hiii I hope you're doing well! I have a question for you since I'm getting into Bon Jovi: which albums would you recommend the most?

HELLO HELLO HELLO and I hope you're doing well too! I'm... trudging on let's put it like that but it could be worse T_T thank you though T_T

that saif FIRST OF ALL CONGRATS ON GETTING INTO THE BEST BAND IN THE WORLD I ACCEPT NO OTHER OPINION, for the rest I'mma just rank you everything, top three is imvho THE ONES YOU *NEED* TO HAVE DON'T PASS FROM GO DON'T COLLECT THE TWENTY DOLLARS, top five is top five from the rest on it's my personal opinion and I already warn I have an absolute hot take opinion wrt what's not in top three but anyway if you end up liking them in general no album is lost uwu, after top five I'm rating the others without doing the chart

SO WITH NO FURTHER ADO

THESE DAYS: 10000000/10 BEST ALBUM EVER IN EXISTENCE SURELY BEST BON JOVI ALBUM TOPS I ACCEPT NO OTHER OPINION no okay in existence is obviously my opinion but: imvho 90s bj were the peakest peak and these days is a masterpiece - best lyrics they ever put out, best music, best everything, these days the song is my single favorite song in existence, I haven't ever played a record as much in my entire life, there isn't ONE single song that doesn't work and jbj was at his peak vocally too and the fact that most ppl never heard my guitar lies bleeding in my arms and think bj is basic cheap stuff haunts me at night

keep the faith: 10/10 second best, as stated 90s bon jovi were the peak and this one would be my fave if these days didn't exist but like this one also has no song I don't know at molecular level, has a bunch of bangers, has bed of roses aka best ballad ever bye I'm a bed of roses truther and most of all it has dry county which is the other song I am haunted at night by not being general knowledge by the general public and it's a complete masterpiece 10 minutes of perfection but like it's all bangers and half of them are so fun also i want you most underrated ballad ever

new jersey: 10/10 best record bon jovi put out in the 80s and I'll die on this hill (yes my hot take is that slippery when wet has nothing on new jersey come at me idc) it shows that they have the best range, homebound train/wild is the wind are underrated gems, living in sin has the best vocals, bad medicine is the banger to end all bangers, born to be my baby is <333 and I'm also a stick to your guns truther even if no one remembers it exists but like new jersey is just so FUN I love it okay (so like THESE are the three bj records I think everyone should have but I'm also a crossroads advocate in the sense that it was a very decent best of until 1994 and it has someday I'll be saturday night which is one of my top five bj songs overall and I mean... I'm a 'demo always is better than released always' truther but I mean IT'S ALWAYS but it's not an ALBUM so we're gonna move over to...)

crush: 9.5/10 YES I PUT CRUSH ABOVE SLIPPERY WHEN WET THAT'S MY HOT TAKE BUT: it was my first bon jovi record ever, I think it's tbf the best they put out in the 2000s, it's my life is what hooked me for life and it's also like a very good album in the first place, it has the ballads, it has the bangers, it has the quality, there's no fillers and I'mma still say save the world is the best ballad they put out since 2000 onwards but like next 100 years has great guitar, I <3 two story town too not counting the beginning three which HELLO ALL BANGERS so yeah I'mma go with crush

slippery when wet: 9/10 okay tldr slippery is a GREAT record it has basically ALL bangers and there's absolutely nothing bad I can say about it and it's the best of their hair metal phase but like I've heard the hits so many times I can sing you livin on a prayer in my sleep and the ones I like best are the three that weren't singles also i prefer the lyrics in the post slippery records in general but yeah it's top five

for the rest, in order:

self-titled debut from 1984: I mean I'd give it a fair 6/10, runaway is a banger and I love shot through the heart but it's hair metal to the core and it's basically all around (1) hit so not what I'd start from if you're listening to them in 2024

7800 degrees fahrenheit: 6/10 too, it's an okay record but again if you're into hair metal you'll prob enjoy it if you're not it's fun but tbf slippery when wet was a complete jump of quality

bounce: I think ppl sorta evaluated it negatively since it came out for idk what reason and idk I think it was when people started being like EH THEY'RE CHEESY THEY SUCK but it had some very strong pieces when it came to slamming you with good solos, the ballads had admittedly cheesy lyrics but I'm a sap and love me back to life/open all night never fail to hit with me, the distance and right side of wrong were splendid and admittedly postcards from the wasteland which was imvho the best one was a bonus track so IDEK WHAT THEY WERE THINKING but for me it was a solid 7.5/10

have a nice day: absolute banger of a record 8/10 idc, who says you can't go home best banger, i am best ballad I've cried over that song an embarrassingly amount of times, the title track was GREAT, last man standing same and tbf the only thing I don't like about this record is that they never did the who says you can't go home duet song with keith urban because man I'd have paid to hear that

lost highway: I have no idea how ppl feel about this record but as a person who loves country music to a ridiculous degree bon jovi doing a country record was a total joy for me and I'mma 8/10 it because it's great it's fun the title track is honestly a joy to listen to and fine cheesy lyrics but who gaf it's part of the fun

the circle: honestly a solid record, 7/10 because I liked bounce better back in the day but it holds on, has bangers, the cheese is on point (idc superman tonight is how you do cheesy songs), not 90s level but pretty good

what about now: this one is 50/50 like the good (because we can, the fighter and amen at least) is excellent and the meh is not their best and as usual the best stuff is in the bonus songs but like tbf you could feel the sambora split was incoming, I'mma rate it 6.5 because I'd casually listen to it more than the first two but of all the post 80 ones where sambora was in it's arguably the worst

burning bridges: I mean it's not a full on album because it's all previously unpublished tracks they did to finish the contract with the previous label so it's like not exactly coherent but admittedly the tracks are all pretty good, we don't run was a banger but all of the others were p okay and admittedly burning bridges-the-song is a level of spite that should be rated 10/10 just for that, but like overall it's a 7, nice but not fundamental

this house is not for sale: listen if ppl thought they were done without sambora they were wrong and I'mma 7.5/10 this because it's solid, has very nice songs, tbf it's a breath of fresh air wrt sound and I think the latter half like songs 8-12 is like REALLY really good no filler no mood going down def very nice

bon jovi 2020: idk why people didn't go OMG WHAT on this record but like....... 8/10 absolutely great FINALLY they went back to the more socially aware these-days-time lyrics except even more, FINALLY they went back to 5+ minutes songs and it only suffers that limitless was like the first single and it's the only meh song imvho but american reckoning is TRULY something, blood in the water and unbroken are wow, do what you can was the song I needed in covid times, lower the flag was like REALLY good anyone who's like THESE PPL ARE SO GUNG HO AMERICA hasn't heard that probably and like I thought it was really good def the best lyrically since these days and in general since have a nice day

that's for regular albums now for the extra that you get just when you're graduated to I AM A BON JOVI AFICIONADO AND I WANT EVERYTHING:

100.000.000 bon jovi fasn can't be wrong is like... 4 records of b-sides and each of them is on new jersey level singularly for me so take it as you will but if you're a thorough person it's 10000/10 XD

this left feels right is alternative arrangements, some are very good some are whatever but the slow blues version of you give love a bad name was a win

one wild night live is a p decent live record tho if you want the best just get the live from london 1995 dvd with ALL the songs not just the first one they put out because that one is like mindblowingly good

also sorry i'm really being verbose but when I discuss bon jovi I'm what I am so.. SOLO RECORDS SMALL SIDES:

blaze of glory aka jbj's first solo record: listen the movie it was made for (young guns ii?) was forgettable and a soundtrack for a movie that bad had no right being this good but honestly it's a goddamned masterpiece, the songs are all amazing and every time i listen to santa fe/justice in the barrel one after the other I'm just like WHY DID YOU STICK THESE SONGS IN A SOLO RECORD FOR THAT MOVIE MAN anyway 9/10 I love blaze of glory

destination anywhere aka jbj's second solo record: my friends my romans my countrymen my nickname has been janiesomething since I was 12 because of a song on that record so like... you know XD but it's just really really good, it has VERY nice lyrics, no cheese anywhere, the sound itself is really refined imvho and I'mma 9.5/10 it idc I absolutely wholly recommend jbj's solo records they're both great

stranger in this town aka richie sambora's first solo record: excellent if you're into blues music also has some really great songs (ballad of youth in my heart) and a great wind cries mary cover song but like it's admittedly really good 8/10

undiscovered soul aka richie sambora's second solo: less hard than the previous but still has quite the bangers, I really enjoyed it, has some p. nice ballads (some ARE cheesy but it's good cheese so) and idk I got it when I was 13 and I listened to it an entire summer I have very nice memories tied to it I'd 8/10 it too

I can't say shit abt to the third because I pre-ordered it before he quit bon jovi, I received it A YEAR AND A HALF LATER after he quit bj so I was pissed at him and listened to it once so sorry can't recommend or not XD

... tldr: these days/keep the faith/new jersey/crush/slippery + crossroads for basics and if you want to have just the best and what I'd personally recommend getting if you want to just start, the rest is rated if you want more XD

Now you two think about what you've done and develop some healthier emotional coping mechanisms

just imagine charlie being the only other character in the hotel to understand Alastor's sayings and gripes about the modern world. She's even older than he is, those two could have so much to talk about. I'm still fairly young but I have plenty of gripes about the modern world, I just know those two old ladies could find something to share lol.

I adore Charlie and Alastor as characters, and I adore your art! All of your art is damn cute to me, it's great! I need more of charlie and alastor interacting and being silly in my life, romantic or platonic doesn't matter to me lmao.

You are just like me for real 😭 when the pilot came out I was so intrigued with Alastor and Charlie they immediately clicked for me and became my favourite pair of the show (tho now that the first season is out all of Alastor's other relationships stole my heart lmao but I still love them a lot) the "big bad villain who initially wanted to manipulate the sunshine character ends up accidently getting attached to them" trope is like one of my favourite tropes ever and they have the potential to become just that so I'm really invested in what their storyline will be I'M SO EXCITED

AND YEAH the fact that the hotel was already so has-been looking before Alastor showed up makes me think Charlie is similar to him, she's more up to date than him regarding new technologies ofc but I just know my girl loves vintage stuff ahah

(Also I want them to have a duo song in the next seasons SO BAD no offense to Heaven 2 Hell I love this song but I need something new it's been 4 years lol)

insomnia? do u mean my true crime podcast time

SPARE VAMPIRE BKG THOUGHTS ??? SPARE VAMPIRE BKG THOUGHTS SIR MAAM ??

omg i have been traveling so it took me forever to respond to this because i wanted to be able to type out my Thoughts on the computer but WILLOW omg..... u spoil me by asking this. because i have so many and they constantly live in my brain ldfskjfslkdjf

i think what i love about bkg so much as a character is that he has desires but most of those desires take the form of achieving a goal. he has so many things he wants to be the best at and so many heights he wants to reach and yeah, part of this is because he's an ambitious person but part of it is because of his ego and his insecurity and the expectations placed upon him by the people around him/society at large. and i think bkg in any context has these things that he wants to achieve because his desire to reach his lofty goals is integral to his character.

and vampire bkg... think of all that time. what do you do when you've achieved everything you've ever wanted to achieve? what's left after that? for a century he has been achieving his goals, and now he has everything. money and power and even respect from locals in the villages near his castle (though that respect is tinged heavily with fear, because even if they don't know exactly what the handsome bachelor that lives inside the creepy but beautiful castle on the horizon is, they know he's something other... and not to mention he looks exactly like his father, and exactly like his father's father, and isn't it strange that none of us have ever seen their wives, have never seen these men at any point in their lives outside of their late twenties/early thirties?)

i don't think stagnation sits well with bkg. i don't think he's ever learned how to be still. despite having unlimited time, he had to accomplish everything as quick as possible, because he just wanted it all. he wanted to be the best so bad that it sung in his veins like adrenaline. and now, in the aftermath, he feels that same emptiness. adrenaline come and gone and only a hollow tiredness in its wake. now is when you feel the pain--nothing distracts you from it.

and one day... you, cat-curious, find your way to his castle. (this has gotten long lmao so im gonna put a read more)

maybe you're a traveler, or an adventurer, or simply someone in one of the nearby villages that doesn't believe the rumors. but no matter who you are and where you come from, you've heard the stories of his Otherness. though you don't know it yet, just like him, you thrive best with adrenaline thrumming through your veins--you thrive when you have something to want. and you want to know the secrets behind the Otherness that everyone else is so afraid of.

does that mean you're not afraid? god, no. of course you are. but you've reached his castle under an auspicious moon and you're sure this is a good omen.

here is why desire is such a dangerous thing: it is often insatiable. for a long, long time, bkg has survived from the blood of his livestock which he cares for, from game on his land. deer in spring, grouse in winter. to live like that for so long, and then to have something so much more tempting come directly to him, delivered to his doorstep--it's almost like a gift.

at the same time, i don't think bkg relishes the idea of drinking human blood, and certainly not killing a human. i think he could be a bloodthirsty vampire, but specifically when it comes to vengeance. he could hurt someone that wronged him, but not someone whose only crime is their curiosity.

you offer to work for him. to clean his castle, to tend his grounds, to care for his cattle. you know how to cook and how to bake (though you're unaware that this means little to him), and you have more fortitude than your appearance belies--his long-fallow farmland would thrive under your hands if he gave you the opportunity to work with it.

if it was years ago and he was still the same man, he might have said no. but it's hard to care when you feel empty. fine, he says. but don't expect fancy lodging or riches beyond measure.

you work, you investigate, you sleep. it's a cycle. and bkg watches you the whole time, though you're none the wiser. he's smart. he knows what you're doing. but you've broken up the monotony for him.

there's no food in his pantries, and you have to find him to ask for coin to go into town and buy groceries. he doesn't provide you the coin directly--a smart move, perhaps--but later that day, what you've requested has been stocked in the pantry shelves. and that's how you mainly interact with him for a while--weeks, maybe. you wake at dawn and clear the land and feed the cows and pigs and begin the monstrous task of cleaning a castle that has been left to rot and you go to the room you've chosen when the sun is long set, settle into your moth-eaten bed, and sleep harder than you've ever done in your life. if you need tools, feed for the cattle, groceries, supplies to clean, you relay this to him, often finding him in his study reading or in the greenhouse, pruning exotic plants. he never gives you more than nods and grunted words of acquiescence, but despite his temperament, he always provides what you ask for.

he's surprised by your tenacity. by your boldness, to ask for so much, even if it's not for your direct benefit. when you cook dinner each night, you make a serving for him as well. he can admit, begrudgingly, though you are in his space and disrupting his quiet, that he admires the way you chop vegetables so uniformly, that you're so careful with the way you measure out the spices he has filled his cabinets with for you.

and above all, for the first time in a long time, he feels something like desire.

he's never been intrigued by other people--he has friends, other vampires he has known for decades (kirishima and mina), but their friendship was foisted upon him until he gave in. he doesn't think he's intrigued by you. but your blood--

it has been a very long time since he has been tempted by something so sweet.

(i think there has to be so much context for this situation because i truly believe that the longer bkg is alone, the harder it is for him to let someone in. after a century of shutting himself away, it would be almost impossible for him to open himself back up in any significant way. it's the situation that allows for this desire to grow. the lack of anything else to hold his attention, the feeling of achieving everything you've ever wanted to achieve and having nothing left to strive for, the unobtrusive yet spellbinding nature of your presence. he remembers what it was like to want something. this, at first, is what draws him to you. nothing more.)

vampires are always hungry. even when sated, they know that hunger is going to return. there's nothing to stop it. it's the nature of their existence. so yes, at first, it's his hunger that draws him to you, though he wouldn't ever do anything about it.

he talks to you more. finds out things about you. your father was a drunkard and you never smile with teeth. you've worked on farms since late childhood and your right pinkie is crooked from a bad break. you read romance novels late at night and deny that you've been in his library when he asks you about it.

and after dinners spent together where he doesn't eat, after early evenings when he joins you outside to feed the cows, he tells himself this pull he feels is because of that hunger. because of that desire--not for you, but for the lifeblood that nearly intoxicates him just by scent if he gets too close to you.

(though you are aware of his Otherness, he is disarming to you. it's something about the earnestness in everything he does, despite his gruff exterior. he seems rusty at conversation, but his efforts are genuine. he doesn't eat your food, but he picks at it so as to not make you feel bad. you find this more endearing than you care to say aloud.)

and then kirishima and mina visit, and they meet you, his new human employee that lives in his castle and reads his books and touches his shoulder gently when he steadies a ladder for them so they can rehang one of the long-covered paintings in the drawing room, as if he has ever let anyone touch him, as if he has ever let anyone close enough to try--

and it's kirishima that finally asks what's going on, and when bkg says nothing, obviously, he asks again because he knows his best friend better than anyone else in the world--now, perhaps, better than anyone except you--and the truth is more simple than expected.

for so long, bkg had only ever experienced desire as hunger. hunger for blood, hunger for power, hunger for everything greater in the world. he was hungry to be the best. whatever that meant. because becoming the best meant that no one could question him. no one could doubt that he was powerful and all the things that came along with it. no one but himself. surely, he had thought, once he got to the top he would stop having those doubts because he would, unassailably, be the best.

just like hunger, doubt is something that can never be truly sated.

and for a long time he sat with that.

but then, to his own surprise, he was shown that desire can be something other than hunger. something softer, a smile with less teeth. desire can be vegetables chopped precisely, or dirt from the fields caked under fingernails, or a badly-healed little finger. desire can be a gentle hand on his shoulder, an act of trust: i know you'll be there to steady me.

he never knew he could want something without being hungry. never knew he could have his teeth to someone's throat without drawing blood. but now it's all he wants to do.

That is not Steven Rudboys/neg

I know I've twisted myself into a goddamn pretzel the past five or so years trying not to be 'too much' and backing off when I am

but

A good deal of why I started the #dr literacy tag is precisely because of this- I am beyond tired and fed up, with the kinds of things that people have ignored and left on my back- whether it's to do with Kokichi, or V3 overall. It's easy to deflect and call me 'delusional', and five years later never even consider the implications of having called me that over what I've been trying to grapple with, much less apologise to me sincerely and genuinely try to understand where I'm coming from and why it's so hard to discuss in the first place- not to mention why it's so easy to make mistakes not least because the way Kodaka plays with themes can be decidedly insensitive (and I was clearly out of my depth with that when I started this blog)

This isn't about all of you. A good number of people here have been wonderful about this, even if they don't understand all too well. But frankly such people are the exception rather than the rule, and the rule is that people don't bother to interrogate their own biases about Kokichi, or really grapple with the way him and V3's narrative might be constructed with bias. And this unwillingness to accept ambiguity and nuance results in some genuinely hurtful behaviour towards people who try to point out that, maybe, not everything was even his fault, or that his character and situation is far more layered than it appears on a first run of the game. Or even a second, or third.

So I'm gonna need people in that camp to swear that you'll do better about this going forward. No really. This situation I've been in didn't come out of nowhere, and while I've beaten the proverbial horse to death that I haven't always been fair or reasonable either, that does not mean I should just back myself into a wall and take the status quo that is 'Tsumugi is telling the truth and Kokichi is just a clown' as a 'fact of canon'. Because there's a very good chance that that might not even be true, and that there's even more tangled messes Kodaka left in the text to unpack that you never even thought of, and that really NEED extra care and nuance to fully understand.

I know you're probably sick of hearing this from me by now. But this is an issue that can never be helped until it's faced head on, and the effect of basically being pathologised over it (due to *checks notes* autism), is seriously damaging- the inability of people to address things as serious issues and themes rather than 'just the pet theory that came out of my nutty head', is something I cannot, on principle, force myself to accept. So please just think about the way you're approaching issues in the future. I will try to do the same.

I try not to post too much TWN negativity on this blog, because I know plenty of people enjoy the show just fine, and I hate being an asshole and raining on other people’s parades. But, god, the way that the show treats Yennefer - or rather, mistreats her - just upsets me and pisses me off so much. 

The book already puts her through the wringer - too much at times, honestly - but the show just takes it to a whole new level. The amount of suffering they put her through that wasn’t present in the books is so frustrating to me. Like adding in random torture scenes that weren’t present (the hysterectomy scene, being tortured by Stregebor), losing her magic powers, constantly being captured in S2, not even having a particularly good court standing - like in S1 when Fringilla mocks her for not helping advance Aedirn at all, and Yennefer doesn’t even have a good comeback to that. It’s as if the show is just obsessed with giving her constant Ls and never really letting her come out on top. Sidenote: I am fine with angst, in fact I enjoy it, and I am fine with a character going through hardships and suffering. You can do a lot of great character, story and theme exploration with angst, and sometimes it’s necessary for a character to suffer to develop that. If I wasn’t fine with angst, I wouldn’t be a fan of the witcher lmao. But when I see a character who already goes through a shit ton of misery in the books get forced into even more suffering in the show that never happened....I start to have a problem.

And then, of course, S2 committed the cardinal sin with that stupid ass Voleth Meir plotline. As if torturing her, having her be captured, making her lose her powers, wasn’t bad enough - they completely character assassinate her by making her almost sacrifice Ciri to a fucking demon. Something that is so bewilderingly OOC for Yennefer, something that never EVER happened in the books. When the show got bored with creating narrative suffering for her, they decided to take it to a meta level by character assassinating her in a really bizarre, stupid way. Because, why was this necessary? I know that they were concerned about the fact Yennefer doesn’t really show up much in Blood of Elves, I understand they wanted to create a plot line for her that got her more involved in the main plot. But - why this???!!! There were 101 different plot lines they could have given her that didn’t involve her trying to sacrifice Ciri to a fucking demon, in the process completely messing up her relationship with Geralt and Ciri!!

And this is the main reason I’m making this post - her relationship with Geralt and Ciri being messed up. I’ve seen a lot of articles recently about S3, all stating that Yennefer essentially has to grovel to Geralt, that he ignores her for potentially a full year, that at the beginning he doesn’t even let her enter the same abode as them - what the fuck!!! It upsets me so much. Because this was the biggest problem with the VM plotline - it completely upends Geralt and Yennefer’s dynamic. In the books, their relationship is way more equal - in fact, it honestly would be accurate to say that Yennefer is the more dominant one in the relationship, not Geralt. The show is now completely turning that on its head, and making Geralt the dominant one - but not personality wise, more in a moral highground type way. Because now, whatever stupid shit Geralt does, or has done in the past - e.g. tell Yennefer she’d be a terrible mother, which he never apologises for - none of that matters!! Because it will never be as bad as Yennefer trying to kill Ciri. Instead of a relationship where they both fuck up and both make mistakes, like in the books, in the show the emphasis will all be on Yennefer. Yennefer is the one fucking up, Yennefer is the one making absurdly stupid mistakes, Yennefer is the one who needs to apologise and grovel and beg for forgiveness. 

And this is what I mean by, the show is obsessed with giving her Ls. Not only do they make her suffer, they character assassinate her by forcing her character to do this cartoonishly evil thing, and then punish her for it!! They don’t just take away her powers, her court standing, they even strip her of her own relationships!!! And I ask again - why is this necessary?? Who decided that punishing her like this would be an extremely important plot line, an improvement, over the original source material? Like back when the show was first announced, I sure as shit wasn’t thinking “oh wow a netflix witcher show - I sure do hope they have a plot thread where Geralt refuses to talk to Yennefer, and doesn’t even let her into the same fucking house as him, because she tried to kill Ciri!!” who wanted this??? Who thought this was a good idea??? Honestly, it makes me feel as if someone on the writing team hates Yennefer and wants her to suffer, both in a narrative and meta level. And no, I’m not talking about that infamous Beau deMayo interview - something that caused a huge amount of online drama and should be taken with a big old pinch of salt, especially since the writer who made this claim was responsible for some pretty questionable decisions, namely the whole Treeskel thing. I’m not making a direct accusation here - it’s more a feeling. When I look at TWN, I cannot help but sense a level of contempt and spite towards the character of Yennefer. That doesn’t necessarily mean someone in the writing team genuinely has it out for her, but if that’s the impression that I get from the way they treat her in the show, then something has gone very wrong with the narrative decisions they made for her.

And this is why, not only can I not let myself be excited for S3, it’s why I’m genuinely feeling dread about it. Every time I read interviews about how Geralt and Yennefer have this really rocky start and he’s ignoring her or whatever, my stomach just sinks. And again - why was this decision made? Who thought this was a good idea? And yeah, the TWN team have already said they’re trying to fix the problem with their relationship caused in S2, but a) the way they are going about fixing it only serves to punish Yennefer’s character more and b) it should not have been something to fix in the first place. It’s also why I can’t bring myself to believe that S3 will suddenly be more faithful and better than S2, esp in regards to Yennefer (aside from the fact they’ve made this promise before and failed to deliver). Because the early plot points of a story are extremely important in setting the foundation of your later plot, especially in a series like the witcher. If your foundation is inherently flawed, it doesn’t matter how good your later seasons are; they are built on a faulty base, and will therefore lack a good structure. Case in point with Yennefer. Without going too much into book spoilers, let’s just say she has a really rough time of it post-Time of Contempt in the books. So in the show, either a) they will just put her through even more suffering and leave you thinking “wow did this entire show exist just to punish Yennefer?” or b) they will have to deviate away from the books. Neither of these options are particularly good. (this also is one of my problems with S2 as a whole - they were so desperate to put in all this insane blockbuster action and dramatic plot points, but sometimes in stories you need moments of calm to make later dramatic plot points more hard hitting. In the books, Blood of Elves was the moment of calm before Time of Contempt’s batshit, action packed drama. In the show, you never get that moment of calm. Why should I care about whatever happens in Thanedd if S2 had Ciri get possessed by a fucking demon and go on a killing spree? But anyway.)

And I think the reason why I’m particularly disappointed with the way that the show has treated Yennefer’s character so badly (aside from the numerous promises of “we’re a faithful book adaptation” being complete lies) is that Yennefer is a character who already receives a lot of unfair hate. Obviously there’s the annoying “Team Yen vs Team Triss” thing from the games, but even within the show there were a certain type of fans of a certain ship who hated a lot on Yennefer for daring to get in the way of their ship. Like, I’m so sick of seeing Yennefer getting hate for stupid, unfair reasons - and now even the show is treating her like shit??? Like, give me a break!! 

I’m just tired of it. And obviously, if you like TWN and you’re excited for S3, that’s fine. In fact, I’m honestly jealous, I wish I could feel the same. And who knows, maybe the show will improve its treatment of Yennefer, maybe they’ll finally give her some Ws. But that’s what I thought about S2, and was proven VERY wrong. Any confidence, trust or optimism I had left for the show was completely destroyed by the Voleth Meir plotline in S2, and the show will have to work very hard to rebuild that trust for me. And unfortunately, everything I’ve heard about S3 so far is only confirming that they’ll continue to treat her poorly.

Remembering the toxic hellscape that was 2015-2019ish SU fandom and just how much hate the show got is really insane when you rewatch the show after it's been a while. Like the show is good what the hell were any of these people talking about

Casual reminder because I deleted a comment on one of my posts recently-

SIMPING FOR CHARACTERS IS FINE. BE A WEIRDO ABOUT CHARACTERS ALL YOU WANT BUT PLEASE DO NOT BE WEIRD ABOUT THE ACTORS. THOSE ARE REAL PEOPLE.

There's nothing wrong with finding the actor hot or expressing that but there's a clear line between that and just saying some really uncomfy things... Please I'm begging you to not comment weird things about actors or answer my silly sexual questions about characters with the ACTOR THEMSELVES. Don't. Please. Fucks sake. Do not.

🌋

how and why is there discourse about whether or not certain queer identities exist/if people should be allowed(???) to use them. why is "people know their own identity better than you ever could, and they're the only one who get a say on what they are" such a tough concept to grasp

i think if you find yourself offended by the label someone uses (especially if they're a stranger) or think it invalidates your own, it's a good idea to look inside yourself and question why that may be. more often than not, it's a result of insecurity or uncertainty of your own identity (or many other things, but i won't make a whole list here). whatever reason it is, until you resolve it, you shouldn't take it out on people for having an identity you don't understand

many have said it before but it's worth saying over and over. infighting only helps our oppressors. conservatives don't care if you're a cis gay or a xenogender aegosexual aplatonic lesbian, they hate all of us either way. trying to fit in by going for people who are easier targets for them isn't gonna help you, it'll just alienate you from your own community, and you're never gonna please them. the momentary rush you get from hearing you're not like "one of /those/ gay people" is not worth it and is gonna do more harm in the long run, i assure you

also, it is important to me to say this, but having some less than nice kneejerk reaction caused by confusion about an identity you don't understand doesn't mean you're a bad person or anything. as long as you aren't mean to that person, and you take a second to think smth along the lines of "wait a minute, this isn't any of my business" after having said reaction, you're good 👍 a lot of reflexive reactions we have to things are ingrained into us simply by. well. living in a society 🤡 and you're not terrible for having those thoughts. it's your actions that matter, and your second thought (the "wait, why did i just think that?") is more defining of your actual character and morals than your reflex. i know that having thoughts like this, even tho they're unwanted, can very easily make one spiral, so it's important to me that whoever needs to hear this knows this doesn't make you a bad person 🙏 you're good, keep taking actions to be good, accept other people even if you don't understand them, and you're on the right track :)

Would you say that Jin mori is an omnipotent bieng since he agreed to be a all powerful that creates balance throughout all the universe

Since it seems he can kill the fairies that are eating the universe (which were a damn pain in the ass on the Tathagata battle and they had already destroyed an universe), the series narrator said in the last episode "Taejin Park's age, Daewi and Mira child, having reached nirvana Mori Jin was capable of solving these problems easily" and, as you said, chose for himself to be all-powerful when XuanZang asked him what he wanted to do, I'd say that yes, he is omnipotent, not a perfet omtipotent being since it was said that he is ageing although slower than the others tho.

A very interesting question is how much of reality he could bent with his new power and how much power would be necessary to be called omnipotent. for example can he create things? can he cure illness? at least that last one is implied he can but it could be a wrong interpretation. Sadly the total capacity of his new powers isn't really touched upon the series finale.

Even so I would call him an omnipotent god since the definition of omnipotent is "having unlimited power" and I thing being "all-powerful" is a valid synonym.

i really would never understand my uncle's side of family who are more privileged than my family will ever be and yet that they, especially his wife and her spoiled grown ass kids, will always get jealous and mad that we get better or could pay off something expensive for once in our lives, like why are you like this when you can always afford everything in your life? wtf have we ever done to you that we deserve to be treated with no respect???

🕯️

What do you think Nick and Sunny's ethnicities are?

I've always somewhat headcanonned Sunny as Japanese-American, and Basil as having at least one European parent, both living in Europe, and an American grandmother. I have no idea where that second headcanon comes from. It's probably me projecting my own French-ness onto my favorite little blorbo -- another explanation is that OMORI seems to be pretty explicitely set in the USA, but Basil's parents are said to travel frequently and Sunny's never seen them in his life... and since it's easier to travel in Europe in my (limited) experience, my brain might've just made the association. Sunny being Japanese-American is a pretty popular headcanon because of his chara-design so I don't feel like I have to explain that one.

Anyway, they both live in France for plot reasons.