oh my goooooooooodd they are so fucking annoying

Hey gamers, I kinda lost interest in these designs for a while but found it in me to sketch out a final 3 characters: Ein, Aaron, and Lucinda

I may be open to draw other Minecraft YouTubers as WoF characters if anyone has any suggestions, can’t make any promises tho cause college has been kicking me in the rear.

Tbh Ein and Aaron are 2 of my least favorite characters in mystreet, I didnt like the direction they took Ein’s character in the final season and Aaron just all around as always felt poorly written to me.. Lucinda is perfect tho ❤️

I made Aaron an animus mind reader nightwing because it really fits the whole secret ultra alpha ultima werewolf thing and he’s a nightwing prince too because he’s the main character

Lucinda is a silkwing with an animus enchanted staff so she can have her magical abilities still. I’ve never really been a fan of the color orange but I think she pulls it off really well.

Ein is a Icewing/Nightwing hybrid with no special powers but tear drop scales anyways (kinda like Fatespeaker’s). I think in my little AU storyline he would go after Aaron and make him give him real powers. I also gave him a gold tooth cause I thought it looked cool. Can’t believe I gave one of my least favorite characters my favorite design 😔

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m kinda nervous about the (presumably) lesbian pirates in season two. There is a bunch of weird shit about lesbians in Eagle vs. Shark and Taika’s first wife did divirce him and remarry with a woman.

At least I know there is a writers room and David is the show runner. I don’t think taika is like a lesbophobe, but there might be some bias.

Anyway I’m excited for season two!

didn’t know that about taika or about eagle v shark. altho tbh it doesn’t surprise me? like he’s just A Guy and he’s said/done a lot of less-than-perfect things (esp when it comes to Black people)

tbh tho unless taika’s directing another episode idk how much creative input he’s gonna have outside of his own portrayal of his character. like granted i know very little about how the film and television industry works but he’s an executive producer, not a writer, so it’s not like he’s putting the story together. and again, unless he’s directing another episode, things like camera angles/how they frame the characters and how improv is directed are also gonna be out of his control. i know EPs have some say in how the final product turns out but like, by no means is taika even the primary voice telling this story.

that being said! i’m also kinda nervous lol, but that’s mostly just of how often lesbian/wlw rep ends up being Subpar. like sooo often it’s either poorly written or the lesbian characters are one dimensional or it’s all very male-gaze-ey etc etc. LUCKILY the ofmd writer’s room is very diverse w lots of women and nb ppl and poc so like, i’m hopeful? but i also have been burned so many times before. like i’m trying to keep my expectations neutral so that i’m blown away by how good it is, instead of getting way too hype and feeling even mildly let down.

anyway i’m no longer excited for season two because i’ve gone wayyy past that. i’m dying for season two. it’s a physical necessity that i need to survive and i have no idea when i’m getting it. i’m in hell.

i know like 80% of my volume two takes are not the current popular opinions, but i’m going to keep running my lil gay fingers across my phone keyboard lmao

i don’t think mike was written poorly. i think there’s a TON of factors into why he acted the way he did this season.

first, i’m operating on the fact that he wouldn’t have said any of those things to el on his own. if will hadn’t pushed him along and given him support and the words to say, i don’t think we would’ve gotten a monologue. at least, not one where he tells el he loves her like that. hell, he almost didn’t keep going until will told him to. i think that’s why they had him repeat the superhero stuff: that was mike being honest. he still hasn’t learned, he still is falling into hero worship, and now we’ve been set up for that to bite him in the ass in s5. that was mike doing what mike does every. single. time. someone he cares about is in danger: he panicked. he was frantic and grasping at straws for anything he thought he could use to help el. because he does care! he almost certainly loves her, too! just maybe not in the way he thinks he should. and i think el is learning that, as well. mike saying i love you didn’t make her win, didn’t keep her safe—by the end of the season she’s barely even speaking to him. we have that big monologue just to have mike and will have the last heart to heart? to have mike reassure will in a way he can only reassure el when he’s panicking? idk guys. he can open up to will, but he can’t open up to el without will’s help now?

i’m also still operating on the “mike was weird to will because he doesn’t understand his feelings for will and/or el” theory. because that wasn’t disproved? like at all. if anything it was reinforced every time he opened up to will a bit more and wasn’t weird, but seemed to hesitate to ask will to elaborate or push him every time will opened up. he wasn’t weird in the packing scene or the junk car scene. he was soft. he was soft in the car el-but-actually-will confession scene, too. mike is oblivious, canonically. he hasn’t understood his friends’ anger in the past, or el’s. i know we all think he is always attuned to will’s feelings, but that’s not true? at all? he’s attuned to will acting quiet. in earlier seasons he notices when will is scared because will shuts down, tries to hide his fear, is quiet but jumpy. he doesn’t notice will is pissed at him in s3 until they have their big fight, so it’s not out of character for him to be oblivious to will having big emotions. he notices will rolling his eyes and sulking in the beginning of s4 because he is pushing himself back from mike and el in those scenes. he’s distancing himself and in mike’s eyes that is what means will isn’t okay. it is also important to remember that mike also knows will doesn’t like people hovering over him and constantly asking what’s wrong. it makes sense mike wouldn’t do that. in the car confession scene, when will is pretending his feelings are el’s, he’s getting visibly upset. he’s not being withdrawn. mike can see that will is showing emotion, that he’s not pulling back and being distant, which in mike’s eyes probably means will is okay because he’s not shutting down. and because we know mike is meant to be oblivious (which tbh, par for the course for most teen boys?) he probably assumes will is upset in that moment because of everything with el too, which is not a a bad fucking guess? that’s his sister, it would make sense.

it also feels kinda like a lot of people like to pretend that mike is always soft? which is weird to me? like yeah he has a lot of soft moments, and is overall a good kid for sure.. but he has always had an attitude problem. like literally every season, lmao. he’s a dick to el and lucas and hopper and dustin and max and will. many times over. across all seasons. mike is a brat. he has always been! he puts his own feelings first, and sometimes puts his own shit aside long enough to give a fuck about the people around him. but it usually takes him royally fucking up for that to happen. he’s been a bit shitty and a lot oblivious towards will this season, but he hasn’t really fucked up enough to snap himself out of his selfishness? the closest we get to that is the monologue, but that’s still half him panicking and half will at best.. and not really him fixing a fuck up at all. like el being upset he won’t say “i love you” is valid, but not really a fuck up on his part? like he doesn’t have to tell her that if he doesn’t feel like it’s right. i know he does-again during a panic scene like he did the first time in s3-but it’s still not a fuck-up-fix, imo. mike didn’t do anything egregious this season outside of being a normal shitty teen boy sometimes? like i feel like a lot of what i’m seeing seems like we’re asking for a lot of emotional intelligence from a fifteen year old who is currently in yet another terrifying situation where other people are in danger? we even see him say that in the van (something along the lines of “i know with everything going on right now..”).

i think in season five we will get mike realizing a lot more—the painting, his feelings (exactly what they are for el and/or will), recognizing that will is in fucking love with him, how much will has done to help him and el be happy despite that.. and i think it’s going to be rough for him. i think mike will have to think about other people outside of his panic or his own fuck ups. he will have to be worried about will outside of will being in direct danger. he will have to understand emotions in a way that he hasn’t really had to before. in a more adult way, because he’s growing up and learning that a handshake doesn’t always fix friendships. sometimes you have to sit down and talk.

rant

i literally feel sick after that season what the fuck 😭 i am literally so disappointed, stranger things used to be so good. like. season 1 and 2??? immaculate. hell, even season 3 was better than this. it's not even about byler at this point; the plot was weak, the villian wasn't scary, theres so many holes, the character writing is shit, every new character they bring in is just a plot device, there's no stakes because the duffer brothers are cowards who can't kill main characters, last season was about eleven finding herself and realising that she doesn't need to rely on men for everything and this season... she literally gets the power to defeat vecna... from mike saying he loves her... Wow! you just completely destroyed her development! and what they did to mike is just... 😟😟 hand him over you've lost your privileges. this season just didn't feel like stranger things. say what you want about the past seasons but i think we can all agree that they felt like stranger things. ive seen people compare this season to a poorly written fan fiction but, to me, this season felt like a completely different show. and tbh stranger things honestly should have ended after s2. you can really tell that the duffer brothers didn't expect the show to have more than one season because s1 is plot driven, everyone is focused on one thing, there's no random side plots that are irrelevant to the story and just confuse people, the characters are well written and act accordingly to their personality, while the rest of the seasons (excluding s2) seem character driven, plot doesn't make much sense, each villian feels like it's just a copy of the last but stronger, and sue me for this but the scariest season was the first because the characters didn't know anything about the upside down and they didn't know how to stop it. it was completely foreign, and we didn't know what was going to happen to will. after that it just seemed kinda meh because now we recognize the pattern (new character gets introduced, some kind of evil is attacking Hawkins, they spit off into groups, kids help eleven, teens fight it, adults find out more about it, then they come together to defeat it, new character sacrifices self, repeat) it's getting old, and quite frankly, it's boring. i would like to have hope for this show since ive seen how good it can be, and i don't want to crush anyone's hope but i think it's down hill from here. the duffer brothers have obviously run out of ideas and unless we get something spectacular next season, seems like s3 was the last good season (i know a lot of people dislike season 3 but its actually not bad plot wise?? like yeah the characters were butchered but it was still interesting. sorry i know that's controversial lmfao)

i finally finished Bridgewater season 2!

(i know i'm way behind but i was listening on my drive to and from work but then i lost my job and suddenly listening at home felt weird but i binged the last handful of eps this long weekend so now i wanna share some thoughts..) 

best finale bits: 

- realising francine was spn alumn/battlestar galactica's tricia helfer (wish I'd realised this sooner bc i think i would've enjoyed her character more) 

- jeremy becoming an unexpected father to a time travelling kid he spent the whole season vocally not giving a shit about (serious s13!grieving!dean vibes here) 

- the setup for season 3! would love to get some pov from folks in the fae realm! 

best s2 bits: 

- aside from misha, soni has been my fave thing about this series (his voice acting is So Good) and this season we got more vippin and more of him interacting with other characters! 

- learning more about jeremy: he visited fairyland as a kid! he was a teen wiccan! he just wants a friend! he's happy without a partner and kids! (the phonecall to his british colleague was a fave scene) 

- peyton! wish we'd gotten more of her, hope she returns next season. 

- more hillary! she's not in it much but we got a few long scenes with her and it was great to hear her flex her voice acting chops. 

- tudyk! i was sceptical at first (i'd really been looking forward to fillion) but he was stellar. his distinct voice is perfect for voice acting and his vocal control and timing was really superb. his and misha's scenes were a highlight but there were also a few delightful and emotional scenes with other characters (including a makeover!) 

- MONSTERS. one of the huge draws of this podcast for me was the supernatural element. this season had a bunch of different creatures appear and there were mentions of way more that had me googling and learning so much (yay fic fodder!) 

a few s2 cons (imho): 

- this season is a lot compared to season 1. more characters, more plot, more at stake. it was hard to keep up with what was going on specifically with all the fae stuff. i had to relisten to numerous scenes multiple times to grasp what was happening.

- it kinda feels like season 1 was written not knowing how everything would play out bc all the fae stuff feels shoehorned into the relevant parts of the s1 narrative. they make it work but some explanations seemed like a bit of a stretch. 

- as much as i love her on-screen, i didn't really enjoy helfer in this. i don't know whether it's because i found her character annoying from the jump or if it was her vocal style being a little too overdramatic and on the nose (that could've been a director's decision in which case it makes sense, but i really didn't enjoy her personality as the legend tripper or her almost comical portrayal as fae) 

- the finale was a lot of exposition, and it got very convoluted with different characters wanting to sacrifice themselves over each other, and the whole fae deal thing was still unclear and confusing despite being explained. tbh i was bored for most of it. 

- the first 19 minutes of the finale was an uninterrupted convo between jeremy and francine. that's too long, it's half the damn episode. and francine was doing most of the talking (almost monologuing) and since she's the badguy of the season it felt like a poor choice (or maybe that's just my bias for not liking her portrayal?) 

- anne and thomas going through the portal made total sense and I'm glad that's what happened bc thomas was sick and anne had missed her life BUT that made all the arguments over who should go that much more pointless. the arguments felt like filler, going round in circles with people ignoring each other's sound reasoning. 

- there were quite a few noticeable editing mistakes this season: chopped dialogue poorly stitched together, misspoken words, and dead air that did nothing to set the tone but instead felt like they hadn't bothered fixing. 

closing thoughts: 

i preferred the mystery of season 1. this season was a lot of focus on the how's and why's of all the monster and fae stuff with character studies crammed between, whereas season 1 was more concise in the investigation and character focus and there was always room to wonder what was going on (i preferred that) but there was also room for the narrative to breathe; season 2 is crowded. it's a lot of fast dialogue and info dumping, a lot of characters - some interesting, some annoying, a few pointless. I'd listen again for clarity and enjoyment of particular scenes and dynamics, but more often than not i found myself confused, left with more questions than answers, and therefore not being able to enjoy the journey. there were definite high points, including the many monster cameos, but it lost that eery feel that season 1 did so well; this season felt like multiple genres rolled into one with all of them fighting for dominance - horror, fantasy, drama, mystery - whereas season 1 melded themes and genres effortlessly. season 2 also didn't have the emotional chords that season 1 played so beautifully (I'm looking at you, emotional jeremy realising his whole life was a lie) the finale should've been a tear-jerker, it wasn't. 

it's always hard to follow the success of a first season, especially when the second decides to explain all the mysteries season 1 set up - and given how season 1 ended there was a lot that needed explaining. unfortunately (for me) the story felt caught up in the details and yet it explained things without explaining things leaving me wanting for clarity that never came. often it didn't bother setting the tone (or an intriguing tone) and more characters meant less misha which is always disheartening. 

i'm looking forward to season 3 with papa!jeremy(?) and fae realm content (I'd love more fae) i just hope they can recapture the thematic feel of season 1 (it can be a different vibe but it has to permeate the narrative) and refocus on our main folk (jeremy, vippin, anne, thomas, olivia) instead of introducing too many new characters and elements that will steal more scene time. 

I hate how the show metaphorically "defanged" Hunter and Amity once they got redeemed or started on the redemption path

Like you could argue that maybe it was a front but I feel like a lot of their humour and wit was gone in favour of them being clumsy/incompetent and lovesick

N I feel like the fandom ran with this especially with hunter being reduced to an incompetent malewife in fanwork

I don't have much of an issue with Amity tbh, and I think in the show the clumsy and lovesick stuff was mostly in season 2, not so much in season 3, she got used to dating Luz by that point. Maybe the fandom exaggerates it, but I haven't noticed it. She also does keep some of her wit in the show.

But Hunter feels like he's just a completely different person now. He was so fun as the GG in early season 2, and then he was gradually turned into an uwu softie with no edge and that sucks.

And even though so much of his story was about becoming his own person and finding his own identity, he looks a lot like Caleb in the epilogue, and it seems Caleb was into carving as well, he may have even started the Clawthorne family palisman carving tradition- Hunter is more like Caleb now than he was at the start. That's a bad ending.

The clumsy/incompetent and lovesick stuff is really annoying with Hunter- All of the "shippy" stuff with him honestly is, it's forced and unnecessary.

Huntl0w was a thing a few crew members shoved in and were repeatedly told to tone down, the two barely interact, and the entire "buildup" to the "romance" is a bunch of small, barely noticeable blushes from Hunter. I'd call it poorly written, but it isn't even actually written. A bunch of small blushes and other forced "Huntl0w moments" are superficially added on top of a story that doesn't actually build a relationship between them.

(Side note, the ship wasn't even actually confirmed in the show? It gave just enough fan service to shippers, while keeping it ambiguous enough that you don't have to read it as romantic)

Both characters (especially Willow) often get reduced to just the ship and are not allowed to exist outside of it by the fandom, and they tend to be flanderized and/or out of character, probably in part because their actual personalities don't mesh that well together.

A mutual of mine also pointed out that the girlboss/malewife dynamic people try to shove them into is actually kinda icky, given that Hunter just escaped an abuser who he worshiped and submitted to as an authority figure. It just feels like he's replacing one authority figure with another, replicating the dynamic that he's used to and that feels familiar to him.

Tagged by @cauldronofmorning, 8 shows to get to know me :)

The US Office: My comfort show, my go-to when I just want to watch something familiar. Peak cringe humour and just so many wonderful characters. I could watch it forever tbh

K-on!: Autism coded cute musician girl joins a band and makes amazing friends and also they are all just so gay for each other??? Yeah this is everything honestly.

The Hunger Games: Do movies count? I'm putting movies here anyway, this entire series is incredibly important to me. Katniss may be one of the best written protagonists of the Dystopian genre, even if I feel like the movies didn't go her complete justice, she turned out great.

The Cat Returns: Another movie. Yeah I watch way more movies than I do TV shows fight me 🥊🥊🥊. I love Ghibli in general and this is my favourite Ghibli movie. A beautiful coming of age story and SO MANY CATS.

It's Always Sunny: Dark humour and terrible terrible people with too much money/too many resources available to them is such a funny combination. There are some episodes I'd avoid, and they handle some topics quite poorly in the earlier episodes, but it's really cool that they learnt from that and even went on to remove/modify some of them. Just such a great watch.

The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzimiya: I literally refer to my religion as Haruhiism, this is the anime that introduced me to Aya Hirano, a person who would go on to be one of the most important parts of my life for a long time. (Note: I am literally named Aya lmao)

Game of Thrones: Kinda a hit or miss one and lots of people will slate the later seasons, but if you can look past the glaring flaws it's such a rich and well-built world with so many incredible interlinking plotlines. Also dragons are pretty cool man.

Steins:Gate: Stupid scientist man accidentally invents time travel. literally based on a true story. My #1 anime of all time just give it a chance.

I don't even have 5 friends on Tumblr so I can't really tag people but I hope you enjoyed this essay on the shit TV I enjoy <3

The Invasion of Time

If it hadn't been for the last episode, I think this would have been in the rankings of top five Classic serials for me tbh

The opening act is fantastic, full of mysterious intrigue that demands a viewer's full attention. The audience is never meant to actually believe that the Doctor is betraying Gallifrey, but that they keep the pretense up for two entire episodes works really well to draw us in

The middle two episodes, where it's finally revealed what the Doctor's plan is, are also excellent. You see the various threads sprinkled through the earlier two episodes come together and get to enjoy some good old-fashioned alien butt kicking

The depiction of the Time Lords was a lot better in this serial too. They kept the allegorical aspects of British bureaucracy but they added in portions of the previous omnipotence that made them so interesting originally. Borusa was especially a stand out character, one of my favorites

Leela was also at her absolute best here. Throughout the season, the Doctor growing to trust Leela's role as companion and skill as a fighter has been really excellently shown. He continually put more and more responsibility on her shoulders and she always excelled under the pressure, all paying off in this serial. When he exiles her, she knows it's part of a plan of his and just does what she does best, find and lead a revolutionary army. He trusts her with the Great Key and to be able to operate the Tardis on minor levels. All in all, it's such an excellent showing of her character and before the final episode, I was really confused why she's not considered one of the greats.

I even liked the penultimate episode with the Sontaran reveal. I really was expecting like, the Daleks or something not these goofballs but it worked really well and the first episode they're in adds to the menace rather than detracting from it

And then the final episode really drops the ball. On a most basic level, the episode isn't very good. 10+ minutes of the characters wandering around the Tardis, with no sense of dramatic awe about that fact either to keep us engaged. It's just a really bad, slow chase scene until the McGuffin can be built

But its even worse on thematic levels tbh. For one thing, the Doctor's ultimate plan being a supergun just feels wrong. I know that the Classic Doctor is much less of a pacifist than the New Doctor, but even with that in mind he's rarely willingly turned to a superweapon as his end plan, especially not since 3. It was an easy way out that felt very inconsistent with the character the Doctor has grown to be

Leela was done even worse though. When the Doctor gave her the Great Key, it really felt like a beautiful moment of him entrusting her with something extremely important. Then not only is there no payoff for that moment, like the Sontarans overlooking her because she's human or something, but the Doctor then just takes it from her and gives it to another person? So the emotional resonance of the previous scene is ruined and also accomplished nothing

The worst part of it all is that this was her final serial, and she was written so well until all that. AND they defaulted to the fucking "companion falls in love" trope that is already so overdone and tiresome in this show and also was so poorly foreshadowed I laughed when it was revealed. She barely interacted with the man she supposedly fell in love with after like, episode two AND he's a Time Lord??? She's a human??? If they're going to be in love you can sure as hell they wouldn't be allowed to stay on Gallifrey what??????

I'm not the type of viewer who will let a bad ending ruin what was otherwise a really great story but it is really baffling and disappointing that it did end so poorly

Season 15 in general kinda felt like this tbh overall. A lot of high moments let down by weird and bad writing decisions

Horror of Fang Rock. Doctor Who is at its best when it does horror and this was one of the best pieces of horror in the show

The Invisible Enemy. The introduction of K9 and the silliness of the Doctor and Leela shrinking make this a favorite of mine

The Invasion of Time. If it wasn't for that darn last episode this would have been number one

The Sun Makers. The comedy wasn't really my thing but I'm always down for a return to Pertwee-era-style political commentary

Image of the Fendahl. I need to rewatch this one tbh because for some reason I can remember NOTHING about it other than "I liked it"

Underworld. While I did enjoy the dynamic of the Tardis trio, the rest of the serial was really basic

Hyde’s issue with commitment to the future in season 7 could’ve been written (so much) better and here’s how: 

That whole plot line about Jackie being obsessed with weddings wouldn’t exist simply because that had been solved in season 6. Jackie would’ve been content with the notion that they would be getting married someday. (bc honestly it just wasn’t realistic from her to go from being satisfied with his answer to being back obsessed in the matter of a few months.)

Because she is more secure in their relationship and knows that Hyde does see a future for them, she would mention things like marriage and kids unconsciously. (i.e “I would never wear a dress like that in our wedding.” “Our kids would never look that messy” etc.)

That would Hyde to ‘freak out’ simply because while he doesn’t have a problem committing to Jackie, he does have issues with the future as he is a very ‘in the now’ person. He has been shown that he rather not think about the future (maybe because all of his life, people told him that his future would be grim) and Jackie making comments like this would understandably make him lash out.

It should’ve started out more subtle with him ignoring Jackie’s comments, and shooting down his friends comments about their impending engagement. 

He would’ve did what Hyde does best, throw up walls and retract himself from Jackie, because this is new territory for him. He isn’t used to thinking about his future in a positive light. He isn’t used to having something to look forward to, and that would scare him shitless because he knows first hand how life can throw a curve ball and how fast things can go to shit. 

Jackie would of course notice this, which would lead her to pester him in the loving way that we all know Jackie does, and try to push him into talking about his emotions, and of course her own insecurity would come out to play because he has become so much more distant.

THIS would lead Hyde to lash out in frustration and would result in a huge argument between the two that ends with Jackie placing all of the cards in his hands leaving him to fight for them because she is done putting in effort when he isn’t. 

After the big argument it could go two ways, Hyde gets drunk and have an epiphany or talks to someone and has an epiphany, but some how he this leave him in a place where he approaches Jackie and takes her out. 

AND that’s where he lays everything out on the line about how he was been feeling about the last few months, and how he wants a life with her. He would propose BUT he would also give Jackie a major disclaimer and tell her to still not expect the future to be perfect and to bare with him because this would still take some time to get used to for him, but the important thing would be that He let himself finally be vulnerable around her and would finally let her in because he would realize no matter what the future holds, he wants to be by her side and for her to be by his. 

this den of geek review of TPS2 states:

the first half of the first episode is straight-up bad TV. It’s impossibly slow and laughably wholesome given the context. 

not to endlessly hypothesise but i will bet my right tit that this is in reference to frank’s random-ass one night stand

was debating on voicing this or not, but saw a convo on talking about something similar so thought to share. Even if there's some true Melby fans, it feels like straight shippers have convinced the Charmed writers to go with Melby, and by extent straight shippers got to speak over queer fans on a queer story. Melby still feels forced and I just can't really back it up. I feel bad for Bethany, who apparently is gay herself, having people have this talk about a character she plays. 1/2

Pre Charmed I was one that never really saw much difference if it was a gay or hetro person playing a gay character. I never saw the big deal about whether a person of x sexuality or race wrote about a gay or poc characters. Charmed changed that, with Melonie Diaz seemingly being anti Abimel, not understanding why people shipp them. The writer stuff is self explanatory at this point, sad it feels like ppl r ok with gays getting less if it's cis het pocs benefiting. (2/2)

Okay, so a lot of things here but first we'll talk about Melby. I agree there are some people who do genuinely like them (but they’re few tbh). I was one of the people genuinely excited for Melby when Ruby was first introduced - especially because I was feeling zero chemistry from MelKat and I was so relieved they replaced Kat with Ruby as a love interest because for me personally, I do think Melby does have chemistry and I was into it. But the season progressed... and nothing. My big problem with Melby is that their entire relationship was developed offscreen, and the very very very little that we do have onscreen doesn't really have much continuity. I mean. Here's a summary of their development (like this is ALL the Melby content leading up to the ILY:

2x12, they meet

2x13, they wake up in bed together (awesome, we never even saw their first kiss LOL), end of episode they decide to be casual

2x19, they break up (even though they weren't even a couple??)

3x02, they're back together without addressing the issue with magic

3x06, they break up, again. make up again.

3x12, they're saying i love you

Like... literally WHAT?! what?!?! I've seen many poorly written wlw relationships (because that seems to be a standard for a lot of shows) but damn, Melby takes it to a whole new level. And I think the thing that makes it even more frustrating, is that the fact is literally all the other wlw ships, canon and non-canon (that's Melko, Melda, Melkat and Abimel) ... ALL have better writing, better build-up and better development that Melby has. It's the fact that we've had better wlw writing before this, that's why it's harder to just be okay with it because we know the writers are actually capable of doing better, so why are we stuck with a non-existent ship instead? I’d take Melko, Melda, Abimel and even Melkat whom I don’t really like - over Melby because they all actually have content. And Jada, Niko, Kat and Abigael are their own person, instead of a love interest written to fit Mel in whatever way is convenient (which is a whole other issue too). And it feels even more unfair when you consider Melby only gets about a tenth of screentime compared to the het ships on the show when Mel is just as much a lead character as her sisters.

And so yeah. And it sucks and it’s annoying because it’s mostly the straight people shoving it down our throats - blaming the lack of investment for Melby on racism when it literally has nothing to do with that, and everything to do with - again, the lack of everything! (And omfg, is2g when it’s the white cishets telling qwoc who ship Abimel we’re racist.... stfu perhaps??) Honestly, Melby scenes for me are cute - on their own, without context bec with context it just sucks. They’re enjoyable, but they’re not exciting because the best part about shipping is the build-up, the waiting-for-it-to-happen. Melby had none of that. And that’s usually the part where you start getting invested on a ship, yk. At least that’s how it is for me. 

As for Bethany, yeah I agree it sucks because... I mean I don’t know her, but I follow her Insta and she seems like a genuinely nice person (with a super cute cat!) and idk I mean I haven’t seen people tagging her or anything when expressing disappointment with Melby so I don’t think she’s aware of the discourse. (I hope, because she deserves better than that) but honestly none of the criticism for Melby falls on Bethany. It’s not her fault at all. It’s on the showrunners for having it play out the way that it has.

And Melonie. I mean yeah. I have nothing against her, really. But as far as wlw representation goes, we know that she has a voice in the writers room from one of her interviews and even Abimel aside since that’s not the canon ship, I feel like it’s important to notice that even for Melby she doesn’t really push for more of it. She seems very content with what we’re given (which is next to nothing lbr) and I’m kinda meh about it — and I agree this is where the difference between having hets play gay characters matter. Because gay people will usually push for better gay representation because it’s personal to them and they know exactly what it means to the audience. Like look at how Chyler Leigh from Supergirl is constantly pushing for better wlw. And of course that’s not to say hets never do that because some do (like Azie Tesfai, for example bless her soul), but then for some it’s just a job. And to be clear, I’m not hating on Melonie for not doing more, but I think it’s also true that an actual lgbt actor might make more effort.

** I always think there should definitely be poc writers for poc characters though, that’s non-negotiable. And lgbt writers for shows with lgbt characters. Charmed is lacking in both, unfortunately. 

Druck's s7 writers lowered the original bar so low that a poorly written ace season would satisfy whoever is eagerly anticipating s8. I make this comment not bc I feel anyway about Mailin, but just bc ik that if s7 writers are charges with dealing with a theme that goes outside of the norm they will mess it up and we know this. Therefore anyone who has still found something to anticipate does not care to much about the quality of the writing

i feel like generally any show can and will find its audience and there will always be those who will accept it for what it is. in a sense i get it sometimes you watch something just for escapism and don’t think too hard of it but on the other hand if you have something aimed to “educate” younger audience with certain topics they might not be familiar with then you need to do it with some nuance. druck fandom on here definitely tends to be more critical but honestly in most cases it’s rightfully so because of that exact reason. last season really failed in terms of representation and writing so as an ace person myself i don’t want them to do an ace season. i don’t think they will but i wouldn’t want them near that topic. tag is already in shambles and maybe i shouldn’t speak before i see what the theme is but meh i have zero interest to see it especially in real time format. i just don't care about her as a character and i'm kinda over it as a show anyway.

sarah said it better here than i would but yeah this is how i feel too tbh nothing to add

chilee...where tf is the cw headquarters at because i wanna throw hands with julie plec and call her out on her bullshit about she basically just MASSACRED tvd, to and legacies and basically ruined cleo, kaleb, mg, lizzie, josie, alaric, landon, hope, rafael and everyone else's character arcs like not even 13rw would pull this shit wait- scratch that shit out, they actual have. lemme just work on the legacies next gen book so the entire fandom can have some remedy to this chaotic shit. also why tf do they never mention the mikaelsons are of norwegian descent (dahlia and esther are from norway in the show) and landon is of iranian descent and marcel is of filipino descent

It’s a real shame what’s happened to the writing, though I’m not really gonna blame Julie at this point since she’s no longer as involved. But tbh, in some ways, I kinda wish she was still more involved because even though I’m so glad that Brett seems to like Handon and hasn’t destroyed their relationship like Julie might have, besides that, I can’t say I’m a fan of his writing, no offense to him. It just feels like ever since he became showrunner, things have never been the same and have really gone downhill. TVD/TO canon has been screwed up so badly, storylines are set up but never really explored, so much is left unexplained and just doesn’t make sense, there’s a whole lot of weird logic that will change from episode to episode, most of the characters are written poorly imo, lots of inconsistencies, it just feels like a mess so much of the time and doesn’t feel grounded either. And the characters had so much potential that they did nothing with. Like we still don’t even know how Kaleb or MG became vampires or how Jed triggered his curse. And what happened to MG being a ripper? What happened to Lizzie becoming mentally affected after what happened with the jinni? They built up the merge storyline since season 1 and that’s just over now, they basically did nothing with it. They’ve ruined Alaric, idk what they’re even doing with his character. And don’t get me started on Raf and how they did nothing with all the potential he had, basically cut off any storylines they had set up for him (and I know part of it was due to him leaving, but still). I do think Hope and Landon are the best written characters and feel the most authentic imo, but even then, look what they’ve been doing to Landon. Completely neglecting his storyline from last season which was huge for his character and should have given him a ton of development that they still aren’t showing us. They keep putting him and Hope through more trauma and that doesn’t ever change, yet they won’t even properly address their trauma. And they’ve not even really been exploring Hope’s vampire side, haven’t even shown her drinking blood or using her powers much at all. There’s just so much they could do with all these characters and it’s been so disappointing to see all that potential go to waste. And honestly, they’ve ruined all the other characters besides Hope and Landon for me to the point I don’t even care about the other characters anymore. So I feel you. And really? 13rw has done the same thing? Idk why they do that with shows. But yes, you should totally write your own version of the show! And yeah, they never mention the Mikaelsons being from Norway, but I guess it’s because that was covered in the other shows? At least we got flashbacks and they talked about their backstories, even though they’ve not gone into that with Legacies. And with Marcel, was he of Filipino descent or just the actor? We did get Marcel flashbacks and him in New Orleans, but it’s true that they never mentioned him being of Filipino descent. And they’ve still told us the bare minimum when it comes to Landon. We know Aria is Iranian, but they’ve not mentioned that about Landon at all. But we know he has to be Middle Eastern because Seylah is supposed to be Middle Eastern, they chose a Middle Eastern actress to play her. I wish they’d bring up stuff like this in the show.

A messy and superficial bullet commentary of LOKI:

- First of all, Alone Together by Fall Out Boy summarized the whole series years before it was even written. You’re welcome;

- Nice of you to try and make me believe the contrary, this Loki version is clearly post-Ragnarok Loki and nothing can make me change my mind;

- I’m also super grateful for that because I could never stand pre-Ragnarok Loki;

- Yes, I said it. Sue me;

- Took me 10 years to appreciate Loki as a character and BOI am I never going back;

- I’m so proud Loki finally made a friend;

- I also can’t get over the fact that friend is OWEN WILSON OMFG I FLIPPED;

- Loki out there, never afraid to cry, being a true hero;

- I want to know what the bet was about;

- The series taking narcissism to the next level;

- So chaotic you can’t have a bad time;

- Unless you’re a salad, in which case you’re doomed;

- Pompeii is the funniest thing Marvel has done since “Why is Gamora?”;

- Thank you, Marvel, for confirming what we’ve all known for years: Loki is a flaming bisexual;

- Also, thank you for confirming Loki is genderfluid;

- Also also, thank you for confirming he’s a hopeless bottom;

- I’ve never been attracted to Tom Hiddleston but seeing him with long, scruffy hair and a simple shirt and tie is DESTROYING ME;

- Like that should be illegal;

- Please send help;

- Hiddlenston's performance is top notch, especially in episode 3;

- Such a simple setup and he just had me hooked;

- My new favorite hobby is listening to an orphan demigod talk about his mom;

- Love is a poorly constructed metaphor and I kinda dig that;

- “ANOTHER!” *Slams glass*;

- Has anyone been keeping track of all the plot twists;

- I want each episode of season 2 to be dedicated to a different Loki, we can pick the plot back from season 3;

- Loki being so done with himself is how I feel reading my old posts tbh;

- Must protect Classic Loki, the most precious of all the Lokis;

- Raise your hand if you’re obsessed with the alligator;

- Also raise your hand if you’re now very afraid of clocks;

- Sooooooo are we bringing self-cest back? Just asking;

- “Sylvie no” “Sylvie yes!”;

- The final episode was??? Underwhelming??? Was I supposed to feel on edge?

- Except the very end because OH NO OWEN WILSON (I’m still flippin’ btw);

- The whole series trying to convince you it’s an introduction to the multiverse when it’s really just a guide on opening your heart to love and trust even if you can and probably will get hurt;

- Dr Strange is gonna be sooooo mad;

- What are your thoughts on the series?

you probably have realized this but the way teen dramas treat latinas is so aggravating like theresa in the oc and anna in one tree hill (bi storyline included) were always treated (even veronica if we go by b*rchies reasoning) as an obstacle for the main guy to reunite with the main white girl or they just didn't exist. The treatment of veronica is worse cause she's one of the mains and idk i just cant see my favorite character be embarrassed by the guy who's supposed to be in love w/ her 😭😭

as a latina myself, i have realized it. i have spoken up about it several times whenever i get asked questions about why can’t i give b*rchie a chance or why i dislike b*rchie so much and i’ve had several people calling me out for saying what i said, that people should be able to ship whatever they ship without me saying they’re sexist or racist/xenophobe, but i still think that shipping ba in the context of riverdale and supporting the ~narrative~ their fandom supports is the ultimate fuck you for the portrait of a prominent latina character in the media. a character who was originally white and was turned into a latina only for her family to be criminalized, no other.

a lot more under the cut!

the other day me, @monica-posh (who’s black) and @archiercnnies (who’s another latina like me) had a very interesting conversation over representation and how we are always bound to be represented in the media by characters who are poorly written in an already poorly written show, “bitches”, “strong women that need no man”, or doormats who are always apologizing for stuff they sometimes never even did, or forgiving white characters for horrible stuff they have done without even getting a proper apology from the ones who wronged them. the short end of the stick gets shorter and shorter the darker the character’s skin is.

the oc and one tree hill were shows written in the early 00′s. i know this shouldn’t be an excuse, but it kinda is, considering how much the world evolved with the representation discourse since then. however, riverdale is from a very decade in a very different world and it was beautiful to see what a diverse cast they really were, until you actually watch it and realize how they write it. all pocs on riverdale at some point are turned into villains or antagonists to the three white straight mains. even veronica and her family have antagonized bh before. they are all written off without an explanation, killed, or given minor storylines that are carelessly written and forgotten.

granted, the ‘big bads’ have all been white so far... except hiram. whose main purpose is to be a mexican man who terrorizes the little perfect american town. and the mexican man’s daughter is the one who archie falls for interrupting the white boy-and-girl-next-door dream of being together. a daughter of immigrants is the problem of the little american town. i couldn’t make that shit up.

there’s the problem of the writing room, too. i googled and searched and i think even though ras is a latinx man, most of the other writers are white. and men. and it’s only getting whiter and more manly as the seasons progress. how can these writers ever stop and think wait, i am doing this and that and putting this latinx character in an embarrassing position? no, they don’t think that, they don’t think omg i am making two white kids embarrass a latinx girl, they think omg DRAMA. they can’t see it because it doesn’t affect them. we don’t have to go so far: if you ask a man reviewer what they want to happen to x couple in s5, they’ll say they want the girl to pine for the guy. if you ask a woman reviewer, they’ll say the contrary.

there’s a huge distance between the writers - white men - and me, a white latina woman. there’s an even bigger distance between the writers and the black girl. or the black trans person. etc. etc. and they don’t know how to write for us, because they don’t care. vanessa morgan had to speak out in public and jeopardize her job so she could see some alleged change happening. things are still changing. people are still trying to understand, from the top to bottom.

one thing that attracted me in riverdale and in varchie, specifically, is how archie was always choosing veronica and putting her first, despite her not being the girl-next-door. i have never seen on screen the narrative that the bas tried to conjure that she was only an obstacle, and i still don’t. i am always very upset with how veronica (and the lodges in general) is written and how they can’t even give her an original storyline that doesn’t revolve around her father, but i never thought this applied to archie and veronica and i still think it doesn’t. yes, it’s a very stupid writing choice that these writers took by making her sing a song that he’s written for her best friend in front of them? it is. but at the same time, i do not think this is what makes her an obstacle on their road or on his road to betty. i don’t think this is what the writers are trying to tell us, i really don’t, and i might be very disappointed about it in the end of it all, but the reason why they have veronica going through all this shit is because they don’t even realize how much it makes them look like they hate her. it’s just how they see them, as a latinx character: passionate! dramatic! artistic! dangerous! femme fatale! it fits her!

it’s a sad thing, really, this storyline. but i don’t think archie has ever pretended to be in love with her or was written to do so. and this belief makes me hold on to varchie in canon for sure. they will give them all the dramatic! passionate! fire! storylines and they will have them overcome their obstacles, and i much more would love watching them painting a wall then her needing the help of a white man to save her from yet another white man, but all the racist/xenophobe subtext here is something the writers (and even cami!) might not even realize, tbh.

(other things to think about: why did they have to make jughead not-poor so he could be in an established relationship with betty? why do fans want both jughead and archie to fight for/save betty but no one wants anyone fighting for/saving veronica? why couldn’t they write veggie as a compelling love story instead of whatever that was? etc etc etc.)