#now if only they stopped saying gay gay gay and focused more on character building that would've been splendid
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Thieves At Midnight Book 1 Master Post
Thieves at Midnight is an interactive work focused on character and relationship development and replayability. It’s set in the heist genre, and you’ll have missions throughout the course of the game that you can choose or fail and choices to make that will eventually culminate in the final heist.
Trigger Warnings: Parent death, grief, child abuse
Word Count: 95k
Chapter Three available on my patreon!
Demo ❂ Patreon ❂ Forum
You were born a child prodigy-a natural genius, talented at everything and anything, and it put you on the fast track for a career in law enforcement, until it went down in flames.
You built a new life for yourself on the other side of the law, but but it all came to a stop with an encounter with an upcoming thief team. You were set up to meet each other by someone who is pulling the strings, but to what end? With no other options, you agree to sign on with them for their first real job, but only to investigate who the person targeting you is and why. It’s supposed to be only temporary, and you were supposed to only be trying to find out who is coming after you, but eventually it becomes obvious that this mystery is bigger than you could’ve imagined, and the answers seem to be where you actually came from...
Lots of different orientation/sexuality choices (nonbinary lesbian, she/her gay man, my gender is bisexual, and more)
Play on Narrative and not have to worry about stat checks and correct answers, normal to play the game as intended, or Master Thief Mode, a true challenge.
Tons of achievements to earn!
Choose your origin between driver, forger, and thief-this will choose who your contact is, which prologue you play through, which missions you’ll play, and what role you’ll have in the final heist at the end of the game.
The player character has a set backstory and core personality traits; you’ll choose how you lean into them.
You can communicate entirely in sign language and choose which sign language you communicate with.
A variety of skills to potentially build; be a jack of all trades, a blend of two or three, or a specialist.
Decisions you made, your lifepath, and your successes or failures over the course of the game will decide the final heist at the end of the game.
Book One of Thieves At Midnight has eight love interests:
“Whatever it is that you want out of this life, I want to give it to you. I want to be your hero.” Caolán / Clíodhna O’Cunningham is the team’s leader; something spurned them to choose a life of building a professional thief team and dodging law enforcement over taking the path of a professor or diplomat. But after they meet you, their professional front soon starts combating with their heart. They are a love interest for any player.
“I’ll say or do almost anything if it’ll make you stay.” Isaiah/Ivanna is the team’s explosives expert and eternal optimist; they have the utmost faith that no matter what happens, the team will pull through. But maybe the optimism and sense of humor is just a defense. They are a love interest for any player.
“I didn’t know what to think the first time I saw you again, but I do now, and I think that we’re supposed to be together.” Milana is the team’s hacker, and your fellow prodigy; you knew Milana when you were children, and fate has brought you back together again. Milana is intelligent and hardworking, but she needs someone to show her that she’s more than just how she’s useful to people. She is a love interest for female players.
“I said to you when we met that you were just a person, but you’re not just a person anymore, you’re my person.” Suzanne is the team’s damsel. Emotionally intelligent and observant, Suzanne serves a vital part on the team; you just have to get her to see that. She is a love interest for female players.
“I could feed you a line about how if you stay, you could make a difference in the world, but I’m selfish, and I want you to stay for me.” Aeneas is one of the team’s grifters; utterly self-serving, Aeneas excels at putting on a new face and they’ve never gotten attached. But perhaps their icy exterior is just protecting a wounded heart. They are a love interest for any player.
“I’ve always seen other people fall in love, and I’ve been waiting for it to happen to me, and now it feels like it finally has.” Dominic is the team’s engineer, adept at taking anything technological apart and putting it back together. He builds the team’s gadgets and disables any security that could be in the team’s way. But the sweet and shy person that he is, maybe he’s more afraid than he’s letting on. He is a love interest for female players.
“I want to be able to close my eyes, fall back, and know that you’re going to catch me.” Milo is the team’s jack of all trades-the pickpocket, safecracker, and inside man. Independent and self-reliant, Milo has put survival first all her life. She is more than adept in the field, but she’s struggling with another aspect of the team-actually being part of it. She is a love interest for male players.
“I want you to choose someone who for once is going to put you first.” The team’s protector and guardian, Jason knows trouble when he sees it, and while initially he thinks it’s you and keeps you at a distance, but perhaps it’s not the team he’s trying to protect. Jason is a love interest for male players.
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Uhhhhhhhhhh hi! hello! I'm Nyx! Welcome, and thanks for stopping by (the odd crab seems to be happy)
So uh, I recently got motivated to start posting more about my fanfictions/weird art here.
I'll be starting a more dedicated side blog soon, (one that's pretty much all robots since that what I'm obsessed with rn) and it will definitely be nsft, since I'm trying to keep everything sfw on main. So look out for that if you are only here because I've started writing about spike.
(I will talk about transformers here too, I've got a bunch of fic ideas in the works, I'm just bad about finishing them. Other than that it's mostly obscure lore and speculative biology; and also uh, about having read through like 3/4ths of the AO3 collection. It's just got a lot to compete with on main)
I'm still planning to use my main for weird insomniac rambling, and cryptid hunting, and transformers fandom- also just the rare reference to actually being a human and not like. a weird squid. (One can dream 😮💨)
This blog is, for the most part, SFW. But there are some exceptions. My fossilized friend may not curse, but I do. I also talk about doing adult things like drinking and eating weed. I am not excessive about it, but I'm not trying to hide it either. So if that is something you want to avoid this this is not the blog for you.
(Mostly I use sfw/nsft when talking about excessive-gore type horror, or explicit sexual material which will both get dedicated blogs with specialized 18+ only warnings. I will not be putting content of either type on my main.)
Main is definitely the best place to learn about how far along any of my projects are coming though. And I will put them here if they are sfw.
So uh, besides that, this is also the place where I primarily simp for Eldritch horrors beyond moral comprehension; pretend to be a cambrian era plectronoceras, because it makes me happy; talk about being pagan; reblog whatever cool things I find scrolling Tumblr with zero rhyme or reason; talk about my hyperfixations; be unapologetically gay; build real life robots; and garbagepost (idk the right word) at three in the morning when I can't sleep.
Use the ask box to interact with the squid guy! He wants to be friends with you 💚🐙🐚
(that's all I'm using the ask box for ATM, it brings me joy)
--LINKS--
My Twitter: Coming soon!
My AO3: Coming soon!
My Transformers side blog: Coming soon!
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Origin of my profile pic art:
(I'll be replacing it soon though)
--About the ask box--
I will almost always be in character when answering the ask box, but that won't stop me from talking about whatever fanfiction or art I happen to be working on. (Or getting really excided about The Transformers)
Asks can range from anything regarding my creative works, discussions about fandoms, questions about the mollusk, asking about other things I'm interested in, to just giving the Squid-wizard a cool rock you found.
Since you can only have one(?) Pinned post, ask box rules will be tagged with #ask box rules please look it up before asking. (I'm sorry I know that's clunky, I'll re-type it up here soon)
--Navigation--
#3 am nonsense | absolute random garbage hopefully still fun though
#writing / #fanfiction | talking about how my writting is going or fanfiction culture
#how do drawing tablets work? | A genuine question, and also where I talk about any of my drawing ideas
#im only putting this here because i don't know where else to put it | Here as in here on Tumblr, also garbageposting but it's about real life mostly- I'm still keeping it vague because that's how I prefer it.
#eldritch horrors that give me warm fuzzy feelings | exactly what it says. Mostly Lovecraft focused. (He was beyond a terrible person- but he's dead now and I can put Cthulhu in a dress if I want to spite him.)
#uerrgh... art | things that I've drawn and posted here
#wow i actually wrote something | for when I actually finish a writting project as post it here
#video games i like | Talking about video games
#transformers / #macadams | Transformers focused posts and my current obsession
#really cool art i found / #i loved reading this | the general tags I use for stuff that's not mine but that I also really liked
#is that a cambrian-era plectronoceras? | Ask box answers, interact with squid guy
#thats right nyx is a furry | I really am! Nyx Fey has been my fursona name for years- before I decided that Nyx would just be my preferred name when online. I will also probably make a side blog about this too!
There are others but none of them are really dedicated enough to put here, I will update later if I need to. Especially as I make side blogs to try and organize things better.
I'm still relearning Tumblr so please be a little patient with me thank you 💚
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This is a post about Dean having undiagnosed ADHD by a person who has diagnosed ADHD. Therefore, I’m not a doctor and not an expert, but I know how I react and see many of those qualities in Dean.
Typical things that go along with ADHD are:
Hyperactivity
Hyperfocusing
Stimming
Hyperfixations
Impulsivity
Emotional dysregulation
Black or white thinking
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria
Trouble maintaining friendships/relationships
Substance abuse
Risky behaviors in general and sexual
*some of these also go along with other neurodivergencies- Ex. Stimming and Hyperfixations. This post is about his ADHD and not another disorder. And not all are needed to have ADHD Ex. I tend to not struggle with substance abuse.*
I’ll just go down the list:
So hyperactivity
This can be seen through fidgeting, restlessness, being talkative, and the inability to sit still.
In this example, it takes Dean quite literally 20 seconds before he gets bored and moves his attention, https://youtu.be/o1eL-3BJihg?t=20 (watch up to 40 seconds)
The clip below shows Sam typing and Dean having to sit in a chair and wait. Dean starts making noises and in less than a minute he is up and leaving to go somewhere else.
https://youtu.be/zvy_IKIHH5k
This might also be an example of stimming.
The definition off google is: “behavior consisting of repetitive actions or movements of a type that may be displayed by people with developmental disorders”
In the video, it is known as a vocal stim.
When Dean gets excited he is also known to stim - at the time I stamped in the link below, you can see his hands wave/tap at the railing. People with ADHD feel emotions more strongly than others do. This is why he may seem happier than usual when he gets pie (when it’s something he has regularly), or in this case, celebrate a holiday.
https://youtu.be/b82JDE0d6C0?t=29
Many of these can go together, such as you may stim when hyperactive, or stim because you feel strong emotions. So, with that in mind, I’m going to bring up emotional dysregulation.
Same as feeling extreme happiness, he also gets angrier over things that could be managed differently.
I hate to do it to you, but I have to bring up the prayer scene.
https://youtu.be/tcNVxm8HAXM?t=89
Specifically, the part where he talks about controlling it. Here is a part from the transcript if you don’t want to watch
“I – Ohh. I don't know why I get so angry. I just know – I know that it's – i-it's just always been there. And when things go bad, it just – it comes out. And I can't -- I can't stop it. No matter how – [Sniffles] how bad I want to, I just can't stop it.”
He is struggling to manage it. It’s an impulse.
And that’s what I’ll talk about next.
Dean is known to get mad, but there are other forms of impulses. Such as his tendency to make rash decisions and just go out on hunts without backup, or make a deal for Sam without thinking through the consequences, or through any part of it really. Also, besides his life, his relationships are also put in jeopardy.
He unnecessarily risks his life when if he waited for Sam or Cas he would be okay.
Risk-taking occurs because of the dopamine deficiency in ADHD minds. For him, these risks often are seen through him making deals for others at the expense of himself.
Part of this risk-taking revolves around sex
He seeks the dopamine high that comes out (sorry no pun intended but) of these situations. Dean has only had a few more long-term sexual relationships, but even those ended fairly quickly. He is prone to one night stands.
Okay, I’m going to switch gears to hyperfocusing and hyperfixations
The difference is the state.
Hyperfocus: This is a highly focused attention that lasts a period of time, but then ultimately goes away. Dean is typically in this state when working on Baby or when they are going after something. Or, how he spent hours building the Malak box.
https://youtu.be/YAkIQb7Xtzo (peep the gay moment)
This is also a state in which someone with an ADHD mind is able to be less distracted and stay on that task.
Hyperfixation: Is being immersed or obsessed with one subject or activity.
So, I can hyperfocus on a hyperfixation.
Some of Dean’s fixations are cowboys and old westers, cars, cult horror movies, and cartoons.
This can be seen in Scoobynatural when Dean knew exactly what was supposed to happen in the episode and things about the characters Sam, who also watched the show hadn’t known.
https://youtu.be/yWRZsq8nQT8?t=221
As well as the numerous times Dean has information on cowboys- one example:
https://youtu.be/nIsxiYkoBKk
Substance Abuse: It’s no secret Dean struggles with alcoholism. ADHD is 5 to 10 times more common among adult alcoholics. I don’t have much to say on this subject, since it’s very obvious he has issues with it. And again, these issues are more relevant for people with ADHD because of the impulsivity, and behavior problems that may occur.
RSD or Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria: The definition is “a condition in which a person feels extreme emotional sensitivity and pain due to perceived or actual rejection, teasing or criticism”.
Say what you will, but Dean is a very emotional person. Typically, he shows his pain or sadness through anger or alcoholism. Any time Sam does something small, he takes it personally. He gets mad at Cas and feels betrayed for seemingly small mistakes, that for him feel huge.
RSD also contributes to his difficulty maintaining friendships and relationships: He pushes people away when things get hard and before they can get too close to him.
This is shown when he erases Lisa and Ben’s memories. https://youtu.be/rTBCWT9c9lo?t=159
As soon as things might get hard he leaves before they can get mad or reject him.
Black or white thinking: Or, also known as all or nothing thinking, means that an individual thinks in extremes. Your mind doesn’t recognize the shades of grey. It wasn’t really until season 6 or 7 when Dean started to sometimes accept the grey area. But, that was a hard lesson to try and learn.
He saw good and evil - monster and human. Meeting Benny, and later the good that came from Rowena and Crowley helped.
Even with Jack though, even though he hadn’t met the kid, he saw only one half of him. He deemed him to be bad, cause in his mind he can’t see the grey part, which in this case is “he’s half-angel, half-human. But, that doesn’t define his character”.
Overall, in my opinion, this is enough to convince me Dean has ADHD, but, now you can decide for yourself. :)
*these are only some examples - there are more I did not include because this has already taken me 2 weeks to finish*
#i spent 20 minutes highlighting the words in colors#so thanks tumblr for deleting it#anyway enjoy#supernatural#dean winchester#adhd#adhd dean#jensen ackles#spn headcanon
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HSMTMTS Season 3 Predictions and Character Analysis
Ricky & Nini:
Ricky and Nini have a complicated relationship. I feel like they have the whole dynamic of “right person, wrong timing” vibe. They have chemistry and a bond with each other. However, for them to grow as a couple, they really need to have character development first. Nini really needs to figure herself out and who she truly wants to be and figure out her dreams and how she wants to pursue them. We had the whole YAC arc in season 2, where she goes there because she thought it was something that she wanted, but she realized that YAC was not truly what she wanted and isn’t what makes her happy. So, she’s slowly trying to figure herself out with independence and not relying on anyone except herself. In Season 1, most of her moments were with Ricky, with only the YAC arc really showcasing her independence, but her reliance on others in season 1 and parts of season 2. For example, Kourtney was the one who submitted her application to YAC, and partially her reasons for coming back to East High were also her relationship with her friends and Miss Jenn. Also, the fact that Carlos posted her song online, and she asked Ashlyn for help to write “Ain’t see nothing.” However, in episode 11 and 12, really starts showcasing her independence and stop relying on others for her journey. She BECOMES the one other people rely on, she hypes everyone up for their performances and is really figuring herself out and blossoming like the Rose. It is a great metaphor for Nini’s journey, and the fact that she herself calls Jamie’s brother instead of other people doing it for her, really makes it more special. Gina could’ve easily called her brother and be like “Oh yeah I have this friend who’s a great songwriter, yadda yadda.” But she does it herself, which is really great. Now with Ricky. Many people would agree with the fact that he truly does need therapy. He needs to learn how to handle change, and dare I say, realizing that other people are more important in his life. Personally, I felt like Ricky was very selfish this season. Last season, he was being selfish as he broke up with Nini because he couldn’t say I love you, and once school started again, he wanted Nini back so badly, but he proved himself worthy at the final episode when he stops being Troy to give Nini a chance to perform for YAC. However, this season once he and Nini are back together again, he was being selfish and thinking of himself again. When Nini goes to YAC, all he could really think about was how HER leaving was affecting him and his relationship with her.
For example, he would ask Gina for help on HIS own relationship, and sending Nini the message of how much he missed her and wishes she would be there because HE misses her so much. And thinking that Nini came home for him and him only. Plus, he thinks that the rose song that she wrote was SPECIFICALLY related to him, and then the whole situation with Miss Jenn and his dad, in which he was only thinking about himself and his feelings, with no regards to theirs. However, in episode 10, he finally stops being selfish and really opened his eyes to his surroundings, as he helped Carlos with his song for Seb. I hope this development continues, and once he realizes that he needs to stop being selfish, and is able to handle change and mature as a person, then maybe the Rini ship can happen once again. Another thing I’ve noticed about their “angst” in season 2 was the long-distance relationship, especially in episode 3. Although, Ricky and Nini were in the same city, throughout the episode, it still felt like they were going long-distance, which was probably foreshadowing their breakup. They only communicated through their phones that episode, and even at the end, their songs for each other wasn’t sang in person, but through the phone. As for predictions on the Rini relationship, I think that if Tim only plans on 3 seasons, then Rini will probably get back together at the end of Season 3, but if he has 4 seasons planned (which I am hoping for), then Rini will probably get back together then. Now we also have to take into consideration the career of Olivia Rodrigo. We do not know if she wants to continue with HSM, and even she herself is not sure. What I think will happen is, if Olivia decides she wants to take her music career to the next level, I think a really easy way to write her out without breaking the contract, would be to have her travel to L.A. to work on her music for the summer, so that there will be reason as to why she is absent for most of the season. This will probably take 1 episode to do and Olivia can spend the rest of her time focusing on her music. However, if Olivia decides she still wants to work full time in this season, then she might stay in Salt Lake and do the musical and write some songs for Jamie, etc but personally I think Olivia would want to focus on her music more than the show, as she posts about it more on social media than the show, and even with interviews. Nini might return for the final episode when summer ends and the new school year starts, so Olivia might just be in like 2 episodes. That’s my take on Rini for now, we get back to Ricky later.
E.J. & Gina:
Portwell is literally my favourite ship of the series, and it is just amazing. I personally would not like to see any angst in their relationship next season, but honestly it is probably going to happen and here’s why. Their relationship was built really steadily and took a long time to flourish. With other couples, like Seblos, Redlyn and Kowie, they got together awfully fast, taking 2-3 episodes to truly get together. So, the angst that those couples go through gets resolved rather quickly. Seblos with their relationship gets solved within 1-2 episodes, for the whole “does he like me because im the only gay one” storyline. Redlyn has the whole “Antoine” situation (which I will get back to later) and the “Red’s future” which again, took 1 episode to resolve. And Kourtney and Howie took 1-2 episodes to resolve the whole “Howie is from North high” and “Why Howie seems weird”. The reason is because those couples got together really quickly, and therefore their angst can be easily resolved through that, and wouldn’t really take time to fix. As you can see, Rini took a while to really get together. They were childhood friends off screen and we get to see their past relationship through flashbacks in season 1, but technically they took around 10 episodes to fully get back together. They have their cute., fluffy episodes for the first 4-5 episodes of season 2, but then their angst slowly starts to build at episode 5-6. It drags on until episode 8 where they fully break up, and counting episode 9 with their take on how they’re handling the breakup, so that’s around 5 episodes worth of angst for the couple that took 10 episodes to get together. So, with Portwell, they’ve technically been building them up at the end of season 1, but we’ll truly count the buildup starting from the Quincenero episode, which is episode 5, and they had 7 episodes worth of relationship buildup. So, I think, for the first 4 episodes, we’ll see some fluff and cute moments between the two when summer starts (and hopefully some kisses cuz like please I need to see at least one), but the angst will probably start in the middle of the season. It might take like around 4-5 episodes to fix, but I truly believe that they will not break up, and it will get resolved either near the final episode or the final episode of the season. Now for the REASON of their angst. I truly think the only “angst” worthy storyline is about EJ going off the college. As I can’t think of anything else that can topple their relationship. Firstly, EJ knows about the chocolates, which makes me think that he probably knows about Gina’s past crush on Ricky. Secondly, they resolved the whole “Big Brother” situation, and EJ knows that Gina doesn’t see her in that way. And the character development of E.J. and Gina. Back in season 1, they were arrogant and straight up ambitious people, who really don’t care about how others feel, but they truly changed as people in season 1 and 2, and had their character development moments. The contrast with them and Rini is that Season 1 focused on rini’s relationship development and season 2 and maybe 3 will really focused on their CHARACTER development. For Portwell, I think that would be flipped as they already had their Character development in season 1 and 2, so we probably will see their RELATIONSHIP development in season 3. So, since they already had their character development, I think it would be pointless to have unnecessary drama about their personalities or jealousy or whatnot, since they truly developed as people. So, the only thing I can possibly think of for their angst is EJ college arc. I know that they will probably fix it, but still I’m dreading to see it as I don’t want Portwell angst anymore. ☹ (ALSO PLEASE GIVE ME A PORTWELL DUET!! I NEED IT! Also, an EJ solo)
Ricky & Gina:
Personally, I do not ship Rina. I don’t think they would make a good couple; however, I think they would be really good friends. Someone they could confide in about their issues like Gina said “Sometimes I tell you things I don’t tell anyone else” and Ricky being like “I think we do that for each other.” We didn’t really get to see Ricky and Gina resolve their issues in season 2, partly because of Ricky’s character development. I am hoping to see in season 3, Ricky working on himself and fixing up his friendship with Gina. I think something that might happen is when Gina is going through her angst with EJ, and Ricky going through his own angst with Lily, they might be able to give each other advice and on how to handle it. However, PLEASE for the love of God, do not drag the whole love triangle back, because we do not need it. Gina has truly gotten over Ricky, and Ricky never seeing Gina as someone for his romantic relationship anyways, and he really needs to work on himself more, they should not be together as a couple. However, I do hope that they amend their friendship and is able to confide in each other once more, which I think will be cool and really help with Ricky’s character development.
Ricky & Lily:
Now this one. We know they will not be endgame, and I am 90% sure of the fact that Lily does not have romantic feelings for Ricky. Sure, she might find him attractive (and I mean who can blame her, Joshua Bassett is gorgeous), but she definitely does not like him in that way. We can see it when she “confesses” to him, she said to him “I like your brown hair and brown eyes” which are all physical descriptions of him, nothing about his personality which makes sense because she barely knows him, so how could she develop feelings for someone she doesn’t know. She has also stolen the harness, so we know that there would be no way that she likes him, and at the end of season 2, we don’t even get to see her feeling guilty about doing it, because she likes him. So that definitely setting in stone on how she’s only using him and manipulating him. Now for Ricky, yes you might be thinking “oh he’s calling her, why?” But Ricky does not know what we know. He was not there when Lily was talking to Gina about their roles as Belle, he was not there when Lily was laughing at Big Red, he was not there when she had a conversation with Miss Jenn, and he was not there when she planned with Antoine and when she stole the harness. In Ricky’s eyes, the reason that she was so mean to them is because of the Menkies, and their schools were enemies and rivals for it. He doesn’t know about Lily’s evil and ambitious side, and he believes that the Menkies might have made her that way. For example, he knows that the Menkies has turned Miss Jenn into someone different and a little bit mean, so he assumed the same for Lily, and when she asked for a second chance, Ricky gave it to her as he didn’t know. I feel like for the first couple of episodes, it will show Lily and Ricky “bonding” or getting to know each other, but Lily lying about the whole situation and really planning something behind his back, but we don’t know what yet. Maybe Ricky will be like “Huh, she’s a cool person, I’m starting to like her.” But then figuring out her plan, and finding out that she stole the harness. He then will be very upset and kind of heartbroken as he gave her a chance and she was only manipulating him the whole time. Maybe then, his character development will continue to grow and he will realize that he does not need to be in a relationship right now, and that he needs to work on himself and mature as a person. And I think him and Lily’s “relationship” will be a strong pushing point that he needs.
Seb & Carlos:
Now Seblos is one of my favourite ships in the show, and I love them to bits and pieces. However, as regarding their relationship, I feel like they have already resolved all their angst in season 2, it will be hard to make up angst for them in season 3, if they ever have one. I would like to say this though, I knew there was going to be angst for them in season 2, but the way they built it up, I thought the angst would be about how Carlos’ family is really rich, and Seb can’t compare because he lives on a farm, and it might make him self-conscious. Cause that’s where it seemed to be leading in the first few episodes of Season 2 (the sled, cashmere etc.). However, they brought a completely different angst to them which I thought was pretty surprising. Personally, I think they should’ve done the “class/money” difference in season 2, and then maybe the whole “why are you with me” angst for season 3, but maybe they MIGHT switch it around for season 3, and have the whole “class/money” difference then. Although, that’s probably the only “issue” I see for them ever, cause they’re a power couple and like what other angst could there be? Maybe they’ll introduce a new love interest but I highly doubt it because they already resolved the “I choose you always” in season 2. So, hoping there’s no Seblos angst, but if they do decide to throw in one, that might be the one they’ll do.
Big Red & Ashlyn:
Again, Redlyn is one of my favourite ships and they’re just so amazing. However, their storyline is hopefully again, all fluff for season 3, but one thing I realised that they didn’t really resolve in season 2 was the whole “Antoine” storyline. After episode 7, they never really talked about it again and introduced the new angst next episode with the whole “Career” thing. I feel like Antoine will be a more recurring character in season 3, as he only got like what? 10 minutes worth of screentime this season? (Maybe even less) and especially at the end as he joined Natalie in the final scene. So maybe there will be more of him in the next season, and slowly moving in on Ashlyn and making Big Red feeling like he’s not good enough, and then maybe Redlyn will FINALLY get their “I love you” confession then, because WE NEED IT! I’m manifesting for Redlyn “I love you” next season, and I think the whole situation with Antoine would be a nice way for Ashlyn to TRULY confirm to Big Red how much she loves him and how grateful she is for him, and vice versa. (Also manifesting for more EJ and Big Red friendship moments, like maybe Big Red goes for EJ for advice for his relationship with Ashlyn, and maybe EJ confiding in Big Red for Gina as well)
Kourtney & Howie:
As for Kourtney and Howie, they’re probably still going to work at the pizza shop together and continue to bond. A plot point that I think will be very interesting is maybe Kourtney trying to convince Howie to move to East High, but Howie kind of not wanting to, because he spent like 3 years there and it’s kind of his home. That might be a nice storyline to do, or it can be the opposite, where Howie is trying to transfer to North High, but Kourtney being worried like “Is he going to North High for me? I don’t want that, what if he hates it here”, but Howie confirming that he’s going to North High because the environment for him is better there and less competitive and toxic than North High. That might be a storyline that can happen for these two. I would also like for them to have a duet as well; I think Dara’s strong voice goes well with Roman’s soft voice and it would mesh well together.
Miss Jenn & Mr. Mazarra:
Now this one is a toughie, but I have some theories. Now we know that Ricky has given Miss Jenn permission to date his dad, which is another great character development for him, as he’s handling change and seeing other people’s happiness. However, as soon as he gave her permission, Mr. Mazarra confesses his feelings for Miss Jenn, which seemingly makes her happy, as we did get to see a little smile on her face when he did. Throughout Season 2, Benjamin was really the one comforting her, and giving her courage for the Menkies. We see it through episode 8, when he helped Miss Jenn film the commercial and how he put so much effort into making her coffee and setting up a table, just so she could relax. Same goes for episode 10, when she confides in him, and he acting like a therapist to her and accepting her anxious feelings, and helping her feel calmer and better. They are both opening up to each other. And I believe Miss Jenn truly appreciates him as a colleague and a friend. Now another moment is when Ricky’s dad comes to the show with flowers, and she was talking with Mr. Mazarra at the moment. When he called out her name, she smiles awkwardly and immediate turns to Mr. Mazarra saying something along the lines up “Why we always running into him?” and very awkwardly makes his way to him and you could tell she was slightly uncomfortable, with her awkward smiles and everything. This really contrasts from episode 3, where she herself walks up to Ricky’s dad and starts up a conversation, and how now, it is the other way around. Now, the whole problem of Mr. Mazarra leaving for Caltech. He confesses his romantic feelings to Miss Jenn, and really emphasizes on how she’s the only one who is stopping him from running off the California, which I believe that she is a big part of why, but also not fully. We really get to see Mr. Mazarra bonding with a lot of the students this season as well, E.J., Ricky, etc. I feel like he truly cares for his students, and in season 3, maybe he is thinking about if he really wants to stay in Utah for his students and of course, his budding relationship with Miss Jenn. Now, there was a scene in episode 4, where he was confiding to EJ about his rejection from Caltech. And he admits to EJ how he doesn’t think about Caltech very much anymore. He’s made his peace with it. This kind of mirrors EJ’s situation about Duke. EJ didn’t get into Duke from his own accord, but rather his dad got him in. Same can be said for Mr. Mazarra, EJ’s dad made the call for him for Caltech, and he didn’t really get in from his own as well, as he said previously, He was rejected many, many times. So maybe next season will really show him and his decision of staying at East High back in the fall, or leaving for Caltech. Now moving back to Miss Jenn. Next season, I feel like will focus on her and the students more, as this season, she was a really crappy teacher, and kept pushing them due to stress and wanting them to beat her ex at the Menkies. This season, I believe that she will return to the teacher that she was in season 1, and really focusing and hyping up the kids’ talents. I would love to see that Miss Jenn come back, and really help her students. Of course, the whole love triangle debacle will probably be fixed, I can maybe see Miss Jenn going out on a date with Ricky’s dad but thinking of Mr. Mazarra the whole time, and Ricky’s dad is a good man, so he might notice something is different about her, and tells her to go for it, her relationship with Mr. Mazarra before he moves or something. Also, since in season 2, we got to see Mr. Mazarra comfort Miss Jenn a lot, maybe this season will have Miss Jenn comforting Mr. Mazarra about Caltech, and if he truly wants to leave his students. Another thing I’d like to maybe see is Mr. Mazarra singing a song for Miss Jenn. We know that Mark St. Cyr has a good voice, as we saw from the Christmas special. So, him singing to Miss Jenn even though he doesn’t like musicals that much and all that, would show a lot of character development from Season 1.
Overall Plot:
Now, I have a few theories about summer. I’ve seen a lot of people saying they will go to a camp like “Camp Rock” which I think will be very likely to happen, and they put up a musical. What I can also see happening, is like High School Musical 2, where they go to a resort for work, and then putting up a musical there for the audience as well. Or they could just stay in Utah, and just relax for the summer, and not have any musical but just a lot of original songs about their summer in general and the stuff they’re going through. If they do a musical, I don’t think that they’ll do a musical from a movie or theatre, but rather write their own musical. I think it would be a really interesting concept, it can show us more imaginative and creative concept for a musical and have more original songs for the season. I would truly love to see that.
So that’s all for the character analysis and predictions I have for Season 3, sorry if it’s long lol
#hsmtmts#hsm the series#character analysis#season 3 predictions#gina porter#portwell#ej caswell#ej x gina#rini hsmtmts#rini nation#ricky bowen#ricky x nini#olivia rodrigo#seblos#redlyn#kowie#miss jenn#mr mazzara#big red redonovich#seb x carlos#big red x ashlyn#ashlyn caswell#carlos rodriguez#jennzara#hsm the musical#rina
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other main character meta- Ochako, pt 1
<part 2>
“Could you send me there?” you ask, while i blink, confused. “The world where someone else is the main character? not because i have any hypocritical biases against the one i got, just curious how the fandom meta changes.”
“Oh, yeah, sure.” I nod, thinking, before tapping my wand against your forehead. “Let’s start with Ochako.”
"I'm going to warn you now- I will have to slightly adjust the plot like I did with Mirio, just to actually let her be the main character."
"Yeah, that checks out." You nod, thinking about certain arcs where the female fighting teams get no coverage while the dudes get four different backstory reveals and full fight focus.
"Very well."
The show begins with a brief narration by the girl of quirks and super hero fights- all flashy. Then it zooms out to show the destruction, and a small construction team moving in as Ochako explains that just as there are new careers in society for heroes, there's also a bigger market for construction companies, one of which her own family runs.
"I've always wanted to help them with it, and my quirk would be useful"- a tiny, adorable Ochako finally appears, making rocks in a park float- "but to get a work license like that is expensive and selective- you've got to make a lot of court appearances and convince them why is a good idea and won't destroy the economy. It's much easier to get a hero license."
Then she explains: "Of course, once you have a hero license, you can make a lot more money than just by helping the company. Especially if... Your family company isn't doing very well." A series of tired but loving parents are shown working all hours to make ends meet.
"I want to help them- my parents. They've done everything for me, and they deserve a break. So that's why I'm going to be a hero- their hero."
The training montage is quick, using her quirk during school in training, after school in secret, around the house. She saves up money too, and studies, aiming for a scholarship.
She applies and tests for many hero schools, and the exams all vary widely.
The first episode ends with her looking up at UA, her final one, the one she really hopes to get into.
"Oh, that's nice." You nod. "And we even get to know her parents' quirks here."
"Yep." I agree. "In general, there's a lot more of a look at the financial side. It's pretty interesting."
"And the fandom?"
"Well, certain people get praised for the bare minimum, but I'll admit having a female lead is super uncommon for shonen jump." It's an improvement, though it's up in the air how much of one it will be. "There's also, because we saw a lot more hero schools, a ton of "students at different school" fics, either because they were expelled or because of the danger UA gets into."
"I do kinda feel like this universe is lucky for that sort of world building." You nod.
"It's very cool to see the takes on the aus. But, I will say there's a cost for this world building- the AfO stuff reeeeally comes out of nowhere and tends to not be popular with fans."
The next episode starts, and Ochako helps a boy from falling. "Love interest alert!" The fans notice quickly when the cute boy blushes and doesn't manage to say much before she walks away.
"They caught on quick." You note.
"And they aren't wrong." Not that it's any real feat to be right.
The exam starts, and Ochako is off in a flash. You see a few glimpses of future classmates- Iida, Aoyama, Kirishima.
She does well, racking up villain points and rescue points, until she's a little too ambitious and falls into the rubble. Her nausea is well established by now, everyone knows she's at her limit.
She can't get up.
The green haired boy comes back and stops the zero pointer.
And breaks every bone in the process.
Ochako saves him in return, lifting up the rubble and stopping his fall.
And then vomits violently afterwards.
"You know, I think quirks suck, actually." The fandom tends to agree on this after that episode/chapter. "But it is interesting that there's such a price for the powers, balances it really well."
"Ha." You shake your head. "They caught onto that, quicker."
"Yep." I can't even say it's more highlighted here, it's the exact same way it was shown in our universe- down to the sparkling rainbow puke.
"Though..." You can't quite imagine that's the only thing the fandom is saying isn't actually that great.
"Ding ding ding." I nod. "Did our own main character get treated just like a damsel in distress? Sure, she saved him back, but that just meant she could have floated away on her own in that time, even if it made her sick. Better that than dead. Is it the sexism?" I shrug. "Most decide to wait and see a bit, and by the time they work together in the first battle exercise figure it's a pretty even split between them saving each other."
"So no sexism?" You get happy at that thought.
I cough. "Ah, no. Both in the show and the fandom. You wouldn't believe how many grown men complain about the lady mc, even as they keep watching."
"And have her body pillow."
"Please don't make me think about that." I cover my eyes, but don't deny that it's true. "Anyway, yeah. Get ready for a lot of people to point out that even though the main character is a girl, every single other girl is flat as cardboard so far and that she only has developed friends that are guys."
"Hey, they aren't flat-"
"In the first season? Yeah they are. Unless you meant, physically, in which case..."
"I didn't." You protest. "But I guess I can see your point, at the start."
"Right. Let's continue on."
Uraraka goes to Present Mic to offer her points. The man pats her on the head, and skyrockets to the position of fandom dad.
"It's all about Dadmic and then Dadzawa here," I explain. "The fans were very disappointed to learn Mic wasn't her homeroom teacher, but yeah... He got a huge head start before Dadzawa fics got going."
"Nice. And it's all fanon?"
"Yeah, it may be a good thing he's not actually in it much, or they might realize how much they just made up on their own."
Then she gets accepted in, on hero and rescue points- she's third place overall, and she gets the scholarship.
On the first day of school, she actually gets to know her love interest's name- Midoriya!
There's also the quirk assessment, which really leads to the "expelled to another school" au and the "fire Aizawa and replace him with better Mic" aus, the first of which lasts much longer in the fandom use, but the second one was just as passionate for a while.
Iida becomes the second friend, and gives her the "Infinity Girl" nickname- which actually is the fandom assumption of what her hero name will be for quite a while, a la 'ground zero'.
Then it's time for All Might's first appearance on screen, to much applause of the students, and the announcement that they get their costumes.
During the first battle exercise, there's a lot more lingering camera work in the changing rooms. Ochako gets to expand a lot more on how she didn't want her costume to be that tight. It's uncomfortable, especially when she thinks about wearing it in front of everyone.
"Oh, I forgot she didn't like it at first... Does she just, get used to it here?" It sounds horrible for the plot to just say 'get used to it' to the main character being sexualized by costume makers outside of her control, especially as a child.
"Not on my watch." I mumble, waving the wand. "Don't worry, she'll actually get more costume changes each time, like some other characters."
"Oh good."
Mineta, regrettably, still exists. You find the fandom manages to be even more violent in his removal.
The battle does even out the opinions on Midoriya, as well as lead to a boost in Iida's with his charming little attempt at thinking villainously.
And cements Bakugo as rather hated. No one has really liked him, when the first thing he did was blow up at Midoriya, then get revealed to have called him a cruel nickname all this time. And then specifically hunt him down because all he cares about it beating him up.
"Yeah he's not gonna get a lot of fans here huh."
"He sure never gets first place in the popularity poll." I agree. "Most consider him the subversion of the rival trope to show is just stupid and violent and in real life, people like that don't go anywhere."
"Most?"
I look away. "How dumb of a discourse do you think you could see today?"
"Oh please, show me." You lean in. "It's nice to not have to deal with it in my universe, so I don't care."
The discourse is such.
Bakugo is gay-coded for Midoriya, the violence is a result of him being shoved off for a girl's love interest when she should be single and independent, and the homophobic creator is vilifying all gay people by saying they are predatory to poor straight boys with refused.
"They............... What."
"If it makes you feel better, that's a very brief minority of the fandom. My favorite response to it was "he's not gay-coded, he's bully coded you sanctimonious sumph of a shmuck.""
"Oh good," you sigh. "I'm glad we don't have to deal with actual queerphobic tropes like that."
I stare at you.
"What?"
I sigh. "Nothing, put a pin in that until I bring up the predatory bi thing with Toga."
Your eyes widen, and you start to have some regrets.
"Anyway, we can talk shipping later. Time for more."
The 'exit sign Iida' gives him a boost in being shipped with Ochako, (as well as Yaoyorozu) and also the general idea that "Ochako has two hands."
That one hand can have a boyfriend with a lot of cash to spare for her and the other is also played with.
"I missed the main trio, like this." You smile as they walk off into the sunset after school.
"Yeah." I agree. "Anyway, time for some near death experiences."
The USJ marks the start of the gradual, gradual growth of Dadzawa fics. It also focuses far more on Ochako, Mina, Sero, and Iida having to think strategically to get around Kurogiri. It's only after Iida escapes that we cut back to a slightly abridged version of how Midoriya was doing, then the other kids, before help arrives.
He does still through his first non bone breaking punch though, which makes the audience happy.
All Might saves the day. Aizawa is battered afterwards. Many fans start out by saying they were disappointed, since this was supposed to be the first big fight, and the kids didn't do much. Many others say in response that's the point- we're looking at first years, they had to think and help each other, but in the end they had to rely on adults.
And then the sports festival is announced. They want to do well, because this is how they get work-week placements, which could become internship offers.
Ochako thinks about Hado Nejire, the only intern of a top ten hero, and senior at UA, along with a few others who are on the up and up. She's determined.
"Really? You're bringing in the big three early?" You ask, glancing at my wand.
It's not sparkling.
I cross my arms with a huff. "Look. Nejire is at this point the only intern in the top ten, she would have been recognizable to the students for that, even if they didn't recognize the big three (which really means that they aren't actually called the Big Three by everyone, or at least not a wide enough group for it to be as big a deal as it's treated. Anyway.) But she wasn't, even if she should have been the most famous of the bunch, considering the coverage the first years got in just their first night. That's because a certain someone doesn't actually think of his female characters much, but he has to in this universe, so."
"Ok, yeah, that's fair. So does that change the sports festival?"
"Not... Much." I admit.
“What?”
“Well, keep in mind in the first universe, our main character didn’t make it past the second round in the one-on-one’s. So she’s not exactly guaranteed a win here either.”
You have to nod, admitting that is true.
“And the conflict isn’t so much about having to live up to any predecessor or breaking down some people’s walls via breaking bones.” I tap my wand against my chin, thinking. “There really is two- one about Midoriya, and one about Ochako’s parents.”
“Oh?”
“One, there’s been the Uraraka’s not happy about how much danger Ochako’s been in. Its been hinted at in the phone calls, but really shows up when we get to see them at home before the SF for the first time since she moved for school. They aren’t sure if she can stay there herself, or if the right thing to do would be to pull her out and maybe try a smaller school.”
“I suppose that's fair, if they haven't been able to actually see her or her progress.”
“Right. The second one is- well. in this, Izuku’s win of the first round, and then breaking out of brainwashing, is more about really piling on how good his mind is- all that brain power. This adds more pressure when we see Ochako being offered a plan from him to beat Bakugo.”
“Oh that does sound neat.”
“Yep- but of course, she still refuses. It’s held up as a worse thing, strategically, initially- but then she comes up with a plan that Midoriya confirms in the stands is better than his, and proves to her parents that she’s smart and skilled enough to handle continuing at the school.”
You smile. “That is a cool arc to do, i guess, if very not traditional. But what about all the character setup and growth with Shinsou and Todoroki?”
“Oh, Shinsou’s largely gets delegated all the way later for the joint training arc, where Ochako’s team is directly against him. Todoroki...” I begin to giggle.
You wait for me to answer, getting more concerned the longer i laugh.
“Pocket?”
“Sorry, sorry, yeah. He actually tells her himself in this canon, a bit after stain. Oh! right, i forgot- the cheerleader incident.”
“Oh no.”
“Oh yes. of course they need this merch opportunity! But yes, it happens. The... shall we say, non-body-pillow portion of the fandom, generally saw it as the end of any goodwill to Kaminari, who had previously been seen as a tertiary possible love interest, since he’d flirted with her on the first day. Flirt, but harmless, and unlikely to be important. Then there was that breach of trust and international embarrassment, and anyway he’s basically the second least likely in 1a to be shipped with her now.”
“Wow. So none of that changed?”
“Well, the setup wasn’t under narration from Todoroki about how his mother was bought for her body and how much that sucked and impacted her and the family while on screen we see multiple girls tricked into barring their bodies and its treated as a laugh instead?”
You stare at me. “I’m not sure if that’s better or worse.”
“Neither am I.”
“So, the Todoroki reveal?”
“Right. So, first you need to know the Stain thing- the claims he has against ‘false’ heroes focusing on money is better spotlighted. After Stain’s arrest, Ochako hears a couple of sidekicks at Gunhead’s agency-”
“Wait!” you interrupt. “She still interned with Gunhead? Then what was the point of showing Nejire and Ryukyuu earlier?”
I try not to massage my forehead. “To build up to it. She only made it to the first of the final round, she couldn’t get an internship with a top tenner yet. She’s also got to learn how to disarm someone who fights with a knife. These things build up over more time, small steps.”
“Ah.” You’re satisfied, and let me continue.
“Right, so, Overhears a couple of them talking about Stain’s philosophy and ends up just feeling really bad about it for a bit, trying to figure out if she’s actually being selfish or a bad hero for, you know, wanting her family to not be crushed due to capitalism.”
“Poor girl.” You shake your head in sympathy, the freeze. “Oh. did not intend that pun.”
“It’s alright, i know what you mean. And yeah, she bottles it up for a bit, until the second day back at school. Then Iida reminds her that him bottling things up last week got several kids in mortal danger, and she begrudgingly admits that he has a point and tells them about what has been bugging her.”
“And they comfort her?”
“Well, Todoroki also offers to tell off Kaminari because at this point his mention of stain upset both her and iida, but yes, A lot of reassurances.”
You squint. “I feel like shippers.”
“You’re learning! Yes, Todoroki is just a bit behind Iida in terms of popularity shipping with her. and she does basically get shipped A Lot with each girl in her class too, like imagine double to triple the amount with each girl now, and for the minor guys- but yeah. There’s a lottttt of ships. This was basically called ‘todoroki’s introduction into ochako’s harem’ in the fandom.”
Shipping. fandom just can’t escape it.
“So, then she learns about Todoroki’s past? oh, and what about Hosu? Does she- and everyone else- actually think Endeavor saved the three??”
I snort. “Oh, no. Todoroki’s flat ‘yeah my father totally helped us, as you read on the official report’ basically tipped the fandom off that something else had. But nothing confirmed either, you know? Filling in the hosu gap is another trope in fics that is pretty common.”
“Neat.”
“Yep. But yeah Todoroki tells her his backstory a bit after his introduction into her ‘harem’ of friends. It’s really played up more to caution Ochako- its alright for her to want to help her family, and to work for money to do that. But Rei accepted the marriage offer for money for her family too, and it ended up breaking her. Ochako has to accept a balance- she can work to help her family, and its good, but there are some things she cannot morally do to help them, and other things that she shouldn’t do because she has to take care of her own health first.”
“Ohhhh.” You hadn’t quite expected that, but you sorta liked it, now that you thought about it.
I smile. “It is pretty neat, yeah.” I glance at my watch. “Look, i hate to cut you off, but this post is gonna end up thrice the length of Mirio’s and i think tumblr might stop me, so we’re gonna have to do a two-parter.”
“That’s fine.” You are gracious for what you’ve gotten so far, and do have questions that you’re excited to see answered for the rest of the series. “It’s been fun.”
“It has been.” I agree. “Lets take a break, but you can ask me any questions too, before I return for part two.”
<part 2>
#other main characters meta series#seriously u may send questions i will try to adress in part two#but yeah wow that got long#see you in part two
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I know you’ve posted about ratings in the past but I would be sooo curious to hear what you think about the finale ratings? They’ve been dipping so low the last few weeks that a part of me thinks it’s definitely that last scene that brought in more viewers. But, I dunno. 👀 It’ll also be interesting to see how the premiere does.
Hello!
Okay, I had to do some research on this one. Before I get into the Season 4 ratings, I wanted to first look at 9-1-1's seasonal averages to see how they compare. (M = Million; D = Demographic)
General Data:
Season One:
premiered with 6.8M views and scored 1.78 among the 18-49yo demographic and ended with a 6.3M viewer average and a 1.65D average
Season Two:
premiered with a 9.8M viewers and scored 2.56 among the 18-49yo demographic and ended with 6.0M viewer average and a 1.37D average
Season Three:
premiered with 7.1M viewers and a 1.59 among the 18-49yo demographic and ended with 6.8M viewer average and a 1.38D average
Season Four:
premiered with 7.1M viewers and a 1.22 among the 18-49yo demographic and ended with approx. 6.4M viewers* (seen conflicting reports) and a 1.05D average.
(ALSO: Not really relevant but totally of interest: S1E1 of 9-1-1 Lone Star premiered with 11.4M views. WOW)
Season Four Data
Season 4 ended with a total Nielsen rating of 1.7 which is average for scripted network shows of this caliber (for context: Grey's Anatomy also ended with a 1.7). Scripted network shows are NEVER going to beat out football/live sports or reality television like but for what it is, 9-1-1 does pretty well. (source)
To your point about the ratings dipping low lately, the truth is that Season 4's episodic ratings have dropped significantly compared to 9-1-1's previous seasons (1.53, 1.21, and 1.19 were their lowest episodic ratings for S1-3 respectively with 0.85 being Season 4's lowest episodic rating. OUCH). Even though 9-1-1's episodic ratings have dropped this season, their viewer average remains the same. 9-1-1 has NEVER dropped below 5.1M viewers (their highest viewer count, of course, being 9.8M for S2E1). Their highest views this season was Episode 2 "Alone Together" with 7.2M, and their lowest views this season was Episode 12 "Treasure Hunt" with 5.8M. (source)
It's hard to say what, exactly, caused this decline but the world was in shambles for a minute there so I'm not stressed about it. Interestingly, 9-1-1's episodic ratings for Season 4 dropped after their midseason hiatus; not sure why or if that's even calculable, but it is fascinating. As for the uptick in viewers like you mentioned, it's fair to say that the end of Episode 13 did draw more viewers. Whether it's the buddie of it all or something else, 9-1-1's demographic responds well to story arcs that follow their main characters (ex. episodes 3-5, the Daniel Buckley saga, clocked in the second highest views all season, and the tsunami arc clocked in some of the highest views of Season 3). Incidentally, I think this is why their views were kind of messy this year. A lot of episodes this season were filler episodes. There weren't a lot of major plot points to pursue and there definitely wasn't a lot of character development, especially not among the original cast members.
Now, okay. Here's where we dip into opinion territory.
(putting the rest under the cut)
Opinions
While I personally love when 9-1-1's season finales are wrapped up in a nice little bow with little-to-no cliffhangers, I'm not sure I would have done that this year. As I mentioned before, there were very little substantive storylines in 9-1-1 this year. The "meatiest" storylines either focused on other people (Albert in the pileup, Hen's mom being ill), were only one or two episodes, or didn't have enough development that would have made the story, and eventual resolution, worthwhile (i.e. the shooting). Maddie's PPD has yet to be resolved, but when it comes to sensationalist television and what actually draws people in, Eddie's recovery from the shooting would have been far more engaging (NOTE: I love Maddie and I think her story is important, I'm just speaking in general). Obviously, this season was cut short for COVID reasons, but those missing four episodes really do make a difference when it comes to character growth/plot development. I'm looking forward to those additional four episodes next year!
While I'm on the topic of storylines and audience engagement, I think one problem 911 is running into is where and how they stand against 911LS. When you have two shows of relatively the same caliber, you have to figure out how to distinguish one from the other, otherwise your viewers will just be watching two versions of the same story. Tim and Brad have decided to distinguish the two shows by having Lone Star lean into the more serious, gritty storylines (i.e. Judd and Grace's accident, multiple on-screen suicide attempts, the arsonist immolating himself, etc), and that's great, but the problem is that 9-1-1 has drifted into "safe" territory. You can always expect a goofy little laugh and to end the episode on a relatively happy note, and that's nice and all, but that's not how you build a successful show. The WORST thing 9-1-1 could do right now is play it safe. They only have about one or two more seasons before viewer fatigue starts to set in if they keep going this route. Sure, they'll keep the majority of their loyal viewers by virtue of the fact that they've spent years invested in this show and have no interest in not watching, but that's a lazy way to keep viewers. 9-1-1 should continue with their velocity of having Eddie get shot. That scene alone made all 40+ minutes of the episode worth it. Give the characters more storylines that don't always focus on their emotions. I love Buck's growth, Bobby's struggle with sobriety, and Hen's journey into med school, but 9-1-1's writers need to push the boundaries of the boxes they've written themselves into.
And this isn't about Buddie, but if the relationship between Buck and Eddie were to go fully, explicitly canon, ratings would SOAR. They're not bad as it is, but if they went that extra mile, I imagine it would push them well out of the 1.7 range and possibly into the 1.9-2.0. The LGBTQ+ community is a very loud community; combined with the quality of the story being told through Buck and Eddie and how revolutionary it would be to have two gay/bisexual, attractive, leading men on a primetime network show fall in love and build a family together? That'd be a ratings goldmine. 9-1-1 is comfortable and they have strong network backing; if ever they were going to take a risk like that, the next two-ish years would be the perfect time to do it.
Finally, to your last point I think 9-1-1 Season 5 is on a pretty good trajectory to premiere well. Their premieres always pull in their highest views (S1: 6.8M, S2: 9.8M, S3: 7.163M and S4: 7.193M, respectively), so if I had to guess, I'd say Season 5 is going to premiere with a comfortable 6.9M - 7.1M viewers. We'll see where things go with the development of Season 5, what kind of storylines they come up with, and how we leave off by the end of the first half of the season, but I'm optimistic and I'm really looking forward to it!
Thanks for stopping by!
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How haikyuu characters would play genshin impact:
//featuring me nerding out about mbti types 😔
Karasuno
Hinata
As an ESFP he would probably choose his main based on who feels good to use
Quick movements, lots of jumping, strong = XIAO MAIN (probably finds the flashiness and edginess cool and enjoys the button mashing too)
would aggressively compete with kageyama on who can beat spiral abyss the fastest and with the shortest time
unfortunately they’re both not very good (initially because kenma helps him out after)
Would try to follows the plot but dialogue goes over his head
Does not understand stats other than attack at first
Wish impulse is real and never has any primos
would attempt to talk to every npc
Kageyama
META SLAVE
Has no idea what wishing/gacha is at first and builds his starters really well
Then he found out and currently mains Ganyu, Zhongli, Hutao for the big numbers
gloats about his first 5 star to hinata
Does not talk to NPCs at all and barely digs into the story
only there for spiral abyss and to make his characters stronger
Tsukishima
Didn’t wanna play until yamaguchi dragged him in to have someone to co op with
Appreciates the story and lore more than the gameplay aspect
Eula, razor (cv uchiyama kouki) main—easy to build, easy to use
Doesn’t care about wishing either
Got Eula by accident and now holds it over kageyama’s head
Has really good artifact RNG that it infuriates kagehina (gloats about it to fan the flame 😚)
Yamaguchi
he’s infp he chooses based on characters he likes 🥺
Diluc, albedo, ayaka main
(i can’t explain why I think he’d like those three, it just Makes Sense)
Co ops with tsukki and yachi, plays both dps and support
Spiral abyss makes him anxious but he pushes through anyway!!
Daichi
Starter team king 😩
Feels bad about switching his regular team out FJDFJDJJDDJ DAICHI
Probably a casual player though
Plays to coop with suga and tanaka but they carry him through domains
he’s trying his best
Suga
Mains based on whoever’s fun to play too!!
but enjoys more of a challenge
Childe main
Waiting for Scaramouche to drop hAha 🥲 and harbingers in general
Appreciates the plot and is very interested in lore!!
Diligently does spiral abyss
Doesn’t quite wish on impulse, but if theres a character he likes he’ll spend everything on their banner
Asahi
Does not play, got too scared (see: haikyuu ova)
Nishinoya
Rolls VERY much on impulse
Similar to hinata in that he also likes playing playstyles that feel good
Xiao and/or yoimiya main
(xiao because he’s short jk)
Probably raised Rosaria and planned to use her
Plot who???? we only care about world exploration and fighting in this house
Tanaka
wished for all the women, raised all the women, uses all the women
valid
Primarily mains Rosaria, ningguang and Lisa though
sorry beidou you remind him of his sister too much
waiting for signora like many of us are
Coops with noya and has INSANELY bad rng luck
Yachi
Also chooses based on characters’ personalities
gay, mains sucrose and jean
isfj child and probably feels bad about the underrated characters :(
uses amber, xinyan and qiqi too!
Raises all characters but hasn’t raised anyone to 90
Coops with yamaguchi and uses jean (as healer, support, damage dealer)
Talks to NPCs and sympathizes with their sad backstories
Gets too anxious to do spiral floors 9-12 too (mood)
Seijoh
Oikawa
Oh boy
this ENFJ 3w2 guy? you KNOW he’s gonna be the best
As long as it doesn’t clash with volleyball of course
Very VERY competitive in abyss
Has one character hed get attached to but doesn’t limit himself to using them only
Incredibly focused on team synergy, carefully crafts teams to bring out the best in each character
Tests best damage output too
But also he’d probably use meta characters and secretly raise the ones he actually likes?
Current fave: Yoimiya
Uses strong characters for coop but uses his faves for single player domains (or coop with iwaizumi)
Likes characters but surprisingly wouldnt be too invested in the plot
does not whale out of pride
Iwaizumi
Geo user
Uses characters he finds respectable in the storyline + hard hitters
Razor, klee, jean main but unaware of the family relationship
Sometimes uses beidou although her burst takes too long sometimes
Pretty casual player, only started because of Oikawa
Hanamaki
obviously he and matsukawa would make zhongli pillar dick jokes
Kaeya and beidou main (he thinks they’re cool)
Not that impatient to wait for bursts to charge or has a lot of energy recharge
whale
Matsukawa
……. Hutao main
funeral home
Would use qiqi and hutao together for the meme then grows to genuinely like qiqi
Saves up for a really long time then spends it all at once
Kindaichi
Doesn’t play much tbh
Offline for a week, comes back to do commissions for one day, leaves
Kunimi
Hed be pretty good
but lazy and forget to do dailies
then buy welkin moon instead
Focuses more on the story too rather than gameplay and points out loopholes
Mains whoever he has in his team with good synergy (like chongyun xingqiu xiangling)
Kyoutani
Rage quits 5 minutes in after hearing paimon’s voice 😔
Throws his phone at the wall
Yahaba
Simps for jean
Mains jean
Dedicated to dailies and spiral abyss
But doesn’t wish that much
Was the one who tried getting kyoutani into it and suffered the consequences
Nekoma
Kuroo
ENTP king raises a whole arsenal of characters for spiral abyss
I cant see him really getting attached to one in particular ?
makes zhongli pillar dick jokes every chance he can get
but also uses him for utility
Wants to try using a whole bunch of characters and wishes on every banner
But uses the meta ones with good team comps
sparks twitter debates with ….. interesting takes
“_____ is completely shit”
Kenma
OH BOY HES A GAMER GAMER
Whale whale whale whale
He’s tony to
Best synergy teams, understands the value of elemental mastery, REALLY values good supports, calculates possible damage numbers
Kazuha, zhongli, bennett, venti are a staple in his teams
Helps hinata and kuroo until kuroo teases too much by deliberately playing horribly
mildom and youtube streamer like murase ayumu
Appreciates story and lore very much too
Yaku
he’d LOVE the children
Probably would use characters that remind him of family members and friends
Klee, diona, qiqi, chongyun, xingqiu, razor, bennett
does spiral abyss but not obsessively
Lev
KENMA-SAN!!! LETS PLAY TOGETHER!!!
I’m sorry he would not know how the game works
Doesn’t do the ascension quests and gets stuck at AR 26 with 500k extra points
Thinks he’s amazing but it’s because he’s stuck at world level 1
I’m sorry lev ily but ……. its the truth
Tries pulling for everyone too and mains the first 5 star he got
(childe because he’s russian AKSHDKDHSKSHS /j)
Wants diluc and xiao because they look cool but gets Mona instead (doesnt understand how to use her)
Yamamoto
Also raises the women like tanaka but + kaeya
Lev complained to him about getting Mona while he’s wanted Mona for months
Not really a dedicated intense gamer EXCEPT for during those battle events
Fukurodani
Bokuto
WANTS THE STRONG AND COOL LOOKING 5 STARS
Eula, zhongli, diluc, xiao
but doesn’t know how to build either
doesn’t understand stats
would feel really bad for qiqi
Wouldn’t like signora for hurting venti :(
Wouldn’t like childe too :( until he plays the story quest and sees the ruin guard cutscene
then starts sobbing because of what a good brother he is
“AKAAAASSHI I wanna do that too!!!” then he dies
Tries to use childe but doesn’t understand the cool down management
Mispronounces and misspells tartaglia (タルタリア)
for more info on how bokuto plays genshin see Kimura ryohei’s YouTube channel ✨
Akaashi
the true childe main (just like me)
Uses characters based on utility
but mains whoever reminds him of bokuto FJDHFJFJDKSJ
Very good supports but unlike Kenma, he chooses and builds supports around his main
also uses very good supports so people won’t realize he’s using childe for the cv kimura ryohei (everyone knows anyway)
Literature nerd appreciates the plot, writing and deep lore too
Konoha
Tries pulling for everyone but has REALLY bad luck
Has really good characters but never the one he wants
loses all 50/50s and has a c4 qiqi
Ends up maining qiqi as dps
sorry konoha i didn’t mean to slander you
Shiratorizawa
Ushijima
does not know how to play or build
Uses whoever he has (aka starters)
Only plays because tendou downloaded and made an account for him
Doesn’t know how to ascend characters or farm
Forgets about talents (me)
Weirdly good RNG and doesn’t realize it 😩
“Let me look at your account wakatoshi-kun”
“Sure”
“You didn’t tell me you had 6 of jean’s Stella fortuna???”
“What’s that?”
Tendou
this man pulls for the seiyuus
Mains childe, hutao, mona for 5 stars
childe and hutao’s instinct based quickswap playstyle works so well for him!
jokes about cosplaying mona then actually does
Knows how to build, grinds, and manages ushijima’s account for him
Probably whales too
Shirabu
Meta meta meta meta
But f2p meta
Loves setting up reactions
More into the lore too and researches theories
Remembers actual names of boss drops
Semi: so how many of those buttplugs do you have again
Shirabu: 💢stop calling them buttplugs, they have actual names 💢
VERY diligent with battle pass, dailies, achievements and spiral abyss full stars
Until he //SPOILERS gets into med school and has no time for shit
Inarizaki
Atsumu
Would have a crush on a character I just know it
Invests heavily on his faves and is great at utilizing each of them
fussy . complains about a certain unit and how they can improve
or complains about how the game can improve to osamu
Osamu: yer just saying that cuz you couldn’t get a high score
Archons main (already saving for the tsaritsa)
Wouldn’t have a main dps but several hard hitting supports
Whale and falls victim to the weapon banner
Osamu
More casual player than Atsumu but still tries to get higher than him in events and spiral abyss
If atsumu’s a whale, osamu’s a dolphin
Great at dodging
Catalyst user!!
Mains ningguang, klee, yanfei + other catalyst supports
Also uses keqing
Kita
the man appreciates routine aka VERY diligent with dailies, battle pass, farming
“if you do things properly results will follow” or whatever quote he said ✨
Starter team but raises other characters for abyss
Reads dialogue and appreciates the plot
Barely gachas
Aran
will defend TO THE DEATH the underappreciated characters
Has empathy for noelle 🥺🥺
Noelle, Barbara, xinyan, bennett, children user 🥺
Talks to every NPC and loves the backstories and lore
also would feel really bad for qiqi
Suna
Uses the tall men and women and builds them all as dps (childe zhongli diluc kaeya beidou ningguang jean lisa rosaria eula)
He’d probably make a support character a dps tbh
Disregards team synergy for the shits but somehow manages to do domains and abyss
Itachiyama
Sakusa
c6 everyone
leaves
#haikyuu!!#hinata shouyou#kageyama tobio#oikawa tooru#iwaizumi hajime#tsukishima kei#yamaguchi tadashi#daichi sawamura#sugawara koushi#nishinoya yuu#tanaka ryuunosuke#yachi hitoka#bokuto koutarou#akaashi keiji#kuroo tetsurou#kozume kenma#hanamaki takahiro#matsukawa issei#miya atsumu#miya osamu#kita shinsuke#aran ojiro#suna rintarou#ushijima wakatoshi#tendou satori#shirabu kenjirou#sakusa kiyoomi#bokuaka#genshin impact#haikyuu headcanons
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Keepers Of The Chaos (Chapter 1)
The first chapter of the Tumblr KOTLC Fandom Fandom story is here!
Summary: Tam, Linh, Keefe, Biana, and Fitz are part of the tiny fandom for Keeper of the Chaos, and Tam and Linh's podcast convinces some of their other friends to watch it as well. The group finds themselves strangely invested in this show, where students at Tumblr High School who work together to write about an elf named Sophia, cause incomprehensible chaos, and fight their rival Pinterest High School.
Content warnings: Cursing
Word count: 1204
Read on AO3
Linh leans into the microphone. "Welcome to the Twins of the Chaos podcast," she says.
"Where some chaotic twins discuss our favorite show, Keepers of the Chaos," adds Tam. He tugs at his silver tipped bangs. "I'm Tam, and my sister's Linh, and today, we're going to be talking about why you should watch KOTC. Now, if you're one of our five regular listeners, you've probably already seen it, but feel free to share this with a friend or relative to convince them to watch this show!"
Smiling, Linh takes the microphone back and continues. "In this show, there's a group of very, very chaotic friends who all go to Tumblr High School together. As soon as they return after New Year's, their principal informs the school of a writing competition taking place between high schools, with other opportunities for extras like drawing or animation. Every member of the winning team gets a free scholarship to an arts school the characters all want to go to, but don't like their chances of getting in normally or paying, so they sign up. Through the nine episode season, taking place over the month of January, the characters in the writing competition start on the premise, get sidetracked, come up with some truly horrifying ideas, write some gay short stories, and, as the title promises, act very chaotic."
"Now, the writing prompt that the group has to build on is kind of... fuckin' weird," Tam says, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "They have to write about a girl named Sophia, who's twelve years old and can read minds, who meets a teal- yes, teal- eyed boy named Finn, who tells her she's an elf. Then, she travels to the elf world, where she struggles a bit at elf school, makes friends with some other elves, learns that she is an illegal creation of a rebel group called the Dark Duck, and another rebel group- the Rarelynoticed- tries to kidnap and kill Sophia and her friend Deck. And yes, we're aware that the names are shitty but the characters in the show really get into mocking them, so that's an upside."
Linh laughs a little at the names. "There are a lot of rebels, you might have noticed," she adds.
Tam nods. "Yeah, I noticed. There are a lot of rebels because their government sucks. There's a council of twelve really old elves, and only two of them are alright, then one of those two dies, and then one of the previously bad ones turns good."
"The characters in the show were given a very detailed list of worldbuilding, plot, and character details. We don't have to read the whole thing, though- they just consult it when it's relevant."
"But writing about Sophia and the Dark Duck isn't the only plot of KOTC, thankfully. We also get to see the competitors writing Dark Duck interact with one another and have fun. It makes connections to real life events- mainly through Bernie Sanders memes, but whatever. Bernie Sanders memes are funny."
"Bernie Sanders memes are funny," says Linh, nodding seriously. "And yes. There are some romantic ships in there- like Amelia and Akki, or Shai/Lynn/Tater, but there are also close friendships, and you get to see the group bond over their shared desire to get the scholarship, and their collective love of chaos, so the more platonic aspect is definitely given screen time as well."
"Which, given how often shows center only on romance, is really great," Tam agrees.
"The show also does really incredibly with including diverse characters. Pretty much none of them are both straight and cis, and most of them are neither."
Tam grins. "Right, and no one really makes a big deal about it. They mention it when relevant, of course, and some have homophobic parents, but they have depth beyond getting the authors ally cookies or whatever. Everyone uses correct pronouns, or apologizes when they screw up, and everyone's pronouns are validated no matter how 'weird' or 'confusing' it might be."
"The show also has a lot of good religious diversity, with quite a few Jewish characters, who make sure it's very clear that they're Jewish."
"Yeah, one of the characters- Shai- starts a movement to turn all the Sophia and the Dark Duck characters Jewish as well."
"It doesn't succeed, but good job to aer for trying," Linh says, sighing sadly.
They fall silent for a little while as Tam checks their episode outline, scribbled in Linh's rather illegible handwriting. "Linh, what the fuck does this say?"
Brow furrowing, Linh asks "You can't read my handwriting?"
"No, I can't!"
She sighs. "It very clearly says 'great characters- discuss,'" she huffs.
"Yeah, no one can read your handwriting. Also, we should probably cut this out when we edit."
Linh nods. "Probably, yeah."
Tam leans in closer to the microphone and starts speaking into it again. "The competition has fifty something participants- fifty two, was it?" He looks to Linh for confirmation, who nods again. "Fifty two. But somehow, all of the characters have their own distinct personalities and stories and interests, and they're shown as complex human beings."
"Yeah, that's always been my favorite part of the show. The characters are just so interesting. Canon manages to focus on them a lot more than I would have thought possible, but it still doesn't give us all the details- since it has to balance so many people, it can't spend a long time focusing on just one- so there's a lot of room for speculation in the fandom. Some get noticeably more or less focus than others. Like, Lynn and her fiancees get kind of a lot, while I wish some of my favorite characters like Specs or Charlene got a bit more screen time. But everyone gets some, no one gets too many, and the fandom is there to fill in the gaps!"
"Yeah, and the fandom is fantastic," says Tam. "There aren't a whole lot of us, which we wish would change because the show is really great, but we're a good fandom to be in. There's not usually a lot of discourse, and there are so many talented people making content. lordofthesnuggles's theories for season two are always so detailed and logical that I lowkey suspect he writes for the show, and thehunkiestofhunkyhair makes fantastic fanart."
Snapping her fingers, Linh exclaims. "Oh, and les-biana has the best fanfictions."
Tam coughs, and mutters "Yeah, you like Biana's fanfictions."
"Oh, like you're any different with Keefe," Linh huffs.
There aren't any visuals, so no listeners of the podcast can prove Tam was blushing. "Anyway, the first- and currently only- season starts with everyone signing up for the competition, no idea what they're in for, and ended with half of them wearing sleeping masks with teal eyes painted on and the other half watching the chaos with mild amusement. It's entertaining as fuck, and very well written, so do go check it, recommend it to your friends, let Keepers of the Chaos take over the world, whatever you like."
"Thanks for listening to the Twins of the Chaos podcast, and have an amazing day!" Linh finishes, and she stops recording.
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Criminal Minds College AU - Chapter Thirteen
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Title: “I may just take your breath away”
Relationship: Jemily
Rating: Explicit
Summary: Foxes, lattes, churches and resolutions.
Slow-burn Jemily college AU where they live across the hall and despite all odds, the universe pushes them together. AKA they’re silly gay babies who pine after each other for months.
Read it on AO3
Tumblr: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, (bonus scene), Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Epilogue
The first thing she noticed was the snow. It was falling down on her, hitting her skin with pinpricks of ice cold. She wandered through the bookshelves, searching for something. She wasn’t sure what for.
It didn’t normally snow inside the library, but that didn’t seem to matter to her.
The snow crunched beneath her feet as she turned down another row of books, past the history section and stepping over a stack of books on the floor that was left there by some other student. To her left was a row of empty desks. It was just Emily and the books.
But, Emily didn’t feel peaceful. Something inside of her told her that she couldn’t wait around, she needed to do something, find something.
Emily trudged through the snow. Was she searching for a spot to sit and study? Was she searching for a book? When she found it, she would know.
She turned down a corridor, looking up and down the tall bookcases, her eyes skimming along the spines. They were old leather bound tomes, in rich oranges, blues and reds. They looked as if they hadn’t been read in decades. She searched for something she recognized, but nothing made sense to her as she couldn’t make out the titles or authors.
Out of frustration, she turned away to stomp back down the row, but something stopped her in her tracks.
Emily blinked at the image in front of her. It was a fox standing in the middle of the fiction section, looking at her expectantly. It was as if he had climbed out of one of the books and materialized before her eyes.
“Bonjour,” Emily said, kneeling down before the animal.
“Bonjour,” said the fox.
Emily looked around, confused at the appearance of the animal. What was a fox doing in a library? When she looked back, he was gone.
She looked around.
“Je suis là,” came the voice, from between two books, announcing his presence on the adjacent shelf.
“Qui es-tu?” Emily asked, wondering who he was—or what he was—and what on earth he was doing here in her college’s library.
“Je suis un renard,” said the fox. He was a fox. No shit.
She blinked at him, trying to figure out what she was remembering. The fox was familiar. She had seen him before… or read about him before.
It was just like out of Le Petit Prince—the book that JJ had given her for her birthday. The book was a classic children’s novel, one that Emily had read many times. It was as if the character had simply stepped out of the book.
The book was about a little boy who lived on an asteroid and was in love with a rose. He went on an adventure through space before landing on Earth. There, he befriended a fox. Emily could picture the simple watercolour illustration of the small boy prince speaking to the fox. She could almost feel the pages of the book between her fingers. She smiled as she thought of JJ’s excited face as Emily unwrapped the present a few weeks back.
This fox, like in the book, was speaking to her. She racked her brain for what she was supposed to say.
“What am I doing here?” Emily asked, this time in English.
“Je ne puis pas jouer avec toi,” said the fox, which was not the answer to her question, since he had told her that he couldn’t play with her. “Je ne suis pas apprivoisé."
I am not tamed, he said. He has not yet been tamed. Emily remembered now what she must say.
“What does tamed mean?” she asked, in French.
The fox jumped down from the bookshelf and walked through the library, his small paws leaving prints in the white snow. He was bright red against the ground and easy to follow through the familiar stacks. Emily noticed that she wasn’t cold, despite the weather, even as her breath came out in puffs that lingered in the air.
“It’s something that’s been too often neglected. It means ‘to create ties’... but you know this.”
Emily remembered this part, he was right. In the book, the boy doesn’t know what taming means, how to create ties with the wild animal. He does not yet know the meaning of friendship.
The novel was filled with layers of metaphor. It spoke to childhood, love, loss and the power of the imagination. Emily’s copy sat next to her bed, and she had been looking through it before she fell asleep that night.
The fox crept through the seemingly endless bookshelves, his tail swishing back and forth as he walked. Emily tried to keep up, but he seemed to weave through the library with a practised ease.
The fox stopped. He hopped onto a desk and curled his tail in front of him. He cocked his head and looked at her expectantly.
“Your person has run from you, correct?”
Emily stared at him. This part was not in the book. She nodded after a moment.
“I ran from my boy at first, too.”
She remembered this part: in the novel, the young boy wanted to befriend the fox. But he was impatient. The fox explained that it would take time, that the boy would have to return over multiple days to build his trust. The boy would begin sitting far from the fox, not even making eye contact. Over time, he could move closer and closer until they finally could play together. Their friendship could only be forged over time.
“Were you scared?” Emily asked.
“At first,” he replied. “But he was patient. And persistent.”
The fox swished his tail, then continued: “At times, my heart was not yet ready to greet him.”
“How did the little prince finally tame you?”
He did not answer the question, as she already knew the answer, instead he said: “Words are the source of misunderstandings.”
“Was it all worth it? Even though he left you in the end?” Emily asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
He nodded, then looked off into the distance, almost wistfully.
“Here is my secret,” he said. “It’s a very simple secret: it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
“On ne voit qu'avec le cœur," Emily repeated. She knew this line by heart. It was better in French.
The fox disappeared into the books and Emily was left alone in the empty library. His words filled her mind.
Words are the source of misunderstandings. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.
Emily woke up to the sound of her alarm blaring in her ear. She was curled up on her bed, on her side. Her blankets had fallen onto the floor, and she was close to shivering in the chill air. She slammed her hand onto her phone and fumbled until she turned off her alarm.
It was a dream. A vivid dream. She didn’t normally get those.
She stretched, her neck sore after sleeping at a weird angle. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the convoluted dream that was still clear in her mind. Somehow, even after all she had done to distract herself, JJ still was a key figure in her unconscious brain.
Emily needed to move on from that, focus on school. She couldn’t dwell on what she couldn’t control. She was an expert at pretending everything was okay; she had held herself together through worse.
She stared out the window. Instead of the white snow that had been so crisp and bright in her dream, outside was grey and dreary. She couldn’t see any hint of precipitation, frozen or otherwise, just dead grass and wet asphalt. The trees were bare as the leaves had fallen and been raked up last month, and there was salt on the roads in anticipation of the freezing temperatures.
Emily methodically dressed, donning a pair of jeans and a dark green button up shirt, pulling a sweater on top to combat the chill. She then played some music on her laptop. She focused on the lyrics, allowing her mind to go blank.
She sat in front of the mirror on her desk, carefully applying her makeup. There was something about a swoop of liquid eyeliner that made everything feel okay. At least, more okay than they used to be. If she looked put together, maybe she would feel like it, too.
Emily rarely remembered her dreams and she really wasn’t used to having to think too hard about her subconscious. All that was very Freudian, anyways. She wrote the dream off as her sleep-deprived brain mixed with reading before bed.
She donned her warmest leather jacket, the one with sherpa lining on the collar and tugged a mustard yellow beanie onto her head. Then, she lifted her tote bag onto her shoulders, and put her headphones into her ears, turning the volume up high, hoping that she could drown it all out.
During her lecture, Emily didn’t retain a single word her professor said. She mindlessly typed her notes, completely zoned out the entire time. She wondered if the words on her screen made any sense, but decided that it must be an issue for a future version of herself. This was probably a bad idea, as it was just about finals season and her exams were fast approaching.
Her mind was elsewhere: thinking about the blonde who lived across the hall. At times, Emily thought about their kiss, or imagined holding her hand, or holding her body. Then, as her daydreaming gave way to reality, she remembered the anxiety as JJ ignored her texts. She remembered JJ ending it one day, then coming back from a hookup mere days later.
Every day that week, as Emily walked down the hall, a part of her wanted to knock on JJ’s door, like she used to, just to say hi. Beyond everything else, Emily missed JJ. She missed laughing over dinner, studying French, or even lounging in one of their dorm rooms, doing nothing and talking for hours. She missed the way she smelled and her soft touch and her big blue eyes. She missed JJ’s kindness, how she would remember little details about Emily, and how she would knock her shoulder against Emily’s to get her attention. Emily missed her friend.
But the hurt was still there, and it overpowered her longing. The hallway reminded her of JJ’s words, her breaking it off, the tears in her eyes.
Emily hadn’t seen her since, with JJ doing an amazing job at avoiding her.
As soon as her class was over, she walked off of campus, heading straight to her favourite cafe downtown. It was usually busy this time of day, but she hoped the crowd would keep her from wallowing and make her focus on her work. Campus was inextricably tied to JJ. The field reminded her of JJ’s soccer games, the library of their study dates, the cafeteria of their group dinners and even the quad made her think of the time she almost ran JJ over with her skateboard when she was distracted.
Emily sat at the long sandy wood table and sipped her latte as she opened her laptop.
Members of the Prentiss family were extremely talented at pretending things were normal, that everything was fine, and Emily was no exception. She had tucked all the hurt, all the confusion, into a neat little box in the back of her mind. Storing it away until she could deal with it.
She typed away at one of her essays, only taking pauses to sip her coffee. She was busy finding sources and working on integrating quotes to develop her argument. She enjoyed the sound of her keyboard clacking, adding to the din of the cafe.
Her phone was tucked neatly away in her pocket. While there was a noticeable silence in their group chat—the one with both Emily and JJ in it—Emily’s phone seemed to be constantly pinging with messages. Derek was checking in on her, Penelope seemed to be trying to distract her, even Hotch had sent her a message to make sure she was ok. If Reid had a cellphone, she knew he’d be doing the same. Sometimes she got messages from Penelope’s number that was signed by the younger boy. Somehow, the whole world seemed to have known exactly what had happened between her and JJ.
The sun was setting faster and faster these days, and by five, it was creeping below the horizon. At this point, she had most of her essay drafted, so it felt like a good enough time to call it quits. Anyways, her back was starting to get sore from the minimalist chair and all she really wanted to do was curl up in her bed again.
Emily packed up her bag, depositing her empty mug on the counter, nodding at the barista before leaving.
She took the long way home, walking along the river and listening to her music, trying to clear her mind. She pulled her hood up against the cool air.
She walked for five minutes before slowing as she came upon a church that she had passed before. Instead of continuing along her way back to her dorm, something made her pause.
Lights lit up the facade: a red brick building that stretched up into the sky with a pointed bell tower in the centre. Columns graced the front, standing strong on either side of the large, wooden doorway.
Emily stared at it. It was simultaneously familiar and foriegn. Emily had spent almost every Sunday in church, be it Sunday school or mass with her mother. No matter where they were in the world, there was always at least one church in the city that they could attend.
In Rome, their visits had only gotten more frequent, as after school, she and Matthew would wander the Renaissance churches around the city, admiring the architecture and discussing theology and morality and free will.
Something came over her in that moment, and she found herself wandering up the steps, trying the door to see if it was unlocked. The door swung open easily, and for a moment Emily thought about walking in. She thought about kneeling before the cross and going through the familiar motions of prayer.
She thought about asking God about JJ, about what was going on, praying for guidance on what to do. She could picture the way the light would dance through the stained glass window, she could feel wooden pew under her knees, she could almost mouth the words of her prayer.
She thought of St. Georgia, her confirmation saint. She thought of her life of solitude, and how that almost sounded nice. Young Emily had thought the same thing.
She thought about the mass that she sat in her pew, with tears in her eyes, as the priest talked about how being gay was a sin. She thought about how her mother repeated those words when she came out at sixteen.
She let the door close without entering, before walking away, longing for the feeling of the wind on her face instead of the dusty smell of incense.
It had been years since she had set foot in church. The last time had been in Rome, the day she walked in with Matthew, before… well there was no before. It just was. Her pregnancy had triggered something in both of them, questions about the church that could not be prayed away.
Emily clenched her fists, her short nails digging into her palms. She remembered the way Matthew had held her hand at the doctor’s, and held her as she fought back tears, and walked arm in arm into the church in defiance of the priest.
After, their questions hadn’t subsided. Matthew read and read and read and the more he learned, the more the church transformed the place of safety and solace to something neither teen could stand behind.
Still, she missed her childhood certainty. She missed the feeling of a power greater than herself watching over her. She missed the singing—though she would never admit it—she had really enjoyed being in the choir. She missed how her mother would sit next to her, how it was often the longest time she got to spend with her busy mom.
Emily shook her head, fighting back the memories, and turned up her music and continued her walk home. She dug around in her backpack for a lighter and her pack of cigarettes. Fumbling for a moment, she lit one and breathed in the dark smoke.
The wind was biting and her leather jacket did little to keep the cold from creeping into her bones. As the sun was setting, Emily began to shiver.
After dragging her walk out as long as she could, she finally went back to her dorm. Her hands were iced cold and she was shivering. She dropped her backpack on the floor before collapsing onto her bed. She checked her phone to find a missed call from Derek.
She called him back, knowing that he was likely to pick up from only down the hall.
“Hey,” she said. She felt suddenly tired, and wondered whether he would pick up on that.
“Hey Prentiss,” Derek said. “How’s it going?”
“I’m fine,” Emily lied.
“No you’re not,” his voice came through the phone, and from the hallway, and he knocked once before opening her door.
Emily sat up, looking over to him in surprise. As if he owned the place, Derek walked over and sat down on her desk chair, letting it spin with the motion of his body.
“We’re ordering take out,” Derek said, “You can’t survive on coffee.”
“I can try,” Emily muttered.
“Pizza?” Derek proposed.
“I’m not hungry.”
“Bullshit,” he said. “You’ve been avoiding the cafeteria.”
Emily crossed her arms. Derek was good at making her feel better, pushing her to take care of herself without forcing her to talk about her feelings. He was a private person, and so he never went too far, knowing that there were lines that neither of them crossed.
“Thai?” he said with a sly look in his eye, he knew she couldn’t refuse.
“Ok fine,” she gave up, “You know what I like.”
“That I do,” he said, dialling his phone and calling the local family-run Thai restaurant for delivery.
Forty minutes later the two of them were eating curry and watching The X-Files on Emily’s laptop. They were sprawled out on the floor, both scooping rice into their mouths as they discussed the plot of the episode—aliens—and whether or not they actually believed in them.
Emily didn’t realize how hungry she had been and struggled to remember the last full meal she had eaten.
After she had finished, she felt slightly more human, slightly less out of it. Still sad, but being sad on a full stomach, sitting next to her best friend and watching her favourite tv show was a bit more bearable.
“I just don't get it,” Emily blurted, surprising herself as the words fell out of her mouth.
“Yeah,” Derek replied, “What’s the point of probing? Don’t they have good enough technology that they could just scan someone and know what’s up?”
“I mean, yeah,” Emily said with a laugh, “But I was talking about JJ.”
She paused.
“Did I push too hard?” Emily mused, “Was it my fault?”
Emily didn’t plan to vent to Derek. She hadn’t really told him the details yet, as she was still embarrassed after Thanksgiving weekend. Telling Derek’s entire family about how she had a girlfriend and then immediately getting dumped was not great for the ego.
She learned early that it was safer keeping things to herself.
Emily had done just about anything to fit in when she was younger. She was desperate to be normal. To be someone that wasn’t the weird queer girl that moved around a lot. She learned languages, learned cultures. She learned how to wear the right clothes, say the right thing. She tried so, so hard to be normal, and yet she never seemed to do it right.
In her senior year, Emily finally gave up. She dyed her hair, did her make up in a way she knew enraged her mother, and dressed the exact opposite of what the other kids did.
Since then, Emily was trying to focus on being herself. Derek was her first friend to really accept her for her, and over the past year and a half, she felt herself beginning to relax around him. In her second year at college, she was no longer the new kid.
She had started to feel comfortable with him, and all of their new friends, so she was kicking herself for letting things with JJ blow up in her face. She should have known this was all too good to be true.
“Em,” Derek said, “You can’t blame yourself. There’s definitely more going on with her that we don’t know.”
“Did Pen say something?” Emily said hopefully.
“I don’t know,” Derek said, rubbing the back of his neck, “She hasn’t said anything outright, ‘cause, y’know it’s all so complicated. We’re friends with both of you. But she made it seem like it wasn’t just you.”
Emily gulped at the guilt she felt when she thought of how all of this with JJ must be hurting her friends. They had all gotten so close this semester, and she hated the thought of ruining it for everyone.
“It’s not you, it’s me,” Emily said with a sardonic laugh.
“Essentially,” he said.
“Look Prentiss,” Derek said, “I think this is just a hiccup. You’ll figure it out. You two just need to talk and stop running from each other.”
“How do I get her to stop running from me?” Emily asked, her dream vivid in her mind once again.
“Wait it out,” he said, “She’ll come back to you eventually. For now, eat some mango.”
He offered her the dessert, some mango and sticky rice that they had gotten to share. Emily took some with a grin.
She could wait. JJ was worth waiting for.
———
Emily was almost ready for bed when she heard a knock at her door. Derek had stayed for most of the evening, watching tv and talking for hours to keep her mind off of things. He had wandered out around nine, as he had an early practise the next morning.
She was just about to get undressed after brushing her teeth and washing her face. She stood in the centre of her room with her fly half undone as she heard the sound. She zipped her pants back up and walked to her door, unlocking it, expecting to see Derek returning for something that he had forgotten. Instead, she was face to face with Jennifer Jareau.
“Hi,” JJ said. “Can we talk?”
In JJ’s hands was a large tin filled with homemade chocolate chip cookies. They were piled high in the tin, perfectly baked with picturesque chocolate chips still warm from the oven. On JJ’s face was a nervous expression as she held out the gift for Emily to take.
Emily stood and stared at JJ, wondering if she was real or if she had finally snapped and was hallucinating.
A moment passed. JJ smiled nervously at her, big blue eyes boring into Emily’s own.
Emily took the cookies.
#criminal minds#cm#criminal minds tv#jemily#emily prentiss#jennifer jareau#jemily cm#jj x emily#emily prentiss x jennifer jareau#fanfiction#fanfic#jemily fanfiction#gravelyhumerus cm college au#my post#my writing#sweater weather au#sorry for the delay!!!!#life got in the way
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I love the crows so much I could talk about them all day. Every character is well developed and so utterly human, they were not written to be perfect but dumbass teens trynna get money and not die. It’s a perfect mix of seriousness and humor
Every relationship is 1000/10. Kaz andJesper relationship, with Kaz calling Jesper Jordie and Jesper asking who’s that and Kaz saying “ someone i didn’t wanna lose” skfjkjfhkh. Jesper willingness to do anything for kaz bc he has a crush(before wylan) and admires Kaz so much.
Matthias and Inej subtle bonding over religion and making righteousness decisions.
Nina and Inej having a beautiful relationship and with the best girl talks. The scene where Inej holds Nina’s face and says “I owe you a life debt” shows the beauty of friendship and will never be topped by any other line. Also most novels fail to have this bc “the main character can be not like other girls🙄”
Kaz helping Wylan overcome his insecurities and realize his dad ain’t shit and basically changing the will so Wylan can get all the money.
Jesper and Inej calling each other family and yet Inej still being able to forgive automatically but also holding Jesper accountable when he fucks up.The bonding in the scene where they talk about they love kaz and also admitting it’s exhausting trying to keep up with him
This is just friendships like most series that are under 3 books never really develop friendship and mostly focus on relationship or the plot and this queen Leigh wrote the perfect plot the perfect friendships and the perfect relationships in two books?!?! I love it
Now let’s talk about relationships Kaz and Inej being absolute perfection with Leigh recognizing their combined trauma and not just ignoring it so they can kiss is beautiful. Knej knowing her self worth and not sticking around for Kaz even though they both loves each other bc he’s not ready for a relationship and she has her own life is amazing.Kaz also realizing that he can’t give her what she deserve and instead of being a grumpy/petty/shitty person like most male leads when realizing the female lead deserves better,!buys inej a boat to travel around the world, finds her parents for her and basically promising to work on himself while she is gone achieving her dreams is truly iconic. Also Inej knowing that Kaz will always be a “monster” and saying that Ketterdam needs a monster to clean away its filth and that while i’m away at sea fighting slavers you will help me by destroying companies that imploy slavers.-like they both don’t try to change the other person ideas/ambition but work together
Next Nina and Matthias relationship is enemies to lovers done right. Firstly the story of how they met is a slighly cliche shipwreck meeting, but is it the best one i’ve ever read?? Yes it is!! Like the slow development of Matthias at first always comparing her to fjerden women to realizing that Nina may not be “a traditional fjerdan women” but what he needed to see his discriminatory ways. Nina also taking zero bullshit and not babying him but just straight calling him out when he says something wrong.Matthias finally realizing that he was brainwashed without Nina really taking him step by step and more like Nina explaining it to him once and letting him figure out himself. Matthias not accepting only Nina but all grisha yet still not giving up his religion and pride of his country to be with Nina but recognizing that it wasn’t perfect and needs a lot of improvements. Nina also not changing any part of herself and making him have her as she is or leave
Lastly wesper (Wylan and Jesper) which is just amazing. Leigh not making the main focus of the relationship being tht their gay but just focusing on the development and chemistry between them. They in the middle of a dangerous life threatening mission and Jesper says sum shit like “I wish it was this easy to get girls” and Wylan goes” just girls? “and Jesper is “like no not just girls” and that’s it. Jesper and Wylan have a soft friends to lovers with a lot of witty one liners. They both talk to each other about their insecurities like Wylan knowing when Jesper is filled with too much energy and helping calm down, they had their first kiss like this :) and Jesper telling Wylan that he isn’t stupid and it’s fine he can’t read bc he so talented in other ways.
Also the character development!! firstly Jesper being black(darkskin)and bi. While being a main character with flaws. Jesper is extremely loyal and funny yet he also fucks up bc he human and make mistakes. Jesper has a gambling addiction and his gambling addiction wasn’t tried to be justified with an excuse or a reason but realistically described as some thing he just can’t bring himself to stop. He’s written so well, we get to see him struggle with his self esteem and his restlessness, but we get to see him grow and realize that he can’t be stuck in what he did in the past but make sure he won’t do it again and finding a positive outlet instead of gambling. Jesper also hating and hiding that he is grisha bc his dad had drilled into him tht his powers were dangerous and bc his mother had died from using her powers too much.Yet by the end of book he still hides his power but learns to accept it and saying maybe in the future he will learn how to use it bc Wylan helped him realize that he shouldn’t hate anything about himself and learn to embrace it, but also did not push Jesper very hard and let Jesper figure it out himself
Nina being a tall plus sized powerful asf women and still being repeatedly described as beautiful and charming in the book.This may seem like a simple thing but most books just write plus sized people as the “token fat friend” and make the character whole personality be about their weight. Nina doesn’t care for her weight. she is bold and confident. She knows that she is gorgeous and strong and flaunts it. Nina loves her country and struggle with trying to do what’s best for it bc at the end of the day she will put ravka first. Also Nina’s struggle with jurda parem is written really well in a way that shows clearly how much she struggles with the addiction and the shame she feels on how she acted yet how she can’t help herself. After she finally got over jurda parem withdrawals she has new powers that leave her feeling lost bc this wasn’t who she was before yet with Matthias help and her own sheer stubbornness she gets the hang of her powers and accepts that it still very miraculous evn if it connected to death
Inej is honestly a amazing character. She has very strong moral views and struggles with religion esp with the idea that she doesn’t know if she will be forgiven for all the lives she took as the wraith, yet she doesn’t regret what she’s done bc it allowed her to be free.Inej after getting free from Tante Heleen would rather die and then ever be hold in a cage again. We see this when she almost stabs herself in the heart after being cornered. Also we learn that after being freed she could barely even touch other people or even walk in front of Tante Heleen building to see her growing and overcoming her trauma in a realistic way that it’s still there but she doesn’t allow it to control her life. She voluntarily wears Tante Heleen silks again for a mission and stole her necklace which symbolizes her stealing her life back in a way. She finds a purpose for her life in the idea of freeing slaves after this mission instead of just waiting for Kaz. I could talk about Inej all day tbh
Honestly where should i begin with Kaz. Kaz is not a righteous man, he’s ruthless,and would do anything for money but keeps his promises yet Kaz sees himself as a villain and doesn’t see the good even if Inej tells him how he helps others in subtle ways. In the beginning Kaz is painted as a evil genius which he is but and then we learn that he was a happy and cheerful child till Jordie died, leaving him with severe trauma and unable to hand skin contact. Kaz also broke his leg in some robbery when he was younger and it never healed correctly yet it was never a problem for him, even tho he is disabled and with a cane everyone is scared of him. Anyway throughout the books Kaz goes from unable to even touch another persons hand and fainting in the wagon to slightly overcoming this with Inej. Kaz wants to be better for Inej and himself bc Inej says she will have him without armor or not at all and Kaz wants to be that person. While by the end of crooked kingdom he can only hold Inej’s hand and he still shook a little, We can still see how much he is trying to overcome his fear. I also love how Leigh did not write that Kaz overcame years and years of trauma for a girl within a few weeks but ends with him doing a only little better but still having a long way to go.
Wylsn being the genius nerd of the group and also having dyslexia. Wylan starts off as a shy runaway whose shitty dad severely impacted their self esteem, and grows to be very confident person who sees that nothing is wrong with being unable to read bc he can still do anything he wants.Wylan kept his dyslexia as his biggest secret bc he is taught that he is useless and worthless bc he can’t read, yet through subtle and amazing advice from Kaz about how you can’t let things hold you back, Jesper’s support and mainly seeing all the things he can do without the need for reading-Wylan slowly realizes his self worth. To the point where he can tell a few people that he can’t read. This causes Wylan to help Jesper with accepting his powers bc Wylan sees the how similarities between how Jesper acts about his power and how he use to act about his dyslexia.
Matthias had the biggest character arc. He went from wanting to kill all grisha to accepting Nina’s very unique death powers before she herself did. Matthias struggles with realizing his old mentors were wrong throughout book 1. The rest of the crew do not waste time explaining or trying to change his beliefs but instead only correcting his words when he says offensive things. Inej also subtly tells him to get his shit together, at first he believes how could everything he ever learn is a lie but after seeing the outcomes of his actions/ druskelle actions. Matthias realizes that it was all lie and finds reasoning and understanding through his experiences with the crows. He after a long process begins to thinks grisha powers are a miracle. Yet even as he slowly see his wrong ways- His first thought for a long time when seeing grisha powers was unnatural in his manipulative father figure Brum’s voice. After a little while he began to correct the voice in his head with own.Matthias finally reached a point where his first thought was miraculous. Leigh wrote this really well bc it shows a person cannot change a mindset drilled into him within a day but takes a process. Throughout all of this he still feels a strong sense of pride in his county but also seeing that his home has many faults and needs improvement and guidance.
i wrote this midnight y’all pls ignore shitty grammar and mistakes
#kanej#six of crows#matthias helvar#nina zenik#wylan van eck#jasper fahey#kaz brekker#inej ghafa#wesper#helnik#crooked kingdom#character analysis#soc#ck#relationship#friendship
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Tharn and Type 7 Years: The marriage disagreement
When I think about Tharn and Type, I think about their love, their passion for each other, and their growth to get to the place that they are in, in Tharn and Type 7 years of love. The sequel for the show. Whilst on the surface it may look like Tharn and Type have remained the same; argumentative, non-communicative and everybody's favourite word to use toxic. I think they are so much more different, so much more in love and happy and healthy. One issue though that comes about for their new show is the marriage disagreement. Tharn wants to propose to Type, but Type for some reason keeps on avoiding and rejecting the proposal. It's a weird disagreement to me, but then when I look at the characters and how they have been shaped and view the world, it becomes quite clear no one is right or wrong when it comes to this matter. Let's look at the marriage disagreement from both of our guys' point of view.
THARN: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL, EXTERNAL, AND INTERNAL NEED TO BE LOVED
Let's look at our Tharn. When we first meet him he's you know; sly, sexy, confident in who he is. He's been out for a long time since he was 14 and so he is proud of who he is. And why shouldn't he be, he's rich and spoilt, successful and talented, and he's also sweet, kind, selfless and possessive to those he loves. He's the perfect guy, and Type knows that and Type falls for that.
The thing is when you actually look at Tharn and try to bring out his flaws you see the same reasons he's perfect is the exact reasons for why he isn't perfect: he's spoilt; so he always gets his way, and because of this he's manipulative, he's possessive; so he's always jealous and explosive when it comes to whats his being taken away, he's kind but selfless; so he always lets things build under the surface, he avoids conflict not to lose what he cares about so he's a pushover. This is all because of one thing, in particular, that's his biggest flaw, he's terrified of being unlovable.
Tharn’s Psychological Scars
Let's dive into that deeper because it's interesting. First of all, when we watch Tharn and Type season 1, we only think Type is the person who has suffered psychological and mental damages/trauma that has shaped him into the flawed person he is at the start. It's understandable why Type is the way he is, but we fail to do the same for Tharn.
Tharn is also a victim of some psychological/mental hurt. He's always been deserted each time he got to close; he was always secretly manipulated by his best friend who continued to maim him and convince him that there was something wrong with him and he didn't deserve to be loved. This is why his biggest fear/hated word is break up.
Tharn has been turned into someone who is clingy and possessive of the people he loves because for a very long time he didn't understand why everyone he got close to, left and blamed it harshly on him. In fact Long has caused many painful scars to Tharn: he got physically punched and hurt by Tum his best friend for something he didn't do but also the mental strain that had on him when he lost his best friend and being accused as an awful person, he lost all the people he kept falling in love with. And even though he and Type get back together after he realises the truth, it still hunts him that he was the cause of all that happened to the people who dated him for example, Tar. He's terrified at the realisation that everyone who falls in love with him gets hurt, and it makes him think he deserves to be unlovable.
Thus Tharn is overly protective, possessive and clingy of his relationship despite the fact that it should seem stable because of it lasting seven years, but no his mind automatically finds loopholes and places for where it could be weakened. He goes into overdrive to ensure that Type is his and won't leave him again. So he obsesses over something that will ensure that nothing will separate him and Type for example something where they have the law and pieces of evidence that they're tied together for life. Marriage.
The origin of his and Type’s relationship
But Type automatically rejects, and this is why he's scared, he's worried about Type not wanting them to be married:
You have to remember that Type started of this relationship very differently, he was homophobic excessively due to his own scars, and he kept Tharn on a loop for a while before they got together. First of all, for Tharn, he can't help but question if Type is still feeling this way if he still sees their relationship as something unnatural and unacceptable. It scares him because it's something that could cause their relationship to fall apart at any time if Type reverts back to his old self.
Also in episode he over hears Type talking about the future saying that if they break up then it’ll cause an issue, but the thing is Tharn only heard his trigger word break up, Type shouldn’t be thinking that they could break up, could they break up, could he end up changing mind on their promise to each other? It seems like he’s already making prevention plans for when they do, what could cause it and how can he prevent it? These are the thoughts probably running in his head And for him the way to stop that is marriage.
It's irrational but if you're someone like Tharn who's become obsessive with the protection of his relationship then its understandable that he's finding irrational reasons in his head why Type could leave him. He's overthinking everything, and he hates that.
The jealousy of Phu and Cir
This hate is further exacerbated with jealousy for Phugun and Cir. We've seen Tharn now meet with Phugun and Cir in both episodes, in both episodes we've seen him marvel at Cirs possessiveness and their overly affectionate manner. These two are a device to shadow what's going on in Tharn's mind: they are the antithesis of Tharn and Type, they're softer, and they don't seem like they argue, or fight, they're overly affectionate to each other in public, and Phugun is gentler/sweeter when it comes to showing his love for Cir. I'm not saying Tharn wants someone like Phu as his; he loves Type. Still, he's being forced to see another couple act the way he wants, he wants to be possessive, and call Type his in public the way Cir tells him to back off from Phu, he wants to hold hands and have Type lean his head on his shoulder in public and have Type call him his in front of people. Again because of his mindset, being in public, showing their affection to other people, makes it more evidential that they have something real, having people know that they are dating/married prevents home wreckers/ others from questioning if they are making up their partner and hiding the fact they're single; Both in episode 1, have to hear people question their relationship, the authenticity and genuineness of it because they've hidden who they're seeing for seven years. It's another trigger for Tharn, hearing people question the authenticity makes him also see another loophole/question if Type is really his. That's why he says he wants Type to be only his in episode 2.
TYPE: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL, EXTERNAL, AND INTERNAL NEED TO BE PROTECTED
Let's look at Type. On the other hand, we have our problematic but lovable Type. Type is very adamant about not seeing the importance of marriage. Like I said before, I don't blame him, Type focuses on protection, or should I say prevention for their relationship. He's all about preventing outside sources from bothering them; he's all about ensuring that they keep on being the way they are because it's not an issue to him, he's okay with the people who know, so he's not ashamed of Tharn, he's willing to show their relationship to his parents, so he isn't going to revert back to thinking what they have is not natural.
But for Type he's focused on reputation, people's opinions and loopholes that cause a break down in their relationship (funny same as Tharn). Type's own is more logical and rational. He's focused on how the world perceives gay people. Let's look at Type's mindset first.
His family and society
First, his father is still against him and Tharn being together. That's already proof to him why telling people or involving world isn't useful for their relationship, it just causes bothersome noise and anger, and it becomes an unwarranted issue for them to deal with. Type has spent most of his life being homophobic because of his past trauma, for him he's spent time looking at it from someone who is against their relationship, so he knows what people can do in anger, (ruin Tharns family reputation or hurt him or Tharn ) if angry or irrational. For Type, society isn't as lenient to LGBTQ as it should be, so he's focused on protecting what he has with Tharn. He saw how his father reacted to them, what if others do the same, what if their environment hate them and life is more challenging for them.
Also because of his past Type has a very negative reaction to people being involved in his life like that. One because after his trauma happened it was all over the news and he was a victim of people invading his space for that very reason. He had all his information, reputation, and self exposed to people who were cruel to him and so yes hates being public because of this as well.
The nature of his and Tharn’s relationship
Secondly for Type getting married isn't a necessity, not when he knows and is confident that he and Tharn will last. Tharn has other reasons why he can't think like that, but for Type one thing he's sure about is their love for each other, they don't need physical evidence for that, they already are the physical evidence that they're forever. Because Type and Tharn have chosen each other as life partners, they tell each other that every day, they show each other every day, they've demonstrated their relationship to the people that matter to them, and they already live like a married couple for seven years.
As much as I understand Tharn's need for evidence/action to prove that they won't be separated, it is still stupid, because home wreckers will always try to break them even when married, Type still isn't going to be as affectionate in public because he's not that kind of person in public, and nothing will change their dynamic after they're married because they already live together, see each other and spend most of their time together like a married couple.
THARN AND TYPE 7 YEARS OF LOVE
But like I said, I get it. The only issue now that pushes this as a plot is how Tharn reacts to this issue when he's not getting his way. We know he can be sometimes manipulative, (he likes to guilt Type into doing his bidding/ forgiving him when they fight like putting his hand on the pan to get him to feel sorry for him), we know he can be hotheaded and just as explosive since we saw his reaction to being jealous and possessive in season 1 so mix this issue and fear with Fiat (walking in and choosing to fight for Type because they're not married). It means Tharn will make mistakes when he reacts to that.
One thing for certain though is Tharn loves Type, Type is all he cares about and wants, he's willing sometimes to be patient and hold back for Type, he tries to be understanding and communicative in episode 2, but also he still has this issue in his mind, it's going to keep on building and building, and soon it'll cause an explosion. That's why him being a pushover isn't a good thing for this.
The one thing that remains above all this is that Tharn and Type love each other, even despite having different opinions, they can't bear the thought of losing each other, they decided from episode 1 that it was them against the world, together. So no matter what happens, they will keep fighting to be together, they will keep trying to understand each other. Like I said they have matured, their relationship has changed and becomes healthier, (fighting does not mean toxicity, it just means they're realistic), and they have loved each other so far for seven years. They haven't lost that passion and attraction they have for each other. This season its time for Tharn to mature and deal with his own fears, flaws and scars last season we watched Type deal with his as he fell in love with Tharn, so let's see what happens next.
#tharntype#tharn and type#tharntype 7 years of love#thai bl#bl series#november#cwg#mewgulf#tharntype 2: 7 years of love
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OK so, i wanted to put my two cents in on these two topics:
1. the statement i once saw, made by someone, who, i’m not sure, was reading the same novel as i am. it went somewhere along these lines: “the novel implies that in his first life wei wuxian wasn’t interested in lan wangji or even in men at all”
2. the general idea that wei wuxian (specifically novel!wwx, i mean, obv all of this is just about novel!wwx or novel!lwj) is oblivious dummy, who can’t see what’s happening in front of his own nose, doesn’t understand not only lwj’s feelings towards him, but also not even self-aware enough to understand his own
(idk if it was obvious from my previous posts on this website, but i’m a wei wuxian apologist so you should probably know that before i proceed)
i’m gonna quote the paragraph that prompted me to think about all this, it’s worded a bit differently in russian, but the point still stands:
Although in the past few days, he felt that Lan WangJi probably regarded him highly and differently from other people, he’d never dared to guess just how ‘highly’ it was or if ‘differently’ was the kind that he thought. Wei WuXian never thought of being confident as bad, and in fact prided himself on such a thought. Legends often gossiped about the YiLing Patriarch’s allegedly amorous life, but in reality, he’d never experienced such hectic feelings before. He used to think that Lan WangJi was too easy of a person to understand, but things were different now. He feared that he was the only one who thought of them that way, that it was all his own wishful thinking, that he was too confident for his own good.
lets start with the first statement and go waay back in time. first of all, the idea that wei wuxian wasn’t interested in lan wangji is kinda ridiculous to me, as this boy spent the entire time he was in gusu summer camp trying to get lan wangji’s attention, annoy him into friendship with him, he gifted him rabbits goddamnit. he had a whole fanclub of boys going on in gusu summer camp, he had girls in the nearby town swoon by him, and yet he focused his attention on lan wangji, but clearly he wasn’t interested, right.
and then during sunshot they kept arguing and having bad experiences with each other, and yet wei wuxian couldn’t stop himself from being drawn to lan wangji, initiating conversation, that situation with the headband, that time he invited him to the inn. considering that every one of their encounters would end pretty badly, there was no reason for him to try again and again to build that friendship that he told himself wasn’t even possible. and yet he kept trying, and then in yiling he invited lan wangji to have a dinner with him, but of course he wasn’t interested.
second of all, and it kinda bothers me a lot, actually, he wasn’t interested in men in his first life? yeah no shit. for starters, how old was he? 15? 17? you know, not all of us came to terms with our sexuality when we were digging up shit in a sandbox. it can happen later. it can happen much later. but what caught my attention in that paragraph i quoted above “but in reality, he’d never experienced such hectic feelings before.” was wei wuxian not interested in men in his first life? sure! according to the novel, he also wasn’t much interested in women! was it ever a consideration, that perhaps, for a teenager going through war and also shitload of other terrible events, romantic endeavors might have not been a priority? sure, he had an image, he had a reputation of a shameless dumbass to protect, but do we not know it was a pretence? it’s almost like characters like nie huaisang don’t exist.
but also specifically for a teenager who was already experiencing his first crush, that he didn’t acknowledge much, because, once again, he had a lot of other shit to worry about
this brings me not very smoothly to the second statement. and i wanna start by giving some more credit to wei wuxian (who isn’t as dumb as he sometimes seems) and take some credit from lan wangji (who is a bit dumber than i thought he is), which brings them to the same level of idiots in love.
wei wuxian doesn’t understand what lan wangji is feeling towards him. yeah. to be fair, adult lan wangji did a lot of things, some of which were more obvious than the others. but lan wangji wasn’t always like that. if i recall correctly, he spent almost the entirety of gusu summer camp rejecting wwx’s attempts in friendship, being an asshole and just plain rude (yes, wwx also was rude, but still) (yes, on the inside lan wangji was panicking in gay, but on the outside he was Just Rude, and WE know that, wei wuxian doesn’t). in the cave? lan wangji is overwhelmed and once again kinda rude to wwx, and he bites him, and again, WE know that lwj is probably going through a lot, wei wuxian knows less. moreover, later in the novel there is some more context given to why wei wuxian reacted like that to being bitten by lan wangji, our guy is straight up scared of being bitten, because he associates biting with dogs. they both were having kinda a shit time in that cave and i can’t blame them. during sunshot lan wangji was constantly arguing with wei wuxian and pretty openly dissaproving of his ways that he didn’t understand for obvious reasons. none of this says “i’m your friend and also i’m in love with you and i’m not actually trying to control you or reject you, i just don’t know what else to do”
and every time lan wangji would master his bravery to do something that would make his feelings more obvious, he would do it while wei wuxian couldn’t possible know that lan wangji was doing it. (e.g. singing wangixan to him in the cave while wei wuxian is out of it because of the fever, kissing him while he’s blindfolded). and the last chance in wwx’s first life that lwj got to confess his feelings, wei wuxian was simply not in the state to remember it or even process what was happening at all.
coming back to his second life, wei wuxian actually becomes aware of his own feelings. not immediately, but dude was just dead like a few days ago, give him some time. and it’s not that he doesn’t notice that adult lan wangji now treats him differently, and certainly not how he treats anyone else, wei wuxian is straight up just afraid, without a direct conformation, that he’s still misunderstanding something. and taking in consideration all that i said previously, i can’t blame him. if any of these two could actually use their words, and ask questions they wanted to ask, this whole mess could have been avoided. but lan wangji can’t be direct (he doesn’t want to impose), and wei wuxian can’t trust indirect hints (he puts lan wangji way above himself and doesn’t believe hanguang-jun could get down to “his level”).
and so they operate on this perfectly dysfunctional system of “i’ll just carry on with my own agenda, hoping for nothing in return” and also:
wwx: i’ll get him drunk (if he wants to get drunk) to just ask a few questions that i can’t ask while he’s sober
lwj: i’ll get drunk to be a little bit more free around wei ying, as i can’t be like that while i’m sober and i won’t remember it anyway
and, surprise, it doesn’t help their understanding of each other’s feelings. it doesn’t mean that wei wuxian is that oblivious, it just mean that things can’t work out like that, you need to TALK sometimes. (i didn’t get there yet, but thank god for lan xichen). in fact, that terrible system of communication makes things worse and i’m pretty sure the novel is being very clear that it wants you too to understand that it makes things worse.
their terrible inability to communicate properly results into that chapter that i just read. they operate in the previously learned patterns: wei wuxian buys alcohol, cause he wants to ask lan wangji this important question, lan wangji gets drunk, cause he doesn’t want to be present in this reality (relatable) (drinking to forget is bad, kids), and shit goes down.
wei wuxian doesn’t want to take advantage of drunk lan wangji, but then he gets carried way, and drunk lan wangji gets carried away and things happen. and by the end of it, both sober, they BOTH think that they forced the other one to do something he didn’t want to do and they both feel terrible about that. (once again, i’m pretty sure that the novel is very clear about how it’s actually bad to have sex with someone blackout drunk) so wei wuxian ends up thinking that he took advantage oh lan wangji who wasn’t in control of himself, lan wangji thinks that he lost control of himself and took advantage of wei wuxian who didn’t protest out of gratitude to lan wangji (his worst fear, btw).
i got slightly carried away from my original topic, but it just pisses me off that someone looks at this and really thinks that the novel is glorifying this behaviour or whatever. it’s terrible, they both feel terrible, the novel is yelling at them to talk instead of getting drunk and fucking.
so yeah, wei wuxian isn’t that oblivious. but that situation doesn’t clear anything out, actually, because by the end of the day lan wangji sobers up, and wei wuxian sees his reaction to what happened, which was not a good reaction, and how is he supposed to understand lan wangji’s thought process correctly if he never says anything? so wei wuxian ends up thinking that yeah, he gave in to his own wishful thinking, and terribly terribly fucked up (i mean, he did fuck up, but not as much as he thinks).
idk how to end this so i just hope my point came across as i intended it and i’m just glad it’s all out
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A problem with the Tales Of Arcadia community
First and foremost, I’d like to ask anyone taking the time to read this to please read the post all the way through before commenting on the matter. There is a lot of dirty laundry to unpack here, and some points will be building off previous ones.
I’ll get right to the point. Most everybody in the Tales of Arcadia fandom will have heard of the blog imthegingerninja / ginger-le-gay. She is one of the most well-known ToA-centric blogs, after all. (If you’re wanting to avoid her on Twitter as well, her account is Margaret Bell, or @The_Book_Bell.)
This is your PSA, TOA fandom: Ginger is a toxic, manipulative person.
This is not a claim I like to make lightly, but it’s long overdue that this issue is properly brought up within the fandom.
I’ve seen so many people wonder why the Tales of Arcadia fandom is so small. Well, I and many others very strongly believe that Ginger is one of the main reasons for that, if not the main one. To make matters easier, I’ve tried to break this down into some main points. So let’s take a look at how Ginger falls under this category.
Disclaimer: Please DO NOT look at this post as an excuse to harass Ginger or any other blog mentioned here. This sort of behavior is NOT acceptable. The point of this post is to educate those who may not know the extent of her harrowing behavior, nothing more.
1. Dishonesty and Death Threats
[EDIT: Shortly after this post went up, she started blatantly lying about me to try to cover for herself. You can see those lies being easily disproven here]
Ginger has been kicked from at least three Tales of Arcadia servers, all for similar reasons of violence. While I cannot provide screenshots as I am no longer part of the servers they were in, there are multiple witnesses that can verify the disgusting behavior she engaged in. The one I saw specifically was her saying that certain members of the fandom should be gathered up and hunted for sport, among other gross things. (Elaboration of why can be found in point 3, though it still doesn’t excuse this kind of talk)
Here is some points made by another blog that also sums up similar issues with Ginger, though:
While there were multiple instances of her inciting violence towards others, this is unfortunately one topic I cannot provide specific screenshots for at this time. But I will add them in as I can find them. That being said, I want to move to the dishonesty, something I do have a screenshot for.
While you could argue that people sometimes notice the similar things, this is far too close together to be considered an “original find”. The reblog button is there for a reason, but she instead decides to steal the OP’s premise and present it as her own original thought.
There have been a couple other blogs that have confirmed that their theories and analysis posts were often stolen and presented as Ginger’s own as well, to the point where they stopped bothering even making such posts, as the above blog points out. (Out of respect for their privacy, I will not be naming these blogs. Say what you will about that possibly weakening my point, but if she’s willing to so blatantly steal from that person shown above, it shouldn’t surprise you that she’s so willing to do it to others.)
Theory-making and analysis posts aren’t as solidly “original content” as a piece of art or fanfiction, sure, but it’s still common fandom courtesy to give credit where it’s due. Ginger has intentionally avoided extending that courtesy far too many times.
2. Hypocrisy
Most of this is going to be about past Merlin vs. Morgana drama, though there are also words to be said for the incredibly shaky relationships she forms with “friends”.
But first let’s talk about those wizards.
This is a topic I’ve tried to approach with Ginger before, but she borderline refused to acknowledge any of the points I was trying to make, and when she did, I don’t know if I just wasn’t being clear or what, but it honestly looked as though she was purposefully trying to misunderstand what I was saying in her bizarre responses. (To be fair, I was sending messages out of anger because she vagueposted about a blog I admired, calling them a “disgusting creep” because of them simply saying they’d hoped Jim and Merlin would be able to actually bond at some point... Not really a justifiable reaction to such a harmless thought, in my opinion. But my point is, I recognize that the circumstances may have clouded my ability to vocalize my thoughts clearly.)
That aside, we should first acknowledge this post Ginger made to save face after having gotten some backlash about hate-train related things (Side note: I couldn’t find the original post, so this is a screenshot I got from someone else. I did not add the writing. The text underneath it should still be slightly readable, I hope.):
Taken at face value, this is a very reasonable post. I think everybody would and should be able to agree on it. Hate-meme him for fun, sure, but don’t actually harass or insult others over a fictional character. Simple, right?
Apparently not, because Ginger’s done loads of that to others. Probably why the “LOL” was added in, I bet.
This post confused me. First of all, exploring dark topics (”angst”, as you put it) has never been a rare occurrence, every fandom has that content, most in heavy abundance. I’ve noticed no staggering difference in volume of this fandom compared to others I’ve been in. People enjoy angst not because they think the character “deserves to be in pain”, they enjoy a fictional blow to their own emotions. There’s lots of different reasons people like angst, but it’s barely ever been out of a genuine hate for whatever character’s the focus, from all the things I’ve seen. Your own friends have indulged in Jim angst and body horror posts before, does that mean you think they’re awful people? I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain something like this.
Also, way to basically admit you think all Merlin stans get off on child torture. So much for “If you like Merlin as a character, you’re valid”, am I right? God, what a mess of a post. (It’s been very recently deleted, which makes me wonder if she got more backlash on it, but just... wow.)
Let’s look at another one.
Again. Vagueposting about someone specific, I’d wager, since most of the people I’ve seen comment on this topic either think both characters are morally gray, or hate both.
But of course, when it comes to Morgana, suddenly excusing bad behavior can be justified. Ginger can call someone a disgusting creep because they want a familial bond between Jim and Merlin, that’s just wrong, but pushing the Mom-gana narrative with the genocidal abuser and Toby is completely fine, folks.
(Note: I would like to point out that I really don’t care about what theories and hopes people have for Morgana. You should be allowed to love that character in any way you want, same as I would say for Merlin. My issue with these examples is the completely brazen hypocrisy in which these two characters are treated. You’re obviously allowed to love Morgana without consequence, but the same should be said for any character of the show, and yet it’s not.)
The most obvious instance of this double-standard is well observable here, I believe:
... I think this mostly speaks for itself. Sorry, but this is very blatantly trying to excuse Morgana’s actions, here.
Oh hey, remember that post about Ginger saying that liking Merlin must mean you want to see Jim in horrible pain?
Say anything similar about her with Morgana, and suddenly she takes issue with this line of reasoning!
I’m sorry, but if you can’t take this sort of thing, then you shouldn’t be dishing it out. One of your own friends is still getting hate over the simple fact of liking Merlin, and all this mentality is exactly why.
Let’s look at one more.
Fun fact! Morgana horrifically abused somebody for centuries, tried to kill multiple kids, took horrible advantage of Claire (probably traumatized her), and canonically wanted to genocide humanity, not to mention all the OTHER murders she's committed, both directly and indirectly.
But somehow pointing any of this out “doesn’t count”. This is why the fandom keeps saying more and more things like this:
And this:
I could be going through her constant hating on Merlin and people who like Merlin for days straight, but I hope you all get the idea by now.
Again, I would like to just reiterate: You can like whatever character you want for whatever reason you want. The problem with this case is the hypocrisy and mistreatment of others, not your taste in characters.
Now interestingly enough, she’s lately been singing a different tune about the guy, switching from the “I hate Merlin I hope he dies!!!” mentality to “Oh he should get a redemption arc too :)” sort of thing.
I’m highly convinced that the only reasons for this “change of heart” is because of the constant backlash she was getting for the obnoxious amount of hate posts being thrown around all the time, but also because Aaron Waltke keeps tabs on the fandom more lately, and has spoken himself about Merlin not being a villain.
I could go on about this point forever, but I think I’ll just leave the Merlin topic with this post going through the hypocrisy of the Merlin Hate Train. In fact, here’s two just for fun.
Now onto more real-world focused areas of hypocrisy. One such instance can be found in Ginger’s Janus Disorder server.
Just take a look at this post.
While the offender in this case isn’t Ginger specifically, it still takes place in her server, and she made no moves to enforce her “No discourse” rule. All over... what? A random kudos on a fanfiction that’s not even about anything controversial since all characters involved are adults? I immensely don’t understand the point of why this ever had to be an issue, or why nobody spoke up about how ridiculous this is.
I’d also like to point out a certain user called firecat17. For some quick context, waaay back in the Kung Fu Panda fandom (around 2018), this user had been harassing people and saying incredibly vile things, a person of which Ginger had a bit of a feud, but firecat’s anon threats had gotten to the point where Ginger ended up having to block their IP.
Obviously, the user firecat was the one in the wrong, here. (Also, the irony in this comment is through the roof...)
Interesting point there, Ginger. Sure would be nice if you practiced what you preached.
Why am I bringing this random old drama up, you may ask? Well, it just strikes me as strange that someone who was so vile to Ginger is suddenly on her okay-list again, sending her asks and getting casual responses as if nothing ever happened.
To be fair, there is the possibility that they worked out their differences in private. But given the severity of the kinds of words being exchanged, I would still find that rather suspicious.
When someone who’s said things so vile can be so easily forgiven, yet something as harmless as leaving a kudos on some random fanfiction is considered grounds for harassment, it’s obvious there’s no stability or room for trust among this group of people. Unsurprising when there’s been several instances of this “friend group” turning on each other.
If you think you’re somehow different, that your “friendship” with Ginger or the others is more valued than that, then I’m sorry to burst your bubble but it’s likely not true. She’d throw you under the bus at the hint of you doing something she deems problematic, as it’s happened to multiple blogs before you.
3. Demonization of and insensitivity towards s*xual abuse victims
(This topic is one that’s hard for me to talk about, being a victim of CSA myself, so I’ve gathered some different sources to do most of the main talking for me. I tried to form more commentary on this myself, but I get too emotionally charged in my responses, and I don’t want that to cloud any reader’s perception of what I’m trying to communicate here, so I’ll try to keep most of my comments brief on this one.)
One thing recently brought to my attention about Ginger and her squad that especially bothers me is their rashness in labeling people p*dophiles and p*do apologists. If these claims were true, then I wouldn’t have a problem with it.
But these people are accusing others of these horrible things and threatening them on the sole basis of fictional content.
Now before you fly off the handle at me, let me be very clear: I absolutely understand that there are gross people out there who use the “It’s all just fiction” argument to hide their actual, pr*datory behaviors. (We’ve all probably seen at least one or two neckbeard memes of that caliber)
But like it or not, exploring traumatic themes through a fictional lens is something that has been studied and proven to be a genuine coping mechanism for some. It’s not something that works for me, but I knew a few people from past therapy groups that it worked surprisingly well for. Bringing a trauma into a controlled environment and processing it through fictional means can and does help some victims deal with what they went through.
It’s important to understand that not everyone processes their experience in the same neat, little boxes you have laid out as the only “acceptable” ways of coping. Trauma fiction and expressive arts therapy are commonly used by victims, and it does help some people, whether you like it or not.
I’m already dragging this on too much, so here are some sources for better-worded information on the topic (Warning: Most of these deal with highly sensitive themes such as gun violence and s*xual abuse.)
Source 1 - Source 2 - Source 3 - Source 4 - Source 5 (pages 61 onward, specifically) - Source 6 - Source 7 - Source 8 - Source 9 - Source 10 (and believe me, if those all don’t satisfy you, I can easily supply more.)
And this quote from source 9 I think sums it up best:
“Fiction works differently. My imagination gives me a framework to process the grief and terror and the consequences, even when I myself have not found any resolution. It allows me to enter my own traumatic experiences sideways and linger inside them, if I know I can give them to characters who might be lucky enough to find the antidote: love, connection, community, family. In other words, I can enter — and exit — the trauma loop through stories that are not exactly the same as mine.
This goes for the reader also. Recent studies periodically assure us that stories — literary fiction, hardcover books, even the simple act of reading — promote empathy. We rarely have identical experiences, so fiction is how we practice linking our similar or parallel realities so we can feel them. This seems particularly useful in our current society, where we are all so separated, and are working so hard to block the violence that keeps happening to us from our minds.
Fiction connects us, and it can also contribute to our healing. When we see ourselves in worlds we don’t live in, like The Handmaid’s Tale or The Color Purple, sometimes, that very different violence helps us finally process our own. Because as much as our memoirs and testimonies are brave and validating, fiction does not just mirror our truths so they are safe to experience; it also helps us endure the aftermath. Because long after the immediate experience is over, survival struggles onward, in every moment of our daily lives.”
While most professionals have in the past advised that victims keep their trauma-related works more private, to only show it to your trusted friends or family, the fast-growing use of the internet has led more people to sharing it in an online platform, which is not unexpected behavior.
I unfortunately don’t have the screenshot of the original post, but there was a post made some time back literally telling a fandom member to go and hang themselves over this garbage. A survivor of s*xual abuse, no less. And to top that off, one of Ginger’s squad @emmy-puff commented in support of that violent post, as well as blatantly misgendering the target of it. While, again, I was unable to get screenshots, there are multiple witnesses to this instance, one Anonymous even having called them out on it back when it happened. (I suspect that Emmy deleted that answer due to how bad it made them look.) If anybody reading this has screenshots of the initial post or the ask that came of it, please feel free to share.
I don’t care who you are or who you’re talking about, if you use misgendering someone as a way to hurt them, then you are an insult to the trans community. That is an awful thing to do, and you lose so much credibility if that’s the only thing you can fall back on when getting in a fight with someone. While this post isn’t about Emmy specifically, this is exactly the kind of hateful rhetoric that’s being encouraged in the environment Ginger’s made.
Another thing I would like to point out on this matter is an instance that happened in the ToA fandom a couple years back. I, again, don’t have screenshots available (I believe the original post ended up deleted) but the post in question caused enough of a fuss that I’m sure a few people must remember it...
A while back, there was an artist that posted uncensored, untagged r*pe art of Aaarrrgghh, Gunmar, and Jim in the main Trollhunters tag. As you can imagine, this infuriated many people. Many of which are among the list of those who’ve been labeled “p*do apologists”. Almost the very minute that post showed up in the tag with no trigger warnings of any kind, the fandom immediately got on OP’s tail about it, because they all shared that basic understanding of “This is a traumatizing subject for many people and they should have the ability to avoid it”. If the people you’ve labelled as pr*dator supporters were really as awful as you say they are, they would’ve jumped to that person’s defense, too. But they were completely against OP’s horrible lack of consideration of survivors, right alongside the rest of the fandom.
Am I saying you have to like trauma fiction? Absolutely not. Are there people that make trauma fiction that are actual pr*dators? I’m sure there are. But those people would be that way whether trauma fiction was out there or not. Gross people have existed and will always exist regardless of what media is out there.
I deeply understand the controversy, uncertainty, and stress that surrounds this topic, I promise you, I do. But the fact of the matter is, some people actually do use trauma fiction and expressive arts therapy as a way of coping, as has been observed in people even from ages as young as 5. To say otherwise is blatantly untrue. This isn’t a matter of opinion or morals, this is plain, studied facts that you cannot change about human psychology.
Nobody should ever have to go through something as horrible as s*xual abuse of any kind, and I know how deeply upsetting it can be to see certain images or stories with those themes in play. Those users with a sense of decency and understanding for fellow victims will tag their posts with the appropriate warnings. After that, it’s up to you to filter out what you don’t want to see. You curate your own internet experience, and it’s just plain irrational to try and harass everyone into conforming to your rules. While it’s an 18+ blog’s job to make sure to tag and label their content appropriately, it is your job to block the things you don’t want to see, whether you’re an adult or a minor. It is YOUR job to blacklist content that you know will upset you, because it is always going to exist on the internet, and any internet user needs to know and understand that. Multiple times I’d seen people going off about posts that were already appropriately trigger-tagged. If you don’t have those upsetting tags blacklisted by now, then the fault is mostly on you in that kind of case, not the OP.
Before I end this topic off, just one more example of blatant disrespect towards victims:
I’m sorry, but the absolute nerve of comparing some random fictional character you’re petty over to an actual pr*dator who’s terribly hurt real children is just awful. Imagine how insulted one of Onion’s victims would be if they saw that. Lord.
Ginger claims to care about victims, but she’s made it abundantly clear that she only cares about those that behave the way she think a victim should.
4. Ableism
I’m going to just show a couple posts here and let them mostly speak for themselves.
Just... my God. You looked at the definition of psychopath and decided that was enough to give you qualification to speak like this about it? Do you realize the extensive work and study of human psychology goes into the diagnosis and understandings of psychopathy? Not to mention, you just admit to thinking people deserve hate because of a mental disorder they legitimately have no control over? I’m sorry, but that is just cruel. Demonization of the mentally ill is not cute or funny. Next.
While I’m still annoyed with Emmy’s transphobic treatment of another user mentioned earlier, they make a very solid point in this instance. (The first post they referenced has since been deleted, but here’s the second one speaking out against the ableism.) I feel I don’t need to add much to this, as these points have already been argued very well by users better qualified to speak on the subject than I.
5. Manipulation tactics
This part is more observations of two kinds of abuse tactics Ginger appears to demonstrate, using the above as points of reference.
First, there’s DARVO.
Then, less formally, there’s this good point about online cult mentality.
Before you say anything, obviously I don’t think Ginger thinks of herself as some sort of deity. While it could be argued that she considers herself a point of authority within the TOA fandom maybe, I haven’t seen enough of this to say for sure how far that goes. So that point can be ignored, because it mostly doesn’t apply in this case. (The “Dictating parts of your online life” might also not apply, but I can’t say for sure as I haven’t gotten any confirmation of that sort of thing in Ginger’s group.)
But there are grains of truth in the other four points, especially that last one. Plain and simple, she’s made people afraid to speak their minds about even harmless things such as character analysis.
Ginger is someone who can’t seem to comprehend different viewpoints and life experiences. She’s extremely unsympathetic towards people she doesn’t understand, as can be observed in above examples. Assuming malicious intent from everybody you can’t understand is a dangerous and hurtful mindset to have, for both you and those who you unnecessarily scorn.
There are a few outcomes I’ve speculated should she ever come to see this post.
1. She will ignore this post completely, pretending as if it doesn’t exist
2. She will dismiss me as being some sort of horrible person, a p*do apologist or something of the sort (despite being a victim of that myself, clearly she doesn’t care about who’s actually been hurt by real p*dos or not if they don’t conform to her narrow worldview), and claim nothing I’ve said bears any meaning, despite the extensive evidence I’ve provided.
3. She will get people to try and attack me.
4. She will actually address these points in a tactful, mature, and serious manner instead of her usual act of trying to dismiss everything at the slightest hint of non-conformity. (The least likely outcome, but one can dream.)
I could add to this post all day, but it’s long enough as it is and my focus was on getting the main points out of the way. I understand that I lack some of the receipts necessary to back myself up in a few parts, but I know that many other fans have bared witness to those things, so I know there will be at least some people who’ll know what I speak of is true, and that’s good enough for me.
That being said, if anybody has screenshots of the instances I wasn’t able to provide for, it would be greatly appreciated if you could add them into the conversation.
!!!-If you have screenshots, but are too uncomfortable to get involved in this, then you can private-message them to me and I would be grateful and more than happy to add them in while keeping you completely anonymous.-!!!
(I've removed the section with all the tags, as I recognize it was probably going overboard. My goal was just to spread information, not to try and involve those tagged, but I understand how that may have gotten lost in translation and made people uncomfortable. Also, it apparently was showing up multiple times in people’s notifications when I only tagged people twice, so I’m not sure why that glitch happened, but I apologize for that annoyance as well.)
Now, to end us off, my responses to questions or angry comments I’m probably going to get:
You don’t even have all the evidence! How are we to know you’re not just lying about some of this?
Admittedly, I don’t have as much screenshot proof as I would like, that’s true. But for most of the instances I couldn’t provide for, there were other witnesses to her bad behavior. I don’t really have the need to lie when there’s already a lot of knowledge out there of the bad stuff she has done. Nor do I really have the emotional investment in this fandom anymore to lie for the pointless reason of causing drama.
Why post this on a throwaway account if you think people are on your side?
I just don’t really want my main blog associated with TOA anymore, to be frank.
You tagged a bunch of people, so you must be trying to get them to attack Ginger!
No. I tagged a bunch of people because I think this information should be heard on a wider scale, considering the position Ginger has in the fandom. I don’t want her or anybody else to be attacked, but her negative impact on this fandom deserves to be acknowledged.
Again, I don’t think Ginger or any of the others deserve harassment or cyberbullying or anything of that manner, that’s kind of what this whole post is against. And it just hurts the situation more than it helps it. What bothers me is how she’s never apologized for or even once acknowledged the gross way she’s treated people. While she might be more low-key about it now, she still treats people who don’t deserve it like garbage. There are still several people upset about the damage she’s caused to this fandom, rightfully so. I wouldn’t be so loud about making this post if I didn’t think it was something worth drawing attention to.
Thank you for reading.
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Hanna, episode 3
1. Again with the pretty. I absolutely love that first shot with them all coming up and onto the street. It all makes me want to go to Germany in a way that other seasons didn’t do in quite the same way. I’d forgotten just how much I genuinely love the cinematography of this season. I sound like a stuck record, but it’s so pretty and it fits Hanna so well, and it makes me happy.
2. Yikes this conversation with Jonas is sooooo ugh. It starts well with him apologising. But then he totally undercuts it with the whole ‘we only spend time by ourselves lately, why don’t you hang with friends?’ thing. Like buddy, dude, pal. Jonas, my man. When you plan a romantic getaway with your girlfriend it’s not a normal everyday hang out situation, she has every right to be pissed and this line of conversation is SO off. Stop trying to deflect the blame onto her and take some damn responsibility for your shitty behaviour over the last few days. Making her feel terrible for having no friends is the absolute worst way to ‘make up’ for being such a dick the last week. He tries to turn it around later, but... you know. This whole thing really does seem to be trying to palm off his responsibility to her and make it all about her deficits when this entire trouble has been because he hasn’t been caring for what she really needs and is close to entirely focused on himself and his friends. No sweet talking can cover over that part. Not forever. Which is partly why everything shatters later.
3. This ‘messaging Mia’ thing is again so damn gay. What we could have had.... I mean I know a lot of people saw this in Noora and Eva, but even so. Cutting from the thing with Jonas to this nervous ‘how do I chat up the cute girl?’ vibe fits so well with a storyline that involves figuring out how badly the guy you’re seeing is treating you (even if you have this good chemistry with him) and finding a better fit with a lovely, supportive girl. She even has a special little ‘Mia smile’ which she gets when she’s trying to connect, and the panic when she tries to explain her first message... It’s all sooooooo gaaaaaay. It could have been so GOOD. Le sigh. Eh. Maybe I should write this sometime.
4. Okay so I’ve mostly been focused on the Jonas situation before, so I never really mentioned Kiki. But she honestly is such a good character. Vilde always bugged me in some way and I have no idea why. But Kiki never felt like that to me. The way she just goes ‘oh the girl from the toilet - we are now mates, I shall kiss her cheeks’ is so endearing. And Sam works too. You can kind of see why they’re friends which I never really did get with Chris and Vilde (imo Chris feels like a better match/fit with Sana and I really really miss them connecting in Sana’s season - but that’s something to talk about more when I get to Amira). Anyway, I always liked these girls together. And I forgot how enthusiastic Kiki is here. And, as much as I really like Leonie and Sara in later seasons, once they’ve grown up a bit, they really do work as the mean girls here. The acting is pretty spot on. Leonie does a great job of the ‘hurt so I’m lashing out’ thing alongside being kind of getting off on being in control, and Sara is a wonderful support for her. Their friendship works and makes sense too. Again, Druck is able to build on the work done by the original and I don’t want to discredit any of the groundwork that was done because it’s always easier to refine than to start fresh. But the dynamics of the groups Druck has created work so well for me, and when they sort of combine by season 4 it makes sense. They drift closer and the various relationships have so clearly been crafted with care to be able to do that. It feels like this was always the intention - so many very small things change and those tiny changes make for something quite different.
5. I don’t really understand why Kiki, Sam and Mia are treated the way they are around heroesparty jobs, though. Hanna is obvious and Amira could be because Leonie and Sara are harbouring the same biases as the welcoming committee people. But Mia, while not understanding, seems cool enough and Kiki and Sam don’t seem to be any different from the other people. Unless Leonie really is so petty that she really enjoyed playing with Kiki, promising her the best job and giving her the worst one. Either way, I really do love the visual of them all just sitting by themselves surrounded by all the chairs and kind of starting to gel because of that. This is a nice spin on the original which actually works in this context and I love that they did this as the way to join our girls into a crew.
6. As with William, I do not understand how these girls look at Alex and think he’s all that. I guess I’m not the right demographic because this type of guy has never appealed to me, and the way they both dress also leaves me cold. But it is genuinely funny in both the original and here the way these girls just about fall all over themselves over this guy. And the way Kiki sighs his name like it’s a gift in itself? Comedy gold.
7. Spanish class. Gay. So gay. Both of them. The smiling, the hearteyes, the flirting!!! But I feel again like I’m a broken record with this. So I’ll leave it at that. And maybe do some frustrated fic writing at some point. The urge is getting stronger...
Anyway, overall, I really like this episode as a start to this friendship. Kiki’s attitude to Amira is so cringey and terrible, but Amira just holds her own in such a nice way. And Hanna. My lovely Hanna. It’s so nice to see her supported and accepted. She barely knows these girls and yet she seems happier and more comfortable around them (particularly Mia, ahem) than she does around her other friends, who are tbh more like Jonas’s friends and who really aren’t very nice to her. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - the format of this show (thank you, Skam!!) works so well because Hanna as a character works so well. We’re so tight in on her, and the way she’s played - the charm, the vulnerability, the way she feels so real - makes this season. There are still some wobbles with some bits but overall it’s working and it’s working well. Because of this character, because of her actor, because of the cinematography which is still a delight, and because when it changes things it makes those changes thoughtfully and with purpose. And I like that. A lot.
#druck#og druck#hanna episode 3#these are getting longer I'm sorry#I always do this - keep finding more to say
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I may or may not have spent my entire Sunday binge watching all of I told sunset about you and Gaya sa pelikula and now I have so many thoughts and feelings that I need to write about them so here we go! Under a read more (if tumblr allows me to) because it’s 2k words hehe
First of all, I knew next to nothing about both shows before starting them. I had seen a couple of gifs here and there, but really had no idea what I was in for.
I started with I told sunset about you, which has 3 episodes out of 5 out. All I knew is that it was going to be beautiful and possibly sad, and it was. Everything about this show is so high quality, from the audio to the dialogue to the locations to the acting, just wow. The production is better than a lot of movies I’ve seen, and every technical aspect is perfect. I am really loving the plot so far as well, I find the childhood friendship to stubborn rivalry to grown up friendship again very relatable. I think it’s a very common experience for a lot of non straight folks to develop an extremely close bond with a same sex friend when you’re too young to realize what you’re actually feeling for them until you’re a lot older and suddely the jealousy and possessivenes all make sense.
I love the recurring themes sprinkled throughout the episodes, starting from the chinese vocabulary that expresses the core thoughts of the two main characters: rival, intimacy, secret, male protagonist, as promised. They could easily be the episode titles, or the names of imaginary sections the show could be divided into. It’s a great way to integrate metaphors and deeper meaning into the plot.
That’s how most of the communication goes in this show, deep emotions are never conveyed through words because words are scary and loud and they can’t be taken back once they’re out there. The plot advances though stares and gestures and touch and gorgeous shots of the landscape. The pace is slow with hour-long episodes that could each be a movie of their own. This worried me a bit before starting, and I have to admit that at times I struggled to stay focused, especially during scenes that set the mood but don’t do much plot-wise. This is just a personal preference, though, and in no way I see it as a flaw.
The dancing around each other the main characters do, sometimes literal, is frustrating but it determines an emotional build up that’s just starting to reach its peak. This is one of those shows that has me screaming if only they talked to each other, but the silences and unspoken words are so well directed and acted that it works. I struggle a lot with keeping in mind that they’re still in high school, they’re very young and I can’t expect them to act rationally just yet.
I was really worried about Teh possibly going the insufferable Theory-of-love-khai way, and I am still not 100% sold on him. When he started helping Oh-aew again it felt like he was just doing it to make himself feel better about the whole thing. It was frustrating to see him so possessive and jealous while also so deeply in denial about his own feelings, to the point where he had me rooting for Bas instead. He was getting better, but then he fled at the end of episode 3 and now I have no clue what’s going to happen next. About this, I really have no idea if they’re going for a happy ending or a sad one. I’m really hoping it will be good, because so far there has been barely any emotional payoff for all the repressed longing and misunderstanding the show has put us through.
I do like their dynamic a lot though, I have a weak spot for childhood friends reconnecting and an ever weaker spot for informal mentor/mentee relationships. Oh-aew asking Teh to tutor him until he passes the admission exam was an almost exact mirror of Yuri on ice Yuri begging Victor to be his coach until he retires and I loved that a lot.
Now on to the one issue I have with this show: it feels too much like an art film. It reminds me of Moonlight and Call me by your name, in the way that I wasn’t able to connect with those movies because they are too perfect. They are so beautiful and carefully crafted that I can’t fully immerse myself in them. There’s a filter that stops me from relating to the characters and constantly reminds me that this is not reality. It’s pretty, it’s extremely well done, but it feels like art. It has some quirks, some scenes that feel too artificial. One scene in particular, the one where Teh buries his head in the paper Oh-aew wrote with his coconut scented pen to sniff it, which is a direct parallel to Call me by your name, bothered me in particular. Just as it felt over-the-top and purposefully weird in the movie, so it feels in the show. It’s a way of showcasing how a confused teen deals with attraction he barely understands, it’s raw and animalistic in a way, but it’s so quirky that all it accomplishes is to remind me that I’m watching an lgbt show. It makes me wonder if a scene like this would make sense in a straight relationship because here it seems to highlight how different and primal his attraction is. If I had to pinpoint it, I’d say that I have a problem with media showcasing queerness though peculiar, purposefully awkward scenes like these instead of normal kissing and cuddling.
Overall, I can’t wait to see how this show ends and I still think it’s one of the best bls to air in 2020, if not ever. It’s refreshing to see something with a big budget used well! So far my rating is 8/10, which I know is a lot lower than what everyone else seems to think but it’s still very much subject to change! Just hoping they won’t pull a Make our days count, but I doubt they’ll go there.
And now Gaya sa pelikula. Wow. Again, I knew next to nothing about this show before watching, and I was coming from a 3 hour I told sunset about you binge watch, so the bar was pretty high.
And boy, did this show deliver. I was blown away by the depth and the humor of it. It feels like the writers had fun taking all sorts of common tropes and stereotypes just to show everyone how well they can be evolved and made complex. Two strangers who somehow find themselves sharing an apartment sounds like the start of so many fanfictions out there, but it’s so well executed and interesting that you don’t even stop to think about how weak the premises for their meeting are. It doesn’t matter and it’s not even that far-fetched, either. The sister and the neighbor are also two characters that start off as extra stereotyped, but in just a few scenes they unveil an incredible depth and backstory. It blew me away.
Each character is so realistic. Everything they do and say makes sense, they all have their reasons and their past and they react accordingly, it’s so coherent. It’s impressive how everything takes place inside the house and you barely realize it because things happen and the plot moves anyways, and the way information about external events and people is conveyed is so seamless that you don’t even notice it. In only 7 episodes (so far) they have managed to give everyone a complex background and personality through the use of objects and small details and wow don’t get me started on the music.
The soundtrack is SO GOOD. I never really pay attention to music in shows but it plays a very important role here in my opinion and, well, it’s exactly the kind of music I like listening to and ahhh I just spent 4 hours playing the first kiss song on loop so I might be biased. Right from the start in episode 1, when Karl gives in to Vlad’s music and starts dancing to it, it’s established that it’s an important element to the mood of each scene. I love how the dancing I talked about for I told sunset about you comes back here, but while I saw it as a hesitant dancing around each other there, here it’s the opposite, it’s freeing and it’s about accepting yourself. And the end of episode 6 highlights this, with the beautiful quote “You are entitled to a love that lets you dance without fear and shame.” It made me cry a looooot.
I think the development of their relationship is masterfully done. It doesn’t happen too quickly nor too slowly. Karl goes through some needed shocks that act as his wake up call. When I’m watching bl shows I care the most about them feeling real and relatable. I don’t want to feel like they were written by a straight person trying to guess what it’s like to be gay. Now I didn’t look anything up about the Gaya sa pelikula writers, but I’d be very surprised if they were straight. I can relate to both Karl and Vlad for different aspects of their stories and their worries and thoughts. There was one part in particular that hit so close that I had to take a few breaks because it hurt too much. I am a lesbian, I’ve had relationship with a girl that lasted over a year, I am out to some friends but not all. I never came out to my parents, who are both very open minded and friends with a lot of gay people and would love me just as much if I told them, and yet I can’t. It’s not just that, I am terrified by the idea of them already knowing or being able to guess. When Karl freaked out over his uncle guessing, it hit me so hard because I’ve felt the same way so many times.
Episode 7 was amazing. I hate badly written drama the most, and 99% of shows can’t come up with any good reason for drama but they have to put it in there anyways and it sucks. This was the complete opposite, I adored it and I say this as a lover of fluff. It feels right, I think it’s an issue that would come up between two people like them. They are both right and the only thing that could happen there is what actually went down. I definitely think things will be fixed by the end and I am looking forward to it, but I am very glad this issue was included because it’s so important and so true to many lgbt people’s lives.
Another aspect I absolutely adored are the multiple references to lgbt theory and language, and Vlad has some of the best lines I’ve ever heard coming from a bl. When he tells Karl not to be afraid of the word, when he explains that “you don’t look gay” isn’t a compliment, when he scolds his sister for not acknowledging the things she used to say to him by covering them up with her ally act, those are all such important and educative moments that I hope everyone listens to. I love that Vlad is not correcting some ignorant bad guy, but it’s his accepting and loving friends and family that make the mistakes, because sometimes being supportive your own way isn’t enough if you’re not actively learning from the ones you want to support.
This is a 10/10 for me right now. I can’t find anything I don’t like about it. It never feels boring, it never feels overdone, it never feels cheap or unoriginal. It went straight to the top of my favorite bls.
And now I can’t help but compare the two a bit, because yes they are two different shows but right now the relationships they portray have reached the same point: there has been a climax and now the one who is more confused about his sexuality is panicking and taking a step back. It’s a coincidence that I watched both shows on the same day when their last aired episodes end in such a similar way, but it really leads me to compare the two. I don’t want to put them one against each other or say which one did it better because that’s not the point of this, they are both two amazing and important shows who are excelling in what they’re doing.
Gaya sa pelikula is down to earth, it’s explicit and it’s straight to the point in explaining what’s going on inside each character’s head. It feels like watching real people deal with real struggles. I told sunset about you is a lot more subtle and quiet, and since we don’t really have a clear insight in the characters’ heads sometimes it’s hard to completely understand what’s going on with them. It’s a completely different way of narrating, and while Gaya sa pelikula makes me feel like I’m a part of the events, I told sunset about you feels like I’m just spectating from an outside perspective. They are different choices, but one of them ends up feeling a lot more emotional to me than the other.
To wrap it up, I highly recommend both shows and I can’t wait to see how they’ll end! They are both among the best shows of the year, both free of all those annoyingly stereotyped characters and plot points that most bls tend to overuse.
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We Are Who We Are Overall Thoughts *spoilers*
This review will be discussing briefly some of the episodes so far, so SPOILERS
So I started watching the HBO original series, We Are Who We Are, and I am conflicted. When I initially watched it, the dialogue made it hard for me to enjoy it so I stopped. Then after a couple of weeks after its airing, I thought, what the hell? And this time, I was pleasantly surprised. I always maintain the belief that pilot episodes are either boring, messy, or just bad so I try to push past it in order to get to the good shit. The pilot for We Are Who We Are was...I’m not sure how to explain...different? It certainly wasn’t bad and it made an impression on me, but this show as a whole is hard to limit by just a few words. It’s really something that you should watch and experience yourself.
It was only after the first 3 episodes that I began to understand the tone and mood that Luca Guadagnino was trying to convey. A lot of the time, the dialogue is abrupt and choppy and can make no sense. It can be frustrating, especially when you have two characters that aren’t communicating effectively. But I think that was the point. Guadagnino is a very realistic director, he captures the most realistic elements in a film. A lot of the conversations between characters is meant to emulate real life. Like, what the hell do you say when a conversation becomes awkward? Well, nothing sometimes.
While Guadagnino’s typical cinematography may suggest whimsy, in WAWWA’s case the small structured and synthetic model of the military base is juxtaposed to the very concrete characters. When I started to view the show less as simply a televised airing of fictional characters and problems, and instead looked at them as people, I began to really enjoy it.
Take the main character of Fraser, played by Jack Dylan Grazer. Fraser is meant to be seen as an extremely complex and troubled kid, but the difference between him and every other teen in a coming-of-age drama is that he isn’t polished. His drinking and drug habit isn’t framed as romantic or beautiful, in fact most of the time it’s portrayed as his weakness of sorts. In the first episode, Fraser has one of his mothers drive him home after getting pretty wasted and Luca graces us with a direct shot of him throwing up. And before that, Fraser is stumbling on a bridge when he drunkenly falls and cuts his face. Everything the character does is messy, uncoordinated, yet extremely real and relatable. Hell, in one shot you can clearly see him do a Naruto run!
Caitlin/Harper is a character that I enjoyed watching, as well. Jordan Seamon did a fantastic job and I really connected with their character. Initially we see Caitlin as this mysterious girl, and in the pilot we are meant to assume that their relationship with Fraser is supposed to develop into a romantic one. This is not the case as it seems that Caitlin is trying to come to terms with who they are. The biggest shift in Caitlin’s character isn’t their friendship with Fraser but probably when they get their period.
This was a moment that even I related to, even though I am cis when I first got my period I didn’t tell my mom until the day after. The possible confusion and shift in their reality that Caitlin felt was only heightened with the conflict of their boyfriend wanting to be more physically intimate, and Fraser’s eventual discover of Harper. I would have like to see exactly why Fraser seemed drawn to Caitlin. I’m assuming viewers were supposed to think that Fraser is attracted to her, or something. But both Caitlin/Harper and Fraser are queer coded and their respective sexualities are alluded to not being straight. It would’ve made their standing as platonic friends more clear if this had been established stronger.
I definitely think the writer could have devoted more time to giving certain characters proper conversations. It would’ve given more development to certain characters and better context for things. However even without that, there is a lot that the audience is showed that can’t be told through dialogue. The power struggle between Sarah and Richard being one. So far, there hasn’t been any explanation as to why they have a such a volatile relationship other than Richard being a homophobe.
Through deeper inspection, I was able to interpret it as: Richard may heavily resent the fact the Sarah was promoted to Colonel and not him. It is never made clear who has the better credentials, Sarah or Richard, but assuming that she was the one promoted it is a safe guess. This may be highlighted by the fact that Sarah is a women, and also gay. Even before episode 7, it was clear that Richard did not respect her authority. I also interpreted it as Richard being upset that and openly gay women was promoted instead of him, a black man.
Of course this is just based on my own personal knowledge of how the U.S. military can be towards people of color and LGBTQ+. Regardless, the competitive tension between two parents is palpable without needing dialogue to explain.
When conflict happens, I can kind of figure out which characters are going to react and which one’s will stay silent. I think the show is trying to accomplish a drastically realistic and raw series. It took me while to adjust to it, but by maybe the 2nd or 3rd episode, it starts to grow on you. Despite not liking a good majority of the characters, I was very surprised by how invested I was in them.
Like, Danny is my least favorite character because he displays very abusive and explosive tendencies, and doesn’t seem to care about the world around him. However, getting glimpses into his character and seeing how Richard ignores him for Caitlin/Harper, his suicidal thoughts, and how he is trying to reclaim his cultural and religious background makes me empathize with him.
Even though I hate his character, I can see that he is struggling. I appreciate the way that this show freely shows dark skinned black boys dealing with mental health issues, and personal development. Rarely are issues like suicide talked about in the black community, so seeing Danny talk about it and Craig offering(admittedly poor)comfort was touching. This is a general vibe that I get from nearly all the characters on WAWWA. I also appreciated the how Danny is actively trying to convert to Islam. In shows, rarely is Islam ever portrayed in a positive manner. Especially when female characters are shown to be struggling with their religion, Islam is shown as this barrier that prevents them from living life. Hopefully it goes without saying that the “taking off the hijab” as a way to show that a female character is “liberated” is overplayed and does not offer any respect to the countless Muslim women who choose to wear hijabs.
Now I think the pacing of some of the storylines could have been handled a bit more gracefully. Like how we jump from Fraser and Harper being kind of enemies(not really but you know what I mean), to just them hanging out in Richard’s boat was jarring. I would have at least liked to see the scene of them talking on the rocks at the beach. It would’ve given more insight on Caitlin/Harper’s character and also on Fraser too. Also how quickly Maggie and Lu(Jennifer but I love the name Lubaba, it’s my aunt’s name)jump into a physical affair. I just would have liked to see a build up of tension between all these characters but I don’t think this entirely ruins the plot.
I was very iffy when I learned that the show would be focusing on trans identity and gender and sexuality, but not actually hire a trans male actor. I was afraid that the show would completely botch the experiences of being transgender, and honestly I don’t have the authority to speak on whether or not this affects the quality of the show. I am cisgender, and only can empathize with this particular situation as much as I can. But I would like to hear to the opinion of someone who is trans and elaborate on the ways that they did/didn’t like Jordan Kristine Seamón’s portrayal.
Now at the time I’m writing this, the season finale has yet to come out. But I’d also like to briefly discuss the most recent episode and how it developed Jonathan and Fraser’s relationship. I was VERY worried that Guadagnino was going to take their relationship in the direction of inappropriate. While nearly all the depictions of Jonathan and his actions have been trough Fraser’s pov, it didn’t stop me from side-eyeing some of the interactions they shared. Of course after it was mentioned that Jonathan was supposed to be in his late 20s, nearing 30 I was immediately uncomfortable with the very flirty behavior he exhibited.
So when the scene of Fraser going up to his apartment after Craig’s death, I was very on edge. If Guadagnino had gone the extra mile to show an even larger age gap then I would’ve been pissed. While I enjoyed Call Me By Your Name, the implication that sexual relationships between barely legal teenagers and adults well into their 20s was sensual is something that I see as very weird now that I’m older. So seeing Jonathan as the object of Fraser’s affections made me extremely warry.
And honestly, I’m still surprised that the scene even happened in its entirety. I’m sure that Jack was not in any danger of being exploited but there were definitely points while watching I thought, what the fuck is going on? I was very worried that it would escalate, but I was happy to see that Fraser was the one who stopped it from going further. It made sense to me that this scene took so many liberties to be as graphic as possible without being too graphic, in order to show why a situation like that would be scary and confusing for Fraser. It wasn’t lost to me that Marta and Jonathan were the one’s initiating all the sexual advances. They held all the power in that scenario, even more so because Fraser is younger and has the tendencies to not make the best decisions. Though it seemed that Fraser was trying, he knew that the situation was fucked up.
I’d like to hear what JDG felt and thought doing this scene. What was his character’s thought process?
I’ve seen a lot of people compare the show heavily to CMBYN, which is fine. Besides certain cinematic parallels that people pointed out, I don’t see the clear comparison. CMBYN is more of a love story and it’s more polished than WAWWA. Now when I say tat, I don’t mean it as a negative. Rather, We Are Who We is obviously more devoted to realism and its characters. I appreciate the inclusion of more LGBTQ+ people and black main characters with development, something that CMBYN lacked. And for some people who didn’t like the show based solely on the fact that it wasn’t a CMBYN tv show, I suggest just going into it with no expectations and enjoy the mess.
And I’d also like to take a moment to commend Jack Dylan Grazer for his job in We Are Who We Are. All of the main cast are amazing actors and actresses and did a really good job bringing their characters to life. Though, I had always associated JDG with supporting roles that, while highlighted his acting talent, only put him in a one-dimensional light. As good as It 2017 was, JDG’s role of Eddie is only meant to be seen as a comic relief. In WAWWA, I was able to forget that he was teen actor, Jack Dylan Grazer, and really see him as Fraser. It’s worth mentioning that in a GQ interview, Grazer also mentioned how this role made him reevaluate is approach to acting.
And after reading an interview he did with a Interview Germany, with him saying he spent months in Italy reading the script and trying to perfectly craft this character, I was immensely impressed. I hope that he knows that all his hard work payed off and made a really dynamic and interesting character. I really hope that in the future JDG continues with more mature or multi-dimensional roles because he displayed that he has the talent to do so. Him being so young makes me optimistic in knowing that he is definitely going places in his career. I also hope that there will be a season 2 of WAWWA because despite having hour long episodes, the show still felt way too short. There is a lot about Fraser’s character, and all the others’ characters, that I want more information and analysis on.
#We Are Who We Are#wawwa#wawwa spoilers#wawwa hbo#jack dylan grazer#jordan seamon#luca guadagnino#series review#I lived for the fact that Fraiser is an absolute mess cuz same#chloe sevigny#faith alabi#tom mercier#jonathan wawwa#hbo max#coming of age#kid cudi#spence moore ii#corey knight#francesca scorsese#alice braga#i can do a in-depth character analysis cuz i feel like there is a lot to every character that most people haven't addressed#really enjoyed it#if it doesn't get renewed im gonna fucking cry#fraser wilson#caitlin poythress#sarah wilson
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