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highfantasy-soul · 2 months

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Things I LOVED in NATLA Episode 7 - The North

Lt Jee actually being worried for Zuko!!!!

And Iroh tenderly bandaging Zuko's head 🥺

Zuko desperate to make sure his father doesn’t truly think he's turned against him!!!!!

A FANTASTIC set-up for his eventual ACUTAL turn against his father

Zuko genuinely thanking Lt. Jee 😢

And aaggghhhh!!! Zhao being a tricky slimey mf

This is a slick way to get Zuko being blown up without the pirates - though they're fun characters, I think this set-up enhanced the themes they were exploring in the season more

TEAM AVATAR!!

So cute that Aang excitedly tells his friends he made a connection with Zuko - Sokka is unimpressed while Katara has hope that people can turn out to be good.

Agna Qel'a!!!!

It looks GORGEOUS! And love that it has a name now!!

Apparently it was given a name in one of the books, but they never did name it in the show, so I'm glad they did it here

I don't even care that they know it's the Avatar right off bat and they're ready to welcome them in - it was cool as shit flying over the city on Appa

Maybe they had scouts out that saw Appa flying and brought news to the city, same as the scouts who saw the Fire Nation fleet - I'll accept that

Them treating Aang like a weapon rather than a person 😡

It's something that comes up a lot in the series and I'm glad they aren't shying away from it

Lol Katara's sibling jibing at Sokka staring at Yue 🤣

I love these little sibling moments - they're just so cute

And Sokka now hard-core staring at the ground instead of at Yue because Katara said he looked like a weirdo doing that 😅

Zhao's overacting at how pissed he is 🤣

Then his 'omg I can yes and this. I can SO yes and this!' as Iroh tells him what he 'think's happened

Oooohhh Iroh's understated insults at Zhao's qualifications

And Zhao's comeback about no record of failure unlike Iroh😐 bitch, that still doesn't make you qualified!

More Azulaaa!!!!

I really love this added storyline to see exactly why Azula is the way she is

It's great to see that her place as next-in-line isn't a shoe-in here - she's desperate to show her father that 'she's the one' and will do anything to get there

Sokka's heart eyes 😍

Stewed sea prunes 😭😭😭

"It tastes like home" 😢

I like this intro to Pakku - like with Sokka, they're not doing a comical level of sexism, they're making it more realistic

YUE IS A BEEENNDDEERR!!!!!!

Also, using it for the most important things: dessert

Sokka's absolutely abysmal (bet very endearing) interaction attempts with Yue 😅

Her little fake gasps as he keeps saying the wrong thing, but smiling because she knows what he means, she's just teasing him 🥺 incredibly adorable

Love that they have a conversation that actually has substance!

Don't hate me, but in the cartoon, they never had a substantive conversation ONCE. It was just Sokka flirting, Yue giggling, then Yue freaking out and running away - rinse and repeat like, 5 times in the course of 3 episodes.

Omg Hahn isn't a dick!!!

I like the more mature tone they've taken in the live action - they can have jokes, but for serious topics like…idk, a battle against the Northern Water Tribe being genocided, they make the characters take it seriously

GOOOOODDDD the adults expecting Aang to be a master strategist and offensive weapon!!

This actually makes sense that they'd believe he could do it - Aang is the culmination of all the past Avatars, so they'd assume he has all their knowledge and power.

The poor kid just got out of his iceberg, though!!!

"Airbending is primarily a defensive discipline"

You tell them, Aang!!

"But you're not JUST an airbender" :( don't bring logic and reality into this, Arnook

"I did it with the help of my friends 😊" sweet baby Aang

And here's Pakku, telling Aang what a lot of watchers were frustrated about this season: uuhh maybe you should have been focused on your training

While that's a legit comment, I think the live-action showed why Aang didn't pretty well

Love love LOVE that we're introduced to healing with respect rather than the distain it was shown in the animated series

Healing is a wonderful and beautiful skill and I'm glad we got to see Katara interested in it (and it being used) rather than Katara sadly moping into the igloo filled with children learning healing

Sometimes, when people try to make things less sexist, they end up making it more-so. I think that happened with the animated series where healing was actually put up in conflict with combat - where combat was clearly shown as the 'better' skill and healing was 'stupid and bad, we don’t want to do that'. The live-action showed that healing is an important and powerful skill, the only issue comes when you aren't ALLOWED to do anything else. Healing itself isn't the issue, the fact the women are kept from combat IS the issue.

Nice Hahn and Sokka fishing for info about Yue

Avatar Kuruk RESPECT!!!!

LOVE Yue getting more character here!

She can pop into the spirit world! It makes so much sense with her having part of the moon spirit inside her!

The live action fleshed her out soooo well!

Poor Sokka not understanding AT ALL why someone would want to go to the Spirit World for fun 😂

"Don't do that. Don't make it less than what it is"

Such an important message for EVERYONE. You don’t have to have the most tragic of backstories for your trauma to be important. This isn't the oppression olympics - we aren't doing the whole 'well someone else has it worse so you can't complain' bullshit.

Everyone has hurt in their lives and everyone deserves to have their hurt taken seriously and healed. It isn't 'strength' to pretend it's nothing - it's strength to face it and accept that it was important, not something to shove under the rug

Yue reminding Sokka about what makes him special - his care for his friends! He's not a selfish guy - just because he wasn't the best leader or warrior when he was 13 doesn't mean he has nothing to offer the world

"Hahn is everything a girl could want. But he is not the boy of my dreams" 😭😭😭

"Being the Avatar means being the one who bears the burden: alone."

The thing is: like in the animated version, this advice MAKES SENSE! But it's how you USE the advice that makes the difference

No, you can't put all the weight of responsibility on your friends, but neither can you do it without any help - or without caring for others. It's very much advice coming from pain: all the Avatars got hurt because they DIDN'T abandon their friends and so they're giving a skewed version of the advice onto Aang to try to spare him the pain they went through.

It's Aang's job to find the balance

Sokka's fish carving that Yue thinks is a bear 😭😭😭

I wanna see it, props department!!!!

Yeess!! Katara's first confrontation with Pakku!

I like how she still tries to lead with diplomacy, making her case, and Pakku has 'reasonable' excuses not to let her fight

Instead of him being cartoonishly sexist, he's much more realistic giving 'logical' reasons for Katara not to be in combat, but she stands up anyways because she knows it's wrong.

I can see how some might find Aang not wanting Katara to fight to be jarring, but this is in line with the animated series

When they're going into particularly dangerous missions, Aang does have a tendency to try to do it himself and tell Katara to sit this one out - he does it in The Winter Solstice: Part 2.

He's just been told a past life's love was killed because he didn't keep her out of his fight, he has no idea how he's going to win this battle, and he's realizing that he does see Katara as someone incredibly important to him. It's in line with who Aang is to try to keep her safe and away from the battle

Zhao coming up with nicknames for himself 😑

Iroh straight up calling Fire Nation 'info' propaganda!!

While some people could see this as 'treason', when you're in positions of power in high-control groups, you KNOW it's propaganda - you HELP CREATE the lies and when people are going to do something stupid (like attack the North without a solid plan), you let them know that they're being stupid if they're going to make battle plans based on the lies you've helped spread.

Zhao and his dumb bitch destiny 🙄 he's such a great villain - he's one who's bought into his own lies

"The plan is to prove my father wasn't wrong to trust me with this mission. The plan is to go in and capture the Avatar once and for all. The PLAN is to reclaim what is rightfully MINE!! 😤" - "So, no plan? 😐" - "I'm working on it uncle 🥺"

This exchange = gold. Pure gold.

"It's almost as if he's working for someone else - someone much smarter"

WOOOOWWW Iroh, throw that shade a little more, why don't ya 🤣

Though I LOVE that they're giving Azula her brainy due - she's smart and she's the one not to be underestimated.

AZULA'S LIGHTNING!!!!!!!

Love how she stood up to her father, but because she was able to 'prove' her strength, he respected it rather than punished it

"Set me loose" AAAAHHHHHHH

SUPPORTIVE BROTHER SOKKA!!!

Love how matter of fact Katara is "I'm going to challenge Pakku to fight" - just like that. She's decided, so it's going to happen.

Sokka admitting Katara was right 😭😭😭😭😭

"Who's talking sense? What I'm trying to say is: go kick his ass" FUCK YEAH THAT'S RIGHT!!!!

Aang trying to go forward and help Katara, but Sokka holds him back

Love the sibling solidarity!!

The fight is almost beat for beat the one from the animated series!!!

I love that the live action knew exactly which sequences to put in almost 1-1 from the animated - this fight being one of them

"Is that all you got?!?!" FUCK YEAH!!

"They'll just say I lost" "Did you?"

The fact that it wasn't just Pakku's opinion that would change everything - Katara's actions inspired everyone else, even if Pakku didn't want to change his decision.

Change isn't made by changing one man's mind - it's about standing up to them and inspiring others (like in the Imprisoned storyline) to stand up too

Even inspiring Aang to realize that the conclusion the other Avatars came to from their pain was wrong - that Katara was right and that EVERYONE gets to choose whether to fight or not for themselves

Avatars aren't the only ones who worry about protecting people - it's a human, family thing, not just a mystical force of balance thing

Only Aang can write his own story - not anyone else.

This is a great through-line for the whole series where everyone has expectations put on them and they have to decide themselves who they want to be

Don't eat the sooty snow, Momo!!!!!

"Ok, time to fight"

I like that we end on the fire nation ships arriving: next episode is going to be THE BATTLE

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

#natla #natla positivity #netflix avatar #atla #avatar the last airbender #avatar netflix #live action avatar #yue #sokka #katara #aang #iroh #zuko

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calliethetrekkie · 8 months

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Star Trek TOS S01E07: Charlie X

Original Thoughts

"Charlie X, did have a nice take on how being The Nice Guy to a girl does NOT entitle you to a relationship, which since this was made in the 60’s is nice to see, and the ending did make me almost feel bad for the villain. Almost."

(Original Post)

Rewatch Thoughts

Not gonna lie, I hadn't really been looking forward to this one. I gave it a pretty middle rating (3.5/5) in the watchthrough... and for Heaven's sake, I couldn't remember why. I don't remember hating the episode, but I certainly couldn't remember much of anything worth liking, aside from Kirk telling Charlie that he's not entitled to a woman just because he likes them. I guess I was impressed to see a 60's show say that? IDK. I was thinking that I had been too generous, but did the rewatch change that?

The first thing that came to my mind when I first read the summary was an episode of The Twilight Zone titled It's A Good Life. I imagine that most have heard of it, but if you haven't, it's about a six-year-old kid with God-like powers who terrorizes his town into obeying him and always being happy. If you don't... well, it doesn't end well. Now mind you, Charlie is older and has a bit more of an excuse for why he acts like he does, but yeah... this is what happens when you let little Anthony Fremont reach adolescence. Speaking of The Twilight Zone, Shatner was actually the main character in the episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet and BOY is that something... anyway, back on topic!

So like I said, I went in fully expecting to dislike it and give it a lower rating when I put it on the 10 scale over the 5 scale. But after watching it again? I think I realize why I gave it a generous rating. It's one of those episodes that is interesting to actually watch, but not one you actually think about until you go back to it. There is actually a lot of good material here, even a bit of continuity, and it's actually a bit more complex when you take later canon into account. So let's go ahead and break it down.

Let's start with Charlie Evans. He's a one-shot character, and actually characterized pretty well IMO. He's a seventeen-year-old who has been isolated from humans for most of his life and, as we find out, adopted by aliens who don't understand concepts like 'love'. He's awkward, temperamental, and doesn't understand social cues or customs, as you'd expect from a teenager and especially one who grew up as he did. It really sucks that they don't have a proper counselor in this episode, cause Charlie desperately needed one. That might have helped prevent his power trip... then again, with how unstable he was, he may not have gotten the help extensively enough to prevent it. Who knows?

It's easy to pity the kid at first. He doesn't seem bad, just very troubled and out of place. Even ignoring his circumstances, that's normal for a teenager. But of course, most teenagers don't have realty warping powers like he does. As such, the more the episode goes on, the more Charlie starts to lose it. He's confused and frustrated without any coping skills to help him, so he resorts to using his powers to get his way. Someone laughs at him? He makes them disappear. He's worried that the crew can hurt him? The phasers vanish. He doesn't like a Yeoman because he likes Rand? Now she's a lizard. Why? Because that's all he knows to do, so that's what he defaults to.

You pity him at first, but that can only go so far. He starts to go on a power trip that only gets worst when Rand rejects his 'gentle' advances. This coming after she tried several times to explain to him that she isn't interested nicely. Honestly, you ever think about how Rand's time on the Enterprise REALLY sucked? First there was The Enemy Within, an event that she outright references to Kirk when telling him that she may be driven to hurt Charlie if he doesn't stop. That's noticeably when Kirk starts to take her concerns a bit more seriously... not as much as he should have IMO considering that that last time was him, but it's still worth noting. As I was saying though, combined all that with later episodes like Miri and... yeah as much as it sucks her being dropped, if she left the Enterprise I do NOT blame her. She really deserved a LOT better, but that's a rant for another day.

After Rand stands her ground, even turning the intercom on so that she could have help and being forced to get physical, Charlie is so angry he makes her vanish. But of course it's her fault. He loved her, he was nice and gentle with her, but she still rejected him. Unlike The Enemy Within where they mishandled this subject horribly, this episode actually makes it clear that this is NOT okay. You're not entitled to someone just because you like them, and just being nice doesn't mean you are owed their love either. In fact, it's after he gets rid of Rand that Charlie becomes fully unstable and whatever sympathy you had for the kid goes right out the window even within the episode itself. For a 60's show that just had one of their worst treatments of a female character two episodes ago, this is very much welcome to see.

At the end when Charlie's about to kill Kirk however, the Thasian's return. That's when you feel at least a pinch of pity again. Whatever life with them was life, Charlie is terrified of it and wants to stay on the Enterprise. That's right, he resorts to begging the people he tormented, including Rand when she's restored, to help him. Kirk, being a good guy at the end of the day, even tries to reason to make that happen... but it does nothing. We saw how Charlie reacted, and chances are all it would take is one person making him upset in a human colony to cause who knows what to happen. You feel bad for the terrified teenager as he begs and pleads to not go back, but at the same time he brought all of it onto himself, so it's hard to feel anything more than just pity. Could he have been better if given the time and care? Maybe, but maybe not. I think that the utterly haunting ending where everyone is just stunned says it all.

Then we go to Kirk. This episode is a LOT more fun to look at if you've seen the films and know that Kirk actually does have a son that he's never seen, let alone been involved in raising. It's also hilarious how McCoy, who actually has a kid that as far as we know he was involved in raising up to a point, passes the job onto Kirk, half cause he was freaked out by Charlie and half probably because he plain doesn't want to do it. But for Kirk, that makes it all the more awkward, cause Heaven knows that he has no idea what he's doing. Like I said, he doesn't handle guiding Charlie particularly well, though he is at least trying. Like when he tries to give Charlie The Talk and is clearly dreading every single second of it, even telling him to talk to McCoy for the ugh... biological parts of it? That is underrated comedy at it's finest XD

Like I said, Kirk at least tries to help the kid. He himself didn't exactly have the most normal childhood, especially if you take Tarsus IV into account. He can probably understand Charlie's confusion and frustration, at least to an extent. Enough that he does legitimately try to help the kid. He tries to give him advice. He tries to teach him some self-defense... which probably wasn't the best route but still. He's perfectly affable to the kid until he starts harming his crew, and even then only throws any sense of reason out the window when Charlie electrocutes Uhura and forces Spock into talking gibberish. Hell at the end, when Charlie is practically begging for his life, he has every reason to just let the Thasians take him away without any fuss. But Kirk still tries to convince them to let him stay because of how terrified the kid is. It doesn't work and Kirk acquiesces in the end, but it still shows that despite everything, he was still willing to try and help what he saw as a very troubled teenager.

Kirk is the type of character who may not always know what he's doing, but he'll try nonetheless. He doesn't want to be any sort of father figure. He already has his plate filled enough as the captain and add that to the whole situation regarding his own son and Carol, it probably makes him uncomfortable. But since Charlie at first looks up to him, he sucks it up and tries to help, especially once Rand brings up her concerns. But really, as I said, what Charlie needed was a counselor. Ironically, McCoy may have been the most qualified in this scenario, but again he ain't having any of it XD But it's nice to see this side of Kirk. He's less of a Captain and more reluctant parent until Charlie endangers his crew and thus Captain Mode is activated. It just lets us see a bit more of an awkward yet genuine side to him that we haven't had to this point, and I appreciate it.

There's also a lot of nice little moments. Spock and McCoy acting like an old married couple, with Kirk utterly sick of it. Uhura and Spock's little concert. Seriously, I kind of like how Spock was a bit more expressive in the early episodes, wish we'd gotten more scenes like that. As I said, Kirk's utter dread and awkwardness giving Charlie The Talk is freakin' comedy gold. It's overall a good episode. IDK why I made myself dread it so much going in. It's not a top-tier episode by any means, and it isn't one that I would put on regularly. But overall, it's fine. It has good moments and has some awkwardness, but nothing to drag it down. I guess I just needed to look at it again to remember why I gave my initial rating, haha.

Original Rating: 3.5/5

Rewatch Rating: 6/10

[My TOS Reviews]

[TOS S1 Reviews]

[Previous Review] / [Next Review]

#star trek #star trek tos #st reviews #charlie x #tos s1 reviews #tos s1 #tos reviews

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elviriel · 7 months

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Angel The Series. Obviously.

bless you for asking 🌹 i finished it yesterday and the opinions are Brewing

my favorite female character: Cordelia. I grew so, so very attached to her during my watch - I always liked her a lot, but I wasn't hugely invested in her in BTVS either. Here, though? Favorite. Which made season four and five all the more frustrating at times, especially given what we know of the behind the scenes stuff with CC and JW T_T. But yeah, I love Cordelia. She's a fun foil for a character like Angel, and her journey with the visions - and the fact that she didn't want to give them up - was really enjoyable for me

my favorite male character: At the risk of sounding obvious, Angel? I keep trying to articulate the why of it, and it comes down to just the fact that I just... like him. Wesley from season 3 on comes very close, but in general, I tend to root for Angel more. The biggest indicator of my liking for Angel was that the second Spike came onto the scene, I was hissing like a cat like "ok vampire with a soul is ANGEL'S THING"

my favorite book/season/etc: I find it hard to choose between 2 and 3 atm. 2 had Angel's little dark spiral, which I found very fun, and season 3 had the whole "the father kills the son" arc, which was the most invested I ever was in this show

my favorite episode (if its a tv show): season 5 is fresher in my mind, so I'm going to say episode 12 of season 5, because that one has Cordelia in it - and is, thankfully, a nice send-off for her, though I'll forever be bitter she couldn't be around for the whole season (It might have made me less resentful of Spike's general presence, tho I did enjoy him regardless)

my favorite cast member: Idk much about them as people, but I'm going to say Alexis Denisof kILLED as unshaven miserable Wesley, and I was very impressed with him

my favorite ship: I hesitate between Angel x Cordelia and Wesley x Lilah. Angel x Cordy took me by surprise - I'm a diehard Bangel, and before watching ATS, the knowledge that Angel x Cordy became a thing made me a hater already. But I was surprised by how their friendship grew, and the Ship was Awakened in me when Angel was obviously deeply upset that Cordelia was still mad at him in season 2. That being said, I also think I'd have been satisfied with Angel x Cordy without the romantic element, as long as they kept the close friends/warriors for good aspect. It's the kind of ship that I feel could stay friends (unlike, say, Bangel, to refer to Spike's little 'You'll never be friends' speech", which I know you're familiar with xD), and I do like my ships with a bit more bite, no pun intended. And Wesley x Lilah was a fucking delight. Didn't see it coming, enjoyed every second of it, right down to the corpse head chopping. OH, I also enjoyed Lindsey x Darla for what it was. Lindsey in general was a fav of mine - he's just neat!

a character I’d die defending: Mmmm. No answer springs to mind, but I will say, I found myself kind of protective of Harmony in season 5 - I know she's a soulless little demon, but like, be nice to her (the fact that Spike was so dismissive of her got under my skin like BRO where's that soul of yours now)

a character I just can’t sympathize with: I desperately want to say Andrew, but we barely saw him, and that's mostly my BTVS feelings bleeding over. I'm sure there are answers among the villains, but nobody comes to mind.

a character I grew to love: Definitely Wesley. I was never too keen on him, but then, gosh. His dark side is just FASCINATING and I love him to bits.

my anti otp: unfortunately i can't say sp*ffy for ATS xD but otherwise, i don't think there's any ship on Angel I outright hate. Though Connor x Cordelia was definitely unpleasant, I don't really count it as a ship. I guess.... Angel x Nina didn't do much for me? But we barely saw them together, so, it's hard to muster any anti otp hatred. Fred x Wesley didn't do much for me (I always side-eyed them because from the start, I was convinced it would mean nothing good for Gunn), but without Fred x Wesley, you don't get Wesley x Illyria, which was the highlight of my late season 5 viewing 💙

#thank you for much for giving me the room to talk a bit about ATS #i have so much more to say which will likely go in a spot #audrey watches angel #askbox things

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harimenui-forever · 3 months

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I do not wish to be mean, but like, I feel like the format of tmagp is making the horror lesser for me... some stories are too quick for the fear to sink in (first episode) or like it happens at the very end so you don't really get much of it and it just kinda leaves you there (episode 5), episode 6 is very silly to me and like I think it knows that? But that doesn't make it scary and maybe it doesn't want to be idk.

Episodes 2, 3 and 4 are good. They're not necessarily scary, the bit with the tattoo in episode two is kinda silly? But the face thing is good. It's shocking, a different kind of dread but sure.

Episode 3 made me frustrated at the guy, then I realised he couldn't actually leave and like yeah the idea of this is kinda creepy and the acceptance and just I dunno how to put it, it works, but it did not make me shiver with fear yknow?

Episode 4 was fun, probably my favourite, but it's not very scary. To me it makes up for that with the story though, the themes, the morality and the time it takes to go through the story. It adds gravity to it. It's a fucked up lil episode with a lot of story and character

All in all, I have a feeling that the horror is not as much of a focus as it used to be in tma, which might be great for other people, but I've always appreciated the horror of tma, even when I liked the characters and the story. And I understand comparing the two is a bit strange, but... I understand that the "statements" are different here, they're not from scared people who survived something weird/horrible, they're from people who are deep into becoming something else (?), from people who have not survived most likely and, just like for them, there's not enough time for us to be afraid before it's over. And there are strengths to this approach too, I just...

I've relistened to the Anglerfish, because I was scared that perhaps I've just grown numb to the horror, but no. I could still feel the shivers run down my spine, I could still feel the dread building with every new detail, every new small thing that was off and just... terrifying.

The first episodes are so widely different when it comes to horror I think. And it's hard to put my finger on it, but I feel like the role of the investigation afterwards is missing and with it some of the horror.

It feels unfair to compare an entire episode statement with just one statement from the two in tmagp ep 1, but hear me out.

The reveals in mag1 are just very well done. You have the setting being creepy, you have the line being repeated and reenacted in that weird tone twice, before the guy notices on the 3rd time that the figure is not opening its mouth. You have the swaying pointed out multiple times and each time it feels a bit more extreme, weirder, the simile used to describe it, the anglerfish, is so vivid and creepy and RIGHT. When he realises its feet are not touching the ground. The weird way it disappears. AND THEN, because he survived you get the reveal of him finding cigarettes there the next day and connecting them to the missing person. That could have been him. But that's not all, sure Jon is a little bitch, but the reveal of more disappearances adds more credibility. And THEN the cherry on top is the photo, the hand (?), beckoning.

Now let's look at the email from tmagp1. It is very short. There is a set up yes, but the reveal is just...immediate, it lacks the suspense. Like the concept is scary. But the laughter, the laughter is just...sooooo, it's not that scary. Just, it's harder to describe what's not working here than it is to describe what DOES work in mag1. I guess I could focus on the absence of things...

Man, I do sound like an old man swearing at a cloud, my friend would laugh at me and call me 240 years old, I am never beating the allegations

Anyway, in short, I know this podcast aims to be different. I can see it. The character interactions, the more intrusive listening in etc. However, in my humble opinion, the horror gets the short end of the stick here. I wish it didn't

#I am not tagging this but yeeeea #of course it's only beginning and there will be more to the story but #just my thoughts really #tmagp neg

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nalyra-dreaming · 1 year

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Sorry to be party pooper when you were theorising and having fun, but I think I need to vent.

Anyway, we all can agree that this fandom has recently gotten a very toxic discours/discussion environment which just sucks. I mostly blame the writers for this, mostly because of ep 5. Not only did this add to obvious power imbalance between loustat, but also did make POC and especially black audiences understandable very uncomfortable. Not only possibly by the relationship (that is supposed to be endgame!) but also of Lestat (a future “hero” of the story).

As a white person I obviously cannot comprehend what it must have felt to see that from a racial standpoint, but it was very upsetting to see from my point of view alone.

Now, there are of course debates on if that scene were “out of character” for Lesta or not…I am still debating over that. (I mean, show!Lestat is a bit different from book!Lestat after all?)

What I find most frustrating about ep 5 is just “did they not think?!”. No but really, what did they think that was going to look like? How people would react and feel? Like??? How??? They didn’t at least have to make the DV so severe and brutal, especially when they have such powerful dynamics to portray. Right?

Idk. Maybe I am just salty because I really just recently joins this fandom (for real) that I thought would be chill and a safe place for many people and meanings discussions…and then there is this black cloud that didn’t have to be here in the first place. I feel frustrated for everyone😕

... I'm sorry you're feeling frustrated by all of it. *hugs*

Still - welcome to the fandom?! 💕

*sighs* So this is difficult. I can understand the frustration, I knew when I watched this would hit the fan, so to speak.

BUT. I have talked about it, too, several times, how this episode served other purposes (imho). In this post there's two articles linked by Linda Codega, which I recommend reading. I can link more posts by @showmey0urfangs and others on this, too, if you're interested.

The show... puts its finger into wounds, and worries them. Lestat does abuse. Lestat does rape. Lestat does force-feed. Lestat chops off digits. Canonically. He doesn't do that to Louis, canonically. Which is, imho, exactly the point.

By making it happen to Louis, and in this way, it forces us to look. By using certain imagery it gets waaaaaay beyond our comfort zone. On purpose.

However, in the context of the story(!) and here's the catch to it all - we do not know if it happened. It's a tale, and one deliberately torn apart in the end. Throwaway lines of episode 1 come back, to suddenly make sense and hint at the truth. Continuity errors and the very way people are held build parallels. I'm saying it again, this show does details, and it does not serve to conflate the issues imho.

And one thing re the writers and what they say: Imagine you're doing those big arcs, with full knowledge of the Chronicles, and the way you want to shake the narrative up... and then the season gets split. And you get asked why you did episode 5 the way you did. And you cannot say anything re the reveal in episode 7. You cannot say anything re what's to come in season 2, what you've been planning for (now) episode 12. You cannot say anything in regards to the parallels you've set up, or what Armand did (or not). Your viewership is mostly unaware of what's in the books (there was a poll the other day, like only 20%? have read a few books?!), as the reactions to Louis / Armand have plainly shown imho.

So what do you say?

This is not to defend them btw. I do think some of the answers especially by Rolin were... well. (And the missing content warning is its own fuck up.) But I also think that this is something that has to be factored in as well. Because of course they do not wish to give their game away.

Imagine if people (I am included here) are correct with episode 5, that the latter half of that "fight" was a modified memory, because something like this happened between Armand and Lestat, but not Lestat and Louis. As a writer, getting asked re the cloud gift... what could you say? You couldn't say "well, we're building a parallel for the big showdown in season 2, when Armand throws Lestat off a tower and later Armand is thrown off a roof by Lestat". And you cannot say "well, there's this scene in TVL, which will be in season 3, where Armand force-feeds on Lestat, and Lestat then beats him to a pulp and drags him by the throat". You just cannot say that, because it would the give the game away, at least to those who do not know the books?

And yes, I am aware that this is (book-canon based) speculation, and that we'll see.

But given the setup of the interview in Dubai you cannot even trust that part of the tale :)) Much less what is narrated. Which makes the OOC discussion void imho. We haven't seen the real Lestat, the real Louis, or the real Armand yet.

We haven't seen anything objectively true yet. Except maybe Daniel's apartment in the beginning^^.

So.

Feel free to come in and rant at anytime :)) But... personally... I think there is much, much more to it than the DV discussion alone, or the OOC discussion alone. And if that is actually true... then we're watching the show of the decade unfold. A true piece of art. And art... can be challenging.

Still. Said that before, too - I could do with less toxicity in the fandom, too. Especially on these so important and difficult subjects. I would prefer we could discuss them in a productive manner. But maybe that will only need ... time and perspective, (right, Louis)^^.

#asks #iwtv #interview with the vampire #fandom #I guess #future season speculation #ask nalyra

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littlespoonevan · 2 years

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one thing i’ve noticed lately about the difference between writing fanfiction and writing original fiction is that when you’re writing original fiction every word has to be deliberate. i remember when i first learned about the concept of chekov’s gun i always thought it was more relevant for mysteries or specifically referencing important plot points but actually, this notion of “don’t put that there unless it’s there for a reason” weighs on me with pretty much every sentence i write when it comes to my original work. in contrast, i’m 99% sure this has never once occurred to me when writing fanfic.

and none of this is to say that fanfic is less credible or that i don’t try as hard when it comes to fic writing but more it’s an explanation for why i often find fanfic easier to write??? like, if i’m writing fic i can absolutely write 30k off the top of my head and i don’t have to question what this character is saying or what they’d do in this situation because i already know. i have a wealth of episodes that tell me. i know their intentions and their motivations and their feelings towards characters a, b and c. so it’s easy for me to make quick judgement calls. i can write “they’re gonna do x because of y” without planning it all out first because i understand them and i know my reader does too.

even if we have different fanon interpretations we both know this character so our engagement with the story relies on this implicit agreement that we Get It. you’ll get why i had that character say that line and you’ll get why this argument happened bc something very similar has probably happened in canon before so there’s no need for further explanation/extrapolation.

but with original fiction you, the author, have created these characters from scratch and you need to decide why they act the way they do. even if it isn’t spelled out for the reader in the first chapter you still need to know. you have to think both ahead of and behind the story you’re telling. you have to spend so much time constructing their life and their world so that you can get to that place of writing them freely. but that can be so extremely tiring????? because inevitably you’ll have to stop and figure out if what you’re writing is “in character” for this character you’ve created. you’ll revise and change details and that means trawling through the work again to make sure what’s been written so far is consistent. and there’s just so much more stop-starting with it all, y’know??

like, sometimes i get frustrated when i look at my original work because, aside from times where i’ve had extreme writers’ block, almost every fic i’ve ever written has taken me less than 6 weeks to write. so i get annoyed and think “a novel really only needs to be 60-80k, that should take you two months” except it won’t. except i have drafts that are 5, 10, 20k that i started literal years ago and are still unfinished because i don’t know this world inside out like i do the show i’ve been consuming for x amount of seasons. so i have to take my time and sit with it and make plans and outline and redraft in ways i’ve previously never had to.

and idk i just feel like, the more i try to navigate writing both original fiction and fanfiction at the same time, the more i feel like we really can’t compare the two at all beyond the fact that they’re both written mediums. we can look at a script and a novel and acknowledge the fact that they’re similar but they serve different purposes and have different strengths and i can’t help looking at original fiction and fanfiction the same way now???? they’re very similar and i’ve definitely read fics that feel like novels (or are better than them in some cases) but i think ultimately, for all their overlap, they really are two completely different genres, y’know?

#writing adventures #this has absolutely no point i'm just musing #and complaining to myself about the fact that original fic is so hard #hence why i'm taking a break and writing the single parents au askdjfh

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constantvariations · 1 year

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Rwby V9C2. This time i decided to put all my thoughts down as i watched the episode (i know most folks do this as a massive series of reblogs. No thanks lol)

You know its gonna be a gr8 episode when the very first line is a disingenuous trope aware quip. No wonder at the new world, no anxiety about how to get home. Nope! Just... bland disinterest. Did Joss Whedon join crwby?

I hate Little so goddamn much. Idk if yall read that one teaboot post where they talk about their hatred of Olaf from Frozen but I am reaching that level of irrational fury

As much as I like the uses of sweat drops and pop animation and frustration speech bubbles because they're delightful anime visual tropes... it's wayyy to late to be introducing those now. This would be like adding farting unicorns to The Walking Dead after half the cast was eaten. Again. Once more, I am asking what the fuck the tone is supposed to be here

Why is it called the Ever After? Wonderland rolls off the tongue way better and makes more sense for the name of a new world/dimension/whatever

So glad to be getting the exposition on the girl who fell through the world now instead of any organic weaving into dialogue prior. I love getting my information shoved down my throat all at once

I do actually like them discussing the tale. Different takeaways from the same story are always fun. Wish it could've lasted longer, I really want more conversations between these guys that aren't always directly about the plot

Okay, Weiss's doubts are good to hear. Sound like a lot of the stuff we've been saying, which may or may not be on purpose. Strange she doesn't mention her family at all, though, just the downfall of Atlas. Would've been really interesting to hear her thoughts on her parents and brother

Little needs to die. Now.

Weiss going back and forth between freaking out about the impracticality of their situation and taking charge when impracticality occurs is jarring. Maybe it's the smaller nonsense she can handle and not the big, abstract stuff? Guess we'll see

"I've always wanted to be long, but I'm still small." That's the funniest thing crwby has written in the last 5 seasons and it goes to the worst character. Typical rwby lol

Yang is absolutely intolerable in this auction bit. Knowing she's in a strange and illogical world, her first instinct is to be a cop? I've seen children act less petulant than her. Also, any item bought is probably more easily stolen from the buyer than the racoon, so why isn't that even on the table right now?

Did these idiot townsfolk really not know the gimmick? He's been at this long enough to be immortalized in a fairy tale, and I highly doubt there's enough space in Wonderland for him to never visit the same place twice. Unless everyone's memories get reset after a certain point, they should damn well know the coon is a con

Also that sword looks like it should be in Halo. Guess old habits die hard

Not this fucking Scooby Doo shit again. Can these characters stop interacting with the loop de loop sections before I throw my computer into the sun?

Wait that's Penny's sword? It's ugly as shit why you gotta do Penny dirty like that again

I find Ruby's expression of depression to be highly unbelievable. The excuse for so long has been that she's been hiding her emotions for the sake of everyone else, which is a fair enough point, but now there's not even a token effort. No obviously painful smiles, no jokes she breaks partway through, no overcompensating by hyping up too much. Ruby might as well be the goth girl at the top of the skyscraper from the All Star Superman comic for all the characteristically realistic depiction of depression she has

It worked well enough when she was alone and didn't have to fake for anyone - which is why everyone was so excited for Ruby to finally be free to break - but that was nipped right in the bud, and nothing has grown in its place. It's just... disappointing

#rwde #ngl the racoons outfit reminds me of scalan from critical role except way worse #the coon isnt even all that interesting either. i hate the name his methods are boring the things he wants are too abstract for me to care #conniving/trickster characters can be some of the most fun characters ever and this is how you do it? ugh #also that bumblebee 'moment' isnt in the main text bc i originally sneezed and missed it #which is so fucking funny and depressing on every level #hurrah they ALMOST held hands. something theyve already done several times. someone call the pride parade #this season is already a mess but at least it isn't actively pissing me off like the last season did w actually offensive choices #these are annoying or bad choices at most so far #cant wait for it to get worse lmaoooo

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antiloreolympus · 2 years

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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. Am I just dumb or do the lo fans who insist we "see" how powerful Persephone is are actually lying? Because sure we'vr see big trees and once or twice seen "wild" vegetation, but have we ever actually SEEN her use her powers? and no the AOW doesn't count since that wasn't her actually doing it willingly (such a dumb retcon). IDK it seems like we've seen more instances of Hades using their powers all the time yet we've never actually seen the supposed "chosen one" Persephone once use her own.

2. It's so frustrating how there's no reflection on Rachel nor the fandom's part for how Eros is depicted. When he's around Persephone he starts acting more "feminine" and even gets design-wise to look more "feminine" with his posing, eyelashes, beauty marks, and slimed down with more androgynous clothes, but as soon as he's with Psyche he's depicted as much taller, muscular, and in darker more "manly" outfits with chiseled features. I don't even think it's intentional, but it's very hmm induing.

3. At the begging of LO RS made it seem like Persephone didn’t have many friends or that her friends were kinda just spies for Demeter so she kept them at arms length, where we’d see that Artemis is suppose to be her first “real friend” and I guess Eros too? But no this whole time she had dead flower nymphs that didn’t get named almost 200 episodes in; and after mentioning said dead flower Nymphs Persephone wants to watch Hades’ first meeting with herself where she was naked/he was drunk so they can have a laugh.

4. NGL I want RS to cover the Trojan War bc I want to see what absolutely stupid ideas she'd put into it but also I just know she'd make Helen hashtag Empowered™️ by wanting Paris and being complacent in the deaths of thousands and be weirdly anti Menelaus who is clearly the bad guy here but also she'd make sure Helen's "beauty" is in comparing her to Persephone because of course you can't have anyone be hotter than her. I can see it vividly and it's horrendous.

5. I mean idk making LO be 100 give or take episodes would have probably been for the better. Im not saying it couldnt be a bit longer than that, but she's basically restarted the whole story 200+ episodes in, so there's really no excuse to claim she HAD to have all these episodes when other popular webtoons got their stories done in a good way without such an excessive amount. IMHO A short but strong story is so much better than a dragged out, weak story like LO has turned into.

6. TBH I'm surprised LO hasn't done a "cancellation' plotline yet. I can see it now, Hades ranting the media is trying to ruin Persephone's reputation and trying to take away all her prospects and shaming her for the harmless crime of mass murder. Probably throw in some "it is misogyny to critique her" for good measure and with zero reflection as he's in his massive mansion as he gets rich off ongoing slave labor. I feel like just off her handling of Thanatos we'll get it eventually.

7. I was going to say why is there never any gay renderings of HxP only to remember than one MLM comic on Canvas that just rips off LO down exact plot points and the only major WLW version i've seen was a book so hyper violent towards Persephone (with female Hades?? loving to abuse her??) and hateful of Demeter it actually made me sick to my stomach. Anyway outlaw HxP retellings i've had ENOUGH 🗣

8. the fans claiming "rachel is giving persephone a CHOICE" which like for one, who says she has the authority? but even then she's still, you know, a fictional character, she doesnt have agency by the mere fact she's fiction, so at the very least it has to be written into her character to make choices within the narrative, but rachel doesnt even do that? stuff just HAPPENS to persephone and she doesnt react, she's just yanked along. rachel doesnt even write her to make choices, she just exists.

9. its funny rachel claims LO is some empowering feminist story when its like, even barring the clear fact its NOT, the "feminism" is basically the "more 👏🏽 female 👏🏽 CEOS 👏🏽"logic of not actually fixing old power structures and creating equality. the system doesnt need to change, it just needs to be more accessible, which doesnt actually fix anything. making persephone be another CEO doesnt make it suddenly feminist, she's just now profiting from an unfair system like the men already do.

10. People are calling Hades "Persephone's husband" 🤡 yes we all know how it will end but at this point he is merely a guy she knew for 3 weeks 10 years ago. Calling him husband is ridiculous.

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

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fiadorable · 2 years

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78 Great Things in Ghosts of Illyria (Part 1)

Star Trek Strange New Worlds season one episode three... such great writing and character moments for the entire cast I had to split the post into two ---- > Part Two

TIL ion storms extend into outer space and are not just concentrated in the atmosphere of the planet

OH MY GOD THE LEATHER JACKETS ARE SO COOL they are so cool they are so cool

Idk why, but I really enjoy the beam up triangle formation everyone stands in

The way everyone pauses as the lights flicker during the auxilliary power transfer and then continue about their business

"I am a genius. Move quickly."

Spock losing himself in the Illyrian journals not realizing the ion storm is upon them

Spock's fancy little bag that's the exact right shape for the Illyrian archive tubes

The frustration and disappointment of Chief Kyle and Number One as they realize they won't be able to get Spock and Pike off the surface

Number One pep talk for the bridge crew so they don't freak out over the captain and science officer being stuck on the planet

Number One in command mode - I just want more of this, I love seeing her in action

"Whatever tweaks your freak, pal." The whole exchange between Ortegas and Ensign Lance is gold 😂😂😂

Ortegas' danger meter goes from whatever tweaks your freak to calling for security on deck 14 (to be fair, Lance head-butted the wall panel)

Oh no. I think I might--oh no.

Please ignore me, I think my sexuality is now Number One ripping open her uniform shirt 😱

"I'm okay." <-- this is the first time she has ever not been cool and composed. Whatever just happened has shaken her up

Skeptical!M'Benga

In the future there are devices that can draw blood from your upper arm through your clothes

Engineering troubleshooting! Including a nice explanation for the way the biofilters work

Inquisitive Number One and Grumpy Hemmer is always a win

"I can sense that expression you know."

Ugh, level 5 diagnostics are the worst, you're so right, Hemmer

Number One is worried at this point and Uhura is very perceptive and definitely notices after they make brief contact with Pike

La'An calling Number One Chief - I want to know the back story on that

"I never think of you as a child."

And La'An is related to Khan - that Khan

"Is this the only light you have?" 😂😂😂 Like it's a bar and she doesn't like the beer on tap

La'An is not moving or awake at all from this point up until almost the end of the episode which means they sedated her early which means she was a pain in the ass to get to sickbay 😂

It is so sexy to see someone in power ask a doctor for advice and then…. take. the. goddamn. doctor's. advice. That is all.

Hemmer just snaps his fingers and they all go to their little lockdown work areas - beautiful

"You are deliberately mixing my metaphor in order to indulge your anxiety."

The plasma Illyrians remind me of the space ghosts from Titan AE and I am not mad about it

Lower deck quarters! I see three bunks but there would possibly be room for a fourth depending on how the room is shaped. I like the fancy bunks.

Number One hopping on to the biobed next to Uhura and casually asking her if she's doing anything right now 😂😂😂

Spock reminding Pike he's not human and also suggesting they weight probability in their favor

Uhura trying not to freak out that the first officer is lying in her bed

Number One figuring out how the virus is spreading

M'Benga's awe and frustration with the revelation that the virus travels on the electromagnetic spectrum

Nurse Chapel looking out for her patients when Number One suggests doing a shipwide blackout to go along with the lockdown

Oh man, watching all of the lights go out on the ship from the exterior is SO COOL

To be continued!

#st:snw #star trek strange new worlds #ghosts of illyria #snw spoilers #i was so dumb when this episode aired #i thought all of her illyrian 'powers' were effects of the virus #ignore me #snw great things

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haeroniel-doliet · 1 year

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Welcoming the new year:

I just finished marathoning the original trilogy, never actually having watched them back to back, on a tv screen, by myself. (Spent new years alone, which briefly felt really really sad but turned itself around to be just what i needed.) Absolutely the right choice there were so many details and theyre so good and i just love them very much and can actually focus on them fully and it felt like experiencing them anew somehow! God, Luke is such a pretty boy and i'll always love Leia she's so beautiful.

Did have some breaks in between like to actually see the clocks roll over here, and then again with my friends abroad, to cry a little in a sort of semi bittersweet way about acknowledging that I actually achieved something huge this year. Not knowing whats coming next so not making promises but just hoping the year will be kind and gentle to me and all my loved ones.

Feeling somehow rejuvenated even if its 5 am, realizing i'm a little free from my art block of wanting to paint perfect stills from the movies, bc it's been done before so many times. I gotta find what makes me happy, how I like combining references to make new. I can do it. And just to try reset my brain to my unironic otp, i had a play of the last 20 mins of mandalorian finale. Just... Kinda needed it! Granted, now im actually also frustrated by the cgi, bc i've just seen how alive and expressive Mark was, so it seems very very stiff. I'm still really glad the character was brought back bc its made my heart sing with joy for a good 2 years now! Not gonna touch the boba episodes, i'm gonna dwell in the good feelings of 2 years ago when the love bloomed for me. Sure, i don't feel particularly inspired to draw/paint anything even though i desperately wish i was. Maybe the answer is a few more face studies and then just. Make someone hold another real gentle. Idk. To be seen. If i can post any art before season 3 comes out i will be so very proud of myself i promise.

Hope you had a lovely new years if you're reading this, lots of love and good wishes for you. Theres nothing inherently special about a new year rolling in, it just happens and we're along for it. I hope you get what you want most, i hope the year will bring satisfaction and peace and the ability to recognize and enjoy it <3

#haeroniel talks #new years thoughts

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zalrb · 2 years

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I’m doing a second rewatch of GG myself (god knows why) and it’s really making me frustrated with the blatant writers favoritism… i.e. any time anyone outside or Chair RIGHTFULLY acts out against them because they’re horrible to everyone else, they get scolded and painted as the wrongful party in that scenario. Everyone always says something along the lines of, “I can’t believe you’d stoop to their level / do this to them.” But it’s okay for them to run around NY terrorizing everyone else???

Secondly, I’m surprised to find myself growing increasingly annoyed with Blair’s character when before I grew to love her; especially with Dan. But now? I’m in the early ish stages of season 5 (5.09) and she continuously finds any excuse to go be around Chuck. After they’ve had legitimately 3-4 conversations in the past season alone about how they’re letting each other go and they don’t bring the other happiness. She flips out on Louis repeatedly how he needs to trust her but then randomly wakes up on a Tuesday and says I need to figure out why Chuck is being nice. I know what to do! I’ll kiss him! That’ll show HIM! HUH? Girl??? The worst hasn’t even come yet where she makes a “pact with God” that “preserved Chuck’s well-being” and now she can’t be with him.

To me, they should have gone for it in season 4 with Dair and followed up on their kiss with Blair having to come to terms with the fact that she felt a spark there and denying it for a while rather than even entertain the idea that “it made her realize how much she missed Chuck” …. HE SOLD YOU TO HIS CREEPY UNCLE FOR A HOTEL! She spends all season 4 being told how happy she’s being and unlike herself, to which she retorts she’s being her real self and actually happy and “found her center” (actual quote!!) just to kiss Dan and say “definitely Chuck over happiness”. It’s being illogical and idk why they continued to shove it down everyone’s throats and minimize her character to a Chuck bass fan girl. The love triangle should’ve been her, Louis, and DAN - not Chuck (let him die getting shot for all I care in the s3? Finale?). Let her struggle between letting go of her fantasies and growing into the woman she’s becoming and enjoying and realizing that intellectual connection and conversation, and safety and comfort, is more important to her now than being a fairytale princess. Sigh.

Yeah, that's essentially why I stopped watching GG in full episodes until Dan and Blair were actually together and then when they weren't I stopped watching it again because besides the fact that the storylines were getting repetitive and boring in general, the Chair stuff was annoying because I felt like the writers placed this idea of the Chair Relationship above Blair (and Chuck) as characters so it didn't matter if Blair outgrew Chuck, if she was happy with Dan, if they were better people without each other, they had to serve Chair as an idea and would always bring them back together and hold them hostage to Chair and I was over it.

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mlchaelwheeler · 2 years

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I like this season, and I like the vecna plot but the episodes are so long and there’s just a lot going on. For me it makes me realize that less is more. The first two seasons had shorter episodes and were generally simpler, but they were still able to focus on the key characters. The first three seasons only took like six months to film (not including editing ofc etc), and the first three seasons didn’t take as long to write, especially not season 1 and season 2. From the return to filming in 2020 season 4 took almost a year to film the season. Like I can understand that covid would have really impacted the filming upon the return, but I also think a hugee reason why it took so long was because it would’ve been complicated to film with the three plotlines being set in different locations, not to mention how long the episodes are.

Tbh I’d prefer shorter episodes like in s1 and s2 that don't have too many plotlines to follow, the first two seasons felt so effortless but this season sometimes feels overly complicated. The duffers said that they structure the seasons like they’re a movie almost and I do see that with the first three seasons, but this season it almost feels like we’re watching 3 separate movies lol. Idk, I know they were only going to do one or two seasons at first and sometimes it’s kinda evident imo especially considering s1 started filming almost immediately after season 1 aired and idk it feels like the same show but it also doesn’t at time lol. I want them to go back to the basics honestly lol, and can they just have the byers in hawkins next season because i don’t really want another cali road trip plot even though it’s entertaining hahahaah. Sorryyy this is a bit of a rant lmaooo

No, I totally get your frustration! I also miss the simplicity of S1 and S2 where there was really only 1-2 main plot lines going on. With S4 however, there are 4 main plots, but I feel like only 2 of them really got well-fleshed out: Hawkins and the HNL. The Hawkins plot was my favorite this season, since everything came together really well and all the characters worked so well together. The HNL plot line was also super interesting and connected so beautifully to the Hawkins plot line when 001 was revealed to be Vecna.

The cali plot line was a missed opportunity imo, since they were given almost no scenes compared to the other 3 plots (they weren't even in 4x07!) and 2 of the characters are main characters from S1. It was really sad to see Mike and Will sidelined so bad in comparison to new characters like Jason and Eddie (i love him, but the main characters deserved a good portion of his screentime imo). The Russia plot line also kind of felt like a missed opportunity, mostly bc I feel like Hopper's plot didn't really pick up until 4x06 when he was put in the demopit. His scenes in the first 5 episodes didn't seem to have really any impact on the rest of the plot this season, so I wish they would've allocated this time to the cali crew.

Another thing I was unhappy about is that only the Hawkins and HNL plots seemed to be important to the overall story. The Russia plot has no connection to Vecna at all, and only involved the upside down when the demogorgan was introduced. Now, I know the mindflayer is somehow captured in Russia, but this will probably only play a role in 4x09, or the back half of 4x08. Similarly with the cali plot line, I feel like it started off good--establishing tension between Mike, El, and Will and allowing El to struggle without her powers--but once El was "taken," the plot was seemingly put on gold. It's like the writers forgot Mike, Will, and Jonathan used to be main characters and shoved them aside in favor of El. As someone who loved that stranger things used to be an ensemble show, I'm getting really sick of how much El has been spotlighted recently. I absolutely love her, but her storyline can be developed the same without giving her 50% of the screen time of each season.

This also kind of turned into a rant 🧍🏼‍♂️ oops

#hopefully this kind of answered your question tho lol <3 #feel feee to rant in my askbox anytime haha #ask sarah #anon tag

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notesofarichlycolorednight · 2 months

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s2ep4 despair bear

you're not gonna believe this, another episode i absolutely despised

racism

chloe's character

nice v kind

implication that it's difficult to be kind

being kind to gain something

marinette being compared to chloe

chat noir

this list is more to remind me what i what to cover, but they're all interrelated.

the racism one is pretty standard whenever chloe features. like it's not overt racism like kung food, but it's unfortunate optics for the writing team to have this rich white girl keep targeting her working-class mixed classmate and her black friend bc marinette just happens to be the main character so things have to happen to her. say it with me folks, you can't make a character non-white and then not examine what the means within your wider text.

the thing that irritates me the most is that chloe's character is treated with far too much grace. like putting aside wanting her to become soup, it's very grating for people to always give her the benefit of the doubt, and think she can change, and then scold marinette for not trusting her when all chloe has done is harass her and be racist toward her. she gets a miraculous for this behavior!!

speaking of, the fact that this episode should be more about chloe actually learning a lesson about how her words and actions effect people, it became more about marinette/ladybug learning to,,,idk accept that chloe can do nice things sometimes? like i'm not going to use the word "change" bc chloe did none of that.

and i'm mad that they had a scene where chloe actually helps ladybug bc it would've actually been quite a powerful moment for chloe had the writers been better at their job. (this is usually where i would throw something out there as a demonstration about how easy it would've been, but considering that chloe has thus far been an incredibly mean and racist person, i don't want to give her character any more thought than necessary.)

like ladybug turning to chloe to help her stop despair bear just bc chloe helped once. and then chloe being arrogant and overconfident about it, and all ladybug has to say (or not say, as it were) is to smile?? as smile that clearly communicates, "well what can you do?"

not praise her! actually tell her that what she did was dangerous! call her out for her racism! again, i think anyone as racist and unwilling to learn as chloe is should be turned into soup. punch nazis!

anyway.

it just frustrates me that after chloe affirms that she and adrien are still friends, she immediately goes back to being a bitch. i commented on this when the episode first aired, and i'll say it again here: the fact that she didn't learn a single thing and all adrien has to say is, "some people can never change." is my joker origin story.

i also hate that they gives us glimpses of a tragic backstory in this. as if this is supposed to make me feel bed for her. cool story, still murder and all that.

which leads me into points 3, 4, and 5. i think it's wrong to teach children that they should be kind just to gain something. they should be kind bc you care about your fellow humans. that's like how fundi christians teach children--it's fear-based. "you go to hell if you don't do what i say." except what they say changes and often does not involve being kind to everyone. it also communicates that people should be kind under some kind of pressure, so if the pressure isn't there, what's the use in being kind?

and i generally like to distinguish nice and kind in conversations like these. it makes me think about that post that talks about the difference between like east coasters vs west coasters. now, i'm a west coast best coast girlie to my grave. but i will admit that, like the post points out, they're nice but not kind. while many on the east coast are kind, but not nice. and the difference there is important.

chloe can be nice. but she's never kind.

i also really hate the implication that it's difficult for some people to be kind. i think that the ways in which we can be kind are a skill that we learn over time. but being mean isn't not our default setting. i'm not entirely sure what i'm trying to say here, but it just bothered me that the narrative essentially teaches and supports the idea that it's in chloe's dna to be mean or something. she's just a spoiled rich white girl.

marinette is a mess in this one. once again, she's the one who's supposed to learn the lesson. not only that, but she's once again so caught up with adrien that her brain melts out the side of her ears, and the narrative is made worse for it. when's that "the power of love so strong" gonna kick in? i had so much more to say and articulated much better, but i'm tired. just know that marinette's arc in this episode was also bad. but are we surprised?

edit: i remembered what i wanted to say. and the heel-face-turn marinette does at the beginning of the episode, going from "chloe just accused me of wrong-doing because she hated that me and my dad were getting positive attention and she wasn't getting any attention at all, and i'm angry about the injustice of wrongly accusing me of something serious," to "omg omg omg adrien spoke to me and stood up for me" is sooooo annoying and just butchers marinette's character. again, it's not bad for her to have a crush on adrien, but in these writers' hands, it's not done well.

once again chat noir is brainwashed to fight against ladybug and his cataclysm is useless. i should start keeping a tally.

and once again, ladybug proves that she does not need him to win against an akuma, reaffirming they're not equal partners despite what the writers want us to think.

also i know we know gabriel is hawkmoth, but does he really have so much time, he just stands around in his dark butterfly lair, waiting for scenarios to play out that call for an akuma? sometimes they show him being busy with fashion, but seriously?? i know he's rich, but i've seen the craziness of fashion week shows. there's no way he has that much time.

not to mention hawkmoth seems to be near-omniscience if he can sense that chloe is throwing a party and prepare an akuma for it? like i didn't realize this before, but it's never explained how he knows. like is that just part of the butterfly miraculous? but like. why? further evidence that they designed the villain before the miraculous itself bc if it were being used by a good guy, why would they need to sense that?

the one thing i actually liked about the episode was how ladybug beat despair bear (ignoring chloe's part). i thought it was clever, which is something the writers are lacking in spades.

#chirp.txt #chirp.ml

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a-very-fond-farewell · 7 months

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Ok, new profile picture new me I guess! so here I am considering to make a list of all the wips I have under my belt just to hold myself accountable (while simultaneously convincing my stupid brain I have no time to join a new fandom... I’m looking at you Evilive):

Let’s split this between fandoms shall we?:

Word of Honor:

- Children of the Red Dust: the modern!au where ZZS is trying to adopt ZCL but WKX’s job as a Mergers & Acquisitions lawyer gets in the way, with a sprinkle of traditional chinese opera on top

20/33 chapters already done, a new one on the way. I feel vaguely positive about this and I think I can manage updating before the end of the year or the beginning of the next. I’ve updated very little this year, compared to 2022 but.. I do love the story and I want to see it through;

- They Got Exits Covered: the sci-fi!au where the author knows nothing about omegaverse trope etiquette and rolls with it anyway

2/3 chapters already done......... fellas is is bad that I can’t bring myself to finish this one? I have re-written the last chapter at least 5 times, I discovered that I hate writing smut (unfathomable, ik, considering I have written even 45k of dirty sex in the past) if it involves baby-making (??), and I hate myself every minute that I have to sit and work on this project so.......... it will take some more time I fear. the premise was good, we stan a good premise and I love the vibe I got going on but.. meh. we will see;

- (unnamed project 1): aka the noir!au that I really want to bring to the surface but currently have no energy to plan out

0/0 done, none, nada. this one is fun bc I really want to write it and I got at least two chapters done in my drafts already. I wanted shorter chapters for this one, little to no dialogue, more ambiance and vibes than plot.. it’s so close to get started...! but I want to PLAN this right. never been much of a planner tho. idk where to start. does anyone know how to go beyond the ‘plot-points checklist’ phase? bc that’s honestly all I can muster for this one and it frustrates me to no end.

Winter Begonia:

- The Way Home: which is the retelling of the entire drama, episode by episode, through the lenses of a heavier, more overt romantic vibe between the leads (basically a drama retelling with additional historical context from the novel and my own research)

14/49 chapters done and I have already drafted most plot points up to the 25th.. but see my issue here. I love this fic. I. Love. This. Fic. but I cannot focus on it until Children of the Red Dust is done, bc I need multiple steps to get this over with:

need to rewatch the drama diligently, while taking notes (would really like a dvd set of this one, but subs alas..);

need to use the existing dialogue of the show and put it on the page, describing how characters move and react on screen;

add my own new fresh scenes to the already existing plot, which takes a lot of time;

research the hell of the time period and the details of the traditional opera technicalities (bc I’m not very smart, I love to suffer and I love this stuff too much to care);

come up with ways to tie everything up nicely without it sounding cringe;

read the actual novel to tweak things and fill up details from side characters’ lives and.. if you know the original story you probably know how annoying some of the characters are, which makes it difficult to handle at times.

so....l..........I need me time to mentally prepare for that ok? but it’s a long term project and I don’t care if I have no readers. I’m cool;

- Everything will Bloom: aka the follow-up to The Way Home............so it means I have to finish that one first

2 drafted chapters done already. but I need me TONS of research for this baby. it will be set in the early 50’s so I want to get this right. which means that I am reading everything I can and sourcing everything I come across as I go and I’ve been doing this for almost 3 years now. I’m not messing around. I want these characters to have a life after the epilogue!

MDZS:

- necRomance: the crack au people still reblog from my tumblr, the idiotic one, you know the gist

80/100 chapters done, not picking it back up. I don’t care for it anymore, it was a crack project anyway. also, not a fan of receiving comments and get excited to open the inbox just to be told to go fuck myself for not finishing this one. so uncool mate! totally got me out of the fandom. I don’t think I’ll ever get back to it so.. yeah. pick your battles folks *shrugs emoji*

STUFF I AM TOTALLY NOT PLANNING DESPITE BEING BUSY WITH IRL STUFF/RESEARCHING/WORKING ON WIPS:

that one Good Omens human!au inspired by an Italian comedy I am not writing;

that one Evilive fix-it I am not fantasizing about on the daily and I really want to dig my teeth into rn;

that one (extremely unnecessary) [insert classic Victorian novel title] epilogue retelling I’ve not lost sleep researching for;

(3 hypothetical original works that will definitely never see the light of day)

———

and that shall be all folks :D please admire my new profile picture, which I took from the manga She loves to cook and She loves to eat and edited to have a sense of continuity with my previous one (which was Jin Ling from the MDZS manhua). please get yourself a treat after reading this! and check out any of my current projects on ao3 if you’d like but please read the tags! most of my stuff is pretty heavy and at times either obscenely long or dead-dove-ish so.. please be careful!

- Niki (they/them) on my way to 30. can I get a wahoo??

my AO3: humble_prompt_machine

#sneaky niki #pinned post?#maybe #niki writes

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hopefulobjectmiracle · 1 year

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I am not the same anon as before but i personally interpret Mike's individual arc being about accepting who he really is and not reproducing the mistakes that his parents made (forced heteronormativity and conformity themes).

I think that's why the show focuses on his relationships with El and will.

But I understand what you mean and i also feel like some of his scenes (like the monologue) are a disservice to not only his character but also to El and Will's. It's also very frustrating not to have any insights about what he is truly thinking

hi anon! thanks for your input. based on you saying that you think forced heteronormativity is one of mike's internal struggles, i'm assuming that you headcanon mike as queer in some way - is that right? if so, do you think he will be canonically queer in season 5? i do like the idea of mike being queer because it would explain a lot of his actions and it would make him so much more complex, but i just don't trust that it would ever actually happen given what they pulled with will's sexuality storyline in volume 2. i also feel like the forced conformity theme is more aligned with nancy's and lucas's storylines in seasons two and four, at least right now. not saying you're wrong or anything, just that i don't know if that's what they were going for with mike in canon.

i'm totally with you on the monologue though - i hated every word of that speech and i especially hated how so much of it went directly against what we've been shown on our screens for four seasons. i'm just so tired of mike and el's relationship at this point bc i don't feel like they make each other happy anymore and there is also nothing compelling about them together. mike's storyline with will is also a source of endless frustration for me, given the way it all played out, and so I find it hard to enjoy any of their scenes too (especially since so many of them were about his relationship with el 😔).

the only scenes with mike that i actually liked this season were the ones in episode 1, when he was playing D&D and embracing that side of himself again. i really missed his friendships with dustin and lucas and i really hope we get to see him spending time with the other members of the party next season. i don't have super high expectations for mike in s5 given that i bet that once again his personal storyline will focus on his relationships with el and will...but i'm still holding out hope that he might get scenes with max, lucas, dustin, and especially nancy. the wheeler siblings were my faves in the first couple seasons and i need them to interact again.

lmao at this point idk what i'm saying anymore - i just think mike deserves better. if you're right, then his arc would be pretty genius, but if not and everything we've been given with him in seasons 3-4 is to be taken at face value, then it's easily the most disappointing story arc i've seen in a long time.

#also you're right that it's annoying not really knowing what he's thinking #this season seemed to be more from will and el's perspectives rather than mike's.... so I do not understand what's gong on in his brain #evelyn answers stuff #anti mileven

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