Those Who Dream Only By Night: The Gothic Short Stories Rec List

otps

actually there were 0 time travellers on the Titanic, because the time cops have an entire outpost to safeguard that one particular point in history. every rookie spends a least a month on Titanic duty and they all complain bitterly about it since it is, essentially, the time travel equivalent of being the guard who has to stop tourists from licking the Liberty Bell.

I danced with you in a nightmare

I was dragging you across the floor

Happy late father's day from papa-toru and his nuggets 🎀

psa for the yoi fandom: russian names & how to use them

Russian guides: masterpost | patronyms | terms of affection | answered asks

I’m going to start by swearing this isn’t me just complaining but a general resource for the Yuri on Ice fandom because I’ve noticed some mistakes in the naming conventions used among the fandom and want to help correct them. Especially in how the fandom treats diminutives. I absolutely love seeing the huge amount of interest in Russian diminutives, etc. in fanart and fics and hopefully this breakdown will help continue that trend and interest and even spur some more ideas in fandom content.

So let’s go through some important details below the cut!

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this speech never fails to make me cry. one of the most beautiful monologues in the entire cinematic history. no really, i’m not exaggerating.

if you haven’t watched andor, do yourself a favour and go watch it. every minute of it. you don’t even have to know star wars lore to enjoy it.

i’ll admit, it gets really rough to watch sometimes, so please be mindful of your mental health. if you decide to give it a try, i promise it will be worth your time. even if you end up not liking it, at least you would have gotten something out of it.

SO WHAT DO I SACRIFICE? EVERYTHING.

FILM & TV YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW | DAY 2: GENRE

↳ Political Drama, Spy Thriller, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

has anyone else noticed that the writers were absolutely reluctant to fully commit to the darker implications of piltover's actions? like the gas attack on zaun? but tbh the writers' self-sabotaging of arcane's potential as social commentary is not what's really frustrating, it's that it's not just a missed opportunity, it’s a deliberate avoidance. the writers couldn't make piltover that bad, at least not through the characters we have to follow.

with the gas attack, what we get are scattered hints: a single man coughing, kids praying to janna in a song (in a way that’s super easy to miss), and worship of a painting of janna. but the show never fully depicts the suffering caused by the gas. it never commits to the atrocity and by refusing to depict the actual impact, the show softens piltover’s culpability and allows a big part of the audience to either overlook or justify it.

but the gas attack aside, the writers had two opportunities to make an explicit statement about systemic oppression, environmental racism, and the true cost of unchecked industrial power but they avoided doing so. and those two clearest instances of this avoidance are in how the show handles viktor and orianna:

in season 2, viktor’s story is literally warped to avoid blaming piltover. viktor, a character who should represent the suffering zaunites endure because of piltover’s neglect, is instead pushed into the role of an irredeemable villain for a marvelesque shit show. his transformation discards his humanity so blatantly that the audience is distracted from the actual injustice: he was dying because of piltover.

his ending is framed around jayce’s “beauty in imperfection” speech as if he should have just accepted his disability rather than seeking a cure, when the reality is, he wasn’t just disabled, he was dying because of the system piltover built. that was his entire struggle in season 1, but by season 2’s end, the narrative no longer engages with it to protect piltover.

as for orianna, she is reduced to an easter egg as a gift to league of legends fans (which is funny because the show ruined her lore for them), but more importantly, to avoid critiquing piltover.

her lore was an explicit condemnation of piltover’s disregard for zaunite lives. she was a little girl who helped zaunites, got sick due to piltover’s pollution, and had to slowly replace her own body with machinery until she lost all humanity. but arcane erases this. she’s barely a cameo, and the audience isn’t even told how she died. the show doesn’t just sideline her suffering, it removes it entirely, sanitizing piltover’s guilt in the process.

more importantly, all of this lets a big part of the audience defend piltover. for instance, by never showing the gas’s impact, the show gives certain viewers the option to ignore it: no bodies, no long-term sickness, no undeniable, inescapable horror. and i'm sure we've all seen how this allows for interpretations that justify piltover’s actions in the fandom, whether that means erasing the gas attack’s consequences or framing it as acceptable because the victims are zaunites (who are often conveniently portrayed as violent criminals).

also, ekko’s line about rescuing more people because of gang fighting is a perfect example of how the show subtly misdirects the audience. yes, gang violence is an issue, but it’s not the only crisis. the gas remains, it spreads, it poisons the people, especially the children working in factories. those are also people the firelights must have rescued. but the show chooses to highlight one crisis over another, and we know why ...

anyway, it's sad that the writers had no balls. they let so many people feel comfortable not thinking too hard about piltover’s crimes, and comfortable enough to insult anyone who criticizes characters participating in those crimes, especially caitlyn and her squad.

“The people of the underground deserve to breathe” oH cAsSandRA cAreD ab0uT zAun luv my aCtiVist qUeeN

But the ventilation system is designed in a way that—with the Kiramman key—can be easily weaponized against zaunites cuz the gas wasn’t directed AWAY from zaun, just held back. Zaun was being held at gun point with gas. The oppressors keep this deadly gas in their arsenal so they could re-introduce the Gray into Zaun if they so please, if Zaun gets out of line.

The “privilege” of clean air is conditional.

thank you for saying this.

mel is good at being a politician but she is a flawed person. multiple things can be true at the same time. however, for some reason, the fandom and EVEN THE SHOW are afraid of criticizing mel in any capacity. she just has to be the ✨perfect✨ character, as if “perfect” isn’t the most uninteresting and unimaginative thing a character can be.

i personally never liked mel as much as some other characters, but i can appreciate her character, because i understand why she is the way she is and because i see potentials for a great character arc. but season 2 just completely stomped on all of my expectations for her. she deserved better. we as an audience deserved better and i can’t even deceive myself that they will handle her well in Noxus.

I didn't think this needs to be said but you can't be the richest person and politician in any country, particularly one with such wealth disparity and police brutality, while also being a "good person." Reasons for that can vary from ignorance or apathy (at best) to malice and deliberate exploitation (at worst). Yes this is about Mel Medarda. Idk why some parts of the arcane fandom try to erase her wrongdoings? Flaws give a character depth. You can recontextualize the nuances, which I love doing too, but thats an entirely different thing than trying to pass it off as being 'good'. She's infinitely more interesting with her flaws than if she were just pure and good like the fandom + writers tried to make her seem.

(This goes for Heimerdinger too, you don't get to be in charge of an entire country since its founding without being responsible for the way it turned out. Yet he got killed off before the story ever grappled with that, which frustrates me to no end. But that has more to do with how the writers mishandled the Piltover v. Zaun conflict and we'd be here all day if we went into that)

Idk, flaws to me are a positive thing. Characters with them are fascinating, and characters without them are dull. I will always prefer and fight for interpretations of characters that accomodate flaws while also staying true to who they are. The more, the better imo (provided they're still in-character, I too dislike seeing people hallucinate flaws/ wrongdoings/ motives that have no basis. "If you're going to hate them then hate them accurately etc. etc").

And personally I much prefer the version of Mel that actually takes into account that she is a powerful and wealthy politician who used different forms of manipulation and exploitation for personal reasons. Those reasons are interesting and incredibly nuanced (stemming from her experience with her mother). I don't really have faith in the arcane writers anymore (stuff that the writers have said really worsened my opinions on s2), so all I have is blind hope that whatever spinoff they do with her goes in that direction.

And before anyone misinterprets this: no this isnt a hate post. Its the opposite actually. Im describing the interpretation of mel that i love and have loved since season 1 (before the writing took a nose dive). If u look thru my blog u can find a post I did before s2 came out where im praising how morally ambiguous she was. So yeah i have receipts. If u dont love mel at her inaction corruption era then you dont deserve her at her magic empath era.

a comic about fix-it fanfics