Too invested in Fiction

adult/ she/her/white. This is just to post about fandoms I enjoy that cycle through randomly. Commissions open. Asks are open always! Side account for @moltentarts

[moltensmusings]

Figured I'd make a pinned post for new people coming to my blog:

I'm Molten, I'm a women who gets really invested in fandom content I'm into. Largely this is Mass Effect and Dragon Age related but I do have other fandoms that crop up occasionally.

I list all of my own art under "#moltentarts" and try to tag each series fanart as fanart from that series specifically. (Ex: rwby fanart, bg3 fanart, etc.)

I'm fully open to asks and have anon on for those who want to use it.

Note as well: I won't tolerate or accept racism, homophobia, transphobia, or ableism on my blog. I do the best I can to avoid people who post or hold those view though sometimes I miss it so if I reblog something from someone who agrees with any of that let me know.

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[moltensmusings]

You know why I can buy Carl and Bryce both being into Aniya and Trinity fairly easy but struggle to really accept that Zach is super into Kayda? Zach doesn't like to embarrass himself for love, and you can tell.

With the islanders consistently telling us Zach is crazy about Kayda but us seeing how Zach moves, I think he hates the idea of being embarrassed too much to fully commit to being a good partner.

He hates the idea of being rejected by Kayda, but he clearly did like her pretty soon into the show. So when she agrees to chat with Caleb because he isn't willing to put his foot down and say he wants to close things off (arguably because he just also wanted the full love island experience with casa amor exploration) it means that when she similarly explores because apparently they're still open, suddenly he gets moody and territorial. Rather than being emotionally present and talking it out properly like Bryce does with Trinity, Zach makes it her problem and punishes her when she moves the same way we've seen him.

Like he's had chats with other girls, notably I remember him talking to Jen and even slightly flirting with her after he got upset at Kayda for talking to Caleb.

Despite connecting with and having fun with Alannah, it really doesn't seem like he would've brought anyone back even if she hadn't been kicked. Because the second he realized he could lose Kayda to someone else he got really huffy and upset about it, and I can't even say that's because he's hating the idea of any girl he's with getting taken away. Because with all the Casa Amor girls if he really wanted to connect with one of them and bring her back he had all the room to do so.

Zach doesn't like owning up to the bad things he does, he doesn't like taking the knee and making himself a little smaller for the comfort of his partner even momentarily. He like's Kayda but he dances around being actually vulnerable with her. Meanwhile Kayda is always open to him. She's always ready for the next step.

I do think Zach wanted to win, badly, but he wasn't willing to take the steps to really endear the public to him in a way that would've cinched it. Fans have forgiven messy Casa amor experiences before, but Zach wasn't willing to do the work required to properly come back from it.

I believe the islanders when they say Zach is obsessed with Kayda, because any time a man made a move on her he got really upset and ran around causing problems over it. Remember Bryce pulling Kayda, we can't pretend him getting vicious and telling lies about Bryce to KC wasn't in some way motivated by him being mad Bryce was trying to yank her. And I only bring this up because once Bryce actually locked in on trinity, Zach was one of the guys affirming him at Casa.

Zach needed to be honest and bare himself, and he wasn't willing to do that. If he continues to be unwilling I don't see him and Kayda lasting. If he's not up for being cringey and accepting when he's wrong with grace I can't see them staying.

[moltensmusings]

Every now and then someone tries to either claim a word means something it doesn't or claim that someone is using a word wrong when they aren't, and for some reason I get so frustrated I have to correct them every time.

Like someone made a post where it was "Brinity as told by fanfiction tags." and they listed casa as Heavy angst. And someone went "casa isn't angst".

I tried not to argue, i really did. But Casa was angst. And them trying to say it wasn't got me upset against my will. Like beyond the angst of Bryce and Trinity missing each other/the photos causing frustration. The episodes START with Trinity seeing Bryce with other women and getting so upset about it she decides she wants to go big during Casa.

It's an angst arc full of yearning and the pain of them not knowing if their feelings were returned.

I don't play about the correct use of words.

[moltensmusings]

And if I said I think Zach telling KC that he thought Bryce would drop trinity in a heartbeat if Kayda wanted him was potentially a big contributor to KC's negative view of Bryce and trinity/his comments about their relationship after the favorite couple vote then what?

I want to say, I'm not noting this because I'm trying to absolve KC of his misogyny and bullshit, but instead because I truly wonder if KC would've been as shady towards Bryce about Trinity if he didn't believe Bryce thought of her as a safe option.

We can say what we will about their dynamics. I do think Trinity holds a bit of a grudge towards him over it. But from everything we see, Bryce and him are chill with each other later on.

Again, this is just a little theory. But I think Zach running around the way he did was the biggest reason for KC and Trinity to have a long running tension. She's mad he disrespected her relationship despite him also wanting to explore. KC wouldn't have made the comments if he didn't think Bryce was trying to steal one of their friends girls/sticking to Trinity for safety.

Because once we get to Casa, it is KC who is reassuring Bryce immediately that him and Trinity are solid despite them getting the postcard with the kiss.

[moltensmusings]

People are posting interactions they've been having with Sincere post Villa and the comments are full of "Wow he's actually charming, i lowkey like him"

I've been saying we can't blame the fucking islanders because the man bewitches people. He's obviously charming. It's why people can't stay mad at him or really believe he's incapable of change.

Sincere is a dangerous man, watch yourselves cause half the comments wanted to kiss him after a 2 minute video.

[moltensmusings]

Trinity in the comments of tik tok videos when people talk about Zach

[moltensmusings]

Honestly: the Zach discourse is going haywire and frankly I don't care whether Bryce and trinity stop being friends with him. His brother said things would be addressed soon so my guess is Zach is likely working with other people to figure out how to directly address things. We're expecting the islanders to immediately be up for "apologizing" while also getting on their case for talking "without seeing the show.

Most of the islanders don't actually remember what they said, they were recorded 24/7 for a month and obviously they can't be sure what parts of their lives were on display for us.

I don't like Zach much, I do think he needs to adjust his behavior and avoid moving/speaking the way he did in the villa going forward. I do believe the islanders when they say a lot of the things people are mad at him for really were jokes/his sense of humor and that the edit Zach got simply made them feel more nefarious than they actually were.

However I think it's going to take time and I'm going to let what happens happen without adding on to the dogpiling kayda and Zach are getting.

Which: if you're harassing either of them you're weird. People need to stop telling kayda to dump Zach and laying their own opinions on the relationship out when kayda is a grown woman who is allowed to choose what she wants in life.

She's close with Bryce and trinity, and they have good heads on their shoulders, so whatever happens I'm going to believe she'll be fine. I also don't want to engage with people calling Zach a narcissist, yeah he came off weird but putting titles on people we don't personally know is not it. I'm similarly hopeful that his close proximity to Bryce will mean he changes for the better because I do believe his friendship to Bryce is more important than I did think.

[moltensmusings]

A lot of people are screaming about "trinity ruining her image by defending Zach". Despite our feelings that man is her friend. If you ignore what we as viewers know about how he treats Kayda, separate ourselves from everything we've seen him do 1 on 1 without Bryce and trinity knowing, it's easy to see their dynamic the way they likely do.

Zach is the friend trinity has a very catty brother/sister bond with. He has a super close relationship with her boyfriend and "jokingly" talks about stealing him and making moves.

I do think the producers did a massive disservice to the cast not airing what Zach was doing for them to form their own opinions. And I don't say this because I'm secretly thinking he'd be completely cut off from Bryce and trinity or that Kayda would dump him. But instead because if your friend is being a dick you deserve to be aware of that so you can either work through your issues with them/encourage them to do better or opt to simply put some distance between you.

The reason Zach is getting so many people in uproar is because the producers didn't do their job movie night and help everyone be more aware of how he was acting. If they did we could've likely had the chance for him to correct his behavior through conversations with Bryce and endeared himself to the public.

That didn't happen, so instead we get a man who got to coast through on bad behavior unchecked and people are upset about it. Especially when they were willing to expose Corbin, Kenzie, KC, and Sincere. Like no problem showcasing the odd behavior of those guys but Zach only got the casa stuff. It's weird.

[moltensmusings]

Trinity reposting wattpad related stuff on her tiktok with no comment or context. She knows guys. Girl won the lottery and she's thriving. Most followed islander, make up trends, and she got the it boy on the island.

No one's doing it like her.

[moltensmusings]

The more photos we get, the more comments he leaves, the more upset I get about Carl not being an OG islander this season. Because the man is hilarious and weird. He's got the same vibe as Bryce in terms of being dorky sweet and utterly enamored with his woman.

But he also would've given us 1 more sensible man in that villa.

In a brighter world we could've had the Bryce and Carl bromance where both men respected their women while being ridiculous.

[moltensmusings]

The winners posted about people hating Zach, and I'm sure it's excessive the hate he's getting. But genuinely if he just acted better when it came to his relationship with Kayda I guarantee he wouldn't be facing the backlash he is.

Like for me: yeah it's annoying he meddled in trinity and bryce's relationship early on nearly causing them to fully split. But I'm also someone who is willing to go "eh, it was week 1 and he's changed" if he showed himself to grow as a person.

He consistently puts Bryce and meddling in Bryce and Trinity's relationship over uplifting what he has with Kayda. He repeatedly includes himself in big moments for Bryce and Trinity unprompted, something we don't see Bryce also do. Bryce consistently shows how much he adores and supports Trinity. Yeah he messes around with Zach but when it comes time to lock in on his girlfriend he's going to.

Zach brings up Bryce unprompted to Kayda so incredibly often it's like he's forcing him as a third wheel. Bryce could be in a completely different plane of existence and Zach will yank him into importance.

I can excuse the catty brother/sister bond Trinity and him have with him often messing with her because I can see how it's something you do with your friends. But I need it to be coupled with him actually being a good partner to Kayda. Not ripping affection from her because he gets moody. Not making her make her own food because she did something he told her to do and then got upset about.

Genuinely: i need him to be a good partner. That's where my frustration comes from. Because right now it feels like he almost resents/barely tolerates being with her.

[moltensmusings]

We'll see if the coming days change anything, but Melanie and Sincere following most other people in the cast but not each other... gives me hope.

[moltensmusings]

Also the only Bryce conspiracy theory I believe is that he is an intentional bad kisser if he's not into the person kissing him.

Because Trinity Tatum telling people that she doesn't like to kiss yet the kiss with him making her feel like they had chemistry during the door challenge and her also continuously initiating them with him is fascinating.

Bryce you're not a slick man but I get it.

[moltensmusings]

I just got a video on my feed where someone said "I knew bryce was scamming when he encouraged the other guys at casa to explore only for him to sob about Trinity".... What?

You mean the same men who gleefully decided to explore of their own volition? The men who Bryce had been saying should be open and upfront with their partners about exploration the way he always had been with trinity to test connections and see what they wanted? Bryce, the only guy who TOLD trinity every single time he had a chat with another girl and what happened in them to maintain full transparency?

We're really going to coin Bryce as some mastermind trying to break up the couples when those mother fuckers largely ignored any good advice he ever gave them? KC, the man who was laughing with Titi about Bryce and trinity's connection? He'd respect Bryce enough to be manipulated by him when he'd been one foot out the door with Aniya for weeks? Zach who on record manipulated Bryce into a level of insecurity that nearly ruined his relationship with trinity? The man who has been talking about bombshells to his partner for weeks? Sincere who is the poster boy for selfish and bad decision making, who would've turned left if Bryce said swerve right? And Corbin who never once made it seem like he was truly there to connect with someone?

He didn't know half the shit was going on that happened because they'd lie to him. You can't claim he did know but was just playing innocent because if he was and he threw KC under the bus claiming he didn't then someone would've said something.

If you're sitting here able to believe Carl was an authentic man when we had very limited time with him and he had the chance to watch the Episodes before Casa, but refusing to accept Bryce was, I'm just going to assume your biased. Like the man who knew everyone's secrets going in has more validity and trustworthiness than the guy who has simply been experiencing the island and getting half truths.

And before anyone says it, no I don't think Carl was some big scammer faking his connection to Aniya. But it is very telling that Bryce has been under a microscope and hated by so many people since episode 1 for no reason other than him being a little awkward and unconventional, while Carl has always been adored out the gate and propped up. Carl is so incredibly similar to Bryce when it comes to his advice and how he interacts with others but only one of them is heavily scrutinized. Like people ran background checks on bryce and every time it came back clean, yet here we are still believing he's got a secret bad side to him.

I'm just blocking people with weird takes because most of the time they're saying things that just makes it seem like they aren't thinking about what Bryce is saying or how he consistently acts and are simply picking things out of context to villainize him and arguing against them would waste my time and just be annoying.

Love island was completely unafraid to display backhanded things the men would do, Carl and Bryce never had those moments because I simply don't think they're some evil entities and people who do scream projection to me.

[moltensmusings]

Dylan and Sincere are the two men who truly confuse me on this season of love island.

Like Zach I feel like has repeatedly shown himself to be someone kind of callous and self centered in a very frustrating way. His claims of caring rarely match up with his behavior. He's pretty easy to read and most of us have accepted that he acted the way he did because he wanted the money.

KC, similarly, was very obviously aiming for the money. He stuck with Aniya as a safe option and he lied to keep her from also exploring other options leading to him potentially being vulnerable, and he didn't want to go against his boys when voting about Sol because he I think respects the community of other men. He was biding his time until Casa.

Corbin was a misogynist and I'm 90% he wasn't actually interested in a connection and really just wanted to have a fun summer, Kenzie being the only girl to get properly physical with him likely shifting how he moved with her. But the man was just happy to be there around his friends and pretty self intersted so he makes sense in his own weird way.

Caleb was one of the 3 earnest guys this season who simply got the short end of the stick leading to obvious insecurities with how he went about forming connections down the line. He mentioned he was a bit restrained in how he acted because he was one of the people painfully aware of always being recorded in the ways other people kind of learned to forget about.

Bryce and Carl were pretty straight forward to me. They're very up front men who wear their emotions on their sleeves and approach connections with honesty. Their goal is to give space to their partner and encourage growth in their relationships. But when the men around them show a desire to step up and treat their partners right they are right there next to them making things happen. They were the Moral paragons of the men this season and in this house we don't compare them to each other because they gave us lights of hope amidst the bullshit.

Dylan and Sincere felt almost like they were masking to a degree. Yet at the same time I struggle to tell if they were. Like you have moments of Dylan guilting Kenzie for days on end over her past actions of exploring on love island of all places and really refusing to work with her to try and fix the relationship. Twisting her into a big problem and misconstruing things that happen. But at the same time there are many moments where he really feels like he seems to like Kenzie and wants their relationship to work. So far he's the only post Villa partner to make content with their connections. He seems inauthentic but also almost matches Kenzie's level in a way that makes me wary of him and unable to form an actual opinion.

And Sincere similarly is someone I can't ever actually form an opinion on, I've never met the man and the way he moves confuses me so deeply that I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to be in a villa with him 24/7 for over a month. It is genuinely unsurprising that most of those people seem to be buddy buddy with him. Like he shows a level of earnest connection and kindness/support. But he runs around coupling up with women left and right. He says he's going to change and accepts he's a problem but also gets incredibly angry and defensive if anyone calls him out on it and tries to properly hold him accountable. Bryce talking to him seemed to trigger a part of his brain into acting better for Melanie, and yet at the same time the man makes her sleep outside when she's emotionally distraught from his actions rather than giving her the bed like people told him to and he makes her rock paper scissors for the massage on their final date. That's before we mention that his recoupling speech started with "the woman who always puts me first" as a bonus.

We can sit there and say "it's productions fault" "they're trying to paint sympathetic characters" production has never shied away from showcasing how shitty the men were acting when they did. Like not sure how you think them showing Sincere cheating and it being a bad thing leading to a two parter movie night showing, in any way states that production was avoiding painting Sincere or Dylan as bad guys.

Truly they baffle me and my lack of ability to form a true opinion on them is giving me a headache.

[moltensmusings]

So apparently Sincere stood up during movie night and yelled "Trinity you haven't even explored" which has become a meme among the islanders. They keep quoting it and Dylan and Kenzie were floored on live to discover none of the viewers had any clue what that was referring to.

And I've seen theories about them "picking KC as the villain and wanting a redemption arc for Sincere" when that to me ignores not only the way the islanders are acting about the situation but also the way the producers CLEARLY were trying to give KC a redemption arc in the show. Like to claim KC was villainized by the show when they made a big moment of him with Titi consistently and made sure to show us him making up with Aniya, they very much we're trying to make him more endeared to the audience by the end. And his plummet back down to villain post Villa is fully his own fault.

Sincere was a problem, yeah, but unlike KC it is fairly obvious he had a good dynamic with most of the cast. KC was far ruder at times than Sincere was and unlike Sincere he didn't even try to show change before he got directly confronted for it. Do I believe Sincere is perfect/above criticism? Not in the slightest. But this concept that because they cut out a portion of the movie night argument means 1000% they were twisting the narrative feels weird to me when not one of the islanders act like it was a brutal horrific moment.

Trinity and Sincere were arguing, and the argument got heated. But whatever happened seems so ridiculous to the cast that they mockingly quote Sincere and laugh about it.

Sincere didn't get a sympathy edit any more than KC did by the end. The main difference is Sincere was simply better at at least playing the role of someone apologetic and eager to change. They showed him being screamed at by Melanie and how he responded to it without cutting out him being stupid. I don't get how you can watch movie night part 2 and take away that the producers didn't want Sincere to be viewed badly when the entirety of his movie night content was him being called on his bullshit.

If anything we should still be mad at production for not outing Zach's bullshit, because he's the one who truly got the sympathy edit when we talk about the fucked up men of the season.

[moltensmusings]

This might age badly: but I think there's a chance that Bryce being in the same season as Sincere could've potentially been what Sincere needed to start improving himself. Because he got faced with a truly authentic person who was always open and respectful. Who always gave sensible advice, encouraged him to do better. He never told Sincere "you didn't do anything wrong" or "melanie will get over it" or "she has to forgive you" but instead "keep doing what you've been doing and proving to her your change. You can fix this but it's going to take time."

Call me an optimist, but I think lowkey Sincere is more concerned about disappointing Bryce than anything else. I think to a degree he does care about Melanie, but not enough for him to have ever actually attempted to make positive changes in his life just because he hurt her. Because frankly he hurt her repeatedly in the same way and we never saw him flip or change anything during that time.

I really think Bryce confiding in him during Casa shocked Sincere to his core. Beyond Sincere crying when KC left, the most expressive we saw Sincere be in ways that we hadn't before we're with him sitting with things Bryce said.

Now: if Melanie leaves him I could see Sincere simply giving up on changing because he feels he got punished despite doing better and he's always shown himself to be a fairly petty person. I could also see him getting out of the villa and away from the circle he's grown close to and him feeling that rush of freedom before he turns back to his old ways and once more starts texting new women. Maybe there's a crazy world where the man goes to therapy and actually works through how to improve as a person.

At this point I don't know what is going to happen. But until time passes/the reunion/we get an update that informs us of otherwise I'll stay hopeful that Sincere is serious about changing. Because if nothing else Melanie deserves that.