it in a myriad of ways (Die Hard took a very stoic and quiet character from the book and made him a chatterbox in order to verbalize the thoughts he was having even though it completely changed the characterization, Twilight just plugs in Bella's narration everywhere, the first Dune adaptation did that batshit thing where it added internal monologue for like literally every character, it's so fucking nuts) or you can just ignore it (the Hunger Games movies kept Katniss's stoic characterization but didn't add in any narration to make up for her blank façade and let us see the complexities of her inner character the way we can in the book, which made movie!Katniss a faithful book character but kind of bad as a film protagonist). It's why, in the original show, Tyrion ended up getting a lot of his bad qualities washed away, because without the benefit of his inner monologue and his thoughts and viewing the world through his eyes like we do on the page, instead seeing things objectively on a screen, him doing things like slapping Shae and pawing at thirteen year old Sansa or constantly talking about all the women he wants to sexually assault (to say nothing of the women he actually sexually assaults) would make him completely unsympathetic and turn audiences against him. It's probably why they softened some of Theon too (he's a lot worse in ACOK than he is in season 2) and also why they made sure to show us everything he went through rather than have him vanish and then reappear as Reek the way he did in the books.

The characters in Fire & Blood are not written to be likable, they're ambitious and power hungry and while we all have our favorites and people that we're willing to excuse anything for ("Alys blew up someone's head" "Rhaenys torched people during the Conquest" grow up and have some fun, God forbid women do anything, I support them), we all know that this is one family full of dramatic bitches fighting for who can be the absolute monarch in a brutal feudal system and birthright monarchy is a scam anyway. But in a show, with a narrative, where you do need to have something approaching a protagonist and antagonist (GOT had good and evil on both sides of every conflict, but Joffrey and Ramsay and the White Walkers and the Essossi slavers clearly filled the roles of "big antagonists" for all the characters no matter whose side you're on), having everyone be miserable drama hoes 24/7 from the word "go" just isn't going to get audiences interested. And that's not gonna fly if you're HBO and you are a company attempting to make a profit like every other company on the planet, you need to get general audiences invested when there's clearly not much of an audience for "book only" people who'd shrugged off HBO's version ASOIAF ever since D&D started mucking it up atrociously. So lightening certain characters, making them more palatable in order to have their intricacies conveyed better in a visual format, that makes sense, that's what they ultimately had to land on to make the show work.

I'm not even against it per se, I like the starting off point we had for most of the characters and the change made to things like Rhaenyra and Alicent's dynamic and the new undertones in the subtext. It's mainly how they built on it from there, and some of the choices they've made, that I've had an issue with. But even then, as I've personally said, my critiques tend to be along the lines of liking the foundation and just wanting to build something different, or thinking certain plots and elements were an example of good idea but bad execution. If they'd started the show from the beginning of F&B, then maybe we'd have gotten a more book accurate Dance, since it would come a lot later and we'd have had time to get to know some great Targs but some incredibly awful Targs as well, but that's all in the past at this point.

I tend to just accept that book canon and show canon are different stories, which they are by design, and appreciate them both on their own merits.

#personal #answered #anonymous #the difficulties in having problematic protagonists in visual media vs in books is probably why the show started where it did #cuz if they'd done the entirety of f&b they'd have had to have maegor as a protagonist and maegor was a monster #(of course i think they should have done it anyway it could have worked @ hbo i'm available to work for very little money)

[imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese]

30, 50, 70?

30. How much do you edit your fics? Do you edit as you write or wait until you finish the first draft?

Lots. My first drafts come out more like free-verse poetry than fiction with lots of summary and would be very unsatisfying to read. I edit both as I write and go through the whole thing before I post. When I edit as I write, it's more of a looping edit, if that makes any sense.

I'll be filling in the gaps in the free-verse brain-spew to make it coherent, get to a point where it sure would have been cool if there was a cast-iron frying pan, go back, add in the frying pan, read through to where I was and, in doing so, realize I once again screwed up how many people the Drifter shot and have to stop, do some math, go back and increase a number, read back down and realize that Eris cannot wield a sword and a hand canon and her frozen Ahamkara bone and pick up the Drifter's rifle with only two hands, loop back up and edit that, read back through and get down to the point where they're running through a hallway and realize I said ground, like dirt, and the floor is metal, loop back up and fix that, read back down and write "she answered" only to realize she has "answered" four times in the same small chunk of text, figure out which of the four "answered"s I'm keeping and come up with different phrasing and/or actions to take in place of phrasing for the other three, realize that one of those actions, while cool, should have a reaction from someone else, loop down and add that in, read through that again only to find that we can't still be talking when we're on opposite ends of the complex and we said we were keeping the communicators set to 20 feet, highlight a chunk of text, cut it, paste it at the bottom of the page below where I'm writing, go back and rewrite my way out of the logistical corner I painted myself into, and then try to figure out how to weave what I chopped out back into the narrative without getting them more than 20 feet from each other and/or without them being able to talk back and forth across the comms that can't go beyond 20 feet… wash, rinse, repeat…

50. How would you describe your writing style?

My fanfiction output is driven by my passionate undying love of two specific characters in one videogame. I either stick them in my head and let them talk to each other, or come up with a situation that would provide them lots of opportunity to talk their way through a situation, or I come up with cool badass things they might do in a fight and figure out how to get them into that fight. This results in very dialogue-driven stories and/or plots designed to frame a particular moment of badassery in the hopes that it will be epic enough to linger in someone's brain the way it has haunted mine.

If we're talking from a technical perspective, I love subjective first person narration passionately, but I also love the 3rd person perspective we get in-game, so I try to balance that by keeping it in 3rd person semi-omniscient but allowing characters to tell their own stories verbally as much as possible, only slipping into internal thoughts when I feel like it's needed from a logistical standpoint.

70. Are you subscribed to any writers on AO3?

Yes, and you are one of them, @synnthamonsugar. <3 My subscription count is currently at 23. Not all of the subscriptions are to writers (some are to individual works I especially want to keep track of in case they are updated), but most of them are writers. I collect anyone who writes Drifter or Eris in a way that pleases me and I keep them like a treasure hoard, rushing off in glee to read when they post and delighting in their things. I am always on the lookout for more delicious stories, though, so while I do comb through the search fairly regularly looking for new shinies, if you have recommendations, I would love to hear them.

#writing #ask game #ask me more things!

[july-19th-club]

two writing things ive done in the past week that im not sure are Helping but also seem to be not not helping -

write exclusively at the time between 7am and 7:30am when i then immediately have to get up and get ready for work, because it’s a built-in deadline that forces me to focus if i want to get anything done, and also it’s only really about enough time for 400 words, which is my daily goal, and then anything i write after that at work or later is gravy despite being really a stupid tiny amount of words to write, so i feel more confident

any time as im writing i want to make a note and know it will get me distracted but it’s like. a worldbuilding thing or a motivations thing or a ‘theme to keep revisiting that you don’t want to forget about’ thing instead of stopping and putting it in a second doc which i will inevitably forget about until it’s too late to use the stuff that’s on there without like.....massively changing work ive already spent time on....instead of that i’m making all such notes in bright red text right there in the narrative doc so that i can’t ignore them if i tried. during all subsequent re-reads and edits these worldbuilding deets, motivational reminders, and themes will be interrupting me until i deal with them or make sure they’re consistent which. with my inability to see stuff that’s in Another Location, is probably the only way i could ever achieve complexity and consistency

#i see all kinds of advices like 'keep a separate document for blahblahlbah' you know what's gonna happen if i keep a separate document? #i will write down really useful stuff on it for like four straight hours one weekend and then i'll never look at at the right time again #also i was reading an interview w coleson whitehead at work and he was talking about how like. first person shores up a narrative #where the plot is not complex. so you get the complexity through internal narrative. the more busy your plot and world are #the more you'll need an omniscient narrator to get the scope across or at least a couple limited-third perspectives #whcih. seems so obvious that THAT'S why some things work in first and some don't #and fantasy is hard to get in first unless the world is familiar or intuitive #it seems so obivous but id never thought about it in those exact words before so i always bristled at the idea that id have to cut #my braided first in order to make the world big enough to be interesting #also i'm just now arriving at a point in my writing ability where i can do. characters NOT telling us everything the minute they think of it #and i was scared i just wouldnt be able to do that. it doesnt come naturally. im a natural oversharer and the 'unreliable ommissive narrator #is like.........very fun to read but hard for me to wrap my brain around when writing . so hopefully i figure it out #i'd LIKE to #and there was a time when i didnt think i could write anything funny and i think im a fairly funny writer now :) #these are. i think. the major things that my garbled neurotype makes hard about writing #it's hard to conceive of characters believably deceiving the reader when i can't even do that . or them having different viewpoints #and it not all being some viewpoint I personally actually hold

[thewillowbends]

I keep seeing this argument that Deckerstar is a bad pairing. It really wasn't. It was, in fact, extremely organically done up through the Fox era. Understand that it's not that Chloe and Lucifer's relationship wasn't developed past S2. It develops through S3 just fine. A key part of the narrative is that they're regressing and sabotaging themselves precisely because Lucifer isn't taking his own advice to his mother that they can only move forward not back. Deckerstar stagnates and starts to crumble in S3 because they won't let it move forward, and Lucifer realizes he has to take the leap at the end and tell her the truth so they can move forward together. So through S1-3, Deckerstar is fine. Well developed, even.

The Netflix era is where it all goes to shit, and it does for two major reasons, which I go into below the cut:

1.) Misogyny. I cannot stress how ridiculously sexist the Netflix era is. Joe and Ildy hate women. They don't realize they hate women, but they do. It infiltrates every part of the Netflix era narrative.

Up until S4, Chloe is the straight man to Lucifer's more manic behavior, but she is NOT a flat character by any means. Her acting and characterization is more subtle, but it is very complex. In fact, we know more about details about her character's backstory than we do his since the show never bothered to touch what actually happened with the rebellion. I'm not joking when I say I used to recommend this series precisely because of the female characters: not only were they well done, but they weren't young, sexy twenty-somethings. They were mature women in their thirties with lots of baggage and emotional complexity.

From S4 onward, the dive in the quality of the female characters is staggering. Linda becomes a mother and that's all she wrote, y'all. It subsumes the majority of her character's plot purpose. The therapy scenes dive in quality along with it. She goes from being one of the most interesting side characters to just...a terrible friend and therapist who serves little real plot purpose. (For that matter, TWO women get pregnant in the Netflix era, and not a single fucking moment is spent with them thinking over the choice to have this baby or how it would impact their lives, even though these are both women in their forties with difficult life situations that would make babies extremely inconvenient. It's just automatic that they want them because lol women made 4 making baby, right? Yet the two father have entire episodes dedicated to their fears and anxieties over it. Unbelievable.)

Ella was always boring and fairly flat (which is fine - she's a side character, they're supposed to be less developed!), but she finally got interesting in S5A only to be given an extremely gross storyline where her love of bad boys accidentally leads her date to a serial killer, where we then get to watch her internalize that guilt and horror in S5B instead of grappling with it meaningfully. S6's solution to this is to let her meet the man she "needs" to treat her right. Also gross. (At least she got to grapple with it somewhat, I guess. You know who also dated and was manipulated by a serial killer but never got any of her pathos over it examined? THE LEAD FUCKING FEMALE CHARACTER.)

Maze is just....completely fucking off the rails. Her character is abrasive and abusive but never has any meaningful repercussions for any of it but is then framed as badass and assertive. Punching people doesn't make her a strong woman. She's just a violent asshole who expecting everybody to serve her emotional needs while overlooking theirs.

Goddess goes from having one of the most complex, fascinating, and moving antagonist arcs in the whole series in S2 to showing up in S5B just so she can take her abusive husband back. In other circumstances, this would be fine because they're gods and human rules, power dynamics, and morals don't need to apply, but compounded with all of the other misogyny around it, it's awful.

Eve is...holy shit. I cannot even begin to start with how clearly she was only ever designed to be a Deckerstar cockblock who shoves Chloe out of the colead role so they don't have to develop her. She's great in S4 right up until they no longer need her, and than she just goes completely off the rails. They literally make her the crazy, hysterical ex girlfriend wrecking Lucifer's life. When she showed up in 5B, I nearly had a fucking aneurysm, y'all. Imagine having such a great character and completely fucking wasting her the way they did. Moreover, imagine sticking her in an f/f pairing that had so much incredible potential to be interesting but which was just thrown together because lmao, bisexual people just be like that, right? Our love lives don't require development or complexity. (Or sex! Because you can bet that once these women are in romantic, loving, monogamous relationships, their sexual desires barely exist. It's all tepid kisses and sultry jokes but passion goes out the door, apparently. Bis and gays can marry, y'all, but we apparently can't fuck. Oh, and we definitely got to Hell at the end of the day, too!)

Oh, but I can imagine wasting her because the most wasted female character of them is Chloe Decker, the literal fucking colead. What goes wrong in the Netflix era is a lengthy list of issues, but perhaps the biggest one I see people skimming over is that they never bothered to give their female colead an actual character arc. After S3, Chloe stops being a person. She's just a thing to move around on the chess board for Lucifer's character. Her character background is routinely gutted to serve the plots of other characters, particularly male characters, usually in the pursuit of ANGST. We spent three seasons watching Chloe deal with things in a fairly logical, rational manner, even when she was scared or didn't understand things. In S4, we toss that all away because having Chloe turn into a hysterical women who runs off to another fucking continent so we can have some dumb betrayal plot that splits Deckerstar apart AGAIN for an entire season and so we can shove Chloe's storyline aside so they don't have to tackle the miracle reveal. S5A manages to be a brief, shining moment where my bad bitch S1 Chloe returns, but then right back into S5B we're shoving her into a passive role where she exists to be sad about Lucifer and....nothing fucking else. S6 is...I cannot even begin fam. They gut her character's history of having her father literally murdered and her daughter kidnapped by a corrupt cop so they can prop up Amenadiel's story by making her the stupid white woman who doesn't understand racism and thinks the system is perfect.

SHE WAS MARRIED TO A LATINO MESTIZO MAN. HER DAUGHTER IS A MESTIZO LATINA GIRL. IN WHAT FUCKING REALITY WOULD SHE NOT KNOW WHAT RACISM IS? SHE LITERALLY HELPED LUCIFER AND AMENADIEL IN TWO DIFFERENT SEASONS GET A YOUNG BLACK MAN OFF UNFAIR CHARGES. IN WHAT REALITY DID CHLOE DECKER EVER FUCKING THINK THE SYSTEM WASN'T FLAWED? SHE'S LITERALLY A VICTIM OF POLICE CORRUPTION. JESUS CHRIST. IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY.

And then there's...God, so much else in S6 that's just jaw droppingly sexist, the kind that's almost shocking on television in the year 2021. She can't have the piece of the blade because power makes her going fucking insane, apparently. She finds out she's going to be a mother in episode 5 but literally doesn't bother checking that she's pregnant until four episodes later??? Her daughter from her previous marriage stops mattering as much as the one she has with Lucifer?? What?? She suffers through six seasons of obstacle to be with Lucifer, gets a whole six months with him, and then she spends the rest of her human life alone, raising two children by herself, having to lie and traumatize her children to maintain some stupid goddamn time loop. (How insulting to stay at home and single parents to act as though the work they do every day isn't extremely difficult, time consuming, and draining.)

No big deal, though, guys, because life is just a blip you see! The writers told us so! (We won't get into how grossly evangelist that thinking is, not to mention thematically contradictory - if life is a blip, why the fuck is it determining human eternity?? Why does fixing racism or other damaged human systems matter??) Because women literally exist just to suffer for the men to do what they need to in this story, apparently. Their feelings and desires don't matter. Chloe watches her daughter fade away in 6x10 telling Lucifer to abandon her and apparently has not one word to say edgewise. It's all good!

One final note on the miracle reveal...let this go down as the single most outrageously wasted thing I've ever seen introduced in a show. You literally have a character who is a gift from God, and that's what you come up with? Literally, thousands of options to play around with why she was put there, abilities and purpose that could have linked her arc to Lucifer's to develop alongside his to prop up the narrative...and they blew it. They had THREE SEASONS to come up with something interesting, and they just don't. It's just mindblowing to me. I cannot imagine being that incompetent as a writer.

But conclusion: they didn't view Chloe as a person the way they did Lucifer. They didn't see her story as valuable as his, so they never bothered creating an arc. The problem is that she is the COLEAD OF THE NARRATIVE and a huge part of Lucifer's life, so by crashing her narrative, they also crashed his, because the two are intertwined.

2.) The writers saw Deckerstar not as key part of the narrative that drove Lucifer's character development and propped up a key part of the found family theme but as a way to consistently frustrate the audience and keep them engaged by constantly keeping them waiting for the payoff that never came.

Think of all the great moments Lucifer and Chloe have with other partners that they never have with each other. Think of all the great couples moments that get handed over to other, less important couples in the show.

Eve gets the devil face kiss with Lucifer. Chloe never gets anything like this with him.

Marcus gets Chloe's an emotional confession about the pain of her father's death. She never even gets to discuss this with Lucifer after.

Eve (and lots of other men and women) gets to have fun, kinky sex with Lucifer. Chloe has passionate, public sex with Pierce. Lucifer and Chloe never do either of these things together. They're the lead couple, and they get a whole two barely PG-13 sex scenes, one of which canonically leads to pregnancy.

Eve and Maze get a big wedding scene. Amenadiel gets to commute and be with his family and see them grow. Lucifer and Chloe get neither of these things.

Trixie gets to talk about her mother being happy with Pierce in S3. She has a big, powerful family moment with Lucifer and Eve in S4. In S5B, Lucifer doesn't hold Trixie and Chloe in their moment of grief over Dan's death, while other characters openly embrace in the background. Instead, Deckerstar has two fights across two episodes instead of finding comfort with each other. In fact, all of the great little family moments we expected with TRIXIE after S5? Went to Rory instead. Trixie gets tossed to the side.

Rory's sole purpose in the narrative, just like Eve, is to split Deckerstar up.

The thing that should kill you is that they did this on purpose. They told us they did. Joe openly said they wanted to frustrate fans. They basically damaged their own story and found family narrative, stripping away all the emotional intimacy from S5B and S6 that would have propped up the underlying themes in order to make fans want more by giving them nothing. For six seasons, we waited to see Deckerstar get together and be happy together...and we couldn't even have that. They never get a fucking break. Amenadiel gets handed the story and rewards of a narrative that Lucifer did all the work to receive. In the end, Deckerstar literally exists just to generate angst. We were asked to invest and then never got paid the dividend of that investment.

tl;dr it's not that Deckerstar is a bad pairing. It's that the writers actively sabotaged it by being sexist idiots with no respect for their lead characters' narrative. They went for the laziest, most superficial route possible to drum up drama and pretend it was deep. Great job, guys! You gave D&D a run for their money for fucking up the landing, that's for sure.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Gabriel Agreste: Interesting Villain, Horrible Character (400 Follower Special)

I'm honestly surprised more people didn't want me to talk about Gabriel, especially with how often I rag on how horrible of a person he is. But, three character analysis posts later, and we're going to talk about why the main villain of Miraculous Ladybug is a real letdown.

Gabriel Needs to give the Whining a Rest

The interesting thing is one of the few things I actually liked in Season 3 was Hawkmoth. His plans actually made sense (for the most part), and by playing the long game, he managed to turn Chloe against Ladybug and deprived her of several key allies. Granted, Season 4 immediately undid the latter, but I was still impressed by his strategy.

Generally, one of the better aspects of Gabriel as a character was just how over the top he was as Hawkmoth. Keith Silverstein is clearly giving it his all with his performance, and he is just so enjoyable to watch as a cartoonish supervillain.

And therein lies the first major problem with Gabriel as a character. While he is fun to watch as a simple supervillain, the show tries to give him more depth and unintentionally makes him worse.

In Season 2, when it was revealed that Gabriel was Hawkmoth, many fans speculated on what he needed the Miraculous for, until the Queen Bee Trilogy showed it was to save his possibly dead wife, Emilie. The idea of that is so the show can give more depth to its main villain, and I think it's an interesting idea in concept. After all, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

The problem is just how radically different Gabriel is normally compared to how he is as Hawkmoth. He always goes on about how he's “doing this for Emilie”, but it's hard to really sympathize with him when you consider he constantly gives evil monologues and evil laughs, really getting into the supervillain role. And let's not forget all of the “I'm going to wear Ladybug's skin as a suit” faces he loves to make.

Clearly this man is the picture of mental stability.

Gabriel's motivation for being Hawkmoth when compared to what he actually does as Hawkmoth is shady enough, but the thing is that the writers clearly want the audience to at least feel a little bad for him. They want to make the audience sympathize with him despite the way he acts with or without the mask. Without Miraculous Ladybug, he is routinely putting innocent lives in danger and never once shows regret for his actions. All he talks about is how “he's doing this for Emilie”, or that “he'll get their Miraculous soon”. There's no real reason to feel bad for him other than “because the script says so”.

Let's compare Gabriel to Malcolm Merlyn from Arrow. His big plan in the first season of the show is to create a machine that will cause an earthquake to destroy a crime-infested portion of Starling City, claiming to be trying to help everyone, but it's clear he is only doing it out of revenge for his wife getting killed by a criminal from that part of the city. In addition, throughout that season and future seasons, he always makes sure his plans lead to him benefiting in some way, showing he isn't just some noble man trying to achieve his goals with a less than noble method.

If we got some moments that showed that what Gabriel was doing was selfish, it would make him a more complex villain. But we don't get anything like that. What do we get instead? Well...

I Could Really Care Less About Emilie Agreste

We have known Gabriel's motivation has been to save his wife for a little over two years at this point, but at the same time, it's hard to believe that motivation because of how underdeveloped Emilie is as a character.

There have been a total of two lines in the entirety of the show that explain what happened to Emilie, and they're both vague as hell. One of them was from “Feast” that implied Emilie used the broken Peacock Miraculous.

Adrien: My mom used to have dizzy spells… just like Nathalie.

And the other that outright tells the audience what's happening to her in a clip show that most people will skip.

Nathalie: As I've watched Emilie falling deeper into an endless sleep, my sadness for her has deepened, too

That is literally all we get for an explanation, and nothing else. We have no idea of what she's like as a person or what her relationship with her family was like other than Gabriel and Adrien saying they miss her. Other than the way the narrative says she's important to Gabriel and Adrien, we don't really have a reason to care about her as a character. There have also been some lines that imply she went along with Gabriel's questionable parenting techniques, like how he was apparently only homeschooled as a kid (Origins) and never had a birthday party growing up (The Bubbler), so how do we even know if she's a good person? In fact, why not set up this question as a mystery to make the audience wonder if Gabriel has another reason to bring Emilie back?

It ultimately turns Emilie into a plot device and not a character that Gabriel and Adrien only bring up to make the audience feel bad for them, and meant to justify Gabriel's actions by saying that he's “doing this for his family”.

But hey, if he's doing this all for his family, surely Gabriel's redeeming traits come from his relationship with Adrien, right? Right?

As a Parent, Gabriel is Far From the Best

I've talked about this briefly before, but parenting in Miraculous Ladybug is written in such a black and white way, even by the standards of this show. Parents are portrayed in one of two ways. They're either amazing people who love and support their children unconditionally, or they're awful people who treat their own children like trash. And much like a lot of things in this show, there are times where the latter is treated like the former.

There are so many times where the narrative insists on making you see Gabriel as a troubled, but wellmeaning person who tries his best to be a good parent to Adrien, but it is far from the truth.

I'm not going to beat around the bush. Gabriel is a terrible parent. Like, he is awful at being a parent in so many ways, even before you find out he's Hawkmoth. In his first appearance, “The Bubbler”, he delegates getting Adrien a birthday present to Nathalie, his assistant. He literally can't be bothered to take time out of his schedule to get his own son a present for his birthday. And as the show goes on, he becomes more controlling and forbids Adrien from going out with his friends in other episodes (Captain Hardrock, Silencer). While this could be used to show Gabriel getting worse, it's never acknowledged in-universe, with Adrien continually defending his father essentially keeping him on house arrest.

“But IOTA!” You might say. “Gabriel has made efforts to bond with his son in some episodes.” While that might be true, most of those come right after his Akumas have almost gotten Adrien killed. He only hugged Adrien and made an attempt to learn more about him after Simon Says invaded their home, he only decided to watch that movie Emilie was in with Adrien after Gorizilla nearly dropped him off a building, and he only hugged Adrien again in public after he was turned into a gold statue by Style Queen.

In fact, let's talk about how Gabriel acts in the Queen Bee Trilogy. He actually decides to quit being Hawkmoth, but it's not because he realizes all the damage he's caused. Instead, he gave up because his “magnum opus”, a stronger than usual Akuma that only got the advantage on Ladybug ironically because of dumb luck, failed. Sure, he says he can't keep putting his son in danger, but he rarely ever acknowledges that he does so in the first place. When Riposte wanted to fight Adrien, Hawkmoth did nothing to stop her other than giving her a stern warning earlier on and nothing else. Where was this attitude earlier?

Hell, even then, he immediately goes back to being Hawkmoth as soon as he sees an opportunity, not even a day after his “mAgNuM oPuS” blew up in his face (because I guess Scarletmoth was just Plan B). If he made such a big deal about caring for his son, why didn't he try harder to spend time with him? Has he ever had doubts about what he's doing before? If Chloe didn't show up as Queen Bee, was he going to follow through on his promise and try to be a better father to Adrien instead of trying to get Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous?

And yeah, the whole irony is that Gabriel is doing this for his family when he is unknowingly fighting his own son, which could lead to some interesting drama if done right. The idea of how Gabriel would react to his son being Cat Noir could really lead to some internal struggles for him to go through. But then we got “Cat Blanc”, which shows just how terrible of a character Gabriel is.

In an alternate timeline where he found out his son was Cat Noir, what does Gabriel do? Does he try to steal Adrien's Miraculous while he's sleeping? Does he reconsider his actions or realize he was endangering Adrien's life?

NOPE! He just decides to akumatize him all while emotionally tormenting him, before causing the end of the world.

This is honestly one of the most appalling things I've ever seen in any TV show, because it's basically an abusive father ordering his son to listen to him all while referencing his (kind of) dead mother to back up his point. And rather than use this to show how despicable Gabriel is, the episode decides to blame Marinette for this happening. Yes, according to the show, her present to Adrien caused several events to happen which caused Cat Blanc, but this logic makes no sense. It's like blaming the JFK assassination on the man who sold a gun to Lee Harvey Oswald, instead of, you know, Lee Harvey Oswald.

Not only was this episode yet another excuse to blame Marinette for something that wasn't her fault, it leads into the biggest problem I have with Gabriel as a character.

Sympathize with Gabriel? Surely, You Jest

After everything I've gone over regarding Gabriel as a character, after all the awful things I've talked about, are you really surprised that I don't feel bad for him at all?

Gabriel is just an awful character and a despicable human being, but the show just keeps wanting me to feel bad for him. It's just so hard to when you consider everything he's done has made him anything but sympathetic. I'm just saying, it's kind of hard to feel bad for someone who tries to start World War III with the only justification being “i'M dOiNg It FoR mY fAmIlY”, especially when he treats his family like crap.

The writers go out of their way to show how horrible Gabriel is as Hawkmoth/Shadowmoth, but they think because they throw in a few moments where he looks conflicted, we'll immediately feel bad for him. What makes so many people interested in seeing Chloe become a better person is that they can tell she's the victim of a troubled upbringing, and know that because she's only a teenager, she still has room to grow as a person, represented by having more honest moments of vulnerability. Gabriel is a grown man who once caused the apocalypse because of how terrible of a parent he is, and has even fewer sympathetic moments than Chloe does. Which one of these two is supposedly irredeemable? The answer may surprise you.

But the frustrating thing is that this kind of villain could have worked. Instead of making him this mustache-twirling psychopath, show how much Gabriel regrets what he has to do, but keeps pushing onward despite all the lives he's risking if it means that he can save his wife. Instead of making Gabriel like Lex Luthor, make him like Mr. Freeze, who is basic a better written version of him.

But as it stands, there's a good reason why Gabriel gets little to no respect as a character in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom, as a villain, or as a father.

#immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug salt #gabriel agreste #hawkmoth #hawk moth #shadowmoth #shadow moth #emilie agreste #adrien agreste #cat noir #chat noir #cat blanc #chat blanc #nathalie sancoeur #mayura #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug

[sitp-recs]

Do you know of any fics under 10k that aren’t too angsty? ❤️

Hi anon, I most certainly do! Thanks so much for sending this ask, I was super excited when I saw it because I’m always happy to celebrate short fics - they could use more appreciation! I’ve wanted to do a proper shorts reclist for a while so I indulged myself and went big, hope you don’t mind! Putting this together was quite hard - going through my bookmarks I realized that I usually go for angsty shorts 💀 so I tried my best not to include anything too extreme, I hope these are okay!

This became a lil monster with 40 recs (and I have lots more hehe) so I decided to sort them by genre - the last category includes light angst (more on the contemplative side) because I can’t help myself. Shout-out to @tackytigerfic for giving me a 2nd opinion and helping me polish this - and for being a darling in general. Happy readings!

ROMANCE/COMFORT

1. Sun Stroke by @peachpety (2020, E, 3k)

Warm, sexy and wholesome, this fic makes my heart soar with the magical beach setting, amazing friendship dynamics and the sweet get together with a delicious side of smut!

2. oxygen [Fic & Art] by @maesterchill (2020, T, 4k)

Tentative acquaintances become something more over a shared smoke at the balcony. Sexy, mature, deliciously atmospheric and full of promise - plus Healer Draco is always a treat!

3. Catch the Snitch (No, Catch My Heart) by @prolix- (2020, E, 4.5k)

Gorgeous bath fic where Harry and Draco just... take care of each other. The raw emotion packed here! Lush and vivid build up with stunning body worship, hot and intimate and breathtaking.

4. Thermodynamic Equilibrium by DorthyAnn (2017, T, 5k)

This quiet comfort fic gives our boys some well deserved healing through physical touching and late night companionship. Love the 8th year atmosphere, soothing and familiar.

5. Blue Sky Is Living Here Today by ignatiustrout (2018, G, 5k)

The loveliest kid fic you’ll see today - real characters, gentle longing, soft understanding. It’s a joy to watch dad Draco through Harry’s smitten eyes, as he realizes there’s no rush to live that love.

6. Gravity Centered by @carpemermaidtales (2019, E, 6.7k)

Possibly my favorite Quidditch fic, this has an original premise and amazing Drarry dynamics, casual and organic, sassy and familiar, with a perfect lil twist at the end!

7. Up The by @shiftylinguini (2018, E, 7.5k)

One of the funniest PWPs I’ve ever read, clever and charming with easy banter and delicious smut. A sweet and sexy glimpse into the Drarry married life! Cw Mpreg

8. And a Malfoy in a Pear Tree by lauren3210 (2015, E, 8k)

Sweet sweet coffee shop Christmas romance! Love the light and fun atmosphere, the easy banter and cute wooing while supportive Ron cheers in the background, what a treat!

9. Ice Snakes, Glow-worms and Wolverine Stew by khalulu (2015, M, 8.4k)

Khalulu writes the softest Drarry, it never fails to put a smile on my face. This has a gentle and sweet get together, with lovely slow burn, a gorgeous San Francisco setting and matchmaker Kreacher 💗

10. Life goes not backward by @shealwaysreads (2020, T, 8.8k)

This delicate comfort fic has a special way to tug at my heartstrings - a gorgeous tale about found family and the unexpected wonders of life. Gentle, magical and breathtaking in its simplicity.

HUMOUR

11. in charge by @bonesliketambourines (2020, E, 2.4k)

The ultimate brat Draco, bossy and confident and absolutely gorgeous with his long hair and impossible snark. Charming and funny, this packs so much character and domestic bliss under 3k! Perfect spoiled Draco is perfect.

12. The Morning After by birdsofshore, capitu (2015, M, 5.3k)

This is hysterical and so delightfully creative - Draco exploring Harry’s kitchen and charming a prudish appliance is the kind of cute, silly endeavor I need with my morning coffee!

13. The Spoiling of Sex From Enthusiastic Ignorance by @cibeewastaken (2020, E, 6k)

I’m impossibly enamored with Cibee’s drama queen Draco and his passionate missions! This time he’s decided to get some good diq, and the dialogue and mutual pining will make you smile from beginning to end.

14. All Tied Up by MyNameIsThunder (2020, M, 6k)

This is a secret relationship delight! Sneaking around gets so much better when dramatic Blaise is losing his shit to protect the Council of Serpents’ integrity! A+ faux-drama, super fun and sweet.

15. Luckiest Fucking Size Queen Alive by @l0vegl0wsinthedark (2016, E, 6.2k)

My favorite brand of thirsty and chaotic Draco; being inside his mind is such a crazy ride and you won’t stop laughing for a second. Amazing dialogue and insanely scorching smut as per loveglows’ usual 🤤

16. Sex Ed for Aurors by curiouslyfic (2010, M, 8.7k)

This is a Harry triumph, so fun and charming! Here he’s the one chaotic and thirsty, for a change - I’m obsessed with his internal ranting under the lust potion. Brilliant narrative and top notch characterization, a classic!

17. Ferocious Determination, Insufficient Deliberation, and a Slightly Wrong Destination by Faith Wood (2012, E, 9.5k)

Drunk Draco has never been so absurd and I LOVE it! This goes from hilarious to vulnerable and sweet in a heartbeat; pining Draco is a precious thing and Harry’s gentle persistence made my heart swell.

18. Stand Back: I'm About to Perform Archaeology by Blowfish_Diaries (2018, E, 9.7k)

This fic could definitely use more appreciation - I had a blast with Draco’s hilarious voice and their cute married banter! The plot is quite original and I love the 8th year domestic vibes.

19. The Full Monty by @magpiefngrl (2017, E, 9.8k)

The calendar fic we deserve 👏🏻 this is ultimate thirsty Draco being completely obliterated by Harry’s casual attractiveness but mostly by his kind heart and big smile. One of my favorite comfort reads, hilarious, sweet and so damn sexy, the full monty combo is here!

20. Aural Gratification by birdsofshore (2014, E, 10k)

This fic is a classic, charming and hysterical with an adorable Harry thirsting over Draco’s smooth voice. Such an original concept and engaging read, not to mention the rewarding shade of smut!

SMUT

21. Tense by Faith Wood (2013, E, 3k)

Me, reading smut for the dialogue? It’s more likely than you think 😂 this fic is hilarious and hot all at once, with perfect banter and clever dialogue, really a smut triumph!

22. Under Your Skin by @p1013 (2020, Explicit, 4k)

Great premise and the sexiest build up, ugh so much teasing and anticipation as pierced Draco takes Auror Harry’s control away 🔥kudos at the A+ twist and promising ending!

23. The Slytherin Urn by @icmezzo (2015, E, 4.6k)

This fic’s geniality slaps me in the face, what a fascinating concept! Redemption kink and magical theory walk together as Harry loses his mind over competent Draco doing some badass curse-breaking ritual.

24. Once Bitten by Frayach (2012, E, 5.6k)

Still one of the hottest things I’ve ever read, lush and raw and absolutely breathtaking. Dark and tender at once, it explores biting kink with unapologetic precision and I love that!

25. Matched Set by astolat (2016, E, 5.7k)

One of my faves by the genius astolat, this is a perfect mix of hot size kink, A+ dirty talk and a brilliant and nuanced plot showing how Harry navigates his post-war reality. A must-read!

26. Teeth by @amelior8or (2020, E, 6k)

This fic is an emotional rollercoaster and goes from light-hearted and casual to vulnerable and tender in a second. Hot and intimate feat scorching wall sex, gut-punching lines and enthusiastic consent🔥

27. Born Slippy by @dracoladon (2020, E, 8.3k)

My favorite clubbing fic ever, clever and sensual, a master class in UST including the drunk haze confusion and panty kink as a treat! I can’t even talk about this fic without blushing 😳

28. The Page Eleven Wars by fireflavored (2010, E, 8.5k)

Competitive boys fighting for dominance both in bed and at the gossip column’s first page This is peak enemies to lovers: witty banter, hot smut screaming switching rights and feisty stubborn idiots finally getting over their asses.

29. The Things They Never Say by @bixgirl1 (2017, E, 9k)

Angry porn with (many) feels, this feels like a punch to the solar plexus. The explosive Drarry chemistry gives way to something quieter and gentler and full of longing, ugh but it aches so good. Absolutely exquisite!

30. Sweet Indulgence by @the-sinking-ship (2020, E, 10k)

The title says it all; this is a lush and charming read, with chaotic but nuanced Draco pining over authoritative, edgy Harry 😳 steaming pent up tension that culminates in glorious semi-public smut, is your body ready?

CONTEMPLATIVE/SOFT ANGST

31. Sharing a Pack by sugar_screw (2016, E, 2.7k)

A fully fleshed-out love story in less than 3k, with complex characters and powerful feels. Raw, poignant and unbelievably romantic.

32. Still Life by orphan_account (2019, M, 3k)

A superb and gut-punching story where Harry realizes all the little things that make Draco so very different from him - and falls in love anyway. Powerful in its simplicity and concise elegance.

33. Harmony (Left-Handed Melody Remix) by mindabbles (2010, M, 5.8k)

Draco finds his way post-war and Harry meets him in the middle. Aching and bittersweet but also hopeful, with a delicious side of coconut cake, Harry in black robes and Romeo & Juliet as soundtrack.

34. Let Me Have You and I'll Let You Save Me by Frayach (2012, M, 6k)

Enemies to lovers deluxe version! Come and feast on this original narrative, amazingly clever, rich and detailed, telling us an unlikely but inevitable love story.

35. A Pain of Our Choosing by @lqtraintracks (2020, E, 6k)

Broken boys fucking through their issues and healing together during the post-war is so my jam! A+ LQT goodness, this fic is evocative and quietly devastating, but full of feels and hope.

36. Our Little Life by @tackytigerfic (2020, M, 7k)

I’ve screamed about this brilliant fic recently; inventive, poignant and utterly romantic, this fic shows all the ways in which Harry and Draco find each other across space and time.

37. the keys to your kingdom by thistle_verse (2016, E, 7.5k)

A beautiful love story packing an impressive amount of character, conflict and emotion. We are invited to witness as work partners Harry and Draco finally take a leap of faith and grow out of their casual arrangement.

38. Clear As Mud by scoradh (2005, M, 9.8k)

Subtle and heart-wrenching, the sharp and clever narrative creates fascinating dynamics between this brilliantly written Draco and poor oblivious Harry trying to make sense out of it. An all-time fave. Cw: infidelity (not Drarry).

39. fine i'll hold my breath / til i forget it's complicated by teatrolley (2015, E, 10k)

Fucks buddies gone wrong but make it soft so we get to watch as pining Draco patiently waits for Harry to get the memo. Sweet and intimate, with lots of late night talks and comfortable silence.

40. Tidings of Comfort series by @blamebrampton (2012, G, 10k)

Quietly cathartic and atmospheric, this fic is a poignant balm to the soul; such a beautiful tone, such lovely interactions! A must-read for those who enjoy church settings, honest talks and redeemed Draco. All-time fave.

#anon #asks #drarry reclist #short fics #fics under 10k

[thetypedwriter]

Mister Impossible Book Review

Mister Impossible by Maggie Steifvater Book Review 

Maggie Steifvater is one of the reasons I love reading so much. Her prose, her writing style, her way with words-all of it is so beautiful and whimsical and just mind boggling. 

I don’t know a better way to explain any of her writing other than it comes across as both fantastical, amazing, and just...awe-inspiring. 

Her words make me want to write, they make me want to dream, they make me weep. 

They just make me feel things, she makes me feel things and isn’t that why we read these stories in the first place? To feel moved? To be inspired?

This happens to me every time I read a Maggie Steifvater masterpiece (with one notable exception of All the Crooked Saints) and Mister Impossible is no exception. 

As an avid lover of The Raven Cycle and Call Down the Hawk, myself and many others eagerly anticipated this book for months. 

Is this because we’re all Pynch trash? Yes, probably. 

Is it also because of Maggie’s stellar writing, chaotic storytelling, ambitious themes, hard-hitting words, and complex characters? All of that too. 

I gave myself a good, hearty chuckle by looking through the Goodreads reviews of this book as most of them include a bumbling intro of where to even begin, what to say, and how to even describe this next installment of the Brothers Lynch. 

To be honest, I’m in the same boat. 

This book simultaneously had so much going on and yet...nothing of huge consequence externally happened. I do think this book was mainly character driven, and within that, internally driven. 

Most of the action, development, and plot happens within the character's minds, feelings, and interpersonal relationships. As someone who really enjoys this style of narrative, I wasn’t bothered in the least and I found this to be a really compelling next portion of the Dreamer trilogy. For someone who likes more action and drama, this book might have been more of a bog for you. 

I’ve also seen quite a lot of people talk about how disappointed they are in the lack of Adam representation and while normally I would be picking up my protest sign to join the leagues of Pynch fangirls, I was actually quite content with where this book took us as readers and the journey that Ronan and the other characters are going through. 

As Maggie said at the beginning, this is a book about the Lynch brothers, not a Ronan/Adam fanficiton manifesto come to life. I’m okay with waiting. I’m okay with the journey and I think Ronan and Adam and the others need it more than they need snuggles and kisses and fluff, no matter how much the fans might want it. 

That being said, I’ve said a lot about this book without actually saying anything. 

To put it succinctly, this novel covers Ronan’s new adventures with Bryde and Hennessy on trying to rescue ley lines and specifically one ley line in particular known as Ilidorin, Declan and Jordan’s burgeoning romance and lives in Washington D.C. as art connoisseurs, criminals, and lovers, Matthew’s teenage crisis about being a dream and what that entails, and Farooq-Lane and Lilliana coming to terms with leaving the Moderators and guilt of their previous actions. 

Can I say more? Oh absolutely, but I don’t think anyone wants to hear me ramble on for twenty more pages about the minute details of how Ronan’s inner monologues go so I will leave this brief summary as it is. 

I really found myself falling in love with both Declan and Jordan in this book. While Matthew I found to be really interesting and kind of sad to see go through this bout of teenage rebellion and purpose, to see Ronan struggle with his loneliness and his power, and to see Hennessy come to terms with her destructive tendencies, but being unable to stop herself, it was Declan and Jordan who were the true draw for me for most of the novel. 

I found their relationship to be so interesting and lovely. Their love for art, their respect for each other, their drive for ambition and independence. The part that struck me was where Declan talked about how Jordan was the first person in his life he didn’t have to coddle, or protect, or take care of. She was just his equal and that hit me so hard. 

Reading about them and Declan matter of factly saying they’ll get married had me squealing. It was especially needed as Ronan was out being a wanderer and Hennessy’s self loathing was both poignantly and heart-breakingly present. 

A part of this as well was previously seeing Declan as a villain, but Maggie did a superb job of showing everyone’s perspectives in this book and not any one character was right or wrong, but instead all of them had nuanced opinions and goals with understandable motives and desires. 

As a whole, all of the characters witnessed a lot of growth in this installment and while this book definitely came across as a second book in a trilogy with lots of set-up and anticipation, I’m once again okay with waiting for the finale as I know Maggie will deliver. 

I’m here for the long journey and this book was such a pleasant dream to meander through that I can say nothing more about how tremendous I think the writing was and how complex and varied the characters came across. 

I’m already anxiously longing for book three, as I already know it’ll be as breathtaking and bewildering as all of Maggie’s creations are. 

Recommendation: If you haven’t read The Raven Cycle you need to read it. If you haven’t read Call Down the Hawk then you also need to read that. That’s it, that’s the whole recommendation, people. You won’t regret it. 

Score: 8/10

#mr impossible #the raven boys #the raven cycle #maggie stiefvater #call down the hawk #pynch #ronan lynch #adam parrish #book #bookblog bookrecommendations #book blog #book review #YA Book Review #8/10 #popular fiction #mister impossible #mister impossible spoilers #mi spoilers

[variousqueerthings]

THESE ARE ATTACK EYEBROWS!

alrightalright new Doctor new Season and also confession that I cannot help comparing where I'm at with the M*ffat run with the new special and the Classic!Who I'm watching, which is perhaps unfair, but then maybe my guy should stop putting out overlong needlessly complicated Stuff

However consider: Peter Capaldi!

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 5/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 6/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 2/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 8/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 3/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 8/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 6/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 4/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 5/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 53/100 (if I can count….)

Alright alright, let's get this party going!

OBJECTIFICATION: this episode has one of my least favourite scenes of the whole of Doctor Who, because not only is it sexism, it's male gaze via lesbians, in which M*ffat really really sucks at portraying lesbianism that isn't partly a straight man's fantasy and partly weirdly het... the scene is of course when Vastra has Jenny posing in her corsetry... undergarments? idk what clothes are called, apologies, and Jenny thinks she's being painted, when actually Vastra just wanted to look at her being (uncomfortable) pretty while she was doing the important brainy work

she then dismisses Jenny's complaints about why in the world she's been posing for so long with telling her how she brightens up the room and that it's for "art" -- we'll get more into their dynamic in a biiit

PLOT-POINT: Clara is ostensibly the point of this episode -- new Doctor, new face, and she's unsure how to feel about it, because apparently she really fancied Eleven's pubescent charm. This reminds me of The Christmas Invasion in which Rose has a similar journey of figuring out how she feels about the new Doctor, except of course that Rose's internal and external life is a big focus of early Doctor Who, and she also had no idea that the Doctor could just explode and become a totally new body

also the Doctor was unconscious for a lot of it, and the question of what was going on + when you track the timeline the poor girl probably hadn't slept for a million years properly aside from fainting after having the Time Vortex in her head... she's going through it, we're seeing the journey, there's big aliens fucking about, she's stressed! it's all about relearning that trust and a new relationship, and while there's a subtext of romance, it's not pushed at you, so much as this was something deeply important and now it's been unsteadied unexpectedly

Clara's journey by contrast is one in which we met her family for the first time properly-ish an episode ago, most of her arc in her first season was being a mystery, her "fancying" the Doctor was likewise introduced in the previous episode, and crucially... she already knows the Doctor regenerates, because as per M*ffat's own writing she's literally seen all the previous faces (also Capaldi is objectively hotter than Smith, so jot that down, but I can forgive that, personal taste and all that)

there's also a whole weird little "test" scene between Vastra and Jenny that's ostensibly about tolerance but does that common M*ffat thing of having some good lines out of context that aren't really properly about what's happening right now. do I really like the idea of the Doctor as young in order to fit in/be accepted? unclear, need to think about it a bit, but maaaybe, considering how I read Eleven, who perhaps gets away with being a bit fucked up by Appearing Young, versus Twelve who's immediately got everyone going ahhh what is wrong with you bestie????

but it's muddily mixed in with the whole fancying thing + Vastra thinking Clara is hot or whatever, it's all... me not liking a lot of Vastra's dialogue generally, which feels like M*ffat trying so hard to be deep and mysterious (the one word test from last season as well)

there ARE a couple of things I like, in that I do want Clara and Twelve to reassess where they stand with each other, and I kind of like Twelve being a mess that's abandoning her because he has no idea what his emotions are doing or who he really is or what's going on... especially that last scene of Twelve having a little stuttery sorry, that works for me, look at this weird alien grandpa that speaks like a child at times, what do you feel about that Clara?

the build-up is... rocky, especially everything with Clara opposite Vastra, the latter of whom mainly seems to exist to extol the Doctor's godlike virtues and bully her wife/maid and sound clever

I ALSO like when Clara is facing the bad guy and is clearly very scared but still trying. I liked that from s7b Clara, who was often very openly scared, but still tried

COMPLEXITY: the problem with this episode is that it could be a standard 48mins easily and be better for it. there's nothing technically wrong with it, but there was no need for a dinosaur, no real need for a lot of the dialogue, and many scenes could have been trimmed

also after several episodes that are Quite Long that don't need to be, I'm beginning to grow tired of it. thank goodness we're heading into average episodes again at last

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: I mean, new Doctor. it's mainly the Doctor that's got some stuff going on, but again the last scene. reminiscent of End Of The World (chips? coffee and chips? I haven't got any money)

there's also a new character who's arrived... and it's The Master! and yes, she's got a bit of that M*ffat DNA, but man Michelle Gomez is so good, so so so good! Scottish Bastard Aliens let's do this!

COMPANIONS MATTER: Clara kiiind of... so she doesn't necessarily do much, but there is that... thing. of her figuring out where she stand with this new Doctor, and that's quite important

the Paternoster gang do more actiony-based things and it's... I mean, fine, I guess. they're not companions, and they're mostly more sci-fi elements to all of the plot, rather than what A Person can do

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: I will say that Capaldi is instantly more workable for me. even some of the stupid hangovers in dialogue from the Matt Smith era flow better with him. I don't like the whole monologue at the dinosaur, it's pointless and this episode is an hour and 15mins (this fuckn dinosaur), and the Doctor designating humans as "pudding brains" for ages and the general dismissive "I'm so smart, you're so stupid" attitude... well I can buy it a little easier from Capaldi. also I know that Capaldi's Doctor eventually tones that down and I mean... it's giving Grumpy Old Man rather than Petulant Child

there's meaning, there's point, the Doctor feels more grounded than before. speaking of grounded, I like that the Doctor isn't all-powerful. a lot of this is surviving a bit on your wits, staying one step ahead, and there's also the bit at the end where we don't know if roboboy jumped or was pushed... it's perhaps controversial as choice, but I'm going to sit on it a bit more, especially with the tone this era has inherited of a more Alien Doctor that is trying to reground themself and their values

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: uuuuum so the thing here is that these droids are basically the same as the ones from Girl In The Fireplace. now, regardless of how one feels about some of the thematic handling of that episode, and the Thing M*ffat was showing early on of a preference for writing about "Important Monarch-Related People" and other such things, the droids were really fucking cool in my opinion, and the plot of them getting shit wrong in their brains and causing a massive disruption in one person's life, fascinating

it's a great One Off Idea

but we all know M*ffat's no good at One Offs so here we are doing a slightly worse version of it. M*ffat this is your own episode you're referencing, why are you beating this horse? (like the time M*ffat insisted on an actual horse jumping through a mirror even though it was very stupid and people told him to please drop it... oh wait, that was Girl In The Fireplace....)

“SEXINESS”: okay well aforementioned "art" scene I think is a lot of the Thing that irks me about the writing of Vastra and Jenny, where I wish I liked them more, but I cannot stop seeing the way they're written as an unexplored power-dynamic -- rich vs working class, powerful alien "simple" human, Sherlock Holmes genius rich type and simple maid (who, granted, sometimes gets to beat people up, we like the action stuff, even if I'm not a fan of the sexy leather and I feel like a traitor writing that M*ffat! you've made me dislike sexy leather lesbianism in something how?????), and while all of this is occasionally pointed to, it's only ever as a joke

this includes things like Vastra flirting with (at?) Clara in front of Jenny, when they're ostensibly a monogamous couple and Jenny isn't happy about it, or Jenny pointing out that it's weird she's "pretending" at being a maid in private and being brushed off

INTERNAL WORLD: it's Victorian London, but it's the "these kinds of episodes" Victorian London, which has never felt like much other than a bit of a backdrop. we're not really exploring Victorian London, it's just where the Paternoster gang happens to be and so we get big dresses and hats

also a big Dinosaur is there and that's unimportant and doesn't change things I suppose

POLITICS: it's so... there. as an episode. so not a lot of politics, but how does it write lesbians? eh, not the most horrible thing I've seen -- I genuinely like the acting of the characters and we do get one big ol' kiss this episode (scifi vibes, but this is a scifi show), which is framed reeelatively romantically -- we did have Jenny dying in the Name Of The Doctor and Vastra having many emotions about it (just remembered how her being emotional about her partner dying was an invite to getting harassed for being too emotional and silly just like a womaaaan) (I also still think about how Jenny still calls her Ma'am for some reason... like yeah, that could be a hot prolonged roleplay, but it definitely isn't, except for the way it is because of the guy writing it knowing that it doesn't make sense but it's kind of a hot prolonged roleplay... does that make sense, idk)

we're in Victorian London, some robots are stealing peoples bodies and it's not about anything really

also we had a baffling line from Vastra espousing her fighting the bad guys as "for the British Empire"???? what does she care about that???

(also Clara says they should call the police more often, which is kind of a joke, but also no you shouldn't)

FULL RATING: 53/100 (if I can count….)

the worst thing about this episode is actually that its story does not justify the runtime. it is so long and it is so average

Peter Capaldi is a wonderful wonderful actor. Michelle Gomez is immediately great: "He can be very mean sometimes. Except to me of course, because he loves me so much. I do like his new accent though. Think I might keep it" <- this could have been so eye-rollery, but she makes it work and makes me shiver and knowing this is The Master is sooo 👀👀👀

the story is so-so. Clara is still moooostly under-utilised/underappreciated but with some good moments that will (if I remember correctly) continue to thread through their relationship of Clara not being quite sure about this person, who is clearly a bit on-edge and confused: "The man I hope you are with, believe me he is more scared than anything you can imagine right now. And he needs you"

Clara's place in this story is still constantly buffeted by the wind. the things that do come up "person he knows the best (I guess, comparatively)," and "someone who fancies the Doctor" is kind of the weakest part of that, when actually what's going on is more interesting

#im watching nu!who #im watching capaldi who #ooh that was exciting to write #episode deep breath #the measurement

[worstloki]

please read the article 'How White Fandom is Colonizing "Character-Coding"' by Shafira Jordan and quit while you're ahead

Okay, so I read it and see the problem, and I’ll try to address all their points in order because I don’t wholly agree with the article. I know it’s a lot to read so I’ve put tldr; sections at the end of each :)

Misusing the Term Reinforces Negative Stereotypes for Marginalized People 

The article essentially argues that labeling characters which are villainous as POC-coded is bad because they’re not morally pure and doing so "reinforces the idea that people of color are naturally dangerous and not to be trusted.”

Which is fair as you don’t want all the representation to be of ‘bad’ characters, but I also don’t believe all representative characters have to be ‘good’ either as it would be equally racist to divide good/bad in such a way. Not that I would place Loki under ‘bad’ to begin with, but arguing that characters shouldn’t be labelled as POC-coded for reasons unrelated to what’s presented in the narrative or because they did bad things is :/ even if lack of good representation is a prevalent issue in current Western and influenced media. 

Ideally there should be a range of representative characters that fall into ‘good’, ‘bad’, and ‘anywhere in-between’ because variety and complexity in character types should, in theory, be treated as common practice (which can only happen with a multitude of representation!).

And a bit unrelated but... within the fictional context of Thor 1, all the Jotnar (sans Loki) are presented to the audience as ‘bad’ by default. They desperately want to get their Casket back to the point of attempting stealing it (from the ‘good’ characters), they fight the heroes and even when the gang and Thor (’good’ characters) are enjoying or going overboard with taking lives it’s inconsequential, Laufey wants to kill the opposing king (who just happens to be a ‘good’ character) and will resort to low-handed methods to do so, etc. The narrative itself is from the frame of reference of the ‘good’ and we only see warriors of Jotunheim though so we understand why it’s like this, because regardless of their race/experiences the narrative carries, even if it most definitely would be seen as racist from our real-life perspectives if the ‘monstrous’ race were presented by actual people of colour, even if it would make sense for the people on on different realms living in different environments to be different from each other, and realistic even for that to be the root of some conflict. 

tldr; not using a specific label to prevent negative presentations of the characters seems a bit strange to do when the coding would be based off the text, but with limited representation available I see why it would be done, even if I still believe minority-coding is free game to expand/interpret.

Improperly Labeling a Character as “POC-coded” Suggests the Experiences of All People of Color are the Same 

The article argues that labeling Loki as POC-coded “suggests that all people of color have the same experiences, when in reality, people of color come from different places, have different cultures, and have different traditions.” And while it’s true that the term doesn’t go into detail about which particular experiences (and these experiences can vary vastly due to diversity!) the appropriate measure would be to remove the umbrella term POC altogether as people of colour tend to also vary. But that’s also exactly why it’s an all-encompassing general term? It’s a way to denote anyone who isn’t “white” and has the associated cultural privilege that comes with the concept of white supremacy.  

And, obviously, in the fictional setting presented, the concept of white supremacy is not prodded at, but cultural supremacy is definitely one that makes recurring appearances, right next to the parts about Asgard being a realm built on imperialism with ongoing colonial practice. 

My take on this is that Loki’s narrative features a struggle with identity after finding out he’s of a different race and was being treated differently his entire life and being Jotun was presumably a part of the reasoning even if he didn’t know it. He’s basically treated as of less worth for inherently existing differently. I do believe that racism is a common-enough POC experience, but that while Loki was born with blue skin he passes/appears white which is why I don’t say that Loki is a POC, just that he has been coded/can be interpreted this way. 

There’s also the entire thing with Loki trying to fit in and prove he belongs by trying to fit the theory and be The Most Asgardian by committing genocide (which ultimately makes no difference as he’s still not the ‘acceptable’ version of Asgardian), and the denial/rejection of his birth culture in destructively lashing out towards them (which even Thor is confused by because Loki isn’t typically violent), and the fact his self worth plummets and he is passively suicidal upon finding out he’s Jotun (internalized racism? general drop in self-worth after finding out he’s adopted and has been lied to? Bit of both?), but what do I know, I’m sure none of those are, at their base, common experiences or relatable feelings for anyone or decent rep because we see such themes on-screen presented wonderfully in different lights all the time. 

tldr; every set of experiences could be different, some types of discrimination could overlap, if you limit an umbrella term to only very specific circumstances then it’s no longer an umbrella term.

Suggesting that White Characters are Meant to be Seen as People of Color Ignores the Actual Characters of Color that are Present in these Stories

I don’t agree with most of this section, but that may just be the way the arguments are put together, which I don’t blame the author for.

“ Implying that Loki is a person of color completely ignores Heimdall and Hogun, the only Black and Asian Asgardians who appear in the movie. ”

Characters such as Hogun and Heimdall which are played by actual people of colour have smaller roles in the films and any prejudice they could face for being POC in-universe isn’t made apparent, while Loki at the very least comes to the realization that something he couldn’t change (race, parentage,) was having him treated differently his whole life and had to come to terms with it. The Vanir/Aesir are also both treated similarly on-screen, and Heimdall having dark skin isn’t plot relevant, whereas Jotnar are treated as lesser consistently and are relevant through the movie (breaking into the vault, Thor and co. attack Jotunheim, Loki’s deal with Laufey, the attempted regicide (and the successful one XD), destroying jotunheim, Loki saying he’s not Thor’s brother,). 

I also see including characters as POC-coded as... more representation? In all canon-compliant interpretations of the characters Hogun being Vanir is always explicitly mentioned because it’s a fact that just is, up to the appearance and even the world-building of Vanaheim in some fanworks use particularly East Asian culture as inspiration. I have never come across a Marvel fandom Heimdall interpretation where he’s not Black... but because these characters are more minor/side-characters of course they get less attention! 

“ In Loki’s fandom, Heimdall’s name sometimes gets thrown in to suggest that it was he all along who was the real villain due to his “racism” against Loki and the rest of the Jotun. It is, of course, ironic to suggest that somehow the only Black Asgardian to appear in the movie can oppress the privileged white prince. “

I... don’t know where to start with this. But the example of theorizing given in the article wasn’t suggesting Heimdall was bad or trying to explain his actions in Thor 1 by saying he is Black... and just looking at a character’s actions shouldn’t be done less or more critically because of skin tone in my opinion. Heimdall may have been trying to do what was best and protect the realm but if the audience didn’t know that Loki was up to dodgy things then the coding would be switched around because he was trying to spy and committed treason and then tried to kill Loki. People... can hold feelings towards others... regardless of skin... and suspect them... for reasons other than skin... although I do still have questions about whether Heimdall knew Loki was Jotun or not. (Even if I personally don’t think it’d make a difference to how he’d treat Loki?)

Some Loki fans have also suggested that because Jotuns have blue skin that this alone makes him a person of color (even if the audience is only allowed to see Loki in his true Jotun form for mere seconds of screentime). This, again, shows a lack of understanding when it comes to race. It doesn’t matter what skin color the Jotuns have. 

Race can differentiate between physical and/or behavioural characteristics!! Not being blue all the time doesn’t make him any less Jotun!! He’s got internalized stuff to work through and is used to being Aesir!! At least 1 parent is Jotun so even if Loki was passing as Aesir he’s probably Jotun!! (I don’t know how magic space genetics work for sure but Loki being Jotun was an entire very important jump-starting point in Thor 1!!). It’s a fantasy text and typically things like having different coloured skin indicates a different race or is sometimes if a species has multiple then is just considered a skin colour. That’s how coding works!! The Jotnar are very specifically the only race we see in the movie with a skin-tone not within the ‘normal’ human range, which alienates them to the audience from the get-go!! They’re an “other” and on the opposite side to the ‘good’ characters.

Both Loki and his birth father, Laufey (Colm Feore), are played by white men, and it is impossible for a white man to successfully play a character of color. 

The specification of men here bothers me, but yes, you don’t get ‘white’ people to play characters of colour if it can be avoided. (And it can be avoided.)

This also connects with the previous point made that people of color come from various places. There is nothing specifically about the Jotun that could be traced to any specific person of color, and even if there were, there would be no way for white men to portray them without being disrespectful.

This is where arguments about the definition of coding and how specificity/generalizations and do/don’t come in. I know I’m subjective and lean towards the more rep the better, but while I agree ‘white’ people wouldn’t be able to respectfully play a POC I don’t think that rule should have to carry over into fantasy-based fiction. I know texts reflect on reality and reality can reflect within texts, but if contextually there is racial discrimination and there are similar ideas which resonate with the audience’s own experiences I’d say it’s coded well enough to allow that.

tldr; Thor 1′s narrative revolves mainly around Thor and Loki, of which race is kinda kinda a significant theme in Loki’s part of the story. Not so much explored with less-developed side characters such as Heimdall and Hogun, even though their actors are actual people of colour. 

How Much of this is Really Well-Intentioned?

In the fantasy space viking world Heimdall and Hogun don’t face any on-screen prejudice and their appearance is not mentioned (which is nice, for sure! good to have casual rep!) but adding on to the roles they play in the narrative the explicit fantasy-racism in the movie isn't aimed at Asian/Black characters, but towards the Humans -to a lesser extent- and the Jotnar, including Loki, who only just found out he comes under that bracket.

The article mentions how fandom space toxicity often “reaches the actors who portray the characters,“ which is true, and it’s shameful that people have to justify their roles or presences are harassed for the pettiest things like skin tone/cultural background, but I don’t see coding characters as removing the spotlight from interesting characters such as those which are actually POC, rather expressing a demand for more rep, since well-written complex characters which are diverse are often absent/minor enough in the media, and therefore can get easily brushed aside in both canon and fandom spaces.

tldr; It’s obviously not a replacement for actual representation, but, if a character is marginalized and can be interpreted as coded, even if they would only be considered so within the context of the textual landscape, I don’t see why spreading awareness through exploring the coding as a possibility for the character shouldn’t be done, even if the media is being presented by people who are ‘white’ or privileged or may not fall into the categories themselves, as long as it’s done respectfully to those it could explicitly represent.

#please don’t patronize me by asking to quit while i’m ahead #it doesn't help anyone #so anyway i've summarized my opinion on the coding thing here for the many anons whose answers could be answered in this ask alone #i think i covered everything? #the article started out okay but I found it kinda :/ in places even though there were valid concerns #I do believe that in-universe context and creators of the media should be taken into account #and that if marginalized themes can be touched on by non-marginalized groups then... great? fictional texts can help people understand #i do also think that rep being presented should if not on-screen have people working on the product to support and ensure it's done well #the world is cold and harsh and cruel and i just wanted a desi Loki AU but here we are #I've got to try and summarize how I think Thor 1 presents Loki's part of the narrative well with POC-coding there because of fantasy-racism #even if the POC-coding is ignored the themes of racism are far too apparent to ignore #loki spends the entire film being a multi-dimensional character and having an entire downfall fueled by grief and a desire to be loved #I don't think attaching a label to such a character would be a negative thing... but perhaps for casual watchers it'd be a bit :/ #apparently not everyone takes into account the 1000+ years of good behavior around that 1 year of betrayal/breakdown/identity crisis/torture #MetaAnalysisForTheWin #MAFTW #ThisPostIsLongerThanMyLifeSpan #TPILTMLS #AgreeToDisagreeOrNot #ATDON #poc-coding #yes i ignored everything not about loki in the article what about it #hmmm I know people are going to disagree with me with what should and shouldn't be allowed #I know some people are okay with it but some don't like the poc-coding thing #and that's fine #completely understandable #makes me uncomfy to talk about fictional space racism in comparison to real life but I do think that lack of rep is why coding is important #for some people coding is all that they get #but also!! @ifihadmypickofwishes suggested the term racial allegory and I do believe that is also suitable here!! so I’ll try using that too #rather than poc-coding even though I still believe it applies

[yurimother]

LGBTQ Game Review - A Summer’s End – Hong Kong 1986

Before diving into the meat of Oracle and Bone’s A Summer’s End, I want to talk about the women behind this game Tida Kietsungden, and Charissa So. So and Kietsungden have done nothing but impress me since the announcement of A Summer’s End. They have repeatedly demonstrated their immense effort and dedication to creating a beautiful and thoughtful experience. Through conversations with the studio and reading their blog entries, I gained a remarkable understanding of how this game is both a tribute to classic cinema and a love letter to the Yuri and LGBT community. Through careful research and thoughtful expression, the two women navigate and acknowledge complicated issues, including Asian LGBTQ history and Hong Kong’s delicate political situation with grace and maturity. I am in complete awe of both women and their work. However, regardless of my profound respect for these creators, I still endeavor to offer my unfiltered thoughts on the visual novel, giving praise and criticism where appropriate.

A Summer’s End – Hong Kong 1986 is a Yuri visual novel set, as you may have figured out, in Hong Kong in the year 1986. The game follows a young office worker, Michelle (Fong Ha) Cheung, who has a chance encounter with a free-spirited woman named Sam (Ka Yan) Wong. Both women feel drawn to each other, and the game explores this mutual attraction and the budding relationship which emerges from it.

This plot follows the standard girl meets girl story that has permeated the Yuri genre for the past several decades. Like most Yuri stories, the older and more experienced woman, Sam, is rebellious and beautiful, with long dark hair and a dominating persona. Michelle, although far more naive in the ways of love, breaks the trend of this trope by being the more sullen of the two. I would have liked to see the game diverge a bit more from the standard story of the genre. Fortunately, A Summer’s End is a romance story between adults who do not work together, setting it apart from the norms. It even includes a coming out section that creates a more robust LGBT identity than any tale of temporary schoolgirl love.

The story is well put together and well presented. The story is told primarily from Michelle’s perspective. It mostly takes place over a few days, during which Michelle engages in a whirlwind romance with Sam. This story features the struggle between her feelings and passion and her devotion to tradition and her mother. The progression of her affection is unrealistically fast. The story feels a bit rushed, and many of the societal and personal quagmires the game stumbles upon are not sufficiently developed or confronted. Had the game indulged in a more prolonged and tumultuous struggle for Michelle, conclusions would have felt much sweeter, and the story would have gone from good to great.

Even with this massive missed opportunity, there are plenty of exemplary moments and aspects of the narrative. The game pulls no punches addressing Michelle’s slightly overbearing mother and the conflict between the two. It would have been incredibly simple to take the easy route on this one. Still, the developers stuck to their guns and manage to explore a challenging situation satisfyingly, all while keeping the characters realistic and sympathetic. In fact, every scene relating to LGBT rights and history is flawlessly executed.

There are also some fantastic chapters, including a thrilling but refreshing bike ride and a flashback scene that recontextualizes certain events from another perspective. The many references and allusions to classic cinema including some older lesbian films and plenty of Asian works, are particularly noteworthy. However, the best part of A Summer’s End by far is the setting.

The location and time period is intrinsic to Sam and Michelle’s tale, as it is shaped by and reflects contemporary culture and LGBTQ rights. Oracle and Bone create a vibrant and lively world, a jaw-dropping depiction of Hong Kong in the 1980s. Everything helps feed into the creation of this world, including a fantastic and retro UI, small touches such as a Cantonese subway announcement, and objects encountered like a disposable camera help convey a strong sense of the period. However, the soundtrack sells it more than any other element, save perhaps the artwork, transporting the player to the era. While a few tracks are the standard easy listening affairs one expects from visual novels, there are tons of excellent city pop and disco beats, complete with plenty of synths and confidence! Finally, a visual novel soundtrack that contributes more than just background noise!

Sadly, the game’s dialogue choice system and branching paths are far more of a hindrance than a help. I can honestly say that the game would play better and be way more enjoyable as a kinetic novel. Most choices feel inconsequential, changing nothing of the story and resulting in almost the exact same response from other characters yet, they have a hidden points system. If you do not earn enough points, parts of the optional adult content will be unplayable until one goes back to find the right choice. I spent several hours replaying, and eventually skipping through, the game to unlock all the scenes, and finally gave up with one CG left unseen. The only choice with any actual effect is painfully evident in its consequences. One option leads to the bad ending, which is well written, but no reasonable player would go down that path unless they just wanted to see the whole game. The second unveils the true good ending, which no player in their right mind would not pursue, as again, the choice is obvious and adds nothing to the game. There is no reason to put in an alternative ending or tedious dialogue choice.

The characters in A Summer’s End are well constructed. Sam is adventurous without being obnoxious and has a mature though appropriately unrefined demeanor. Michelle is extremely curt and somewhat distant, although she displays a sharp wit and more timid nature on occasion. Both women participate in engaging, deep, and thoughtful discussions, often with each other, although sometimes internally, and thus feel well developed and complex. Unfortunately, their chemistry, while not absent, is not enough to sell the whirlwind romance. There is insufficient expression of their feelings and attractions, both internally or through dialogue and actions, so their inevitable closeness feels unearned.

However, even in the short game, both characters change with each other, especially Michelle, as she becomes more affectionate, confident, and caring. She begins to embody some of Sam’s warmness while never losing herself. Some of my favorite dialogue and interaction came from her towards the end of the game, although I will not spoil it. Additionally, side characters have a strong presence thanks to their firmly established characteristics and a profound effect on the narrative. Each has their own sprite and mannerisms, helping cement them as fixtures in A Summer’s End rather than tacked on assets.

The visual novel contains optional adult content, which is installed in an extra patch and can be toggled on and off. I played through the game with and without it and can happily report that the story is just as fulfilling and complete without it. Although the unlockable nature of these scenes is aggravating, they are very well written and sensual without being exploitative. There were moments I did not care for as much, such as Sam getting carried away at one point, but it felt very realistic and incredibly sensual. The artwork in these sexual encounters is some of the best in the game, embracing darker colors and showcasing intense desire.

Speaking of the artwork, it is stupendous. The game is bright and striking, with amazing backgrounds complete with luminous neon signs, glaring televisions, and life and activity oozing from every corner. The backgrounds are so beautiful and detailed they could effectively serve in place of CG art, although there is plenty of that asides. The character models and designs are similarly excellent, with expressive poses and faces. The various outfits, of which the game has many, embody iconic 80’s fashion. Artist Tida Kietsungden draws both the characters and CGs with a distinctive hand-drawn style, which allows them to play well off each other and add to the beautiful presentation. The detail and care that went into the aesthetics are enormous and elevate the game at every moment. 

A Summer’s End – Hong Kong 1986 is a vibrant and intimate experience. The fantastic setting and flawless artwork surround a compelling and thoughtful story about lesbian love and desire, societal expectations, and the bonds between family and lovers. It is rough around the edges, with a slightly rushed story that leaves little time to wallow in complexity and an awful dialogue system. However, it will win players over with its striking presentation and sophisticated subject matter. I look forward to more from this studio and highly recommend you check this game out!

Ratings: Story – 7 Characters – 6 Art – 10 Music – 8 LGBTQ – 8 Sexual Content – 3 (8 with patch) Final – 7

Purchase A Summer’s End on Steam and itch.io, available April 23

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