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#and the characters have almost no time to develop any feelings or chemistry!
ghostly-insights · 2 years
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I Watched Heartstopper, Then Crush And I Regret One Of The Two
Here's some commentary nobody asked for!
As a queer person, I'm very much glad we're getting more content in the media (I'd say LGBTQIA+ content, but let's be real, not all those letters make it almost ever, which sucks). It surprises me and then it hurts me that it is a shock; I have to run some numbers in my head to remind myself we're still barely there when it comes to representation and I finish my thoughts with an uncertain landing on the "I have to be happy for some progress anyway, even if it's not even close to enough".
That being said the other day I binge-watched Heartstopper on Netflix and later on Crush on Disney+. What I learned is that I shouldn't have done it in that order.
Heartstopper is truly sweet, I adopted all the gays in it, they're my children now (you can co-parent, it's fine). It’s also much more light-hearted than I anticipated, which is good 'cause Aphrodite only knows how done I am with the whole coming-out plot. Sure, after watching it I went like "Ehh, could've had more substance", but honestly fuck no: it was perfectly fine like it was. A feel-good, rainbow series. Love it, wish we had more.
Now onto Crush.
What the fuck was that.
First things first, this movie is the stupid humor kind. The type that makes zero sense at all, that's simply not how people are in real life (OK, maybe some of them are, but not all of them and not in such an exaggerated way). Then it falls onto a terrible writing issue which is the “telling instead of showing” of things. As in: "Look at Gabri, she's the most popular girl in school!". Except we only see her hang around two or three people in the whole movie (one of them is her literal twin), nobody seems to be giving a shit about what she's up to. I would've literally never known unless you told me and I'm still doubting you. Even more apparent is with the character of AJ (Gabri's twin sister), who's explicatively described as "brooding", with a too-cool-for-school vibe etc, but yet again the only thing she does to indicate anything of the sort is eye-rolling a couple of times? And having a skateboard? Girl, bye.
More importantly, the protagonist (*goes to check her name on The Web ‘cause the character made such a splash*) – aka Paige – has only two things going on for her: being annoying and constantly reminding everyone she's gay (technically being an artist too, but it doesn't play into the plot almost at all, so). She says she's gay so many times it sounds like the whole "I'm straight, I swear!" thing in reverse. It's all played as a running joke in the movie, as if that's funny, but is it? Personally, I found it cringe as hell.
The plot didn't even try to make sense, it was a big shrug, which isn’t necessarily something I’m against if I end up having a good time, but I didn't. If you watched the trailer (or the movie), then you know the baseline: Paige wants to get into a prestigious school, but is framed as the person making graffiti on school property, and for the sake of moving the plot along the only way to prevent getting a suspension is to join an extracurricular activity and find the actual "culprit" behind the graffiti. She picks track ‘cause that’s what her crush – aka supposedly-most-popular-girl-in-school – has as extracurricular, but ends up falling for the other twin along the way because... I don’t fucking know. Maybe because Gabri’s character is even more insipid than AJ’s, I don’t know.
Honestly, all the characters are either annoying or boring, with the only exception of Tim, so important he doesn’t even have a last name now that I’m looking him up on the wiki page. He had a very charming smile and seemed the most genuine out of the bunch, as in I could see a guy like him actually existing in this world, so he wins in my book, I guess.
This whole rant is to say that I’m quite upset I watched this after Heartstopper, ‘cause it doesn’t even compare. One is a series and one is a movie, but that's no excuse.
Even though I want to be happy we’re getting more… well, not representation, Crush is hardly any representation at all. I’m happy we’re more out there (I guess), but I’m still conflicted about the way we’re portrayed. ‘Cause Crush wasn’t it.
Important to mention, it really wasn’t the cast’s fault: the writing was simply not there at all. Big shame.
P.S. If anyone liked Crush no worries, this is simply my take on it. You’re free to enjoy what you enjoy and that’s the beauty of it all. Keep reblogging GIFs from the movie and so on, I prefer those to the actual thing anyways (lol).
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solaraurora · 1 month
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can I talk about my love for Alastor please? omg I love this psycho cannibal enigmatic eldritch demon deer so much! & he is just damn fine! 🖤❤️
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his demon form is beautiful glorious lovecraftian cosmic horror perfection!
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also I just love all the mysteries & theories surrounding him. we know for a fact his soul is chained to someone because he also made a deal, but WHO? this little moment here where we can see ethereal threads sown throughout his perpetual smile, I love the idea that his grin is literally stitched on by dark magic. like he can't let anyone know that he's actually so miserable but also whoever owns his soul will not let him speak about it. his seven year disappearence which strangely coincides with Lilith's disappearence & the idea she captured him to look after Charlie. how he managed to obtain so much power taking out the strongest of overlords. I really need season 2 to focus on his lore. he's such a fascinating character.
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his breakdown here after almost dying for the hotel, realizing he's not invincible, & lamenting about how he needs to break free from his deal. he lost because he wasn't fighting for love he was fighting for personal gain. the thought of getting attached to people & dying for them terrifies him. I really wanted to give a hug. he was freaking out so badly & sounded so depressed.
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I love his friendships with Niffty & Rosie more than anything. I choose to believe the theory he doesn't own Niffty's soul she's just a little weirdo short queen who likes him & he just lets her accompany him & has grown fond of her. & he's so comfortable with letting Rosie show him any affection. he really adores them both.
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& I do ship with him with Charlie. I know Alastor is asexual/aromantic which is cool, & Charlie is with Vaggie l so I'm fine with them not being canon but... dammit they have the most fire chemistry & a wonderful dynamic. like she's his little princess, & he's going out of his way to help & support her just cuz & doesn't undermine her abilities. & Charlie knows she can't fully trust him but she definitely sees something in him that hasn't been completely enveloped in darkness yet. & I just love the thought of Alastor having real love for someone & being romantic & affectionate while he's such a deranged dark entity. I like demons in love.
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his mic is a source of his power & he willingly handed it to her without a second thought. like he really trusted her with it. he knows she would never break it. he wanted to give her a voice.
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Alastor sometimes shows that he's capable of caring about people (obviously not just anyone), showing affection, & even liking people to a somewhat degree. I think he genuinely adores Charlie, he has such a soft spot for Niffty & Rosie, & we know he loved his mother very much when he was alive. he also definitely developed an attachment to the hotel as he implied to Niffty & during his lament. but at the same time he's not capable of caring or affection or love not cuz he's aroace but because he's such a fucking murderous psychopath. I'm not naive I do believe that maybe he will betray her because of his deal & whoever is keeping his soul. at the end of the day he's still a sadistic insidious lunatic conniving & murdering his way to higher power.
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but if that happens hopefully Charlie can reach him & help free him from his chains & unthread his everlasting grin, maybe with her love for him. I want Alastor to feel real love & know he's not alone.
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mayandjuly1811 · 4 months
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WHY HUNTLOW IS A FORCED AND UNREALISTIC  SHIP.
1. First impressions:
Raeda has the most amicable meeting. About Lumity, Amity shook Luz's collar and almost got Principal Bump dissect her. It stems from misunderstanding, because Amity doesn't know Luz is human but a strange non-Abomination that Willow used to cheat. About Huntlow, Willow seems to be violent for no reasons at all. Hunter disguises as a Hexside student so to Willow, he's just a student that she doesn't know. He's not a threat at all. Yet she summons the vines to wrap him tightly and drags him down the ground so hard that the asphalt gets damaged. Treating strangers like this is not fine and out of character for Willow.
Also, when Hunter is about to leave again, Willow drags him down the ground and takes him to the field without asking his permission. This crosses boundaries a lot. In comparison, even though Amity sees Hunter as an enemy in Eclipse Lake, she just simply uses Abomination magic to capture him, not dragging him down violently like Willow.
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2. Understanding:
Raine and Eda have a genuine common interest in music, magic (Eda is interested in wild magic and Raine supports her). Luz and Amity are both interested in Azura, the idea of being not enough for anyone, the idea of being accepted and loved for who they really are. Amity is also interested in Luz's glyph magic and she learns to draw it many times. 
About Huntlow, I don't see any common between them besides flyer derby. The whole “Half a Witch” is forced. Half a witch means a witch who is not powerful enough. Willow is a powerful Plant witch, her fathers just didn't realize her real magic talent and put her into Abomination track, which isn't her forte. If you're only good at Maths, but not Chemistry, does it make you unintelligent overall? Of course not. 
About Hunter, first off, he is not even a witch. He's a Grimwalker with no bile sack, his pointed ears were adjusted to look like witches’. Also, he's skillful at using magic staffs so no one sees him as powerless. He's the elite Golden Guard, one of the most powerful figures under Belos. No one dares to call him half a witch, even if they do think he's weak. And how he quickly recognizes the illusion of Willow in S2ep18 is unrealistic. How come Gus, Willow's long-term friend can't figure out before Hunter? The fact that Willow seems to be scared of Hunter is understandable. Last time, he literally locked her and her friends up, then kidnapped them, he also worked for Belos. Who knows if he's gonna do the same?
Hunter and Willow know little about each other. It's one sided. Hunter knows Willow is a strong and independent person, a caring and selfless girl. But Willow knows too little about Hunter compared with Luz, Gus and Amity. They never have a serious talk about Hunter's trauma caused by Belos, only a short scene of Willow cutting his hair. In Thanks to Them, Hunter has a deeper conversation with Luz and Gus than with Willow. With Willow, he just blushes even though nothing happens. Gus and Hunter's bond makes more sense than Huntlow to be honest. They both like Flyer Derby, they both like Cosmic Frontier, Gus knew about Hunter's being Grimwalker and his conflict with Belos, Hunter comforted Gus when he felt sad in Labyrinth Runner and when he missed his Dad. Hunter's screentime with Gus is even more than with Willow. Their platonic bond is stronger than Huntlow's forced romantic one.
Feeling development.
The way Willow and Hunter like each other is too rushed and unexpected. Starting with Hunter, he met Willow only one time in ASIAS and started to have a crush on her? He only met her once directly and already blushed? And Willow, she treats Hunter the same way she treats everyone. Only until Hunter has power and saves her does she fall for him. It's so rushed all of the sudden. Some people say they live together in Luz's house for months so they have feelings for each other. But there are no bonding moments between them besides the cutting hair scene. Even though the show is cut short, from Willow's scrapbook, she and Hunter don't have any bonding moments between the two of them.
Comforting.
It's one sided again. Hunter is understanding and sympathetic towards Willow. Meanwhile, how Willow tries to comfort him is questionable. He just lost Flapjack and Willow isn't understanding at all. She gives him the Flapjack picture, causing him to feel grieving again. He's been struggling to hold back his grief to focus on helping others. This backfires really back. She should have waited until Hunter brought things up about Flapjack first, just like Gus. He knows Hunter is a Grimwalker since the Day of Unity, but he doesn't bring anything up first and waits until Hunter says it first. He thinks about Hunter's emotions after being traumatized by Belos 
Also, when Hunter looks upset, Willow should have stayed to continue to comfort him?! Instead, she acts like she's the one who is hurting and leaves. Imagine you're feeling sad, someone tries to comfort you. You haven't felt better since you need time, they feel sad and leave you. Now you feel guilty because you can't be happy to make them happy. This is making things worse. Hunter can't even make himself feel calmer after Flapjack's death, yet now he'll feel guilty because his own sadness and grief makes Willow feel sad! Also, when Hunter calls out, she keeps walking and ignoring him. 
In conclusion, Willow and Hunter are better off as friends. They don't have any romantic chemistry or deep understanding. The ship is so forced and rushed.
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lazorbeanz · 10 days
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Why do you personally ship, like, or appreciate Sonamy? What got you into Sonamy? What’s your favorite moment between the two?
Why do I ship Sonamy?
Okay, ima admit it..for someone who is a diehard sonamy fan, and thinks about AND ONLY about them literally every waking second, I can not think of ONE reason why I ship them to begin with….
“So you just ship them for basically no reason WHY?!” Pretty much 😅
And I’ve seen so many other people give their really good reasons and opinions on why they ship sonamy, and I full on agree with ‘em, but as for myself, I rack up nothing…and it’s my favourite ship too I mean come onnn TwT
I’ve also had my sister ask me this same question not long ago, and all I could do was just sit there and think “Damn your life almost revolves around these 2 HOW CAN YOU NOT HAVE AN ANSWER?!” I constantly beat myself up for this because I know I should 😭
And I mean, stuff like being the dynamic duo that they are, (whether in battle or not) their attitude and affection for each other evolving over time, respecting the other’s wants and needs, respecting boundaries (kinda the same thing tbh lol) , enjoying each others company, and just how the whole idea of sonamy has turned from what some people may see as “toxic” or “forced” (that might be the better word for it) from early 2000s media, to something more laid back and healthy like recent media because of all the character development over the years… etc, etc…are all fantastic reasons, and even reasons I would now apply as to why I love the ship even more…BUT they’re not the reasons I began to ship them in the first place, because these things I NEVER took into consideration when I starting doing so.
To put a long story short, I just saw pink and blue hedgies and was like, “ooooh I sense chemistry”
I feel like I could be going no where with all this. But all I’m tryna say is that I LIKE sonamy simply because of who they are…just a speedy blue boi and his hammer-wielding pink girlie. I APPRECIATE them solely because of their existence, especially in my life. They are like- one of the few things I ever look forward to these days. I SHIP them because unlike any other ship that has sonic or amy in it, sonamy just… “works” (I don’t know how to explain it but you know what I mean right??) And despite not being canon, (YET! 😏) they have got to be the closest ship to becoming canon (besides vectilla) ..unless I’m just biased :p
What got me into Sonamy?
Well, I did kinda just answer this in the previous question lol but I have to elaborate!
So yeah it started off with just seeing them 2 together and thought “I like where this is going hehe” tho tbh it never really went anywhere…because I was watching Sonic Boom at the time XD, the first piece of Sonic media I consumed since regaining an interest in the franchise. AND WE ARE NOT going back to like 2015 or 16 when I first discovered Sonic…idek what I did regarding shipping back then…I think I like shipped blaze and shadow or something OH LAWD-
Also to think that those short lived Sonamy moments in Boom didn’t even bother me in the slightest?! Present me is disgusted by such lack of interest or care! 😫
Okay okay I’m straying from the question, I’m sorry!!
There are a few things that got me hooked on Sonamy. First was definitely the tv series’. Boom, Prime and X all had adorable and wholesome moments that I could’ve almost died of cuteness from! Some of it was also hilarious too. In Sonic boom for instance, sonic and Amy would fight like a married couple lololol
Another thing (and this was the game changer) was the fanart and animatics. These became the addiction for me; one comic would lead to me reading another, which lead me to read another and so on. Or I’d find an animatic on YT and watch that and then begin scavenging trying to find more animatics to feed these cravings of sonamy I was beginning to gain all of a sudden.
And it just got worse and worse to the point I practically need a daily dose of Sonamy or I just might go feral
But I mean, how could I not?! YOU GUYS ARE SO GOSH DARN TALENTED AKJDJSJDND
Sadly now my food hath runneth dry over the months…so if any of u like come across anything sonamy pls don’t hesitate to tag me or send it to me pls I need it ajhshsjs
On top of all that, came the brainrot. My growing love for this ship and all the incredible media really sent me into a serious Sonamy delulu era. Literally almost ANYTHING can send me into deep thoughts about those 2, no kidding. I literally planned out in my head an entire story of them a couple days ago. Sometimes it’s a head canon or 2, other times just something extremely wholesome I’ll imagine them do and I’ll be deceased. Those rats live in my head rent free omg-
As I said, ANYTHING can trigger this brainrot; a song, a scene, a quote, a random object…you name it, I’ll come up with a Sonamy headcanon in relation to it.
I can’t also forget other sonic media that also boosted it like game cutscenes and IDW. Lately IDW has been CARRYING it for me with the little Sonamy moments like in the 900th adventure, #67 and other tidbits I’d find in former issues. The amount of frames I’ve seen of them hugging warms my heart waaa🥺🥺
Overall, this fandom has really impacted me and my love for Sonamy. (and sonic in general) all the things I’ve learnt and discovered have made me love them all the more because of it. My life has almost become an Sonamy aesthetic now…I am NOT joking when I tell you my PJs are Sonamy coded, and that was hardly intentional…🤣
Favourite Sonamy moment?
Arrghhh why just one?? Pretty much ANY moment involving those 2 cotton candy hedgies are bound to be my favourite!
Totally not saying this cuz I can’t pick a favourite *cough cough*
Take this, it’s the only Sonamy image I really have in my photo album rn.. (I should be in jail for this)
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Its one of my favs so it counts :)
Woowee that just about covers it! Now you know all about my weird and wonderweird love for my favourite ship :D 🩷💙
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mobius-m-mobius · 5 months
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I cannot believe that season. truly just. there was not a single episode I didn't sit down to without a genuine conviction that *this* would be the episode where they spit all over everything I loved about the show. I braced constantly throughout the episodes as they kept setting themselves up for Very Stupid story choices only to pull the rug and go "HAHA surprise, idiot!!! We've given you exactly what you wanted <3". until the final episode which was NOT what I wanted and also exponentially better storytelling and character development than any of the ideal scenarios I'd constructed.
something deeply meta about it all. truly a chaos season for the chaos god, where the most chaotic, unexpected, transformative thing they can do is to be good.
Spent the day processing my love for this season only to have your message sum my thoughts and feelings up perfectly, thank you so very much for sending it 💖
Same as you, not for a second did I go in truly expecting anything from s2. Owen and Mobius have my heart, always will, so primarily the show was a vehicle to provide whatever crumbs of his scenes and chemistry with Tom I could get and with the start of every episode I braced for the moment that would get ruined in some way, only to be continually hit with everything I've ever wanted in a show or pairing right up until the finale. Which, while not what I would've chosen, was beautifully crafted and an almost Shakespearean tragic romance that will haunt me for the rest of my days and is still infinitely better than the nightmare scenarios I'd been floating around in my mind so at least there's that and it's impossible not to be thankful for eps 1-5 for giving content anyone could dream of and more 😅
Besides the obvious ending, I'm mostly crushed our Loki and Mobius didn't get a proper goodbye but honestly believe Loki decided to seek out s1 Mobius instead knowing s2 Mobius loved him too much to ever let his sacrifice happen and it would've been too much to bear, so having made his mind up already he at least tried to visit a version most likely to validate his choice. Just wish the Mobius now waiting until the end of time had at least a similar opportunity, but I'm just thankful he didn't lose his memories and could make his own decision that his faith in Loki is what's carried him before and will continue to do so now.
The flip of their characterization from order or chaos is exactly what has me convinced Lokius will reunite because how can they not with such an open ended future?? Even in separation they revolve around each other and they're the only ones left wanting. Mobius and his life are in ruins with nothing but the passage of time and possibility of some spent with Loki ahead while Loki's surely going to find a way to meet halfway when the choice of order has not only made him potentially the most powerful being in existence but one who spends eternity looking at the only person who ever saw him back.
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lurkingshan · 5 months
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Did you go into I Feel You Linger In The Air with a lot of expectations? Personally I'm a huge fan of Nonkul so when the cast was announced I was quite livid and my expectations raised a lot when the pilot trailer was dropped but Dee Hup House followed that pilot trailer with Step By Step, Show Me Love and Hidden Agenda so by the time IFYLITA aired, I felt like I had to try minimizing my expectations as much as possible because it's Tee Bundit & co. I can't quite put into words but what about IFYLITA that makes each episode builds up so well and I never really feel like it lost its pace? plot? narrative? (except for maybe a few plot threads I could overlook). What do you think Shan? What do you think are the key elements that keeps IFYLITA's narrative so engaging even though this could have been like any other modern-guy-accidentally-time-traveled-to-the-past-to-fall-in-love-with-guy-from-the-past series?
My friends can attest, I went into I Feel You Linger in the Air with unreasonably high expectations, because I fucking love historicals and time travel romances and before this year we had precious little of either from Thailand. I was so hype for this project from the moment it was announced. And then Step by Step happened and I decided to willfully ignore the Dee Hup House and Tee Bundit parts of this project in order to stay hype. Surely, it would be fine!
And it has, mostly. I can't pretend we haven't seen some Tee Bundit hallmarks in this production. For the first half of the show, he seemed pretty uninterested in the romance, focusing most of the story time on building out the side characters and the politics of the period and leaving Jom and Yai's connection underdeveloped. He has given us almost no information on the time travel mythology, so the finale will either be jam packed with last minute exposition or leave Jom/us with no real understanding of the rules of this universe. He seemed unable to figure out how to make the romance and time travel and queer politics plots co-exist, so instead he kind of chunked them out, taking them one at a time and leading to some kinks in the pacing of each given plot. He spent a lot of time very carefully building serious conflicts only to hand wave them away in one very easy denouement.
But despite all that, this show just works, doesn't it? Usually when I am picking up this many structural issues in a show, I will lose my emotional connection to the story as my brain kicks into analytical mode. But that didn't happen here. The emotions of this story stuck with me throughout; I care about all the characters, I am invested in everyone getting what they deserve, and I was sobbing my little heart out last week as Jom and Yai said their long goodbye. It's been such a beautiful journey, if imperfect, and I credit that to a few things:
Writing aside, the other aspects of this production are all around phenomenal. The cinematography, the set and costume design, the lighting, the music. It's all working together to make this time and place feel so vivid and real. It's so gorgeous to look at and the show really makes you want to just sink into it and get immersed.
Bright and Nonkul were perfectly cast in this, and they have been absolutely killing it in these roles. Jom and Yai feel so real to me, both as individuals and as a pair. I really believe in their connection, which is no small thing given the aforementioned underwriting of its development. In a story like this the romance needs to be strong enough that you believe these two would seek each other out across time and space, and I do believe it for them. A lot of that can be credited to the remarkable chemistry these two performers have built together.
The non-romance aspects of the plot are actually compelling. It's always risky to add in a bunch of side stories to a simple romance; you risk distracting from the main story in a way that actually does some damage or leaves the audience bored or confused. But here, the choices about what to add made for a compelling cast of characters, a stronger tie to real history, and an all around more queer show. I love that we got a proper lesbian romance, that we got to see an oppressed woman come into her power, that we got a het dude learning how to be an ally, and that we got to see a queer community form around and bolster Yai and Jom. It's really special and the best of what Tee's interests can lead to when he marshals them well.
So yes, I do think this show stands apart from others in this genre for what it brought to the formula that feels new and fresh. I wish it was more widely accessible because it's truly one of the most beautiful dramas I have ever seen and easily one of the best Thai shows of the year.
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thtdamfangirl4 · 8 months
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I tried really hard to bring my hopes down so I wouldn’t be disappointed by the RWRB movie and despite both my best efforts and some truly great scenes from the actors in the movie, I was so upset by it.
The Paris scene was gorgeous and intimate and IMPORTANT. Sarah as Zahra was literally flawless. Taylor and Nick were infinitely better than I thought they were going to be. The chemistry was good. I liked Uma Therman.
But.
I was never going to be happy with this movie. It was rushed (due to the nature of it being a 2 hour movie) and cut out not only important scenes for development, it cut people who are integral to the plot and entire plot lines that were paramount to the book’s intention.
It needs June. It needs Nora and Pez to be ACTUAL characters. It needs Ellen and Oscar to be divorced and have the family dynamic that makes Alex who he is. It needs Rafael Luna. It needs Catherine. It needs Bea to be flawed and have a personality and not be sanitized for no discernible reason. It needs the full progression of Alex and Henry’s relationship. It needs emails. It needs better coverage of the email leaks and aftermath. It needs friendship and queer community. It needs 23 year old protagonists. It needs Alex spiraling and figuring himself out.
If I’m honest, that omission might be what disappointed me the most and I haven’t let myself ruminate on it until these words were being tapped out by my fingers. Alex’s bisexual awakening in the book made me feel more seen and understood than any other book I’d ever read, any character I’d connected to. And it resonated within his character throughout the book. Without him learning about himself, the importance of this story is diminished for me and my own journey and connection.
RWRB is my favorite book of all time. I turn to it when I’m happy, sad, anxious, confused, tired, wired, and everything in between. It’s literally perfect to me, no matter anyone else’s opinion. I relate to Alex more than any other character in any other media. Henry is my favorite fictional character, period. I wanted so desperately to like this movie.
There were scenes I loved. But so much in between reminded me starkly of what it was missing.
This is not a hate post about this movie, nor does it stand to denigrate the actors or writers or crew, etc. Nor does it serve to shame anyone who DID love this movie. I hope you DO love it. I hope it brings joy to those who loved the story before and invites those who are unfamiliar into these characters. Most of all, I hope it provides joy to young queer audiences who are seeing themselves represented in a romcom.
But this process feels almost like grief, which sounds so dramatic. For me and people like me, whose souls were unwittingly bared on the pages Casey McQuiston wrote years ago. For people who found an anchor in this novel and hold on for dear life so we don’t drown. To me, this book is perfect, and to alter it in any way was going to disappoint me.
My hope is that in the coming weeks, I can find a way to truly separate this book and my unending catalog of feelings about it from this movie adaptation, which I probably would have loved if I wasn’t a die hard book fan, so that I can enjoy both and recognize that only a piece of the book made it to the screen.
(Truthfully my greatest hope is that they personally grant ME the rights and unlimited budget to write and direct a full miniseries adaptation that is a faithful interpretation to the letter, but no one is going to do that.)
I’ve seen like hundreds of posts already saying that we shouldn’t shit on this movie or take away from other people enjoying it, and I agree. And I apologize if you feel that’s what I’m going with this post. It’s not my intention. But I do want to say that you’re also allowed to be disappointed. You’re allowed to feel like you would’ve wanted it to be different. Just don’t walk around disparaging the book or the talented people who made it possible, and certainly not the fans who are just loving the story and characters you love too, just maybe in a different way.
Idk, this blog is a mess and a safe space and I just wanted to put my initial feelings somewhere because they have kind of taken over my brain. I’m tired and still processing, but if I don’t get out this spiral, I’ll stay in it.
I want to like it. But there were just too many changes. It felt like a different story. As Alex and Henry have both said, “we all must learn and grow.”
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floatingcatacombs · 4 months
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Bandai Taketh Away
12 Days of Aniblogging 2023, Day 1
Last year I wrote a post extolling the virtues of Birdie Wing, 2022’s breakthrough “how the fuck did this get made” mafia golf campfest. It’s the little show that could, animated on a shoestring budget to an audience of maybe two dozen extremely online yuri fans who tried their hardest to get literally anyone else to watch it.
It was almost certainly a financial failure for Bandai Namco, whose hopes for kicking off a VR-focused franchise fizzled in real time during season 1. But the resulting anime was a blast, a shoujo sports melodrama where literally anything could happen.
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Birdie Wing took a few seasons off between its cours, during which Bandai Namco’s second lesbian anime of the year began airing: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. My jaw dropped as I watched the first episode recreate Utena’s setup beat for beat, including the female main character taking another girl as her fiancé. It’s a gutsy move which set my expectations high. G-Witch was my introduction to Gundam, and the highs of the first season were amazing. Even if I had some occasional complaints with the pacing, the cliffhanger ending and narrative ambition left me very excited for more.  
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Season 2 of Birdie Wing was set to fill the gap between cours of G-Witch, but ~something~ happened behind the scenes. It ended up being delayed to Spring 2023, where the two shows would air together. Great! That means double the lesbians. Or…zero?
Fair warning: From here on out I will be both a hater, and a spoiler.
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Both seasons start without a hitch. G-Witch finally pops the safety bubble of its setting, with a terrorist attack on the academy followed up by an episode from the viewpoint of Dawn of Fold soldiers trying to survive a retaliatory crackdown from the Spacians. It pulled no punches with its violence and war orphans and trauma, a good sign for the struggles that awaited the main cast. Meanwhile, Birdie Wing continued to pay tribute to old-school Class S after its boarding school arc by involving its cast in a nightmare incest soap opera concerning Eve and Aoi’s parentage and the sins of the previous generation. Both are great developments for their respective shows, suggesting plenty of good stuff ahead.
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Unfortunately, this is when both of these shows begin to fall apart. Eve and Aoi manage to beat the incest allegations, but afterwards their relationship just…stops. Their chemistry all but dissipates, the homoerotic rivalry giving way to their personal relationships with golf instead of with each other. The plot keeps the two of them apart as much as possible, devoid of the angsty longing from season 1, as the girls each succumb to a different form of golf cancer (even without the gay-baiting, at least Birdie Wing is still insane).
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For G-Witch, a much more ambitious anime, this decline manifests as a creeping realization that they’re simply going to drop most of the open plot threads. The show takes its sweet time, even as it becomes clear that it’s barreling towards a finale at 24 episodes. The long-awaited plot twists are handled fine, I guess. But any sense that the show is aiming for greatness fades away, as it simply tries to drag itself to the finish line, buckling under its own weight. What we see on screen is what we get, and you’ll have to fill in the blanks yourself to really be happy. The Earthian-Spacian conflict ends up as mere set-dressing, and characters who clearly had intertwined backstories never even get the chance to interact. The obvious examples are the man who killed Suletta’s dad in the prologue resurfacing and that never really coming up, and everything to do with Chuchu and Nika’s backstories. I’m not here to nitpick, but it’s a shame that everyone’s characterization is left so thin. G-Witch really feels like it was meant to be a full 50-episode series, and I’m led to believe that this trimming down happened during production, as there’s just no other reason to set so much up without resolving it.
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At last we reach each show's conclusion. Birdie Wing is saddled with a final arc full of professional tournaments, which is always going to be weaker than the dirty mafia golf on a conceptual level. The timeline begins to rapidly accelerate and suddenly we’re skipping ahead months, and then entire years. We don’t get to see most of Eve and Aoi’s final game, or even the period of time where they reconcile. An enduring friendship and rivalry is implied at the end, but it’s nowhere near the mutual obsession that the prior season depicted. Not an ounce of queerbait remains, even for the terminally yurigoggled such as myself.
Meanwhile, G-Witch dedicates some of its precious final minutes to a fight with Lauda (Jesus Christ is the Schwartzette is wasted on him), and just like Birdie Wing the two girls at the heart of the show barely get any time together as the end draws near. They ultimately opt for a Macross-Symphogear ending in which Suletta pilots a Gundam that shoots gay rainbow lasers and defeats her mom with the power of love and friendship. That’s fine! But that’s the ending for a show that didn’t happen! In its last act G-Witch retreats into its shell, unable to commit to the moral weight of the world it had built up. Laughably, the epilogue time-skips to a neoliberal utopia where Miorine solves the earth-space conflict through her sheer girlboss acumen. Suletta and Miorine’s gay wedding is implied at best, and an after-credits message states that this is the conclusion of The Witch from Mercury as a story, prematurely killing any potential follow-up.
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The rest is history. Kadokawa redacts an interview to remove references to Suletta and Miorine being married, Bandai releases a statement that their status at the end of the show should be left up to interpretation, and everyone is mad forever.
What happened? Both of these shows fell apart at the same time, and both in a manner that defused their implicit queerness. Birdie Wing was always a bit of a trainwreck even at its best, so in a vacuum I would have just concluded that the production ran out of steam, unable to live up to its earlier writing. But the timing of Season 2’s delay, combined with the corporate meddling that affected G-Witch, makes me downright conspiratorial. Something went down at Bandai Namco, and it led to them ordering their productions be revised halfway through to scrub out all the gay shit and play things safe. I wouldn’t be surprised if this occurred at the same time as G-Witch was trimmed down from its initial 50 to 24 episodes with no chance of a continuation. It’s also not too much of a stretch to imagine Birdie Wing receiving a “stick to sports" mandate and Yosuke Kuroda subsequently phoning it in. I don't know how else to say it: there's no reason to do an incest fakeout if you're not even going to follow up on it afterwards once you've gone through the difficult work of exonerating them.
Witch from Mercury was a commercial success (it sold a shitton of gunpla, at least!) so it seems like a surprise that Bandai Namco would clamp down creatively in such a destructive way. Or maybe not. This may be the first female-led Gundam, but in a lot of other ways it’s fairly restrained as far as Gundams go. Perhaps BN decided that G-Witch had to be a balancing act to please everyone, preventing the creative staff from truly swinging for the fences in the end. Of course, that backfired horribly and they ended up pissing off himejoshis and regular mecha fans alike. I know it’s something of a fool’s errand to expect undeniable LGBT representation from anime, but when you begin with an explicit Utena homage, I expect better.
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This has all been a bit of a downer, so I wanted to end things by sharing the anime I watched this year that actually gave me what I wanted out of those two shows.
Watching through the original Mobile Suit Gundam made me realize just how conservative G-Witch is in a lot of its storytelling. 0079 is a deeply radical show for its time, and still would be if you made it today. The unhesitating depiction of war and death through the aesthetics of a 70’s children’s show is particularly bold, and even the parts of the anime notorious for being overlong successfully reinforce the overall mood of the work. Amuro’s transformation from innocent child to unrelenting psychic soldier is as inevitable and upsetting as it should be, and even with all the “filler” the script feels much tighter than the G-Witch, which ambles around with side stories that don’t resolve and characters that don’t go anywhere. Imminently watchable. I love that the mommy issues in Gundam go all the way back, and I'm also starting to understand why you fuckers have been arguing about Char Aznable for 40 years.
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you.
I also watched Kakegurui this year, which served as a great alternative to Birdie Wing. It doubles down on the best parts of that show – mostly-female cast, high stakes gambling, dubious lesbian rep – with an all-consuming sleaze to it. Grab some friends who aren't easily scandalized and try not to worry too hard about gaze or the intended audience, and it will be a hoot. The production values are great, even if most of it inevitably goes to girls making upsetting faces. The first opening in particular is an animation highlight. Of course, this is a MAPPA production, so they’re far too busy flaying their workers alive in the pits of hell to ever get around to another season. May their company unionize or perish.
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ccuniculusmolestus · 4 months
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Bunny Corcoran; Childhood Moodboard.
Based purely on headcanons, currently not refined but I will polish them after a re-read.
Katherine Corcoran suffered from a personality disorder (which I believe was passed down either genetically or environmentally to Bunny.) Both she and Macdonald knew there was something wrong with her, but i mean BPD was added to the DSM 5 in the 1980s (when TSH was set) so I believe when she was still younger, getting therapy or going to therapy was heavily stigmatized and also only the extremely mentally ill were treated? Perhaps it was also a social image thing, or a personal pride thing, but sis did not get help for it until much later. I also feel like, during the events of the book, that maybe she was on mood stabilizers just because she's so cool and chill all the time. (Described as "calm as a bride" at her own son's funeral whereas her husband can't stop oscillating between bawling and playing with his grandkids.) Now, BPD isn't largely genetic like Bipolar but it has genetic predisposition. That genetic predisposition paired with environmental influences like neglect can lead to the development of BPD, which is I believe what happened with Bunny. I mean, we can also argue that Bunny's dad was so emotionally volatile. He jumped from one mood to the other, and I'm not being cringey and self-diagnosing (?) book characters but he probably had a mood disorder (Bipolar disorder) which is largely genetic. He's more similar to his mother than Richard realized or noted in the books, I think. The way he was beginning to get into drugs, too idk. I feel like it's Macdonald's influence on the boys' behaviors is very prominent, but to see Kathy's influence, you'd have to see their sons up-close. We really only saw Bunny up-close, and that too only from Richard's (very biased imo) opinion
Anyway, building on that, I just wanna say I think Kathy and Macdonald's parenting style was very inconsistent, and most of the times just downright neglectful. This much is clear; the corcoran household struggled with emotional volatility. Environments like these can serious alter the brain chemistry of children who grow up in them, and they act as triggers for activating the genetic influences that are present within someone. So growing up Bunny often felt like his mom loved him, then she didn't, then she did, so on. It's mentioned in the books how Bunny was miraculously the best out of all the Corcoran family members (I think Charles says this) and I think maybe Bunny was more in touch with his emotions (before any of u get triggered-- no, not implying that's hes a kind soul or 100% empathic)
I know the popular notion is that the youngest child is the most spoilt but tbh sometimes they can be the loneliest. The first two brothers have kids that are like, I think almost 10 years old, so I think there's a considerable age gap between (Bunny, Patrick, Brady) & (Hugh and Teddy). Because like, Bun and Brady are still in school, and Patrick is doing some business thing I think?? I actually need to sit down and draft up a timeline of their births lol. Anyway, the point I was going to make is that the Corcoran boys were shipped off to boarding schools when they were pretty young, and boarding schools typically start accepting at around age 11 I think. But I think prep boarding schools also exist and your kid can be as young as 7 before you ship them off to stay at the school. A thing to note, prep boarding schools are VERY expensive, so if the Corcorans are sending their kids to boarding schools purely for the image of being rich, they might have done that tbh. Which brings me to this point, the age gap isnt too big between Bunny & (Brady+Patrick) but they'd still get to go to boarding school before Bunny, meaning Bunny was younger than 7 years old, and most probably isolated because all his brothers were not at home anymore and he was left to just his neglectful mother (considering his father would be at work) . So being the youngest in this family could possibly entail isolation. again, purely headcanon!
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lowkeyed1 · 9 months
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Willow Month 2023: Day 3 - Favorite Episode This is a tough call for me, because it's very close. I love Episode 7: Across the Shattered Sea because it has so much gorgeous character development for everyone and so much beautiful scenery, but Episode 4: Whispers of Nockmaar just barely shades it. I think it's the whump. This ep is basically 45 minutes of whumping on poor Graydon and.... he suffers beautifully.
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This poor kid starts off the ep infected with dark magic. He and the group both know it will eventually corrupt his entire system, cause him to become possessed and try to kill everyone, and they will have to kill him. And they spend the first part of the episode chaining him up and not doing anything about it, except Elora comforting him.
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They finally decide to do something and this leads to him restrained even more, splayed out on some kind of bench. He spends a lot of time writhing and moaning in pain. They tear his shirt open while he gasps, exposing horrific scarring he feels deeply ashamed of and doesn't want to talk about, while he sweats and groans even more.
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Then they throw a bucket of liquid on him while he writhes around some more and it's obviously painful and I should probably just acknowledge it's not just the whump I love in this episode? They did NOT have to make this whole thing so BDSM but they really did, god bless them. Plus lovely grace notes in the script referring to him being ravaged and also reamed -_-
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ANYWAY we go on from here to his having hallucinations about his painful past, then the possession really starts to set in and he gets aggressive, then starts talking in the voices of loved ones to scare and distract people. Then we have a break in the action and when we get back to Graydon...
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well. all right then. Spoiler, he's fully possessed here but acting like he's not. You can tell because they flat-ironed his hair! Lol, but also he's uncharacteristically comfortable with his exposed flesh and touching other people which seems like a nice, subtle hint.
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Trust me, Graydon in his right mind is never leaving that many buttons unbuttoned. He leads Elora up to the tower so he can complete the banishment ritual Bavmorda was trying to do to baby Elora at the end of the movie, but then everyone else shows up and he gets whumped on some more...
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Literally I would die, as an actor, if I had Erin and Ruby holding me down and Amar crawling on top of me and pretending to pummel me but like. That's the biz, I guess?
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At any rate, Kit convinces Elora that she is magic enough to fix this, so she goes and almost-but-not-quite kisses him (she does call it a kiss later) and sucks the evil out of him. He tells her he never doubted her, and the boy is clearly smitten after that
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Unfortunately, Elora had a vision of him shoving his brother out of a tree when he was possessed as a child and feels like he might be sketchy. So he's giving her a big smitten smile when they leave....
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(credit to willowgifsdaily for this gif)
...but that smile starts to falter bc she's giving him this look in return, yikes
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Anyway, that was good wholesome fun for the whole family and kudos to Disney+ for realizing they needed to put in a bondage-themed whumpfest to really sell me on the show! And kudos once again to my boy Tony Revolori, who sells every inch of this episode just amazingly. The emotional range is all over the place and there's no part where he falters in just performing the absolute shit out of this one. This episode changed my brain chemistry forever, I think. And that is why Whispers of Nockmaar is my favorite episode of WIllow! Send help!
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I see you hate Sylvie so much and the Loki TV show too. why?
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Okay, lemme break it down into a final, once-and-for-all peace speaking on the issue of the series and Sylvie. I'll try to make this as painless as possible.
1- Looking at it beyond the surface, she's not really interesting. The term 'Mary Sue' gets thrown around a lot with Sylvie, and I kind of have to agree. She seems to be little more than a trope checklist. -Sad background that motivates her actions? Check. -Deep down she just wants to be loved? Check. -Inexplicable instant "chemistry" with the male lead? Check. -She's just so super special and important? Check.
But even so, there have been others with similar Sue-ish backgrounds that the MCU has managed to make into pretty decent characters, like Scarlet Witch in WandaVision. Arguably, both characters share some traits, but the writers of Wanda (at least before Multiverse of Mehhness) clearly knew how to bring those ideas into a twisted story of learning how to confront the past and to mourn with a character who still had something to learn.
In contrast, Sylvie really doesn't have any flaws to turn into a deep character study, does she? I think that's her second-biggest detriment (see below for the biggest). A good character is never perfect. A good character had flaws, wants, drives, and other things that make them imperfect but relatable. Sylvie is incredibly unrelatable.
Truly I believe she was written for the stans as a self-insert. She isn't even a decent one. I read fanfics on here with amazing examples of a good insert character, so it clearly can be done. Again, Sylvie ain't it.
2- Sylvie's existence both mocks the comics as well as Norse mythology as a whole. Most of us anti-sylkis know this already, but in Norse mythology AND the Marvel canon that goes beyond the MCU, Loki has had several lovers and wives. Loki married and had three children with Angreboda, and then went on to have twins with wife Sigyn. In the comics, he also had a lover named Amora the Enchantress (which we ALMOST got in the MCU before her cameo was cut). Any one of these three would've made a fantastic romantic plot for Loki if the MCU *really* had the compulsion to go that route.
Alas, instead, the MCU kind of bastardized Amora, Sigyn, as well as another character from the comics named Sylvie, and combined them into TV!Sylvie. This not only means we will likely never see Amora or Sigyn in the MCU, it means they were replaced by an inferior on the same level as Randy from That 70s Show, who was also a sucky character created for the fans as an amalgamation of pre-existing characters.
3- She's just another in a long line of Loki-abusers. Like, does she ever comfort him after all he does for her? Does she even really listen to him? Because from what I saw there was just a lot of this happening between them:
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Jesus, lady. What has he done to make you such a jerk to him? I get you're supposed to be a #GuuurlBoss but that doesn't mean "be a total cunt to a man whenever you feel like it."
After all this time, if we really had to have a Loki character study series, why doesn't he get some respite from the fact that basically everyone he knows has either been cryptic and mysterious to him at best, and hostile/violent/malicious to him at worst?
THIS is probably the single biggest reason I loathe Sylvie. We're suppose to believe she's just being Miss Independent when she's really just bringing the poor god down even more than most. I feel like if she met Thor, he'd get upset at seeing how she treats him, and he'd be confused by how easily Loki just accepts it all.
4- I'm becoming more convinced Tom's only doing the show out of obligation, and that his creativity is being tossed aside for the sake of the series. I normally don't like to speculate like some others do, but with more people (like Zoe Saldana) coming out and saying they felt repeatedly stifled by the MCU's yuckity-yucks in terms of character development, I definitely believe they're telling Tom to shut up and read the script. I mean, the guy probably knows as much Norse/Loki mythology as any scholar by this time, and he seems to be a really creative person by nature. They're tossing out a whole trove of potential.
I get he's got a family now and he needs to bring in some bacon, but 1- he and his fiancee are both prolific actors who could probably get any roles they wanted. Hell, Zawe's about to enter the MCU herself when The Marvels come out later this year. If she has a larger role in the next few phases, I hope to god they treat her better than they've treated Tom and Zoe and other actors. But I doubt it. 2- he's probably already richer than God
He's almost certainly trapped by contractual obligations at this point, and that fucking sucks, and yes, I blame the tv show for this.
So, in conclusion: this really is a train wreck of a show hidden behind a lot of smoke and mirrors. I'm not sorry to say it. Sylvie lacks any kind of genuine depth, and the writers seem both lost on where to take Loki's character arcs, and not interested.
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unnursvanablog · 2 months
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I certainly didn't think my first kdrama of 2024 would be Marry My Husband - it wasn't even on my to watch list but the hype on the kdrama side of tiktok and tumblr. And I needed some romcom pick me up in the darkness that succumbs me in January with the romcom queen Park Min Young.
I saw that Park Min Young was doing another office romcom and I wanted to check it out but then I saw that she was dying of cancer and I thought to avoid it because I truly don't enjoy that in my kdramas. But as I said I kept hearing good things and I was feeling a bit down and wanted a cute romcom to cheer me up and here we are.
I do think it's going a little overboard on the clumsy trope, and I was going to comment on some of the other kdrama romcom tropes such as the bitchy second female lead and the lost first love and how it's somehow the male lead but then as the drama went on it came clear that there seems to be something else there and I hope that things will continue to develop in interesting ways and we get a slightly more depth to both him essentially being a gift from her dead dad and the second female lead getting some depth and interesting character arc because at the moment she is very much just the worst.
The story moves quite fast or it flows really well. It's lingering on the scenes that it needs to stop at to introduce some emotions to the story but it's not painfully slow. I hardly noticed how the times moves while watching the first four episodes. And it sure does have a nice hook to it with her trying to change her fate and her trying to get her shitty bff and her shitty husband to get married instead.
I adore a lot of the side characters already and the blossoming friendships that seem to be forming at the office. I do think that's very much needed for this type of story. It can give us a bit of a break from the main plot if it starts to lag or become a bit too repetitive or something in the second half.
I do love how much this story is just focused on Park Min Young's character and we have hardly gotten to the backstory or such about the male lead yet unless he interacts with her. And I hope the drama stays that way and doesn't sideline her towards the end.
Park Min-hwan is such a shitty character and it's a bit odd to see Lee Yi Kyung play him after seeing him in his loveable comedy roles but damn he is doing a good job here (and he is a much talented and interesting actors than the male lead imho) but I do find that character to be very amusing at times and interesting. I am never rooting for him, but I am often intrigued while he is on screen if that's the right way to put it.
One can't go wrong with Park Min Young in an office romcom (even if I gave up on her last two office romcoms but 🤷🏻). I do miss her fuller cheeks, it's sad to see how much weights she has lost, but she is such a warm charm to her and she has excellent chemistry with her co-stars. Overally the cast is quite adorable and seem to mesh well together and make the characters interesting or very likeable. All except the main male lead actually.
Na In-woo has never really impressed me in any of his roles. He is just sort of there being tall and handsome and not much else. And I get that his character is suppose to be a bit stiff and wear oversized cloths that don't really fit him. But he is just sort of blank for me here. He is just kinda okay. I don't find him that charming ether, which stiff actors such as Cha Eun Woo can often be. Which is a shame, but maybe he will prove me wrong as the drama goes on, but to me he is the weakest of the cast and the weakest link in the drama. Thankfully the drama is so focused on Park Min Young's character and not as much on him, because I found most of his solo scenes ether just a bit boring or almost… stalkerish.
I get that he is sort of there to help Kang Jiwo and all that, but does he really need to hover so much around her? I wasn't sure what his deal was until we saw that heart on his chest that he dad drew. But I still need the drama to do a bit more with that to really make me start liking him. Because it's odd to have a romcom where the romance is the least interesting part of it (to me).
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susagnon · 2 days
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Class 1-A band
I wondered about this group’s dynamic:
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One last band reunion... before they're all shipped of to war.
Kaminari’s probably the only one, who's really friends with all of the band members:
Pre-band, Jirou and Yaoyorozu were already close friends, but Jirou and Kaminari might have had established their electric [I'm not sorry] chemistry even earlier.
To Bakugou, Kaminari's probably the second real friend that he made in his life (or more like Kaminari made himself Bakugou's second real friend).
In another post, I had headcanoned Kaminari as being one of Class Mom's favourite kids. They can be seen laughing together in the background several times. I would count KamiMomo among the underrated background friendships, as I can see them being good for each other: Both are sensitive souls and at the same time, also very encouraging towards others. Kaminari was also the one, who immediately interupted Yaoyorozu, when she attempted to give 1-A and 1-B the "you are not obligated to fight against a lethal opponent with me" - speech, and instead assured her, that she would not face off against Gigantomachia alone.
Tokoyami and Kaminari apparently got closer to each other through the band. Tokoyami's thoughts during Kaminari's big (that should've could've been more elaboratived on) badass scene during the Gunga Mountain raid, outright stated, that he views the latter as a very good friend.
The rest of them? Aren't really close to each other.
...
After the cultural festival arc, Bakugou and Jirou were put into the same team during the joint training arc. Zero-emotional-stakes-fight aside, they are not shown to interact in any manner, that could be interpreted as significant to the relationship between them.
[Tangent rant: And no, I don’t count Bakugou saving Jirou by stepping on her, as significant interaction. Quickly gassing up a minor character and have Bakugou’s defeating them to "prove" how awesome Bakugou’s “teamwork” is, isn’t really convincing, if the audience didn’t get the chance to know the rival character and get invested into them beforehand. The audience is simply told and expected to believe, that Tokage Setsuna's really, really very capable. Usually. We never got to see any of it... dammit, lazy-ass writing! - rant end.]
It’s kinda difficult to make friends with someone who refuses to use your name for most of the time.
How does one become friends with Bakugou actually? Let's see:
Kirishima: Made himself into Bakugou’s morality chain,
Kaminari: I feel like Kaminari befriended Bakugou, bc he subconsciously felt that Bakugou would need his friendship (yes, Bakugou needs Kaminari much more than the other way round),
Todoroki: Just wants to be friends with all of his peers (except maybe Yoarashi Inasa),
Sero and Mina might be counted as Bakugou's friends to a lesser extent.
What do these people have in common? All of Bakugou's friends do 90 % of the work to maintain a relationship with him. The only reason how building rapport with Bakugou is possible, is, if the other person is doing most (if not all) of the rapport building by themselves...
Yeah, you're an ass, Bakugou.
I feel like Jirou, Yaoyorozu, and Tokoyami would have a more “normal” reaction to Bakugou’s character: Aka backing away from the snappy Pomeranian and leaving it tf alone. Most people don’t want to/can’t put up with disrespect and unwarranted anger for an extended amount of time – understandably, especially if they usually receive little to no positive feedback ever.
I headcanon that Bakugou feels slightly uneasy around Yaoyorozu, ever since her assessment of him at the beginning of the school year. I don’t think he ever held a grudge against her for that. Nevertheless, Bakugou’s a very proud individual, even after significant character development. Having someone - especially someone who’s not a senior but a peer – rip apart that superior self-image he had of himself with such sober laser-sharp accuracy, seemed to have been… almost traumatic to Bakugou and his gargantuan ego. I feel like he would subconsciously avoid being alone with Yaoyorozu. As in, if they happen to find themselves alone with each other e.g. in the common areas of their dorms, he would try to leave quickly.
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Tokoyami is not amused.
Beyond each other's battle prowess, I don’t see Bakugou and Tokoyami having a lot of respect for each other. Or to put it more mildly: I don’t see them having much patience for the each others' antics.
[Funnily enough, in the gag comics, Dark Shadow - in the form of a little human girl - made a ranking list of who/what she likes the most: Apparently, Bakugou ranks third, just behind Tokoyami himself, and Todoroki.]
...
But yeah, no surprises here. Kaminari gels with everyone. Bakugou gels with no one... except those, whose skins are a lot thicker than the average, and thus, wouldn't mind his verbal abuse too much.
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Kaminari Denki: Everything mentioned above, as well as a lack of self-preservation.
What about TokoJirou?
Well, Tokoyami and Jirou got a moment of joint badassery during the final war. From that single interaction, I’d say, his dramatics and her snark go well with each other - be it directed towards each other, or united against others. Aside from that, we haven’t gotten much of them together, unfortunately. However, I believe they get along well, and I can see them becoming friends.
[The drama CDs gave us Tokoyami accompanying Jirou to a haunted house (while Kaminari chickened out). It includes Jirou asking to hold onto the hem of his uniform, and Tokoyami reassuring her fears. It's all very cute, look it up! ]
And the TokoMomo dynamic?
We know that Yaoyorozu's self-confidence took a critical hit, after she lost against Tokoyami in the sports fest at lightening speed. She seemed to have been very shocked about how the match play out. We could assume, that she had been relatively self-confident previously. But we actually don't know, if it used to be more stable. And while Yaoyorozu's match with Todoroki against Aizawa gave her back some self-confidence; from then on, we're privy to more of her thoughts - most of them centered around self-doubt.
So either she'd never encountered a roadblock before losing against Tokoyami, and their match was to her, what her own assessment of Bakugou was to the latter. Or, Yaoyorozu has always been prone to second-guess herself a lot after encountering setbacks.
While he probably didn't pay half as much mind to his quick victory against Yaoyorozu as she did, we know that Tokoyami can be quite observant. I would have been interested in his thoughts about their match, as well as the resulting consequences for Yaoyorozu's self-confidence.
How would these two interact, if they were to be alone with each other? Very politely for sure. But what other aspects could their interactions have? How could they become closer friends?
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opalrosechalydra · 2 months
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Emesis Blue & Postmeta Art
We live in a media driven society. Our most famous celebrities star in our favorite movies and TV shows, our politicians are elected by whose propaganda-adjacent advertising campaigns were the most effective, even our youngest children are put in front of screens which permanently alter their brain chemistry. In a world where all of us must abide by systems that force us to sacrifice our whole lives at jobs and all of our free time managing our non-guaranteed shelter, food and health, we have to find solace in something easy to consume and easier to distribute. When your work day is done, what better way to wind down than by putting something on the television for your tired mind to be lost in? 
The history of media is almost as old as our most ancient civilization. It has evolved to become a very complicated, interconnected system of referential pieces. Martin Luther wrote the 95 theses critiquing the Catholic church in 1517. Papers at the turn of the 20th century critiqued films of the blossoming industry of cinema. Musicians preached an anti-war message throughout the US invasion of Vietnam and Korea. Now, there is an entire video sharing platform where independent videographers, filmmakers, editors, artists, and thespians may share projects with their own views and opinions. YouTube is home to a number of genres as defined by the internet communities who participate in them. Critiques, reviews, essays and more, all in video form by people who are unbound by contractual restraint and free to express their personal feelings.
Those who rise to the top of this massive, competitive industry are those whose feelings resonate with the most people. Oftentimes, it can be difficult to pin down exactly what something is saying, but the fact that it invokes a primal emotion tends to indicate that it resonates with the experiences of the viewer. Many experimental films have stood the test of time despite having unclear messages, or perhaps being made with no intended message at all. Eraserhead, The Holy Mountain, A Serbian Film and more are difficult for viewers to get through due to their subject matter and presentation, but have remained among the most influential movies ever produced. Many analyze them, try to derive meaning from sequences of abstract or even nonsensical images. These things disturb us on a greater level than just their superfluous design. There is a deeper message that these films convey which lets them stay with viewers for longer than just the night they watched it. This, obviously, brings us to… 
Team Fortress 2.
It’s a silly game, truly. It detaches itself from its predecessor with a cartoony artstyle, quirky dialogue and somewhat developed characters. Each of the nine playable classes is fleshed out in a series of, “Meet the…” videos released by Valve. These little nuggets of cinematic gold characterize each mercenary through an expert use of comedy, receiving further depth in the official Team Fortress 2 comic series for fans hard enough to the core to read through. However, this content was sparse and separate from the main game. Players who wanted to experience more stories involving these characters had to make some themselves. 
Fanfiction is a very common aspect of any online community surrounding media. People will inevitably want more from products than its producers can produce. The one thing that set TF2’s fanbase apart from others is that Valve released a tool that allowed users to stage scenes using assets from all of Valve’s games: Source Filmmaker. Valve has famously stopped releasing accessible mainline entries in their franchises for a decade now, with Dota 2 in 2013 being their last non-spinoff/non-VR release. Their older releases still maintain a decently high level of popularity despite minimal updates. One of the main reasons they stay so loved is because of Source Filmmaker. SFM gave fans a creative outlet to contribute to their favorite Valve games when Valve themselves weren’t. These videos can be indistinguishable from the professionally made animations Valve produced if given enough time and effort.
Something happened to Team Fortress 2’s mercenaries as the fans took the creative reins from Valve. The same thing happened to many other IP’s, most famously Sonic the Hedgehog and Garfield. When an internet community puts their twist onto a neglected franchise, it usually turns out experimental. There are things that small internet communities can get away with that large publishers seeking the widest audience can’t risk. TF2’s characters took on insane personas that spoke in broken sentences edited together from their existing voice lines. For every SFM video there was, there were two Gary’s Mod videos with rougher animation and wilder content. These videos broke every law of physics that these characters should abide by for the sake of surreal, mildly horrific humor. Fans eventually stopped associating TF2 characters with their in-game personas, replaced with odd inside jokes like Sandvich, Spycrab and Surprise Buttsex. 
As public perception of TF2 became altered by these niche YouTubers, the game itself underwent a bit of a crisis. Blizzard released Overwatch in 2016 as a much larger, more diverse Hero Shooter heavily inspired by Team Fortress 2. It had the cartoony artstyle, quirky dialogue and somewhat developed characters. Each character was fleshed out in video packages released by Blizzard and an Overwatch comic. Essentially, a much larger company just made a fresh game that represented more people that the company would pay more attention to than Valve had with Team Fortress 2 at that point. This revitalization of the Hero Shooter genre pushed other large developers like Respawn Entertainment and Riot Games to come out with their own. TF2 was seen as the old man game with all these young upstart series doing what TF2 did with a more effective understanding of the, “video games as a service,” trend that continues to dominate the market.
Players moved from TF2 to these alternatives over the next few years. This depopulation made two existing problems within the game worse: Bots and hackers. Bots made up such a large portion of the player base that #SaveTF2 went viral among fans wishing to combat the issue. Updates would come out tackling random exploits, but no progress on the bot issue was ever really made. These bots have been reported to spam hateful rhetoric including homophobic and racist slurs in game chat. Given how progressive Overwatch and its new wave of Hero Shooters presented themselves, these bots made TF2’s community seem like an even worse haven of bigotry. The hacker issue is mainly rooted in the Valve Anti-cheat (VAC.) It had been around since 2002, meaning that players had over a decade to figure out ways to get around its archaic system. Less players meant that a higher ratio of them were these hackers who dedicated too much time to learning how to mess with the game to leave now. TF2 seemed unplayable in comparison to the more well regulated alternatives throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s.
What seemed like the final nail in the coffin for TF2 was a source code leak that occurred in 2020. On top of all of the other factors pushing players out from TF2, it was revealed that simply playing the game could expose an unwitting player to malware. Team Fortress 2 became this wasteland of godlike cheaters among mindless zombies that worked together to attack people and invade their privacy, represented by twisted corruptions of the game’s original cast. All of the fun times that people had with the game years prior seemed to come to an end in a cataclysmic sequence of events worse than the last. 
TF2’s reality was completely distorted. Players could look back at a golden age over a decade ago where these problems could barely be conceived of. The game could still be fun if you went through the effort of finding servers unaffected by its litany of issues. As established, this world is one that leaves people with little energy. Why waste time trying to find safe servers to play on when there are so many alternatives with modern solutions which avoid these problems? It comes back down to ease of access, which is very important to most of the working class laborers of the world. 
This frustration, combined with the disruption of realism within the community’s fan-made content, inspired a group to action. There is a massive history known to millions of people, a history that ~100k people still partake in daily, which had never been put to art. It is only collectively archived in the minds of those who partake in the game’s legacy, be it playing the game itself or following the animators who made content for it long after Valve’s abandonment. These all collectively made up what people thought of TF2, but were never combined in a meaningful way. There was SFM/Garry’s Mod, then there was the game itself. This is what Fortress Films wanted to unify in their impressive passion project:
Emesis Blue
Emesis Blue is a fantastic representation of the progress fanmade media has made. People have been making their own video game content since before the internet gave it a worldwide platform. Players on old school cartridge based systems would tinker with their favorite games to create ROM hacks that completely changed its content. Sprites would be ripped by early 2000’s Newgrounds users who would create astounding animations with them. Even Valve chose to publish Gary’s Mod six years before they released Source Filmmaker because players could not stop themselves from trying to make their own content. 
Not only does it show how far the quality of the tools has come, but it raises the bar for the artistry that these pieces are made with. Emesis Blue is art. Many people have claimed that it’s a cinematic masterpiece deserving to be played in theaters. As much credit as Emesis Blue deserves, it is the natural next step in a further industrializing YouTube. Channels continue to make longer and longer videos, providing aspiring filmmakers with a space to release passion projects that would never be picked up by sound of mind producers. YouTubers have to make the most emotional pieces that they can to stay afloat among the 500 other hours of content uploaded to the site every minute. This crushing amount is supposed to be compartmentalized by the YouTube algorithm, though many professional YouTube content creators have claimed that it is a wildly irrational system that cannot be tamed. In place of trying to master the system, the best channels master their craft.
Following the human desire to organize, a genre began developing among the most experimental of these art pieces. Fans produced content for their favorite franchises, some of which evolved to accommodate all the angst that came with being fans of these series. Sonic the Hedgehog has perhaps the most famous fan community of any video game in history for this reason. Many young artists growing up into a confusing world used Sonic as a tool to vent their frustrations. It often came out very cringeworthy, giving Sonic fans the reputation they have today. However, the outlandish behaviors of the Sonic community have been deconstructed through comics like Tails Gets Trolled and games like Sonic Dreams Collection. Despite not being official, fans used canon characters to provide a meta commentary on the original piece.
This occurred again with Garfield. Though most people wouldn’t consider themselves fans of Garfield, there was something to be said about the success it received. That little orange cat is perhaps one of the most recognizable characters globally. The lack of depth compared to its astounding success inspired observers to create pieces that commented on Garfield's indomitable presence and the shadow it cast over Jim Davis as a cartoonist. The characters of Garfield and John Arbuckle are featured prominently in fan works like Lasagna Cat and those posted in r/ImSorryJon. Yet again, artists used pre-existing characters to create a meta narrative of their source.
Three for three, Emesis Blue followed this trend for Team Fortress 2. The chaos occurring in TF2 during the production of Emesis Blue was captured in the aggressive non-linear pacing. The unnecessary brutality of bots was captured in the hyperviolence of the film's most gruesome moments and in the throngs of mindless zombie-like monsters that pursue the main cast. Many entities, such as the Medic, defy the laws of the world to gain an unfair advantage like the hackers that plagued servers. 2020’s source code leak could be felt when Scout’s home was invaded and the multiple unsolicited phone calls Blu team received. All the while, the game being abandoned for fresher titles inspired the decrepit look of the classic 2Fort map.
Emesis Blue captured TF2 fans' frustrations and insecurities through a surrealist psychological horror. It was an unofficial piece of brilliance that added lore to a game that had been mostly forgotten by the people who made it and departed fans. Emesis Blue has the supreme luck of being provided assets directly from the games to express feelings about its greater existence outside of just its canon. It is also significant as a milestone in a new medium that seems to be taking off. There will be many more projects inspired by it utilizing the same core principles. As such, these pieces must be compartmentalized into their own genre:
POSTMETA - Being composed of storytelling elements belonging to a medias canon, such as characters and settings, which produces a narrative which provides commentary to the reputation the source media has in reality
Emesis Blue obviously is not the first Postmeta piece, but it marks a point where a coincidence becomes a trend. These works are indicative of the place that media has in our lives. Passionately followed media are taken from the hands of neglectful producers by an online fan base too vast to stop. Where companies fail to provide, the people will make up for it. They will also use that opportunity to capture the reality of that product as it influences people's lives, not just providing more escapist fiction to be consumed mindlessly. As people have sacrificed their time and money to make art more prosperous, it is able to say more about the human condition. Even through something as silly as a cartoony Hero Shooter, Fortress Films is able to bring out emotions within us that spark questions about our society. There’s something beautiful to that.
A miraculous thing has happened with TF2 in 2023. Though its player base was slowly decreasing in numbers since the release of its competitors, only a few months after the release of Emesis Blue did Team Fortress 2 break its peak player count at 253,225 in June of 2023. In a combined effort with fellow enduring YouTubers like Uncle Dane and Elmaxo, Fortress Films helped to bring TF2 to a level of popularity far surpassing that of its golden age. As of the time this essay is being written, Emesis Blue itself has over 8.7 million views and TF2 averaged over 100k players throughout the entirety of 2023, almost twice the number of players in its darkest periods. Art resonates with people, and it inspires people to action. No matter what the source is, how abstract it becomes, or even how relevant the subject is anymore, there is something to be felt in every corner of the world. Art about art does not devalue it, but simply gives it a value we couldn’t rightly calculate in a world where that didn’t happen. And a video about a game almost 2 decades old got that sentence to be written. Watch Emesis Blue, play Team Fortress 2, and enjoy the new wave of Postmeta art that it and pieces like it will inspire.
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soohyukslut · 1 year
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it's crazy because ive had this account so long that i used to use it to liveblog teen wolf episodes when they were fucking airing once upon a time... now im here... just finished the movie and what the fuck lmao. we used to be a proper country!
*spoilers*
it was just so all over the place just to throw all these old characters back into the mix of things with no real after thoughts.i wanna fight jeff davis lowkey. nostalgia was NOT enough to save this shitshow for me. it was over 2 hours and still somehow came off weak with shitty writing and more questions than answers.
like who THE FUCK is eli's mom? malia and parrish?? so fucking random. also lydia went thru all of that to save stiles back in the show just to leave him bc of a recurring dream? the fucking dumb ass chemistry teacher was one of the villains? shut the fuck up. i was in disbelief. like girl WHAT?? mason and liam hardly acted like they knew each other. liam was just stuck in the shadows of the whole thing??? he hardly had any part in this. i feel like coach had more screentime. also like when derek scott and eli were doing the little werewolf pack lineup why the hell didnt liam join in lmao. and while the 3 wolves were holding down the nogitsune everyone was just watching???? idk. also liam's gf? i assume? they really just threw her in there since arden didn't come back huh. so that they could use her kitsune powers to save scott. also jackson's a whole kanima but they just used him to be bitchy and gay. like why are you 30 still acting like when you were a sophomore in high school? then derek actually dead?? wtf and deaton and melissa look like they aged backwards though while the others... well😭😭
it was still a cute little blast from the past seeing most of this cast back together again i guess BUT AT WHAT COST. stiles presence was definitely missed and you could tell they were trying to make eli a mini sciles mix. the little flashbacks of allison remembering did make me feel something tho also when she used the flare and they referred back to my all time fav episode motel california. ugh! this just felt so random and off and didn't have the heart like the show. but i guess i can't really hate it i'm mostly just like wow?? 🤔 i grew up with this show and these characters and this how we brought things back?? i think i would've rather left it alone BUTTTTT scallison did lowkey get me. when he said "im still in love with you" and she just smiled back likeeee OMGG suddenly im a teenager experiencing their relationship develop again. and when he waved from the lacrosse field. acting like she wasnt about to kill his ass 15 minutes ago lmao. allison wasn't my fav character but goddamn almost 10 years ago march 2014 i still remember vividly watching her death and being so fucking shook and devastated. now she's back after 15 years lmao this is wild i can't believe we actually got this continuation
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cosmic-kaden · 2 months
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long post about me talking about a video game yipeee
crush and stuff under cut and me rambling about the game still lmao
Okay well- hm, the game really didn't tell me too much more. There is a bunch of information that it lacks and the story while interesting/intriguing didn't really do it for me? <- at least the ending didn't
The ending was a little lackluster to say the least. You can definitely tell it's an indie game that was poorly translated in some parts as there are parts that text was just copied and pasted from moments before.
There isn't a lot of character development either... They randomly threw characters together as "couples" at the end but showed no chemistry between them beforehand. I mean there is a detective character and then there is a woman who seems like the typical sex worker type and at the end, they're just... together? In the story, they interacted maybe twice and only ever talked about the case.
Games fun, the artstyle is awesome, the music is also really nice but unfortuantely the story falls flat! I'm hoping their next installment will be a little better storywise.. The game was so short.. I started it two days ago (I could probably beat it in one sitting through as it seems like it's roughly three hours long)
The game is called Almost My Floor.
ANY ANYWAYS I am crushing on the "protagonist", his name is Alex. Since the devs did such a poor job at giving the characters lots of personality/development I guess he belongs to me now! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Hell, they ALL belong to me now! I will give you personalities and development! Seems like other characters only existed to push the story which is unfortunate and it's only hinted at why the antagonist did what he did but didn't dive further into his side of things which would have been so interesting to see!
This game was made by a husband and wife and that's pretty much the entire dev team but you could really tell they struggled with making the male characters look different. They all really did look similar to one another, which I totally thought it was going to play into some time travel shenanigans but it doesn't, they're legit all different characters.
Alex himself remarks that he, Adam (the detective), and Kate's father all look alike but then after that remark it's never mentioned again and I feel like it would have been cool to explore that but I think it was just the creators poking fun at themselves for their lack of male character designs I guess?
I'm left with questions and wanting to know more but unfortunately this game is the only source of information as there is no wiki to go to, there's zero posts on this hellsite. It truly is a little indie game with no exposure. I am happy I played it though! I got two new f/o outta it! hehe
Also I'm crushing on Kate- Do I even need to explain why!? she's a vibe and my type!
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If you read all this I applaud you lol
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