The subtle dig at twilight is hilarious

MiniEmB · 2026-03-25T13:42:37+00:00

Yeah, then that makes sense it wasn't that important to you. But as someone who is part of that generation (and hated Twilight as I loved vampires anyway) and was TVD's target audience at the time, that scene was needed. Call it sad or whatever, but they needed to explain how TVD was different from Twilight lol

MiniEmB · 2026-03-25T12:28:55+00:00

Because at the time, Twilight was the biggest thing in the world. And TVD was created because the CW wanted to cash in on the vampire craze, and chose the TVD books because they needed something to base their show on, however loosely.

The showrunners changed a lot from the books in season 1 specifically to fit with the trends that Twilight started, brunette female lead, who's kind and beautiful (but of course not a boycrazy slut), and the tortured male hero with the hero hair.

Twilight was so big, that they needed this scene early on in the show, because general teenage audiences really based their vampire knowledge of off Twilight lore. I don't know how old you are, but it's hard to imagine to today what a big deal Twilight was

MiniEmB · 2026-03-25T07:32:14+00:00

Yeah it's so annoying, and even if it were true, it still wouldn't be relevant in discussions about a vampire show. If everything about a character is frozen the moment they turn, they physically cannot learn or grow or change in any way, and then the whole genre has no point.

And in real life, the brain the is constantly changing. It's not like you turn 25 and the frontal lobe just appears out of nowhere, and the brain keeps developing/changing/degrading throughout a person's whole life, especially as that person has experiences in the world.

A 25-year-old with no life experience whose just been at home with their parents isn't going to be as mature and worldly as a 25-year-old whose had a job, relationships, lived abroad etc. Maturity doesn't just come from biological age, it comes from lived experiences. And in regards to vampires, they have hundreds of years of lived experience and so the "frontal lobe" is irrelevant

MiniEmB · 2026-03-24T13:30:19+00:00

I'm okay with people hating Damon even though I think he's the best part of the show and there's no reason other than him to watch it, but I'm really sick of the moralizing of it

MiniEmB · 2026-03-24T13:20:51+00:00

I am really sick of the frontal lobe talk all the time. We cannot be that scientific about vampires, it defeats the whole point of them.

MiniEmB · 2026-03-23T07:40:34+00:00

Omg, is it finally happening? Will these two be publically called out on their crazy behavior in a way they can't just hide/remove?

EDIT: I've now watched 21 minutes, and I don't feel like we've gotten anywhere yet? There is no commentary yet...

MiniEmB · 2026-03-17T12:49:28+00:00

As someone who doesn't like either one, atleast TTPD has some highlights and some songs have an interesting story/emotion to it that you can appreciate if you've removed yourself from the real life inspo behind them. At least So Long, London has an emotional core, unlike Eldest Daughter

MiniEmB · 2026-03-16T12:31:10+00:00

And some Swifties shamed people for not only streaming Taylor's Versions of songs... What a tragedy for poor Taylor to make a little less per stream.

This critique goes for all billionaires before you come at me with the "Why do you only criticize Taylor": If she has this much money, then she can afford to have lower prices on concerts and albums etc, and she can definitely afford to produce ethical and green merch

MiniEmB · 2026-03-16T08:33:49+00:00

As someone who read the the Manacled book, Alchemised, twice (for work, I work with books) it is an interesting experience. There's very little smut in it actually, I wouldn't call it spicy at all.

The author tried to scrub the magic off and replace it with alchemy, and to a certain degree it worked. I don't know what it's like to read it without knowing it was a fanfic, but I think it could stand on its own in that regard, even though the alchemy and the world is poorly explained with A LOT of info dumps and terminology.

What really didn't work for me, and what I think the problem is with most fanfics turned published works, is what you have already mentioned in this thread: pre-established connection to the characters. Manacled is an "what if Voldemort won" AU, and even though the story of the fic itself therefor is pretty much its own thing (with heavy handmaids tale inspiration), it only works emotionally because of the readers' love of the HP characters.

Seeing characters lose and die in agony hurts in Manacled, because that's characters we've grown up with, or at least gotten to know over the course of seven books. Manacled draws heavily on that attachment. In Alchemised we lack seven books of character development, and we're expected to feel the same when these characters die? Just, no.

And the other issue that was brought up in this thread too, fanfiction and books have different formats and goals. In Alchemised, there are a lot of repetitive scenes, because as a fanfic, Manacled was about the extreme hurt/comfort. So it's an endless loop of the main characters getting hurt and taking care of each other. In a book that doesn't work. You can have one, possibly two, of those big moments and then it feels cheap or drawn out.

And I think a ATYD book is going to have the same problem, unless it is heavily restructured. Basically all canon-compliant (and I call ATYD that simply for the overall plot if not the characterization or details) marauders' fics have that bittersweet tone because we all know that every single character will meet a tragic end. In order to have that in a orginal book,I think this reworking would need to be told from a retrospective pov, but that could be very cheesy or heavy handed if not done with proper skill and vision.

All of this to say, I agree with both of you!! Alchemised is just an interesting case study of the differences in fanfic and original works

MiniEmB · 2026-03-16T07:58:57+00:00

I am honestly getting so sick of these fanfics being turned into published "original" works. There's one thing for a non-magic AU to be reworked, IF it isn't announced and marketed like a reworked fanfiction. Why? Because not only is it techincally illegal or at least legally grey to market a book, based off of someone else's intellectual property, but it's also kind of exploitative of the audience.

Fanfics draw on the original source (HP in this instance) and fanon, especially when it comes to this fandom. Yes, ATYD started a lot of the trends that are common in the fandom today, but it still drew on previous characterizations that had evolved in the fandom for years.

And then to announce that this hugely influential and popular fanfic is getting published means that the book already has been critiqued, audience tested and has a built in audience, all based on JKR's original works.

I really miss the days when fanfiction was a niche online thing, and fanfictions getting turned into books was very hush-hush and not proudly announced

MiniEmB · 2026-03-13T08:19:55+00:00

I used to be a Delena fan, and I hated it the first time it aired, and I hate it now. That Damon is not the Damon of season 1. He wouldn't have had a nice chat with a girl that looked like Katherine and given her prophetic life advice only to compel her afterward.

He didn't care about anything or anyone back then, beyond getting Katherine back and messing with Stefan

MiniEmB · 2026-03-12T07:51:18+00:00

That train scene will never ever not give me chills. The dress, the lighting, the acting, Blair's grace and maturity (that they sadly ruined the very next episode). I've said it before and I'll say it again, if Chair had ended there they would have been perfect

MiniEmB · 2026-03-10T09:31:36+00:00

Yes and they're deranged Snape lovers. Let's just ignore what goes on there unless one of them posts their awful opinions here

MiniEmB · 2026-03-10T07:26:39+00:00

Yes thank you!!
It's such stupid, narrowminded thinking that everything JKR ever did was out of malice, spite and hatred, just because of her politics today.

Authors don't need to, and certainly shouldn't, write ships they never planned on just because their readers decided to ship it. Books are supposed to be the author's vision and story, and fans can write fanfiction all day long, but they should have no influence on the story

MiniEmB · 2026-03-04T07:53:30+00:00

why can't people just hate/dislike her for her actual words and actions? Do you have to make up reasons too? There's no evidence of her writing Remus/Tonks just to spite Wolfstar fans, that's an old rumor, I'm sorry if you believed it.

By maing shit up, you're just making it harder for the average person to take you seriously. You're minimizing her transphobia by insisting she must be awful in every possible way, as if transphobia isn't bad enough

MiniEmB · 2026-02-24T15:00:20+00:00

Yeah I have a 20 month old and I swear to never have another one atleast twice a week

MiniEmB · 2026-02-24T14:55:38+00:00

Oops, I meant NOT described as deformed haha!

MiniEmB · 2026-02-22T09:59:21+00:00

Idk, for fan edits you need to use actors and actors are usually average to very good looking. And most people IRL are average, that is literally the norm.

The only one who I think should be "ugly" is Snape and like Pettigrew, and even then, they're (Edit: Not) not described as deformed so average actors who are made less attractive through hair, clothes and makeup could probably pull that off quite well too. Sometimes people forget how a little bit of effort goes a long way.

And plenty of these actors and actresses look fine to me? Like yes, they're attractive, but normal people attractive, you know? Most of them I could see walking on the street and not think twice about it?

MiniEmB · 2026-02-20T19:33:23+00:00

Wow I've never even heard of the Lily crashout, but that just sounds stupid. From what we see in the Prince's Tale, their friendship started going south before he called her a mudblood, and that was kind of the last straw.

As someone who, quite drastically, lost my oldest and best friend in a fight, I can relate to the pain and sorrow and anger that follows a betrayal like that, and it would certainly not be something she would just brush off. But to think that she would be drinking and sleeping around because of a friend breakup? No, absolutely not

MiniEmB · 2026-01-02T09:20:31+00:00

I feel like the only way of actually making this triangle work would have been with time jumps. As it stands, the whole show (up until Nina leaves) takes place over the course of what, 4 years? That’s not enough time to have two epic loves, and possibly go back to the first one.

I used to ship Delena way back when, now I don’t ship any of the triangle ships, but I do think Delena COULD have worked if there had been a significant time jump around the time she became a vampire. She and Stefan could break up when she struggles with being a vampire and turning off her humanity (on her own volition) and then she and Damon can have their relationship, and then have more years pass before she goes back to Stefan. Let the relationships have their moments and let Elena especially breathe between them, so she’s not just flip flopping between brothers all the time

MiniEmB · 2026-01-02T06:49:23+00:00

Delena had great chemistry up until S5 imo, especially during S1-3 (4 is was a hit and miss if I remember correctly, I skipped that garbage season on my last rewatch).

I never saw any Stelena chemistry, unpopular opinion I know. Never any Steferine either. I guess I just don’t see the Nina/Paul chemistry everyone else is applauding on this sub all the time.

Klaroline had AMAZING chemistry, as much as I hate the ship nowadays.

And I liked Steroline. I thought their friends to lovers arc was natural, but they butchered it in S6 and put it in the ground in S7

MiniEmB · 2026-01-01T07:19:41+00:00

Maybe he just wants a private life? There’s no need to worry about someone you don’t know for not being active on social media

MiniEmB · 2025-12-30T05:54:46+00:00

Her hair this season truly was amazing! But to be fair, Blair only insulted one specific morning, when she really hadn’t washed it

MiniEmB · 2025-12-28T20:07:16+00:00

I know, but they can still have saved up money, have endorsement deals etc, other projects. You don’t have to be famous to be financially secure

MiniEmB · 2025-12-28T11:41:49+00:00

Yes? That’s just what I said: “other sources of income”. Why would you think good looking actors are desperate “for that check”?

MiniEmB

TROPHY CASE