#we must rebuild the fandom tho fuck knows how
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I have Castlevania brain rot send help
Ho boy. I have FEELINGS.
Season 4 spoilers and (longwinded) Discourse(TM) below the cut
A happy ending? In MY Castlevanias? It’s more likely than you think. With as grimdark as the series has been I fully expected to have my heart torn out and shat on, so to get an actual satisfying happy ending was a whole lungful of fresh air. Gimme that sweet sweet rush of Everybody Lives Nobody Dies, I need that shit pumped straight into my poor serotonin-starved brain.
What a hell of a season. There was enough material there for at least two seasons (and I would have LOVED to have two seasons, but that’s just because I’m greedy and want more…) and I was skeptical that they could even try to wrap up all those threads..and then they DID IT. Hot damn.
Hot Takes:
In this house we stan Greta and will tolerate no disrespect against our sword-and-hammer wielding queen. I love her, and I love her and Alucard’s dynamic with the deliberate parallels to Dracula and Lisa. I think she’s good for him.
TREVOR AND SYPHA UGH I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH I’m out here crying ugly tears at how much this stinky himbo and tiny nuke love each other ;______; Battle Couple OTP.
I would watch the shit out of an entire season of everybody building the new village and Trevor and Sypha learning how to be parents and Alucard and Greta getting closer and everybody just being HAPPY. This is because I am trash, not because there would actually be any storytelling value in such a thing. Same thing with onscreen kisses between Trevor and Sypha. Is it necessary? No. Doesn’t mean I don’t want it. But hey, that’s what fandom is for, right? I’ll just be over here drawing beetus-inducing fluff and being vaguely disgusted with myself.
Papa Trevor would be so soft. I think my ovaries just exploded.
I 100% expected Trevor to die and leave Sypha grieving and pregnant with the way they teased it in the trailer and the way it would have thematically fit with the rest of the series, and I am SO GLAD he didn’t. I’m tired of sad endings. I really love that he gets to be part of this world of people who know how to build things.
“I love you.” “I know.”
That single flash of Sypha’s face as he’s fading out knowing he’s going to die and being at peace with it, augh my fucking heart. T_T
Horse is secret MVP. That horse knows things.
Isaac confirmed for a) stand user and b) monster fucker. King out here living his best life, you love to see it.
But for reals tho, Isaac’s arc was one of my favorites. Nice fakeout with the conquest line in the trailer. The philosophical discussions on the nature of humans and night creatures, the way he comes to realize that he (and Hector, and by extension his own night creatures) is/are more than a tool to be used in the hands of others, the way he reclaims his own agency and decides he’s going to live...I fucking loved it. (Also paves the way for post-series forgehusbands…)
SO FUCKING HAPPY FOR STRIGA AND MORANA. I was holding my breath expecting them to get horribly killed the entire time and then they just...weren’t. The hot vampire wives got to literally ride off into the sunset (sunrise?) together, in a way that made sense. The General and the Organizer looked at the data on the ground, discussed, and made the calculated decision to stick with what really matters to them, not just Carmilla’s ambitions. More of this, please! Would have loved to see Striga fight more than once, though. Also I would shank a man for Morana’s cape.
Respect for Carmilla for going out on her own terms, even if it did feel a little heavy-handed. The cinematography of her and Isaac’s fight sure as hell made up for it though- that was one of the prettiest fights of the series.
Reunited trio’s fight was the other prettiest fight of the series. Holy fuck, what gorgeous animation.
I actually liked that St Germain’s lady friend never spoke- it reinforced the way that he has mythologized her to the point where she’s not even a person, just an ideal. It was also exactly what he deserved that she turned her back on him in the end. She’s just not that into you, bro.
Varney is a hoot. A greasy, flea-infested slimy hoot. Nice twist, too. Death’s design is *chef kiss*
Loved the themes of moving on and rebuilding and change and how there’s a pretty clear split between the people who are able to adapt and change (and live), and those “relics of the old world” who can’t or won’t. Ratko was criminally underused in this respect. I think there just wasn’t enough time.
Quibbles:
Pacing. I know Castlevania is notorious for uneven pacing, but in this case I think this is on Netflix- they should have been given a full two seasons to wrap this up, just to give things a chance to breathe. As it was, though, I think the writers did the best possible job given the constraints they were under.
Zamfir should have lived to learn the lesson about caring for the people who are still alive, and been the one to take charge of rebuilding Targoviste for the living. Having her die was straight-up pointless in a predictable way.
Did Trevor just straight-up forget he has TWO weapons with range when fighting Ratko? You have like a 30 foot reach what are you doing bro
Lenore is Problematic, and I wish there had been more tension between her and Hector. Like, I know Stockholm Syndrome is a thing, but he’s weirdly chill with her in a way that glosses over just what she did to him. Also I would have liked to see more self-awareness of “Oh, being a pet in a cage really is shitty, no matter how nice the cage. Now I know why what I did to you was wrong” before she dips. Her ending sure was poetic, though.
Wasn’t Trevor’s left arm broken in that last fight? How the heck is he even able to use it at the end? Also damn dude it’s been two weeks you should probably at least have washed those gaping wounds by now. Do you want sepsis? Because that’s how you get sepsis.
Unpopular Opinions:
Look I love Dracula/Lisa as much as the next shipper but “Hey we’re alive again for some reason!!” was totally out of left field. It felt like something out of a fix-it fic and it was just kinda baffling and jarring. Also go see your fucking kid, jfc you two are terrible parents.
Is Lisa just...kinda fine with the fact that Dracula tried to commit genocide in her name and almost killed their son? That must have been an awkward conversation.
I’m actually cool with Alucard spilling his life story to Greta on the march. He’s starving for human interaction, who’s to say he wouldn’t just want to TALK about what he’s been through? It’s treated in a way that’s a bit flippant for my taste, but we’ve seen enough of his trauma onscreen. I want to focus on his healing.
I’m hesitant to kick this particular hornet’s nest, but I really don’t think the ot3 has to be sexual? If it is, it damn well be an ot4 polycule with Greta. I see them more as two couples that are close friends and found family. But that’s the great thing about fandom! Rock on, shippers of all flavors, there’s room enough for everybody.
In Conclusion (jesus fuck how much did I write)
Castlevania pretty
Have you seen my braincell I think I misplaced it
Moar plz
#castlevania#castlevania season 4#castlevania spoilers#castlevania netflix#trevor x sypha#alucard x greta#trevor belmont#sypha belnades#alucard#greta danesti#alucard castlevania#greta castlevania#trevor castlevania#sypha castlevania#striga x morana#striga castlevania#morana castlevania#shitpost#I'm trash send help#castlevania brain rot#netflixvania#isaac laforeze
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oooh you tagging me on that canon divergence post made my brain go ‼️‼️‼️and actually helped me solve a plot problem I had!! So thank you!!!! And I’m so psyched that you’re invested 👀 fr tho i LOVE canon divergence so much holy shit, both reading and writing it… and like that is exactly how I write it, I’m like “oh what if X” and then suddenly im juggling plot changes like a fuckin clown
aaaaa i'm so glad!! and YES i am deeply invested, honestly do it all anew is my favorite currently-updating TMA fic!! each update has given me so much serotonin so thank you for that ☺️
i think canon divergence is SO fun!! altho i don't have the time to write fanfic these days i love how like. fanfic as a medium allows folks to break free from traditional storytelling mores and do something like rube goldberg a plot? when writing original stuff i obsess about making my plot as tight as possible to its central thesis and themes, whereas with fanfic you have the freedom to be looser, indulge in your "what if"s, play around with different themes, go on tangents, figure it out as you go.
and part of why i love your writing so much (both do it all anew and resigned though not to fate) is because you're really skilled at finding a balance between establishing strong themes, building a compelling plot that has a coherent and emotionally resonant arc, while also playing in the sandbox that is fanfic and indulging in what ifs. it results in a really satisfying story that leaves me going "YES this is how TMA could have been if it started the same but the story was built around different themes and told a different message."
and personally i go apeshit over do it all anew because i LOVE the questions you explore, which are touched on but never expanded in canon, like - how can shared trauma both bring people together AND push them apart? in canon we *see* the apocalypse's strain on jon & martin's relationship but also martin *tells* jon that their relationship is built on shared trauma. and canon doesn't explore and complicate that!! because there isn't space for it!!
but meanwhile in do it all anew, you start out like "ok so they sleep together because of the unknowing" which seems like the setup to a cut and dry "shared trauma brings people together." but then it isn't presented as a natural climactic moment of romantic connection in the face of danger, it's complicated by the reveal that the sex was a *performance* on jon's part because he felt like it was the only way to express his feelings. and it leaves martin with this tenuous connection to a partner he thinks is dead, that he then has to navigate on his own - making the aftermath of their making love something that's both deeply lonely and a thread of connection to a person he thought he'd lost forever. so bittersweet and tragic!!! and then when jon cuts the tether and they lose aamal, that's a shared trauma that *destroys* their relationship (i presume??? i know we're not quite there yet.) but then aamal coming back to them is a traumatizing event for her that is also the entire foundation for her forming a relationship with her fathers. augh it's so deliciously complicated!!
and another super compelling question being - is it possible to rebuild a relationship that has been irreparably shattered, if the cause of that shattering is belatedly softened/negated? or does the fact that you've had to live with the trauma and hurt and anger and sadness of that shattering for a long time make it so that even if the initial "problem" is solved, you can't undo the hurt you had to feel enough to access the love you originally felt for that person? in do it all anew this is obviously aamal returning to jon and martin several years after the fact. but the shattering-that's-belatedly-solved problem exists in canon as well, to a lesser extent, when jon dies and comes back, and when martin pushes jon away/chooses the lonely during s4 and then it turns out he's actually fucking with peter lukas. but canon never dives into the emotional aftermath of those events and how they affect jon and martin's relationship (safehouse fics do though so god bless fanfic writers).
and i'm really excited to see the moment where jon becomes the pupil because it's like. is it forgivable to choose saving countless strangers over saving your family, your child? is it forgivable to do the opposite? which choice is the greater evil? which is a question that AGAIN is touched on in canon but mag 200 is too damn short to really tackle it, plus in canon we don't see the aftermath somewhere else, PLUS i think the existence of a baby, an innocent who you love more than life and are responsible for, makes it SO much more complicated. like!!! how inconceivably guilty must jon feel about starting the apocalypse that he would choose to kill his daughter and his partner as an alternative to spreading the fears? how inconceivably guilty would he then feel when after it all, he goes against what he feels is right and he and martin STILL lose aamal? how inconceivably betrayed would martin feel that jon would choose strangers' lives over his family's? could he ever forgive jon for that? AUGH it's so TRAGIC and COMPLEX i can't wait to see what you do with it!!!
anyway that was accidentally an essay that i spent an hour tapping on my phone but. thank you for this fic!
P.S. if anyone else is reading this, do yourself a favor and read do it all, anew because it is STELLAR and jevonne crit20lesbian is a gift to this fandom ✨
#i'm in grad school and i also make VNs as my side career#so all my writing energy goes into either papers or academic stuff#it's a shame bc i have a couple TMA fics i started working on but never posted because i knew i couldn't finish them#anyway this isn't about me tho#crit20lesbian#ask#i leave comments on ao3 but i need time to digest before i have coherent thoughts#but i also want to comment immediately after reading because i know otherwise i'll procrastinate or forget#so my comments are usually pretty short and nonspecific#so consider this like. what i WANT to say on ao3 but can never articulate at the time lol
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Sansa being praised as a good victim and Sansa fans putting down other abuse victims part 2 (because people keep telling me this doesn’t happen)
Companion to this post.
http://secretlyatargaryen.tumblr.com/post/162004630567/im-so-glad-im-not-the-only-one-who-doesnt-like
i'm so glad i'm not the only one who doesn't like lyanna. tho tbh i hate rhaegar 1000x more. and i absolutely despise how much they're romanticized in the fandom. i still don't understand how 11yo sansa gets so much hate for her dreams and mistakes in the beginning, but not the older, "wiser" lyanna for supposedly running off with a MARRIED southern prince. i mean neither should entirely be at fault bc they were both young girls who imo were taken advantage of, but it's some food for thought.
For now I am not a Lyanna fan at all. I try to sympathize with her and I can’t. I try to find similarities between her and Sansa and forgive her actions but again I can’t. We don’t know a lot about Lyanna so maybe I will change my mind in the future but for now just the thought of her leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
What I don’t understand is how Lyanna gets almost no blame for what happened to her family even though a 11 year old Sansa gets blamed for her father’s death.
http://secretlyatargaryen.tumblr.com/post/70714078551/i-am-loyal-to-king-joffrey-my-one-true-love
Okay, but this is bullshit because Tyrion’s big mouth is always getting him into trouble. He can never shut his sass up. Thus and therefore, Sansa is approximately 1,568% better than ur fave….especially if it’s Tyrion. Ugh.
http://secretlyatargaryen.tumblr.com/post/53455177515/exitpursuedbyasloth-you-should-learn-to-ignore
“You should learn to ignore them.” -Sansa Stark, First of Her Name, the Queen of Survival, the Unbroken, More Alive Than All Your Faves, Protector of Lemoncakes, Patron Saint of Songs and Broken Men
Hey Tyrion, you might want to fucking listen to Sansa right now. Tyrion? Tyrion, are you listening to Sansa? Oh, no, you’re threatening Joffrey’s life right in front of his mother, Tywin, and Varys. Oh, wow, that’s going to end really well for you you are a clever one aren’t you I am sure there will be no unwanted repercussions from that no sir.
https://www.facebook.com/EverythingGameOfThrones/posts/610986598973846
Would you rather she behave like Cersei, or perhaps Margaery? But she is learning fast and is stronger than she appears. Would you be strong enough to keep a straight face when the enemy comes to tell you they slaughtered you mother and brother? Or to keep your mouth shut, not uttering a curse or threat as Joffrey is having you beat bloody? Or to treat him with kindness and respect after he threatens to rape you?
http://www.snarksquad.com/2014/04/game-of-thrones-s04-e03-this-fucking-episode.html
I do not think Arya would have lasted as long as Sansa, had she been caught before fleeing King's Landing. I think Arya would have had a hard time keeping her mouth shut and "behaving wisely" and I think she might've got herself killed or tortured by Joffrey.
https://www.accesshollywood.com/articles/game-of-thrones-qa-sophie-turner-on-sansas-escape-146456/
I think Sansa is one of the strongest people because the thing about this world that people don’t realize is that, yeah, there are these cool fighting badasses like Brienne and Arya, but the real easiest way to survive is to keep your mouth shut and do what people want you to do and Sansa’s like clicked on to this and that’s why she’s gone on for so long. People aren’t scared of her, people don’t suspect her. I think it’s a very brave and very intelligent thing to do.
And if you think about it, Arya, if she had stayed in King’s Landing, she might not be alive, because she wouldn’t have been able to keep her mouth shut.
So Sansa is really the best person to be in that situation if you had to have one of the Starks there.
http://www.xojane.com/entertainment/sansa-stark-feminist-superhero?page=232
Because, while Sansa still initially falls into the problematic “traumatized woman” trope, she ends up breaking it by handling her trauma in a way that most characters like her do not. She doesn’t become a hardened warrior, or hide behind fire-tongued abrasiveness. How many female characters do we know that hide behind spunk, brashness, and typically “male” behaviors to cope with their feelings of hurt or abandonment?
http://artnalism.com/game-thrones-sansa-stark-apology/
Consider this though: Arya’s tendency to action and violence would have had her killed in King’s Landing. Sansa stayed alive because she knew there was no way to escape without help – and she’s not given enough (or any) credit for that. Sansa’s strength comes from her ability to survive.
http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/124198-why-do-people-hate-the-kick-ass-character-that-is-arya-stark/
I’m not gonna root for [Arya] doing that while she is destroying her soul in the process
http://jaimebrienne.com/topic/30003647/88/
If any of the Starks are going to live, I think it probably will be Sansa. Unlike Arya who's main focus is revenge, she just does what it takes to survive.
http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/126817-about-sansa-and-arya/
HOWEVER, I believe that Sansa's fate could be more tragic than any of those listed above. Sansa could die, and it may be because of Arya.
[...]
This would mirror innocent Lady being sacrificed in absence of the real culprit Nymeria.
https://www.quora.com/Would-Sansa-make-a-better-queen-than-Daenerys
Dany's arc is one in which a princess who's been brought low gradually rises higher, whereas Sansa's arc is one in which a privileged lady is brought low and must be resilient and creative in order to rise higher and rebuild herself. At this stage of the story, Dany has so much and yet also struggles so much that you might wonder just how much a person could need to finally move. If three dragons, a bunch of sellsword companies and the Unsullied aren't guarantors of stability, what is? If Dany can't figure her stuff out with all of that, then how talented is she? Whereas Sansa has been a prisoner since her father's death and has had to navigate a situation where she's not empowered at all, and while she hasn't completely climbed her way out yet, there are clear signs that she's poised to do so. In terms of direction and overall vision and sense of purpose, Dany has stumbled while having mind-boggling resources, and Sansa has succeeded despite having nothing but her own damn self.
[...]
Sansa is gentle and merciful, wanting everything to be music and lemon cakes like in the stories. Even when she's been wronged, she just wants people to be good to each other, rather than wanting revenge.
Dany has (justifiably or not) burned and crucified people, breaking contracts and seeking vengeance on people who wronged her. She has entered conflicts with no exit strategy, and she's very prideful.
[...]
Sansa would understand and forgive, and not cast them aside for one mistake that this person has already been trying to rectify ever since they realised they were wrong. And last but not least, Daenerys is actually quite evil
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.855926-Game-of-Thrones-Sansa-vs-Daenerys
Daenerys on the other hand almost out the gate is a strong aggressive woman who knows what she wants and is eager to take it. However, this is actually not a point in Daenerys's favor. Sansa has room to develop and change. She can start out as a "stupid little girl" whose head is full of silly ideals such as chivalry and honor, and then she can become a badass political schemer who still holds a bit of a softer side. Where as Daenery's becomes the "mother of dragons" by the end of book one and is so full of piss and vinegar that some people suspect that the only place she can go is crazy town.
[...]
What does Daenerys lose? Kahl Drogo? Really? Khal Drogo was a barbarian warlord who used her as an arian f@#$ puppet. Sure they eventually obtain a more mutual relationship because she can do it cowgirl style, but she doesn't even speak his language for most of the time spent with him. Furthermore, by book 5 she seems totally over him. She is all over her sellsword boyfriend and is even getting freaky with some of her serving girls. Meanwhile, Sansa is being creeped on by a guy who was in love with her mother. Things go far too well for Daenerys.
[...]
Dany on the other hand, despite coming from similar circumstances, is everything wrong with an idealistic person and she only learns lessons and changes when it conveniences her. She's Joffrey's antipode in almost every way, but she's just as bad because she's as flawed as he is.
She isn't even a nice person in person because she's haughty and arrogant and mindful of her rank and her position on top.
https://winterfelland.tumblr.com/post/159370019542/the-pro-daenerys-and-pro-sansa-meta-no-one-asked
if you ever want to write something again with the delusion of not pissing off Sansa fans… don’t you EVER dare write down the fantasy of Daenerys Stockholm syndrome Targaryen who started randomly enjoying being raped every night giving sex advice to ‘poor Sansa (who) has not had a positive sexual experience yet.’
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