#he is moreso in charge of Hell and making it ... well Hell

[lamb-dragonfly]

I've been sick and having some restless nights ...

Anyway, the previous night I've really mulled over HB and how little sense the hierarchy makes.

I think I might actually HAVE to make a PowerPoint on this ...

What still irks me is how HB and HH are in the same universe ... ugh. It makes no sense. Make them separate, please!

Imps and Hell Hounds are the lowest, even though they get to live regular human-like lives instead of like ... working 24/7 like the lust and sloth demons. Imps are the lowest, but Satan is like second in command and even at the top when Lucifer isn't around??? Wouldn't he want his underlings to be considered higher than the rest?

Why imps even exist if they don't do anything? The work regular jobs in their own society rather than interacting with sinners (other than I.M.P.). The other types of demons work jobs related to the sin they serve that ultimately act as a service to imps (not sinners).

We see the succubi and incubi make sex toys and the primary consumers are imps ... not sinners. In terms of products, Vox (a sinner) makes things that sinners buy/consume rather than any sin or demon underlings of that sin. It doesn't make sense. Why do they even exist then if they aren't in anyway doing their REAL job/purpose?

What is even the point of the goetia?! They don't do anything!

[hanrinz]

THE EGOIST NEXT DOOR.

pairing. isagi yoichi x gn! reader ( word count. 1.0k ) genre. boy next door

synopsis. wherein the guy next door often borrows things from you and then he asks for something different.

content. fluff, just isagi your handsome neighbor, loser isagi lol, use of the word 'pretty', word vomit. minimal proofread.

notes: after a month of no post i finally posted smth :') omg i miss writing sm </3 omg first real fic?? lol :x isagi is a loser no one can change my mind.

a knock sounds through the hallway, six in the morning, you were woken up from your slumber.

who could possibly be up at this hour, on a weekend too? other than your grandmother who you think is the only person who can possibly do so, no one else comes to mind.

swinging your feet off the mattress and dragging yourself to the front door. the knocks haven't ceased down and it only adds to your annoyance.

"coming!" a frustrated huff leaves your mouth as you unlock the door.

only to be met with deep blue eyes and a sheepish smile that accompanies his face.

oh.

"isagi?" brows knitted in confusion, your newly moved neighbor isagi yoichi, who's around your age and often passes by your door by night coming home from practice.

if you recall correctly, a month has already gone by since he had occupied the door next to yours. and a month since he has been knocking at your door whenever he needs something.

or moreso in borrowing something from your home.

most of it being ingredients that should never be gone inside a kitchen. the last thing he had borrowed from you, was your sugar that he still hasn't returned.

the last time you checked your apartment wasn't a convenient store, just for him to knock at and get things as he pleases. you might as well charge him for everything he's been borrowing in your home.

"hi, pretty," a hand comes up as a greeting. curse him and his face, isagi yoichi was too pretty to be smiling at you on this god-forbidden morning.

"sorry to bother you this early, but i need to borrow something, again." he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"isagi, this is the seventh time already." you reminded him.

isagi is nice, yes, unfortunately. it can't really be helped for you to be mad at him long, not when he always makes sure to drop by some cookies that you love, with little notes that are sticked on it.

a way of his compensation to the troubles he had caused.

isagi is nice, but this growing routine needs to be put to a stop—for your sanity and to your pocket that is on the verge of crying.

you're sure, soon enough the both of you would really need to run to the grocery for a restock—also the very thing that isagi had been forgetting to do, you wonder how he's even surviving.

his embarrassment only grew, his cheeks deepened to the shades of red and he clears his throat with a response. "i know, sorry."

you lean onto your door frame, sighing as you let him borrow something from you one last time, "fine, but this will be the last time."

his eyes were now brimming as he smiled so brightly, it might as well rival the sun itself.

"really?" disbelief and excitement evident in his voice. "but promise me first, y/n. you won't be mad, okay?"

you look at him with suspicion, one brow raised, eyes squint in question. "isagi.. what is it?"

"you won't be mad though, right?" he asks once more.

"just get on with it, yoichi."

for someone who is shamelessly borrowing a lot of things from their neighbor, isagi is losing all the confidence to ask you one thing right this very moment.

the pep talk he had with bachira the night before didn't even help with the ever growing anxiety that he feels on his chest. it's funny though, if he wasn't in this position he would've laughed at the situation at hand.

isagi is stupid and an idiot—what rin would've said to him, but lukewarm might just be the perfect word, for what he is about to do.

he reckons he could even possibly recover from this moment ever again, but to hell with it. what is he if not an egoistical striker who can't even get the number of his pretty neighbor next door?

possibly a loser, but let's be honest. he kind of is.

but we can excuse that because of his boyish charms, can we?

the silence that hovers over the atmosphere was rather foreign, uncharacteristically from all the comfortable stillness you had with him.

the anxiety that swirls within was contagious, isagi and this newfound silence was not helping with it.

and in the middle of all the uncomfortable reverie and this consuming tension, with hundreds of practice and perfection in his head, he still managed to fuck things up.

"can i borrow your phone?"

fuck.

isagi yoichi is a loser. even after all the countless talks and encouragement insults he had received, isagi yoichi had made a mistake once again.

you looked at him with confusion painted all over your face and to be honest, yoichi might have died a little on the inside.

but what's a man gotta do? he's more determined than to let his already blown away ego and his thoughts, back down from this.

"my phone?"

"..yes.. please?"

you look at him incredulously, doubt was much apparent, but you acquiesce to his plea. grabbing your phone from the bedside of your room, leaving isagi to contemplate every decision he had made.

coming back to him not long, with the device in your hand, handing it to him without any clue to what he needs it for.

an idea comes to mind onto what he is using it for, it may have been he was locked out of his apartment, or maybe he lost his keys, or maybe his phone was dead and his charger was nowhere to be seen.

a lot of possibilities, but it remained to be a mystery.

isagi returned your phone to you without a word, you look at him with much more confusion and he only gives you a sharp grin before running off.

what a way to save himself from this scenario.

leaving you puzzled, as you look at your phone with your contacts left open and noticing a new one added to it, with a name you're very much familiar with.

yoichi ;)

maybe, yoichi isn't here to borrow from you anymore.

© fallenssun 2023. do not repost, translate, or duplicate any of my works on here or any other websites.

[capnkirk17]

STUPID DUMB GAY SUPERHERO AU

okay, its actually called the SOS/save our souls AU but i wanted your attention

the lore is awesome. trust me.

the king of hell (satan duh) has been sending demon recruits to manipulate and enter peoples dreams. the only reason hes doing this is to cause chaos. he calls it, the "ultimate sin". in this case it happened to pete (and has been happening all over the world)

in the dream he has, the demon recruit requests to make a deal with him. him and his friends souls, for "infinite power". and of course he takes it, thinking its just a stupid lucid dream and that this was just a part of it. maybe hed fly around for a while in the dream and then wake up later back to his normal life, but he couldnt be more wrong. after selling his (and the clubs) souls, they were given what was promised. but pete was additionally given a job. he's essentially just a grim reaper, his power being rotting peoples body from the inside (gnarly yuck ew). when pete realizes he really has these powers and the dream was the real deal, he immediately asks the club if theyve been feeling strange or having weird things happen. when they all say yes, he explains and they go basically insane,????? theyre all excited as hell but of course, terrified BECAUSE THEIR FUCKING SOULS ARE THE PROPERTY OF SATAN HIMSELF so yeah that kinda sucks major DICK. eventually they realize this has been happening to other people around the world of course. and villians begin popping up, as expected. bill obviously pops the idea of becoming superheroes, just like in the comics they all love so much. but of course he (and the club, but him mostly,) highly underestimates how tough it would be. the only way they can get their souls back is by doing enough of satans bidding. but by then, their souls would only be rotten once they finally complete their eternal "job". they dont know what they should do. after a very short while, the fighting wears them down, making them want to quit. they dont want to use their powers, they dont want to fight crime anymore. but they know they have to. it turns out that not a lot of people who agree to the Deals turn out to be very good or morally charged... so there arent very many heroes. jerry and josh are the first to suggest continuing fighting for as long as they have to. to josh, it seemed cool. to jerry, it was the right thing to do. all of this super-power bullshit has broken them out of their garbage incel shells, at least for the most part. bill is yet to escape his, though. he's highly hostile, and doesn't care how many innocents he has to hurt to kill the enemy/enemies. he acts like its just part of the job, even though he knows it doesnt have to be. for the most part, if not every time, his killings are accidents. he tells himself its only part of the job to soothe the guilt. of course, he'd never tell anyone about this though.

pete is expected to kill as many people as possible, these expectations obviously being given to him by his annoying, hellish boss. he doesnt really.. listen.. though?? in fact he USUALLY tries to save people. or.. moreso just... avoid killing them when aiming his literal fucking death rays.

josh is very shitty at controlling his power. in his first few fights, he's flamed at least 100 people to DEATH with his hands. he's crushed a few walls, too. one of his powers is fat/muscle conversion, where, obviously, his body fat converts to muscle. and he. he is a fat fuck. so you can tell this power turns out well for him... sort of. i may or may not have stolen this from allmight, but when activating his muscle power, it harms him a little bit. like holding in your own body. it fucks with his organs a little. his hellish flame power came with a nice set of horns that retract when he de-activates it. although, his horns sort of go through his head??? like... from the inside of his cranium. growing THROUGH the front part of his brain, but not enough so to kill him. he just gets real stupid. de-activating his muscle power regenerates him though, so he's normal for the most part once he goes back to being a "normal teenager".

now.. jerry. jerry is a little worried about how powerful he and his friends have become, and how much they could destroy if they tried. with their combination of powers, they could do whatever they want, really. he doesn't like that. he doesn't like the responsibility. he doesn't like having to remind his friends that this is real life and not a game. although, he definitely isn't perfect here. he's ruined homes and killed people just like the rest of the club. all of them have done terrible things, whether or not they were accidental. he feels guilty just like the rest of them, but he's quicker to admit it. they play it cool, or.. as cool as they can get. which.. isnt very.

hiding their identities is pretty easy. jerry buys fabrics and latex shit from michaels (the store..) and makes/repairs their costumes. he layers them VERY well with tough material to make sure they dont...rip off. yuck, nobody wants to see that. sure, maybe if they were adults and werent ugly as shit, but... you know.

their powers have mostly been explained, so i have no need for extra explanation. most of their powers are generic, other than pete and joshes.

i was gonna call petes grim reaper power "necromania" because i thought it sounded cool. then i googled it to make sure it wasnt bad. very glad i made sure. jesus christ. he probably has that too though. unfortunately.

jerry uses his telekinesis to build and craft things for them. and if he cant craft it, he just finds a place to steal it. telekinesis makes it easy, you know.

with the help of the others, he actually built a "headquarters". very fun and stupid. but sort of needed. no more normal club meetings for them.

most of them wish they could go back to their incel lives, but we know how they wouldve ended up if they stayed normal. maybe getting a different ending will be a benefit of gaining powers instead of something to dread.

and um. Yes. i will be including my self insert for fun. Shut up

[yourmidnightlover]

timeless - ch. 1

series summary: you, bucky and steve were the best of friends growing up. what happens when you're assigned to be a war nurse for the 107th? what happens when bucky finds himself 70 years later with scattered memories of the girl who brought him so much comfort? will your love for each other remain after all of the pain you've been put through? will your love for each other remain timeless?

chapter summary: after learning you will be leaving as a war nurse with the 107th, you and bucky struggle to come to terms with what that may mean for the two of you.

warnings: cursing, eventual smut, eventual war, eventual ANGST, NOT BETA'D i think that's it for now...

w/c: 1k+

a/n: i'm baackk! this is a series i've been working up for a while, i have quite the arch planned for the future in this series, so please stay tuned. also, i was confused as to what to title this an then taylor swift released the vault tracks and TIMELESS was PERFECT for the title. y'know, going off to fight in the war in 1944 (43 - same difference) anywho, i hope you all enjoy, as i DO plan on staying on top of this fic for now. updates will be scattered.

chapter 2 ->

1943

you had grown up with steve and bucky in brooklyn. your single mother was the lead nurse in the war, and for that reason, bucky and his family had taken you in with open arms. 

your mother had taught you as her apprentice. in fact, you had been the one to patch steve up each time he would get into little scruffles, occasionally doing the same for bucky on the off chance that he would need it.

the hospital you were working in enjoyed your presence, very similarly to how they viewed your mother’s. you were oftentimes a woman in charge, demanding their respect and attention in spite of you being so young. your mother taught you well, and that included teaching you your worth. 

steve was much like a younger brother to you. you loved fighting and arguing with him as often as you could, all with love, of course. there were times some of the fight he and bucky got into were because of the way other men may have treated you or things they would say about you. 

and bucky, well, bucky was a whole other story. you had thought the world of him. he insisted on training you to fight how he had learned during bootcamp, just to teach you how to take care of steve. although, it was really because he wanted to make sure you’d be safe with him away on deployment. after all, who else would make sure the asshole men that stayed behind would treat you right?

living with him since your mother was practically deployed was something you had never predicted. late nights at the theater with steve would end with you and bucky, curled together on the couch, asleep after talking for so long. your mind almost forgot that you and bucky weren’t a couple. but if that wasn’t the case, then why hasn’t he spoken to or of another woman since you moved in two years ago? 

either way, waking in his arms became so normal for you. you were so enveloped by him that you didn’t even think about what may happen when he actually had to leave for deployment. 

but, deployment was one topic that you tried to steer away from. 

you would talk about your late nights at the hospital, each patient that tested your nerve or was super sweet. he would talk about the idiots he would train or trained under. you never, ever breached the topic of him leaving. mostly because then, your mind would wander to him coming back, and the possibility of that never happening. 

what neither of you expected was for you to be called into action as a war nurse yourself.

steve was furious. well, moreso jealous than furious. hell, they would rather take a young nurse than train him to fight as a soldier. but, you asured him it was likely your mother’s doing. she probably knew that you could handle yourself, being her prodige and all. 

you also thought it was likely her orchestrations because you were to be deployed with the 107th, just like bucky.

“no,” bucky argued as if you could change the orders, walking into the kitchen to grab an apple. “you’re not going. nope. it’s not gonna happen, y/n!”

“jamie,” you took the apple from his hand, placing it on the counter before holding his hand in both of yours. “we can’t change it. i have to go, you know that.”

he sighed, “where are you going, then? will you be safe?” his eyebrows furrowed with nothing but concern and worry. it was almost as if he truly loved you.

“i’m being deployed with the 107th,” you shrugged with a meek smile, trying to convince him you weren’t frightened. 

you were scared. of course, you were. you were going to war. albeit, you weren’t fighting in it, but you would be right near it. the thought terrified you. but, if bucky knew how scared you were he would never be at peace with it. the calmer you were the easier it would be for him to accept the reality of the situation.

“you’re kidding me, right?” he scoffed as he pulled his hand from your own. “you’re going INTO the fight? does your mother even know about this?” his hand takes through his hair as he sat down at the dining room table. 

“i think so, yea,” you nodded as you stood in front of him. “we can’t change it, though. you’ve been training me-“

“that’s kiddy stuff, y/n,” he let his face fall into his hands. “that’s the first day of basics that they trained us during boot camp. that took me months to teach you properly. i don’t-i can’t lose you, y/n.” his eyes remained trained on the table in front of him. 

“you won’t,” you took his face in your hands, guiding him to look at you. it took you a second to notice the wet tears that were adorning his face. you took the liberty of wiping them away. “i’ll be right there with you,” your smile was able to bring one onto his own grim features. “besides, who else would look after your dumb ass?”

his hands held yours on his face, “i’ll always protect you, y/n. i won’t let anything happen to you, not if my life depended on it.”

“don’t say that,” you rolled your eyes as the words now held a deeper meaning than if he had said them previously. “it might actually happen, jamie.”

“i’m serious,” it was his turn to hold onto your face, lifting your chin up to meet his eyes. “i would do anything for you.”

“yea, whatever,” you brushed off his kind words before you read too far into them and hurt your own feelings, crushed with the weight of your own expectations.

he saw you as a sister. that’s all. at least, that’s what you had to repeat to yourself all this time.

“so… you’re coming off to war with me?” the both of you dropped your hands and tried to find something else to distract from the tension.

“i’m coming off to war with you, sarge, but only to wrap you up when you get too stupid for your own good.”

[hexfloog]

(Episode 404, The Mysterious Angel's Mansion - pt. 2)

This little scene is probably one of my favorite DB interactions in the entire show -v- Everything from the way they got here— that is, Conan deliberately starting shit (and then throwing hands sksksk)— to the way they each react to the situation, to the eventual resolution and their implied state of their relationship with Conan...

To be fair, their dynamic is more than implied and we see it in action all the time, but rarely do we get to see anything apart from the reactionary, situational interactions necessitated by some external circumstance. Friends sometimes fight amongst themselves, kids even moreso, but the DB often get tangled in such dire, life-or-death situations that we usually don't get to evaluate the friendship beyond raw reactions to things like Genta nearly being shot, Mitsuhiko going missing, drivers taking off with Ayumi in the trunk, etc.

You could happily argue that this is just proof of strong relationships, because there's no time to premeditate anything and they're forced to be little balls of instinct-- and I would agree, but that's not the angle I'm taking with this scene.

Obviously, Conan is Team Mom, always spearheading the charge and guiding and looking after the others, but if the DB rarely hear Conan apologize for anything (as is the implication here), it fits right in with his character. He's a proud individual and having to even associate with children is, at least in the beginning of the series, embarrassing to him. Haibara even teases him a little afterwards with an observation that it's "tough" to motivate kids, possibly referring to the mental mountain he had to summit by admitting that he was wrong.

The only thing that could maybe make me like this scene more is if Conan's authenticity were less nebulous, but that same ambiguity is exactly what makes this scene appealing to me, too: reuniting the group by forcing a conflict to overcome despair and hopelessness and press onwards for the sake of someone else is, to Shinichi, probable justification to be both disingenuous or earnest about an apology, so I'm… well, I don't come away from this scene really knowing which one it is, and I... kind of love that. The series struggles with grey areas and I will absolutely take what I can get here

So does anyone think he meant it? Shinichi obviously cares about the children, so the natural answer is yes, but whether he's more or less honest about his apology has no bearing on the result— the kids stop fighting either way— so... at least in my head... there is no correct answer. It's left entirely to the viewer and just comes down to how you interpret his character: if he meant it, cool, the fact that he cares enough about the kids to put aside his pride for them is selfless and delightful; if he didn't, well... that's equally intriguing, isn't it? Maybe he's simply too proud to apologize and mean it, and the fight was just a means to an end (and nothing more) so that they could continue pursuing the solution to their dilemma... which could mean that Shinichi has an enduring problem prioritizing the mystery* over his peers (exactly the thing that got him into the Conan mess in the first place)...

This is a very short scene but goddamn if I don't enjoy the hell out of it. I love the kids and I wish they did more open-ended stuff with them like this (sobbing)

[eldritch-elrics]

ok continuing from my tags on the "what does your blorbo think of gay sex" poll. here's what i'm thinking about wrt james sunderland. it's my blog so i can put whatever i want on here so i'm just going to talk about this now.

first of all i've only played sh1&2, so if james turns up in other games i may change my opinion... well anyway

so normally when i think about characters i like, i default to them being bi because that is fun, but in the case of james, i think he is straight. i don't think this is something he's thought much about, because he is not a guy who thinks much about his sexuality. all that shit is repressed as hell. we know this. moving on

all that being said, i don't think james would be actively opposed to the idea of gay sex. it's just not something he would consider at all, under normal circumstances (/even if he didn't have a wife). james is, however, absolutely not in normal circumstances by the time we meet him. does this mean there is a plausible scenario involving james and gay sex?

you may have guessed where i'm going with this. the real question is: could pyramid head represent repressed homosexuality? (well, bisexuality?) pyramid head sure is juggling a bunch of symbolism, and ymmv on the specifics of that symbolism, beyond the obvious (that he represents the judgement & punishment james feels he deserves). it's pretty easy to argue that he also represents james's repressed sexuality as a whole (given the mannequin cutscene, the symbolic penetration of maria, you know what i mean). in both of these instances, he's also trying to cut away distractions so that james can get to his goal & to his final realization with clearer eyes. why does he do that in such a sexually charged way, though? uh... idk. let's see if i come up with an answer by the end of this post

you've also got the "is pyramid head meant to be sexy" question. well... he is definitely a muscular guy. his particular design on the ps2 version makes it kind of difficult to tell where his clothes and skin begin & end. i would argue this makes him less an object of desire and moreso something like a sexual rival for james. like - this sort of sexual hypermasculinity that james sees himself as distant from or weaker than. maybe he represents james's fear that his own instincts and his own wants from his relationships (not necessarily sexual wants) are ultimately predatory or harmful for the people he loves. (yay i did come up with an answer!) (also bookmarking this thought as i want to expand on it in another, better post)

coming back to the central (?) question of this essay (??). could james fuck pyramid head? is there enough thematic precedent for it? if he did... under what circumstances would that even make sense? it feels pretty clear to me that this would have to be an extension of a sex-as-punishment complex - james manifests pyramid head (sexual edition) to put him (james) in his place / establish dominance over him, thus validating his own feelings of weakness/helplessness and lack of control over things that happen in his relationships.

if pyramid head's whole goal is to get james to recognize his guilt about mary, though... i'm not sure. it feels like james would go into this whole thing as a distraction (but in a different way than how maria is a distraction - i legitimately do not think james would view sex with pyramid head as "real sex" ie. something that would count as cheating on mary). pyramid head, though... i think there's something to be said about the raw and tactile nature of sex. it could be kinda like their first fight: they rough each other up, and then PH leaves. PH would refuse to be anything permanent, and just leave james with lots of questions about what the hell he's doing here.

idk. many questions. it's very late and idk how much sense this makes. maybe i'll write a fanfic about this or something lmao

[asleepinawell]

(almost) final thoughts on the dlc. obviously there are spoilers below

very mixed bag overall. I'm at the last boss fight now and did just about everything else except one or two mausoleums.

the good:

some really beautiful areas

horror stealth area! could have been a little smaller and had some more items but overall very cool

some of the bosses were excellent, like rellana and midra. also bayle was great after he finished slamming you into the fog gate and puking fire all over you for the first 30 seconds

dying to know more about that shaman village area that was marika's hometown. hoping i missed some lore someone else will pick up on. edit: i found the missing piece of lore that linked two things together and understand now. honestly this dlc was more about marika than miquella in some ways and i don't think that's a bad thing since the marika lore was more interesting. also adds some speculative insight into why she might have shattered the elden ring which is what i wanted

rellana's double moon spell is very cool and actually useful if you can time it well. possibly less practical than other spells but it looks cool

minimal platforming thank god

some very cool new weapons like rellana's swords. always wanted to look like pontiff sulyvan

the lgbtq community has forgiven mohg

the bad:

a lot of the world level design used multiple elevations. it was extremely hard to navigate and find some areas, moreso than in the base game

several map fragments were at the far end of the area they covered meaning you'd go through the whole area without a map so what was the point. also the elevation thing made this even harder

there were a lot of empty areas. I'd regularly find a way up to a plateau and it would be empty. there were whole main areas that had almost nothing. felt like they really wanted it to be huge for the sake of being huge and didn't have enough content to fill it in

when it went from day to night the lighting would go from yellow to extreme blue instantly. it was very disorienting and just looked bad

once again faith builds got a million new incants and boss weapons and magic builds got shafted. most of the new spells weren't even useful

you get a bunch of little maps you can view in your inventory and i couldn't fucking see them because they were so small

npc quests seemed to be harder than typical to track and it matters more because of the gank squad fight. also had some reappear when I'd obviously missed a part of their quest and they acted like i hadn't which was confusing

wasn't a huge fan of the new leveling system. mostly because i found it confusing about how it affected base stats. also a lot of the fragments were behind bosses so you couldn't go level up if you were having trouble. and some were very hard to find. doesn't feel like leveling should depend on that

there were a couple mechanics used by multiple bosses that seemed to be there just to inflate difficulty but were annoying and took away from the fights. notable examples were getting charged at the fog gate (bonus that this creates camera hell), room wide multihit aoes that are damned near impossible to dodge, and so much vfx you can't see your screen. some attacks seemed to expect you to jump which is just obnoxious

commander gaius. worst boss ever. least favorite in the entire series. supposed to be mounted combat but he can one shot torrent and is faster than him. wonky hit box that make it almost impossible to dodge his charge. charges you right as you enter too. distance spell that forms right under you and seems impossible to dodge. does a million damage and gives you no time to heal. usually when i fight a boss i get an idea of how the fight is supposed to work, but i couldn't tell you with this one. felt rushed and untested

jori elder inquisitor. dungeon boss. spams holy spells the track you under your feet and can't be interrupted out of the cast. summons up to 5 ads over and over. dogshit fight

the 4-5 man gank squad of npcs. did we learn nothing from ds2? also had extreme camera issues in that arena that were responsible for 99% of my deaths

the last boss. i haven't beaten him yet because i was so Done after the gank squad and here we have a boss who has every single issue i had with previous bosses but worse and way too much hp. supposedly that's a little better if you don't use the npcs but the npcs were super story invested in the fights and have custom dialogue so ???? most people who have beaten him seem to be using very specialized tanky builds. everyone is anticipating a nerf and I'm kind of waiting since I'm not excited for this boss and don't want to bang my head against him now

also was a really weird choice for story. I'm on team why not godwyn? i didn't have much invested in miquella and I'd expected him to be about how he was but the radahn thing just came outta nowhere. the whole brothers thing is just what I'd expect from grrm so no surprise there, just rolling my eyes, dude is a one trick pony. i do wish they'd filled in a little more on some stuff like how did malenia fit into all this? and why was miquella hanging out in the shadowlands?

neutral thoughts:

messmer was so hyped in the trailers and then i killed him fairly early and he was just some dude? hilarious

i listed more bad than good but that's not unexpected and not a condemnation. usually there are a lot of broad things these games do very well and a bunch of super specific gripes. it's worlds better than ringed city (except that one had an excellent last boss and this one...did not). I'd give it maybe a 6/10

[uneducated-author]

What Good Omens did so well in both seasons is sort of talk around the focus on class.

We see Aziraphale and Crowley as they relate to completely different social strata. For example, in King Arthur's period, Aziraphale is a Knight of the Round Table, and Crowley runs a band of misfit thieves. More notably, in the infamous 1793 era, we see Aziraphale clad in the clothing of the aristocracy, while Crowley is in (stylish) peasant garb. It's even on Aziraphales bookshop, purveyor of books 'for the gentry'. The show makes it clear that Aziraphale is an angel who typically is suited to dignified and upper class company.

Crowley on the other hand, is moreso seen hanging out with... maybe riff-raff would be an appropriate term. This does not mean he's not rich, he shills out a cool £900 pounds in the 1960's Soho bar scene, and he holds a rather lavish lifestyle, fancy alcohol and Mayfair flat. But in terms of his acquaintances and lifestyle, he most certainly seems more comfortable talking and interacting with criminals and street children than Aziraphale does.

The show does a great job in showing how sin and desperation tend to fall hand in hand, and when you tie this into the institution it becomes even better. Heaven isn't actually good, just focused on the illusion of it. Much like the aristocracy, who are able to carry out performative activism that doesn't inconvenience them, or in other cases, literally change rules and loopholes to allow for their own benefit. How do you compare sin for survival against sin for greed?

Heaven and Hell aren't measuring peoples actual moral character. Their 'agents' on Earth are more just tempting and blessing people, and we don't see Aziraphale and Crowley following up on any of their charges. It feels like they're just working to keep a quota of good and evil in the World. Now when we see Heaven and Hell, and the institutional flaws in both, it makes sense to their own experiences throughout the centuries. Crowley has seen the universe from the perspective of those left behind by chance, and Aziraphale has been taken in by powerful people who either can afford to focus their attention on helping people, or can perform large acts of performative generosity (thing of Aziraphale's, and the other angels naivete).

And then think about how Aziraphale still believes.

[serperioranimations]

BUCKLE UP KIDS, ITS TATER TED TALK TIME

I can definitely be on board with this. I am a disabled artist myself, (neurodivergent/ADHD), and I have a range of characters with physical and mental disabilities, and this also includes Red leader Tord. As well as Tom. And Matt. I’ll put my thoughts and response down below.

I also agree with the scarring points, how in film, evil characters have scars to look more “scary”. There is three examples off the top of my head that literally have the word “scar” in their name. However, I won’t really be discussing that here.

I wouldn’t say MY version of red leader is a bad guy(at least not to Edd, Matt and Tom), he’s moreso just a guy who went about things the wrong way while trying to get his friends recruited. Whole thing. He made up with them eventually. And while he has the ability to come off as intimidating, it’s moreso about the level of power he holds in a room rather than his “scary” appearance.

My portrayals of disability, at least with with red leader tord, mostly focus on the mental effects of his disability. Sure, the physical stress is a lot, but the mental stress of having to worry about your perception and how you are viewed as a disabled person makes a lot of disabilities ten times worse.

He fears that he could get into another accident and lose more of his body and therefore his humanity. Sometimes he has to take his arm off because he hates that he now has to have machinery as his arm. He has nightmares where he’ll be full robot and it freaks him the hell out.

Obviously, there are things that affect him physically too. In the crash, he lost some of his teeth and his cornea had a piece of glass stuck in it and it was damaged. His depth perception is greatly impacted because he’s now blind in his right eye, and he has to wear dentures. He had to change parts of his lifestyle in order to keep them in tact, such as quitting smoking. He also quit because he was scared of getting robot/synthetic lungs and further losing his humanity.

Not to mention, he has to do a lot of work to make sure he can actually LIFT his arm, as it has a lot of machinery in it and that can get quite heavy. He has a lot of frustration surrounding that as well. My version of tord is a tinkerer and always is trying to find new ways to improve something. So his arm is never quite finished. It’s more of an extension to his character than it is a replacement for his arm.

My portrayal of future Tom also has this concept, in the fact that he is blind. His visor does do a lot of things for him, and Tord spent a very long time even trying to get it to work AT ALL.

In a comic I made, it’s implied he had to go through several versions and tests over multiple months to even get him to see ANYTHING. And that comic also implied that it was only a START.

And even if it allows him to see, he still needs to take care of it, he has a backup incase something happens, he has to charge it, all this stuff. And also, it cannot help him see all the time. Like when he turns into a monster.

It can’t help him see when he turns to the size of a building. In fact, when he feels himself turning, he often tries to get the visor off of him as to avoid breaking it because he knows how hard Tord worked on it. But without it, He’s just a giant blind monster who has no idea what’s going on or where he is. And that is a recipe for disaster, my friends.

I will say my representations of technology are not exactly “realistic” and I’ll fully admit that. However, I think it’s important to take into account that sometimes, people just wanna design cool robot stuff that can do cool things. It’s the whole reason people love the idea of flying cars. Yes it’s unrealistic, and we have so many other vehicles that would be way more efficient, but come on- the idea of a flying car is very entertaining. And most of the time, that is what I focus on. If it’s entertaining or interesting.

Plus I’m just like “you know what, I like you- here’s some cool shit you can do cool things with.” That’s how I see the technology in WTFuture. Or at least that’s how I go about it.

In a more realistic and grounded universe outside of Eddsworld, such as my own original story “The Bad Hunters”, I would obviously go about this differently.

But in a world where people can turn into vampires, superhero’s, giant monsters, and just overall break most rules of physics and real life, I think it’s understandable why people in the fandom often default to “because it looks cool” when it comes to designs. After all, I think Edd Gould himself shared this sentiment. 90% of the decisions or jokes he made in his show, I guarantee he made “because it’s funny” or “because it’s cool”.

Like, for example, I have this joke that Tom during meetings will play minesweeper in his headset, because 1- it’s in character that he wouldn’t pay attention to meetings, and 2- it’s funny as hell. And let’s be real- if you’ve been on a zoom meeting that was boring, you’ve probably pulled up minesweeper or solitaire. Is that something realistically that a blind person would be able to do if they had a headset that allowed them to see? Absolutely not. But is it funny? Yes.

Future Matt also has a pretty big disability- that being he has some memory loss related to a brain injury. He got shot in the head and his eye was replaced with a metal one. He also had to get his jaw fixed. He often struggles with remembering what people just told him, and sometimes he forgets where Edd is and that he left. It also, much like Tom and tord and their disabilities, took some getting used to.

He’s also got a mini super computer in his eye that allows him to calculate bullet trajectory and allow him to dodge bullets matrix style. Because fuck it- future Matt is cool, he deserves cool shit. Also because tord was like “aight bro what if I made sure you never got shot in the face again”. Again- is it realistic? No. But is it cool? Yes.

Overall, as an author with disabilities myself, the portrayals of disability I enjoy the most are the ones that acknowledge “this shit sucks” but also are ones that allow for some levity and lightheartedness. This applies to both mental and physical disabilities.

Like toph from ATLA. Yes, she can’t see through the earth and she’s insanely powerful, but also, girlie can’t swim. Obviously, her drowning is no laughing matter, and they don’t make fun of that. But her confidently putting a poster on a wall the wrong way because she can’t see is hilarious.

Or like in arcane, when sevika gets a sick new arm made by jinx, only for it to turn out to be an unpredictable hunk of junk that will do random shit like blast music or shoot fireworks, and sevika is just like “bro are you fucking kidding me”. That may be the most realistic portrayal of a disability aid/tool I’ve ever seen. Sometimes it works great, but sometimes it’s a fucking piece of shit. It also helps that Sevikas arm links to her gambling addiction, hence the slot machine. Sure, it’s not the most “realistic” portrayal, but it does further her character and I think that is also a valid way to write it.

Overall, what I’d say is that I definitely agree with all of what was said above me! These are all valid points and the portrayal of scarring being used the characterize “evil”, or make them look scary, as well as just treating prosthetics as perfect replacements definitely don’t always sit right.

But also I would say that with portraying disability, don’t go the easy way out and basically get rid of their disability by giving them a perfect replacement with no issues that would realistically go along with this. Not just because it’s harmful and disability erasure, but also because it’s boring as shit.

Challenge yourself. Do some research. And most importantly, HAVE FUN.

-your friendly neighborhood tater

The Problem With the Eddsworld Fandom's Depictions of Red Leader/Future Tord, A Disabled Perspective

Disability is a contentious concept for most of society, with most either treating us with disgust, confusion, refusing to treat us as human, or to see our struggles as what they are. Ableism affects all people in many different ways, but as someone who focuses a lot of my energy in fandom spaces, the pervasiveness of ableism with how media and their fans interpet and react to disabled characters is a very personal situation for me. While many may argue that an ignorance to these topics in fiction has little bearing on real life, the prevalance of these tropes have echoed and led to feelings of othering for many disabled people, and oftentimes support the same notions that lead to the day-to-day ableism in our own personal lives.

In recent years, I have experienced this most often with the prevalance of negative disability tropes perpetrated by fanfiction surrounding the character of Tord, also known under the alias of Red Leader in some fanworks. It is a problem not just common in the Eddsworld fandom. A more recent, and much larger fandom in Mouthwashing also shares a common trend of repeated ableism in fan depictions and interpretarions of disabled characters. Most fan creators are unaware of these tropes and the harm that they cause, but as a disabled person, I am unable to ignore it.

For context on myself, you can call me Fish. Get it? Or"fish"eus? I like to think I'm funny. I am a mentally ill, disabled, and neurodivergent creative who has niche interests in representation in media and the intersection of intersectionality and fandom spaces. I experience chronic pain due to a multitude of conditions, all of which are invisible disabilities. I am NOT an amputee or have a facial difference, like the character I am analyzing. I can only speak based on my own research in my attempts to portray him positively, but I want to mainly focus on the ableist tropes I see and the real life effects they have. That is something I CAN focus on, because I've been dealing with it for years from conditions that came onset later in my life. I will be speaking from that perspective, but will be doing my best to try to educate on what I do know from my research to help authors, artists, and creatives create a better portrayal of him in fanworks.

The most common tropes I see with him are what I will call "The Disabled Villain", "The Innacurate Disability", and "The Ignored Disability". There are a few tropes in each, but for ease of organization (and the sake of your (and my) time), I will be talking about them together in these sections. There are also overlaps in many, but I will define the main issues with them.

The Disabled Villain

James Bond, Wonder Woman, The Witches. You name it. You have most likely seen this trope at work in cinema. A malicious evil-doer is revealed to have a "horrid" face symbolic of the true evil within their soul, while the beautiful, able-bodied hero is meant to stop them. It's a trope as old as time, one that goes back to even Plato. Tropes are tropes, people subvert them, so a few cases down the line may be excusable. But that has not been the case For many years, the most prevalent form of representation for disabled people was in these villains. Imagine if the only representation you had for yourself was narratives surrounding how the way you look or what your disability is and have it only be equated to evil people. It leads to a villainization of disabled people. People react to facial differences with disgust, because they are "shown" that it is "evil", or "ugly", or equal to being a horrible person. As stated by The Nora Project, "According to the book Disabilities: Insights from Across Fields and Around the World, disabled students are two to three times more likely to be bullied in comparison to their nondisabled classmates. The disabled villain trope contributes to this phenomenon in overt and subtle ways. For example, the trope implicitly encourages fear of disability and difference, while validating, and even elevating, those who fight against the evil, Disabled Villain. Bullying based on fear and disdain is almost a natural consequence of the trope when viewed in this light". Another big issue is that disabled characters have not been given space to exist outside of villainy. There are not many complex narratives surrounding them. This leads to our disabilities being downplayed, us being dehumanised, and we are seen more like props in real life, or simply tools to achieve a message in a narrative.

Tord's disability is never explicitly shown in the show. It is something more prevalent in Fanon, specifically in fanworks that focus on the "Future" era of the show's timeline, where the narrative and outside discussions on the show implies a high tech society, potentially dystopian, potentially a consequence of his actions. These ideas have taken a life of their own in the fandom, with many creators fully expressing these ideas. The problem arises when Red Leader falls in line with this trope. In many works, he is the sole disabled character, a figure of pure evil, or given little nuance in the narrative. Artists illustrate his scars as bright red, crimson, or, in TBATF, green. For some reason. In this way, they attempt to highlight the villainy by equating him with common symbols of evil: facial differences and disabilities. Unfortunately, these are not just symbols. These are conditions and scars that real people have, which the fandom tends to ignore in favor of dramatization.

This was a trope I most commonly saw explored in fanfiction when I first joined in 2016/17. The show, unfortunately, subtly and accidentally perpetrated it by having the only character visibly and irreparably "damaged" by the giant robot fight be Tord, despite the fact that Tom, who had a whole missile directed at him and got buried under a house, was fine with at most a leg injury and a cut on his arm. Luckily, we have grown past the need for ableist tropes, and the faults of the show can be left in the past!

... Not.

Disability tropes have simply evolved in how the fandom treats Tord. Even if it is now done with more consciousness and sympathy towards his character, ignorance still prevails. Let's talk about common pitfalls people fall into when writing him.

The Inaccurate Disability

In fanon perception, Red Leader is an amputee with a high tech prosthesis and a facial difference resulting from burn scars. Like many disabled characters, he suffers from a collective fandom lack of research. But never fret! That is what I have subjected myself to for the past four years, so your friendly neighborhood disabled Fish can tell you how to right your fandom wrongs! Just kidding! Take this as a pointer, and do your own research.

As is common with fictional prosthetics, his arm prosthetic is treated as a perfect fix for his amputation. It acts just like, if not better than an actual arm. The issue with this is that is isn't realistic. Yes, I know, I'm criticising Eddsworld fanfiction for not being realistic. STAY WITH ME HERE. Once again, if it was one instance, or a few, that explored prosthetics being incredibly functional in science-fiction, then it could be a cool concept. But when every sci-fi work has it, then that is no longer a concept. That is a misconception. And I have interacted with people who believed that prosthetics were 100% functional! The thing is, like all disability aids, it does not suddenly make us able-bodied. For example, I have ear defenders that I wear when I experience pain within my ears. But that does not mean my hearing will now become normal, and I will no longer experience pain from the sound I'm hearing. What WILL happen is that I will straight up not hear you. Like, literally. Can you repeat that? I had my ear defenders on. Oh, you're saying that my ear defenders aren't prosthetics and are not a fair comparison? Well, that's fair, but take this as an illustration of a disability aid and how they differ from able-bodied experiences. Also, many prosthetic users do many things without their prostheses, and some even prefer NOT to wear them. Blogs that explicitly cover disabled representation, such as @/cripplecharacters, have posts that cover WHY many amputees are not fans of this trope. The problem comes with that it erases disability, and yet also treats us like we are given a space at the table of representation. It's just another way that authors avoid actually doing research.

Other things that people tend to ignore are how burn scars, or any scars, would not only appear on a character, but also affect them. I have seen, aside from skin tones that looked like they were picked out of a crayon box instead of what would appear on a person, teeth exposed, wounds that look as if they are fresh from the explosion YEARS after they occurred, and what I like to call "paper shredder" scars. Because instead of them looking like burn or shrapnel scars, it appears as if his skin was put through a shredder. Once again, another consequence of the show's at most-30 second scene with questionable decisions that made massive ripples in the fandom. With the injuries Tord received, it is most likely that he would have two kinds of injuries: a burn on 18% of his body (minimum, based on rule of 9s), and/or shrapnel scars from debris. While shrapnel scars would manifest as darker scars, the burn scar would likely be a hypertrophic scar, as "70% of patients develop hypertrophic scars following burns" (Finnerty et. al). The scars, when healed, are warm toned on the boundaries of their areas and cool in between. When on a pale skintone, they are not too dissimilar, and would therefore not have such a drastic color difference as seen on skin. They would also not go down to the bone or skin, as that would be a completely different kind of injury, and are also commonly done to make him look "scarier", which then aids the Disabled Villain trope. It also treats these scars and injuries more like a work of fiction, rather than something that many real people have experienced, adding to continuous misinterpretations of real life disabilities and facial differences.

For writers wanting to include consequences of burns, what would be more likely to be affected are his hearing, vision, and nerves on the right side of his face, as burn scars can go as deep as nerve endings. Also, burn scars, especially third degree burns, require treatments, such as burn-specific skincare. Scars, especially burn scars, can affect you and become disabling. For artists, the main thing I don't see artists do is draw him with damaged hair follicles. Burn scars damage the scalp and eyebrows, preventing hair growth. I am sorry, but he would not still have fluffy, luscious hair. Do not kill me. He just wouldn't. And if you are saying that he had it in the show, I can't hear you because my ear defenders are on, but I hope you heard me, as we've gone over that the show is inaccurate and we should do our own research.

Even well intentioned authors and artists ignore many aspects of the disabilities he would likely have!

Which brings us to the last trope...

The Ignored Disability

Many well meaning people intend to give him nuance by trying to avoid the Disabled Villain trope. Accidentally, however, they end up completely ignoring his disabilities instead.

Just like the high-tech prosthetic, the real disabling aspects of having a disability are at best rarely mentioned. I have seen, in some fanworks, that he goes straight from amputation to having a prosthetic. And that is where his disability ends. Because the prosthetic ends up being a fix-all situation. Authors refuse, or forget, to include aspects of amputation, such as the healing process, stump or phantom pain. Artists will cover up his scars with a helmet or a mask, another trope that undermines his disabilities and attempts to brush it under the rug. I understand that there is a discomfort for able-bodied authors in thoroughly exploring how a character feels about their disability. That is something I think we should. Avoid. If you're not familiar with the experience of being that minority, you do not need to add commentary on it. And if you do, and it just falls into more negative tropes, I will send a salmon cannon at you (/j). However, I do not agree with brushing every disabling aspect of his life under the rug.

People can assume it's not a problem, like it isn't something blatantly apparent. But, if you assume that disability and being disabled is not a "big thing", you end up where your medication is denied because your insurance refuses to see your common procedure as not a necessary medical intervention because you're "too young". And that is not fiction. That is what inspired me to write this essay, because the day that I got that news was the same day I sat down and told myself that I needed to share my perspective on the perception of disabled characters by honing in on one of my favorite characters and how the fandom treated him.

Disabled characters deserve to be included in media, disability and all, with care given to how their life would operate as a result and what they would experience with their specific disability. That's why many people recommend sensitivity readers who can give proper insight upon that disability and can advise people to properly portray it.

But if you cannot afford or access that resource, what can you do?

Fish's Non-Cohesive List of Ways I Tried to Write Tord as a Non-Amputee Without a Facial Difference

Do research!! The more you are to try to understand what you are writing about, the less you are to misinterpret or misrepresent it.

Look into resources that focus on portraying disabled characters, especially with those you wish to write about. Read blogs, research tropes that are common in disabled characters, and hell, read medical journals. They can provide great insight (<< nerd who likes reading medical journals)

Include more disabled characters. Make the other boys be disabled! Want to be canon compliant? Create OCs who have disabilities! I have a bunch! It's 2024! Be cringe and be free! The character's disability would go against the traditional narrative form of "usefulness"? I'm an animator who can't wear headphones and a theatre performer who can't physically handle the volume of a band. And yet, we find ways to persist, to exist. We will always find our way to live in the way we want to, in whatever way we can.

Look into disability activism. Learn the difference between the Medical Model and Social Model of disability. Know what an invisible disability is. Listen to us when we say that we don't want to be treated as special or an inspiration for simply living (inspiration porn). The more you are aware of what we struggle in real life, the more aware you will be to not repeat those mistakes in your fiction.

Write what you can. Highlight little talked about aspects of having a burn scar or being an amputee, such as the recovery, or treatment for the chronic pain, or how different he would be in battle due to decreased depth perception. As a disabled author, I have personally touched on the experience of gaining a disability later in life, and how he copes with it. Now, not all of y'all can do that. But that is a personal experience I do have, and it is something I have highlighted in my own work. So, while I couldn't tell you the ins and outs of having a burn scar or a prosthetic arm, I could describe the shock and frustration that comes with suddenly experiencing difficulties, or even being unable to do what you had done before.

I ask that, if you are willing to do better, or to start on the right foot, you take what I have written, reflect on it, and treat disabled characters, and in turn, disabled people, better from here on out.

Fiction is not reality, but the way we deal with it is reflective of who we are and what we believe. The boundary for our own personal being does not suddenly stop within fiction. When we interact and interpret it and create for it, it is integral that we remain conscious that bigotry runs rampant, albeit often as an unseen force, within fandom spaces, and do our best to counteract that.

I have doubts that the new eddisode will treat this topic with the same respect. I hope you can all go forward with what you have read in this WAY LONGER than I expected essay, and do what those grown British men cannot. Even if they erase it, retconn it, or do not treat it with respect, let's all go forward and do better!

As for always, you can discuss more in the tags or my inbox!

I hope you have a wonderful life,

Fish

[darklordofthesimp]

*runs through the battlefield like the guy in '1917' to give my thoughts, about OTHER things ..*

IT'S NOT THE BEST TIME, but i was just released from the seventh circle of hell and eternal punishment to spread a bit of controlled chaos, but i decided to ignore it and just give my unasked for opinions.

AND IT'S OUT, NOW MA'AM OFFICIALLY PUT PRICE IN THE BUCKET, HES DATEABLE EVERYONE.

aight lemme talk about our character real quick, SAINT. honestly this is genius, medic staff normally wouldnt need a code name, unless it's someone who's in charge of EVAC communication or something, because you know, code names are for battlefield, for the enemies to scratch their head thinking about and for the criminals to alert each other, so i imagine Saint being more of a well earned nickname, because we all know damn they already brought someone back who was already signing their papers with our lord and saviour, so yeah, well earned.

NOW, back to the man of the hour ... for me ... YOUR INTERPRETATION OF HIM IS AMAZING, as i expected, you know, i tire of saying it, BUT I WILL SAY IT AGAIN, he's one of the best representations of a true captain, we see a lot of them mediawide, cold hearted leaders who keep stoned face and will leave even the best of their man for the lives of the majority, but price isn't like that, even if he tries to be, hes more of a "it's best to be loyal for love, than obedient for fear" hes a good man, and he made a vow, to always protect, and he knew the day he first stepped into training, a rookie, he would have to sacrifice a lot. But that doesn't mean he let's it happen easy, he will hold the hand of his man till their last second, till they no longer can hold it, he doesn't leave them behind, maybe he's a amazing leader, or maybe, he's a very selfish man disguised as one.

BUT ZADDY PRICE RUNNING WITH THE MEDICS TO SEE BIRDY WAS muah! CHEF KISS, that's where you see, he cares, maybe too much, he doesn't show off his worry, he doesnt show off how he stayed. he gives people space, maybe too much, he's good at boundaries, or maybe just afraid of the look, the unforgiving look of someone who was failed by the one they should trust the most, this space, only makes it seems like he doesn't care enough, when it's quite the opposite.

- price anon

PRICE ANON THERE IS A NEW PRICE FIC.

So the majority of the names that the 141 has is nicknames. You could refer to them by rank or literally anything else, I find that their not so much code-names but callsigns are good to differentiate between individuals rather than have some tactical effect on the enemy. Cod-names are for things such as "medic" "commanding officers" "transport" "signaller"

not really about specific individuals, moreso of a job role or an asset.

Saint is a callsign. So is Ghost and so is Soap. But Saint DEFINITELY earned their callsign as you'll see in the new fic.

You're so right about Price being the perfect Captain, the perfect leader. He's there in the middle of it and if he's not he's orchestrating it to make sure he doesn't lose a single person but that the mission is complete. He cares which is more than I can say for a lot of leaders that we see.

[heisenbergresimp]

heya!! i fucking adore your writing!

could you write one with a nonbinary reader? maybe they were a jet piolet for chris that crashed and heisenberg found them? moreso enemies to lovers typa shit, thank you!!

Aww, thanks 😊. I can certainly try. I hope this is what you were wanting.

Heisenburg X Nonbinrary Reader

You had been working under Chris Redfield in his Hound wolf squad since 2018.

You were a skilled pilot who could get a helicopter nice and low to the ground to make pickups and drop-offs of team members easier. You knew how to go undetected.

Which means you got careless.

At one point, you were too close to Heisenberg's factory. Close enough that while he was out on a walk to get some fresh air, he managed to hear the blads of your copter

The next thing you knew, you lost control and felt the copter crash as you lost conscience.

You awoke hours later in the factory. In a dingy room with a singular light swinging from the ceiling. And the man your team knew as Heisenberg leaning against the wall opposite from you.

"Morning, buttercup, sleep well," he asks as if you're old friends. Not as if you're trapped on a chair with a metal wound around every limb.

"what, not in the mood to talk. It's been so long since I've had living company. gets lonely here."

"let me out, then we'll have a nice chat."

"you're funny."

"See, I know who you, at least I believe I do," he said, walking over to a wall littered with pictures and notes. Off the bat, you could see photos of Mia winters and your boss Chris Redfield " I think we want the same thing. Put me in touch with your boss. then ill let you out."

You were not about to trust the man who had taken you from the crash and tied you up.

"fuck you"

"id rather fuck you. Been a long time since I had a partner. And what can I say? You ain't half bad looking. That reminds me, are you a chick or a dick. cant tell with your hair or clothes."

"neither your ass."

"well, that's new to me. But I don't really care. ill take any partners who willing."

"then I guess you'll have to get reacquainted with your left-hand asshole. cause I'm sure as hell not willing to do anything with you."

He chuckled at you. You were going to be fun to have around. A nice break from the shmucks in the village and your messed-up family.

But he had to scare you a little. Let you know who was in charge. So before you could open your trap, he had the broken-off blade of a knife at your throat.

"careful, Buttercup. next words could be your last."

"go eat shit and die."

oh, he was now certain that it was going to be fun getting to know you. In fact, he looked forward to it.

"Look ill leave you here alone to think for a few hours. Think about what I've said. Then, when you're ready, well, talk or fuck whatever you want. I think we could be a great team together."

[mariotrontro]

This got 1 like and I can’t wait any longer so time for the full lore on him. As for his abilities he came manipulate sound and stuff but as since he’s the Radio Fiend and well Alastor think of like radio static and crackles, etc. As for how it works think of Ultimate Echo Echo from Ben 10 or Jiro’s quirk from My Hero Academia idk there aren’t much examples of this (Called Make Some Noise on TVtropes) and also broadcast terrifying illusions drawn from his victims' fears or anything he wants. Now as for appearance not in the placeholder he has radio antennae or wire deer antlers (he still is a deer as he is Alastor basically) and his suit is supposed to be a patchwork of different time periods but the 20s/30 is the main one here. Now as for his personality...He's uhh Alastor what'd you expect? Dark sense of humor, probably insane, polite. Though I am leaning a bit towards moreso Pilot!Alastor in terms of personality, and he's also a cannibal. Now for backstory, In 1905 there was a boy named Charles Greene, He was bullied a lot. Due to his descent, the color of his skin, him being a mama's boy and the fact his dad was arrested by the police for "murder", he had one person he cherished the most. His mother Maggie, Though she too was ridiculed for her skin despite being a good woman who wouldn't hurt a fly. They also tried to arrest her husband for marrying a black woman but after that failed they framed him for murder. But despite all her hardships she also kept a smile as she told Charlie "You're never fully dressed, without a smile." But then when Charlie was 16 his mother died, Then when Charlie was 33 he became sick of all the wickedness in the world. And so took his first life a wicked man in charge of a company that was corrupt to it's core. He continued doing this to the wicked and other serial killers, then on April 13th in 1933 when he was 37 he had his final kill in a deer hunting ground where he buried all his victims and also ate them. He feast on his corpse before being shot in the head by a hunter who mistook him for a deer and sicked his hunting dogs on him...But that was not the end of Charlie's story. His death was broadcast on the radio accidentally, Then in 1970 Charlie woke up he looked at himself. He looked like a deer, He knew now of the Devils and of Hell. Then a few months ago he met an adorable yet anxious little kitten of a girl with brown eyes and brown hair. She came from a family that forced her to become a hunter. And Charlie became one of her only friends probably her best friend. And one to defend her from a beautiful yet cruel and controlling red-haired woman with yellow evil eyes. Also yeah he is immune to Makima's abilities and basically her only rival as the Radio Devil was one to her but the Control Devil after a bloody fight managed to beat it and thought she killed it but the stag was far from dead managing to survive through Charles.

Chainsaw Man side of tumblr, is it ok if my CSM oc is basically just Alastor from Hazbin Hotel if he was in Chainsaw Man?

(His name is Static the Radio Fiend aka Charles Greene btw.)

(Placeholder image till I get an actual design for him in a commission or something by GoblinNB on Pixilart)

If this post gets traction I’ll tell more about him

[variousqueerthings]

@elsonambulo​ some random HC’s about Silver/Kreese that veered into... something... it’s shippy-ish in the sense that I think they’re in awful villain luuurve, but it’s more about... idk... their backstories? motivations? idk. A mix of things...

1. Okay, I have two different thoughts on whether Silver comes from money, as a bit of backstory

a. he doesn’t come from money and takes over Ponytail Guy’s life when he comes back from the war, essentially taking over as the lost son of these mourning parents 

If it were “a” I imagine a very Mr Ripley-esque scenario (bonus points because Ripley is also gay) in which he molds his personality to whatever the situation needs - gets drafted? lean into the helpless “I can’t protect myself” vibe around the bigger men (especially that one guy, Kreese). Has strong vibes of the kid who became friends with head bully so he wouldn’t be bullied himself and did nasty things to other kids - maybe even liked it a lot more than he’d ever admit...

And then once he’s out, he doesn’t forget Kreese at all, he tells him to hang in there and puts in motion his plan to get the money that Ponytail guy came from (maybe he even started earlier, sending heartfelt letters to Ponytail guy’s parents, so they were already attached) and once he’s got it, he immediately gets Kreese those dojos, and Kreese can’t fucking believe it, you weren’t kidding... you’re amazing Terry...

b. he DOES come from money. And he just... doesn’t tell Kreese this. Like in the former option, he goes hard on the helplessness, but it’s also true to an extent, he’s just some rich kid who got drafted and daddy couldn’t get him out of it (or didn’t want to, make a man out of him yaddayadda). And he sticks with it The Whole Time they’re over there, promising Kreese anything he wants and once they’re out boom, he delivers immediately, leaving Kreese stunned. 

This was because he wanted to make sure that Kreese felt like he was in control/calling the shots over there and protecting him (even as he slowly got bigger and stronger - more on that in a second), and so that he could impress him once he came back.

Bottom line: either way it’s aaaaalllllll a game. A game to own Kreese.

I like both of these in relation to him and Kreese and also giving the Twig of the story that Silver-personality + adding a twist, which is that war might be hell, but it’s not the reason why Silver is the way he is - it’s just what introduced him to John Kreese. Since this is Kreese’s backstory and not Silver’s, there’s room for that reading.

The reason I veer juuust that little more to option “b” is because we’re seeing actual literal billionaire villains with dick spaceships and in government these days, so it’s... really not a stretch to imagine Terry Silver as a rich boy who likes to pull the wings off of flies and tortures and psychosexually manipulates teenage boys for the giggles.

2. In either case, once Kreese has killed a man (and Silver doesn’t see this in canon, does he? I’m assuming not) things start to change. Silver nurtures that darkness in Kreese. He fucking loves it, even if initially he doesn’t know that Kreese killed their commanding officer after they’d been saved. And in turn he gradually shows more of himself - this mean, possessive, terrifying man, all the moreso after his body grows with his desires. 

And they do terrible things while over there, generally egged on by Silver. I imagine that eventually Kreese told Silver what he did to their commanding officer and Silver honestly, sincerely tells him that he’ll never share that with anyone. And he won’t, because it’s the first piece of Kreese’s badness that was inspired by him (since he fought him initially to protect Twig). 

It’s all for him.

3. There must have been a conscious moment where Kreese realised that the man he was seeing in front of him... was not the man he met. Not because of war (but maybe Kreese - seeing as so much of what he became was because of the war and the actions he committed during the war - thinks it is that. He didn’t know that Silver was always this way, because he wasn’t when he was with him, at first), but because he’s so much physically larger -- he’s larger than Kreese, even. He doesn’t need his protection anymore. He doesn’t need anything from him.

Maybe Kreese feels bitter about that. What does he have to offer now? But Silver never makes him feel like that, he just keeps talking about the future -- it’s gonna be great, you wanna train karate, I’m gonna buy you a chain of dojos across the country - it’s okay, I just want the one, yes, I’m serious - and John never dreamed as big as Terry did. He never wanted mansions and money, he just wanted to... matter. 

At some point Terry was the one who took charge, and John doesn’t remember when that was, just like he doesn’t remember when exactly he got so big Imposing. Unlike him, he doesn’t do karate to win in tournaments. Terry just likes to win. 

(after the events of TKK3 that feeling of self-pity/the fear that he didn’t have anything to offer - couldn’t be a man - took over and he slowly drifted away from Terry Silver... he thinks it might be the only time he’s seen Terry looking vulnerable, but even that can’t stop him).

4. Terry Silver is a manipulative, deceptive bastard, who likes to own things and people. And he loves, too - he loves through possession. John Kreese was his first real prize, unmolded clay just... handed to him, in the middle of a warzone of all places. And then, later, he in turn offered him Daniel LaRusso as a gift. 

Like fate.

But he was greedy - he wasn’t patient, like he was back in Vietnam, or maybe he was just too used to the lawlessness of it all, to being able to act without consequences, and that fucking teacher of his and he ended up losing both Danny and John. Sure, he could’ve gotten them both back by force, but he’s learned his lesson. 

He has to wait for fate to deliver them back to him.

5. I very much HC Terry Silver as in love with John Kreese, and I HC that if something were to happen... any sliver of disagreement -- say, for instance, Terry wanting both John and Daniel, vs John being intent upon destroying Daniel because of his own protégé (and I haven’t formed an opinion on what Terry knows or thinks about Johnny Lawrence yet... we’ll see).

Well, if John and he were no longer to see eye-to-eye, to be that seamless, terrible, glorious duo they were during the war (when they acted as one unit, didn’t even have to discuss to know when they wanted to kill or fuck or steal or or or) I think Terry Silver would rather have him dead and his than alive and not.

 I could very much imagine Silver killing Kreese out of love.

Last thing: I think John Kreese fundamentally doesn’t want to think of himself as a bad guy. That self-deception gets bigger and more difficult to contain with time, but he’s a victim, he’s doing it for Johnny’s own good, he’s a veteran, he knows war, he does what’s necessary

Terry Silver never believed he was anything but what he was, and he actively delighted in bringing John Kreese - a man who in another lifetime might’ve been the hero of the story - to his level. 

And if John ever forgets this - really, truly forgets who he is - Terry has in his back-pocket the unshakeable truth: That the first time Kreese killed a man while looking him in the eye, Terry didn’t even have to lift a finger to tell him to do it. The thing Terry most loves about him was inside him the whole time. 

(also I think Daniel LaRusso is the one who got away - whatever that means for whatever Terry wants out of him - and there’s nothing more frustrating and tantalising than that: Not only is Kreese putting himself back in his life at last, asking for his help, but he’s offering Danny-boy once again. This time he’s not going to lose).

[trashogram]

Ryuk/Reader 6: Murder Is a Hell of a Drug

Warnings: Murder mentions, mental health issues, a bit of Kira bashing (I’m sorry) and some OOCness probably. 

Tagging: @aescela, @spookyghoullover, and @slager1349 

Let me know if you do or don’t want to be tagged. 

____

“Do you like the rain, Ryuk?”

It wasn’t often that you caught Ryuk in the middle of thinking, but as he turned toward you and you caught sight of his peculiar eyes coming back into focus, you realized you’d done just that.  

The shinigami looked at you for a long moment, and you wondered what had changed. Ryuk was always watching. His purpose was largely to observe the world for lives to end, and you knew as much after being connected to him for so long. Even so, you had noticed a difference in the way he looked at you, specifically.

He stared at you in a way you couldn’t explain, though it affected you greatly. Stares that shone with intelligence, scrutiny… possessiveness. The kind that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and that made you very aware of the heat of your own blood circulating beneath your skin.

“I do.” You couldn’t wait for an answer. “Everything gets a little quieter when it rains.”

Leaning against the kitchen countertop, mindful of the sink that you’d just emptied, you looked out of the tiny window into the dreary world outside. There wasn’t much to see, as everything was muddled dark and grey, but raindrops pebbled on the window panes for you to follow with your eyes.

You inhaled with a little effort, taking time to fill your lungs as though you were finally able to breathe upon having something heavy lifted off your shoulders. “Makes me miss home, though.”

You could feel as well as hear the shift when Ryuk perked up. “Home?”

“Yeah. Well, where I grew up at least.” You replied. “We didn’t live in the city, and there were woods behind the house.”

Before you could prepare yourself mentally, you felt a solid weight against your back. Emaciated as he looked, Ryuk’s presence was substantial, and he could be incredibly stealthy if he so desired. Sometimes it made you nervous, but you took advantage of it then and leaned back, pulling gangly arms to wrap around you (in spite of Ryuk’s latent stinginess). Your head rested at the lower end of where Ryuk’s ribs were, and you could feel them faintly through his clothes.

And his skin. You reminded yourself that he had skin beneath the black leather. It was grey, too firm and unnaturally cold - or so you imagined.

(You really needed to stop thinking about Ryuk without his clothes on. It was becoming a habit.)

“It could be so quiet that you could hear the wind through the trees.” You shivered involuntarily, and were held tighter for it.

(It didn’t help your offending habit that you felt more content in the arms of this creature than you had in the last decade of your life.)

“You don’t talk about when you were a kid much.” The intonation in Ryuk’s voice was curious, but you moreso felt the way it reverberated through him against your spine.

You shrugged. “I don’t like to think about it, honestly.”

Thinking about it at that moment was merely part of the chain reaction that came after you’d written down someone’s name. You cycled between forced indifference and a crushing sense of despair whenever you killed; it was a vicious way of thinking that you’d suffered from since childhood. One where you always failed to be what your family needed you to be.  

You supposed your behavior was pitiful with respect to anyone else who’d come across a death note. Or warlords and kings that could command thousands to murder, not giving it a second thought because they didn’t have to be the one taking another’s life. It was melodramatic of you to fuss so, when all it took to kill somebody on your end was the stroke of a pen.

You were pitiful to Ryuk, certainly. This was what he lived for, and another little part of you feared that you weren’t putting in enough effort to make him stay.

“Why?”

You were pulled from your train of thought and while annoyed, you couldn’t help but snort.

“It doesn’t matter.” You said morosely.

Ryuk shuffled around you, but didn’t make a move to let you go. Instead, he continued to surprise you. “Yeah it does.”

Ryuk was looking down at you when you made the effort to look up at him, craning your neck until you were pushing back into his chest. You blinked at him and the way his lower lip stuck out in something close to a pout.

“If it makes you sad, it matters.” He said guilelessly.

A lump formed in your throat, but before you could give in and cry - your heart seized with pure love for this spectre that was meant to bring misery and misfortune into your life - you smiled.

“I’ll tell you, but…” You cleared your throat, not quite able to produce anything other than a bubbling laugh. “Only if you tell me something in return.”

***

Ryuk lay with his overlong legs splayed well over the arm of the couch while he kept his head in your lap. He’d seen people like this, not just from the world below but in tv dramas and movies where the characters were meant to be in love.

He blamed opening his big mouth and enthralling you with the story of his previous stint on earth on this. And that you had happily begun to comb through his hair after he’d started.

Truth be told, Ryuk had been uncharacteristically reserved about when he’d been following Kira. Others of his kind had been interested, but he’d kept many of the details to himself as if his trip were personal. There was no rational reason for him to not tell, but Ryuk had once supposed in his isolation from the others that a bit of human behavior had rubbed off on him after all that time spent among them.

Regardless, Ryuk felt the need to tell you everything if you asked him to.

“He sounds like a rotten person.”

“Eh?” Ryuk made a noise of confusion.

As it turned out, you had certainly heard of Kira, mass murderer extraordinaire, although his time had come when you were still in grade school. Ryuk’s former charge had been many things while alive, but even in death he’d continued to score accolades. Your knowledge of Kira came from world history class. Before that, you’d been a child left unsupervised in front of a news broadcast with the number of human lives lost right before your eyes.

Scary. Incomprehensible.  

“People talked about Kira when I was young.” You explained, “Mostly adults, teachers… they’d try to keep it from kids, but there were some that tried to bully you by threatening that Kira would kill your family.”

Ryuk laughed at that, but you could only manage a faint smile.

It was definitely silly, and yet.  

You chewed at your lower lip. “When I was little, Kira was like an entity, or some kind of force. Like God. That’s how everyone made him out to be, but...”

“It was just a human all along.” You murmured, staring off into the middle-distance. “A kid.”

“Does that upset you?” Ryuk tilted his head, keen on the softness of your stomach against him. The use of the word ‘ordinary’ certainly threw him for a loop, as he hadn’t considered Kira (Light) to be ordinary compared to any other human.

Except for maybe you, yourself.

“I don’t know.” You replied, meeting his yellow eyes. “I feel a little hypocritical judging him when I just killed somebody an hour ago.”

Ryuk couldn’t see his own expression, but however he looked after that blunt bit of insightfulness had you burst into a fit of delirious giggles. It was contagious enough to join in with, though he was further thrown for a loop when you hunkered down and hugged him to you.

“Did you care about him?” You asked abruptly with your cheek resting against the shinigami’s forehead. “Do you miss him?”

“No.” Ryuk supplied truthfully. He said so rather quickly, but it was the scent of you and the feeling of your hair draped over his face that took up all his attention. “Not when the fun was over.”

You chuffed. “Now you’re having fun with me instead, right?”

The god took his opening, wrapping his arms around you of his own volition and pulled you down close, until he could feel your warm breath against his neck. His claws bit into the fabric of your shirt as he squeezed you to him.

“Right.”

There was no resistance from you, only a minor bit of maneuvering to stay comfortable in his embrace. Ryuk was internally thankful for it, as it eliminated that fear that he’d been under for days now, wherein he felt like you might disappear if he took his eyes off you even once. You were here, with him, and not some stupid human man that you barely knew, and he could relax for the first time in what felt like forever.  

“And we’re gonna have even more fun together, right?”

“Right.” Ryuk grunted. “Er - !”

Ryuk froze at the sensation of your lips gliding over his clavicle, all while your body shifted until you were seated firmly over his pelvis.

When you rose to look down at him, your smirk embodied pure mischief. “Right.”

[rollflasher]

Another Sonic ramble

So once again I’m here with one of my rambles about my incredibly subjective view of how the Sonic series should be handled! *Beat*

...anyway.

So, one of the more recurring opinions on the fandom is that Sonic games should be written by Ian Flynn, I have talked before about the gripes I have with his writing and why I disagree with this but this post is not entirely about him, but rather a more general topic that has been bugging me for a long time.

The other day I was watching a video speculating about the upcoming Sonic Rangers, there’s not much to write home since it was pretty well made but there’s a particular part that inspired me to do this post and talk about it with other fans to discuss it.

See, at one point the video critisized the fact that Sonic Forces was written by a Japanese writer because they have to re-write the script in English and that can cause problems with localization, and that it would be better to have western writers from the get-go since Sonic’s main demographic comes from there, while making an off-hand suggestion that Ian Flynn could be a main choice. While I can see where they’re coming from, my response was a simple:

‘‘Absolutely, not’‘

See, I have a lot of issues with this to put it bluntly and I’ll try to break them down and explain them the best I can since they’re pretty subjective in nature, but I’m bringing this up because I want you guys to share your thoughts as well.

So, why does it bug me so much the idea of Sonic being handled by western creators?

In my case, the main reasons are because Sonic loses a core part of it’s appeal because of this, the fact that SEGA of Japan seems to have a better grasp of the franchise’s tone and characters and there’s the very subjective point that, in my eyes, American versions of Japanese franchises were always nothing more than dumbed down products of the source material.

To start with my first point, whenever someone talks about Sonic’s creation, a lot of people are quick to point out that our favorite blue hedgehog and his games were inspired by western pop culture and cartoons, and that is true, however oftenly they forget to mention a core thing that not only inspired, but also formed part of the core identity of this franchise.

Sonic is very inspired on anime, and at heart this franchise is a shonen.

(This image by The Great Lange expresses more clearly what I mean)

Generally, the most acknowledgement anime gets on it’s hand on Sonic is the mentions of Sonic being inspired by Dragon Ball, particularly the Super Saiyan, but there’s so much more than that, as Sonic blatantly takes inspiration from Studio Ghibli films specially in games like Sonic 3, which draws a lot of inspiration from Laputa: Castle in the Sky, this great post shows proof that this is not a coincidence.

And it doesn’t stop there, Shiro Maekawa himself has stated that SA2′s story (and in particular, the characters of Shadow and Maria) draw a lot of inspiration from the manga Please Save My Earth.

Even Sonic’s character design resembles shonen protagonists moreso than the main characters of silent cartoons, don’t believe me?

Sure, Sonic has a cartoony anatomy, no one can deny that, but he also exhibits a lot of traits from shonen characters such as spiky hair/quills (?), dynamic posing, a confident, courageous and energetic personality and most importantly, fighting spirit.

If you compare Sonic’s personality and more specifically, his abilities and moves to, say, cartoon speedy characters like the Road Runner, there’s a pretty big disconnection between him and western cartoon characters. Hell, this disconnection is even just as present if you compare him with a character like The Flash from DC.

Simply put, Sonic acts, moves and more importantly, fights like a shonen anime character. He doesn’t just go Super Saiyan and that’s it. Here’s even a quick comparison if necessary.

And this is important because this doesn’t apply just to him, but the whole franchise as a whole and when it takes a more western approach, all of these details are kinda lost or more downplayed, of course this depends on the artists and there’s YMMV at hand, but I think my point is clear.

My second point is...SoJ has consistently proven they have a much clearer grasp on how Sonic’s world and characters are compared to SoA.

Hear me out, yes, Sonic 06 and ShtH exist and yes, SoJ is not perfect by any means. But hear me out...when did the characters start to get flanderized and turned into parodies of themselves? In the 2010s...and when did SEGA move from Japanese to western writers in the games?

Of course it was more then that since there’s a whole tone shift that came with this decade and the new writers, but it’s not a coincidence that when writing in Sonic started to decay, western writers also happened to get on board with the games.

Besides that, SoA has a wide history of not getting Sonic’s tone and characters, from how they made media without much of Sonic Team’s input, to altering how characters are seen in the west. (Such as how they amped up Sonic’s attitude in their media or how the English scripts of the games featured things like Sonic seemingly barely tolerating Amy while the JP scripts portrayed this as Sonic just not understanding girls all that well instead, or for more recent examples, the addition of the ‘’torture’’ line in Forces). Not only that, but even ignoring obvious infamous writers like Ken Penders, even the ‘’best’’ writers from the western side of Sonic are still not above of giving us Pontaff-esque gems.

Like this one.

Or alternatively, I feel like sometimes western writers on Sonic rely a bit too much on their personal vision about Sonic which may or may not be a good thing, clear examples of this are Ian Flynn himself and Pontaff.

By contrast, while SoJ has it’s own share of notorious inconsistencies when dealing with writing (The 2000s era is a big offender), it seems that for them Sonic hasn’t changed much and this is visible not only on the JP scripts of the Modern games which are for the most part better than the ENG ones, but also things like the Sonic Channel comics and the recent one-shots they made with Sonic interacting with the cast show that for all intents and purposes, the Japanese’s staff vision of Sonic is much more clear and consistent compared to the west. Because of this, I’d rather have a good Japanese writer on Sonic games with the localization being focused on being faithful with the original script than have a more western writers dramatically changing the characters. (I don’t mention the tone since either way, SEGA is the one in charge of that and the writers have to follow that)

My last and very subjective point is that, at least for me, everything SoA does with Sonic involving the writing and canon feels like a dumbed down version of the source material. One of the reasons it bugs me so much that in the latest decade Sonic has taken a more western direction is because a lot of what I pointed out gets lost as a result, even if some of those elements are still there, you can tell they’re more downplayed with products like the Tyson Hesse shorts having a more predominant cartoon direction. If any of you have been following my blog for a long time, you should be aware that just because I prefer the Japanese Sonic content doesn’t mean I won’t give the western products a chance, my enjoyment for Mania, the Tyson Hesse shorts and the movie should be a testament of that, but at the same time I can’t help but being sour about the fact that because of these products, we don’t have stuff like a new anime for Sonic or even a serialized ‘’main’’ manga as an alternative for the comics, and my hype for these products is generally more subdued as a result since I’d wish SEGA rather spent that money and resources on more Japanese content than just merchandise.

In particular, because Sonic is a Japanese franchise with a notorious inspiration from anime, what I get from this is a pretty big contradiction. I know Sonic is much more popular on the west but...is it really necessary for his game or products to be handled by western creators to keep their appeal?

For instance, imagine if Dragon Ball’s manga and anime got replaced by western comics and animated series because of it’s world-wide appeal, would that really be the same?

Or imagine the same thing with Fullmetal Alchemist, a pretty aclaimed anime that has a lot of western influence. Would it really not matter at all if it’s Japanese products were replaced with western ones?

At least for me, it wouldn’t.

And what I said about American versions of Japanese franchises being nothing more than watered down versions of the source material? I have that view because of countless examples.

Mega Man and how the English manuals removed a lot of important information about the story of the Blue Bomber’s game and world, causing a lot of plot holes in the process.

American remakes like Godzilla 1998 or Dragon Ball Evolution being an in-name only version of the source material.

Or the many censored anime English dubs from the 2000s, for instance, whenever I see the Yu-Gi-Oh! dubs, I only see a very dumbed down and childish version of a show that was originally a shonen.

And I know that all of these things don’t have to necessarely get lost since every creator is different and there’s franchises like Avatar which are made on the west but draw a lot of inspiration from anime and I’m aware of that, and I want to make it clear that I’m not trying to say that American writers are not allowed to work on Sonic, what I’m trying to say is that inevitably there’s always gonna be some culture dissonance and clash when writers from another culture handle a foreign franchise. And even with examples like ATLA, I think being made by one culture while being inspired by the other is actually a big part of these franchises appeal and it’s something that can’t simply be replicated by handing it to creators from that specific culture they draw inspiration from.

I think James Rolfe’s quote about the same thing with the Godzilla franchise sums up how I feel about this.

‘‘It’s like champagne, anybody can make their own and call it champagne, but unless it’s from Champagne France, it’s not real champagne’‘

So, this last part was very subjective, but I think this post in general sums up why I dislike so much the idea of Sonic having western writers specifically in the games or just focusing more on that side in general.

But what do you guys think? I guess I am too biased so that’s why I wanted to ask for opinions and discuss this topic.

[ohhowihatethemorning]

Well, here's how I see it:

From a Doylist standpoint, it wouldn't work for his narrative arc if there had been any sort of intervention in his home life as a student. We're meant to know that's he's lived an unrelentingly difficult life. Or perhaps it was meant to highlight the fact that even Gryffindors in positions of power were capable of failing vulnerable charges in their care for any number of reasons, intentional or not.

But from a Watsonian point of view, I'll give you the benefit of my personal experience on the matter. Now before we get started, I want to be clear that I'm not saying these things to air my dirty laundry (I'd never do so outside the anonymity of Tumblr), but to bring attention to the ways in which people who have never experienced domestic abuse as children or intimate partner violence - especially in the context of extreme poverty - fundamentally misunderstand the reasons people (even those who pride themselves on being defenders of the weak) intentionally overlook abuse that they know full well is happening right under their noses.

I grew up in poverty, very much like Snape. Now, given the lurid picture we're given of Snape's childhood home, I want to make clear I'm not exaggerating. I mean dirt-poor, hungry-all-the-time, hand-to-mouth kinda poverty. I grew up in rural Appalachia, and even in the nineties, we went barefoot in summer because we had to save our shoes for school in the fall and winter. Clean, running water was not a given, and still isn't for many in the holler I grew up in. My grand-daddy couldn't read or write more than his name because he had to quit school and go to work mining coal to put food on the table, even though he was a child himself.

So, that established - anyone who had knowledge of their circumstances (which would have been clear to a discerning eye by the state of Snape's clothes and person) might've shied away from interfering for fear of making it worse for him. Every time my dad would get roaring drunk and beat us to hell and back, he'd warn us that it was 'family business' and it didn't leave the house. We knew better than to say anything, because we knew it would be even worse for us if it ever got back to him. And that was the thing - everybody else did too. Our teachers all knew. Our school friends. Anybody who had eyes to see. Hell, even the local police knew, but they were buddies with my dad, and never lifted a finger to help us. But that was common. Lots of folks had hard-handed daddies that liked to drink and fight. And even if someone reported it without one of us telling on him, we would still get blamed. Who let it leave the house? Who didn't do their job and ensure that 'family business' stayed within the family? Can you imagine if a howler came busting through the window of the house on Spinner's End? Tobias, who was probably both terrified of and enraged by magic, would have flown off the handle, in my opinion. That would've been the ass-whupping of a lifetime, probably for both mother and child.

And then, there's the natural impulse not to want to insert oneself into the messy drama of another person's life. It seems like an overstep, even moreso considering the time period. People say it all the time - "It's not my place to say", "It's none of my business", "It isn't my problem." This leaves aside the issue of who is perceived as deserving of help, which I think other commenters have adequately pointed out.

As for Eileen leaving Tobias, we've got to think about it from her point of view. She might have an abusive husband who beats her and her child, but he also provides them with some security, meager as it is. We aren't told whether he works or not, but if he did, we can safely assume he was a laborer and not making much. Even less if they were on the dole. He was probably pissing away most of the money that came their way, even if Eileen was earning some on the sly. My own dad drank his pay when he worked, and drank the welfare check when he didn't. My sisters and I saved up change in a jar under a loose floorboard, and he found and drank that too. Leaving Tobias would mean potentially not having a roof over her head if Eileen couldn't have gone back to her parents. It isn't always pride or fear that makes a person stay with an abusive partner. Sometimes there's just no safety net at all. As grubby and pessimistic as it sounds, eventually you learn how to take a beating. It becomes a part of life, an expectation. A horrifying one, but an expectation all the same. What's some bruises and the occasional broken bone in comparison to starving in the street? That's sure as death for a lot of folks. It's the lesser of two evils sometimes.

All of this is to say that the reasons no one interfered are complex and manifold. Take your pick. It always interests me to see posts like this, in the vein of "Why didn't anyone do anything about it?" and I have to remember that not everyone knows the sordid details of what life is like for some folks. They don't see what strikes us as common sense, because they've never had to think about it. I hope none of you ever have to think about it, beyond anecdotal evidence. These things are what drew me to Snape as a character, and why I think so many victims of domestic violence find a kindred spirit in him. He had a shit childhood, like a lot of us. He lived a hard life, like a lot of us. But he survived to get to adulthood, even if that was hard too, just like it is for a lot of us. He's fictional, so I'm glad he was written this way. I'm glad another fictional character never interfered in his home life, because no one ever interfered in mine either. He made mistakes and poor choices because of what life dealt him. But he was brave, and intelligent, and survived out of spite, and I think that's something we can all admire.

TL;DR: This post made me climb up on my soapbox, and I apologize for being a debbie downer, but I'm glad somebody asked.

Concerning The Childhood Abuse Of Severus Snape:

Do you think Albus, Minerva, Horace or any of the Hogwarts staff knew about what Severus was going through at home? If they all did know, how do you think they've found out; through Lily's confessions, or Severus returning to the school with cuts, bruises, and black eyes?

Granted, in the 70's people did little to nothing when knowing a child was being abused. But, Albus and Minerva are Gryffindors who valued bravery and standing up for others. You'd think they (especially Minerva) would've send a howler or two to Eileen and Tobias.

Plus, Eileen was a Hogwarts student, herself; she would've known Albus, Minerva, Horace and the rest of the teachers. As a result, the Hogwarts staff would've been horrified to find their former student being with an abuser-Wizard or Muggle. While they would've been cross with how Eileen's been negligent of Severus, they would've still tried to help them get out of Tobias's grasps. Yet, Eileen, like many abuse victims, would refuse the help and stay with the abuser.

Rambling aside, but what do you think may've happened? And, come to think of it, do you think Lily and Petunia's parents tried to interfere too?