#which FASCINATES ME bc when i was kid i don't think they did?? in character stuff on disney surfers

[the-force-awakens]

hello hi, very quick - did you know i love him

#nym speaks #SORRY I REMEMBERED THIS VIDEO EXISTED #bless aphrodite for disney surfers giving me like. 20 seconds extra footage of him in character as poe #like he's very clearly in character as poe faojfoajsoak #it's even titled 'x-wing lessons with poe' #which FASCINATES ME bc when i was kid i don't think they did?? in character stuff on disney surfers #i can only assume oscar saw his opportunity to play poe infodumping [is sniped before i can finish my sentence] #starlight 🪐🧡 #poe dameron

[thebestofoneshots]

This is so out of nowhere but do you think Sirius would want to get married and start a family? Like kids and stuff. Both as a character in canon and in GC. I’ve been thinking about it deep and hard lately. And i wanted to know what you think? cause i believe you have such good grasp on him (and other marauders era characters as well).

Oh, this is a brilliant question! At first, I wasn't sure, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense in my head, so hear me out:

I think Sirius was absolutly horrified by the idea of marriage in early teens. He was beyond scared since the marriages he was mostly exposed to when he was a child weren't born of love, but rather of political arrangements.

I think he sees marriage as an institution (he hates those) that his parents were ready to ascribe themselves –and him– to. A political ploy for power or blood purity or whatever it might be the Blacks had in their eyes at the time. Not something to aspire to, but something to repudiate (like he did with most Noble House of Black-related things).

In fact, I think part of Sirius' playboy persona was born from this, he thought relationships weren't all that, and was scared of commitment bc he thought he knew how they would end, which is why he dated around instead of devoting himself to a relationship. His behaviour was somewhat of a defence mechanism against his perceived inevitability of future failure (also it enraged Walburga and Sirius would have done anything to enrage her).

When Sirius got to live with the Potters, and the more time he spent with them (wasn't that much, unfortunately), he saw that things weren't always the same. That relationships didn't have to be toxic and they didn't have to end the way they did in the Black family.

He learned that not all relationships are about give and take, but some are just about giving and receiving, and he was fascinated by this. He finally understood why James wanted a relationship (and a marriage) with Lily.

And while this gave Sirius a new perspective on how things can be, it didn't erase the fact that he was scared of it. He was scared that he was too much of a Black and he wouldn't be able to have something like the Potters, but instead, he would inevitably end up like his parents –because it was in his blood.

I think the same applies to children, Sirius is too scared to be like his parents and fuck his children up, although I do think he likes kids since he always proved to be fond of Harry, Ron and Hermione after he met them. But especially Harry, he loved him like he had been his own kid, or I guess the same way he loved James, like family.

Having said that, and while I don't think Sirius would expect a grandiose wedding or anything of the sort, I do think, after some time and finding a partner that he loves and living with them for a while, and therefore knowing what it is to be in a relationship with them and having evidence that he wouldn't end like his parents, he could entertain the idea of marriage, and would eventually open to one (perhaps even to having children).

Same thing applies to GC Sirius, in fact, and you'll see this once the chapters have been posted, but Sirius is already entertaining an idea similar to this while watching the Potters during the Christmas break (Still a few chapters to go, though).

Read Gilded Constellations

Sidenote: This was really fun!! I love psychoanalysing characters.

#lilly talks #ask lilly #marauders era #marauders x reader #marauders x y/n #moony #padfoot #prongs #sirius black #sirius x reader #sirius black fluff #sirius x you #sirius x y/n #remus x y/n #remus x you #remus x reader #remus one shot #sirius black one shot #poly!marauders x reader #poly!marauders #wolfstar x reader #wolfstar x y/n #wolfstar x you #sirius black x fem!reader #remus lupin x fem!reader #moony x reader #moony x padfoot #moony wormtail padfoot and prongs #moony x you

[alpaca-clouds]

What's going on with Drolta?

Alright, I kinda promised @g-vlssz to also write down some historical context for this femme fatale. And admittedly she is the hardest character to figure out in this regard. Because we do not know a lot about her.

Don't get me wrong: We know two things about her. She is from Ancient Egypt and she was a priestess of Sekhmet. It stands to assume that she is also the reason, why Eszebet got to drink from Sekhmet.

Here is the issue: Ancient Egypt is a thing that was around for 3000 years. The oldest definite proof of worship of Sekhmet we have dates back to the 14th century BC. And as far as I know the last temple build for her was erected in the 1st century AD. So, we have a good 1500 years during which people definitely prayed to Sekhmet - and during which Drolta could theoretically have been created.

Given that we do not know how long vampires are around in the world of Castlevania, we also cannot use that information to somehow narrow it down. (I mean, according to Katie Silva Morana was from Ancient Sumer, which fell around 1750 BC.)

And once again, there is just the fact: Religions change over the centuries. The way we worship changes.

One way to go about is to look at her Blackness and make some interpretations about that, given that Egyptians usually are not Black but Arab. But... historically speaking this is a huge, huge controversy. Because whether or not Ancient Egyptians were Black is a big, big disccussion to this day. And to be honest: I am not gonna throw my hat into that ring.

There is one line, Drolta says, though, that makes me think that she might actually go back to about 1200 BC. Because she remembers her time as a priestess with the "smell of dead bodies". (I don't quite have the full quote there right now. But something along that lines.) And that one stood out to me, because the Egyptians were not that big on human sacrifice (outside from Retainer Sacrifices). Usually Sekhmet would get sacrificed either goats or bulls, but not humans. But... there is some kinda shacky evidence that while Egypt was having a war with the Hittites, which ended up very, very bloody, some prisoners of war got actually sacrificed to Sekhmet.

Going through all I have on Ancient Egypt and Sekhmet, this is the one instance I can find where there is (even though shacky) evidence of human sacrifice to Sekhmet.

But again, it is kinda hard to say.

Something that might play into her motivations, though, is the colonial history of Egypt. Which is a bit more complicated than a lot of white folks, who don't do history, give it credit for. Egyptian culture and mythology is fascinating. It is. Kid!me was not the first person who looked at that and was entranced. No, that goes back to even Ancient times when Greeks and Romans looked at Egypt and had the exact same reaction. Which makes it so complicated. Because, of course, colonialism of Egypt started a long, long time ago with the Greeks and Romans.

But... It was kinda different back then, mostly because Egyptian culture might have gotten mixed up with some of the Roman and Greek customs, but the Romans and Greeks never forbid or even much restricted Egyptian worship. Quite on the contrary, as they took up some of the gods, especially Isis, who became very popular both in Greece and Rome.

Now, if you are wondering: Why did worship of the Egyptian gods even end? You should know the answer: Christians.

See, the Romans were very okay with the worship of the Egyptian gods. Because they were polytheistic. But then along came Constantin, who not only moved the capital of Rome from, well, Rome, to Constantinople, but also made Christianity the main religion of the Byzantine Empire. Originally they kinda sorta still allowed other worship, but then along came Emperor Theodisius, who in line with his name was very much not okay with it. Not only did he had soldiers burn down temples throughout the Empire, he also forcefully converted people to Christianity. (As in: "Convert or die" forcefully.) Something people later would call the Heathen Hunts.

And with that... Well, with that the Egyptian gods became forbidden to pray to. Now, there were later again and again attempts to bring the worship back, but even after Egypt was no longer part of the Empire, it had Muslim rulers. And while Muslims at the time were mostly okay with Christians and Jews hanging around and doing their thing, they were often not as cool with the polytheistic worship of some other cultures.

And yeah, no matter what time Drolta comes from... She probably was there when they burned down the Sekhmet temples. And yes, she very much also was there when the Europeans came to Egypt and plundered the graves to then (ugh) fucking consume bits of mummy or use mummies in their paints.

So, like... If, after all of that, she decided "vampire messiah is gonna punish all the humans" sounded actually fairly good... I would not exactly hold it against her.

And that is all without going into the "she was probably Sekhmet's guardian the entire time or something" thing, that clearly is implied by the text.

#castlevania #castlevania netflix #castlevania nocturne #castlevania drolta #drolta #ancient egypt #sekhmet #colonialism #christianity #byzantium

[yellowocaballero]

SHAZAM SHAZAM SHAZAM pls tell us about billy batson. ive only ever seen the movies o great comic knower

Very very very VERY far from comic expert (that's brawltogethernow) but I have read a lot of Shazam. His history is actually really, really fascinating and involves more than one lawsuit that really defined very early comics. I'll focus on one thing, though.

There are two Captain Marvels: One from the 1940s to around 2013, and one from 2013 til now. The Captain Marvel you're familiar with (who is named Shazam) is from 2013. He's a more realistic, grounded character. He was created to be pretty much the polar opposite of his original version. The best summary is to say that the Wizard chose Billy Batman 1940 because he had the purest heart, and the Wizard chose Billy Batson ~2013 because he was there. My personal 'best' Shazam story is the "Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil" graphic novel by the guy who made Bone. It's good because it's for elementary schoolers yet acknowledges this small child as homeless. Which, don't get me wrong, you shouldn't always do. My personal favorite is the 1970s ones.

As some background: Otto Binder was the creator/main writer of the very early Captain Marvel comics. He was by far and away the best writer of the early Superman Silver Age comics, because all of his comics were batshit insane. Shazam has a complicated and legal history with Superman, so the 1970 run was a super fun high camp tongue in cheek reinvention of the best Silver Age stories.

So the 1970 Captain Marvel comics are insane.

I can't even summarize them without sounding crazy. Basically the conceit is that Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr, and Mary Marvel (Billy, Freddy, and Mary) are having 1940s Golden Age Adventures when they get somehow in suspended animation and are basically time travelled to the 1970s. This don't bother them too much. Why would it bother them. Nothing bothers these people. Nothing. I don't think anybody experiences a negative emotion in these comics. Not bc they were twee. Bc they were insane.

Many of the comics basically had three shorter comics inside it: one Billy story, one Mary story, one Freddy story. Interestingly, they all had different art styles, artists, types of story, genre, etc. Billy's stories had a cartoony art style with very over-the-top and silly plotlines that involved supervillain bad dudes. Freddy's art was slightly more realistic and was slighty more grounded, but still had some classic Marvel indescribable scifi that can best be summarized as that one meme panel people have seen where Sivana recites a science equation that lets him walk through walls. Mary's stories were much more realistically drawn and featured the most banal shit, like her starting a club with her friends. Somehow Mary Marvel gets involved in those.

Sometimes they worked together and did superhero things and fought bad guys. The average fight looked like this:

Billy was a twelve year old who lived by himself, in his own apartment, had his own radio show, a full-ass job, a whole thing as Captain Marvel. He paid fucking taxes. Everybody knew this and nobody cared. He's the most affable, good natured kid on the face of the planet. Nothing bothers him. Nothing. Nothing bothers any of these people. Sivana shows up and he's BIG MAD so he's creating another death ray and Captain Marvel shows up like "Oh you rascal! Time to punch this and go back to helping my friend eat his infinite Jello."

He has a friend named Talky Tawny, who is a talking tiger wearing a suit. He also has a friend named Sunny Smiles, a person of indeterminate gender who everybody falls in love with, for unexplained and unknown reasons. Not to be confused with Freddy's friend Gregory Gosharootie, the "World's Dullest Mortal", who is so boring that nobody notices him and he keeps accidentally comitting crime. There is also an old guy named Uncle Marvel who pretends he has superpowers, which they all find funny so they just roll with it. Freddy is a disabled orphan who has to sell papers on the street corner to make a living. Mary lives in a middle class suburban home with loving foster parents. It never once seems to occur to Mary's parents to adopt Billy, for Freddy to live with Billy. Everybody is happiest this way.

I do think this is partly why a good Shazam comic has to be aimed at the 6-12yo demographics. They have to be for small children, because Billy is living a complete and utter power fantasy that only a ten year old would think is a good idea. He's a kid, and he doesn't have drag parents or a lame family, but he can turn into Superman, and he can also do magic, and everybody loves him and thinks he's the nicest person, and his supervillains are Dr. Doofenschmirtz and a worm, and his supporting cast is like okay my sister if she HAS to be involved, but also my best friend who is a paperboy! but cool because he's disabled, and….

Look, you could engage with that seriously. You could go "holy shit this is a homeless child". That's fine. That's what they do these days, and that's what they did in the movies. Nothing wrong with that. Take the story more seriously.

But also they don't give a worm the electric chair in those stories, so.

To actually give some commentary on these comics: these comics really love people. I've never seen comics that were so entrenched in their community. The kids just know everybody they meet on the street. Freddy delivers paper up and down every block, so an average story for him is just talking to a butcher or baker or old man or grumpy housewife and helping them out with some batshit problem. Mary's a sweet girl who's always starting clubs with her friends and taking on neighborhood projects. Many Billy stories involve one of his many friends falling into some trouble and Captain Marvel helping them out - or just exploring some fun with Billy hanging out with Sunny Smiles, who is a person of indeterminate gender who for some reason has magic love brainwashing powers -

This isn't the biggest #Shazam take, but I think a good Shazam story stays grounded in that. These are poor street kids who love Fawcett City so damn much. They love fighting their supervillains, but they love helping out the random guy off the street with their problems even more. Way more so than Spider-Man or a lot of other guys, I think of the Marvel family as the friendly neighborhood superheroes. They're both larger than life and street level. They're Superman level powers but they just use the powers for wrapping up their hijinks. Isn't that nice? Aren't you tired of going apeshit? Don't you just want to be nice?

#captain marvel #shazam #mary marvel #freddy freeman #billy batson #captain marvel jr #mary batson #i pulled open the old comics to review to write this #and as a kid I was like. #“hah! silly old silver age comics! they don't know how dumb they are!” #but reading it now im like #“holy shit i think they're doing it on purpose. holy shit. i think this is the most sarcastic comic ive ever read.” #“I don't think this is the funniest thing ever on accident. I think these were jokes. This comedy is sublime.” #genuinely they hold up SO well. they're fucking delightful. #high camp. #my writing #my asks

[magentagalaxies]

making my own post bc i have thoughts and i don't want to keep having to go back and forth with tags and replies on someone else's post:

anyway original post i started this conversation on: @charlotterenaissance

my tag essay:

@liliana-von-k's reply:

(all this context is bc i have even more thoughts so i thought i should make my own post)

anyway to respond to that i 100% agree!! it also reminds me of something from my very first conversation with bruce (when we did a zoom interview before we knew each other) which idk if i've posted this aspect of before: i forget what my exact question was but i essentially brought up this kind of paradigm the KITH's female characters are often discussed in and how it's kind of strange comparing it to the actual representation of female characters in the show. like, sure dave "passes" the most as a conventionally-attractive female character, but also i'd honestly say any of the kids in the hall can pass as female, not even just from a genderqueer perspective but from a not all women are "conventionally attractive" perspective. like i know cis women who have a jawline like bruce's or a nose like scott's or any other feature that isn't seen as "feminine" from (often white-eurocentric) beauty standards and many of them are gorgeous.

and the fact that KITH's female characters are often discussed through a lens of "who plays the best woman" (meaning the one who "passes" according to beauty standards) is as frustrating as it is fascinating bc i really do think it points to the way the media tries to comprehend this gender nonconformity and shove it into a box they can understand. because the kids in the hall have already destroyed the most obvious box their female characters could be put in - yes, they are male comedians, but even though the most often way society rationalizes men dressing femininely is as a comedic act (whether as a man purposefully trying to elicit comedy via feminine actions and dress or via a man who genuinely enjoys feminine expression being made an object of ridicule via comedy), the kids in the hall break this framework (this "binary", if you will) by being comedians who are in control of the audience's laughter, but playing their femininity as genuine. you don't laugh with them at their femininity because they do not laugh at femininity, but you also can't make their femininity the subject of ridicule because their position as comedians means they are at once in on the joke and steering the joke in another direction. this technique is more subtextual (and likely subconscious) in the portrayal of female characters, but it's a tactic scott knowingly (and expertly) employs when playing buddy cole

so since the "men in dresses equals comedy" box is eliminated, cishet society feels the need to create another box for them to rationalize this gender nonconformity in, by attributing it to a spectacle other than humor. so they decide to instead view these gender transgressions through the lens of beauty and sexual attractiveness. this also helps rationalize any confusing attraction a cishet person has to one of the kids in the hall dressed as a woman - they pass too well, or at least whichever one you're attracted to (most often dave) does. making a spectacle of the kids in the hall playing women eliminates any confusion or implications that maybe gender and sexuality isn't as rigid as we think, by othering these performers as a special case and convincing yourself that there is no real woman who looks like dave foley in drag, and if there was she would be cis.

it's a slightly better box to be in than having the femininity be the target of ridicule, but it still misses the point that the femininity explored in kids in the hall is not meant to be othered. it leaves out so many of the show's most iconic female characters - fran is not glamorous, but she is a realistic woman. chicken lady is more chicken than lady, but she is still a well-written female character - and reduces others to their attractiveness when the sketch itself is not about that at all. and when i brought this up to bruce he sounded as though he had been waiting for someone to make this analysis, because even though the guys joke about it themselves it is at times uncomfortable to be in an interview that focuses so much on how the interviewer finds dave in drag sexy, or picking apart which physical aspect of the guys passes best. i think i remember bruce saying something to the effect of "no one's asking which one of us is the most hot playing a business man, but that's just as different of a person from us as playing a woman"

and it's interesting to think about this in the context of how the media in general treats people who identify as women in this framework of focusing on physical attractiveness all the time. in recent years, this behavior is more widely known to be sexist af so the overtness has declined (tho is it absolutely still present to some degree), but since the kids in the hall are all male it's fair game to make these sorts of comments about their female characters to their face, because it's spectacle and separate from them. even the exact same people who would call out a comment being made about a cis female comedian are often oblivious of how it could potentially apply to these male comedians, or have other bizarre lines within their ability to rationalize this gender nonconformity for themselves.

take the "wedding dresses" sketch that was censored from the amazon revival for example (this sketch was showcased at sketchfest's "scenes they wouldn't let us do" and has appeared in kith live shows since 2015). this sketch was censored because even though amazon would let the guys play women (and even then it was often an uphill battle), they would not let the wedding dresses sketch air because it featured men wearing wedding dresses in a comedic setting. the rule of thumb seemingly is: men wearing dresses is always comedic (and therefore transphobic), unless he (typically dave foley) passes too well, in which case trans people have nothing to do with the conversation. but the fact that they were men dressed femininely was never the point of the joke, it was the idea of a wedding dress, a significant garment symbolizing an event meant to be only worn for one day, being these guys' everyday wear and all the conflicts and community that came from that. it was an ode to the outsiders, a celebration of those who live and present unconventionally. and the fact that it's never about gender is in itself the most upliftingly genderqueer thing of all.

#time for a jessay #disclaimer the views expressed are my own and not bruce's i'm just saying bruce was part of this conversation and agreed with most points #i did not realize i had all of these opinions but now i'm like damn this might be my favorite jessay i've written #tempted to send it to my professor lmao #also never thought i'd be calling chicken lady a feminist icon but y'know what i am #kids in the hall #scott thompson #mark mckinney #kevin mcdonald #bruce mcculloch #dave foley #david foley #kith #queer #buddy cole

[sophsicle]

I just read what’s up of the girl who ate the gods and I need to ramble/ scream about it so I thought who better to say it to than the writer

First of OH MAY GOD I LOVE IZT SO MUCH the concept and the characters chosen for each role is *chefs kiss* and as someone who is doing a class in classics I’m absolutely feral about this

Okay, Pansy is giving me such strong Evelyn Hugo vibes that I’m dying,,, like the control she has of her entire world and of the people around her using their desire of her and the way she turns their wants into her own power is so Evelyn coded that I can’t even cope. Her saying that it wouldn’t be a chore to fuck Theo was so beautifully framed, like the fancy myth-y language being undercut by the (objectively) crude ‘fucking’ was genuine art. She literally orchestrates an entire war for motives unknown!!! And I feel pity for her even while feeling simultaneously that she could (and would) step on my face and I would thank her for it

Ariana really thinking that she was there to marry harry is actually breaking my heart :( the very first time Hermione questioned why she was there I thought ‘we’re missing an iphegeneia, aren’t we?’ But even then it still killed me that she died (AND that Albus killed her too like her own brother- which mirrors canon in such a beautiful and heartbreaking way oh my god) and she feels so young too. And also the parallels between her and pansy make me want to scream. Like pansy knows her own power/ use is a cruel one and uses it to benefit herself, but Ariana believes that her use is a soft one, then discovers that hers is a cruel one too but due to her naivety she dies and cannot use it. And the way that the only time we as readers actually hear her speak as as she unknowingly offers herself up for death is the most beautiful, saddest thing ever

Hermione!!! She already seems so clearly suited to Pansy in behaviour and attitude (girls in a mysogenistiv world who gain power despite it)(girlbosses) and yet also so different, and yet the same again. Like pansy uses other peoples physical desires to get what she wants,  but Hermione doesn’t. But then Hermione uses harry and the people she loves to keep Albus on her side and to keep her home safe and in the end she’s using what Albus wants to get what she wants, just like pansy.

And she’s so pragmatic too like she is fully embracing/coping with the brutality of her world to keep the power she needs. Also her and lily were so fascinating because they feel so similar to me even if Hermione can’t see it. Hermione, harry and Ron being friends too but with a shifted dynamic into this mythological setting where the stakes are shifted feels so perfect and I want to scream

I also love love love that this is pansmione centric bc the idea of a sapphic ship in a setting of mysogyny and warfare makes me so so happy

I have thoughts about Ron and harry too but I think I already commented them (? I have no memory of anything I say so maybe I did, maybe I didn’t)

(Also side note does the title mean we get to meet any gods bc I love the idea of gods interacting with mortals smmm)

ANYWAYS I loved this so so so much it was genuinely incredible, best thing ever, I want to eat it, etc. Thank you for writing it!!!!1 <333

eeeee!!!! yay i love this fic!

Pansy is my Helen redemption, I feel like she is always portrayed as being a pawn or being some lovesick, naive, little girl who is too beautiful for her own good, but her story is hardcore, like first of all, of all the famous warriors and heroes who go to Troy and die, she lives, and I feel like people don't give her enough credit for that, for the political maneuvering that goes into it, also the fact that she is raped by a god when she's just a kid, i think she is way more jaded than people usually write her, also if you read the iliad it is like 90% her and hector just shitting on Paris, I fully believe that she runs away with him because she thinks Troy is her best bet of defeating her piece of shit husband, so yeah, Pansy is very cut throat and very scheme-y and always has an ulterior motive, which is gonna make the relationship that will develop between her and Hermione super interesting

part of what made me want to write this au in the first place is how well i feel like Dumbledore, Aberforth, Harry and Hermione fit these roles, and all the parallels that you can make with canon and how much you can play around with the "chosen one" narrative that harry potter and the iliad are a part of.

i also love fitting female characters into this super masculine story and i also like just not explaining it, like obviously there are some gender politics going on with Pansy, but like, Hermione is a commander and a king and it's just like, yup, that is how it is.

I do want to throw some god stuff in there! (the founders will be stand ins for the gods)

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR MESSAGE IT MADE MY DAY

#i will get back to this fic #one day #i wish writing was easier #or that like it was my job #sighs #soph rambles #the girl who ate the gods

[bloody-wonder]

assuming you've read tsc, what are ur thoughts?

mixed feelings, anon!

on the one hand, tsc is just another confirmation that nora is a talented writer - i think the dialogue especially is where she really excels. the reading experience was overall very fun, i did enjoy seeing my faves again. neil is an icon, obviously. the culture clash between jean and the trojans was Comedy Gold. and it was interesting to see an exploration of a different trauma response than we've seen in aftg in jean.

on the other hand, i feel like jean's story in tsc mirrors neil's story in aftg - a troubled youth joins an exy team where he will make new friends and get better mentally - but is like. a simplified and less compelling version of that. it's good that jean is his own character, i don't need him to be a copy of neil, but i gotta say - neil's cameo appearances totally stole the show and made me wonder why i wasn't reading a book about him instead. however, it's all the other characters who were the real problem - it felt like i'm reading a version of aftg where a less fun iteration of neil joins an exy team consisting just of the upperclassmen and nicky hemmick which uhhh,, if you've read some of my old posts you know how i feel about him so there was no chance in hell i'd like cat alvarez and her whole shtick. the foxes felt good for the soul bc there was a balance between the upperclassmen's and the monsters' type of care for neil - and crucially neil chose the latter group to be his close circle, among other things, bc he felt they could understand him better. by constrast, jean is alone with the trojans who don't give any credibility to his claims that they just can't understand what he went through, don't respect his right to keep his trauma private and just keep trying to force his "recovery". aftg felt like a bunch of freaks with various but equally fascinating issues put in close quarters and you watch them sometimes butt heads, sometimes uplift each other in the most unexpected ways. tsc however felt like a bunch of normies bullying a traumatized kid - so basically one of those obnoxious fics where the upperclassmen are all in neil and andrew's business.

jean's bisexuality was a double-edged sword too: on the one hand, i felt very smug reading about how his attraction works bc 1) it's so obviously different from neil and 2) wow turns out years of psychological, physical and sexual abuse do not in fact take away your sexuality! le gasp! surprised fucking pikachu!! crazy how through all of this jean is still bi. the human spirit is unbreakable. (unless your mom hits you for kissing a girl, then it's breakable). so i did feel vindicated but at the same time this was not relatable to the point that i can't see myself getting invested in jean and jeremy's developing relationship. nothing is more of a turn off for me in fictional romances than when both of them are immediately attracted to each other and let the reader know in no uncertain terms. where are the mind games? where are the intricate rituals? it feels like a lazy shortcut. but good for them, i guess?

sooo idk. i didn't hate tsc by any means but i'm sad i didn't enjoy it as much as my mutuals😭

#book tag #aftg ask #aftg mine #i'm very happy for everyone who loved the book and is having fun with it rn #but ngl it felt good to go on goodreads and read some 3 star reviews #i myself gave it 4 bc neil's scenes elevated it for me #i mean that one line where he says to the fbi the trojans fucked jean's face up #bc he's french and so naturally makes people want to punch him is alone worth a million stars😂 #but all of this to say if you didn't like the book you can totally talk to me about it #i like feeling not alone in my unpopular opinions #alsoooo i'm sort of afraid of the phenomenon where there's a continuation to some beloved media #and people start claiming it's better than the original #if i see stuff like that about aftg and tsc i'm blocking on sight lol

[brb-on-a-quest]

What's one of your favorite childhood memories?

Hello, friend, good to see you, even if you do hide in the shadows. Hope you are well. <3

Let me tell you about a time I fell in love with storytelling all over again. I grew up on stories; I loved having my dad read to me when I was little (we read Narnia books, the Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings, Robin Hood, etc. I loved *all* of it). I loved the stories of found families and tight friendships like it was my bread and butter because I hadn't made any friends I could get closed to bc family moved around a lot (a decision I don't resent my family for now, but despised as a kid), and I wasn't really *that* close to my family either due to probably a variety of factors, not excluding mental health issues. I won't delve for the sake of length, you get the point. I was a sad and lonely child and my closest friends were imaginary. Anyway back to more concrete events:

We had just moved from Florida to Virginia, which is about 1000 miles away and over 13 hour drive (for context), and we had just started a new co-op (think like homeschool school, but it only met like once a week, it was one of the ways we'd start building up a new social circle or something). And one of the classes I took in was something music (more likely theater? related but that might have a different semester) and the first week of this co-op I remember they gave us a bingo card with a bunch of famous movie soundtracks and they told us we were going to identify the movie based on the song alone.

I got 2/20 or something bc I hadn't even heard of most of these movies bc i just hadn't been exposed to it. It was things like Batman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, maybe spongebob- pop culture stuff that I just hadn't seen. So everyone else was getting excited and I was feeling more and more out of the loop and alone.

I swear this turns happy at the end, bear with me, anon. They play the final music track and I don't recognize it at all but it fills me with such great joy and a call for a new adventure that I hadn't even realized music could do that before (we didn't listen to a lot of our own music growing up, it was mainly whatever my parents found appropriate or what my dad liked).

It was How To Train Your Dragon. Test Drive. John Powell. And then like the musical scores, they showed the scene it was from. A boy and his dragon racing, flying through the air. And I fell in love With the characters arcs per se, but I could tell there was a deep lore there and a story of friendship that I craved so much. It was also right up my alley with stories my Dad had read me so there was also that. But like the music was fantastic, I really liked the visuals at the time (i usually hate most 3D animation films, HTTYD is the exception), and I craved the story behind it.

I saved up money from Birthday and Christmas and ended up buying it. And I watched it. And I fell in love even harder. Cause, in some sense, I related to hiccup too much. I was a creative person, like he was, I had very little friends like he did at the beginning, we had similar senses of humor at some points, and he was fascinated with knowing and learning things. And he had a big dragon friend and i again craved that friendship deeply. So he added to the crew of imaginary friends and I went on many imaginary adventures with Hiccup and Toothless and told myself so many stories that I wish I could remember now for writing inspo.

I ended up moving from Virginia to middle of nowhere Midwest US (not saying where in case the Fey Find Out), and I did end up meeting my IRL Toothless. A little bit scary on the outside at firsts, but with an actual heart of a silly, goofy, dragon. (brb, im getting emotional just thinking about it. It'd be about 7 years now? Coming up? I may be bad at math. I feel old and happy and content.)

So yeh, in short it was a very much right place, right time kind of story and film. I still watch it a lot whenever I need a comfort film that's not as long as LOTR or something. I love the soundtrack and all of the things about it. Sorry, this was probably way longer than it should've been but IDK how to describe my love for this story without giving you some context.

#brb-backstory #brb-life #brb-asks

[narcissusbrokenmirror]

i need to talk about Alex, Luke and Reggie and their families' dynamics.

We don't get a lot from the show apart from Luke and it's not that much either, when we think about it. But from Reggie and Alex? Crumbs of backstory. the references we got to their past from the show is that Reggie's parent were in a bad relationship and Alex's parent were homophobic. god bless the guy who decided to write books abt it bc i can't stress enough over not knowing abt their past.

So starting with Reggie, my favorite backstory, is that he had parents who were always fighting amd he also had a little brother, age not specified but i guess between 8-11, Steve admired Reggie and his band and Reggie kinda regretted not spending enough time w him bc of the band. idk thinking of Reggie as an older brother opens lot of possibilities for what his character would've become. also brings more of a reason why he's so goofy and lightheaded, it can be either a way to separate from, maybe, a figure of power for his brother, being held to a responsibility or something alike, i mean, none really knows how stuff were inside Reggie's house so there's no way to tell if they had been heavily neglected at some point. or maybe being optimistic and joyful was just the way he tried to find to make things lighter for his brother when he was around, maybe to his whole family when trying to keep them from starting a fight (we also dont know for how long reggie's parents have been fighting). either way, fascinates me.

Alex also intrigued me a little bit, but i liked to figure him out. I personally enjoy when fanfic writers make his parents religious or give him fear of coming out to his friends, but, just ain't real. From what I've read on the book, Alex's parents used to be supportive of the band and welcoming to his friends, they'd have sleepovers w the whole band, and be warm and welcoming. When Alex mentions being gay, he says he wouldn't sneak a guy he actually liked out of his window and wanted to bring this hypothetical guy through the front door like his older sister did w her boyfriends, this being the 90's its a pretty prideful statement for a gay teenager. But Kenny mentioned Alex is pride of himself and wouldn't hide it. So i don't think Alex got christian fever over his sexuality, neither did his parents. What i guess, is that Alex was the kid with "Cool Parents" that would let him be and do what he wanted, be supportive of him, Alex pretty much mentioned on the show he was always trustworthy (in rhetoric to Reggie never being believed as a kid). What also would explain how Alex can grow so confident of himself and expect to receive the same treatment his sister does. So the moment Alex came out, something he never took back, even when his parents didn't approved, it shifted the whole "modern cool parents" thing bc yeah, Alex can have a band, be a drummer (which is not everyone's favorite instrument to have at home), let his sister bring multiple boyfriends to their house, but if Alex wants to bring guys, he better do it far from their eyes. "do what you want, but not under my roof". Clearly, it affected him to have a family who was loving and supportive, just to find out that being gay was going to twist the way his parents saw and treated him like, and ofc that's not what Alex wanted, he wanted the warmth and the love he'd always received before. also, Alex being a young brother makes sense to why he's a little shit on the show.

Luke also has interesting background. Different from Alex, who had a family who supported his band (til they didn't anymore) and Reggie, who had a family who probably didn't cared, Luke had a family very much disapproving of his life dream, so much that i doubt they've met the boys personally, aside from Bobby bc he was Luke's oldest friend, since there's a moment on the book Alex asks where they are and its Luke's house, and they have been friends for years so its interesting Alex not knowing where Luke lives. i think Sunset Curve was just a part of his life that Luke didn't shared with his parents bc he knew it wouldn't be worth it. What doesn't mean Luke didn't wanted to share, he was trying to make it without his parents' support, getting a job to buy instruments and other stuff for example. And if Alex is not the religious link of the group, Luke definitely is, not only he makes mentions of Hell and Heaven, but his house has a huge cross on it, visible on the clip of Unsaid Emily, and i think that's why Luke, at the same time he doesn't want to talk of the past, is the one who feels more guilty about the way he left things with his mom. Boy got hard catholic guilt on his head even if Luke himself isn't really into religion.

I'm not gonna make myself long with Bobby, bc if Alex and Reggie left crumbs of backstory, Bobby left drops in the sun. but the book had some pretty cool details, he got three older brothers who are sport trifecta, and Bobby is the kid who only got to play in a band, he doesn't get a lot of attention from his parents and even Luke is his friend since they were kids and they started playing together, he also feels apart from the band, he also seems to care a lot about Luke since he wanted Luke to make up with his mom on the day of their show at the orpheum. So it does adds dimension to the character we see on the show.

#julie and the phantoms #mostly sunset curve #it fascinates me also when Alex's dad implies Luke is also queer when he got him sneaking out Alex's room #and how Luke didn't denied it. Neither Alex. #it bugged the hell outta me Alex being a 90's kid who was not religiously traumatized

[cherrystainedknuckles]

3, 14, 31, 39 for the ask game!

3. Who's your favorite comics hero/sidekick duo?

I think dick and damian genuinely have the funniest batman/robin dynamic ever but otherwise... idk. ollie and mia? I don't find hero/sidekick duos all that compelling tbh which is funny bc I am into The hero/sidekick franchise. I just find "favorite" is the wrong word. like bruce and tim are fascinating to me as batman/robin as are bruce and steph but also bruce was so terrible to them. OH wait DING DING DING final answer!! max mercury and bart allen. I miss impulse 1995

14. What's your favorite thing about character [x]?

you did not provide me a character 😔

31. Shine a light on a character you think deserves more love.

GRETA HAYES GRETA HAYES GRETA HAYES!!!! she is like THE most ignored member of yj98 which is wild since she's been there LONGER than cassie and cissie??? but she's literally everything to me. she died and then came back Wrong and everyone can see it and they're scared of her inherently because she's made of death but she literally just wants to be a normal girl but she's so so so terrified of being evil that it drives her into a spiral where she eventually becomes evil!!!!!! underrated duo: slobo and greta. I'm begging everyone to actually read all of young justice 1998 before yj posting because she is by FAR the most interesting character.

39. What comic plotline gives you brain worms?

hmmm okay so in titans 1999 when those kids from the DEO or w/e break into the tower and stay with them for a few issues. in my HEART! I think the titans should've just continued to have a gaggle of children in their tower. if we expanded each one to have a coherent character it very reasonably could've been an expansion of lian's gen alongside cerdian except DC decided they hated kids and murdered all of them in between the years of 2006 and 2008 </3

same thing with james from huntress 1989!! where did he go!! DC loves introducing kids between the ages of 8 and 14 and then wiping them off the face of the planet a few issues later. helena straight up adopts a child supergenius, gets erased, and when she appears again two years later she is childless. where are they :(

also fear state (batman rebirth) was a really cool concept but the execution was terrible. in my heart I did it better

#cherryblogs #ask game

[linddzz]

The fact that James Cameron used legit great directing of cinematic visuals to tell a stories that do not work as movies (that is if you actually do want to go deeper than "environmental and cultural destruction for profit is sad :((" which...I legit couldn't tell if he did try to go deeper than that or not lmao) is fascinating and hilarious to me. You took potential great stories. You took great skill in this story telling medium. You deeply failed to smash them together skillfully. I'm almost in awe of it.

Tbh the visuals are great but I want the novels which is also hilarious to me. There are basic ideas set in this big world and a cast of characters that each have different conflicts and relations to the Big Picture ideas. You could have a series of novels with entire books set with a different character POV!! All the good meaty stuff I think would be better served with the more internally driven narratives of novels tho which is why I keep leaning that way.

How about a novel of Neytiri struggling with the cognitive dissonance of her love of Jake and her children conflicting with the rage that the trauma from the first movie left in her?? How about we go more into her character than "fierce angry wife." How does she feel about the child of a sky people avatar having this deep connection to Eywa? With the anger we see her directing towards Spider wouldn't we see her struggle with Jake using human military language with their kids???

How about a novel with the whales and their societal struggle with them now being violently hunted vs their pacifist values?? How does this new conflict affect the relations of their sister culture of the islanders???

The movie mentions that the avatar bodies don't set off the planets defenses. We see the commando avatars able to bond with the dragons (I ain't gonna remember all these names ok!!). This IMPLIES that just by having the Navi biology they are connected to the planet now. How does this effect them?? How about a novel from the baddies pov where they make more and more avatars to conquer the planet and slowly find that it backfires as the two way connection changes THEM. Who can handle it?? Does it drive some of them insane?? How about we have a failed redemption arc with Colonel Full Ass Throttle as he feels this two way connection with his dragon. What if that whale hunting really disturbed him and he's fucked up over the fact that he is disturbed now?? Wouldn't he be viscerally disgusted at this mental connection to this planet?? How does that contrast with seeing his son WANT that connection that he hates?? What if we get a visceral rejection scene where he cuts off his braid/connection?? (Honestly thought they were doing something like that with him and I was like ?????? when nothing happened there dkdjdk I guess we had to keep it at a basic mumbled something about father and son dynamics)

I promise this isn't a fixation that'll last long I just need this day to process how baffling this movie was as a grand image of one man refusing to actually dig into his own themes bc he'd rather keep it to the most bland of takes that don't go beyond "isn't this upsetting and bad? What if unobtainium but more bluntly evil?"

#i apparently cannot tag it bc then the actual fans will tell me to go back to the kiddie pool lmfao

[wackus-bonkus-maximus]

i know it’s probably late but ⭐️ i am so fascinated by odnlb and i want to hear everything you could possibly have to say about it

no it's not late! this game ends when i say it ends lol.

send in a ⭐star⭐  to have the author select a section they’ve been dying to talk about!

today i have some odnlb discarded scenes/ plotlines for your enjoyment! 💀

pv kiss plot:

there was going to be this arc from like act 2-3 where ladybug was trying to figure out cat walker's identity. so because she was super pissed at him, she "created" a curse on his miraculous. he would have the ring stuck on his hand & wouldn't be able to take it off, leaving his power to slowly consume him. "how can i break the curse?" cat walker asked in one of my drafts, to which ladybug responded, "with something chat noir always wanted, but never got. something i'll make sure you never get, either." (it was a kiss from ladybug)

anyways i discarded it because 1) why make marinette slowly kill adrien when he would do it himself just to save her and 2) it was kind of redundant to be cursed by 2 rings. also the more i thought about it the more it seemed silly, so i reworked it into matter of luck!

zoe-luka-chloe love triangle:

i actually DON'T like love triangles and especially not when 2 of the people in them are siblings. ...however i could see this one working. originally chloe was touched that luka had so much faith in her, more than zoe seemingly, and her final selfless act of the fic was "letting zoe have him." thinking more on it, i felt really meh about it, so i changed chloe's issues to center more around sibling jealousy and inadequacy while simultaneously wanting a better sister relationship. i like her turning point of selflessness as giving up her miraculous much better!

zoe akumatized bc she thinks luka is cheating:

yes friends la voleuse was going to be akumatized bc she found out luka had "spent the night with marinette" during the fight in chapter 15. she confronted luka about it, and guessed rightly that he had gone to marinette, but obvs for the wrong reasons. i cut this because then it would've led to a marinette/ladybug identity reveal too early. and also because it was just kind of a meh plotline for me that didn't reveal the best or worst of anyone's character.

nino finds out adrien's identity:

i actually really wanted this and couldn't find a way to fit it in! it would have taken place after nino gets his miraculous back. he was kind of going to be adrien's secret-keeper, like an alya to adrien's marinette, and they were going to cry and hug and mourn lost time and stuff. there was also going to be a scene where nino and alya were obviously hiding stuff from each other and wouldn't say, and they both got pissed off at one another in the middle of all their wedding prep lol. but honestly i like the way dj wifi played out in the fic!

deleted scenes:

there was going to be a scene where cat walker played the piano for ladybug, and she recognized it as a tune adrien had played/written for a school thing long ago. adrien was going to play it again at the wedding for dj wifi.

there was another few scenes planned where cat walker would leave roses for ladybug like kid flash from teen titans did to jinx. a few scenes ended like that, and both me and marinette were sorry to have to cut them. keep an eye out though i might recycle these ideas for future fics 👀👀

from the fanfic writer: director's cut ask game.

#ask game #fanfic writer: director's cut #odnlb #one does not love breathing #odnlb discussion #odnlb deleted scenes #odnlb discarded plots

[mishkakagehishka]

anyway. followup. rank the resi games from ur faves (for whatever reason, could be story, the characters, the game making u want to curl up in a ball and cry, ur metric is whatever u want it to be) to ur least faves..... i've never played any of them and only have minor knowledge of a few so like. im fascinated.

I'm soooooo biased anyway

1. Resident Evil 4 - my introduction to the series, which was good bc i was such a scaredy-cat as a kid, the whole "let's make it less survival and more action" was nice. Playing RE2make, i missed the freedom of being allowed to "clean up" an area. I love RE4 i love RE4 Leon, my first fictional crush, i love Ashley, i love Luis, i love the putas, and i love the lake monster named Lake from the lake named Lake. Mwah. Chef's kiss. Perfect game, in my esteemed opinion. The remake should have given us even gorier death scenes instead of cleaner, but I appreciate the fact that they made Luis and Leon's dynamic (even) gayer. So many iconic lines, I don't even know which one to quote. I didn't know your right hand is going to bingo.

2. Resident Evil 1 (this is actually n1 spot but RE4 is there bc you gave me that freedom). Like. I mean. Listen. We gotta respect our elders. And RE1 fucks so hard. She was the blueprint for everything. The dog corridor. The mansion level of all mansion levels. Jill sandwich. What more could you want from a video game. There is multiple endings though and I forgot how they went about that, but I assume there's a "true" ending for the lore. Also in 2002 they remastered it and put Jill on the cover of their "you can choose to play as a girl or a boy" game that revolutionised gaming and media in general? And some companies in 2018 acted as nobody wants to buy a game where the girl protag is the one primarily marketed and/or where you play as a girl. Looks at ubisoft.

3. Resident Evil 2. This might be bias, but it might not be. Because RE3 is more action-y and while I did say I appreciated that as a kid in RE4, i feel like it worked in RE4, but not so much in 3? I think i'm biased. Anyway RE2 was cool because heellooooooo Mr X? Iconic. The soundtrack? Divine. The way you had A and B sides ?!?!?!?!? Four different scenarios because depending on who you chose in A, you'd have a totally different story????? Iconic. 10/10 in my esteemed opinion. I love Resident Evil 2. Can Claire and Leon please just ba----

4. Code Veronica. I still have no idea what the fuck happened in this game. 8/10 at this point I went "what the hell is this lore" (/pos). Like i'm trying to come up with an example to give you but i can't. Love the gothic setting tho

5. Resident Evil 3. Lipbite. Clockwork level. Nemesis.

Horror game girl swag. I dunno, I don't have much to say. She was iconic, but by this point we're in "i'm not exactly a shooter for these games" territory.

Now. Much as I love RE4 it definitely was a sign of things to come. Scratches the back of my neck. I kinda don't care for RE5 and 6. I know Chris punches a boulder in one of them. I do appreciate that they turned it back to survival horror with 7 and Village, buuuut. They lost me. As I said, I don't care for the lore that much, it spans too long, there's a lotta new characters (and I'm not one for "legacy" characters anyway, ik you can only do so much with the originals, but :( i just prefer the smaller cast and our classics. But i get that Capcom wants to have the games set in the years they're releasing, so they kinda haaave to, but </3). 7 and Village definitely were cool, but they somehow felt~~~ a bit less Resident Evil-ly... if that makes sense. 7 was great, but Village's bosses... I dunno. I wasn't much of a fan of how it fit into the sci-fi world of RE.

Listen. I think RE was best when it had the static camera and the horrible dread and when it made you wonder if you should shoot or not. The camera in the original was good because it was part of the horror. No you may NOT have the freedom to see what's around you. Fuck you. The first person in 7 and Village are actually fine for it but😢 i'm a grandma as it goes. RE0 also sounds super cool, but I haven't played it nor seen anyone play it. Will have to get on that tbh

#um um um. hey did you guys know i really loved this series as a kid #asks

[skrunksthatwunk]

ok so idk if this is a hot take or whatever but i rewatched the rgg movie from 2007 and that shit ROCKS i like it so much more now bc like,, the first time i watched it i was expecting a straightforward adaptation of the first game's plot and that's just fully not what it is at all nor what it was trying to be

like yeah most of the nishiki final boss stuff at the end is pretty underwhelming but it's not about him. it's about kamurocho!! it's about the reasons people turn to crime and the humanity of everyone involved except for jingu lmao and how fucking bonkers mad you feel when it's a little too hot outside and?? sadomasochism??? between the masochist info guy and majima using the same door slamming technique on kiryu that he used for said info guy and then the very very sexual connotations to the majima chestsitting knife dick shot in the bedroom at the soapland I'm just saying there are. implications. like additional ones to the inherent ones of the kazumaji dynamic like yeah!! that's all good. and once you stop waiting on game events to happen you can just like,, enjoy the stuff happening in it. it's a very character-centric movie and that scratches an itch for me.

it's also like wayy funnier than i remembered lol. some of it's not really on purpose like the cg helicopter just skating all over town shattering windows for idk reasons I guess. probably because jingu's an asshole? idk you could probably read meaning into jingu's symbol of power carelessly wrecking kamurocho but i think it's probably just for shits. but like,, the baseball stuff (the scene where majima calls their match a doubleheader and then the subtitles explain what that is for like three lines over like 30 seconds of gunshot footage is fucking top notch) and kiryu's flip phone troubles and the hostage takers requesting nice expensive food and the hostages thanking them and then the cop being like "if they'd asked for anything more expensive we would have taken them out" and all that idk I'm so endeared to it rn

i also find it kinda fascinating that majima is so present in this because like,, to my understanding, before the release of 0 (and therefore before kiwami's majima everywhere system and whatnot), majima was considered this kinda random side character, like he'd just show up whenever and fuck off again like that. he played a much smaller role. he's not even especially important in the og yakuza, and this came out around 9 months before y2 so it's just based on y1 majima's vibe. yet they gave him significantly more attention than nishiki or kazama or even yumi (though all three were sorta background figures it's like they were already ghosts. man kazama doesn't even DIE in this, he just leaves. they make up for him living by making nishiki's hair a casualty bc oh my LORD what was that jdhshsh). truly goes to show what a silly guy does to a mf

(also they actually give majima and haruka an interaction here??? and he's kind to her and kiryu trusts him to not hurt her and she's like "idc I'll beat you up don't fucking TOUCH ojisan" and he's like "well damn. go on then" gah augh love. closest thing we have in rgg to my knowledge is majima kidnapping her offscreen and him [vague rgg5 spoilers] risking his and saejima's lives to save her bc she means so much to kiryu. here he just doesn't wanna hurt a kid)

obviously it's kinda weird to ditch most of the plot/key characters of the game and i don't think it's great that they tried to tie it in at the end how they did but like. eh idk I'm happy with it. it's a good time. i won't argue it's a masterpiece (mostly bc i don't like arguing over whether media is "objectively good" or whatever) but it DOES make me happy :D. so. thanks like a dragon (2007) mwah mwah xoxo

anyway point is it's about the vibes of playing yakuza, which is (for me) about getting immersed in the city and the little side plots of the people in it and whatever and then cramming the plot in last minute :)

#rgg #ryu ga gotoku #yakuza #kiryu kazuma #like a dragon #they also know how to make a guy look good getting beat up which is ABSOLUTELY a good chunk of the rgg experience #so good on them #dick shot in the soapland bedroom by the heartshaped bed sounds like a clue murder summary #anyway I think about that scene all the time. what a choice #we'll just make it so so blatantly homoerotic to make up for the fact that majima didn't take a knife for kiryu this time #and kiryu like smirks?? at majima when he challenges him at the batting cages?? i think? idk im bad w faces but i think he does #in a very :| way bc it's kiryu but still a notable way for like.. y1 era #truly ahead of its time bc he would go on to smile at majima when theyre about to fight in other games and also #all the time in my head #like a dragon 2007 #correction: there was NOT a heart shaped bed in the soapland room my brain just fully inserted one in there lol

[maddy-ferguson]

Ngl i am a little bit tired seeing ppl come up with excuses for why Will was sidelined and receives minimum screentime each season bc supposedly he will receive all of his screentime in the finale. It just makes no sense for your supposed centre character to receive minimum screentime for 4 seasons straight. And i would agree that its all intentional if the show doesnt follow the fanservice agenda with giving more screentime to characters like Steve and Dustin and Hopper bc they are liked by the audience meanwhile Jonathan and Will and even Joyce sometimes have been shat on for a long time. There is no way to fix this only in the finale season. I dont want to sound like a hater but it is really screaming bad writing.

it's annoying because on the one hand i like the story of will being replaced by el after vanishing and i like to think of that being reflected even in the fabric of the show. because she did replace him, people (mlvns) think of mike el lucas and dustin as the core four because she took his place while he was in the upside down and then started dating mike which is obviously what will wants, and because if it all goes as planned season five will make people see that will was just as important all along (a girl can dream) (i don't mean in terms of screentime). i think that story's very fun, cruel summer season 1 (something i've said before in the notes of this post from a while ago) except the girl who replaces will does it without meaning to and she helps save his life so it's very different. on the other hand...as i said in april...

the byers being sidelined? for will i guess you can rationalize it and come up with great and convincing meta reasons as to why his character was sidelined in seasons 3 and 4 (which, yeah, fascinating, i will still hate it ten years from now, no matter how important to season 5 will is), but what about jonathan? what about joyce? how does one justify the fact that winona went from being the reason 75% of people older than 15 started watching the show to having less screentime than fucking jason in season 4? it is annoying when people act like byler endgame will make everything right and will make stranger things a perfect show because it really won’t

also i'm not sure about joyce having less screentime than jason i actually just saw people say that and i can't find a s4 screentime chart to confirm lol. but yeah the thing is...when it's all of the byers not just will getting sidelined to make room for characters like steve it's like. this is not my stranger things cruel summer-like story (that i admittedly made up) where will got replaced in his own life while he was kidnapped anymore. it's fanservice and it's steve somehow lowkey becoming the face of the show because shawn levy apparently loves joe keery so much lol. and of course fans will make the show their own and steve is not the most important character when you watch the actual show but idk. i just don't understand why they let it get to this point was jonathan not your self insert underdog miserable guy who gets the girl when the show started like why did you stop liking him when he got the girl😭😭 it just sucks because whether you like it or not the byers made the show it was them and the kids that made season one what it was. i know the will and jonathan stuff is still there (in season 4 because in season 3 despite spending a lot of time together they...have nothing?) but oh my god the joyce and jonathan relationship is...like do the writers know that jonathan is joyce's son before being will's father figure. i think the parentification stuff is great and very interesting and i hope he doesn't go to emerson OR lenora but oh my god. i just don't understand because it's RIGHT THERE in the show but why don't they do more with it. it's just insane to me. he's not all alone out there in the world but he very much is and i don't know how much of it is joyce being a struggling mother and how much is the writers not giving a fuck. do you think joyce and jonathan will have even just one conversation in season 5. that would be crazy.

the will getting replaced à la kate wallis in cruel summer and that being reflected by his absence even when he's back from being in another dimension and from being possessed thing i'm talking about i both like and dislike. because some of it feels very intentional (cf first post i linked) but some of it really doesn't, especially when the sidelining is a problem with all the byers like i just mentioned. and the end result is that a lot of people are like no will isn't important at all yes he's the one who disappeared and his vanishing kickstarted the show (some of them don't even say that they're like el opened the gate so it's her show WELL i'm very sorry guys but had will not disappeared mike never would've fallen in love with her in her yellow benny's burgers t-shirt so thank you will as always) but the only thing he does is cry and be gay and have a bowlcut now so he doesn't matter, which is always annoying. and it's not the el show but it kinda is the el show yk, do i think we could do with a little less el sometimes yes but it's not really el's massive screentime that bothers me because again, i think the willel juxtaposition swapping places thing is very interesting. what i cannot in good conscience defend is the steveification and simultaneous debyersification of stranger things i just can't!

and as i mentioned in the tags of my post from april and like you said, i think people are setting themselves up for disappointment if they think season 5 being will heavy is gonna fix it. it's too late. he probably won't get as much screentime and focus as will fans have come to expect because stranger things is not skam lol. i don't even know how much screentime would make it fair and would make people happy? i think you can enjoy the meta posts and reasons that read like excuses while still wishing they hadn't sidelined him that much. because the posts and the discussions are great but i also like having a good time while watching the show and it's not just tumblr willuminatis that feel disappointed by how little will we got these past seasons, a lot of people feel that way. at the end of the day i still think will is one of the most important characters and i think season five will reflect that but i still wish season three and four had been different in the will department. and i don't expect season five to make it up to me because it never will like seasons three and four will forever be like this! you can't convince me they couldn't have done them in a way that didn't accidentally reveal too early that he isn't gonna end up gay sad alone and dead for the crime of being gay or that he actually matters in the supernatural side of things you know.

#i was mad in april like i sound much more positive here i'm crying #i loved the first season of cruel summer i thought it was fascinating season two is very boring in comparison. the last two or three #episodes were a little more interesting but it's almost over now like it should've gotten interesting before #if you haven't seen it i'm sorry because i'm literally always saying this it's just that the premise of s1 is a girl going missing and #another girl replacing her in her life and dating her boyfriend and becoming friends with her friends etc #i would apologize about all the parentheses but then i wouldn't be me #ask

[majormeilani]

8 9 and 12 for the ask meme?

autism ask meme

8. If you have any, what are your special interests?

i have a strong special interest in miniatures as in those really teeny tiny things that look like common objects like chairs or books or cookware. even better if the thing is made of realistic materials or actually functional like these one miniature playing cards i have that are an actual full deck you could quite literally play a card game with. they are actually sooooo cool. i also love dollhouses (esp calico critters bc they're so detailed) and miniature scenes.

i also enjoy dancing and choreography as well as watching people act. performance arts are very fun for me as they are both entertaining to watch and be a part of. i also love to imitate it just for fun.

i also enjoy art and its history as well as the process of game development and story building. reading and writing are also tons of fun for me. media analysis is very fun to me too as i find it fun to both consume a story and break things down about it to analyze and consider different perspectives on and i especially love talking to people about them.

psychology and behavioral studies are also very interesting to me. i love to consider the multiple possibilities of something in accordance to the circumstances that someone finds themselves in and i find human development fascinating. i also loveeeed science as a kid especially animal science and botany but in general i always found everything about it fascinating.

there's more like specific special interests i have but i can't think of them right now…. i know there's definitely media i'm interested in in regards to shows and games too but people usually mean more general things in regards to special interests than say the games that i like or something lol. but i still think they can be considered special interests too :) tho most the time i call those hyperfixations as i have adhd too but tbh they overlap most the time.

9. What was your first special interest?

i want to say probably stuffed animals and maybe cats and hamsters. i had and have many stuffed animals still as i always felt like i needed more little buddies to be my companions with. i also for a time remember being really really obsessed with this pumpkin i got to decorate in kindergarten and i was always writing about it in my little daily journal that they had us do until it unfortunately rotted and i had to throw it away. i remember the little drawings i did of it though with orange crayola markers but sadly i don't know if we have the journals anymore 😔😔

12. Do you headcanon any characters as autistic? If you want, tell us why you headcanon them as autistic.

oh for sure!!!

when it comes to hattytime i believe quite a few of the characters are autistic, namely bow kid, hat kid, snatcher and conductor. they all have a certain vibe to them that gives me the impression that they are. though i'm sure if i thought about it enough, i could most definitely see many of the others as autistic too.

bow and hat also appear to have selective mutism, which is a trait that i share with them myself so i always found that to be the one clue to that. they also appear to both be very analytical about their approach to things and seem to have respective fixations in regards to their manner of dressing, where hat kid seems to like more simple and loose, flowy, comfy clothes and bow kid seems to like more decorated styles of dress and i think that is a part of how they express themselves. not to mention i always saw some of their idle animations as a stim of some kind.

snatcher it's hard to explain exactly but i feel like with how consistent he is in his social interactions and desire to be left alone gives me the impression that he is autistic. he also seems to have a special interest in reading and studying things, even the subcon time rift cluing to a possible interest in science and experimentation. he also seems to share kind of a lack of social understanding especially when he was still the prince and how he's portrayed within the storybook not quite understanding why vanessa was so upset with him. also, the way he has a default stance that he stands in with his hands clasped, something that i often find myself doing too in finding a very comfortable position to be standing in.

conductor i find to be autistic as well just because of his special interests in movies and his train. he also has a similar way of standing in a default way with his hands behind his back or fidgeting constantly as a form of stim. he also seems to struggle a lot in social settings and comes off very direct and blunt and seems to struggle a lot with emotional regulation. it's just very obvious to me that he's autistic. i also think on top of his autism he has a form of ocd too, something that is comorbid with autism.

i think maybe grooves i could argue similarly that he could be autistic too? but i'm not sure because i hadn't really considered it but i'm open to the idea of course ❤️ :) though i mostly considered his to some anxiety disorder or adhd explaining his behavior but i could also see him being a bit autistic .

outside from hattytime tho, i believe max caulfield from life is strange to be autistic. she shares the same traits that i personally do and has a special interest in photography. it's also possible that chloe also is too just by how she interacts with the world and how she had a special interest in science.

when it comes to mgs, i believe naked snake/big boss and the other snakes to all be very autistic. they all seem to have their respective interests and just how they interact with others socially and romantically really gives me the impression that they are. i want to argue possibly that revolver ocelot and some the cobra unit are definitely autistic too. also otacon and the rest of his family for sure given me the impression that they are too.

from toh, i know that i definitely like to think of gus and luz as having autism. luz of course adhd and autism at the same time and gus i think is very much autistic. i don't often have many hcs for the toh characters but just solely based on vibes.

rena ryuugu, rika furude and satoko houjou from higurashi i also believe to be autistic and it's solely based on how their personalities come across and their means of expressing themselves.

i'm sure though if i went through the many other medias that i enjoy and made a list i would be able to point out characters in each one who i believe to be autistic but ough this list has gotten very long as is. thank you so much for asking though!!!!!!! ❤️

#answered asks #anon #THANK YOU¡!!!!!