nyxelestia

I just watched Ep 403 and...

WHAT THE FUCK?

What the ever-loving fuck just happened?

Okay, this season, I was planning to just *NOT* do episode reviews, but after that whammy I don't think I can miss out. I'll post the reviews for eps 1, 2, and 3 soon enough.

In the mean time, a very general/non-spoilery Season 4 and Merlin Review:

I'm in the camp that says while Merlin has been going uphill in everything ranging from acting to filming to special effects since Season 1, in the writing department it's been nothing but downhill. Ever since the end of Season 3, they seemed to have been showing more awareness of their writing pitfalls, from shallow characterization to the way they write women, but the first three episodes are disappointing in that aspect. In light of these first few episodes and taking into account their stated expectations for Season 4, not only am I no longer hopeful, I seriously think these writers are biting off more than they can chew, and don't even realize they are choking as they are backing themselves into a corner.

I have been telling people that Merlin is an exercise in how a show can have shit writers and still be great if it's got everything else. It was only a joke until now.

I love the actors, the effects, everything else about the show - the actors' skills are absolutely superb in this episode. I only hope that in spite of the writing - which undertones from their pre-premier interviews suggest even they are unhappy with - they can keep this show afloat, them and the effects/production managers...because I don't see the writers being of any help any time soon.

Title: Primogeniture
Summary: Merlin is happy to dedicate his life and soul to Arthur when he comes to Camelot, even though he knows the dragon is wrong, and Arthur will never be king. How can he be, when he is the second son?
Rating: R
Word Count: 6400
Pairings/Character: Arthur/Merlin, OMC
Warnings/Content: mentions of violence, character death, posted in a sleep-deprived state
Beta: none
Notes: I basically went on hiatus and lived under a rock for the last few weeks, from AP's to prom to finals, to my 18th birthday two weeks ago (yay, now everything I've been doing for over the last half-decade is actually legal...except for some of the intoxicating measures, but no one cares about those), to my graduation last week (holy shit I'm a college student now! o.O). I doubt many of you are all that interested so I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say I was busy, busy, busy with RL! But, now that's all over with! And now I have summer to look forward to! Which isn't much because I'll probably end up working, anyway, but still. It's the thought the counts. :P

Anyway, I'm going to slowly ease back into posting and updating fics at my regular rate, so this will hopefully get me started.

( Chapter 10: Catharsis )

I'm posting a bunch of graphics I've made over the years as I slowly start to get more and more into art, both hand-drawn and digital media. Below are my least favorite ones - I don't really like these, but other people do, so I'm posting them.

( Image Heavy - the ones I'm not so fond of, first )

Story Title: Beside Me
Chapter: 2.2 - Cure
Rating: R
Summary: X-Men AU: For many downtrodden mutants, rejected throughout a lifetime of unwelcome blood dictating their lives, Camelot Academy is not just a school - it's a home. But something dark is brewing, and Camelot is no longer as safe as it appears.
Word Count: 4950
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Merlin, Gwen, Lancelot, Morgana, Gwaine, Uther
Chapter Warnings/Content: self-injury/self-mutilation, self-hatred, passing suicidal thoughts, a bit of heartbreak, minor violence
Beta: none
Notes: I was going to post this a little later today, but it's going to be a shit day so I'm posting it right now instead.

( Beside Me, 2.2 - Talking Cure )

Title: Journey Through a Broken Soul
Summary: It has been months since Arthur's capture and disappearance, and Merlin has spent that time looking for him - and finally found. What he found, though, was a broken prince.
Rating: R
Word Count: 4000
Pairings/Character: Arthur/Merlin, Lancelot
Warnings/Content: Violence, (past) non-con, mental trauma, mentions of slavery
Beta: none D:
Notes: Because I couldn't update Beside Me, I bring you this instead.

As of now, this is an AU of Merlin. I imagine that it takes place post-S3, with the exception of changes to Episode 313. The change is basically just the very last scene. In canon, it's shown that though they are commoners the four new knights were accepted into the knighthood. Here, I'm imagining that Uther still didn't allow it, so the men left to wait for Arthur to become king.

( Journey Through A Broken Soul, Chapter 07 )

Title: Lineage, Chapter 03: Broken Words and Shattered Hearts
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Thanks to his magic, Merlin always knew he had a weird heritage that his mother did not liking talking about. What he didn't expect was to find out she was a princess of the kingdom of Dyfed - making him heir to the throne. This changed...everything.
Word Count: 7200
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin, Gwen/Morgana
Warnings: mentions of violence, swearing, mentions of sex
Episode warnings: Post-S1 AU, but draws heavily on elements of S2 and S3
Beta: arithilim
Notes: Well, I couldn't update my X-Men AU, but this one was sitting in my hard-drive for quite a while, so I finished it and got the lovely arithilim to beta it, and now it's here for you guys!

( Chapter 03: Broken Words and Shattered Hearts )

Story Title: Beside Me
Chapter: 1.4 - Vene Vidi Visa
Rating: R
Summary: X-Men AU: For many downtrodden mutants, rejected throughout a lifetime of unwelcome blood dictating their lives, Camelot Academy is not just a school - it's a home. But something dark is brewing, and Camelot is no longer as safe as it appears.
Word Count: 2900
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Merlin, Gwen, Lancelot, Morgana, Gwaine
Chapter Warnings/Content: minor anti-mutant bigotry,
Beta: none
Notes:Because I'm easily distracted from my Big Bang.

( Beside Me, 1.4 - Vene Vidi Visa )

Story Title: Beside Me
Chapter: 1.2 - This Could Be Home
Rating: R
Summary: X-Men AU: For many downtrodden mutants, rejected throughout a lifetime of unwelcome blood dictating their lives, Camelot Academy is not just a school - it's a home. But something dark is brewing, and Camelot is no longer as safe as it appears.
Word Count: 6250
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Merlin, Gwen, Lancelot, Morgana, Gwaine
Chapter Warnings/Content: mentions of non-con and violence in the past, vague suicidal ideation if you squint
Beta: lasvegas_lights
Notes:For one, this fic is an AU of, not a crossover with, X-Men. The actual characters, organizations, ect. from the X-Men franchise probably won’t feature in this fic much, if at all – this fic is only loosely based on the franchise, pretty much only connected by the whole mutant thing, one some generalized plot elements. Otherwise, this fic is still predominantly Merlin-centric.

Also, the “Class” system – you see them with Greek letters in the comics, but numbered 1-5 in the movies, with 1 being the weakest, either a minor power, physical mutation with no power, or a dormant gene, and 5 being the strongest, basically capable of ripping apart a country or even theoretically the planet at will. I use Roman numerals I-V in this fic.

( Beside Me, 1.2 - This Could Be Home )

Title: Primogeniture
Summary: Merlin is happy to dedicate his life and soul to Arthur when he comes to Camelot, even though he knows the dragon is wrong, and Arthur will never be king. How can he be, when he is the second son?
Rating: R
Word Count: 5900
Pairings/Character: Arthur/Merlin, OMC
Warnings/Content: mentions of violence, character death, posted in a sleep-deprived state
Beta: none
Notes: Posting to fill in the weekend as I'm not updating another fic of mine this week.

( Chapter 09: Small Comforts )