Wow. I watched Netflix's Persuasion and in short, it's a hot mess. The obsession with 'modernising' Anne completely strips her character of all the things that make her so beloved. Strong women come in all forms.

Anne is not Emma or Lizzie. She's Anne. Ffs. Let her be Anne.

Hotd writers choosing to adapt Mushroom's records out of everything they had in hand is the worst decision they could've ever come up with btw.

It's been stated time and time again that while F&B is purely built on records and gossip and morphed retelling of events out of bias and propaganda, Mushroom is the LEAST reliable of all the sources. He's a fool at Rhaenyra's court, his job is make people gasp and laugh, not retell historical events.

We're talking about the same guy who said that he had a penis large enough to match the size of his head, mind you. Also, he's obsessed with little girls giving BJs to Targaryen men somewhere in Flea Bottom. It's happened twice according to him.

The writers' reasoning for this choice is basically that F&B was written by Maesters and Septons, who were all greedy men, apart from being Green supporters. So anything they say is false, anything they say is written with sexist intent. Writer's intention was to do the exact opposite.

Then tell me, for the love of God, tell me, why is every woman apart from Rhaenyra, who is clearly whitewashed and I can go into heavy detail about that, basically shunned?

The Maesters claim Alicent left Viserys' body to rot and swell for days preparing and LEADING Rhaenyra's usurpation. She's the leader of the Greens, she and she alone. Not Otto. The Green Council answers only to her orders, they are loyal to HER.

I've seen people argue that since Alicent is what Maesters view as an "ideal" woman, then they would try anything to paint her in the best light possible. While I agree that this may be true, I don't think this is the case. In history books, even in real life, women are rarely painted as leaders or important figures.

For Queen Alicent to be written as THE face of the Greens, you know this mama wasn't playing around.

Now, how is this:

In ANY WAY, even comparable to THIS?:

At the end of ep.8 and quite literally the entirety of ep.9, Alicent is shown as a lost woman who doesn't even seem to know what she's doing, pushed by Viserys' last words about prophecy rather than SHEER DESIRE to get her hands dirty for her children's safety (which by the way will always be superior imo). The Green Council conspires behind her back, and on top of it all, she's yelled at by one of her own men and is made to take it like a beaten dog.

Moreover, we had Helaena's ROAST (yes it was a roast, my Queen inherited cunty lines from her cunty mother) against Aegon and her coronation, the latter being addressed as something quite wholesome, if you ask me. Alicent places her own crown upon her daughter's head and calls her "my Queen" after kissing her cheeks and kneeling. Afterwards, her and Alicent are literally written to be the only ones who could get through Aegon II's thick skull when he wanted to start the war right then and there as a result of Rhaenyra crowning herself on Dragonstone.

You hear me??? Aegon sat down and fucking listened to the two women in his life. Not the Council, them. These two were dogwalking him, the KING, on the daily, how is that sexist writing on the Maesters' part????

Yet these things are nowhere to be seen in Ryan Condal and Sara Hess' "progressive" show. We got beaten dog Alicent and Helaena being nothing but a walking spoiler machine other than yet another instrument to paint Aegon as the big bad wolf and usurper. Not a single scene of them counseling Aegon.

Baela and Rhaena have nearly no lines or scenes that don't show them in the presence of the Strongs. They are seemingly okay with anything Rhae throws their way because it's Rhae. The one and only scene about Baela openly speaking to her grandma about her wish to fight for Rhaenyra was deleted.

Meanwhile, Rhaenyra is stripped of her rage and thirst for vengeance, and instead made to negotiate for peace while in the books she was the one pushing to go to war first.

Can you tell me, again, how the fanfiction that is Hotd supposed to prove that they want to be "progressive" in contrast to the Maesters' "sexist" work, when literally all they do is whitewash Rhaenyra and sideline any woman who isn't her?

so, in regards to your recent posts on kane-tucky and usa food industry, do you / how do you keep active hope and not slip in into apathy and "looking out for my own" get out of dodge mentality? im having a hard time articulating this, but what makes you not curl up into a shaking mess in anger resentment and a deep desire for change that likely, if ever, wont happen in our lifetime.... any advice is appreciated

The short answer is "getting out and doing stuff in the real world, educating, volunteering, whatever is within your ability"

I will add that "looking out for your own" is not...bad. Like I don't know precisely what you mean by this phrase, but it's actually very important to come to terms with the fact that your impact is strongest where your feet touch the ground, and you have a responsibility and relationship to the people immediately around you, the place immediately around you.

This has not been a popular opinion of mine in the past, but...you can't and shouldn't care about literally everything on the planet. There is of course huge global disparity with access to resources and aid networks, and the largest communities we belong to are: all of Earth and the whole human species.

However: your level of agency is so low with issues that are happening on the other side of the world from you, compared with issues that are happening in your home town. And we're seeing people just get completely burned out from compassion fatigue without ever doing shit because the global responsibility is pushed on us and the local responsibility is not.

I hated my hometown for a decade. In high school I wanted so badly to leave. It's one of those desolate-feeling towns that's developed enough for a shopping center and big chain retailers but not enough to have a sense of community or a single bookstore. I've never been able to place myself precisely along the urban-rural spectrum because I feel isolated from even isolation: there's nowhere to go that doesn't feel razed by human development, where you can't hear the noise of traffic on roads, but it's all cattle pastures, sprawling storage facilities, auto parts stores, big, empty churches. One wrong turn will put you in a dark valley where there are rotting, derelict trailers on cinder blocks hidden back in the woods, and this place has that same feeling of "nowhere to go."

And I felt paralyzed by everything bad happening around the world and the fact that I was just one person, and I had gotten the horrible impression that the only thing I could do about anything was vote and donate money to links I saw online. The worst lie the internet taught me was that in saving the world, nothing matters except Power, Money, and an unclear third category that involves throwing bricks at cops.

But I touched grass. And the weeds taught me something. Do you see the parking lots, the harsh pavement and gravel and brick? I saw. I was surrounded by this landscape of brutal, totalitarian surfaces, impermeable concrete locking the soil away. But in the cracks in the surfaces, dandelions, purslane, and spurge were thriving.

I observed that the spurge stretched out like a shaggy rug and padded the concrete surfaces. The old leaves of the dandelions, as they withered, caught bits of dirt as it flowed into drainage ditches after rains. Soil was forming, and the sprawling structure of the early weeds seemed specially adapted for the task. In older cracks, more plants moved in; I found a wild ruellia blooming in a paved road, an evening primrose. And in some places, seedling trees.

Have you seen what happens when a sidewalk is left unmaintained for years? It disappears. The roots slowly buckle and break it into pieces, and it vanishes beneath lush leaves and moss. A tree growing in a crack in concrete will slowly pry the slab apart.

This is how my IRL rewilding project got started—just pulling plants from the pavement cracks, raising them in pots. I was surprised and awed at the resilience of the plants. I found little trees in concrete with at least two years' growth on them, that had survived being mowed down multiple times.

The weeds changed my viewpoint on the world forever. Up until that point, certain facts about power and politics and money had seemed like law, but I'd suddenly seen that there was a deeper magic.

The dandelions' survival made it possible for others to survive, which in turn made even more life flourish. They could not demolish and remove the concrete and pavement, but they could overcome it by refusing to be destroyed, because the power to take care of each other is in their nature.

People have made fun of me for telling others to go plant a tree. I think culturally we have this ingrained dismissal of things like that due to the twee, cutesy associations of "tree hugging" environmentalists, except in this instance it's because planting a tree is pointless in light of something something systemic issues, not because climate change isn't real, or...whatever reason people have for finding environmentalists cringe. (That is kinda sus now that I think about it.)

And I'm not saying planting a tree will fix climate change. I'm saying that something in my brain had broken and planting a tree unbroke it.

Go outside. Touch grass. Do the work in the immediate community you belong to, in the place you are in, where you have the best and most impact. We have the power to take care of each other, and that power grows stronger the more we are cared for.

The internet is a good place to share information, but that's fucking it. The real stuff, the stuff you can touch with your hands, the stuff that will heal despair, is out there in the real, touchable world. You need to see and feel what you are doing. Don't just give help—accept it. The power to take care of each other is in our nature, and by nature we can give more when we thrive as a result of others' care.

I hope this helps.

Nettles, Rhaenyra, Laena, Mysaria, and the Prize that is DAEMON TARGARYEN

Now, I'm not going to sit here and police shipping. I'm also not going to act as though better writers and thinkers long before me haven't talked about the same phenomenon of centring men in women's narratives as a way to value the women. However, as a person in this fandom, I do want to apply this thought to the shipping discourse of Daemon Targaryen because it has become exhausted.

We treat this man as though he's the prize to gain when these women are in relationships with him. In the sense that when Daemon picks these women to have a relationship with they gain a value and devalue the women he leaves behind. We see this with him going:

from Rhea and Mysaria to Laena.

He finally has a Valyrian bride who matches his spirit and can give him Valyrian children. They get along and are of equal standing.

From Laena to Rhaenyra.

He moves on, finds real happiness, finds his true family, becomes the Targaryen he was destined to be with his Targaryen bride at his side, and their Targaryen children with his real family

From Rhaenyra to Mysaria .

Rhaenyra became mournful and wasn't as she once was. Him and Mysaria just have this connection, and Rhaenyra approves.

From Rhaenyra and Mysaria to Nettles.

Daemon finally found someone he could look past himself for. The singers say they end up together. He does all of this and leaves the Rhaenyra to her death because Nettles left. He's finally ready to settle down and grow old. She saved him.

All of this is an overgeneralised hyperbole of conversations I've seen, but they always centre Daemon choosing these women to be in a relationship with as their biggest accomplishment in the narrative. Him at their side is the biggest deal, and when he leaves them, they are discarded and replaced by his new love interest.

The issue with this

Prioritising a man, this man, as the main factor in these relationships, discredit the women who exist outside of him and make it seem as though he's the only thing that adds value to them. The language being used, in short, dismisses their personhood and equates them to something he can own, discard and replace at whim, and he alone adds value to them. It's icky language especially with his game card.

Lady Rhea: wasn't even her choice. She hated him and refused to give him an heir to inherit Runestone. In the show, she makes sure he returns and kills her by insulting his sexual prowess.

Mysaria: is complicit and involved in his worst action but always ensures she pulls herself up with it. Being his courtesan made her wealthy, almost made her his wife. Then she's complicit in blood and cheese and gets herself promoted to the Lady of Whispers to the Queen, eventually putting an end to him.

Laena: CLAIMED THE LARGEST DRAGON IN THE WORLD AS A TEEN. Is quite literally the mother of the girls that survived the Dance. Her blood inherits her house's seat.

Rhaenyra: Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Had men avenge her death, and her son sat on the iron throne after her.

Nettles: created the religion that forged the most dangerous tribe in the Vale of Arryn. Claimed a wild dragon and committed alleged treason and escaped.

I'm not saying Daemon isn't important. I'm not saying he doesn't play a part. I'm saying that when we have these conversations about him and these women and the progression of his relationships with them, I hope we can reach a place where the idea that he leaves them isn't a jab or joke against one woman for the sake of the one he chooses. It's getting strange.

Women don't lose value because of a man. Ever.

This also applies to Baela and her adaptation in the show. She isn't uninteresting because she isn't a tomboy or like Daemon. They make her a political girl in the show and like Laena. That's not a loss. She's modelled after Rhaenys as well. She's just reflective of the women in her life. I'm sure she'll have a relationship to Daemon as well, but she's the Ward of Driftmark. That's quite interesting. We also have tomboys like Alysanne and Sabitha, so we aren't in a deficit by any means.

Man, the Borderlands trailer looks bad. Like, ridiculously bad. I could accept if it was bad and matched the bad of the games, but this doesn't even feel like Borderlands. While the world of Pandora looks great, the humor feels off-beat and forced (for instance, the call-and-response jokes are not typically native to the games). The casting is one of the worst I've ever seen. Cate Blanchett is a premiere actress of our time, but she is woefully misused as a 20-something Lilith; the same goes for Jamie Lee Curtis as the 30-something Tannis, though I have no doubt both of these actresses can act their asses off in these parts. Roland is an imposing military man with zero sense of humor; why is a comedian barely five feet tall playing him? You know I love Jack Black, but Claptrap as the mascot of the series has a very distinctive voice; if they couldn't patch things up with David Eddings or even get Foronda, then you've lost the plot. Tiny Tina is like a rebellious teen brat instead of a psychotic explodomaniac. Apparently there will be no Brick or Mordecai at all?

I guess I have to blame the Dungeons and Dragons movie for setting standards too high. For decades I was used to game adaptation movies being simply terrible and then I saw hope for a brighter future. I don't think this is it. I'll just...play the games again, I guess.

Jeremiah and worshipper god looking at eachother from across the street like that picture of the two people looking at eachother in their cars. Even funnier if they have the same darling. One being is an angel hunting god eater who views himself as a savior for humanity, the other a divine being that views you as the greatest thing in existence that is willing to bend reality to your will, just for a portion of your time. Imagine if Jeremiah decided to "adapt his approach" to getting your affection after seeing their tactics work better? Then worshipper god takes it up a notch, and then it becomes an arms race for your love.

It's the worst sight Jeremiah has ever seen. You and that fucking thing together. Even in its human skin he could tell what its true nature was. The only thing worse than it being a divine being was the fact that it choose you as its object of affection or rather worship.

The deity extends its palm to you. It heats with a bright glow, a miniature star forming in the flat of its hand. Even in the daylight the heavenly body's light was brilliant.

"Is it to your liking, my grace? Its luminance is only a factor to the light that surrounds you."

The God closes their hand around it. Smoke bellows from beneath their fingertips as they open it again. The star is now confined in a small glass jar with a sting tied to it. They offer the necklace to you.

"It's beauty can be replicated over and over - a feat created by your night sky, but yours is one that could never be replaced. I pray you accept my humble offering."

"It's gorgeous." You take the necklace and quickly put it on, showing it off with a smile. "How do I look?"

Breathtaking. It makes Jeremiah sick to his stomach how sweet your expression was. Course, you were a being meant to be praised, but he was the only one allowed to do it aside from those who deem him their savior. He was destined to aid humanity and have you by his side. That horrid God probably corrupted your mind to get your attention; buttering you up to make you its loyal follower.

It was the complete opposite. This otherworldly, ethereal being was the one to fall at your feet in worship. It saw you as an absolute power, despite its own able to rewrite reality and law to its whim. That gift was now yours as it gave itself to you fully.

Jeremiah has had enough. The priest storms over to the two of you; standing right between you and it. He flashes a kind smile as he bows in greeting.

"Y/n, my dear, is that you? Your radiance is so bright I nearly went blind. How are you doing today?"

"Hello, Father Jeremiah. I'm well and you?" You glance over at the God, wondering if he had seen any of the events that just occurred. They had reverted to their human form and were now staring daggers into the back of his head.

"Fantastic now that I've seen you. Are you busy at all? I'd like to take you somewhere special this evening."

"Um, well I'm spending time with my... friend behind you at the moment."

Jeremiah glances at them. "You can meet with them at a later date... or maybe never again."

The sky grows dark; the deity's eyes a pure onyx. You can't pick up on the exact energy between the two, but you can tell they despise one another. It probably wold be best to defuse the situation, but your words fall on deaf ears as both offer themselves to you.

One of my random book posts:

My long history with Anne of Green Gables

(and that series' unfortunate publishing history in Germany)

My first encounter with Anne of Green Gables was when the girl who bullied me in elementary school held her presentation "My favourite book" about it. The gist of her summary was: "This is a funny book about a girl who likes to pull pranks on everybody". Safe to say, she was not a kindred spirit.

This was in the late nineties, where the only way to buy books was to go to a bookshop and browse the shelves. Somehow, the only place in Germany where L.M. Montgomery seemed to sell were North-Sea holiday resorts. Probably because of the maritime setting. You can even tell by the covers that these books were supposed to be bought by seaside-tourists. Anyway, my mother bought three volumes on a holiday at the North Sea, containing everything up to Anne of Ingleside.

Until around 2000, the "whole series" in Germany consisted of three volumes containing two novels each. Some time in the 80s, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island and Anne of Ingleside also had covers of their own, but they've become rarities. In only own Anne of Avonlea as a single volume. For some odd reason this is yet another cover than the "official" one.

It took me years to really grow fond of the books. The first one I associated with my enemy from school. But at least I could relate to imagining things with your friend (yes, I had friends too). The others scared and confused me. I didn't want to leave home as a teenager to go to college and be a teacher before I was twenty! And I wasn't used to books in which people died. 😥

I think it was an airing of the Animé adaptation on television that made me read the series again at around 16. It became one of my favourite works of fiction. I love books which depict everyday life, making it interesting without overdramatizing. It's something I also try to do in my stories. In this context: Matthew McCarric is partly named after Matthew Cuthbert.

Until I was around 18 I thought Anne of Ingleside was the end of the series. Then, in another bookshop (this time in Munich), I stumbled upon the one called "Anne&Rilla", which is Rilla of Ingleside. It's a very rare experience to find that an author who's known to have died decades ago just publishes a sequel! And since Anne of Ingleside was actually written after Rilla of Ingleside, it was amazing to see that all the hints in it actually led somewhere! I'd never have thought I'd actually meet Monday the Dog! Also it was the first book I read that emotionalized World War I. I only knew books about World War II, usually written long afterwards with a didactic intention. Nothing wrong with that of course, but it sparked my interest in contemporary literature about the World Wars.

The German subtitle "Zum ersten Mal verliebt" ("In love for the first time") is of course one of the worst title translations I've ever seen, surpassing even the other two. Yes, they had already used the classic "Fateful Years", but couldn't they at least have put something with "hard times"? Also note that the sub-subtitle promises two novels in one volume.

Then I wanted to read the Emily books. They had also been published as North-Sea holiday-books, but were even rarer to find. I had bought and read the third on another North-Sea-holiday, but I couldn't warm up to characters who had a history I didn't know. The first one has been out of print for so long that it's quite expensive as a collectible. So I used this new thing, The Internet, and bought it in English. It was a mind-blowing experience and I was like "Never ever will I go back to those dated sentimental translations!" In fact I only keep the German editions because of their covers. They may sometimes forget it's set in the 1900s, but I still think they're pretty.

So I went online again and ordered the Anne and Emily books in English. It was then that I discovered, there was another book of the Anne-Series, I hadn't known about. This was in 2010, and Rainbow Valley was never translated into German until 2013. It's rare to find a sequel written by a dead author, but this is the only case where it happened to me twice.

Now, remember the German Paperbacks always contained two volumes. To disguise the fact that Rainbow Valley was missing, Rilla of Ingleside had been chopped in half, and has actually been sold as two separate novels in the past. I later bought one of these in a library jumble-sale, just as a curiosity. I've also come to appreciate that English publishers don't waste our space in the shelves. The blue book has half the content of the purple and is nearly twice its size!

By the way, the Emily series did not get chopped apart, but you can see the red label on the back of "Emily in Blair Water", which passes it off as a double volume.

I had already noticed that the German translations were strongly sentimental, but what's worse, they're also incomplete. Anne of Green Gables and of Avonlea are all right, but the lady who took over then (some time in the 1980s) had her own ideas. There were several scenes cut, for what I can only guess was considered inappropriate content. Among other things, all references to men wearing female hats or other female clothing were removed (of which there are surprisingly many). What's worse, the translator even added some dialogues of her own, usually in romantic scenes, to make them more kitschy.

There have been some signs of improvement in recent years. Rainbow Valley was finally translated in 2013. There are also new translations of the first two books, which I'm reading at the moment as a e-books. I like that it's fun and modern, but sometimes so eager to write something new, that it's not exactly the meaning of the English text any more. But I'm sure readers who happen not to have studied History and English won't mind. I guess it will be some more decades until the copyright expires for the volumes which really need a retranslation.

Well, and then I became an art historian, specializing in ceiling painting and book history. If you really want to know a book, read it in several editions. You'll be surprised about the things you'll find!

Kaiju Week in Review (September 3-9, 2023)

I was a bit nervous about GAMERA -Rebirth-; the animation looked dodgy and Netflix has a shaky track record with kaiju shows. I'm pleased to report this is the best entry in the genre that they've put their name on. Good characters, great action (brutal as always), and actual episodic storytelling that effortlessly weaves in elements from the Showa films beyond all the returning kaiju. Watch it immediately.

Tie-ins abound for GAMERA -Rebirth-: a two-part novelization, a manga adaptation, and a prequel manga that sheds some light on [UNBELIEVABLY MASSIVE SPOILERS]. That prequel manga (GAMERA -Rebirth- code thyrsos) is being published online for free in both Japanese and English. You can read the first chapter here.

In unofficial translation news, English subtitles for GAMERA.1999 (1999) and yokaipedia (2022) are now available. The former is Hideaki Anno's making-of documentary for Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris; the latter is a fun, child-friendly fantasy from Godzilla Minus One director Takashi Yamazaki with a big ol' centipede-dragon at the end. (It's also maybe the first Japanese kaiju film I've ever seen with a major Black character.) I haven't gotten to GAMERA.1999 yet, though from scrubbing through it, it seems like a lot of dialogue was just ignored by the translator. Shame, as that's one I've wanted for a long time.

We have a teaser for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, as well as a premiere date for the first two (out of ten) episodes: November 17. (I am being showered with Media for my 30th birthday.) The big news from this trailer is that John Goodman is reprising his role as Bill Randa from Kong: Skull Island. I assume that's going to be through flashbacks and old recordings only, since he was eaten by a Skullcrawler in that one. We also catch glimpses of two new creatures, a dragon and a crab from what I can tell. The latter looks to be fighting a Mother Longlegs.

Fandango and AMC have added mostly-empty listings for Godzilla 2000 on November 1. Fathom Events screened Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla on November 3 last year; despite randomly showing Tokyo SOS back in March, I gather they're making a tradition out of Godzilla Day. Note that the listed runtime is longer than the film itself. Predictions for the program: another message from Keiji Ota, the 2022 Godzilla vs. Gigan short, and the Japanese version of G2K. Interesting that they're running the last Toho Godzilla film to receive a wide release in the U.S. exactly a month before Godzilla Minus One has a wide release of its own here.

Gamera isn't a meta-defining Godzilla Battle Line unit... but he's Gamera in a Godzilla game, so I've been using him in every match since I unlocked him. He's gearing towards demolishing flying units, with fireballs that deal more damage against them and knock them back. A pity that he's arriving well after those units were at their most dominant.

Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons #3 still isn't giving me much to write home about, but the kaiju cult creeping to the forefront intrigues. Also cool to see Ebirah in a starring role.

Marubeni, one of Japan's biggest general trading companies, put out a bizarre commercial featuring samurai, zombies, a meteor, and a refurbished GMK King Ghidorah. The ad now has English subtitles, and you can watch a Ghidorah-centric behind-the-scenes video here.

I cannot believe I have more Cleopatra Entertainment fuckery to report on with regards to their Shin Ultraman releases, but they're truly trying to take the "Worst Film Company of 2023" title from the members of the AMPTP. Their third attempt at a barebones disc is starting to reach customers... but the ones who already received the initial replacement disc are being told no more will be sent. @starestream is trying to figure out if they'll be selling the third edition on their site, since it seems buying it anywhere else is a gamble. (Physically, the third edition looks almost the same as the first two, set apart only by the "SUBTITLED" text on the disc.) Either way, it's another blow to a movie that truly doesn't deserve this.

Awful Characters Round 3 (8/8)

Propaganda under the cut!

MAKIMA

The number of times I've seen people call others 'groomer apologists' or questioning if they actually like Makima for 'proper reasons' and aren't just sexualizing her are astronomical. She's truly a diabolical and fascinating antagonist. And yeah she's hot too. Who gives a shit if I like her character And her unsettling cryptic mommy energy? I have eyes. I have needs. I have love for Makima and I am not ashamed to say it.

ZHOU ZISHU

He's got that "villain of another story" swag, he's dating a fellow villain, and their clown shenanigans and body count have captivated me. That said, he's done some shit, though which of his crimes are The Worst is something me and the ppl-who'd-call-you-bad-person-for-liking-him disagree on. I personally think that creating an above-the-law organization that does assassination and spying for the government is objectively the worst, like if this was real world this would impact generations of people, and this setup just asks for abuse of power - basically, this is 100 times worse than any harm he's ever done to individual people. But thankfully he's fictional and thats why I can be like 'secret police assassin man hot' without a problem. (cw rape, sexual slavery, drugging for the next paragraph) The twitter-brained population however likes to forgo this in favor of focusing on that one time he kidnapped a teenager, drugged him, and sold him into sexual slavery - all to implicate a political opponent (who was the one buying teenage sex slaves, tbc). Which I mean for sure is bad but like, this harmed several individuals, not created an instrument of oppression that would harm countless people for years to come. And if you are rolling with the second thing because hes fictional, why do you draw the line on the other, objectively less impactful atrocity?.. He also has other crimes like war crimes (organized public execution of foreign diplomats during war time), and that time he murdered a 4yo kid he previously not only knew but like looked after and played with, along with her whole family, which got slightly less oomph compared to previous two but I'm adding them for completion's sake. As for ppl calling u bad person for liking the character: so this novel has gotten a live-action series adaptation a couple years ago, which heavily edited the worst of Zhou Zishu's crimes (and also replaced his whole personality, and made him be somehow both less of an asshole AND more awful to his bf). And then some people went to read the novel(s) and found out about The Crimes and u can imagine how it went. Someone tried to make a whole hashtag #NotMyAXu (A-Xu is his nickname) about how they rejected the novel version! So yeah this is one of the reasons for a schism between novel fans and show fans in this fandom. They cant handle our awful fictional bastard.

Hello! I was reading your shopping list method for outlining as described on your blog, and I was curious about how rigidly or not you applied that - do you strictly stick to ten things for each stage? How do you decide which actions/events are essential? How detailed are the ten things that need to happen surrounding the key event? What do you do if there's a gap or if the essential elements don't connect very well (if that ever happens to you)? I feel like I occupy an annoying middle-ground between pantsing and outlining where I don't do either effectively, and when I sit down to try to outline a story that's been in my head a long time I end up with a list of every little scene I've ever wanted to put in, but it still feels unstructured and missing essential plot elements somehow. So if you had any further advice than what you've already shared, I'm very interested! Thank you for all of your work, including your blogging!!

Well, first of all: you're very welcome. :)

Now, as for outlining: (and here's the blog post we're referring to, for those of you who haven't seen it...)

The ten-things-that-need-to-happen-per-chapter concept isn't meant to be so much a rule as a guideline, and you should feel free to alter the numbers and proportions as suits you.

(Inserting a cut here, because this goes on for a bit. Caution: contains brutalized characters, backwards reasoning, abstractions and imponderables.)

For one thing: every novel (and indeed every story, but at the moment we're dealing with novels) has its own rhythm, bound to its internal drama arcs and the way they intersect. There may be chapters in which not a whole lot happens to the characters extemally, but quite a lot internally: or vice versa. In such cases you're more likely to end up with a lower Things That Have To Happen number than in other chapters... and this is just fine. Other chapters may wind up with more than ten, and that's fine too. You should feel free to pull things-that-need-to-happen out of where you had them slotted in at first and stick them into other chapters that are less crowded if it suits you and the rhythm of the narrative.

You may also prefer shorter chapters, which more or less suggests you'll wind up with a larger list of Things That Need To Happen In The Book As A Whole. That's just fine too. When C.J. was passing this method on to me, both of us were writers who preferred fairly long chapters—often in the 10K range—which many writers (and editors) these days would consider nonconducive to readers' shortening attention spans. But this, again, is your call. The genre of book you're writing, and/or the kind of book you're writing. may have different protocols, structures, or traditions for dealing with its own kinds of internal rhythm. Tailoring your outline to those requirements makes perfect sense.

In short: move stuff around in the list-of-lists until it feels right. :)

...How to decide the nature of the items that Have To Happen? It's tough to nominate a method while we're dealing in abstracts. But dividing them up into physical actions (movement through space and time...) and emotional interactions has worked well for me.

The physical start-here,-go-there stuff is generally easiest to work with. Again, while dealing in abstractions: a book's structure can be considered as a pile of escalating problems and increasingly difficult barriers that have to be overcome. Ideally the worst problem(s)—physical or situational—should be nearest the end, so that its/their solution will be experienced as keenly as possible for the reader's maximum satisfaction. (But more importantly, for yours.) Sometimes I look at whatever end state I'm attempting to achieve and reason backwards from that, using the results to erect mid-plot signposts (for the characters and myself) pointing in that direction. So: find and define the place your people must get to, and can't. Imagine what being there is going to be like. Stand on top of the highest barrier to it and examine the terrain. Then (re)trace your characters' necessary steps.

On the character-interaction side: You need to know your characters well enough to sit in their heads and feel their strengths and weaknesses from the inside. (While also knowing, from the outside, the characters' own ability or inability to recognize those.) When I'm considering/building the emotional events that will make up the plot, since I'm not trying to reach my destination/solution with the least possible drama, but the most, I start getting cruel. I look at my story and try to find out how much trouble I can make for my characters— what roadblocks I can throw in their way, what situations can seem maximally settled before I come up from underneath and unsettle them.

But this is absolutely being cruel to be kind—and here you get to employ the excuse that a God might to Its creations, or a smith might to the metal in the forge: "This is going to hurt right now, but it's all about making you much more than you were, and you'll thank me for it later." ...Or maybe they won't: depends on the character. Regardless, your characters prove what they're made of—who they are and who they can be—by being put through the worst shit you can devise for them that also suits the plot you've embedded them in. Exploit their weaknesses? Absolutely. Smack them down at their strongest? You bet. Do both at once? Sure, if you can. After the hammering, the resulting alloy will be that much tougher.

The characters themselves may help you sort out what moves to make. Sometimes you can look at a character you know well and mutter under your breath, "Come on, what do you need so this whole mess works out?", and get back a useful answer. For example, the protagonist's answer to "What needs to happen" for The Door Into Fire turned out to be, "I need to stop being terrified of making choices and learn how to make hard ones, even if it kills me." (Which it then nearly does, because I know how to take a hint.) That core issue I was then able to break into chunks and distribute throughout the body of the narrative, encouraging poor Herewiss to fight his way through to the result, one piece at a time. The resulting book got me nominated two years running for the Astounding Award—so this approach may have merit. :)

...Anyway. None of this is ever easy work. Your characters won't be the only ones on the drama curve. But if you stay committed to them and the story you're putting them through, my experience says you'll eventually find the core around which your plot will start to (seemingly organically) organize. After that it's just a matter of pushing the pieces around until the structure feels right.

So good hunting!

Seasonal Reflection: Winter 2024 Anime

My feelings on the first anime season of 2024 can be summed up thusly: Most of my favorite shows from winter 2024 were continuations of shows that were already great from last season, not new entries. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and there were plenty of new anime I at least enjoyed watching. But it became clear about halfway through the season that aside from a couple fall 2023 holdovers, there was barely anything truly exciting going on here. Most of the adaptations I watched didn't do much to truly elevate their source material, and most of the few original series we got ended up the worst of the bunch. I can't say nothing good came out of winter 2024, but if this is any sign of how the rest of the year is gonna go, we may be in for a slog. For now, though, let's take stock of the anime I watched this season, and which ones are worth your time.

Metallic Rouge: 3/10

If you asked me what the worst show I finished this season would be at the start, I never would've guessed Metallic Rouge. I mean, it's a cool-ass original sci-fi anime from Bones with slick 2D mecha animation, surely that's gotta be at least a little cool, right? Sadly, no. Because this is, without question, one of the most baffling scripts I've ever seen in anime. Almost every single detail of its world and plot are barely explained, if at all, and the mechanics of what's even supposed to be going on are so nebulous that every attempt at a plot twist feels like a twist on something that never actually existed. Characters are plopped into the story without even an introduction. At times it feels like whole scenes have been cut out entirely. The only thing I can compare it to is the original Suicide Squad movie from 2016: a story so cut to the bone in the editing room that you can barely tell what's supposed to be happening half the time, and yet enough of the original story remains to suggest it was never any good in the first place. The one thing it gets right is the prickly chemistry between its two leads, and then it fucking keeps them separated for like half the damn runtime! How do you even unforced error that badly?

Bucchigiri: 3.5/10

Man, this was not a good season for original anime. Bucchigiri might not have been as staggering a writing trainwreck as Metallic Rouge, but its sin is arguably even worse; it's boring. It's a wacky, colorful high school delinquent romp with rainbow-haired Jojo's punks beating the snot out of each other with genie powers, it's sort of a re-imagining of Aladdin, it's got freaking Hiroko Utsumi at the helm, and it's boring. Why? Because this show gets absolutely stuck in the quicksand of its own status quo and refuses to budge an inch. Character growth is nonexistent, the protagonist is an aggravating loser wimp who never learns his lesson, and nothing of actual meaning happens from the first episode to the end. Literally everything you think is setting up a character arc where someone learns a lesson or grows as a person, all of it amounts to nothing. It's a limp, inert world that perpetuates the same overdone jokes and contrived, misunderstanding-based drama over and over again until all the outsized Utsumi visual personality feels like a tacky coat thrown on top of a lifeless corpse. What an utter waste.

Urusei Yatsura Season 2 (1st Cours): 5/10

I'm still not quite sure what to make of the Urusei Yatsura remake. is it charmingly dated? Annoyingly dated? A welcome throwback or a sign that some things should stay in the past? If nothing else, it never fails to get at least a couple chuckles out of me every episode. But the more it tries to lean into being actually sincere, the more its inherent cheesiness and lack of depth starts becoming a problem. I'm sorry, this cast of characters is just too abrasive and purposefully insane to take seriously, and none of their relationships are healthy enough to unironically root for. Lum and Ataru are not a couple I want to see actually get together, at least not unless Ataru stops being such a fucking shithead. And if him being a jackass could be charming in season 1, then this season is really starting to test my patience with him. It's one thing to be a serial skirt chaser, but his actions this season regularly cross a line from womanizing to unambiguous sex pest, and there's only so many wooden mallets he can get knocked over the head with before it stops feeling like like he's getting punished as much as he deserves to be.

Undead Unluck (2nd Cours): 5/10

Good news, everyone: Undead Unluck finally gave up on those awful groping gags that were ruining its central romance! Bad news: at the same time, it spontaneously developed one of the worst cases of recap padding I've ever seen! I'm not just talking overlong recap segments at the start of the episode, I'm talking constant flashbacks to events we just saw just moments before, straight up playing the same footage again just minutes apart, all climaxing in a truly unforgivable episode that spends seven goddamn minutes on recycled footage. Not even Tokyo Revengers was this bad with its time-wasting. And to add insult to injury, once it finally gets its feet unstuck and returns to a reasonable amount of recap for the final arc, it's probably the best arc of the entire show! It's some of the most bonkers high-concept emotional storytelling I've ever seen attempted, let alone pulled off so spectacularly. It's proof that there is so much brilliance to Undead Unluck, if it could just get out of its own way. But as long as it continues suffering from such massive systemic flaws, it's only ever going to be an also-ran.

Solo Leveling: 5.5/10

Okay, look; is this show dumb as a bag of rocks? Absolutely. Is it as nakedly an adolescent power fantasy as any anime has ever been? Ditto. Does it solely exist for dweeby incels to feel like swaggering douchebag chads getting revenge on all the normies who looked down on them by becoming The Bestest Strongest Chadliest Awesomest Of All Time? You know it. But god dammit, it's actually fun. I cannot pretend I'm too mature and sophisticated to enjoy a big, helping heaping of dumb edgy schlock when it's actually done well. I'm the one person on the face of the earth who still caries water for Akame ga Kill, for crying out loud. And Solo Leveling makes two really smart storytelling choices that keep it (mostly) on the entertaining side of dumb fun: building a genuinely interesting and intricate world that exists well beyond the scope of the protagonist's actions (for now, at least), and making sure that no matter how stupidly overpowered Jinwoo gets, his opponents are always just a little bit even more stupidly overpowered, so he's still pushed to his absolute breaking point and barely scraping together a win by the skin of his teeth every time. There is an art to edge that's too often taken for granted, and this show is proof that being the living embodiment of a twelve-year-old boy's wet dreams is no excuse not to be at least a decent version of that. That said, let's be real, Jinwoo was so much more attractive before his supposed glow-up. Give my boy back his scraggly rat locks, you cowards.

Bang Brave Bang Bravern: 6/10

What happens when a campy, cartoony 70s-style super robot anime crashes headfirst into a much grittier real robot anime? Well, what happens is Bang Brave Bang Bravern, the latest ten-car pileup of mismatched genres from the Cygames masterminds behind "What if horse racing but idols?" Take a desperate war story of survival against impossible odds, airdrop a skyscraper-sized superhero into the mix, and watch him completely shatter the original tone one cheekily ironic powerup and power-of-friendship speech at a time. It's a beautifully bonkers sendup of mecha tropes that has some of the funniest individual moments in this entire anime season, and the absolutely wild twist it pulls with the titular robot's identity in the back half is more than worth the price of admission on its own. Unfortunately, if it wanted to be as perfect a parody-until-it-isn't mecha series as Akiba Maid War was a parody-until-it-isn't mob flick, it probably should've tried being as long as most mecha series tend to be, i.e. more than just twelve measly episodes. There's just not enough time to develop any of the characters or world beyond the most essential parts, resulting in huge chunks of the supporting cast hanging around with nothing to do but take up space. And it leads to this show, which is trying to be so big and over the top, instead feeling so small and half-formed. Also, the secondary romance is gross. Like, really gross.

A Sign of Affection: 6/10

I think this show has helped clarify something for me: I'm really getting tired of how quickly modern romance anime get their main couple together. As much as we rag on the endless will-they-won't-they of ages past, taking so much time to build up the characters and their relationship before they finally make it official can result in some truly one-of-a-kind storytelling when done right. I might agonize over how long Sawako and Kuronoma take to get together in Kimi ni Todoke, but the payoff is so transcendent that none of those complaints matter. Whereas Yuki and Itsuomi getting together so quickly in A Sign of Affection... I mean, they're cute, I guess? His cool demeanor plays off her sincerity very well? But it feels like the show's in such a rush to get to the good stuff- and so determined to make Istuomi the dreamiest, most perfect boyfriend ever- that it skips over so much of the careful character-building that makes all the best anime romances so special. It's a sugary sweet confection, but wipe the frosting away and there's just not that much cake underneath. Honestly, I find the side characters a lot more interesting because they're allowed to have messy internal conflicts with a bit more meat on their bones. But hey, props for putting a deaf heroine at the center of your shoujo romance and taking so much time to explore how that affects the way she interacts with the world. That's a cause well worth celebrating.

Sengoku Youko: 6.5/10

Rejoice, everyone, we finally have an adaptation of a Satoshi Mizukami work that doesn't look like absolute garbage! After the flaming disaster that was Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer's barely animated hackjob production, Sengoku Youko has arrived to give the cult fave manga artist a chance for his work to actually shine on the silver screen. As someone who only knows him through Planet With, I've always wondered if Mizukami deserved the reputation his manga gets, and with White Fox delivering as tight and intense a production as they gave Re:Zero, I guess it's time to finally find out. And the answer is... mostly? Like, the biggest problems in this sci-fi/feudal fantasy mashup are the characters being a little too eager to state the themes out loud and one pretty crummy death that's about as hamfisted and over-telegraphed as I've seen in a while. But there's a shockingly gripping narrative underlying it all, a story about the scars trauma leaves on people, of characters making bad decisions and facing real consequences for them, of hatred and poisonous ideology forced to reckon with the more complex reality of the world as a whole. And it all climaxes in an absolute barn-burner final episode that knocked my score up a half point all on its own. If future seasons can make good on all the potential this first season has set up, then I may just end up a Mizukami fan myself when all is said and done.

Blue Exorcist Season 3: 6.5/10

I'm of two minds about Blue Exorcist's second return after a six-year gap between seasons. On one hand, it's clear the new staff is just nowhere near as talented as the folks who first brought this series to life at A-1 Pictures. The action is abysmal, the storyboarding is clunky, and the animation feels like it's constantly fighting for its life to maintain a passable standard. And it sucks that a series that once brought such great life to its story is now held back by such a mediocre production. But on the other hand... holy fuck, am I glad Blue Exorcist is back. I once described The Devil is a Part-Timer as the mathematical average of anime as a concept, but if you were to ask me what the best possible version of that mathematical average looks like? It would be Blue Exorcist. This is, hands down, one of the best straightforward shonen action stories in the whole medium, a reminder of why all the most generic and overused tropes were once powerful enough to become generic and overused in the first place. It's proof that even the simplest of "superpowered teens kick demon butt with the power of friendship" concepts can result in a wonderful goddamn series when handled with good old-fashioned storytelling fundamentals. And not even the rough-as-hell production is enough to keep season 3 from delivering on the thrills, tears, laughs, and cheers that make this series so magical. Just, please, give the next season more time in the oven so it doesn't feel like it's wading through molasses to hit those heights. Okay?

Delicious in Dungeon (1st Cours): 7/10

Delicious in Dungeon's biggest problem is that it takes a while to really settle into itself. The opening scene of the protagonist's sister being devoured by a dragon sets the tone for an intense and desperate rescue mission, but the actual series that follows this harrowing opening is as lackadaisical as can be. And it's jarring to be thrust into a gag-filled, character-driven fantasy cooking comedy where the harsh tone of that opening scene and the ticking clock of Falin's digestion completely disappear from the characters' heads in favor of how beast to cook and eat the various fantasy monsters they encounter in the dungeon. Yes, it makes a little more sense once the mechanics of death and resurrection are explained later on, but it's a weird note to start on. Which is a shame, because once Delicious in Dungeon gets a handle on what kind of story it's trying to be, it's really fun! Its sense of deadpan comedy coupled with Trigger's expressive animation makes for some really unexpected gags, and the way it explores its fantasy cuisine is genuinely some of the most creative stuff I've ever seen in the cooking anime genre. Plus, with the dark tone coming back in at the end of the first cours- and landing much more naturally this time- I have high hopes for how this series will marry those two sides of itself moving forward. If the manga fans' reactions are any indication, I think we're in for a damn good time.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (2nd Cours): 8/10

So remember in my last post how I said that it was kind of disappointing whenever Frieren turned into an action show because of how disconnected the fights were from the beating heart that makes this show so special? Well, apparently the writers heard me and decided what I meant was I wanted this peaceful, meditative tale about grief, change and the passage of time to turn into the goddamn Hunter Exams for ten episodes straight. It's one of the most shockingly ill-advised storytelling swerves I've seen in an otherwise good show, discarding all this series' strengths in favor of a half-baked tournament arc with tonally jarring grimdark elements and a bland, overstuffed cast of characters who only start becoming interesting in the rare moments they're allowed to stop slinging spells at each other and just, like, talk about life? You know, the stuff that Frieren's actually good at? Not this brainless slice of shonen envy that only avoids being a complete slog thanks to how spectacular the action is across the board? Ugh. Look, Frieren is officially the most beloved anime on the goddamn planet right now, and its best moments are so incredible that I wish I could join that chorus as well. But it's so disappointing to me that a show this singular and special has so often chosen to be the least interesting version of itself.

The Dangers in My Heart Season 2: 8.5/10

It's official: director Hiroaki Akagi is the master of middle school rom-coms. No other creator so perfectly grasps the specific blend of immaturity, awkwardness, cringe, and heart-on-sleeve sincerity that defines the love stories of early adolescence. That was already clear with his work on Teasing Master Takagi-san, but now that he's pulled it off twice, there's no room left for argument. And just like with Takagi-san, the second season of The Dangers in My Heart takes a show that was already shockingly good and catapults it into all-time greatness. This is a coming-of-age triumph, a soaring tribute to embracing your own cringeworthy self, flaws and all, and sharing that self openly with the people who matter most to you. Ichikawa's journey toward maturity, Yamada's journey toward self-love, and the way their romance sparks the best in both of them is the stuff that dreams are made of. I laughed, I cried, I squealed like a little girl, and I felt my heart grow three sizes by the time it was done. This is a new gold standard for anime rom-coms, and if you can stomach a bit of groanworthy fanservice, it more than deserves your attention.

The Apothecary Diaries (2nd Cours): 8.5/10

Most of the time when I cover a two-cours show on these seasonal reflections, I end up in a pretty different place by the end of the second cours than I did at the first. Either it sort of fell apart in the second half, or found its footing and took it to the next level, or it changed in some interesting way that affects how I view the show as a whole. But The Apothecary Diaries has stayed the course from the first episode all the way to the end. Start to finish, it's remained pretty much the same show, with the same ideas and attitude, exploring the same themes in the same ways. And you know what? When you're as good as The Apothecary Diaries ended up being, there's nothing wrong with that. This is a spectacular historical drama that builds such a rich, compelling world for its equally rich, compelling characters to inhabit. It's a powerful exploration of how old society treated the disadvantaged- women, poor people, people with all severities of disability- and how one deeply abnormal girl carves her way through this viper's den with her body and soul intact. It's the kind of mature, thoughtful series we so rarely seen done this well, and with the announcement of a season 2 already confirmed, we may well end up with close to 50 episodes when all is said and done. That, folks, is what a true shoujo/josei renaissance looks like. And I'm so happy such a deserving series is leading the way in reminding us how damn good women's stories can be when they're given a chance to shine this brightly.

DROPPED

Cherry Magic: Dropped at 2 episodes for looking like butt and the central romance feeling pretty lifeless.

High Card Season 2: Dropped at 1 episode because I realized I didn't care anymore.

Ninja Kamui: Dropped at 2 episodes for being dull tryhard edgy bullshit with overdone fight scenes that are impossible to follow.

May I ask why you like Sukuna so much? Don't get me wrong, I love him too, he reminds me of Yang from Piofiore, but I thought you would be more attracted to Gojo or Geto? 🤭

Thank you for the excuse to yap, anon! Talking about my biases is one of my favourite things to do.

I guess my answer can be summed up with three points:

Sukuna is hot - I like his tattoos and his true form satisfies my monster romance cravings

Sukuna is charismatic

Intelligent villains make brain go brrr.

To elaborate, when JJK first came out I did simp a bit for Gojo because of his eyes and white hair. It wasn't really anything other than shallow - hey, he's pretty.

(I've never been a Geto girlie, I respect those who are, but I haven't felt anything toward him other than sympathy for his breakdown or apathy toward him becoming a cult leader type. He's aight.)

When Sukuna was first revealed I found him entertaining but wrote him off as purely insane. Fun to watch but nothing interesting. This changed in episode 4.

That episode showed his charisma tbh. An insane villain is only fun to watch passively, that or they become annoying. A truly personable villain is one that lives comfortably by enjoying what they want to do but also demonstrating intelligence and cunning. Guys like Sukuna and Yang are my favourite type of villain because they're so incredibly selfish they seek to assuage their boredom via entertainment. They thrive in violence that isn't targeted or hateful, just pure enjoyment. Putting aside the murder part- as someone who is incredibly meek and anxious irl, those characters appeal to me because they thrive unapologetically. Their ugliness is embraced and celebrated.

From a purely simping standpoint- Someone like Nanami is the greenest flag you've ever seen. That man would take care of you and love you. 10/10 you should marry, he's perfect. However, for someone like me, that perfection would make my imperfections feel worse.

Characters like Sukuna basically remove that because they're reveling in their own fun. I think to really enjoy them is to remove your own ego from the equation in a way- because these men will not cater to you emotionally. Yang is there for pleasure, Sukuna is there for entertainment, ect.

However in this way - you can kind of find vindication through them too. Liliana grew into herself more by becoming Yangs woman. She lost her freedom but gained it in other ways by experiencing sexual liberation and the darker aspects of the world- living in it and adapting. I figure life with Sukuna would be like that too in some AU where he wouldn’t automatically kill you.

I find Sukuna the most interesting character in JJK because he's centered and intelligent even as he revels in chaotic destruction. He's well read and has a history that gives him a tangible presence. He's strong but playful, cruel but absent of hatred for his opponents in a way that feels almost respectful even as they're fighting to the death (with the exception of Itadori).

A lot of what he is ticks my boxes. I expect Scar from Wuthering Waves will also scratch my itch for this type of villain too once we know more about him.

Er so yeah...take your pick anon haha. Simple answer: Sukuna is a cool villain, and I like to watch him have fun (not excusing anything he does but I trust your media literacy enough to understand that)

Complicated answer for simping: something, something, female empowerment fantasy through being allowed to be the worst version of yourself with a villain, thus achieving liberation from societal constraints.

So was it any good? tbosas I mean

Well,,,,,,,,, kind of? I had fun, but also went in knowing they won't pay attention to what I loved about the book so my expectations were properly low. TBOSAS is my fav THG book so a different adaptation exists in my head

Non-spoilery: The movie is divided in parts like the book, but there is no rhyme or reason why, no dramatic breaks or changes like in the books. The Reaping isn't on July 4th because of course. Tom Blyth as Coriolanus was a surprise because I expected nothing from him other than looking sort of like old Snow. The movie naturally removed any and all nuance from his character and kept spelling out everything, but there were a few scenes where they let him yknow, act out how his character is supposed to feel, and it was really good! Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray was more of a mixed bag - sometimes she was fantastic in selling the over-the-top dramatic flare, but other times (especially towards the beginning) it was just weird. I firmly believe this is because the movie didn't fully commit to Lucy Gray as a charming crowd director who keeps her heart hidden and instead made her a more honestly vulnerable girl. She dazzled in musical numbers, though, that girl is a performer through and through! Viola Davis was bad I am so sorry but I felt like I was watching a Disney Channel performance and it's entirely the movie's fault and not hers. Peter Dinklage was super good as Dean Highbottom, he makes him all sad and lost without being over-the-top. The rest of the cast was also good. I loved the sets and the costumes, very in-line with what I'd imagined. The night/dark scenes were so dark that subtitles felt like they were burning into my eyes, it was the absolute worst quality dark scenes I've ever seen in a big movie.

Spoilery:

They removed Coriolanus' obsessive love for Lucy Gray and turned it sooo muted :(((( He didn't even want to kiss her before the Games! He didn't try to control her or feel jealousy or ANYTHING that could imply he might turn on her one day!! His emotional changes and impatience and politeness and selfish kindness are also all gone now. Sejanus and he aren't nearly as close as in the book, but there was this funny moment where the two of them had a more intense forehead touch moment than any Coriolanus shared with Lucy Gray and it made me chuckle. Tigris and Coriolanus were very very well done, I loved how she was always his first bestie!!! But I am sort of annoyed they turned it from "Tigris puts Coriolanus down for the way he treats others" to "Tigris is scared Coriolanus will become his dad". Lucy Gray's Reaping was absolutely horrible, she threw a singing fit instead of being a confident performer, so it makes no sense that she just flips a switch into untouchable after. Loved the snake charmer climax where everyone stands up for Lucy Gray and proves that Capitol needs a victor! It worked better for the movie than the book version, and the way the music exists as a meta instrumental scene where the score eventually catches up to her singing - THAT is how ALL her songs should have been treated!!! The way music worked was one of my biggest issues, sometimes they were totally off tonally from what their role was in the books (The Ballad of Lucy Gray Baird this is about YOU Maiah Wynne's version makes me sob to this day while the movie version is only saved by Rachel's passion) and only the snake song was properly utilized as a plot point. They were such good opportunities for exposition that is more subtle than just putting whatever is Coriolanus feeling in clunky dialogue. And the clunky dialogue WAS constantly used to make up for the amount of internal monologues, even if it made zero sense -at the end they literally had Lucy Gray say "Haha if you destroyed the guns and killed me you could go to District 2 no sweat hahahaha anyway I'll go get some potatoes bye" like what. In what world would she literally tell him that. She is supposed to be a smart survivor. They also put "it's things we love most" quote as the final line in the movie, and I can't describe what a stupid choice that was, because if it wasn't there the movie would go "Highbottom tells Coriolanus he won't be able to forget Lucy Gray-> Coriolanus' proud exit where he believes to be the victor as snow falls down -> Can't Catch Me Now end credits including the snow motif", which would have been SO much stronger since that song delivers the "Lucy Gray eventually caught up to Coriolanus" message and we don't get it spelled out like we're 5 years old. It's not the only part of the movie where references to the OG stick out like a sore thumb, and I am once again asking Why. Why don't you think your audience is smart enough to understand.

Hey, fellow supergirl fan here! I was curious, I've seen lots of your posts, really love em, and we seem to share a similar aesthetic for Kara! I noticed you really like woman of tomorrow, and after seeing it get announced for the adaptation, I just kinda got confused. See, I read it, but it felt really cynical to me? I don't mean it is, and I definitely don't mean to diss a book you like! I just wanted to know , well, if you could explain to me why you liked it, maybe I'm missing something! I think a fresh perspective would help me try and get into it again!

Hello!

Oh, hey, no worries! While it is true that I love Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, I also recongize that it's not going to work for everyone.

Personally, I really dig it for several reasons, first and foremost being that I love Bilquis Evely's art (which I first discovered via Sugar & Spike: Metahuman Investigations—definitely recommend checking that comic out!) and Mat Lopes' colors. Evely drew a Silver Age Kara in Sugar & Spike and I was like, 'you know what? She'd absolutely crush it on a Supergirl book.' And she did! From the gorgeous space dragon splash pages in issue two to the lovely expression work throughout, all rendered in her incredibly precise inks and expertly colored by Lopes, it's just. So. So good. (I couldn't find a pic of the space dragon saved on my phone but here's one of Kara and Comet outrunning the Mordru Globe, equally stunning.)

And I dig the writing as well! The way I read it, this is Kara on like. The absolute worst day(s). She's seeing the worst the universe has to offer with Krem and the Brigands and it's dredging up all these reminders of her own trauma, and yet! She endures, and even more than that, all that darkness and sadness doesn't ever snuff out her kindness and compassion.

Apologies but I'm gonna spoil one of the pages from the end of the run because 1.) it conveniently highlights a lot of the panels/points I'd share anyways, so it's very efficient XD and 2.) I think it just...it perfectly sums up Kara's true heroism? Which is not just in the big superhero fights and the cool powers but also in those smaller moments, of just helping people and being there for them, when they need it:

(Like my absolute favorite line? In the whole book? Is Ruthye telling Kara: Or in that town where I saw true evil. And I felt eternally lost, and you let me lean on your shoulder and you put an arm around me, pulling me back until I was found. That's just. Some top-tier Supergirl writing, IMO.)

Tl; dr: Woman of Tomorrow is definitely not for everyone BUT, I think King really does understand the core of who Kara is and as such! Those character moments really shine in this book.

...Also, like. That art! THAT ART!!!! XD

yk when you talk about mpreg (you absolutely do not have to answer his btw) do you mean the one getting pregnant has """"female"""" anatomy or just . is a cis man who Somehow gets pregnant

coz i've never known like when ppl talk about mpreg do you imagine one of the people as trans or just Somehow being a cis man w a uterus of a Secret third thing like????!!

hi anon!!!!! ty for asking me this i LOVE to yell about mpreg. the thing about this is that literally every person you ask would have a different answer. and i personally am fascinated by how many different ways there are of conceptualizing and writing about mpreg so i'm willing to read most things?

on my own blog when i'm riffing about phan mpreg i would say i'm picturing neither of the options you mentioned in your first paragraph?

in general¹ i am at best disinterested, at worst squicked by mpreg or omegaverse (or even transmasc fics) where the character who can get pregnant's body is referred to with exclusively "female" terms/has a body like a cis woman's/that is pointedly emasculated or feminized.

nothing inherently wrong with that being someone's cup of tea but it just makes me personally uncomfortable bc of how i and the lovers i've had have experienced transness! & i know that's maybe not 1:1 what you were asking with your phrasing but it's something i see pretty commonly so i figured it was worth mentioning.

i also don't necessarily picture them as cis men who magically got pregnant either? that's way closer, but it's less interesting to me on a personal gender and potential worldbuilding level. a lot of the time fics that do this are also going for mpreg being more medically traumatic/dangerous rather than a normal occurence and i'm overall pretty ehhhh on the execution of that. it can end up pretty intersexist & transphobic at times.

oooh no men ever get pregnant but the protagonist of this fic is an exception and it could kill him and there's relationship problems now about this being a surprise AND whether to keep the baby. have we mentioned yet that no men ever get pregnant and that there's something seriously weird about someone having atypical sex characteristics²?

you get the picture.

overall my posting is essentially playing in an unspecified/vague (and impossible) realm where both dan and phil are their usual selves—so overall still have the primary and secondary sex characteristics cis men do—but they ALSO have uteruses etc & maybe an associated extra hole. and the base assumption is that that mix of traits isn't atypical for the universe i'm playing in when i explore concepts?

overall the way think about phan mpreg is much closer to omegaverse biology than our own, but without the more wolfy aspects of omegaverse? it's not realistic or possible biologically. clearly defining that aspect would make it fall apart. and that's fine!

figuring out the nitty gritty of how birth & biology works isn't the fun part for me? the fun part is "how would dan and phil react to an unplanned pregnancy in a world where they are the same besides that being possible for them". i do usually imagine it being possible for both of them to become pregnant and cause a pregnancy? but the details on how it's possible are adaptable moment to moment depending on what suits my fancy.

for full transparency, this is all just in regards to phan mpreg. i think that people could teach college courses on destiel mpreg. there's SO many different interesting ways i've seen that go that are completely incompatable with the way i enjoy being silly about dan and phil. and that's just one example?

my ideal mpreg universes when crafting aus for fave existing characters are very much so in line with "trans man but no need for top surgery and he gets to have a built in functioning dick & balls, no surgery required there either"³. but that inherently takes things more seriously than i take phan mpreg posting.

or i just go with a character being a trans man? one of my OCs is a trans man as well, and in happier AUs⁴ of my original story he gets to have a family with his lover.

i hope this helped but i really have no idea whether it did or not! either way thanks for the excuse to ramble.

¹i have read exactly one omegaverse mpreg that falls in this category that has an execution i actually enjoy, and i think it's because it's self aware and intentional about what it's doing.

²it is somehow worse when people do actually say "this is because the person who got pregnant is intersex". i've never once seen that actually done well.

³this is transgender wish fulfullment.

⁴unfortunately for him his lover is very much so doomed by the canon narrative. reason why i'm on about AUs of my original writing. i post about my original story @unloneliest and @ostrela-wip

12 & 13!

!! Thank you for the ask! I couldn't tell which ask game you meant so I'll do both, feel free to ignore the one you didn't ask for :)

If it's for the character ask (Roy, obviously)

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

I think he's always moving. Just absolutely will not be still for more than five minutes. Drumming his fingers on the desk during meetings, pacing around the room when he's waiting for something, tapping his feet whenever music comes on. If Roy's in the room, unless he's trying to be stealthy, you'll know from the sounds of him moving around. He's the first one dancing at parties, he's drumming the beat to We Will Rock You on the table, he's this constant presence that you just can't help but notice because of how much space he takes up without even trying. Also he was one of those "chewing on toothpicks" guys in his Agent Harper days. Everyone thought he was trying to be cool, but in reality he just Loathed that he needed to stand still and be professional so chewing a toothpick was the best alternative.

Also, while he's trained himself out of the habit now, he was absolutely a pencil chewer when he was a teenager. Not all of the pencils he chewed belonged to him.

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

Tbh I can't really see him using emojis in the traditional sense, I don't think he was ever really active on the internet. I think if he did it'd be just thumbs up or thumbs down. But, if he were to use other emojis, I think it'd 100% be like, to tease people. Garth once misclicked and sent 😚 instead of 😊 and Roy now ends every text to Garth with 😚. Alternatively, Mia once sent him this 🐱 emoji and Roy thought it was the dumbest looking cat he's ever seen and now uses it constantly.

If it's the violence one:

12. The unpopular character you actually like and why more people should like them.

I'm struggling to answer this because I don't know how far-reaching the hate actually *is* for a lot of characters and how many haters are just in one small circle 😭 I guess with how rampant New 52 fans are on the site, Ollie's gotta be pretty unpopular just based on them, so I'll go with him. People should like Oliver Queen because he tries *so hard*. Is he perfect? No. He's human. And unlike some other human heroes who shan't be named, he's man enough to change. Some unnamed heroes stick so closely to the beliefs they set out at the start, but Ollie changes and adapts! I mean, he's literally a billionaire-turned-socialist. And a lot of the hate comes from his relationship with Roy, which most of it stems from like 1 panel that's taken out of context and fails to recognise Ollie's character growth. He saw addiction as a moral failing, and then re-evaluated his worldview and changed. And also he is dad <3 second dad ever (his oldest son is the first)

13. Worst blorbofication.

The obvious answer is Roy but yk what I'm gonna go against the expectation because the blorbofied Roy is basically a completely different character to my Roy, and is based in actual comics. I'm gonna go with Dick Grayson. I'm always a little scared to right about him because he contains multitudes and he's honestly one of the most complex and compelling characters in DC. That being said. I hate that fandom has basically boiled him down to "sunshine big brother". Yes, his relationships with the younger Batkids are very sweet, but also Dick Grayson is not a happy man. Dick Grayson is a bit of a bitch sometimes. I'm too tired to look for the panel right now, but there's this one panel in Outsiders (2003) where he goes off on Roy about the similarities between him and Ollie and ends it with "At least he was never a junkie", which was prompted by Roy (rightfully) calling Dick out for being disconnected from the team, I'm pretty sure not visiting Anissa in hospital was one of the things he brought up. A big fanon take I've seen is "When Dick's sad you can never tell because he puts on a smile", and while that may be true in *some* circumstances, it's absolutely not his default. Iirc Outsiders was formed after Donna's death, too, and he's sad, so he pushes everyone away and not in the martyr sense. Anyway Dick Grayson isn't the golden batkid he's the batkid who was crushed under the weight of being Bruce's partner rather than sidekick and forced to grow up too soon.