#but I can only explore so many characters… other writers I trust u with him | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hamphobicbasil · 3 years

Note

Could u elaborate about the dsmp story being bad? Not a rabid/brain dead fan, just genuinely curious and I enjoy reading people's rants lolol

oh you dont know the floodgates you just opened

a few things:

1. despite not liking the creators of the dsmp anymore, I don't actually hate most of them. [the ones that are particularly unsavory fall outside of this of course] so all that I'm saying i truly mean in a critical sense towards the story, its also just all purely my opinion as someone who enjoys fictional and fantasy stories and who like criticizing works to see what it does well and what it doesn't do well

2. for clarification I'm going to use the c![name] to indicate when I'm talking about the characters. Don't get me wrong, I think its annoying too but its the only way I'm gonna be able to write this thing without getting something across the wrong way yknow?

3. I stopped watching the streams after November 16th, [save for one Techno one but I closed out after a particularly bad story beat lol] and so all information coming afterward is all second hand from either me seeing people on twt talk abt it or people dming me. All i really know is up to dream's imprisonment and some stuff past that.

4. This is mostly aimed towards the "main" story, so stuff abt the badlands, eggpire, and whatnot are briefly mentioned.

anyways uh, i'll try to be brief but also include enough information to get why i feel the way i do on some stuff across

A. Performances Alright obviously these people are all streamers, so obviously they might not be the best actors, and hell no one is even asking that of them. However, when you're telling a story that's based on the audio with the visuals kinda coming to a second, it's gotta be pretty strong. I will say, some of the best actors in my opinion are Wilbur, Tommy, and Tubbo. I would include Ranboo but I never watched any of his story bits or story streams so I can't say much. Wilbur and Tommy are excellent in selling their character's emotions and feelings, when I watch the stream I don't feel like I'm watching an rp but an actual thought-out story yknow? And one of my favorite Tubbo examples was in the Hog Hunt video whenever Techno attacked him, he sounded genuinely afraid and I believed everything his character was feeling.

However, unfortunately, not everyone is gonna be that good. And I'm gonna say it; Dream and Techno have to be the worst out of the entire cast. I understand Techno's whole character is this monotoned badass, however, when really emotional moments hit I feel like he never lets that fall, and a lot of intense moments just ring hollow. And I'm sorry but Dream's attempts at being intimidating leave me laughing whenever I watch them. It feels like he watched that one scene from The Marriage with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johannson and said "Oh this is what good acting looks like! Just yelling." His whole "I don't give a FUCK about Spirit!" speech isn't as great as people keep making it out to be. And whenever he tries to act coy when being a villain it feels like a guy reading the script for the first time, a bit like he's trying too hard. I have more problems with his character but his portrayal certainly doesn't help.

Everyone else is fine, and I don't feel strongly either way about a lot of them.

B. The "Lore" Okay first off, I can't be the only one who thinks it's silly that people are calling the dsmp's story "lore" when it's not, it's the fucking story. Lore indicates backstory to either the world or the characters, which a lot of the streams don't really pertain to. This is a really petty section but god it's a weird pet peeve of mine.

Other than the misusage of "lore" vs "story", the actual lore and world-building of the world are so lackluster that new elements can be introduced whenever and it often feels cluttered or not well thought out at all. And here's the thing, I feel like if the writers sat down just for a few minutes to establish world rules and general history, a lot of this could be solved! but so much is made up on the spot that it starts to feel like they're grabbing at straws to keep people invested, trying to reach that next high and intense story beat without actually earning it.

C. The Egg / Eggpire This is a pretty minor note since I was only invested in the Egg storyline for a little bit, but god it's so underused that it's almost embarrassing. Bad has provided this super interesting antagonistic force that's infecting the SMP, can control people, and who one of our main character is immune to, and it's just never used or even talked about again? Now I understand if he wanted to keep it to a side storyline only, however, to introduce this borderline eldritch creature and force within the world and then never have it dealt with is so weird.

D. The Writing Oh boy this is. kinda a big one. Now I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty obvious I have a bias for the Wilbur writing over the current team [that consisting of Dream, Quackity, and Tommy mostly]. I don't this his writing is perfect by any means, the characters constantly bringing up traitors got obnoxious after a while, and writing Hamilton but in Minecraft really isn't the modern Shakespeare or anything. However, I think his exploration of characters and plot progression was a lot more thought out and well planned, like he actually had two brain cells behind the story yknow? The current team I think fails to be as emotional or even impactful, things happened too fast and my god was everything drowned in angst for so long.

Don't get me wrong, you gotta have your characters face hardships to make them reach their goal believable, but some of the shit they put the characters through just felt like too much. From c!Tubbo's constant comparison to c!Schlatt [who btw, fucking ordered his death and kept him from his friends in a nation he felt trapped in] and on a side note, i kinda really fucking dislike the "c!Schlatt dad!!" au's or the au's where c!Tubbo inherits some of Schlatt's features, it would be like c!Tommy getting a c!Dream mask after his exile, it's feels so weird yet people eat that shit up for some reason.

But god, did c!Tommy get the brunt of it all and in retrospect after his final death, it kinda feels really fucking gross. Now obviously, I'm not trusting any of these people to write decent mental health representation, but c!Tommy's PTSD and how it was explored was just degrading. [Specifically the scene in that one Techno stream where he saw the final control room from the first war, and had a flashback / panic attack where he started calling out for c!Dream. I understand this is an actual thing people with PTSD will experience, but it felt so fucking stereotypical it got on my nerves. I actually had to close out of the stream because it made me feel sick, fiction shouldn't leave you feeling that way.] And don't get me started on how they basically reused the formula from the previous arc. [Problem introduced -> Tensions rise as things start to fall apart -> Big confrontation -> Exile -> Return from Exile -> Blowing up L'Manberg, again.]

And speaking of characters-

E. Character Arcs, or the lack of them In my genuine opinion, some of these characters' arcs are so disappointing. Especially c!Tommy's. I'm not one to believe that he was a "selfish" character or anything, however, his goals were simply set on his discs and maybe c!Tubbo, he didn't have much outside that. However, L'Manberg gave him something to care about, he gave up his discs for it and he fought for it tooth and nail, I think it taught him to open up to others and trust more. It was a great character arc for him to have, seeing him still fight even after his first exile alongside c!Wilbur, to return safely to the nation that he and his found family had built.

But then his second exile happened, and I feel like all of that was undone.

c!Tommy's exile genuinely pisses me off for so many reasons. It's not that characters can't have their low points after reaching a major change or feeling like they've "completed" their arcs or anything, but it's more of the fact that it seems like he's never going to heal that feels like a spit in the face, especially to people who might have had setbacks like that before. Progress isn't linear, sometimes things happen and you get knocked back down, it can take a while to get back up, but I don't think c!Tommy's character is ever going to be allowed to get back up. From c!Dream, who pretty much was a constant abuser in his life, killing him then reviving him, and his still fractured relationship with c!Tubbo, which by the way I have a had time believing they would still be friends after all that happened, it feels like he can never get a win and it's generally kinda a shit way to treat your characters who have been abused. Of course, not all abused characters are going to get happy endings, I'm not trying to dictate that they all should, but c!Tommy deserves one and the fact that it's so obscure feels shitty.

Side note: we still don't have a canon reason to give a shit abt the discs. Like I'm sorry but without some sorta connection to the MacGuffin why should we give a shit about him getting them other than "he wants them lol". Like hell, I would even accept the classic "they were the last gifts from his parents" or something, but we still don't have a reason.

c!Tubbo also lacks a fulfilling arc as well, from someone who started out as a yes man, he has progressed a bit into having his own interests first, but besides that sometimes his character makes me so. depressed. He's easily one of the most pushed around and hated characters within the story, all for being a kid who didn't know what to do and he's in the same vein as c!Tommy; these kids can't get a break. Also, his anti-violence beliefs morphing into the "lets kill c!Techno lol!" bit was so out of place and without proper build-up it was like. what. And now he's building nukes?? god c!Tubbo makes me so sad because he's kicked around constantly and never given a chance to grow.

Another small note, I also don't really enjoy c!Techno at all. Besides the previously stated reasons of lack of emotions when they're really needed, I find his character to be weirdly pretentious. He talks as if he's constantly been betrayed and hurt but I personally, don't see it? Like, I think one of the main examples was the Pogtopia vs. Manberg war, yknow he wanted to end the government but they just reinstated it after they won = c!Techno upset. But this doesn't make sense to me because why did he think otherwise? The entire time c!Tommy had talked about taking back their nation and starting again, so the fact that c!Techno suddenly thought there would be a sudden change is, to put it bluntly, kinda fucking stupid. I don't want to say that he "plays the victim" or anything because that feels a bit harsh, but his character feels so far up his own ass that I can't enjoy him.

I have a major grip with c!Dream as well, but that's getting it's own fucking section.

F. L'Manberg This is a quick note before we get into the, forgive me for this, endgame, of this entire rant, since the next two sections are tied together. But god, L'Manberg makes me upset because it feels like they gave up on it.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that it is supposed to be c!Wilbur's "unfinished symphony", the thing that destroyed a once charismatic and widely loved man, his attempt at power that utterly ruined him. But the fact that it just got blown up in the end after everything and left to rot felt like such a waste of time. From the first war, to Pogtopia, to even c!Tommy's exile, it all felt fucking worthless in the end, and the story is actively closer to how it was when it started now more than ever. I wished it was actually allowed to exist and continue to be a peaceful place in what is a chaotic world, but no it was just snuffed out because why dedicate to this concept of finding others you can band together with and feel safe. fuck that noise apparently?

G. The Villains Now villain-wise, I'm only talking about c!Dream [during the first war], c!Schlatt, and c!Wilbur. And believe it or not, this is actually mostly positive.

Now I'm not gonna lie, c!Dream as a staring antagonist wasn't bad actually, he posed a genuine and threatening opposition to L'Manberg, even if we didn't know his real intentions or motivations as to why he was against it. He's lucky in this sense because he didn't have to be good, he had to be passable. If anything, he felt more like an anti-hero than a tyrant or traditional villain, and my god do I wish he kept this theme going forward.

Now quick disclaimer, I don't like JSchlatt as much as the next guy, he's an adult man who should know better than to joke about some sensitive topics and act the way that he does. But the one thing I'll ever give him is that damn, was he a good actor for his character.

Now here's the thing, c!Schlatt wasn't particularly deep at all. He had no real motivations behind his exile of c!Wilbur and c!Tommy other than getting competition out of the way, had no reason to act the way that he did and yknow? that's fine. The reason why he worked was from his performance alone, he was actually intimidating. When he came onto the stream and was doing his typical bad guy stuff, it was actually intense to see what he would do. Whenever he would almost catch c!Tommy back in Manberg, whenever he would begin to pressure c!Tubbo, it put you on the edge of your seat and it felt like everything would change at the drop of a pen. He's a villain to be a villain, and this works out because he's just charismatic and well put together enough to make it interesting, even without the backstory or motives.

c!Wilbur however, is much more tragic, and the best villain of the story. He essentially was the "mentor turned evil" trope and it felt terrible watching him descend into madness, unable to trust barely anyone except for c!Techno and c!Tommy. Hell, in the end I think he still cared about them both, despite losing everything. Sure, he blew up L'Manberg, but there was still a smidge of the old c!Wilbur in there made everything he did feel melancholic. His death at the hands of his father after achieving his final wish was chilling, and something I still think about.

Until yknow, Ghostbur came back way too soon to let people feel his loss as a character within that world. And then he got revived, pretty much-undoing everything that moment meant for his character lol.

And then there's the worst one:

H. Dream. I'm going to be completely honest, c!Dream is one of the main reasons why I dislike the current dsmp stuff so much. Outside of his actions as a person, the way Dream decided to write his character as this overpowered madman of the dsmp really just. destroyed any intrigue that he could've had. Perhaps this is from my growing dislike towards him, manifesting into a bias towards his character, but god I cannot fathom why people try to insist he's interesting when he has as much depth as a fucking puddle.

And here's the thing, I'm not even entirely against c!Dream being a villain, hell I think he would've been great as an anti-hero if anything. Make him sympathetic but not through c!George to get your precious "DNF" points or anything, but show him actually caring about the people within the dsmp, including c!Tommy and c!Tubbo. This would make his rival status with them just a bit more complicated, sure they're enemies, however, he doesn't want to hurt or kill them, and there's still a level of friendship there that keeps them bonded when things get super bad. This could've been super interesting to see, the first villain of the story receiving a sorta redemption arc then descending into madness as he started to fixate on being a god. This is all how I feel personally, but god do I feel like it would've been better than his current character, and hell would've worked with how he was during the Pogtopia arc, before the war that is. I'm not trying to tell Dream how to write his own character, but there are so many other ways he could've done the madman seeking to become god rather then. whatever the hell we got.

Because instead, we got this power-mad asshole who does things... because he can? And that's one of my major issues: he tries to surround his character in mystery to make him "intriguing" but it's kinda like c!Techno, it comes off as pretentious. Not only that, but you cannot keep waving around this mystery of a backstory without ever actually revealing it. I know the story isn't over, but c!Dream is effectively at his lowest point, now would be the time to reveal his backstory. But no just keep it in the dark and keep everyone guessing, that's totally fun and not at all tiring and annoying. (sarcasm, if anyone needs it)

And back to his performance, he doesn't sell this aloof, cynical and strategic warrior that has perfected the blade or some shit, he comes off as some angry guy yelling on reddit. which i don't need to tell you, isn't intimidating. It feels like he's trying to have c!Schlatt's intimidation combined with c!Wilbur's depth, but instead he's like a little brother who's trying to hard to mimic his older brother and is kinda embarrassing himself.

but other then that i dont feel too strongly abt the dsmp lol

but seriously, these are the main complaints I have abt the story tbh, I could probably talk about more but I wont because man. this is probably gonna get me in trouble if any of the hyper-dsmp fans actually read it.

#wow this is long #txt #anti dsmp #anti dream #dsmp crit #dsmp critical #yeah im tagging it i dont give a shit #dream crit #dream critical #the story is shit yo!

66 notes · View notes

i-did · 3 years

Note

hi hello i couldn't sleep last night so i was scrolling thru all ur asks and stuff and ur opinions and analyses are so interesting!!! and then afterwards i was thinking about what u were saying about mlm smut and i'd also been thinking about such things a little bit recently bc like.....at a certain point it becomes quite clear that the vast majority of smut-writing is just imitation. like there's the sex noise verb list and all and the whole general mechanics of the sex and those things just .... replicate over and over. and the whole thing w people writing mlm vs wlw smut regardless of their own sexual orientation..... like i feel like a big part of that is just a self-perpetuating thing. like if u have not had sex and u r getting all ur (pleasure-related) sex ed from fandom (even if u do watch porn, that doesn't rlly tell u how to describe stuff? idk) regardless of What fandom , the majority is going to be mlm smut. which is itself majority imitation of other mlm smut, imitating and imitating back to whoever knows what the first smut fanfic was etc. there's just way More to mimic than there is on the women side of things. which then becomes a self-perpetuating thing, bc the mimicry continues and generates more and more. and---if there are fundamental misunderstandings of anatomy involved---those self-perpetuate as well. and maybe even exaggerate. and yeah. does this all make sense? idk i was just thinking about it. like all the stereotypes and stuff continue bc writers are getting their inspo from other writers rather than their own brains. or something. idk!!!!! it's just all... divorced from reality? bc words. or something!! i hope u get what i'm trying to say. just thoughts i've been thinking. anyway i think ur thoughts are cool. and ur writing. ok bye have a good day!!

Okay yeah this is kinda messy but hope u see this, uhh yeah I think you're right about the echo chamber effect fr about stuff. I think it's a mix of projecting too sometimes. talk more under the cut and also link to a video essay since I love video essays.

Here’s a video that sort of touches on this topic:

“Gay fanfiction” by Sarah Z. (has CC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8E_C00dKwI

This video begins to talk about fetishization at the end, but also… not really. The words “gay fanfiction” is used as a catchall, when really gay fanfiction is largely mlm written by non-mlm.

Fandom is a largely women's space dominated by the female gaze in a media industry world that is dominated by men and the male gaze. I'm really glad women have this space to explore creativity and queerness, and I don't expect the female gaze to go away, but I am still ultimately bummed out I can’t read most fanfic or interact with most fandom spaces without having fetishization in my face.

So about 80% of fandom is women, and most of those women aren't straight, but 90% of those women prefer mlm ships. Why don’t they prefer wlw ships? Well definitely part of it is the fact that queerbaiting is centered around white straight men, and then there is also the fact that women tend not to be written as well charcter wise. But the fact still remains that you get jerjean getting priority over Layla and Alvarez who are in canon just as much and are a canon wlw couple who actually interact as well as Alvarez could likely be a woc because of her Hispanic last name. Korasami doesn’t get nearly as much hype as zuko and saka, despite the fact that they are 2 fully dimensional characters who canonly kiss and hold hands, something the creators fought for and ended up having to sacrifice another reboot for.

I do believe the fandom echo-chamber is largely responsible for… a lot of things, like you're saying. But what's interesting is that the complaints I've heard about visual porn from non mlm in the fandom space is that they can’t get off to it because its for the male gaze and misogynistic usually. But they also don't seem to notice how the mlm smut circles has the female gaze and is also… almost always mlm. If it was a pure anatomical not knowing thing, I get that, but I also think that leads to the question of “then why the male body for porn, and not your own? The one you know and are familiar with?”

I know some people want to get outside of their own body for porn and don’t want to think of their own anatomy at all, but overall I'm still uncomfortable. If an anglo said “well I watch porn of only Mexicans so I don't self insert” I'm gonna be like … hhhh in a similar way. I understand people “like what they like” but I wish they also noticed said patterns in the first place. I understand the t4t tumblr porn circle, and how it's different from cis people who only watch trans porn.

I actually wished that instead of fandom focusing on mlm ships where some asshole guy hits on bottom troupe charcter for top troupe character to save, was instead… a wlw character experiencing said shitty getting hit on and other wlw swooping in. what's interesting is fandom writes a lot about misogynistic experiences without often realizing it. Ive read fanfic where guys get called sluts for sleeping with people or called bitch for speaking their mind, these arent things men usually experience, but rather women. Fandom has a lot of internalized misogyny and also queerphobia imo. Women characters often get pushed to the sidelines and men become the canvas for female fans to project onto.

There is this natural inclination to mlm. When people are talking about “gay shipping” or “gay books” or “gay feels” or even just “gay” mlm is what’s largely in mind. I honestly am kinda saddened by this because if gay fanfiction was really solely about writing more to feel represented, then you would see a lot of bi and ace and lesbian rep, but this isn't the case. Queer women are seriously underrepresented, and I want to hear their stories and read them in fanfiction as well as published. 50% of lgbt literature is mlm, and of that its largely written by women. Becky Albertalli, Rainbow Rowell, Maggie Stiefvater, are the YA big names and are all women writing mlm. Red white and royal blue is written by Casey McQuiston and Captive prince (which is not YA) is written by C. S. Pacat, who is non-binary, but is also TME and not mlm. These are all the big names in mlm lit, behind them is some gay men, but honestly their stories aren't preferred, they're not the right “flavor” for the consumers usually, who are largely women. In general YA consumers and authors are women, but I wish that they… just wrote about women too. I think there is a certain… snowball effect to the overrepresentation of mlm representing the whole LGBT community that leads to fetishization, as well as misogyny playing a factor in: less women characters being written well to write fanfic on, when they are written well they're taken less seriously or the audience struggles to relate to them, they're less marketable then men.

Idk I never feel “seen” or “represented” by any of the books above, which don't address boyhood and manhood and queerness intersecting really, and AFTG doesn’t either. I relate to AFTG as a trauma victim who has experienced a lot of what many of the characters go through and have gone through in the EC as well as them just overall being very well written characters, but I don't relate to it as a mlm really. I've never seen like.. gay voice or being straight passing or femphobia or how boyhood can be affected from a young age by those around you sensing you're ‘other’ or if you didn't experience this you feel outside the mlm community. Let alone sub cultures like bear and leather and pup, at most you see the word “he's such a twink” in fandom which... i fr hate non mlm using that word because it's usually used to replace the f-slur essentially, used derogatorily or to call him “such a bottom” and stuff like that. It’s like a joke or an insult.

Long story short, idk mang this was a ramble and I think I'm coning down with something. I wanna see more queer women rep and women authors writing about being a queer woman too. I think it's a complex web of fetishization and a bit of forbidden love yaoi culture (or it used to be in the BOYXBOY days) as well as misogyny on an industry level, creator level, as well as reader/consumer and fandom level. I don’t think it’s inherently wrong to explore other peoples stories and what we read has to be segregated, “only mlm are allowed to read and write mlm, only wlw are allowed to read and write wlw,” but I also think author’s intent and audience and background is telling, as well as overall statistics. Like about an hour ago I was looking for cookbooks in spanish or in english, and I was looking for some mexican food cook books, but I had to look for them using words in spanish because otherwise what came up was a bunch of “fiesta party, easy as uno dos tres authentic cooking!” and I was like… hm. Since I could tell they were marketing to anglos. (also the author’s last names were like michelle smith, james cooper, and this could be for a variety of reasons, but I trust Hispanic names more tbh and deadass would look at the authors pictures and if they had other books in Spanish or what their specialties were.)

anyways. not sure how to end this. uhm if anyone has any book recs (my to read list is like 500 books tho no joke) preferably not YA white mlm written by a white lady, hopefully queer women written by queer woman, LMK, I need more wlw and queer women stories on my list. I have a decent amount but always looking for more. I kinda wanna link my goodreads or my storygraph but I also don't want to get doxxed and it has my legal name on it so.

Also, I'm dyslexic and using spell check but if there's like some wild typos my b.

#ask #fandom politics #fandom culture #fandom psychology #mailob

44 notes · View notes

life-rewritten · 3 years

Text

GIFTS OF BL! AKA CHRISTMAS GOODIES FOR BL FANS WHO LOVE ANGST, PASSION AND CHEMISTRY.

Merry Christmas BL Fans. I've been trying to be a bit more festive on here, and so I've decided to write out a gift box for every BL fans full of Christmas goodies and suggestions you might want to see based on different tropes, genres and plots in case you haven't caught up with them. Or just my opinions and ranks of some of my favourite BLS that are incredible for each category. So Yes I am a weird person who views suggestions as presents. Finding a new show with all the things I love that remind me of certain other shows that I already love is like a gift to me, I love binge-watching shows that make me happy, excited and is an emotional journey, for me the gift is falling in love with many other plotlines and finding a new passion that inspires or makes me happy just at the thought of the show. That's a great gift. So if you're like me here is the first Gift Box: Merry Christmas :) let me know what you think about these shows, are there other's you've seen? Add them to the box so we can all find new shows to love. Enjoy:

GIFT OF BL! The passionate, angsty and chemistry lovers.

Ahh yes, it's those type of shows, those shows where you find your self obsessed and crying over the incredible and crazy love story between two hot-headed people who are meant to be together but for some reason instead, they hate each other. I mean are we surprised? Haters to lovers always have this incredible sizzling fire on fire chemistry that is explosive at worst but also delicious to consume at best. They are the ride or dies, they're the fighters, they're the shouters, but they're always meant to be together. And not all angsty couples have to be haters to lovers, some on this list aren't, they're drawn to each other, by some inexplicable thing. This soulmate connection isn't as warm/ soft as you want it to be, but it's more firey and loud, it's in your face, and it makes you jealous because once they fall in love and learn about each other, it's unconditional and so effective. These kinds of couples form bonds where they need each other? At some path in their life, the other person is their person, to help them grow, to help them learn, to accept their flaws, to love themselves, to heal, to trust etc. This kind of bond all the time leads to something so beautiful and also an exciting experience worth always rewatching time and time again. And suppose you're like me and you love depth. In that case, these couples and plots normally have so much subtext and depth in their stories; people feel turned off at first by their surface interactions because the characters usually are incredibly flawed but actually you get to see a journey with them as they grow and become better. That's something I enjoy with all these shows, we learn so much about them, they feel real, flawed, messy but also just so exciting to analyse and question as well. By the end of the show, you're either emotionally exhausted in a right way about the love they have, or you're crying so hard because they found each other and became the best versions of themselves through it all.

Sorry, these type of shows are my favourite to discuss. And if you're like me, then I hope this list is a gift box for you to explore and find new loves in case you haven't watched some of these. Or nostalgia just to remember shows like these that touched you and made you so happy. Let's discuss about it.

Tharn and Type

Haha if no one knows me, you won't understand how obsessed I am with this show. For me, this show for both seasons is everything I want and more. Which is weird because this show can be viewed as an uncomfortable experience; toxicity, questioning about some moral issues, non-consensual confusion etc. The righteous me feels weird every time I have to recommend this show to people because it's very polarising. So I'll start first by saying the trigger warnings: there are conversations about r*pe, and non-consent in this show, questions about abuse and predatory behaviours in the show. If this really triggers you, this isn't a gift for you, and I get it.

But whilst on the surface this show seems like another toxic version of what makes BL hard to watch, with those tropes, I think people tend to misjudge this couple's story a lot. There are issues with the writer, and it depends again what your stance is on it. But for Me the reason why Tharn and Type are on here is because it's a ride, I think it's an incredibly written show, with fantastic acting despite the novelty of the actors, an amazing director and production despite the small budget and an amazing plot despite the first few episodes confusion/discomfort. This story is incredible, with a lot of layers. If you are someone who loves layers, psychological conversations about nature vs nurture, if you are someone who enjoys plot twists, and character arcs and development this show is for you. This couple will take your breath away; this couple will break your heart and repatch it over and over again with their longing, chemistry and love.

At the end of the day, Tharn and Type is a love story at the core, about two flawed people who find a love that gives: healing, comfort and strength. Some people don't see it like that but the way these two love each other, the journey they go through with each other even in the sequel is still amazing to watch and enjoy if you get it. It's why there are so many essays and analysis derived from this show; it's not us being Mame warriors as people would call it, it's us seeing what the story is showing, bringing out the forgotten details to light, making sure people understand the message of the show.

All people see in this show is fighting and then passion, but that's not what this show is about, it has angst the characters are authentic and flawed as humans are. Still, at the core, it has love, sweetness and a soulmate connection that makes you question everything about love and also want something like it ( I know CRAZY). It's like weird for me to say I want to find my Tharn to my Type, but somehow it makes sense, I really adore these twos love, and for some people, it's not like that, and that's okay. But for some others, this show is a gift, and if you're like me who always feels conflicted about some stories in BL lacking passion, chemistry, structured plots, with twists that make you have to rewatch time and time again, then this show is for you. It gives you everything you want in both seasons. But only if you are open-minded enough to see it.

Why it's a gift: The passion, the angst, the haters to lovers, the chemistry, the naturalness of the actors, the soft sweet moments that make you envious, the plot oh the plot, the excitement and conflicting feelings, the questions it brings, the discussion it gets, the love story at the core. It's everything for people like me For others: Others will love the chemistry and the passion between the two actors, may not see the message and view it as a guilty pleasure and may be triggered by many conversations in the show. But all in all, if you stick with this show, it'll always end up being a good show no matter what you feel about it. In terms of representation: I've seen a lot of LGBTQ who have appreciated Tharn and Type because of it's the courage to tackle specific topics on tv, some have praised the naturalness and focus on a character like Type who is incredibly flawed but incredibly understood because of his circumstance, a real character who makes mistakes, is stubborn, rude and angry but grows and learns to accept himself as he falls for Tharn.

Why R U

Another absolute incredible gift. Except warning, not the show haha. I honestly believe with my whole heart that this show would have been everything in 2020 had it been directed by better people, edited better and COVID didn't happen. This is why this show is like such a pain to me because I love this show so much, this show made me move on from my obsession with the previous s and found a new show like it which I wasn't expecting. And yet I still advise people not to watch the show.

The gift box here is to watch this show as an edit. So here is a present for you if you haven't seen this show, watch this (1-hour summary) modification of one of the couples in the show, and it'll make you so emotional. And then you can decide if you want to watch this show fully. The reason why I can't recommend the show to people is that I was not too fond of the cringe humour, the loud sound effects, the cuts in the story and the lack of attention to the other side characters.

But for Fighter and Tutor, I would die for this show. This show brought a gift to BL, and that's Saint and Zee as a couple. It's incredible. They are electric to watch on the screen, and they made me fall for this couple even more. But honestly, the reason why I love these twos story is again the plot; It's funny because again like the previous show, this show had a lot of subtexts and hidden depth others didn't understand, people again assumed from on the surface tit was a show about fighting and lust but it wasn't. It tackled the same conversations; internalised homophobia and how it affects you and shapes your actions, it showed a hater to lovers story where two people found comfort, strength and hope with each other. It had two flawed and exciting characters that you couldn't help but fall for. If I loved Tharn and Type previously, I've never wanted a love story the way I want what Fighter and Tutor have.

I mean it's incredible, the way Fighter shows up for Tutor in this show, their effect on each other as they fall in love, they're each other's catalyst to growth and hope, whether it's Fighter learning to fight for what he wants and choose his path for himself, confront his father and become less suffocated from the life he thought he had to live or to overcome his internalised homophobia that was slowly killing him, or it's Tutor learning to trust in life again, and growing strong and finding someone to lean on when he thought he had no one, or him finding his strength also to fight for what he wants, to become vulnerable and let people in, to hope for a new path and happiness. This show broke me. Honestly, these two are a gift for people who love passionate stories.

There is a plot there's so many hints and subtext to their love story, how they've both loved each other secretly for so long. Still, because of fear and homophobia they didn't act on it and turned it to hate for a while, how once they accept their feelings and become brave they know they're each other's forever, they're so pulled and obsessed with each other. And Tutor! Tutor is an incredible lead, he's sassy, he's confident, he doesn't take nothing from others, he doesn't let himself be in a toxic situation, he's powerful and incredible, and I loved watching him on screen. And Fighter may be annoying on the outside, but he's soft, melty, vulnerable and such a great boyfriend when he accepts what he feels for Tutor. Their love is incredible. It's unbelievable, so if you haven't seen this show click on the link and cry and fall in love.

Link Here Enjoy

Why it's a gift: It's a show you will fall in love with for these two, there's another couple you'll also fall in love with for different reasons, but for Fighter and Tutor their chemistry, angst and passion is so exciting to see. The way they fall for each other is also incredible; this show never fails to have moments that tug at heart and make you envious of what these two have, again this show has a completely rounded plot for these two, it's a romantic comedy, their edit is like watching a great movie and being affected. The show is also packed full of amazing actors, music and scenes that you won't want to forget. If you love skinship, SaintZee are kings of showing passion on the screen, mostly also unscripted, they became Fighter and Tutor entirely, and you can see their love ooze from them, and their longing drives you insane. But that's what an extraordinary, passionate story does. It makes you lose your minds at how great these two are, how breathtaking they can be and how much their love makes your heart melt and also race because it's like fireworks, explosive and beautiful and worth the view.

For others: This show may seem generic since it's set in a university and it's engineering (I'm afraid I have to disagree when people say stuff like this), the actual show directing is weird, it's cringy, and you may be turned off and distracted from these two's plot because it's not put together properly. There are moments that you may not clock on like the past flashbacks and what they are trying to tell you about these twos dynamic: so many people didn't get that they loved each other from the first time they saw each other but refused to accept it especially Fighter who pretended to hate Tutor because it was the only way to avoid what he was feeling for a while. There is a very long version of a beach vacation that seems like there's no plot. Still, it's just showcasing how in love these two are, and how much they realise what they have with each other, how much all their pent up attraction is finally exploding and showing at the surface i.e. they can't get enough of each other. It makes it all the more painful later when they have to break up because they literally can't part with each other, they need the other's touch, presence and more to feel safe and comfortable. If you love skinship; the beach scenes are the best moments for you, you will scream at how natural these two are. But you may just think that's all they have. In terms of representation: There are conversations about accepting who you are, and internalised homophobia is a big obstacle for Fighter and Tutor they learn to accept themselves as they fall in love. Fighter is incredible standing up to his father later and fighting for Tutor. It's just a great BL that people can watch as a romantic story and get lost in for a while, it's romantic, passionate and it doesn't feel uncomfortable or unnatural, there's a plot, and it has a happy ending. A perfect show to get away from stresses and reality for a while. That's why I love it.

Mood Indigo

Enough of the happy love stories that have happy endings; Suppose you love painful soulmate bittersweet endings with angst and passion. Mood Indigo is for you. Oh My When I say my heart broke so much because of this show, I mean it. My heart was damaged, I felt sad, but instead of feeling defeated as I do with other BLs with unhappy endings, this was so incredible? It was tasteful, the angst is there, but it's not like the typical haters to lovers angst. It's more dramatic in a different way; it's also touching, and again, the chemistry of the main characters is incredible and will make you scream.

You're rooting for them to make it, you're hoping they choose each other and yet you oddly understand despite being upset at how it ends. This a prequel to another series called the Novelist, you can watch both these two, and it would be a great time. The actors are incredible as with Japanese shows, the storyline is exciting, and as a writer, it's touching, and there are moments where it makes you want to cry. It doesn't feel as depressing as you think it would be (if you've watched the sequel) it feels oddly healing and real. If you like couples with immense longing, and passion for each other, with more self-discovering and deep conversations about themselves, this show is for you. Skinship and love are also more tasteful, and it doesn't feel lustful or crass. It feels like watching art, that's all I can say. And it does have a semi-happy ending depending on whose perspective you watch from; I've watched from both, I've cried at the Novelist because of both, I've also squealed at seeing one of the characters get healing and closure. I've smiled, but I've also watched another beautiful connection to grow. What these two have is special despite how they ended.

Why it's a gift? Realism and a lot of reflections and questions. If you like deep stuff this is for you, add a spice of chemistry and passion, and it's so beautifully done. Not all love stories need a happy ending, but there are some bonds worth finding and making and Kido and Kijima is one of those. Also if you're not a fan of happy fantasy endings and closures, this is for you, this is very real, bittersweet and it hit the right notes. It's worth watching and deciding how you feel about it.

For others: The story does feel slow as with a lot of Japanese BLs, sometimes you may miss out on the deep meanings and reflections the show brings so it may feel more moody and gloomy for no reason. If you love happy endings, then this may not be for you. You may end up disliking the actions of Kido or Kijima and may end up not understanding why people root for them and cared about their relationship.

In terms of representation: This tackles again you guessed it internalised homophobia, (IH) it's the biggest thing BLs like to tackle, this is more realistic and deep. It's very practical about life, and it's just a great show; cast, production and story that showcases an LGBTQ relationship.

History Trapped

Crime and mystery with a side of Passion, Angst and Haters to lovers?? You have History Trapped. This is just incredible. I remember judging at first because I was hesitant about how good it could be. But No, I loved History Trapped. I think it's one of the Best BLs out there, that does what it says it will do, it has an exciting plotline that you can follow and immerse your self in, but the love story is also at the core. I love all the actors in this show, and their chemistry is ridiculous, many scenes left me smiling and grinning from ear to ear. I love how the story is an angsty love between a cop and a gangster-like it's so funny to see how their two groups react to the love they have. I love the revelations and plot twists in the show, we have an exciting plot trying to uncover the mystery of the death between two people both connected different ways to our main couple. It's so good because it's just a nice story overall. The plot is good. The acting is good. The love story is good. And like every hater to lovers, the character reveals, and arc is deep and interesting to unfold. I also think the side couple is good in this show, also passionate and interesting to watch. Also 20 EPISODES?? Damn, worth it, worth it all.

Why it's a gift A unique BL not set in highschool. Angsty, dramatic haters to lovers that is incredibly beautiful and enjoyable on screen. Their chemistry and passion are addicting to watch, and the actors are great. The plot for the main couple is well written, fleshed out and exciting to follow. It is a ride of emotions, and it'll make you obsessed. For others: I really don't know why people would dislike it. Maybe the low budget but I think it makes up for it with the plot and characters. I do think the side couple's story is not as fleshed out as the main but they're a good side couple that is nice to see on the screen. Maybe the ending? It's not the sweet fantasy happy ending you expect, and from this writer, I think it's a pattern so no shock, but it's not depressing or defeating. It's okay.

In terms of representation: I won't say this is like a serious story focused on LGBTQ and issues, but I think that's why I like it as with my other shows, the focus is on the plot, the mystery and the characters, once they fall in love that's it, there's no deep questions or denial about what they are, and I love that. (Not sure about side couple there may have been some questioning) and it's a story with an LGBTQ couple falling in love and choosing each other despite being from being different worlds and opinions on what's moral/righteous. That's why I love it.

I told sunset about you.

Oh, Hi, ITSAY. It seems like I can't forget you or move on from this show. Haha. I've written long paragraphs about the other shows, but I feel like for ITSAY I don't have even to explain it just watch it. It's worth everything, the production is exquisite, the acting incredible, plot: deep and outstanding, the passion, chemistry, longing and ANGST: Out of this world. Remarkably for a 5 episode show, this show's couple broke me, made me cry for hours and made me addicted and obsessed with them. They were perfect for each other, friends to haters to friends to lovers again. They were fireworks, explosions, and more. And this show was art. Everything was tasteful; everything had meaning; everything had a purpose. This show was the definition of meta, and it made me so happy to analyse. Five hours will go by with this show; it's a gift honestly the best thing I can recommend to you. You will scream and shout and cry and feel jealous, angry, crazy and then you'll feel elated. No other way to put it. Go watch this show if you haven't.

Why it's a gift: Acting: Outstanding Directing: Outstanding Plot: Outstanding Meta: Outstanding Everything: Outstanding

For others: This show may feel draggy to some who don't like over dramatics, a lot of crying, a lot of moping, a lot of angst, but it's done by incredible actors who do them well. The ending of the show feels incomplete because after all the drama, angst, even if it's a happy ending which is great, it felt weird, rushed and empty. Like it was missing something so that might be a bit anti-climatic for you. Still think the show is worth it.

In terms of representation: Again we have IH, but this time we focus on a coming of age storyline and view how people deal with the influx of feelings, how it makes you lose your self, find your self, and know your worth. The characters all grow after being flawed, they find themselves and learn and question their sexuality for a lot of people it's relatable, there are potent discussions in the show about this and meaningful moments and scenes that make it worth it and perfect for LGBTQ +

Many more gifts I can't explain:

Where your eyes linger: Korean, ANGSTY, Short and incredible. Will leave you feeling a lot of emotions. Worth the 80 minutes trust me: bodyguard and spoilt kid story. Longinggggg and repressed attraction it hurts.

Together with me: Not the next chapter, I would avoid the next chapter. But the first together with me? Worth it. Angsty friends to lovers, questioning of IH, and CHEMISTRY, actors who are incredible in real life and also on-screen with each other. A bond worth seeing. You can catch them also on Manner of Death which I also would recommend: same thing Angst, Drama, Chemistry, Passion, Murder, Mystery. Gah MaxTul are incredible.

Friendzone 2: Skinship for days. Chemistry for days. A messy story that you need to look at the subtext for days. Very interesting to analyse incredibly real and flawed characters who you get to see grow. Watch both Friendzone 1 and 2; you may end up hating the couples because it's messy; cheating, uncomfortable moralities, etc., but it's a ride I would never forget.

Night Flight: Oooo a movie, gloomy, moody, realistic and also artistic. Will make you cry for days but worth it—incredible acting, a deep storyline that will break you but also make you feel something. Passion in a very different way from the others, it's not about skinship but about the love these two find as they realise they are each other's key to freedom one way or another. The angst is crazy, the situation is scary, but it takes your breath away and touches your heart differently. I would recommend hundreds of times over and over again. It's everything to me honestly, and I don't like bittersweet endings. Trigger: questionable scene r*pe and bullying and mentions of su*cide.

Theory of Love: Angst, Angst, Angst! Pain and tears all in one but guess what it's a happy ending. Haha fooled you; based on a great book Flipped, about the pain of unrequited love turning requited, flawed 3D characters you'll hate then cry for then love. An incredible OST! And the chemistry that keeps you on your toes. Worth it too. Lots of crying and shouting.

Untamed/Mo Dao Zu Shi: Angst for days, love in the subtext, censored but worth it, acting is incredible, a great plot that's not just focused on the romance, fantasy and all things nice, drama and pain, crying and deep, extraordinary characters, 3D villains, will change your opinion on a lot of BLs, incredible directing, production and cast. Worth it. This is an actual gift for a BL fan like read the book. I'll link the translation here as a gift, read the manhua, watch the anime/donghua, listen to the non censored audio drama (my fave). This is an incredible experience. It's a true gift and will talk about it when more I write my gift box for anime and fantasy fans.

Link For Book here - Have a great time with this it’ll make you obsessed

So this Christmas period whenever you want an alone time, rewatch these shows, cry and scream at these shows if you love this type of shows. Obsess and find your self lost in these shows, analyse and ponder on the meaning of these shows. And distract your self with joy and happiness at these shows. I hope these shows also end up feeling like a gift to you. Angsty, passionate couples are just great to see; they require so much depth to their characters, natural actors who aren't uncomfortable with showing passion on-screen and are devoted to their craft, and incredible plotlines that make you question and learn things about your self. Maybe I'm being dramatic, and it's not that deep, but these shows were worth it, and I hope you find one or you rewatch one that makes you happy this Christmas. Feel free to discuss with me about these shows, what did you like about them, what are your opinions, which are your favourite, what other shows will you suggest let me know!

Other Recommendations

GIFTS OF BL FOR FANS WHO LOVE DISCUSSIONS OF REPRESENTATION

#thai bl #bl series #bl drama #tharntype #december #christmas #japanese bl #korean bl #why r u the series #fightertutor #i told sunset about you #itsay

42 notes · View notes

storm-in-a-glass · 4 years

Text

My favorite ships from kdramas - appreciation post (part 1)

1. Suspicious Partner - Eun Bong-hee & Noh Ji-wook

The sexy sarcastic prosecutor and funny cute lawyer fighting crimes together. Sounds like perfect drama and it really is, especially for me as a law student. The chemistry between main characters is something out of this world. They're making you laugh, they're making you cry, they're making you scream and they're making you feel fucking lonely but who cares. Who needs boyfriend when you have kdramas, right? No one will ever be as perfect as Ji Chang-wook anyway.

2. My strange hero - Son Soo-jung & Kang Bok-soo

What I love about this couple is how amazing they had grew up. When they were teens they’ve been lost and scared but as an adults they learnt how to talk to each other and support each other. Their break up (it's kdrama so break up is a must have) was reasonable and right. We stan mature and healthy relationships in this household.

Also they're cute af.

3. Fight for my way - Choi Ae-ra & Ko Dong-man

I love love love them! Is there anything better than funny and adorable couple of friends finding out they're in love? I don't think so. And I adore how they shown intimacy of a couple, which is great bc most of dramas end up at just few kisses (or not even that - i'm looking at u School 2017!).

And huge applause for famous aegyo scenes. I can’t describe how much they make my days better.

4. My first first love - Han Song-yi & Tae-oh

Another friends-to-lovers drama.

I was little bit sad for Seo Do-hyun because all in all he was great guy and good character. But well, sorry boy, you can’t win with soulmates. Han Song-yi and Tae-oh were destined to be together and to made me install tinder. I just want love like theirs.

5. Weightlifting fairy Kim Bok-joo - Kim Bok-joo & Jung Joon-hyung

I love this drama and I love them. Jung Joon-hyung is a perfect main lead and my dream boyfriend, I swear. He has so many patience and respect for Kim Bok-joo and what’s even more important: HE’S SO NICE. I’m done with cocky and arrogant dicks as a main characters. It’s time for new non-fuckboys era and I’m here for it.

6. Strong Woman Do Bong Son - Do Bong-son & Ahn Min-hyuk

I love how kdramas shows us strong and independant women, who are still feminin and cute. And Ahn Min-hyuk is another one of this nice, supporting, cute guys so of course i have to love him. The only thing that botter me in this drama and relationship is In Gook-doo. He deserved so much better. But well, I volunteer to comfort him and then everyone will be happy! Most of all me.

Also Ahn Min-huyk is so extra I can’t!

7. The K2 - Kim Je-ha & Choi Yoo-jin

Okay, so I know this one might be a little bit controversial. It's the only non-endgame couple on the list and I know K2 end up with Anna. BUT! C'mon the chemistry between Je-ha and Yoo-jin killed me every time they had a scene together. The fire was there! And i think the show would be so much better if the writers decide to explore their relationship instead of Je-ha and Anna. It will forever remain a big great "what if" of my life.

8. Healer - Chae Young-shin & Seo Jung-hoo

Yup, another Ji Chang-wook kdrama on the list, but c’mon. Can you blame me? He’s so pretty I wanna cry. And Healer was the drama that made most of us fall in love with him. It’s classic. I wasn’t satisfied with the ending but Chae Young-shin and Seo Jung-hoo are so adorable that they kinda makes up for it.

9. Descendants of the sun - Kang Mo-yeon & Yoo Shi-jin

Let me just tell u that Shi-jin is my favorite male lead in kdramas ever. I just love him so much. He's cute and sassy and caring and i can literally go on for a whole day. I LOVE HIM. And dr Kang is such a great female lead: she's strong and fierce but feminin and goofy. They're perfect for each other, so funny and cute. I guess if i had to choose just one favorite ship that one would probably be it.

10. Goblin - Ji Eun-tak & Kim-shin

They broke my heart. I still can’t talk about them bc it hurts too much. They’re amazing, that’s all, trust me. They’re...no, no. Sorry, I can’t. I have to go grab a tissue. I’ll be right back.

11. I'm not a robot - Jo Ji-ah & Kim Min-kyu

That was a wild ride! I think it’s the fluffiest kdrama I’ve ever watched. They went from enemies to robot and robot owner and than to robot and robot lover and than to humans and than to lovers. Great show, I swear.

Plus Yoo Seung-Ho is the most adorable human being ever.

12. School 2017 - Ra Eun-ho & Hyun Tae-woon

Ugh, young love. Innocent and cute. So innocent we didn’t get a kiss and I’m still salty about it. But idc, all in all they’re great and Re Eun-Ho’s aegyo is one of the best thing that ever happened to me.

End of part 1.

#my first first love #strong woman do bong soon #i am not a robot #school 2017 #descendants of the sun #healer #k2 #suspicious partner #fight for my way #weightlifiting fairy kim bok joo #goblin #my strange hero #kdramas #fandom #ships #shipping

1K notes · View notes

papers4me · 4 years

Text

Fruits Basket SE02, Ep16

i believe there are more than one foolish traveler in Furuba with varying degrees of altruism, kindness & selflessness. The core idea of the foolish traveler story wasn’t to encourage kindness but as a somber warning that such kind souls are taken advantage of by others due to their altruism. The story don’t teach you to stop foolish travelers (you can’t), but take from their kindness without “killing” them in the process. So far three foolish travelers:

Haru is healthiest example. already discussed in past posts.

Momiji: stands in the middle. His story is cruel yet he tried to find the balance between giving too much vs caring for his own self. (more on how/why in his dad’s section).

Tohru is the prime example & the real version of foolish traveler story. We’re watching her collapse under the pressure of always giving too much of herself. We saw too much in SE01, now she’s entering the lion’s den on behalf of Arisa’s lost love. Many examples with many emotional scars after each reckless decision.

Will Tohru meet the same end as the traveler in the story? Will she give everything, gains nothing & say thank you? or will she acknowledge her own needs as rightful, stand up for her desires, not for altruistic reasons, but cuz SHE wants sth for herself & SHE acknowledges that SHE deserves to get what she selfishly wants!

The Villagers/demons in the foolish traveler story:

In the story the villagers/demons took advantage of the traveler’s kindness & killed her. In real life, these villagers aren’t strangers, they’re family & friends. They aren’t demons, they’re loved ones who truly love you. Still some take advantage of you. How many times have you seen someone kind be content with so little as long as others happy? they ask politely, the person feels obligated or too kind to say no. Until one day. they ask for too much & if the person refuses. They’re shocked/offended & hurt. All while feeling the person is okay cuz he/she never asked for more. That’s momiji’s dad. He loves his son dearly but wants his wife & daughter more. Momiji understands. He always does. He’s a mature boy. Asking momiji to pretend he isn’t his son, to live apart, to quit his hobby. Every time momiji said yes. How could he not? he loves his mom/dad, wants his sister to enjoy the family he never had (selfless desires). But he also wants his sister to know him! to perform for his family exclusively. (selfish desires). Two desires clash. Momiji is sad & broken.

How is momiji different from tohru then?

Momiji acknowledges his selfish desires. He knows he deserves them. He openly speaks when tohru asks him. Hence, he’s rewarded. His sister wants him as big brother regardless of blood relations, She seeks him thro tohru. Momiji will get his sister sooner or later despite the cruse/trauma.

What abt tohru?

Tohru embarks on a reckless adventure using Arisa as a front. She convinces herself that’s it’s purely for a friend. It isn’t. she knows it, ashamed of it, denies it. hides it. Doesn’t open up to momiji .Keeps it all inside. She breaks down seeing all these living ppl yearning for each other yet choose to stay apart. Thoru would do everything she can for one extra moment with her mom. hear her voice once more. just once. grief returns full force a year later to tohru, cuz it was never giving a chance to be acknowledged!. “my mom is with me” was the mantra she lived by. As tohru refused to acknowledge her mom’s absence, the pain grows & the loss intensifies. The void in her heart where her mom used to be while alive, is no longer filled by her mom’s memory. Why? cuz it’s been a year!!!!! it gets harder & harder living after a loved one leaves the longer time passes cuz you can no longer deceive yourself, cuz yearning becomes harder, cuz their voice, laughter, smell, presence fades as time passes & it hurts! like million knives stabbing you. How dare you feel they’re fading? How dare you NOT remember them each & every moment. How dare you let them go~ oh tohru~ I feel you. I know this feeling very well, unfortunately.

The tears of yearning & loss fall again:

The rooftop scene is another example of brilliant writing. The writer sweeps stealthily into our minds duplicating another roof scene as early SE01, Ep 4! This time the writer switches places to showcase growth! brilliant!!. The two scenes parallel each other to the smallest detail of one crawling/walking towards the other. Ep.4 rooftop scene marked the beginning of tohru breaking thro kyo’s harsh exterior, getting him to open up abt his precious master, she earned his awkward trusting smile. This time kyo broke through tohru’s mask once again, noticing the tiniest details of her dirty clothes & down spirit. He doesn’t push her too much. He gives her enough space to talk & keep the parts that she wants hidden. However, this time they’re both different ppl than when they were in Se01, ep.4.

tohru is openly down, sitting more comfortably in her pajama. She’s the one who escaped to his quiet rooftop. She didn’t apologize for taking his spot, didn’t fret abt annoying him. She was at ease in his space/place. She let her guards down & altho she kept her secrets, she tried to convey her feelings of sadness. This is a New Tohru. A tohru much more comfortable with herself around kyo to start complaining without much urging.

Kyo’s entire demeanor is relaxed & chill. from the way he walks, until how he sits so close to her to the way he extended his hand & wiped her tears. While kyo initially misunderstood that tohru had boyfriend, he wasn’t wrong at all in associating her words with romantic love. “you want to be with someone you like, want to be near them” That’s him!! despite deciding to not pursue tohru, being near her is the entire purpose of him still existing in this house. The uneasiness he feels with time running fast before graduation/confinement is all due to him feeling not enough time to be near her! Altho kyo believed tohrun not having a boyfriend, realizing that tohru might have one eventually hurt him deep. Yet, he’s determined to be The New Foolish Traveler in Tohru’s Story. I’ll give my life in return for your happiness. I don’t mind dying in a cell if you you could smile. even if you love another man. I don’t matter. I’ll wish for YOUR tears to stop. He tells her that but with kinder words. “i’ll support u if you have one”. Tohru got it. She got the true meaning mixed with a hint of misunderstanding that stems from her inferiority complex: (I won’t be with you. You’ll loose me. I’ll soon disappear from your life. This quiet moment together will soon be a memory. I’ll die in a cell & you won’t be with me = truth). Misunderstanding: (I don’t love you romantically, I’m just kind to you = tohru’s low self worth will hinder her from seeing the obvious that could be seen from the moon! this boy is melting for her). ~~Tow foolish travelers on the rooftop~~

Side Notes:

The anime disappoints me again with the tohru’s over-dramatic animation.I wanna ask the director: are we reading the same story? Tohru’s pain breaks thro my laptop screen & suffocates me. You don’t need to add this over exaggerated convulsive movement to her. Why only her?? You can’t extract extra tears from us with such addition. it backfires. it makes us laugh/go wth! be annoyed. Am i the only one who feels weirded out by tohru’s animation during emotional moments? Take out tohru’s convulsive 5sec movement & you’ll get 10 out of 10 heartbreaking scene!.

Kureno.. i duno.. sth is off abt him & i can’t figure out what! like.. i don’t feel he’s bad/evil or anything.. he feels like nothing, which is the weirdest feeling I’ve ever had abt a character. I’ll hold on talking more abt him for now until I see more of him.

Who is this blind lady? Her red bright nail polish reminded me of kyoko’s.

Tohru’s voice over on top of shots of momo/momiji/ kureno is epic! cuz her words have already been established in the scenes we saw in the ep. It didn’t ruin or foretell anything we haven’t explored within the ep. Add violin music that is actually played by a character within the ep, add moonlight light that all characters look at now, add the fact that her words describe her current situation with kyo & add kyo’s response! Brilliant! I’ll give the Director the credit he deserves in this scene. It was one of the best visual scenes in furuba & it works more cuz it was given space to play out naturally. nothing seems forced or consciously inserted or inconsistent or overplayed. slowly moving the camera to the sky above shigure’s rooftop & close the ep with one last callback to ep, 4. old scene ended with kyo smiling, now we hear tohru’s small laugh, . subtly telling you~hey, we went full circle with these two & you didn’t even realized when & how~10 out of 10!

#Fruits Basket #Anime Only #satisfied paper #sad paper #I miss you #SE02 #Tohru Honda #momiji sohma #kyo sohma

34 notes · View notes

cptn-jtk · 3 years

Note

so punishing Michael for doing what is right, simply because she's a Black woman and doesn't get the benefit of the doubt the way the two white characters do, is fine. like funny how you're calling critique made of how the story shits on a Black woman "hate", while ignoring that the Discovery writers hate Michael. But go off I guess, fandom is being its usual racist self I see.

lmao I like how u think I'm personally attacking Michael's character when that was clearly not the case. I said that she (including Saru and Tilly) weren't ready for command and the post wasn't even primarily about her??? It was addressing the hate directed at Tilly and Saru in the fandom that literally seems to have appeared out of nowhere with the new season. The post was in no way disparaging Michael nor was it dismissing the valid criticism from the fandom about the racist treatment of Michael's character from the writers??

also please point out the part of my post where I said that saru and tilly get a free pass simply bc they're white and vice versa for Michael? I said that Tilly was right for command but that doesn't mean that Michael's not. I said that Saru was right for command but that also doesn't mean Michael's not. In fact, if you actually took time to read the post you would see that I discussed (albeit briefly) about how none of them are READY for command, not that they don't deserve it. What I wrote was a valid analysis of their characters and my own interpretation of the story line so far. also, if u read the post completely u would know that I talked about how Saru needed a first officer that he could trust and rely on, Michael's demotion was bc she directly disobeyed him. Yes, she did the right thing no question about it but the entire premise of the show is "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". Her actions were morally right and I agree with her but she also has a history of disobeying her superior officer and Saru, as the captain, can't have an XO that constantly undermines him (which also opens up another entire discussion about the racist treatment of her character but that's for another post). Do I ultimately think that Michael should have been demoted? Absolutely not. But that choice is out of my hands so I'm going to support tilly in her new role (which btw is only temporary and we could hopefully see Michael as either Saru's XO or with her own command, which is what I think the last few eps have been hinting at)

And finally, I'd like to reiterate this point: THE POST WASNT ABOUT MICHAEL. It was mostly about Tilly and Saru but Michael is pivotal to their storyline and development and to not at least mention her in respect to that would do her entire character a disservice. I'm not "ignoring" hate on Michael - I'm very aware of the hate Michael receives simply because she's a black lead but the post wasn't about that- it had absolutely nothing to do with that. I was simply talking about the fact that I kept seeing a lot of hate for Tilly and Saru and I wanted to share my thoughts on it. And yes it is hate - I've seen people shitting all over their characters and actors so let me apologise for stepping in and sharing my thoughts on the issue. It's almost as if that's exactly what this platform is for.

Discovery isn't the Michael Burnham show, whether people like that or not. There are other characters that I like to talk about, there are aspects of their personality that I enjoying exploring and see how other people interpret it.

My post about the hate for Tilly and Saru literally does not take away from Michael's story. It doesn't dismiss the treatment of her character from the writers or the fandom. The simple matter of the fact is that the post wasn't about Michael.

That being said, I would like to apologise if my post caused you offence. That was never my intention and I know the writing of Michael's character is sketchy, that disco has an problem with tokenism, and that the fandom can be racist and toxic. However, at the end of the day my post simply wasn't about Michael. I can make a post about other characters without it being a reflection of her character.

#sorry this got so long but this ask really shocked me tbh #im v aware of the bigotry in this fandom ive been in it that long but damn #im more than open for talking about it #i mean i dont see a point in pretending its not there thats just ridiculous but that post wasnt about those issues in any way #it was just my thought on the recent eps and the reaction to them #star trek discovery #star trek disco #star trek dsc #star trek disco season 3 #michael burnham #star trek disco spoilers #ceisteanna

9 notes · View notes

ardentaislinn · 4 years

Text

Yuletide Letter 2020

Hi! I am also ardentaislinn on AO3. Thank you so much for volunteering to write one of my chosen fandoms! I really can’t wait to see what you come up with. Most importantly, I hope you have fun writing whichever of my fandoms it is. Any suggestions I make here are optional.

Here you’ll find:

My general likes

My DNWs

And prompts for the following fandoms:

Peninsula: Train to Busan 2 (2020) - Jung Seok, Min Jung, Joon Yi, Yoo Jin

Stranger | 비밀의 숲 - Hwang Si Mok, Han Yeo Jin

Kingdom | 킹덤 - Prince Lee Chang, Seo Bi

Illang: The Wolf Brigade | 인랑 (2018) - Im Joong Kyung, Lee Yoon Hee | Kim Seo Hee

A quick note on the Korean names - I’m fine with however you choose to transliterate them. Hyphen/no hyphen, Shi Mok/Si Mok, etc. Just do what you are comfortable with and I’ll adjust no problem. No need to add the honourifics, though

My likes:

I love getting together fics most of all. I love almost every kind of trope (fake dating, slow burn, rivals-to-lovers, “unrequited” pining (that is really requited), found families, etc.) Also, casefic, epistolary fic, consent, forbidden pleasures, beta heroes, bed sharing, masquerades, military kink, physical imperfections, ladies being badass and female relationships (whether romantic or friendship), relationships that build tension before exploding, equal relationships, trapped together, competence, communication, U/RST, positive endings.

You may notice from the below that my ships mostly involve sweet and occasionally broken men being head over heels for awesome ladies, (and usually not feeling worthy). So that dynamic is strongly encouraged.

I also like smut, but it certainly isn’t a necessity. For smut, I’m (sadly) fairly vanilla. But I like light bondage, cunnilingus, shower sex, and accidental/consensual voyeurism, (Particularly guys taking matters into their own hands when they think they can’t be with their lady, and the woman stumbling across him mid-act. Possibly my favourite kink ever? Writer’s choice whether the woman joins in or gets embarrassed)

Happy endings (or at least hopeful endings) are preferred. Like, super, super preferred. I don’t mind angst at all, but it kinda has to be on the way out of the darkness by the end.

Dislikes/DNWs:

Miserable endings. Major character death. Baby/Pregnancy fic. Humiliation. Drug use/drug mentions/addiction. Self harm/abuse. Non-con/rape. Heavy kink. A/B/O. M-Preg. Incest. Bestiality, animal harm etc. Underage sexual content. 1st person POV (unless for epistolary). Not big on high school AUs or Rock band AUs. Unbalanced power dynamics in ships without acknowledging/exploring that. (This effects one particular ship below, which I’ll discuss in more detail in the fandom section).

I think that’s it?

And so, to the fandoms, in no particular order:

Peninsula: Train to Busan 2

Jung Seok, Min Jung, Joon Yi, Yoo Jin

While maybe objectively not as good a film as the first one, I still enjoyed the hell out of it. Given that it was essentially a cross between Escape From New York and Mad Max, what isn’t to love? I loved the expansion of the world and the clever uses of zombies in the chase scenes. And I loved that the message was that being logical and self-sacrificing isn’t always the right choice - sometimes you should be driven by heart and empathy. And I really liked the idea that anything can mean happiness when you love and are loved in return - particularly in regards to Joon Yi, but also Jung Seok (and his found family?).

What would interest me the most in this fandom is post-movie fics. But if you wanna do a canon divergent/au thing, I’d be cool with that, too. Some prompts:

Joon Yi struggles a lot more than her sister to readjust to a “normal” life

In order to stay together after being rescued, Jung Seok and Min Jung have to pretend to be married

After four long years of loneliness, Min Jung just wants to be touched

Jung Seok isn’t surprised to find himself in love with Min Jung - and wanting to be a father to her girls - but is he good enough for them? He’s left them behind once - can he forgive himself? Can Min Jung?

The zombie plague escapes from Korea - and Jung Seok, Min Jung, and her girls are the closest thing to experts on how to fight back and contain it that the authorities have. Will their nightmare never be over? Or is this a chance to end it once and for all?

With Min Jung in hospital while her leg heals, Jung Seok suddenly finds himself a surrogate father to two very unruly girls.

Stranger | 비밀의 숲

Han Yeo Jin, Hwang Si Mok

This show is just so good, and Si Mok and Yeo Jin - and their relationship - is a big part of that. He’s logical and doesn’t feel things the way most other people do, but that doesn’t mean he’s given a free pass to be an asshole. He’s a good man who always does what’s right. And Yeo Jin is just as smart as he is, and equally committed to doing what’s right, but in a different way. They make a perfect team.

I love how much they absolutely, completely, trust and respect each other. Si Mok cares about her as much as he is capable - probably more so than he cares about anyone else. There isn’t any drama or jealousy or anything like that in their relationship. They are both practical adults. But it doesn’t mean they don’t have a deep bond. I do ship these two - and would love getting together fic if you can!

Prompts:

Yeo Jin will probably have a tough time of it from now on. How will Si Mok support her through it?

How will Yeo Jin and Si Mok keep in touch now that he’s moved away again? Late night phone calls that slowly become more intimate? Texts or emails (epistolary style)?

In the last episode, there was a hint that Si Mok had a prophetic dream. What if he really did develop a power? And Yeo Jin was the only one he trusted with the truth?

What if Yeo Jin and Si Mok had to travel somewhere for an investigation - and there’s only one bed…

Si Mok isn’t incapable of noticing when a woman is attracted to him. But what if that woman is Yeo Jin? Do they try to make a friends-with-benefits arrangement work? Or do they like each other two much for that?

Everyone already knows Yeo Jin and Si Mok are close - but why do their friends suddenly think they are dating? What’s changed? And how do they stop the rumours - without disappointing all the friends who were hoping they’d finally become a couple?

Yeo Jin had drunk one too many shots of soju and thought she might never see Si Mok again - so she’d jumped his bones and snuck out before he woke, full of regrets. But what happens now they have to work a case together again?

Feel free to bring in the other characters, too, as long as Yeo Jin and Si Mok remain the focus! I love the various dynamics they have with the people around them.

Kingdom | 킹덤

Prince Lee Chang, Seo Bi

Like with Si Mok and Yeo Jin above, so much of what I like about these two is that they are great characters separately - but work so well together as a team. They trust each other. He has great faith in her abilities and respects her so much. And she is loyal to him and respects him in return because she knows he’s a good man and a good leader.

I also love how the show uses both politics and horror elements, both to best advantage. It’s so well-written and compelling.

Now, I can see how this ship skirts close to my “no unbalanced power differentials in relationships” DNW, since he’s a prince, and she’s very much not royalty, so I thought I would clarify my position on this. I would most like fic set after he gives up his place in the royal family, since I think that mitigates basically all the issues. Even though I don’t think he would have intentionally abused his power over her, and Seo Bi was never particularly deferential to him, it still would have effected the relationship. Now that they are on more equal footing, there may be some lingering, residual issues surrounding this, but I feel like it’s at the level of bringing some interesting angst into the equation without feeling icky, if that makes sense.

Prompts:

Lee Chang and Seo Bi are somehow transported into modern day Korea. How will they adapt?

Both Lee Chang and Seo Bi have seen horrifying things - and they have the nightmares to prove it. How do they help each other through?

I feel like there are a million stories you could tell within the time jump at the end of the second season. Seo Bi and Lee Chang are travelling together, but no doubt keeping their mission to find the resurrection plant a secret. Are they pretending to be married? Is there anything Lee Chang has to adjust to now that he’s no longer, technically, the crown prince? How are they making money? Is Seo Bi hiring out her medicinal knowledge, while Lee Chang sells his sword? How far will they go to find the answers they seek?

The properties of the resurrection plant are still largely unknown. What horrors will they have to face next, now that another outbreak is looming?

Lee Chang decides that Seo Bi needs formal fight training - and takes it upon himself to teach her.

What moments of levity can they find together amongst the horrors?

Lee Chang knows he shouldn’t think of Seo Bi in that way - they are colleagues, and despite everything he is still from a royal family. He needs her too much to risk everything because of his desire. But oh, how he wants her…

Illang: The Wolf Brigade | 인랑 (2018)

Im Joong Kyung, Lee Yoon Hee | Kim Seo Hee

So much about this movie is absolutely my jam. The action scenes, the exploration of what desperation can drive people to, the unclear loyalties that are slowly revealed. That whole sequence when they first meet and spend time together is like a distillation of so many of my favourite things. He sees her and is just instantly gone on her. And she for him. And from then on it’s just a quiet, intense longing between them. They are so aware of each other, every sense drawn towards the other. But he’s so broken, and he sees himself as more animal than man. And it’s revealed that she has equally deep wounds, too.

An argument can be made that at least some of it was an act, of course. They were both trying to deceive each other after all. But I think it’s pretty obvious that there were real feelings there, particularly because she tries to warn him that he’s walking into a trap, and he comes back to save her. Maybe even they don’t know how deep their feelings go, or the other’s feelings, but the audience knows.

And yet...I’ve seen it twice now, and the ending is still no clearer to me. Like, is he dead? It doesn’t seem like it, since both she and her brother saw him at the train station. But maybe he’s like a guardian angel now? And if he’s not dead, where did the shot come from? A hidden gun? The sniper? And most importantly of all, if he’s not dead...why aren’t they together??? Like, aren’t all the potential impediments to their relationship gone by that point?

So, I guess most of all I would like fic that makes more sense than that ending - preferably by giving them the happy ending they deserve.

Prompts:

Joong Kyung watches over Yoon Hee from the shadows - but she always knows he’s there. How can she convince him to come into the light, and back into her life?

Yoon Hee’s brother gets himself into trouble, and the only person she can turn to for help is a man she hasn’t seen in too long - Joong Kyung.

Joong Kyung now walks the line between the living and the dead, but he can’t stay away from Yoon Hee. (Paranormal/magic AU?)

Has there been too many lies between them to make a relationship work? Neither think they are worthy of the other, but when they are pulled back together (to give evidence for an official inquiry?) they can’t quite keep their distance.

Joong Kyung is on the run, and he doesn’t know who to trust - except the one woman he’s never forgotten.

Misunderstandings and lies abound between them - but what happens when they are trapped together and must wait for rescue?

If you don’t want to do a post-canon fic, how about canon divergence? What would have happened if the phone hadn’t rung in that warehouse at that moment? Might Yoon Hee have told herself that she could use her body to prove her loyalty to him? And might Joong Kyung have told himself that it couldn’t hurt to succumb - that it didn’t mean anything?

I think that’s everything. Thank you so much!

#yuletide 2020 #yuletide letter 2020

18 notes · View notes

alrighty-vigilante · 3 years

Text

Felix Faust and his one braincelled offspring – an epitome of DC's lost potential; a himbo,a dumbass and a fucking rat

It's not like any of you asked but it's the thing that wakes me up at night. DC created a lot of great characters: good, evil and morally grey.

And just like that... They abandoned them. Not like "stopped using them in their stories" – stopped caring.

Let me show you what made me so obsessed with DC's Faustfamily: the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good

Sebastian, the firstborn of Felix, Abraham to his Isaac, is constantly haunted by the sins of his father and bashed for them. Around him heroes are not heroes anymore, too distrustful to treat him with decency, always suspecting scheming.

The Bad

Since every magic user pays some price for their skills I feel like his price is not being able to experience love or not for long. In Outsiders (1993) it was stated, or so I believe, that he has a hard time experiencing feelings because of his lack of soul. Even if not: since Halo was reborn many times, she doesn't even remember Sebastian. June Moon was completely apathetic after Enchantress persona was ripped out of her. Zatanna is Zatanna, I think their relationship was only mentioned in Mystik U so it's thankfully not anywhere near canon. In totally awful Suicide Squad: Black Files it's told Sebastian's wife is dying (and pregnant) so he enchanted her until he finds a cure. Even motherly love he cannot experience – no matter the author's approach, his mother is not around him for long and he feels responsible for her death which may have be the reason why she tried to look after his sister for as long as it was possible. Sorry I need a moment...

I'd have to be naïve to even hope for anyone in DC being so competent to show Sebastian as aromantic/demiromantic without showing people on this spectrum as soulless.

Fauna lived to be "lesser than Sebastian". Suffered the same fate as her brother but was neglected by her father from the start, unlike Sebastian who was taught by him some time. I don't think she and her father nor she and her brother ever bonded in any way. For me Fauna is the embodiment of the anger only an abused abandoned teenager can feel. Raw blinding rage not directed at anything in particular but everything and everyone including herself because she is not sure what and who should she hate the most. And in the end, it is she who suffers the most. It drives her a path of evil. All her attempts at being better than everyone and most of all – better than her father, are in real just attempts to get his approval.

The only time she felt free was when she got with Syonide (yeah folks she's lesbian) but, well, it didn't last long.

One thing about her that especially wakes me up at night is how in Raven she mentions her ancestors but stops, saying she's better than them anyway. Well, there are no such characters in whole DC. No Majica the Magnificent or whoever. Let's pretend it's not just a hole in the universe because probably it is just that: it leads to conclusion that Fauna made it up herself to back up her narcissistic attitude and the right to do what she want and take what she want OR her father made that up, and that leads us to Felix Faust himself.

The Ugly

WHERE DO I EVEN START, if I start to lost what's wrong with him you'll be reading this to the end of your life.

The most prominent personality trait of his is that Dumb bitch hours are 24 hours. Second: he is full of opposites. Is he intelligent? As hell. Is he still a gullible idiot? Oh yeah. Is he doing bad things? Yes. Is he a villain? No, he had his time of being neutral/good. He is driven by the need for power. What would he do if he gets it? The most probable scenario: nothing. What would he need it for, then? I can bet all my money, which are around 5$ and a bagel, that what he really want is respect (and that ties neatly with making up his genealogy tree). Now, his background varies depending on the author, of course they couldn't develop consistency, but many things are common nonetheless. So, if we just generally look at him, we see a man who, before being possessed by 5000 years young ghost, was nothing more but street magician – guess how much respect he got. This old sorceress that eventually took over his body also was humiliated in a great defeat. In the 70s he was called the greatest foe of the Justice League. Nowadays, even some drunk warlock junkie rat (yeah, I mean Constantine lol) makes fun of him. What could he crave more than some basic "this is Felix Faust, the greatest sorcerer alive who hoards all the knowledge"?

I would say it doesn't matter whether he sacrificed his son to help his dying wife or to get more power (he later sacrificed his daughter just for the latter reason. He just never learns). Generally sacrificing your children is shitty thing to do so there's no justification for his actions. He doesn't know when to stop and even if he feels regret for things he has done, he just keeps going in an everlasting chase.

Damn, in a way he is quite relatable: despite the efforts, he fails every time. Despite the education in three majors, he is so gullible. Making him not talented enough to match his knowledge truly is tragic.

What DC never explored, and never will, is he was a single parent, who didn't know how to carry on without his wife, how to bring their children up. Too focused on his "career" he neglected his children. Having Sebastian to grow up to be a better person and better sorcerer than he ever will be visibly drives him up the wall. At the same time he struggles, trying to get close with his son a bit – these clumsy attempts to scold him are actually meant to be compliments. (No such scenes with him and Fauna because apparently writers forgot about her completely smh).

I don't enjoy New52 events but I think a lot about how Faust was trapped in the Tower of Fate with Neron, the ruler of hell and also his abuser. He kinda had it coming but it's traumatic nonetheless

Another thing that could be explored by DC more is that in a way, heroes are pretty much the guardians of the status quo. Not only Sebastian takes the blame for everything and is not trusted by them, but they also haven't done much to keep Felix on the good side, never thanked him for his service nor did they tried not to push him into villainy. But such behaviour also affect other characters so I won't be focusing on this.

To sum it up nicely: just because this is about fictional magicians doesn't mean their story is unrelatable. People out there are emotionally absent in their family's life sometimes because of tragedy they went through or because they were not ready, or because something else. People may hate their abusers, love their abusers, be children of abusers. Parents put their children through harmful situations. Family are not always bonded and happy. Family members may long for contact but don't know how to get it. Etc etc, you probably got it.

Not only these characters suffers from lost potential but many, many more. Instead of seeing same characters like Batman or Wonder Woman over and over again, I'd prefer creators to go back and develop what they already have.

#dc comics #dc comics characters #dc comics hot takes #faustfamily #felix faust #Sebastian faust #fauna faust #ch: felix faust #ch: sebastian faust #ch: fauna faust

5 notes · View notes

excorcismic · 4 years

Text

uhm . . . cheesed to meet you ?? - HI GANG !! what’s up , i’m hylia and i . . . love . misa and death note with my entire heart . I KNOW FOR A FACT i will probably pick up more characters along the way but i couldn’t have picked a better one to start out with !! i have experience writing both misa & light - i actually am more experienced writing light than misa , but i still have a lot of experience with her under my belt !! i’m currently writing him in another group and when i saw duality i just HAD to write her here - i’m so excited to plot w/ y’all !! so lemme tell you the basic facts & some connections and ideas i have under the cut c: ( this got long i’m so sorry )

ooooooooooooo you wanna plot with misa so bad oooooooo - AHEM . so .

IF YOU ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH DEATH NOTE / MISA : death note is a manga / anime revolving around a smart young man ( light yagami ) who discovers a supernatural notebook who can take the life of any human as long as the writer knows their name & face . light uses this book to essentially try and purge the world of evil , earning the alias ‘kira’ ( who gains a following ) , and misa , who acquires a death note of her own , seeks him out as the second kira . she possesses things that he doesn’t , so essentially she becomes his partner in crime - she , falling in love with him ( or more so the idea of him she created for herself ) , and he , entertaining her fantasies in exchange for her abilities and assistance . it’s . . . way more complicated in detail and honestly pretty sad but that’s the getgo . she’s a pretty girl with a very powerful notebook and she likes a guy with a powerful notebook that sees her more as a tool he can use to further his plans . OH OH OH and also she has a protective monster lady who’s in love with her and looking after her and threatening to clap light if he hurts misa in any way .

death note . . . is a story about how people who were good can become awful towards other people and themselves if you give them a bit of power .

BUT ANYWAY . misa actually has a much happier life here than in death note !! it’s . . . still kinda eh in some places but overall much better since that godforsaken notebook doesn’t exist and isn't here to screw anyone's lives up .

she's a former child actor, now a musician in a pop punk band called 'your friends & the skeletons!!' but as of rn with her taking a break from big performances and touring she's just a streamer operatin' out of alucard and trying to entertain herself since sometimes the world gets a little too big for her and she needs to take a step back.

it’s a pretty cute life & that’s the rundown !! of course , it’ll be more detailed and developed in my intro for her , but that being said - CONNECTIONS .

OHHHH YOU WANNA PLOT OUT THESE WANTED CONNECTIONS / PLOTS WITH ME SO BAD OOOOOOHHH AND OHHHH YOU WANNA LIKE THIS POST FOR ME TO DM YOU FOR PLOTTING SO BAD OHHHHHHHHH

okay so obviously some band mates !! YF&TS i imagine is a four-piece with misa on rhythm guitar & vocals , then lead guitar , bass , and drums . i imagine they’re all friends with misa , but maybe one person has been friends with misa since like . . . forever . and has seen her go through literally everything .

so , misa lives alone . maybe i’ll have her look for a roommate along the way but as for right now , even though she lives by herself ( and honestly is a lil lonely ) , i really like the idea that maybe she’s the helper neighbor that wants to befriend everyone that lives on her floor , runs to get groceries , always visits and checks in on people , etc . !! so neighbor friends pretty please !!

obviously if u wanna make ppl be fans of misa & her band that is a-okay with me just pls keep in mind they’re kinda big but not . . . big big . like they’ve got some dedicated fans but not full on stans y’know

SO . . . folds hands . i kinda like the idea that misa hasn’t been through that many serious relationships ( always gets her heart broken through them ) but maybe there was that one serious ex-partner she had and they broke it off for whatever reason . it’d have to be when she was 18-20 and they’d be together for maybe about two or three years before her career takes off and stuff and yeah it’d be the saaaad relationship that fizzled out even tho it was serious for a bit

also some not so serious/long relationships where misa got her heart broken !! fun times !! misa throws her full heart into things way too easily so this could’ve happened in many different ways . flings ?? check . short-term relationships ?? check . she wrote a letter for someone on a starbucks napkin asking them out and they rejected so whenever she comes into said starbucks she feels shy & awkward ordering something ?? check . ( we can have fun with this basically it’s ‘ misa tried it with y/m and it didn’t work out and she’s still lonely ’ )

friends please !! friends that misa’s made in alucard !! also friends with benefits maybe !! idk !! misa is a very friendly person she will be your friend if you say ‘hi’ in a positive tone towards her !!

oh i think it’d b rly funny if there was one person misa kept trying to befriend and they’re just rly stubborn abt it for some reason bc idk maybe they find misa annoying or something anyway give me sb who misa wants to be friendly with n they’re just No abt it for whatever reason

ONE OF THE THINGS I HAVE FOR MISA AS A STREAMER IS THAT SHE’S RLY INTO THE PARANORMAL AND RECORDS STUFF WITH IT SO PARANORMAL GHOST ADVENTURES PALS PLEASE !!

she’s also a gaming streamer so imagine she gets into a fight with sb behind a screen on a game and/or stream and then finds them in alucard like ‘oh fuck’ aka cyber enemies

also the exact opposite scenario with cyber friends aka misa makes a friend on a game and they meet each other irl and it’s cute !!

misa . . . is not a huge party girl but i imagine she has ppl that regularly invite her to parties and stuff so there’s that . but like . she only knows these people in context of partying - they’re her party friends and that’s it and her relationships with them are just kinda shallow .

i’d ALSO like a friend she makes that’s maybe a little more sheltered & naive to the world than she is so she just takes them to cool places and stuff !! shows them what it’s like to live on the ‘ wild side ’ !! whether it’s driving to a 24 hr gas station for candy and snacks in the middle of the night and staying out until sunrise just on the road or just sitting at misa’s apartment and watching true crime documentaries in their jammies . just sb misa’s gonna take like ‘ hey we’re gonna show u what LIVING is like ’

actual shipping . . . i would love to explore at a point but i wanna explore other things first so that’ll just be smth that comes up in development maybe !! i want misa to get a chance to experience what actual love is and explore the relationship aspect of it so i’m open to it but also i just wanna develop it n let it come naturally . filled !

ANYWAYS . i’m open to rly anything !! enemies ?? friends ?? frenemies ?? friends or enemies with benefits ?? unrequited crushes ?? exes ?? found family ?? party pals ?? streamer pals/enemies ?? LET’S PLOT IT OUT I’M SO EXCITED

sorry this is a long as hell list anyways let’s plot out some relationships even tho i’m bad at plotting and trust me the intro is. probs gonna be even longer. i am so sorry.

ANYWAYS ILY ALL IM SO EXCITED TO WRITE/PLOT W/ U GUYS

- - - - - - - - - - - POST-EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT EDIT : okay so this one is rly specific but , , , i rly would like if maybe misa had sb to go to the cirque du eradicus with ?? probably as a date !! a date that doesn’t have to amount to anything but they’re gonna b the one who witnesses misa go into the hall of mirrors n it’s gonna be kind of like a connection since they’re gonna have been together when that stuff happens and it could be rly fun to work with in the future . just gonna put the age limit for this one at 22 - 26 just bc gaps and all !! i think it could be cute if it goes well or interesting if it doesn’t but . yeah idk they can split off at some point for other threads bt ANYWAYS I JUST THINK IT’D B FUN filled !

also if anyone wants to bring me anyone from death note i will kiss u ESPECIALLY for light , l , rem , or matsuda . pls . maybe these characters can ACTUALLY get a normal fuckin’ life this time around - ( sometimes we just want to live in the yotsuba arc forever where everyone’s runnin around solvin mysteries and not scheming against each other - )

death note hits differently .

#i'm so sorry this is a monster of a list #i just. talk and it stops eventually #dhq.plots #░ ★ abt . ❛ sʜᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡs sʜᴇ·ʟʟ ғɪɴᴅ ʟᴏᴠᴇ﹐ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ᴀᴛ ʜᴇʀ ɴᴏᴡ / misa amane #death mention

8 notes · View notes

misterbitches · 4 years

Text

i said i would talk about saizon and usually i would be under the influence. but i am not yet. read the * at end of the post first if u want clarification of overall.

i might mention torfight (will refer as f/t) but if anyone gets upset just chill. it’s a really inconsequential opinion. the chances of someone stumbling upon this means nothing. it isnt’ a compare and contrast just how i personally feel while viewing these shows. and i probably want to dive into what this means in a broader context since i have all the time and brain space in the world

from the first encounter of saifah and zon or their first encounter outside of their “kiss” (LOL? so unnecessary) it was clear that as awkward as it could or may be there was natural chemistry. which i want my tiny head to explore.

so a lot of BL (which is like....tv and movies etc in general anyways) hell even dramas may have a less sexual undertone to get to where they are going. which i think is a problem with tv in general (a friend was bringing this up with the new rules of social distancing on set which...capitalism but whatever) where sex is a vehicle for connection. a lot of BLs can be explicit i suppose, but in the west it’s like jumping into bed is a huge base for a lot of couples. also everyone fucks too much who cares.

but sex, kisses, hookups, any nudity, etc is not a placeholder for like actual intimacy, romantic love, showing love. that’s part of why i hate the concept of love at first sight, at least the way it plays out. you can really like someone, hell maybe even love, when you see them or feel this bond but the bond isn’t because you TOUCHED them.

there’s a difference between natural chemistry and forced. natural chemistry is what you would prefer which is why casting directors have literally chemistry tests to test your compatibility as actors, with a writer/director, and on camera. there can be people whose chemistry develops and we see the potential, or people who we know don’t love each other IRL and this is acting but it’s still powerful. but this always means you have to give them the time and space. actors can jump in/out of character but it’s human nature. if two peopl eare meeting for the first time and have to simulate sex there’s going to be this natural like...strangeness. obviously. viewers can see it.

so when you get two people who click irl and it doesn’t always have to be romantic or sexually it’s kind of more of a thrill. very obviously mii2 are a lot more flexible around each other so it is less mechanic. i think i like watching tharntype because even tho i feel like parts of it seriously need some oil, i can see and understand a relationship developing through their characters as they act (and i do not particularly think they are good actors.)

the friendship that saizon display—whether we think it is spontaneous and too quick or not—is legitimately nice. and they are very obviously comfortable with each other. i guess there can be an idea of romantic friendship (but idk abt that one, we dont have to fucking label everything you can love someone so deeply in your own way outside of our parameters bla bla capitalism ruining everything bla bla individualism)

they got in each others faces, then would do very weird shit together, because that’s who they are. for me personally i think being able to have fun with your partner is iMPERATIVE. one of my fav moments is when they fucking meow at each other (which i know is a thai joke, right? idk) and it is so weird but you can tell they understand the way they communicate?

to me like...having someone you feel something deep with is that there’s this role you guys are playing, it’s a joke you started, and with the best kind of intimacy and love your partner can keep it going, keep it rolling, hang it up in the air and you guys just go back adn forth....forever lol

i also legitimately think it is important to hammer home the fact that you are yourself without a partner and i really resent a message that makes it seem like you can’t live without someone. maybe a lack of saizon was good that way. like they existed as two seperate people. their love and attraction weren’t the only thing going for them. it was just natural and very nice.

this particular display of romance and affection is one that’s strong but doesn’t take itself too seriously. not because you don’t want to lose them but because there’s enough security. or like, it’s really guided by this unspeakable feeling you feel with another person.

i’m not sure if that means soulmates but it’s something close. saifah doesn’t expect zon to be someone he can’t, but it doesn’t mean he has to let himself go completely for him. when he expressed being sad that zon pulled away it’s normal. and zon knew he couldn’t do it but they still got through it. and then he pats the bed and saifah jumps on him.

these types of couples remind me of why i feel the way i do about love. i can’t imagine something fucking bogging me down, where i feel like i can’t get up without pulling me, where i don’t feel myself first. zon was figuring himself out and he was thinking of himself and his feelings. bc he should.

that’s another reason why trapped MC (H3) is one of my favs. first of all THEY LAUGHED TOGETHER WHICH IS LIKE A REQUIREMENT UR NO FUN IF UR A SQUARE and second of all they were going to spend year apart and could do that. had to. fuck the carceral state but.

you don’t ask someone to give up a part of themselves, you only want them to be the best they can be. it isnt through demands it’ sgrowing with them and fucking respecting them with everything you have. and it means having a foundation outside of them, too.

i know people get upset at the “love anybody but u have to love yourself” adage but i don’t really see it tht way. i absolutely believe you need to learn to be healthy alone and have a community. rely on all sorts of people. have different types of love and figure yourself out. we can’t be free as human beings without it and i would rather fucking die than not feel free.

oh and like....being with someone where you feel seen and heard not shamed. i read this thing in the atlantic like, partnerships fail a lot because of lack of validation. imagine having someone who trusts you, and maybe helps to trust yourself, and validates you by being there. nice.

and it’s nice having someone you love so deeply and beautifully along for the ride. instead of no actual pleasure outside of sex, your relationship IS the pleasure. beautiful stunning etc. and that’s what makes everythign feel good the love, sex, living, whatever. with someone and with yourself.

this got away from me in conclusion theyre very cute eand that’s cos it’s easy and natural. mii2 are fun to watch as saizon and themselves. life shouldnt be too hard. im a big fan of working as little as possible and being happy kekekek

*i am talking monogamy, love, and the self. why only ‘traditional’ rships? first: i literally cannot handle people because i can’t handle my mind. non-monagamy is incredibly alluring to me for my autonomy, in the abstract, and in theory. however, in practice, i don’t think—for me as a black woman and what it means for me—i can enact anything i feel would be detrimental to me or puts me in a position where i feel forced into a dynamic i no longer care for.

and who knows if that changes? i only do and care about the things i like and find important. no one else but me, family, and friends. how i choose. so i am talking abt monogamy but u can interpret that for other rships if you wish.

second: it’s. my. life.

i dont carrreeee about monogamy/non monagamy outside of liberation and sexual freedom and what does that mean? there is no blueprint for that. there is no future expectation for a relationship, there is nothing but how we choose to interact with the world and community. first and foremost: love means so many things and it doesn’t have to mean any “new” ideas. or “instincts.” who fucking cares. we can’t reimagine literal relationships, people are fucking toxic in all types of them, only reimagine how we interact with ourselves and each other. there is no fucking guarantee with any of this we are safe. you cannot predict life. just live it. honor yourself first. there’s some black feminists books on like love and intimacy if you are curious how capitalism binds us. we keep wanting to find solutions WITHIN when its like nah, it;s our own fuckin terms. self-love becomes the love you can extract from others. it isn’t sustainable.

ROMANTIC LOVE WAS INVENTED TO MANIPULATE WOMEN = JENNY HOLZER

#these are all lit FOR ME #a thot #and if ppl like it so be it #saizon #i am an iNSANE romantic #huge #heh

3 notes · View notes

royalreef · 4 years

Text

@sacred-songbird || ℑ'𝔡 𝔪𝔞𝔨𝔢 𝔞 𝔯𝔬𝔱 𝔧𝔬𝔨𝔢 𝔟𝔲𝔱 ℑ'𝔪 𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔠𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔩𝔶 𝔣𝔲𝔩𝔩 𝔬𝔣 𝔩𝔬𝔳𝔢

(( IT IS CAT SHAMING HOURS, MY PALS!!!!!!!!!

Dri is a dorkass nerd who I LOVE A LOT DESPITE HOW WE TORMENT EACH OTHER. An excellent cryptid. A wholesome D&D goblin with a dice hoarding problem. The one who has corrupted Miranda and made her thirst for the holy with your PRETTYBOY SEXGULL.

You are someone who I dare for deeply and consider one of my best friends, as you’re just so great to shoot the shit with. Talking in general is something that comes easy to me when I’m around you, as I just want to share all that’s going through my mind and what I’m experiencing and just get to know you. You have such a friendly manner and aura - you are punk in the truest way, where you have been cast off by the world as a whole and you bare teeth and claws and spikes at it in return, but you care so deeply and warmly for those who have also been hurt, and it’s so welcoming to see and just be around you. You are someone who I know I can trust through it all and I can only hope you see my disastrous ass in even a fraction of the same way!!

As for Eden? HE’S SO GOOD. I have told you before, that I genuinely read all that you write for Eden, as he’s a character that I love so much and is so enthralling to me that I just want to see him do stuff, anything at all, because he comes with such an energy to him that you just HAVE to pay him attention. He is a proud sexgull, and him being a tortured soul just makes him all the closer to Miranda, as she’s also keenly aware of how similar their situations are. Him being a nephilim of a proper body horror throne is ALL THE BETTER TOO, because YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE MY BODY HORROR!!!!!!! And he’s so good for Miranda too - since when she’s with him she can finally just... allow herself to be comfortable. To feel FREE. To not worry about her appearances or what Eden thinks of her or worrying about the crown or being dignified. She can be a cute pink fishcat, she can go dumbass mode chasing toys he drags around the loft for her, she can just let herself be IN LOVE and ADORING to him, and she knows he won’t hurt her with any of it. He feels like home to her in such a key way that she considers simply being by his side more at home than being at her schooltime castle.

Eden’s the character who I consistently consider as Miranda’s husband overall, and even though I try not to default to any ships here, they’ve just gotten to a point where I tend to think about her with him in void of anyone else.

Not to mention how great you are at your own worldbuilding and ideas. Like I know I TEASE you about the biology and paleontology bits, because I’m a bio nerd, it’s what I do - but your ideas are honestly all things that I: 1, REALLY WANT TO SEE IN FULL ANYWHERE BECAUSE HOLY SHIT GOOD IDEAS, and 2, are so unique and fascinating that I’d dedicate a wholeass novel just to exploring them. I could listen to you discuss these ideas for HOURS, there’s just something so colorful and vivid to them that I just can’t get enough of.

You are a BRILLIANT writer and your art has SUCH a distinct style that, yes I do save all arts you share with me into their own folder on my phone, and yes I do sometimes just stare at them in awe because they’re that good.

And I could say SO, SO MUCH MORE but this is very wordy already and just.

DRI.

I PLATONICALLY LOVE YOU LOTS AND APPRECIATE YOU AND ALL YOU DO. YOU ARE SUCH A GOOD FRIEND AND YOU HAVE JUST SUCH A WELCOMING PRESENCE. 10000000/10, I WOULD BUY SO MANY MORE KITTY SKULL MASKS FOR U.

#Most secret royal advisor || OOC #Dreaded rumors || Asks #The masked ball || Anonymous #sacred songbird #(( VOID CAT BULLYING HOURS

2 notes · View notes

ladyfl4me · 5 years

Note

A,E,F,G,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z ;o

Okay *cracks knuckles* let’s go! F, M, and S have already been taken from this list, so feel free to send in... B, C, D, or H, I guess. Yeehaw. This is really fucking long.

A: How did you come up with the title to [TMWCIFTC]? -- It started, as many things do, as a bad pun. The novel The Spy who Came In from the Cold was a cold-war spy thriller, about a British spy who goes over to East Germany as an apparent defect, except he’s actually there to spread misinformation and fuck shit up. He falls in love, becomes disillusioned with his superiors, and is shot dead over the corpse of his lover after climbing over to the east side of the wall. Needless to say, this is nowhere close to what happens in TMWCIFTC. I chose it early on because of the literal meaning: there’s a moth(man), he’s coming in from the cold WV weather, boom shaka laka, we have a title. Over time, though, it’s evolved into another meaning. Indrid himself is coming in from an isolated, lonely existence: he’s rejoining the family that cut ties with him, he’s in love, he’s warm and safe. The moth sure did come in from the cold, and hopefully he stays that way.

E: If you wrote a sequel to [TMWCIFTC], what would it be about? -- Hm. Considering my entire TAZ fic career is a tangled hairball of sequels and prequels, I kind of have this base covered. At the moment, TCOS - aka The Children of Sylvain, the sequel to TMWCIFTC - is about three things: a Pine Guard road trip race against time and the feds, the Spanish Sylvan Inquisition That Nobody Expected (least of all Jake and Hollis, who have to set aside their differences and past conflicts to save Kepler - and who knows, maybe they’ll fall in love along the way), and Alexandra the Interpreter getting woke to Sylvan politics and doing what she can from the inside to change them. In other words, it’s going to be a massive sequel that is the finale of the Amnesty alternate universe I’ve created. It’s this series’ Endgame. (That reminds me, I need an actual title for this collection of stories I’m writing. The “Tin Cinematic Universe” doesn’t quite have the ring to it that I’d like.)

G: Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order? -- eh, it kind of depends. It’s like a buffering bar on Youtube videos. I outline what I can until I run out of ideas, then start writing, then add outlines to the end, until the outline is complete and I just have to keep writing.

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)? -- I don’t have one for reading, but for writing, I fucking love structuring chapters around songs. Classical or otherwise, I love music. All my stories play in my head like a movie screen, and I just do my best to describe what I’m seeing in my head with an accompanying score. It’s not so much a guilty pleasure as it is a writing process. Frankly, I don’t think I actually have a guilty pleasure; the act of writing itself is all the happiness I need.

J: Write or describe an alternative ending to [insert fic]. -- An alternate ending for The Devil Went Down To Georgia would be... interesting. It ended with Boyd-as-Jersey-Devil scaring the pants off some poor broke college kid, who stole his worthless fiddle; then he changed back, and he and Ned went on their merry way to go break into Aubrey’s house and send everything down the drain. If there was one thing that I could change in there, it would be how fast Ned ran. If he ran a little faster, he would have seen the alley; he would have witnessed Boyd turning into the Jersey Devil, or at least turning back into himself; and he’d get a very rude awakening as to what Sylvans are and that his partner (in crime, and everything that mattered) was a fucking cryptid. God, that’d be a fun AU to write. Who knows, I might go do that someday.

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with? -- At the moment, the only angsty idea that I’m actually conceptualizing is a Hollis/Jake angsty breakup for TSG. (Spoilers, I guess.) I once wrote a very grimdark ending to TMWCIFTC where everyone fell through the ice and drowned. It wasn’t fun. I’ve also mentally killed off each Amnesty protagonist and NPC in various ways, but I never felt comfortable writing them down. I only write angst with a happy ending because those are the kinds of stories I need to hear.

L: How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting? -- 9 times out of 10, I just throw it into the void. I write as much as I can in big chunks, and then kind of hope for the best. TMWCIFTC, for example, is a completely unedited, unbetaed vomit draft. I usually do a quick reread of my oneshots to catch grammar and spelling errors, but other than that I just trust myself that it’s fine.

N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you? -- Can I get some kind of resolution for To the Edge of Night? Can I please get some kind of resolution for To the Edge of Night??? I was 14 chapters into that bastard before I a) became a more casual MCU fan and b) discovered TAZ. It was such a niche fic with such a niche structure - LOTR as galactic Asgardian propaganda to cover up Odin’s mistakes - that at some point I lost interest in it. I just saw Endgame though, so now I might get some inspiration for stuff to bastardize.

O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters? -- Characters. When coming up with character backstories, I can usually find ways to slot their lives together that necessitate a plot. I love character-driven stories, where their actions actually do shit and their words actually mean something, in favor of getting dragged along behind the plot like tin cans behind a car.

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?) -- I’m definitely an architect, but in a really messy way. My friends can attest that I do an insane amount of planning for each story - often in their DMs, sorry about that, Fae, Cro, Indy and Aline 😬 - and all that usually ends up in a stream-of-consciousness rant outline on Google Drive. Knowing where the story is going helps me a lot, but the planning I do is definitely just building flower beds in which to sow seeds. Or building a greenhouse. I plan the bare bones of a story, and things get really wild within it, but it does follow a logical plot structure.

Q: How do you feel about collaborations? -- I have a lot of respect for the people who can successfully pull it off, but idk if i’d ever want to do one myself. I get really possessive of my stories and ideas and like to be the one in charge of their execution. That being said, some collabs have produced amazing stories. I don’t mind reading collab fics, but actually being in a collab grates on me more than it should.

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence? -- I’m definitely influenced heavily by Neil Gaiman. I read American Gods and Good Omens a lot while I was trying to write TMWCIFTC; not only was it a good brain break, but I was able to pick up a lot of tips on scene pacing, concise yet expressive language, and character interactions. My creative wriitng professors have always told us to read so we know what to steal - not in terms of content, but in execution.

On the fanfic side, @miamaroo is a huge inspiration for me. I’ve been reading Northern Migration a lot recently, and I love how its canon divergence is so worldshaking and so complex, but is still familiar in nostalgic yet terrifying ways. I read it back in October, went, “Huh, I wanna do something that wild. And if miamaroo can do it then I sure as fuck can too,” and I started planning TMWCIFTC during that one month dead zone the McElroys took last year. Northern Migration is one of the best, most coherent, most stunning, and most incredibly written TAZ Balance AUs I’ve ever read, and if I hadn’t read it, I wouldn’t have been inspired to take the fuckall huge plunge into TMWCIFTC.

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist? -- Bed sharing and cuddling, hand kissing, wrist kissing, whump, sympathetic villains. Canon divergent AUs are my absolute favorite things to both read and write. Anything that would turn me into Charlie Kelly slamming his finger on a bulletin board screaming, “CAROL,” is a fic I would give my life for.

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand? -- Not a fan of a) woobification and b) flat villain characterization, to the point where the story is riding on villain tropes instead of an actual person or plot. Character nuance is always something I look for when I read. I don’t usually get bitter about tropes, though; some stuff, when subverted, works really well. I fully subscribe to don’t like, don’t read, don’t write, which is why I don’t write anything that warrants AO3 content warning tags or an Explicit rating, in favor of focusing on plot. Every author has a reason for what they write and how - be it their level of experience, personal preference, or simply the joy of writing something and getting it out there - and I respect that. Within reason, of course.

U: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much. --

@miamaroo, for reasons I’ve already discussed. My favorite TAZ Balance author hands down. Read Northern Migration and give it the love it deserves, or I’m replacing all the faucets in your house with silly straws.

@transagentstern. Fae has a bunch of absolutely incredible fics and an amazing grasp on characterization. We come from the same place with AUs, in that canon is but the bare planks on which we put the drywall of our plot an characterization. They structure AUs and character backstories from the ground up in believable and emotionally raw ways. Also they have great music taste. I especially like their interpretation of Indrid in Moth to the Flame; he, like all the other characters in the story, is far from perfect, and his character arc is explored in relatable ways that I love to read.

@keplersheetz. Aline - theneonpineapple on AO3 - researches like a motherfucker and has a wealth of knowledge/experience/viewpoints to draw on, making author-author interactions with her an absolute delight. She’s also doing the lord’s work with rarepairs. Spin a wheel, find a ship, and she’s probably written for it or at least conceptualized it. Reading her character studies and stories of the old Pine Guard - aka Mama’s original crew, before the current PCs joined - is always a delight. I’ve also hashed out a lot of details for The Children of Sylvain, especially for Mr. Boyd Mosche, guilt-wracked Jersey Devil extraordinaire, with her help.

V: If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose? -- Not gonna lie, I’m fine with a lot of stuff that’s out there right now. It’s been a hot few months since I’ve actually stopped to read fic, but from what I recall, most of the fics I’ve read have done a good job of keeping things intact.

W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones? -- The vaguer, the better. With really specific prompts, it usually feels as if the story’s been written for me already; with vague, general prompts, I have more agency to explore my own ideas. Some accompanying detail is usually nice, though. For example, the coffee shop/college/flower shop AUs that @transagentstern wrote are my ideal prompt for drabbles: premise, a little bit of open-ended detail, clear explanation of what’s going to happen while leaving the rest up to the imagination. Good stuff. If it’s for a long-form piece, though, I prefer full agency, or even just some time to lie facedown in the dirt and wait for an idea to strike me.

X: A character you enjoy making suffer. -- Yes.

Y: A character you want to protect. -- Tim.

Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate? -- I do read lots of major character death, yeah, though not always for TAZ. There’s something cathartic about seeing a character die, but sometimes it sits wrong with me in ways that I don’t like. As for writing, I’d rather kill a character for a reason rather than for shock value/for the Feels, though said Feels can accompany the reason.

#anon please dm me so i know who u are #please #i'm begging you #i'm in hell #asks #anon #ask game

10 notes · View notes

mentalcurls · 5 years

Text

9.3 NAMACISSI

Oh God I LOVED this clip. I loved it so much. I could die for this clip.

A few scattered thoughts I had while watching it (they might not be in chronological order cause I’m at work and I can’t do my usual watch-stop-write-rewatch thing, sorry.)

So without further ado:

Allow me to be bitter here for a second: this should have happened yesterday. If Martino wasn’t so infuriatingly stubborn in his ways, if his first instinct wasn’t to close in on himself despite seeing how good it was when he opened up to his friends last time, how much support he got, how much lighter he felt, this would have been yesterday and neither us nor him would have suffered as much. That being said of course I love Marti as he is, wouldn’t trade him for the world, so I accept his flaws and the pain they bring.

The boys going to the bathroom together, in a group. Discussing the love life of one of them in the school bathroom. Washing their hands together (actually, unfortunately it is noteworthy that they was their hands at all bc men are often disgusting). Another typically feminine trope subverted. (The only thing missing was one of them fixing their hair, but it wouldn’t have fit the feel of the scene, I think.) Toxic masculinity thank u, next; LudoBesse and Skam Italia writers thank you, now more.

How blue is that scene? The bathroom is of course very blue, the tiles, the floor. The light is cold. Marti is wearing a blue jumper, Giovanni a blue shirt, Elia a blue track top.

(Luchino is wearing warm brown *insert “coincidence? I think not” gif here*)

We cannot be sure this is the same bathroom where 5.4 Pausa took place, but it is very clear that LudoBesse thinks not-so-positive conversations regarding mental health need to be had in bathrooms.

I couldn’t find any particular significance in the order the boys came out of the stalls, but I’m sure I’m gonna read some really interesting theories from you guys soon. Maybe worst to best at reading Marti? worst to best at giving advice?

Luca, knowing the pain of being half-naked in the cold for several hours from the previous weekend is Very Worried about Niccolò, his saviour from the ice prison/cabin, running around naked in the cold

Giovanni and the others watching Martino struggle with the soap dispenser/faucet thing and Gio stepping in to help him and direct him elsewhere just like he does in the conversation when he points out Martino shouldn’t trust the Internet about medical stuff

Giovanni starting his line with “Comunque”. It’s something Giovanni did in 6.5 Effettivamente (and here’s a lovely post by @zkainaat about it) and I’m starting to feel things about it. We talked a fair bit about “Martinese” these last few days and we all agree that nobody speaks it better than Giovanni, we also know Giovanni has a Martino voice and this “comunque” thing also strikes me as something that’s Marti-and-Gio’s, something Giovanni does for Martino to put him at ease or something he picked up from him.

But, even more interestingly, where does this “comunque” also crop up? In our beloved 8.1 Patatine e marmellata, during “Buon viaggio”, of course, with Niccolò singing “Amore mio, comunque vada”. Coincidence? Nico stumbling on a bit of Martinese by chance? Another thing LudoBesse & co. will exploit to make us all suffer? Just me being too obsessed?

Giovanni gives the best advice. I need a Giovanni for myself and I can only aspire to reach the same level of wisdom as Giovanni Mago dell’Amore Garau.

Apparently, it’s a well know fact at liceo Kennedy that the school psychologist is obsessed with celery and I love that. He’s the closest thing we have to the representation of the actual quirky, weird af professors that usually roam the corridors of every Italian high school, but especially (imho) of liceo classico.

So they go to see the psycologist, dr. Roberto Spera. Someone with an actual degree. Thank God. (From what I read online, in Skam og Isak only speaks to Magnus whose mum is bipolar, and that’s cute but it also seems too much of a coincidence. IDK I haven’t seen the og so I can’t tell if it felt realistic, but I definitely like that in Skam Italia the boysquad went to a professional.)

Oh, dr. Spera how I missed you.

Giovanni Garau and Roberto Spera doing the Lord’s work and spreading the Very Important Message that you should not a) believe everything that’s online; b) only look up things online without talking to experts or reading their book/articles/papers etc.; c) self diagnose- or diagnose someone else on the basis of something you read on Wikipedia or WebMD

NAMACISSI. Guys, we knew it was something significant! *pats the whole fandom on the back*

“Is it Buddhist?” no, honey, that’s namastè

Dr. Spera’s desk is blue, he’s wearing blue, but the walls are yellowish and the light is much warmer here than in the bathroom.

Martino tells him everything this time. About Niccolò, about the off-again, on-again they went through, about finally getting together and being finally happy until last Friday.

I wonder how amny encouraging looks and nods Giovanni had to give him to make Marti spill all the tea.

I wonder how many times the boys cut in and how many times their eyes widened and their ears perked up because Martino said something they hadn’t heard about before.

Robert Spera, patron saint of debunking false information and asking the right questions.

And the KING OF SHADE. He disses Trump and reads Maddalena for filth while also shading Martino (”Tre mesi...UNA LUMINARE!”). We stan.

I nearly fell over laughing when he didn’t know what blocking meant and I love Luca for explaining and promising to teach him, I bet poor Roberto has given out his number to subscribe to something and now there are so many telemarketers calling and messaging him trying to sell him the weirdest things.

Bless Luchino. As I mentioned before, I knew what was going to happen in this clip and I loved the things they changed but I also lovelovelove that Luca still got to tell Marti not to believe Maddalena. He’s naive, he has acted plain dumb, he has been ignorant to the point of offense, he is not the most empatically aware, so it’s much more significant when he’s the one to point things out.

And of course I love the wording and I feel for the translators who have to deal with it. And I love that dr. Spera uses the same words (what else could we expect from the man who asked “E se il copilota è andato a pisciare?”)

Luca casually dropping “Ti ama” (He loves you) and “È innamorato di te” (He’s in love with you), nonchalantly, like he’s talking about the weather and my heart doing high kicks and backflips. Can’t even begin to think what Marti’s was doing.

the boysquad Can’t Deal™ with Martino, Gio facepalms, Elia looks away with the far away expression of a soldier who just came back home, Luchino goes for the classic “Ma che cazzo stai a di’?” (WTF are you saying?) hand gesture

dr Spera looks on, approving

“Te l’ho già detto che ti devi fidare degli amici” MARTINO GUARDAMI MARTINOOOOO

dr Spera slips up and talks about the last time he and Marti talked, but he notices his mistake right away and fixes it changing the subject (THAT HOW YOU AVOID BLOWING A COVER, DO YOU HEAR ME 3.4!NICCOLÒ?)

I love that Roberto Spera has one (1) “experiment” that’s so versatile he can use it for all occasions

Luchino not being able to physically support Martino by himself during the experiment though (I desperately tried not to read into this, because I want it to be a thing done for shits and giggles, I want it to be just fun, but my mind keeps replaying “so are you like..transgender?” and “whe two gay men have sex one is the man and the other one is the woman?” and, yeah, on his own Luchino would not be able to support Martino in the metaphorical sense either)

anyways, I love i Contrabbandieri for going to the psychologist’s office all together, both to support Marti and because they’ve already adopted his boyfriend Niccolò and he’s not feeling well, which makes Martino not feel well either and they want to know why-how-when-how can we help

I wonder how Gio will feel when he’ll inevitably get out of Martino that he went to talk to dr. Spera before coming out to him, before talking to him. Will he be hurt that his friend didn’t feel like he could talk to him? Will he feel guilty?

(Let’s not forget that afaik the boysquad still doesn’t know about Filippo. How will they all, especially Giovanni, take the fact that Martino told basically a stranger about Nico before telling them? I need fic explorations of the dynamics that all these characters will create)

Anyways, once again Martino exits dr. Spera’s office with an important life lesson, a new outlook on life and hope, as well as bruises from falling on his ass

(Giovanni and Elia in that position, laughing at their friend are giving me ~feelings~ I don’t know why)

Well, I guess that’s it. My inbox is open if there’s anything you want to discuss!

#skam italia #9.3 namacissi #martino rametta #giovanni garau #luca colosio #roberto spera #elia santini #skamit #contrabbandieri di luchini #the boysquad of loveliness #a. writes #skam meta

26 notes · View notes