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souryogurt64 · 5 months

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Hunger games movie review (4 drinks in)

the pacing of act 1 was absolutely crazy ridiculously fast i felt like i was watching tiktok fancams of an actual movie

the opening scene was possibly the worst and most heavy handed ive ever seen

however the movie really shone in acts 2 and 3

clemenisa. Smash. whyd they cut her role down

casting a black woman as dr gaul was actually crazy and wrong and racist

similarly making coral the main antagonist and then making her theythem coded??? this sort of thing is why people complain about forced diversity in movies

similarly making all of the covey white and making maude ivory like an adult woman instead of an 8 year old and then having no clear shot of her face to try and hide it. what was going on

that being said i agreed 100% with the dean casca highbottom casting, i feel like people complaining about it havent seen game of thrones because tyrion is a very similar character in many ways so i can see why he got cast

this was such a movie for children it was a bit ridiculous tbh

there was NO blood AT ALL and they cut all the most fucked scenes like the funeral procession where the girl is hanging from w crane . like they had a girl get stabbed in the NECK with a CLEAR PIECE OF GLASS and have no blood . like in the movie it was a knife just have her get stabbed in the chest with a knife

they also cut other fucked scenes like everything with the avoxes and sejanus’ mom

several big plot changes which were… interesting as i wouldnt necessarily give the book a 10/10

i feel like as far as toxic villain romances go, i think screen adaptations either make big plot changes to make the guy unquestionably good at heart (like with You) or unquestionably evil (like with this) which i think carries interesting implications for how the average IQ and capability of book audiences vs screen audiences is perceived

i also felt like it spoon fed the ending to people but in the book it was a mystery which i liked a bit

THAT BEING SAID i saw a lot of big hunger games analyst people on tiktok complaining about things that were objectively false like how they cut the cannibalism out and the cannibalism scene was literally the opening one??????? tf is happening to media literacy like it was a bad scene but it was still in the movie

there was a lot of bad cgi in this movie like people complain about the dogs in the first movie but opening on tom blyth cgied to be starving and then cutting to cgi capitol was certainly . a choice

i did like the movie change to personfiying the capitol seal to be a lady with huge tits i feel like it really sold snow loving power over lucy more than the book did but tbh i think suzanne collins fell a bit too hard for her own antagonist

see above point regarding cutting livia cardews role out completely as in the book she is a woman book snow is disgusted by but aspires to marry anyway because he “hates love” like okay whatever dude

prob more but im hungry now

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verdart · 3 months

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I remember having said this before. But i couldn't find a post of me saying this so I'll say it again.

I am against the "live actionification" of animated movies in general.

I think it is a disrespect to the medium of animation.

All live action is saying to me is that "I think animation is not a good story telling medium the ultimate medium is live action"

Live action adaptations are where creativity, hope and magic of animated movies goes to die. I was so sivk of it when Disney was doing it but now, now it is personal with HTTYD.

The cast not at all resembling the original characters is one thing (also nico parker looks more like astrid than mason thames looks like hiccup but I cant with their height difference) but simply to take this amazing movie and remaking it in a less expressive medium seems futile.

When it comes to my opinions about the cast.

Gerrard Butler as Stoick is good he looks like him enough and he is the og voice

Nick Frost as Gobber is okay i get the vibes

Nico Parker as Astrid (i dont wanna hear but oh she is black i am white and I have more melanin then her in my skin istg she is British so its not cultural either) she is good my only problem is her height (i wouldnt mind this if it did not entirely change the way she would interact with mason bc he is 15cm taller than her)

Mason Thames as Hiccup personaly I dont think he looks the part at all. I am glad that he is not a big name and fresh faces are getting a chance but i dont think he is hiccup material

Julian Dennison as Fishlegs, he is meh he looks the part ig tho again blond erasure but his face does gove the vibes

Gabriel Howell as Snotlout, he is not my Snotlout...

Bronwyn James as Ruffnut, she does not gove me ruffnut vibes like im really unsure

Harry Trevaldwyn as Tuffnut, he looks the part he is a comedian why is a 30 yo men playing my tuff also with this cast for ruff and tuff look nothing alike and its annoying they are twins they get mixed up they are supposed to look alike...

As someone who is already agains the idea of live actions this is extremely annoying, the fact that its happening to my favorite movie of all time is killing my soul. I am worried I will probably not go see it in cinemas and ruin my brithday week (if it even comes on the given date)

#rant #httyd live action #verda rants

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slutforrogertaylorandothers · 8 months

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In regards to the new HTTYD live action remake. The characters are Vikings who were Scandinavian therefore White. Astrid is blonde, blue eyes & based off of Camicazi who is a blonde, blue eyed white person. I'm all for representation so dontt start with the "oh you're so racist" bullsh!t coz I love the Little Mermaid live action. However, they're taking away historic white people. For example, we wouldnt change Martin Luther King to a white person or change Cho Chang into a non Asian character (although we might change the name to a less stereotypical one) so why are people doing this for people who are white? Especially blond(e), blue eyed folk! The only thing I would change about the Little Mermaid remake is that I would make Ariel's hair redder! If film companies really want to add representation then add a brand mew character! For example, have a remake only family in Berk that is not white & say they moved there! That way you have the representation & you're sticking to the source material! Trader Johan could be a POC as he always seemed like he came from a far away land. Drago Bloodfist was voiced by a black person so he could be cast as not white - Heather and Dagger also come to mind. Snotlout could be mix raced because we never see his mother so who knows? Hiccup could be mix raced as well as - from what I remember - Valka wasnt from Berk either.

#httyd #how to train your dragon #astrid hofferson #httyd astrid

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petorahs · 1 year

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wait actually the star imagery and p5 kinda goes hard even if it's not as obvious as, say, p3 and its moon imagery. as a resident sun/moon/stars/earth imagery h03 this is deeply important to me

from what i've gathered with persona 5 and its stars:

-Hoshi to Bokura to, (with the stars and us) is the final theme of vanilla p5, which sings of stars, obviously. It's essentially about joker and the PT moving on with their past pain into the next part of their lives.

Interestingly, Our Light in p5r continues the "stars representing a bright, youthful, hopeful future" theming with the lyrics:

That pain will guide me / Towards the stars of the sky that shine above me even when it's essentially a grief song lol.

-Persona 5's dancing spinoff titled "Dancing Star Night"

-P5 UI has these flashy black and white stars everywhere when you know where to look. actually theres nowhere else to look. theyre pretty out there.

also the social stats bar

-JOSE.... 😭❤️ everything about him... his shop.... him n joker sitting together underneath a blanket of stars... theyre so ☹️❤️

so far this is all pretty neat! again, i bring it up because you wouldnt think of stars when talking about persona 5. but i feel the devs definitely intended this.

these next ones are more speculatory but;

-Fallen angels like Lucifer or even satan are likened to falling stars. Fitting that the protagonist's initial persona resembles a demon, not to mention his final one outright being satan. Fallen stars are oft deemed defects but they're stars nontheless... in this way i think Joker's meant to be that very fallen star cast away from heaven?

-persona 3 is obviously moon-themed, embedded into its narrative and gameplay as it is, and it could be argued that the game following it is sun-themed too. persona 4, with its flashy yellows fits with the sun and its glory. persona 5 being star, kind of evokes the feeling of being the hopeful child brother of the two? the game was meant to be a love letter that both refreshed the formula and calling back to the series as a whole, for old and new fans alike... that leaves the earth, which pairs with star well. earth's parallel can also be heaven/sky, and p5's later parts kinda hammering down the "taking back the heavens from false gods!" narrative imagery (especially in vanilla's final boss. u be fighting angels as minibosses cmon now) it kinda tracks! so now star-heaven-sky are all synonymous to me. either way it all fits.

this all leads me to think p6 could have earth imagery, actually. if it's also going to be color-themed as green as fans are speculating, that's fitting!

maybe the social commentary this time would be "reconnecting with earth/nature" as the whole world's kinda experienced/experiencing that since the pandemic..? persona games being a product of the technological advancements of their time can also tie into that, since people depend on their devices more than ever, so maybe nature's (forceful) reclaiming can be an intriguing concept for them to explore... not that we'll know anytime soon!

#aishi.docx #persona 5 #persona 5 royal #persona #much to think about #i think i just wanted to talk about akira being star actually. he's My star you see #sending nasa akira pictures cause hes a star #also it was getting pretty long but #higumi togo (the star arcana) originally being intended as a phantom thief member kinda interesting. of all arcanas shes star #makes u think #FVURKC i meant hifumi togo** girl my bad #and kunikazu okumura's palace being a whole spaceship. i always thought it was weird since its not rly thief-heist-setting as the other but #i think the devs just really liked space and stars and wanted to include it anyway! cant fcken blame them ig except i can a litle #(its a guilty pleasure)#but yeahh letsgooo stars are cool #glad my current fav game has themes around it. catered toward me fr

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iceiceparis · 5 months

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Assigning Star Rail cast the songs they would sing in Yakuza/Like a Dragon karaoke along with the cinamatics.

1. Tail - Bakamitai

He's the most unfamiliar with emotional attachment so he def the type to rather just sit in a room and drink helio-whiskey instead of showing any real affection as a green ball floating above a stool.

Of course the pictures being replaces with his moments with Huohuo in his mind cuz hes basically her family now 😭😭😭

Also its funny cuz Huohuo would be too scared to sing but the gang somehow got him to sing so she has to akwardly stand off the stage nearby so he has his wifi connection.

2. Caelus and/or Stelle Judgement -Shinpan-

Its all about breaking za law and they always say that "Rules are meant to be broken." They would be into that cheesy image of cool.

March (or even the other Trailblazer) would be in Nishiki's spot with Dan Heng or Welt as the keyboard player as they rock out.

3. Caelus - 24 Hour Cinderella

Of course both TBlazers can be interchange able but I like to think they have their own slight personality differences.

In their mind this would have a March theming in colors and outfits and who ever they first think up as the background dancers. He did this to out-idol and out-cute March, somehow gets a higher rating from the machine at the end.

4. Stelle - Machine Gun Kiss

Much like Caelus, this is her way of out-cooling Welt even though he sung a completely different genre of song. Also gets a higher rating but just barely. She especially would really ham it up especially on the end with the "aaaRRUUHHGGG!!!" like Adachi.

5. Clara and Svarog - OtoMetal MY LIFE

The name alone should be enough. Small child with a red and white color scheme with a menacing seemingly emotionless legendary guardian with a deep voice? Heck yeah it works.

First, she asked for him to participate in karaoke,

Then she asked he do the actual back up vocals instead of replaying the built in cheers. After a few songs, Svarog began to understand the energy he had to put into the vocals.

6. Sushang - The Future I Dreamed of

Both Ichiban and Sushang dream to be a hero who does good and with friends even if they have more heart than brains.

Basically are both shonen protags who hit things with metal objects with a big smile on their face and never back down even at impossible odds (unless its ghosts).

It wouldnt even matter if she could hit the notes either because she rarely sings due to her training, Sushang would put in alot of effort in her singing and that alone is enough.

7. Bronye and Seele - Like a Butterfly

Seele and butterflies, what else is there to say.

Bronya singing the softer vocals with Seele complimenting it with more "aggressive" back up matches their dynamic pretty well, also its funny imagining her going all out on a song and going "Oh yeahhhh."

8. Guinaifen - Spring Breeze

"All the pictures that I could take,

All the gigs these videos make,

None of it replaces the you that I know.

But they'll be there after you go."

I mean cmon, this is easily her singing to her SQUAD outside of her streaming stuff. 'Blazer, Sushang, Huohuo, they would all be in her imaginary MV as she sung. Would be one of the better singers in raw quality.

9. March - All Idol songs + 3x SHINE

I am certain she would be a bonafide idol if she had the opportunity. All the interjections are basically any of the Star Rail passangers minus Pom Pom unless she convinced him its an essential for the sake of the ride.

Even someone like Dan Heng would be going off with their interjections she just has that latent power.

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antiloreolympus · 1 year

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10 Anti LO Asks

(Note: All of these asks are before episode 206 (Season 2 finale) so some may be dated.) 1. ok but I love Rachel spent the latter half of 2021 being like ooooh Kronos is coming back!! this is a big deal!! only to timeskip ten years and NOTHING happened. like wow even Kronos isn't a big deal when it comes to how totally not pathetic Persephone is as a 30+ year old doing no work and only being obsessed with a guy she knew for a month. literal masterclass in awful writing. It's almost impressive how bad it is.

2. Deadass I don't even get why RS is like oh yeh nymphs and other creatures should be second class citizens but they're also all "trash" and thus its good and even encouraged to abuse and mistreat them. like yeah that's what was missing, racism where the marginalized group are evil and "deserve" to be abused and mistreated by those with all the power over them. THAT's what mythology was so sorely missing. jfc. I know a lot of the WT staff are white people and so is Rachel but wtf???

3. It's quite funny how a woman old enough to be my mother cannot draw or write worth shit and there are literal teenagers on this website who are a thousand times the artist and writer she could ever hope to be.

4. This isn’t me trying to be mean but like, why is everything from the book covers to the official merch so ,.. cheap looking? Like these are supposed professionals, not Rachel, doing it, yet they’re still so poorly designed and crafted. It doesn’t help the images Rachel gives time to work with are all in the rushed, ugly style now either 😪

5. I just find it funny that every time an LO fan or even WT promotes it its like ... they ONLY use art from the first 10-ish episodes at best. Like yall, that was over four years ago, why aren't you using current art to be more accurate? Like it's kinda telling on themselves they know the quality declined rapidly after the first few months but are like "just ignore that! look at this three good panels from 2018!"

6. I HATE those panels where RS tries to be anatomically correct to IRL humans and its like omg they look even worse (and are still wildly wrong anyway?? She cannot draw heads to save her life for real). Like lady just work within your stylization, there's a reason people picked up your work off what it used to be versus what it is now.

7. this isnt necessarily LO based but I do find it crazy how people like RS and her fans viewed the original hymn like ugh Demeter is such a bitch why wouldnt she be happy Hades married her daughter like .... you guys are aware ancient brides tended to be married at 14, right? maybe that's why Demeter was pissed and creeped out by him. They're so blinded by their fantasy of this "perfect Hades" that never existed over the truth of a mother defending her literal CHILD.

8. Zeus is objectively the only hot man on cast because he actually has a personality, fashion sense, and pretty hair meanwhile Hades just looks like a dusty old man with zero drip and a million and one red flags 🫣

9. "This style of story telling" what style? just lying and making everything up to where it matches nothing in mythology? my god, she's so concerned over looking like a clever writer who has everything planned out and knows more than anyone else (including actual greeks??? ma'am) over actually telling a decent story. ive never seen someone so self conscious about being perceived as a "real writer" before.

10. Why even use mythology when you won't keep any of the stories true to how they were, change all the relationships, and just make up whatever else instead? At that point just go "this was inspired by the greek myths" and use your own OCs, not claiming you're telling an accurate story with a ton of research put into it. Rachel really just wants to have her cake and eat it too, huh?

#anti lo #anti lore olympus #lore olympus critical #lo critical

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katherine-mcnamara · 2 years

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yeah i think, im uncomfy with dominic sherwood being used in the rp because sometimes muns in defense of him swing to the other side of the pendulum too hard and act like it was no big deal at all, and i would rather not touch those issues with a ten foot pole, but i have nothing against him as an actor and i wouldnt boycott him or whatever. there is nuance to these situations, and ultimately its to the discretion of the people writing (as a group or as an individual), and we can leave it at that...

unless a fc is a whole ass criminal, in which case, maybe reconsider. and i can see where people get combative, since defense of an actor's actions can sometimes turn into accepting an actor's actions as anything less than what it was.

unless a fc is a whole ass criminal, in which case, maybe reconsider.

I'm just gonna answer this first because GET 👏 BETTER 👏IDOLS👏

I'm ngl and say I don't see where those types of fans are coming from. Like it 100% was not nothing, and he himself has refused to let people diminish it to nothing. But when 99% of the people coming at you for liking dom, for using dom, and being like he should be banned, are out there using m*tt who was apart of the same thing dom did, has never apologised, and was only upset because it was done ON LIVE, making it clear that it was something they did to each other, how they greeted each other. This whole ass STRAIGHT man who was a part of it then had the motherfucking AUDACITY to think he had to be in the video where dom apologised and look upset and disappointed. Not any of the lgbt cast not to apologise himself for it CLEARLY being a greeting they both used, no. Because this CIS STRAIGHT WHITE MAN, decided he could be there because he played a gay man on tv. HE'S STRAIGHT.

When you get people being absolutely gross about dom and demonising him but being totally fine with all lives matter tweeting, r/ joke making, arguing with people over "having the right/it was just a joke" about the s/a "joke", refusing to apologise, marrying and moving in with a very trump supporting family and the tweets of this are gone now but given his marriage/inlaws/his own father being forced to resign from office for his program racial profiling, i believe it, but being seen at trump rallies, the silence over palenstine when AGAIN during blm he tweeted all lives matter and none of y'all even CARED. He broke quarantine when it was at it's height and everywhere was severly locked down to leave his newborn baby in another state to go fly and party and get drunk.

but he's not banned.

So I don't really blame people being overdefensive of dom. when that is the rpc/fandom/people's in general reaction. Like you will not see m/tt on banned lists when dom is. even though he was part of the thing that got dom blacklisted.

Like I'm overdefensive of dom like people attacking him but giving that thing over there a free pass I got no time for. But I will never say what he's done doesn't matter. Because that erases all the apologies, all the good he's done, how he's grown. You can't have one without the other. So agreed there. I aint touching THAT with a barge pole either.

Like I always say. Ban whoever makes you uncomfy/you don't like. But don't harass me or others over dom when m/tt gets a free pass. you will get your feelings hurt. Especially because multiple PSA'S have been made and get a ton of hits daily. op's have shared their statcounter stats with me so I know people KNOW about m/tts shitty behaviour. they just free pass because they find him attractive when you can find 80 of him at walmart. he's not hard to replace. in fact use a black, indigenous, or turkish replacement just to say f you to his dads specific racial profiling program. or a latine to say f you to him being cast as a certain someone because he LOOKED similar to the others cast in the family.

Sorry this went all sorts of off topic but if i missed any of your points please lmk!!!

Also if people want to talk to me about this please censor full names so it doesn't go in their tag!!

#<3 #rpt #rpc #rph #asks #answered

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megashadowdragon · 2 years

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way to gaslight your own fans on the annabeth racechange in adaption

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I’m so happy you’re talking about this, Rippa. I read Percy Jackson in the 5th grade. It spoke to me, it influenced me, and I grew up idolizing Rick Riordan. I read his statement yesterday and my heart dropped into my stomach. I couldn’t believe this guy who had been such a great childhood inspiration had just basically called me racist for wanting the character to look how he told me she looked. I really don’t understand why having an actor that actually looks like the character they’re portraying is such a bad thing to these people, makes me even more surprised that Nami wasn’t race swapped in the live action One Piece show, and she’s a ginger. The thing is that race swaping a character for the sake of inclusion is insulting to both ethnicities involved. They're basically saying that the original white characters are either worthless, bad or defective and they need to change; and that the black race being use as a substitute doesn't have original heroes or historical characters worth exploring and that the only way for them to be worthy of attention is to give them the character/positions of previously established white characters.

I am beyond happy that you're tackling this, Eric. I've been a Percy Jackson fan since 6th grade. This is criminal like you wouldn't believe, this is not Annabeth. Annabeth is white with blonde hair and stormy grey eyes, a daughter of Athena. She ain't black and never will be, I've been reading Rick's books for years and this feels terrible. I know he's been going woke in his latest series, but I truly thought that's PJO fans were getting the show we deserved. Never again, I'm not buying any other book from this man ever again. Not even the new Nico book that he's writing.Show less

Rick is such a liar. On the one hand he admits that he was beholden to Disney’s hiring practices which is nothing more than a racial and sexual quota system. On the other he suggests it was an open casting and they were going to hire the best person for the job regardless of their intersectionality traits. Sorry, but you can’t have both. Unless of course he is suggesting that after the year-long auditioning process there was a possibility he was going to cast three blonde haired blue-eyed actors in the three main roles. I’m fairly sure that was an impossibility.Show less

The thing that's crazy is that there are characters of different races in the story. Especially in the sequel series. Niko and Bianca are from the first story and Leo, Hazel, Frank, and Piper are from the sequel series. All of them are major characters in the story My best friend is a huge fan of the books and was looking forward to seeing this series. But not anymore, because of the casting of Annabeth. She loves those books, but now believes that the author is a sellout. Also, if the show makes Athena black, I'm gonna be pissed.

Basically any white character (or even historical real life person) is free game to be changed for whatever reason. But any POC character is absolutely never ever allowed to be changed in any way, ever.

I have seen people try to defend changing annabeths race by going annabeths race didnt have anything to do with her story so its okay to change it and have her played by a black actor when would that logic apply to a character from a book series who was black but then in the adaption was played by a white actor if you would ocmplain you have no right to complain about someone getting upset if say a character who was white in the original story was played by a black actor ( the claim that they were just looking for the best available actor is bs for they wouldnt ever do this in reverse where was say a character who was black in the books but then they had a white guy play him even if he was better than the black guy they would pick the black guy

no diversity/representation doesnt make it different

( its not different

lets be real here if say a black person and a white person tried to audition for blade ( who in the comics isblack) the black person should get the role ( I doubt that they would even accept/allow any white person to audition for the role

I never saw leah act but it really doesnt matter if she is a good actress or not the fact is annabeth is white she is black the actress should match annabeths features so it doesnt matter whether or not leah is a good actress she shouldnt play annabeth just like a white person shouldnt play blade(Eric Cross Brooks) from marvel comics regardless of whether or not he is a good actor ) no one would use the what if he was the best actor for the job argument for a case like that and the attempts to justify it by going but there arent many black characters makes me roll my eyes it doesnt matter ( make your own you dont get to complain about a character being whitewashed then claim racism if someone isnt okay with blackwashing ( one bad justificationto the other to misusing the term racism ) I wouldnt be okay with miles morales being played by a white person ) we both know that the race change isnt because she is best actress for the job its because they had a problem with the fact that keeping it accurate to the races meaning the main characters would mostly be white ( which isnt a problem unless you would have a problem with most of the main cast being nonwhite)

#percy jackson #annabeth chase #youngrippa59

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guileheroine · 2 years

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lotr:rop first impressions

[spoilers episodes 1-2]

overall: fun, unhurried watch. feels like a spiritual prequel to the lotr movies. in terms of relationship to canon, it’s like a slightly tone-shifted alternate history

it’s visually breathtaking. even if u dont care for the story, it looks like middle earth and you can totally relish it on that merit

just on the pure fannish level, it’s cool to see more peripheral parts of the timeline on screen after decades of hobbit/lotr adaptations

i like the oc’s, i like that it’s not as lofty as the source material! the new settings like the southlands are great, spending time with normal ppl vs the elevated players of lotr/silm. feels like fic on screen, in a good way

almost every negative takeaway i have boils down to the sad/weird/grim fact that a $1bn adaptation of the second age is having to work without film rights to the silmarillion + unfinished tales? besides emphasising the cash-grabby aspect of the whole enterprise, it leaves the story thin and feels like a massive elephant in the room. like they’re trying to scale a mountain with no provisions. so more than any response to what we do get, the show makes me mourn what could have been

ex: there is a pervasive lack of context to both the characters and the world. little of the weight that would make it feel, not just look, like a middle earth story, the sense of history that’s in the bones of the setting. they do the standard lore highlight reel, but you can almost sense that rather than trimming the fat off a dense source material, it’s working around it. for a universe much deeper/broader than Standard Fantasy Show, idk i really felt the loss

as you might predict given the above, in contrast to the oc men and harfoots, the elves suffer the most. again, lack of context is especially jarring when themes of legacy, dynasty, loss were so integral to their original backstory. like who is elrond? who is celebrimbor? what are the different groups of elves, is there anyone around except elrond/gil-galad/galadriel? what exactly did they experience beyond generic long war and what does it mean for their relationship to the world? why do elrond and galadriel feel like YA protags when they’re powerful and deeply burdened survivors? i’m sure there’s a lot more coming on this front but so far it feels thin

i love that she’s the mc but galadriel’s motivations so far lack texture- without the ban of the noldor and everything else they can’t mine, what should be one of the most storied, layered characters in the legendarium feels like a girlboss out for revenge

but morfydd clark as galadriel is great, i like her a smidge better than cate blanchett and again it just makes me mourn what could have been, substance wise

all told, i think this show will be much more enjoyable to someone that doesn’t know the iceberg whose tip they’re spending a fortune shining

some of the dialogue is a little clunky and trite, particularly they could do a lot more casual worldbuilding/enriching through dialogue but they dont

dont want to touch the casting discourse, mostly bc (festering racist backlash aside) it doesnt matter that much. it doesnt violate the integrity of tolkien, otoh it’s not somehow integral to a worthwhile show either-- i wouldnt not watch if everyone was white, just like i haven’t stopped reading a phenomenal text mired in unconscious racial bias which was sometimes alienating to a young reader of colour. mostly feeling tired of this and the nuances lost on all sides, both in regard to tolkien’s world and the ~representation question

what i will say though, idk if the race-blind (as opposed to just racially diverse) interpretation works for this the way it does for something like bridgerton. it’s a verse with a lot of emphasis on bloodlines, tribalism, etc, for better or for worse, so i think having diverse but somewhat more consistent casting within groups of fantasy characters could have made for a more organic setting (e.g. mostly mena numenoreans, mostly african harfoots, mostly south asian southlanders, mostly east asian noldor etc). but i understand thats a much more sensitive/difficult thing to pull off rip

not feeling the shorthaired elves, especially since its so gendered. this elrond is just pain, unrecognisable in every way

but i really liked the tiff with durin. dragged on a bit, but the crux of it--the complexities of mortal-immortal shortlived-longlived interpersonal relationships, as if love and friendship are not complicated enough-- is soo tragic and timeless. imagine if we could get aldarion and erendis on screen!!

super looking forward to numenoreans. not just bc they encapsulate my favourite things about tolkien thematically, but especially since they’re so tied to the unique historical circumstances of the world and you can’t explain them away in a Timeless Fantasy Race way. i wonder what sort of backstory we’ll get there

wonder what the show is working towards in terms of an actual hook. rn, it is lush and enjoyable but not particularly interesting. the ‘rise of sauron’ angle has already been done in the hobbit movies, so it really needs to introduce and sell other subplots with stakes

#lotr #lotrrop #trop spoilers #rings of power #*

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bearcuryama · 3 months

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Ive read worse mangas

《 The List 》

Kinda dissapointed this went from a 7/10 to 5/10. It really had a lot of potential. Not the plot, i ment the actors, they had good casting and the esthetics and colors scream my style.

I went in not expecting much cuse i literally just chose it from the myflixer catalog, with no recommendations. Therefore, i was pleasantly surprised it was not absolute compost.

It's still not a good romance. But honorable mentions cuse it wasn't as cringe as it could have gone. They did a good job for a cliche white woman romance novel. The ending was just really disappointing. It started out so well. The ending is litteral trash.

My main issue :

They undersold the love intrest

Dude they casted him so well, he emanates "besties" vibes. But u guys do realise that for that type of love intrest to shine U STILL HAVE TO TREAT THEM AS A MAIN CARACTHER.

On my first watch, i thought the fault was on him and maybe he wasnt a charismatic actor. But rewatching his very few scenes, the fault is entirely on the director !!! Use the camera better !!! Center him !! Light him better, give us close ups and more individual shots just for him.

I know that the point was that she didnt see him as an option and she was focused on the 5 other love intrests but we all knew those guys wouldnt be endgame ( altho i was rooting a little for british boy, for selfish reasons. He sounds like tweksbury///)

But still... treat him like a main caracthers a little. He was off focus and off cadre most of the movie !!! I know he's a tiny boy but plz try to center the shots!!! Wtf was that TT

Also im sorry, there was a potential chemistry between them but idk it just didnt feel right in the end. Maybe casting them together wasnt a good choice. Or maybe the movie was way too fast and u didnt let the actors enought time to bond ( or even let the caracthers enought time to bond either). If you wanna do the friends to lovers trope MAKE THEM BESTIES not just friends who met a week ago. Homeboy was closer to her bestie than to her and they spoke less TT

Speaking of her bestie, she's my favorite caracther and im so happy to see her here TT omg girl !!! I knew this had to be you !!! Look at u ! From being a boy obsessed biker girl in disney's teen beach to a ride or die bestie that simp for her ex-gf TT

-----------------

What do i call this type of era?

I call it "the result of my parents not giving me access to the internet as a tween and locking me in our house all summer with no cable either so all i had was the on demand bootleg service every imigrant house tv installs so ive gotten used to watching bad white people movies even if they are not up to my standards cuse u never know when ull discovers another love rosie ♡"

Or " i crave romance but all the new kdramas i wanna watch are still ongoing, ive finished rewatching my ults, ive read all the new shojo mangas i might like, and fics just dont hit the same ( people are cringe) so i have to stall for time and find a new source of romance".

Why am i awake

#mv/tv ree

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captaindarksword · 1 year

Text

on ship wars

ship wars can be so unbelivably toxic where you smear the people who ship the other ship and the character in the way of your ship and try to vilify them

but its worse if there is a difference in race like aship involving 2 white people vs a ship with a mixed couple and if you the people who ship the one involving a mixed race pairing will claim racism

and it applies when its a same sex ship vs het ship for people will turn shipping the same sex ship as the same as advocacy for lgbt community ignoring the lgbt people who ship the het ship over the same sex ship.

They will throw around words like homophobia or misogyny to things that arent those things like just not shipping b/lake and y/ang pairing

claiming if you dont ship the same sex ship you are a homophobe saying you would ship it if it was m/f.

find that the shippers who say that are the ones who only ship bb because it’s two girls

a same sex ship being canon doesnt mean that anyone who isnt a homophobe wont say anything bad about it. It doesnt mean its exempt from being criticism or should be treated as a good thing just because lgbt rep

a f/f pairing was a last minute retcon thrown in at the last 2 minutes breaking then narrative pointing to the female character getting back together with her ex who she broke up due to mutual flaws which they overcame they werent ready for a relationship with anyone) eventually and it required the girl to be ooc

the two girls were barely friends and barely interacted with each other people needed to make headcanons to support the ship like claiming they talked throughout the entire timeskip when k/rra just sent one letter near the end

the male was able to support the girl the way she needed to be supported the other girl wasnt only being able to refer to the girls position as why we need you when seeing her as just that title is her problem

it doesnt matter that its the first show with a same sex ship it doesnt matter that without it the show wouldnt have any canon same sex ships all that matters is the simple question does it fit the narrative is it good writing move . are the characters compatible etc people dont need to support that ship to care about the lgbt community

this reminds me of the comment about certain extreme section which can be split between otaku yuri fetishists and the sjw ones who see it as advocacy and will automatically ship the same sex pairing over the het one and say the same sex ships are better. like the person saying that its straight enemies to lovers thats bad.

when no its either they support enemies to lovers or dont if you try to differentate based on genders involved you are the bigot. it doesnt matter that there arent that many same sex ships you shouldnt automatically support a ship just based on the genders involved.

you shouldnt give support to f/f enemies to lovers than claim straight enemies to lovers is bad

if a het ship gets years of buildup but is thrown away you shouldnt then defend it when you would be angered if it was a same sex ship that was given years of buildup teasing mutual attraction and development but thrown away to put her with a guy

and you shouldnt use the well side character argument when you wouldnt use that argument to say that a same sex ship shouldnt happen

basically imagine a case where say a main character ( lets say a girl) was given years of teasing mutual attraction etc with a female side character but then after she gets put on a bus due to being well a side character and wanting mroe focus on main cast the woman ended up being pushed with a male mc

if that would upset you you shouldnt use the side character argument to say the girl shouldnt end up with a male side character.

you are no different from the people who you conjured in your mind who would ship the het ship over the same sex ship just because its het.

I imagine that team rwby pairings came out after the trailers came out in part due to it being an all girl team etc and they would see evidence in the most minor platonic of moments

#shipping nonsense

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mountain-man-cumeth · 2 years

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What did you mean by devs being American causing an issue with worldbuilding? Your essay was good reading, I'm just a little confused. Can't an American write fantasy inspired by roman history?

ofc they can, i didnt wanna go off on a tangent as the post was long enough but i can elaborate here:

vesuvia is not rome. i mean when you look at bgs, the visage seemed to be lifted from greek/persian architecture 600 BC-400 AD. blending of these two characteristics is actually very fascinating and accurate to how civilizations evolve. the time period they were going for cant really be pin pointed as easily tho, since some inspiration seem to be taken from 1400 AD baroque (palace gardens, sign posts, etc) and i dont think its an issue either, there are 2000 y/o structures that people still inhabit to this day with modern modifications and i think its fine on its own. the problem arises not from the aesthetics but with the application, imo:

- gladiatorial fights or combat as the entertainment of masses ended at around 200 AD (could be earlier, but it was after christianity made it roots at roman empire)

- some things like the stove and teapot became a thing at 15th century and it even then stoves werent a common household item for another hundred of years or so i believe.

now this matters a Whole Lot. there is a society in the mindset that is A THOUSAND YEARS behind its technology at the very least. dont get me wrong, violence as entertainment persists to this day but here we have a very specific sort of entertainment that is most primitive, using very primitive tools. its like depicting early 2000's having public hangings as a pass-time.

a non-american likely wouldnt have made this mistake solely due to exposition. because we have a general idea of what falls where, as we have museums and monuments full of our history. we keep seeing remnant in our everyday life

on top of that, vesuvia being depicted as this busy city bustling with different cultures still FEELS like its forcing the reader to assume that POC are minority. as we don't get to meet any "vesuvian" that is not white-coded. and the main cast that is foreigner never speak in any dialect or use different mannerisms, they feel assimilated in a dystopian kind of way even, which is and has never been the case for any metropole. they look diverse but they dont act diverse. theres no colour as to their customs aside from decor. muriel having tapestries, nadia's sister dancing in a certain way etc. is new to MC but its left there. and this separation of cultures as all or nothing is a strictly american issue, north american even. i cant even understand eastern turks and this indian, arab, kazakh, slav and scandinavian understand eachother perfectly at all times. when i log in to raid w my mates we argue for 5 hours over the proper way to drink tea. i havent been able to comprehend any word our serbian gm said in 5 years.

this is just an observation and i may be wrong since i only interact w american culture thru media/internet but i get the feeling that left leaning american society in general is too reluctant to get their hands dirty. by this i mean meddling with foreign cultures. the white people are not allowed in certain communities (often for rightful reasons) and the immediate assumption is that its same everywhere. its not though. in most places people are happy to share their cultures, customs, make fun of eachother for their traditions... its more like an awkward family reunion. some have vendettas and some are just vibing. when its not at the verge of extinction, you dont have to protect these values with your life, they can be played with. when my partner calls it "greek coffee" i get riled up but its not offensive, its all abit of fun. Bcs neither him nor czech ppl are personally responsible for the erasure of my culture or anything. my culture still persists.

in truth, to be true to a culture will sometimes have to make others feel uncomfortable. some parts of foreign customs are odd, it makes sense to the people exercising them as its a normal part of their life but for an outsider it can be grotesque or absurd. it can range from taking your shoes off on your way in to chopping of lambs' heads in the streets. but no, vesuvia doesnt feel remotely as chaotic, it doesnt feel like it has its own deep rooted identity in the world of arcana. cast looks like those diversity pamphlets of universities. they don't have any variety, they dont smell odd(yes, its a thing. the smell of peoples sweat differs by diet), they dont cook/eat weird shit, listen annoying music, they are just... american with a very british kinda aristocratic twist on satrinavas.

feel free to correct me, i am not too familiar with every which culture or anything, these ramblings are more of an observation than legit reconstruction

#personal #long post #the arcana

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oriigirii · 3 years

Text

Streamer MC headcannons with the brothers 💞

"You were quite a known face on social media back in the human realm, playing games, doing unboxings, just vibin in general, fans around the globe looked forward to your streams a lot! However, considering the sudden (unannounced) invitation to the exchange program, you had to leave all of that behind out of the blue. It wasn't as bad at first, but you have to admit you do miss the feeling of being able to do goofy shit online. Luckily for you, with the advance technology of Devildom and some spicy magic, the internet had synced with the human realm, and thats when you decided to finally re-enter the streaming scene. How will the brothers react upon seeing your peculiar past time?"

Head empty, No thoughts aside from the brothers just bothering the MC while they stream so here you go haha

Warnings: None, just crackhead energy and a lotta mispellings

Gender: Neutral!

Hotel: Trivago

* [ ಠ╭╮ಠ ] Lucifer *

{How did he know about your career?}

I honestly don't see him as someone who goes on the internet a lot

(He screams boomer to me, change my mind)

He doesn't have the time either, he's too focused on work!

So him finding out is gonna take a while

But! He did find out the hard way when shrilled screaming was heard from your room when he was passing by with some paper stacks in his arms (courtesy of Diavolo)

This man felt his instincts kick in, he ran as fast as he could, papers forgotten, and he immediately slammed your door open. Splinters scattering around, your door definitely damaged, as his eyes held a glare and his demon form was out, wings spread in a threatening display.

He was ready to beat someone's ass as he had thought someone had hurt you in here.

But all hes met with is you, infront of your chair and PC, and a game over on the screen...

To say he was unamused was an understatement cause you just lost your internet priviliges for giving him a heart attack (He said it was because you were being rowdy and noisy but with what you saw you knew that wasn't the case)

Good luck tryna puppy-eye your way to his heart to let you continue streaming lol.

If by some miracle you managed to wriggle your rights back from his hands, he'd warn you not to be so loud next time.

You already learnt your lesson though~ (Hopefully)

{How does he feel about your streams?}

Not everyone's the same, so if you were the shy soft streamer who does more art streams or something akin to a podcast, you can bet that Lucifer will be putting you on while he works, he kinda knows your streaming schedule at this point and if you were running late, he'd force one of his brothers to take over your dish washing duties or any chores you were stuck with

If you were the loud obnoxious meme type, hed still try to watch out of curiosity, and as much as he appreciates that you were getting comfortable here in Devildom with how you laugh and joke around, he still can't approve of it. Its too loud, its much like his brothers energy and he has enough of that already, so he probably doesn't watch as much.

He has countlessly came to your room to shush you and at this point your fans had made a compilation of each time Lucifer had barged in to tell you off

Look he likes it when you scream, but not when hes in the middle of work okay--

At this point, chat has deemed Lucifer as dad and you as their mom/dad.

If he ever catches wind of this he'd definitely be teasing you in private for centuries to come.

Overall fine with it, as long as don't do something stupid on stream.

* ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ Mammon*

{How did he know about your career?}

I would say he found out by him crashing into your streams midway but that's too predictable, hence why you've Mammon-proofed your bedroom during streaming hours!

Thanks to our wizard daddy, you have managed to cast a simple lock spell on your door and as well as a sound proofing

You love your broke idiot, but you did wanna keep the tone of your stream today a bit more chill, you wanted to have a proper Q&A with your fans to hopefully clear any bad vibes around your 3 month disappearance.

When Mammon has learnt your door was locked he definitely was a bit pissy, he knocked on your door loudly even and was calling out for you to let him in, but to no avail.

Bro he's scared.

He usually was allowed to enter, and you usually answered if you did need to be left alone for a bit, so just leaving him hanging got his mind racing and he had to press up his ear on the wooden door to try and hear if you were okay

When this continues on he finally resorts to getting help, but the only one in the house ws Levi, so he kicks down HIS door.

Levi boutta summon Lotan for interrupting him honestly

But as Mammon exclaim you weren't answering and he worried for your wellbeing, Levi rolls his eyes and scoffs,

"Idiot Mammon, they're streaming don't bother them…"

Streaming? why didn't you tell him???

Rude much.

He did huff and now was forcing his way to use Levi's PC for a moment

Can Levi stop him?

Nah.

He was busy on his console, and if he stood up now hed be breaking his world record so he was at a terrible state so he just resorts to threats of him drowning the Avatar of Greed if he does anything stupid on his PC.

He immediately logs in to your streaming platform and he watches for a bit,

You were more dolled up now just to look decent on stream, and he felt this jealousy rise as you interact with your chat, especially to those saying I love you's and stuff, and you even said it back? the audacity! You were his werent you? Were you replacing him with these nobodies?

He huffs as he realized that those who paid got their message highlighted, and thus, he starts donating. (Mind you this was Levi's account...)

"Mcccccc Open the dooorrr"

"Ill behave i promiseeeee"

"Cmon pleaseeee?"

Chat is c o n f u s i o n

NGL, they thought Mammon was a creepy stalker and red flags were being waved everywhere

but as chat was pondering who the hell he was, you can only sigh and look at the camera with that unamused expression, but ugh! you just KNOW hes doing that kicked puppy expression of his, and maybe it really wont be so bad

So you snap your fingers and say, "Okay MonMon, its open, Im giving you 3 seconds"

Mammon wasnt deemed to be the fastest out of his brothers for nothing

As soon as you got to '2', you were already tackled by the white haired male and chat went wild.

Now that you've shown your life in Devildom, maybe its time to introduce chat to your boyfriend no?

{How does he feel about your streams?}

You get paid to sit infront of a camera, do I have to say anything else?

But really though, as much as he enjoys the thought of getting so much cash from something so simple, he prefers the joy of being able to proudly exclaim that he was your first man!

ohhhh he thrives on the salt of your overly attached stans

but for those who fully support you, he always feels so mushy and shy when they say the ship you guys so hard

The fanarts has him WEAK (he may or may not have saved a few)

You usually do streams alone, but now you've allowed the door to be left open to let Mammon join whenever

Chat pogs when he enters with so much confidence, only for it to crumble when you kiss his cheek on stream.

Overall finds it fun to spend time with you, but just dont play scary games cause Lucifer might hang him upside down on stream.

* ▘▂▝ Leviathan*

{How did he know about your career?}

He is honestly the most attached to his D.D.D and he catches wind of almost anything going down in the internet, so your 'revival' being hyped up was something he definitely saw and he was just s wo o o ned

His Henry 2.0? a famous streamer?

Were you truly a blessing gifted upon him or was he dreaming?

He definitely didn't bring it up at first as he didn't wanna make it a big deal, but you notice hes been more in his head lately, and you have tried asking him what it was but to no avail.

You have to corner this little snake if you want answers and he eventually admits that he knew of your persona online and was incredibly shy to ask you to stream with him

He's a streamer himself afterall but maybe he doesnt stream as much as you do nor does he have as large of a following, so his intrusive thoughts attacked him and made him think that maybe since he wasnt as famous he didnt deserve to be in the same stream as you

Please tell him to join you and gib him kiss U3U

He'll absolutely m e l t

But now, as you make the announcement to your viewers and Levi to his, the internet explodes as a special collab stream was hapening between the expert gamer and avatar of envy of Devildom along with the beloved exchange student and streamer of the human realm

Your usual viewers reach between 10-15k, but as you start stream, that number boosts higher and beyond

Before streaming though, Levi was incredibly nervous, he'd picked the games for you to play that he knew you would enjoy with him, but his mind kept racing about whatthe fans thought, he didnt wanna disappoint them

But you had to remind him that whatever they say will not matter in the end as this was merely for fun, this was YOUR stream and you guys were gonna do what you want and nobody can have a say on it. (Maybe except Lucifer)

You usually talk for him with your bubbly personality, and to calm his nerves, he hs your pinky wraped around his where the camera can't see it.

Regardless, his thoughts subsided as you two delve into your stream that lasted a solid 7 hours, you definitely promised your chat that you and Levi will be doing more streams together from now on.

Once the cameras cut and yall are left alone, Both of you collapse on bed, and despite you being asleep already, Levi was just far too giddy as everything dwells on him.

Having a player 2 by his side now had never felt so intoxicating and he as just so lucky to have you.

{How does he feel about your streams?}

He obviously adores it, although some streams he wouldnt join just so he can play games on his own

He's still an introvert afterall, he needs his alone time

But he prefers that alone time with you, his Henry.

So when youre about to go stream, he kinda becomes a bit pouty, but with a simple promise of kisses (and maybe even more if youd like) he would let you go, but his attention would disappear from his game altogether.

He might just end up watching you instead

May or may not, at some point, just chat you and ask if its too late to join you

You do allow him to join you and play from the comforts of his room as both of you can simply play via internet, you give him the comfort to not turn on his mic or webcam either and you have no idea how he appreciates that.

Will definitely fight someone online when they start claiming you as theirs (-cough- stans) Please make sure it doesnt escalate to him summoning Lotan

Although the comments would often get to him, and as much as he can fight them online, he still does find himself pondering if they were true, so you need to give him a lotta lovin and reminder that he is your player 1 and no one else can ever fill that place.

------

Wow 3 brothers this time, what an improvement, anyways hope yall enjoy! I think its pretty clear who I simp for depending o nthe length of each lol, but do let me know if you guys want a part 2 for the rest of the brothers, or even the undateables!

#Obey me #obey me fanfics #obey me x reader #obey me x mc #obey me Mammon x reader #obey me Lucifer x reader #Obey me Leviathan x reader #obey me headcannons #obey me shall we date

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bloodycassian · 3 years

Text

Azriel x Reader - Trying.

TW- DEPRESSION//sadness - Thank you anon for this request. I have struggled with Dysthymia for almost my whole life. It felt good to write this little piece of representation.

Nothing but a ghost. Like the two wraiths that waited to serve you at your command. The wraiths that had nothing to do. Granted, they had tried pushing food on you, or books or paints or whatever other form of entertainment or sustenance but you ignored them. Knowing that if you had put up the fight to say anything you may lose your control completely and break down. You could let the time pass, numbly without a care. It was better than having to deal with the reality of not being alive at all.

Rhysand had set you up in a beautiful room in the house of wind after the village attack. You could see the entire city below and the ocean beyond. It did nothing for you. If he was hoping for some kind of gratitude he didn't show it. He simply explained the house would provide if needed and that he would check in weekly. You were surprised he wasnt asking for more - that he wasnt going to try to get any information from you about Hybern's forces on the continent. After months of war you had become numb to the idea of peace. It never seemed like an option anymore. Perhaps the two generals he had brought with him to save your village had gotten all the information they needed.

Weeks of sleeping later and you felt your eyes getting heavy again while looking out to the Sidra. The bright city below seemed buzzing with excitement about the upcoming summer solstice. You couldn't wait until you could go to bed. The tower of books on the table beside you casted a shadow over your feet, then your legs, up to your arms. Until finally, it was dark on the balcony, the stars above twinkling like the white caps on the ocean. Dread twisted in your gut, and you slowly got up, letting your body adjust to the change. Dark spots edged in around your vision.

You could feel the chasm open inside you. The pit of loneliness - the empty void of demons waiting to take you as soon as you dropped your guard. The head rush from getting up made you want to vomit. The acid in your stomach churned, burning up to your throat. Fasting for so long would make Rhysand force your hand to eat, you knew. But you couldn't bring yourself to even try. You felt weighted, like there was a tired blanket over your being and you couldn't get it off no matter how hard you tried. The demons pulled at you.

The pain was good though, a solid reminder of why you would not eat. Why you could not eat. You did not deserve such a pleasure. You doubted you could stomach anything more than crackers anyway after weeks of fasting. Rhysand was not subtle with his advances of trying to get you to try food when he visited. The smell of some of the treats he brought made you gag at times. Your stomach howled at you now though.

The knock on the door didnt surprise you. It was time for the high lord's weekly visit where you would tell him everything was fine and you didnt need anything. And he would try to get through your shields, and there would be a flash of disappointment on his face at the obsidian stone you would slam down on him. Then he would leave. And you could let the sting of that disappointment burn you alive until you were on the bed sobbing.

"Enter, your highness." You smiled to yourself slightly, knowing the title would bother him. The voice that came once the door opened made you whip around. Not Rhys. "Actually..." The spymaster. The general that had guarded your village while the other barreled through the enemy lines. "Rhys was busy. He sent me instead." He stood in the doorway, tentatively.

"Oh.." You felt your cheeks go red at the embarrassment of him seeing you like this. From the defender of your village to..what? A tired being that craved nothing more than to simply not exist anymore? "What is he doing?" You asked out of courtesy only. You were used to the high lord seeing your mess of a room, but Azriel was.. different for some reason. You walked over to the bed and kicked the sheets under the frame. Attempting to tidy up even slightly. The rest of the room was a mess of clothes and empty containers, drink cups. Nerves made your heart race.

"Nightmares?" He asked, stepping inside and closing the oak door behind him. He leaned on it, arms crossed over his chest. His simple tunic seemed to eat the light in the room, not reflecting a thing.

Your face burned. You felt your eyes sting. Clearing your throat you nodded, folding your arms over your middle. Your ribs seemed to jut out more now that he was watching you. You watched him, as his shadows snaked around his shoulders and curled around his ear. They searched the room. You sighed, going to the closet beside him -ignoring the mirror mounted there- and pulling out a folding chair. You placed it next to your own, facing out to the starry sky. You sat in the familiar padded chair, leaning on the arm rest. The half cup of cold tea next to the book tower rattled slightly on its plate as he approached. A bubble of tranquil quiet seemed to encapsulate the area. A feeling you recognized as relief flowed through your bones. You felt the tension in your body fade slightly. You breathed a bit easier, like he was taking a weight off your chest.

He sat next to you for a long while before he spoke. "I used to hate night time." His voice was level. You tore your eyes away from the most interesting spot on the floor where you were thinking of nothing to look at him.

He kept his eyes out to the balcony, a cool wind gusting through. His wings were folded in tight behind him, the shadows coiling over everything in the room. The trees below sighed at the caress of the breeze. The night seemed to finally speak as he spoke. He brought his hands together in front of him, rubbing over the scarred texture there. "I would hear absolutely everything in that basement. I could tell when night fell, even without windows. I could hear the beasts hunting outside, or my bastard father getting drunk and-" His hands clenched, and you thought you heard his teeth grind together. "He was a cruel male. To everyone, even my half brothers."

A shudder rippled through you. You wondered what he had done to Azriel, if his father was cruel to his more beloved children. They had forced him into that basement, even when they knew first hand how Illyrians craved the sky. He knew of total darkness and silence - of pain that seemed to stretch on without end. He knew loneliness, he was locked up with it for the first part of his life. His shadows circled around your ankles like a cat, like they recognized you. Your voice was little more than a whisper as you spoke. "I dont even know whats wrong with me." You were relieved your tears didnt spill over. They pricked your eyes but you blinked them away.

He was quiet, taking in the information. "I didnt either until I found out what a shadow singer is." He paused, glancing at you as you tucked your legs up under yourself. "It dosent mean anything is wrong, it just means you need help sometimes. To figure out exactly what you need." He stood from the chair and flexed his wings, the shadows collecting around him like a puddle.

He held a hand out to you, patient even while you considered. Getting out of the chair seemed like so much work with such a tired body. Tired soul, tired spirit. Anything beyond existence seemed like a complete burden. But his hand there, waiting, unwavering. Challenging. it made you sigh and finally, stiffly get out of the chair that housed you. The chair that had sucked you in, prisoned you for months.

His smile was stunning. His dark eyes seemed to light up. He led you on to the balcony and leaned over the railing. The pines far below rustled with the breeze. You swore you could hear the Sidra as well, bubbling with the current over the rocks. "How did you get out?" You asked, your eyes locking into his. He looked at you without sorrow, no fear or judgement lurked there. Just that half smile that had stayed since you stood from that chair.

"I was.. released by my father, but I still had to battle the darkness that I had learned. It wasn't until I met Rhysand and his mother that I began to... cope." He contemplated for a moment, his wings moving slightly with the wind that came through. "I'm familiar with what you're feeling. I ask that you try. I can come back again if you'd like." He left it as an open ended question, not as a demand or promise.

"Just try? You're not gonna make a checklist for me?" You mocked, he just shook his head. "I think I would like that." You answered. At least he wouldnt pester you as much as the high lord did. At least he could bring this feeling of relief to your bones. He nodded, and the shadows seemed to spike, receding from the room and joining him, wrapping around his body and melding him with the night. "I'll be back tomorrow, then." He said simply, raising himself on to the balcony railing with ease.

You nodded, wringing your hands with nerves as you watched him flare his wings, preparing to fly. "Dont let the bed eat you, Rhys wouldn't be happy if I had to break more of his furniture." He said over his shoulder with a wink. You felt a fleeting smile come to your lips as he jumped, wings catching him as he glided on the wind. You made a note to yourself to ask what other furniture he had ruined.

He disappeared quickly, the shadows and the comfy bubble of silence gone. When you closed the door to the balcony and turned back to your chair, there was a plate of crackers and fruit waiting there. Your stomach rolled at the thought. Instead, you went to the closet, putting his chair away. You made a mental note to get a different seating option for him, to accommodate the wings. Knowing he was coming back, you saved yourself the future embarrassment and began picking up your clothes, putting them into the corner bin where they disappeared. You didnt pause long enough to check to see if the clothes were reappearing clean in the closet, you just kept cleaning. Trusting the house to understand you were in fact, trying. You dared not pause, knowing if you stopped there wouldn't be a beginning again.

You went as far as requesting a mop and bucket from the Wraiths. They were wide eyes with shock at your room, at your abruptness. But they said nothing about it, just bringing you the items you requested and then some. Naula snuck in a plate of meat and cheese, leaving it next to the crackers on the end table now that there was more room with the book pile cleaned up.

You requested the extra chair. They promised it would be in the room by morning. You made your bed, and once you were satisfied with the shining floors you stood back to admire your work. It looked like a different space, clutter gone and the books organized again. You had given the cups the Cerridwen before they left, thanking them both.

You went to your chair, hesitant to sit. The wear marks on the arm rests and the seat were apparent. Instead, picked up the plate of fruit and crackers and took it to the bench at the end of the bed, picking at the more neutral fruit as you went. A spark of something bloomed in your chest at the thought of Azriel coming back. Of what his reaction would be at the clean look of your room. You dared to hope that he would notice at all. Something told you though that he would consider this trying. He made it sound so easy.

The bed welcomed you, clean sheets caressing your legs as you fell into the most peaceful sleep you had in a long while.

#acotar fic #azriel #azriel x reader #acotar insert #acotar reader insert

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svankmajerbaby · 2 years

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ok i absolutely adored west side story, as i knew i would, but as much as i loved it (and its truly a net positive i think, like its mostly just really damn great) i do have a few tiny complaints i want to air because im annoying like that

good ole US perceptions of what latine is came back. now i dont know the ethnic makeup of puerto rico, but as far as i know, like most latinamerican countries, its probably pretty varied in skin colors. and i guess the movie did a pretty good job at that, with a generally good assortment of types in the crowd scenes, and with the casting of magnificent ariana debose as anita (who is almost invariably a darker-skinned woman than whoever is cast as maria, though this is basically a shitty detail that comes all the way from the beginning of the musical's roots. just to keep that in mind). it did become sort of amusing in a way when theres a good amount of background shark members who are pretty white, or at least "white-passing"... and of course rita moreno herself whos pretty white. theres this little moment in which anybody taunts a jet member for being italian, which like. he doesnt look at all different from either the jets Or the sharks. so its clearly not so much an issue of "race" (until it is, of course, when considering that the jets have nobody "less white" than an italian in their ranks while the sharks are a lot more varied) as a cultural one. not to say that the jets arent motivated by xenophobia and discrimination, because they obviously are. but its more like its once again an example of hollywood and US people in general not really getting that latine doesnt mean "brown", like officer krupke says at one point. then again, hes an asshole and an idiot (even if it was toned down a lot from the original 1961 movie), so it figures he wouldnt know the difference.

its obvious to me that spielberg loved this riff actor, mike faist. apparently everyone does and yknow??? i get it. shit, he was amazing and a delight to watch. his physicality, the way he carried himself, even his rather nasal voice somehow made up this character in such a realistic and interesting way. he was great in this, the best male actor in the movie by far. so my issue is... why oh why wasnt bernardo, my beloved, given as much care? i thought david alvarez, bernardos actor, was pretty good too -even though he was given a lot less of a chance to shine. alvarez is kind of the gene kelly to faists fred astaire, being this heavier, shorter guy who still has this massive energy and lightness to him, and especially at the gym dance scene it really showed how amazing he was. america was really ariana deboses number, and i sort of wish it was a bit more split between her and alvarez. apart from that, while alvarez was definitely better in all senses than the other bernardo actor from the 1961 movie, i feel like he was made all the more... unlikable? what with him being a lot more outwardly sexist and having these expectations for anita and maria to what they must do with their lives -anita to be a housewife and give him six kids, for maria to marry a nice puertorrican boy. and i knooow, theres this belief of a certain amount of traditional/conservative mindset expected of latino men, and the jets get a few moments in which they are shown as sexist pricks as well, especially in regards to anybody (my beloved), but its different with bernardo, in a way?? since hes supposed to be madly in love with anita (also boy these two had amazing chemistry) and i sort of hoped they would show how much they respected the other and felt comfortable with the other. i get that its for the end goal of making maria and anita more defiant and proactive by arguing with him and showing they dont take his shit, but like... i dont know. i always loved bernardo and thought he was the most interesting male character in the musical, as someone who both wanted to succeed and move upwards in society while also being homesick for puerto rico, in a way that maybe chino and anita dont quite get. if only there had been a scene between bernardo (also why did nobody call him nardo??? wheres the cute nickname??????????) and chino, talking about their relationship with being immigrants and their expectations of their lives in the US... i dont know, there ws so much untapped potential, and the fact that riff got the chance to be a deeper character and bernardo not, even being given the role of controlling patriarch in the anita-maria-bernardo household... feels not great. i wish kushner would have given my dude some more scenes to truly shine. the moment in which he taunts tony and claims he only wants to date "a brown girl" felt somehow both very in character and also extremely sexist for some reason. i mean, we dont know if hes wrong, but theres still something icky about it all. maybe im just exaggerating but i think its a shame, especially with how in the original 1961 movie bernardo is portrayed as much more level-headed and a more responsable leader to his community. i wanted more of him, generally, and i feel that especially when comparing his screentime to that of riff he really got the short end of the stick.

i love chino!!! so much!!!! and i adore how he was given this little moment in which he told bernardo that he wanted to join the sharks, that he wanted to defend his barrio from the jets. there was something really interesting in how he helped tony push up the gate to enter the rumble place, showing how he has... Had a certain code of ethics, knows the importance of mutual help, and that he wouldnt just fuck him up for being a jet, not at least until they all get in the rumble. and then theres the super cute moment in which he really wants to dance at the gym dance and does this silly little dance thats not half as showy as the one the other sharks are doing... its super sweet and how he actually does want maria to like him even if it seems like he doesnt actually "love" her and its doing it mostly out to please bernardo.... i loved that so much. and his actor (cant remember his name) was great. i love chino so so much and the first half of the movie was just. chefs kiss. each time he showed up i grinned. but then... when bernardo is killed, he kind of does a one-eighty?? like I Get it. they were best friends. chino wants to join the sharks and protect his community. he has a very rigid code of ethics and that probably means he believes in eye for an eye, so it makes sense for him to think, hey, this dude tony should totally get killed and pay for what he did to bernardo. but still... it felt weird?? like there was so little to suggest chino could really be able to go ahead and kill someone. i dont know if there was meant to be a scene in which this was meant to be tackled but was cut, but i really felt that his murderous side came kind of out of nowhere -or, if not nowhere, at least could have been given more room to develop.

lastly, i think this may make me seem crazy since its the accepted take by almost all critics it seems, but i thought *nsel *lgort was pretty damn spot on casting for tony. this comes from someone who finds tony bland at best, and annoying at most, and who Loathes that actor. but, like in baby driver, *lgort made him at Least understandable. its still a goddamn mystery what maria sees in him, but i guess thats one for the ages. the adding of that tiny tiny scene of maria and tony actually having!! a Date!!!! made wonders for me to actually grow to like him. hes still pretty entitled and more than a little bit of an ass, but actually taking maria out to a date, making an effort to learn spanish, having a conversation with her that isnt only declarations of endless love... it just helped me a lot to see them as actual kids in love instead of just romeo and juliet expys who are going through the motions. his development was pretty good, i think, and the adding of both him almost having killed someone else/going to juvie/that being the reason he split from the jets, and of him having valentina as this sort of maternal figure, and of the Cool scene being rewritten to be about him trying to get riff to "cool down" from engaging in the rumble... it was all just excellent, a reminder of how good tony kushner can be as a writer. it just made me a bit more bitter to compare all of this excellent development when compared to my favorites, bernardo and chino :(

#west side story #west side story 2021 #a lot of this is just me wanting bernardo and chino to be done well and respectfully #which maybe is never what the musical canon actually depicted them as #still its just my onion. i dont expect others to share it tbh

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