#i think because theyre so long writers just kinda lose the plot...not the plot but the theme

[theskyexists]

I hate being so critical of narrative nobody else seems to mind when the story doesn't hit its potential. I guess because it does other things that are more important to them

My problem is that im so theme focused, so high level focused, what are you trying to say and does it tie up all the threads.

And mostly, writers don't. They just write a story and it's a story and things happen in it and characters have interactions but in the end what it's trying to say is bits and pieces and they don't make much sense on the whole

[miraculous-pyromaniac]

I am nearly silent about the things i write, both irl and unfortunately on my blog as well, for different reasons.

The simplest reason is my silence irl bc i kind of just dont have anyone to talk to my ideas about. My closest friends generally dont have any intrest in fanfiction and even if they were, me and my friends participate in very seperate fandoms and sometimes struggle to overlap our intrests. So i just generally keep my fanworks to myself most of the time.

I also dont talk about my work much on my blog either(which is kinda the only social media i use) and thats mainly because im just not the type of person who enjoys broad social media engagement, so i just rarely make my own posts.

This all kind of leads to bursts of hyperfixation and progress on any stories or WIPs i have that come about randomly and long droughts of my content.

Also i have this huge anxiety about people seeing any idea i would post about and 'stealing' it from me. Like this is a constant anxiety for me, idk why. Im probably hesitating to hit post on this post and then thinking of deleting it.

Like obviously a writer doesnt want to post spoilers for something theyre working on, but im paranoid to even post ideas for possible fics i may think of for new WIPs, leaving my ideas to rot alone in my mind until i lose intrest bc i have no one to talk to about them.

Anyway, in what im sure is a healthy way to overcome this apparent fear ive just realised i have, ima post a list of WIPs and ideas that are currently collecting dust, most of them i beleive seeing light from my dark google docs cave for the first time ever

Most of these mare miraculous labybug ideas

A miraculous soulmate AU based around Chloe where her initial meeting with her soulmate ends up with them basically dead from a speeding truck. The story is Chloe's journey of navigating the world angry and jealous of everyone else who has soulmates and learning how to deal with that stuff. Ace medifore maybe? Idk just seemed like a fun idea.

A miraculous Myvan AU where Master Fu had the 'native american miracle box'(Which i refer to as the Thunderbox) instead of the 'Chinese miracle box'(aka the Motherbox). He pickes Mylene and Ivan to be heroes weilding new miraculous of my design against an enemy who holds the Motherbox, with more than half the miraculous within being heavily damaged/destoyed. Shown by the below image(right of the red line completely unuseable, on red line damaged but technically funtional like a canon peacock, left of the line are undamaged)

A Percy Jackson story with OCs made by me and by bff which would run parallel to the canon story where I play with background characters and plot to create my own stories. The MC is the child of a goddess so minor Riordon never mentioned her, Euphrosyne, and a devout champion of Hestia.

And even a couple of original story ideas like

An 'everyone has a superpower' concept where the MCs are all artificial 'bornx from a kid whose power is to create new people by giving up parts of their soul. While not a completely original power in this world, its unique by the fact that the MCs here have their own powers, unlike other people created from such a power. This leads to the goverment trying to capture and use this kid to custom create soldiers.

A magical college type story where the MC is a healer in love with a plant mage, which eventually becomes mutual and loving relationship things until plant mage is suddenly killed by an assassin, sending MC on a revenge spiral. Said assassin is MC#2 who is being used by shady folks as an assassin due to her particular abilty for death magic. The two of them team up to dismantle the shady organisation and maybe a goverment later on. Their relationship is also completely non-romantic, but they grow extreamly close to each other.

Uh yeah. I have ideas. I just never talk about them.

Out of genuine curiosity, to fanfic writers in the world, how vocal are you about the fic you write on your blog? I never know when to start talking about my ideas and eventually the lack of traction or discussion has my passion fizzle out with nobody knowing the idea existed at all (except me, of course) anyway im simply curious :)

[wheresurboytonighthelookslikeenj]

Opinion on Watt's relationships with Milo Strange and Jack Walker?

who are you and why are you after my blood

theres a read more. look what youve made me do. this is a long detailed rant on why i dont like the watts plot in s15, including some good old fashioned resentment for jackwatts. proceed at your own risk

jack was really nice at first, i shipped them, i wrote a short fic or two even. of course he was bland but like the entire fandom held on to the idea that he'd eventually be developed slowly as the episodes go by right. right. idk i think it's the love of a soft and reserved and "normal" love interest for our guy whose life has been so much turmoil, so far from "normal" for so long. but we never really got good jack development did we, the most of his character being mostly made up in the fandom's heads. (ive skimmed aios, really good fic, murdoch fandom staple, like im at least somewhat cultured).

and then well it happened, ministry of virtue, everything goes to shit, their relationship has hardly been anything onscreen and now its over and i lose my mind because i'd been so hopeful. like i didn't sleep well that night because Murdoch Mysteries Is A Show. in a vacuum the whole marriage thing was an interesting way for the plot to go, jack bringing up how watts's profession clashed with so many other parts of his life was really good and i fucking love it, but hardly of it was built up to or worth it and before during and afterwards it never got the attention, screentime, etc, it deserved. dear god. and then they got back together but then next season jack's kind of a jerk now? much of it is warranted because of the awful things hes been through but "some things are worth the risk" had been such a staple line for him and their relationship and it was just. not romantic anymore. and importantly watts wasn't happy anymore. and it was just such a weird direction for the writers to take the ship.

also there was the funnies with the well lit kisses lmao and then milo strange happened?????? god i love milo i think theyre very funky and lovely and the weirdest character the show's made technical-wise because he kinda doesn't need to exist and the fact that he does ends up as just an insult to watts's story, milo the character, and his actor. like. ok. we have an issue: wonderbread barbie prince ass white boy jack walker being boring and now being too afraid to be out with watts. how does the show seem to try to fix it? flamboyant polyamorous black poet named milo strange who's as out and proud as you can be in edwardian toronto without getting arrested or killed. he's devastatingly lovable because of his whimsy and opinions and how easily they make watts smile and even laugh. not the most characterization but somehow more remarkable than jack ever was, at least before ministry of virtue. he and watts were very nice together and though i don't ship it much anymore because the show hates me i still have an ongoing fic with them but thats mostly just because i'm slow and forgetful.

anyways. then we get into the really bad shit. like. um. jack's wife dies. and this shit sent me off the edge like. this show is so bad? fridging the wife is like one of the first things people tell you not to do when they teach you how to Not Write Like A Misogynist/An Idiot In General? dude??? watts and jack fight about it and its devastating but you kinda knew the relationship was going there after all this. and then jack kidnaps the baby and escapes to greenwich and i was happy because the writers committed a misogyny but at the very very very least jack walker is gone and i am free from this stupid hatecrimes plotline.

right????

right???????

BUT NOOOOOOO like now we get into how watts himself was at his worst in season 15. like daniel maslany's acting is always so good but his writing. was bad. at the beginning he was not the best at communicating, letting his problems (the love triangle) be solved for him instead without any effort from him--like. this point has been hammered into the ground recently but love triangles if done well could symbolize for different values different choices that one can make right? like the famous one is the hunger games agressive gale vs softer peeta but like even the george-nina-louise triangle was a better example, like george made an active choice to go back to nina because despite louise being a more proper partner with similar values in wanting to settle down some day george chose nina's loyalty and kindness. but with watts? idk hes just really confused and i know watts has the personal emotional skills of a potato but narratively it sucks. because he doesnt make a decision. the decision is made for him when jack's wife is killed by her ex. what was the point? why couldn't they have made him at least a bit more active in all of it?

ohoho but it gets worse. because the plotline's not even done yet we still have half a season. watts spends time with milo and they're very sweet but watts comes to the realization that milo is polyamorous. like. milo has talked about this before. they make it pretty clear. and maybe it's my own brainworms, believing watts would have been more open or at least more understanding to it because of his open nature, but watts gets frustrated, he tries to convince him to change, he calls milo greedy. like hey man that may not be your thing but thats so uncalled for. and is that not out of character? watts, who has always been so sympathetic and understanding, especially for those who are different? even under all the duress. i dont know. it might be more reasonable in other interpretations. the worst part is that he never properly apologizes. but we'll get to that.

and they continue to stay together in some sort of limbo until the end of the season and watts gets shot. and watts goes through this shit every tuesday but that mustve been a lot for milo to go through in a minute. and watts gets back up like nothing happens and milo later expresses that he's willing to change his lifestyle, willing to become monogamous for watts. thats. thats not a light statement. but fucking guess what watts receives a letter from jack???? and i guess theres a lot of apologizing and sappy stuff in the letter but we never see or hear the contents so all we have to process for now is that watts once again is letting his problems being solved for him? like as a character it sucks that it takes all these conveniences to switch him around to choose and narratively all these conveniences are bad in the first place. ugh. he tells milo to not change who he is and embarks for new york. and we. we never see milo again. and i am going to set something on fire.

and the thing is after the season premiere's homophobia of the season watts's conclusion is really good, like ive talked about it before him quitting the force and leaving to find himself was such a satisfying decision after all his moral and emotional turmoil! and i'm hopeful that jack is not coming back. but.

milo was done. so dirty. because we're back at the point about watts's arc. because regardless of the way you see it it's shitty. if jack was always his first choice and milo was only a rebound he didn't care as much for, not only is that just. bad taste. but its also shitty to milo, watts seeming to be so keen on being together but only on his terms then ditching at the first chance of being back with his old boytoy; not only is it a shitty thing for watts to do but in writing a character it's stupid. and if watts actually did care for milo and genuinely want to be with him, only to go back is even more confusing and again begs the question of the point of it all. why was milo introduced? why did you get us invested in a relationship that went nowhere and can be cut? watts and jack couldve still split, all homophobia and misogyny and kidnapping intact, and watts could have still come to his conclusion that he needed to be on his own, but instead of the polyam hate we couldve just had him wandering off on his own for half a season instead, and when he received the letter and went back to jack he couldve realized that hey. i was actually feeling good by myself, like i was going somewhere by myself. or something. i don't know. i love where watts's character is at currently but i hate how he got there.

and it's utterly devastating because milo was a lovable character! they were so fun! but he was doomed from the start and it's fucking awful. it never amounted to anything. his own little arc wasnt even allowed to finish properly, while jack's technically was? we never get a conclusion to milo strange but we know that jack's still doing ok with the baby in greenwich after brackenreid ended homophobia there ig /j

anyways. in conclusion i dont ship either anymore but at least i still like millewellyn because i resent jackwatts for what it represents

[sonicunleash]

SONIC PRIME SPOILERS FOR SEASON 1 (THIS IS LONG. THIS IS LITERALLY ALL MY INITIAL THOUGHTS.)

OKAY SO FIRST OFF. GOD. Everything with new yoke is so so good. By far out of the universes they made new yoke a very very engaging one-- all the characters feel complex and thoughtful and it's not just a one-off universe. You care about their plight and while circumstances have changed them as people, theyre all still believable and complex like you can see why they've become this way. They dont feel like theyre being forcibly FIT into their roles in new yoke if that makes sense.

On that note, god Nine is so good and CARRIES when he has the focus. He's such a good introspective on Tails, and his deeper feelings and who he is without sonic, who he would be if he had to make it on his own. They do a wonderful balance of showing he's been forced to "grow up" because of the eggman empire, while also showing that he's still just.... a really lonely 8 year old who thinks the world is against him. So when sonic shows up and reaches out to HIM, gives him the first good connection he's had... he clings to it and clings hard. But he's new to connections and friends and doesn't really understand yet how to work them I think. So when sonic doesnt make it to save him, when sonic can't stay in the grim because he has other friends to save, nine takes it personally. It's all just. so so well done and in my opinion, out of all of the introspections they try to do with sonic's friends-- the most faithful, heartfelt, and engaging one. Which, is somewhat a given since it seems like Nine is going to remain a major, overarching character, along with the rest of new yoke.

ANYWAYS. Nine and New Yoke aside, I think another thing sonic prime is doing well so far is building up stakes with its main plot. Its not throwing nonsensical plots twists at you, but just builds in this great steady way that you're putting the pieces together on the situation the same time the characters are, and realizing just how deeply things are getting fucked. It's been REALLY engaging on that front and I'm happy for it.

But uhm. On a different note, the universes outside new yoke were.... lackluster. Both try to delve into another one of sonic's friends, and their feelings and sonic's relationship with them, but I think like... In the writers' heads right now, new yoke is the "main" plot heavy universe, and the others are one-off side universes that exist only as stepping stones to forward it. And you can... tell. Neither of the other universes' storylines are as engaging, and none of the alternates of the characters have the thought and depth that the new yoke ones have. And I think it kind of hurts the storyline, cause, well. You can tell. They WANT to engage you emotionally with amy and knuckles' nuances but they just fall flat and lose that impact theyre going for.

And god dont get me started on thorn and the jungle universe. That was just the biggest waste of what. 2? 3 episodes? I ever watched. I could not fucking care about that plot at all.

Uhm what else.... Well I think shadow is done... alright. He's being helpful, or, well, an ally (kinda hard to be helpful when youre a Void Ghost allowed only like 2 minutes of screentime), rather than a pointless obstacle, and his anger at sonic has reasoning behind it. His voiceacting also isn't as terrible as I thought. It's still not Right but its not kirk thornton-- and doesnt have that overexaggerated roughness. He is still very obviously sonic primes hype man though. He's got something going on, and clearly they want to do some kind of plot with him, but over the course of the 8 episodes he gets a little... repetitive. He kinda just relays the same thing to sonic every time we see him. Like Okay Sonic Fucked Up is Shadow going to just keep telling sonic that or is he gonna like. help.

I guess we'll see. I gotta be honest until that ball gets rolling im more invested in Nine and whatever happened there with Rusty Rose seeing Black Rose. someone please help rusty

[curedeity]

Women and Interpersonal Relationships: Beyblade and Yugioh Arc V

So uhh… I have seen the recent critiques of female characters in beyblade, the metatextual ones and the ones trying to justify their characterization within universe. Hell, i think I've been a part of that, only i did my critique in narrative form. In the end though, while there are some nuances to each critiqued character, I’ve never felt the need to fully break down each aspect of their characters and try to identify the good and bad, and I probably wouldn’t do that good a job of it, as I do tend to miss and forget character details sometimes.

However, there is one aspect of the women of beyblade that I dont think I've seen brought up yet (if someone has please send me the post i love reading them). That is their interpersonal relationships.

Or to be more specific, the lack of them.

So, today I will be discussing how dynamic interpersonal relationships play an important role in game anime and how it relates to female characters. And I’ll warn you now, I will be comparing beyblade unfavorably to yugioh arc v. I hope the writers of beyblade are ashamed that I’m actually able to do that, it should be impossible.

First off, lets look at some of the other base relationship types that are often in game anime, and specifically beyblade.

There are rivals. This is a hallmark of the genre, as it is of many others. This normally consists of two homoerotically charged men repressing their feelings by saying they’d rather want to beat the other up. Its the most common and dynamic relationship in many of these shows, and serves to allow either character of the rivalry to develop, while also lending them importance in the other character’s arc and plot. Some examples of this in beyblade would be Gingka with Kyoya or Ryuga, Masamune with Zeo or Chao Xin, etc. Beyblade, unlike some other shows, actually does not normally have long running rivalries, with the exemption of Gingka. It does have a spade of short-lived rivalries though. 

There are partners and teams. These are characters that work together to make one another better, whether for a short or long period of time. Whats most important about a good partner pair is that they should develop the characters. So no Sophie and Wales do not count, name one lick of character development they had and I will give you that point. Actually, I think Tsubasa and Yu are the ones in this category.

There are also friends, mentors, kids to protect, etc.

But the most important part of these relationships is that their supposed to push both characters through their arcs. Characters should impact each other and change through interaction with others. They should both be focused on at some level. 

By creating relationships like this, giving them history and weight and letting characters challenge and change each other through them, it brings importance to both of them and invests the audience in them. But more importantly, it brings importance to their *battles*

That’s the thing about game anime, right? It often is just a series of battles, normally tournament arcs, where characters are paired or teamed up, and its those existing relationships or rivalries that drive investment in watching the clash.

So now that I’ve set that up, lets discuss how beyblade utterly disappoints its female characters.

So. Madoka. Oh god, Madoka. First, to be clear, Madoka is already hampered in terms of the relationships shes allowed to form and their impact because, of course, she isn’t allowed to battle! With that, her relationships utterly lose all meaning on her end, because why should she have to change or challenge someone? Shes not battling! She isnt participating in the framing device! 

Madoka has the blandest relationships with the cast. Like, sure she has them, and theyre consistent. But what can you say about them, really? She kinda seems to be annoyed at Kyoya a lot? She doesnt like it when they get into trouble? She supports them? In the end, her relationships rarely change or undergo any development. She begins by being supportive, ends by being supportive, doesn’t change at all and changes nobody else. This takes away any options for importance from her, and makes her a nonentity.

Hikaru, on the other hand, has some relationships! She has some! Clap! The beyblade writers have fed us crumbs! She technically has three rivals, Gingka, Kyoya and Kenta. Lets go through them. She battles Gingka once and he makes her realize she needs to enjoy battling or something, they continue being rivals but never get another one on one battle. How helpful. Truly, a good rivalry. They barely change each other, and theres no buildup to either improving or facing the other again. She does change Kenta a lot tho, winning against him in her introductory episode before quickly losing to him in the next. And then they never battle again. And then theres Kyoya! What can you say about the two? Well, they respect each other, they get two battles, but they don’t seem to change the other.

I had to look up Hikaru’s wiki page to check all this information. I cannot remember what happens in any of her battles except Kenta. They were unimportant. If I cannot remember them, then what impact did they really have? None. While Hikaru is allowed more relationships, in the end none of them are that well done, and all are weak. 

I could list the other female characters, but I think you already know they had none. Sophie has Wales. They work well together. What else can I say about them? They challenge the main cast, I suppose (their teamwork encourages gan gan galaxy to work as a team). Mei-Mei also challenges the main cast, too bad she never gets a solo battle against any of them! Lera. Lera I’m so sorry.

Now, you may be asking, why is this important? Why do these relationships matter? How do they impact the viewer? 

So now, we get to talk about Yuzu from Yugioh Arc V (only season 1 though I havent seen the rest). And how the depth of her relationships destroys Beyblade immediately. 

Yuzu is the leading female character, like Madoka, but she’s actually allowed to fight (did beyblade know you could do that?) so I’ll be comparing her to both of their strengths. Trust me, it won’t put her at a disadvantage.

Yuzu’s first duel is her beating our male lead. Yes, that’s right, she beat the male main character in her first duel. Now, this is mostly to show how far he has to go, so it impacts his character more than hers, but it immediately lends credence to the fact she is a strong member of the cast and can be a threat. Rather than saying she can be a threat, they let her show it.

Now, she never rebattles Yuya (our male main character) in season 1, or as far as I remember, but that doesn’t mean their relationship stops developing. Yuzu’s arc in the first season is about her learning to believe in herself and her own abilities, gaining self-confidence. And to do so, she also has to learn to put confidence in Yuya. She regularly questions herself on who Yuya is, and if she thinks he’s capable of causing harm. Those fears feed in to her self-doubt, and deepen the relationship between them by adding depth to it. Not only are they friends, but they are friends who are growing and changing and trying to discover themselves together. In fact, this relationship is allowed to characterize Yuzu even more than Yuya, with her confidence issues. Her arc is therefore granted importance through its relation to him, and it allows for the tension of her arc to appear in character scenes between the two.

Madoka is never given this level of depth with Gingka, his failures or flaws never impact her character or lead to her own personal growth.

Though Yuya isn’t her rival, that doesn’t mean Yuzu doesn’t challenge anyone. In fact, Yuzu is so important that the show gives her a rival to call her own (and have homoromantic tension with, the girls can do it too). Julia is created specifically to rival Yuzu, she is not some transferred rival from a male character, she is Yuzu’s Rival, as much as Kyoya is Gingka’s. In episode 10, Yuzu and Julia have their first duel, which Yuzu spectacularly loses due to her self-confidence issues. Julia effectively calls out all the ways Yuzu is lying to herself and challenges her on a personal level. Yuzu is allowed a depth of character that allows for personal insults that expose her flaws and how she needs to improve! This duel not only sets up a rivalry between the two, but demonstrates how Yuzu will have to grow over the season.

Tell me, did Hikaru and Kyoya have such a set-up in their duel? 

After losing to Julia, Yuzu proceeds to ask another character, Sora, to teach her fusion summoning. She distances herself from the rest of the cast as she learns to be stronger, now interacting with Sora a lot as he tries to teach her. While their relationship isn’t focused on, its referenced a lot, and you can see that their comfortable with each other. Other characters will even reference their relationship. Yuzu’s loss to Julia changes her relationship with the entire cast, her relationships are allowed to develop and thereby bring importance to their duel. That duel genuinely *changed* her.

And not only that, Julia will continuously show up and run into Yuzu for the next few episodes for plot reasons, and the tension between them will grow as you wonder if Yuzu will get strong enough to beat her.

Then, at episode 29, Yuzu and Julia finally have a rematch. In this duel, Yuzu is much more confident, powerful, and has to think on her feet and act to beat Julia. She successfully performs her first fusion summon to beat Julia, the person who inspired her to get stronger. She wins the duel, and all that tension that built up from her loss, the constant run ins, and her character growth is given resolution and meaning when she beats her. 

Yuzu isnt well-written, but her relationships are dynamic and allowed to change, thereby giving her credence in the plot, in other characters, and in battle.

I don’t sense that same tension and resolution from watching Hikaru and Kyoya’s second battle. In fact, I can barely remember it. Did it change Hikaru? Did it change Kyoya? 

Without relationships, characters are only allowed so much importance, especially in a show where tension between characters drives investment in the battles. Hikaru and Madoka arent really allowed to build up relationships, to change other people and change because of them in significant ways, or have battles that the viewer can become invested in because of long-running relationships. 

Because of this, they will never be fully-formed and dynamic characters within the cast, they’ll just be a support character that fills up time and can spout explanations, and death fodder.

I feel slightly bad because i do think beyblade in general could do better with long running rivalries among its supporting cast, but i think the girls in specific are shortchanged, and yknow, this isnt a unique problem. If you have any counterpoints or additions to this id love to hear them, and mostly i hope i added something interesting to the discussion.

[calumthoodshands]

2021 Writing Self-Evaluation!

thank you @burstingsunrise and @daydadahlias my dear friends this is terrifying for my baby writer ass but i guess i’ll try! Under the cut

1. Number of stories posted to AO3: seven

2. Word count posted for the year: 164,489

3. Fandoms I wrote for: 5sos only!

4. Pairings: so far we’re cake exclusive but well i’m caught up in a story since literally march so

5. Story with the most Kudos/Bookmarks/Comments:

all of them and surprising to no one, are from Days in the sun. i sometimes lose my mind a little when i look at the number of kudos being over 100. how. how!! and so many comments!! over 30!! bat shit insane. i’m glad people like it but it does stun me every day

6. Work I’m most proud of (and why):

i’m gonna name two bc the reasons are different. Dits, because it’s the biggest fic i have written and ever will write, bc i managed to keep a story up in over 130 k words without losing the plot, bc i myself love the world i created in it. everytime i finish a chapter i’m baffled at myself that i’m actually doing this. that i’m writing this fic for soon a whole year.

the second one is probably The easy way out. it’s in no way a particularly outstanding fic, its not long or incredibly short or anything, but i’m proud of how it came to be. i wrote it in one go in just a few hours, i got the exact vibes across that i wanted, and it even did quite well for some reason. i like it a lot

7. Work I’m least proud of (and why):

i do have a fic i am not proud of but i dont see a point in mentioning it

8. Share or describe a favorite review you received:

okay i want to mention several people bc im me and these all made me cry

starting off with megs @igarbagecannoteven bc seriously every comment she leaves on dits makes my heart hurt bc theyre so detailed and really make me believe that i’m not just doing nonsense but actually. like. having an effect on people with what i’m writing. i appeciate it more than i can put into words

second of all was that one time i got a random ask from c @soggyburgers and it was in the very beginning still and out of all fics, about my sad fic high above the city lights. i couldn’t believe someone actually read my stuff. and thought it was good. i seriously think about that message almost every month at least once. i’m still sorry i made you cry, c, i hope you’ve forgiven me

third, and a must for me to mention is the playlist des @cakes-curls made all by herself for dits. when i tell you i cried for half an hour. that my fic had such an impact someone would actually sit down and invest the time to find songs that fit the fic and the vibes????????????????? i’m. i can’t. i’ve talked about it a lot of times already and still dont know what to say to express how much it means to me.

9. A time when writing was really, really hard:

i had a huge writer’s block at one point. i think it took me a month to finish a 3 k word chapter. but also right now, i was struggling with the new chapter for dits, then i was gone over new years, and i have so much to do and i cant sort my thoughts enough to get any further. i’m incredibly frustrated atm. i also constantly think about how i dont give characterisation enough thought.

10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you:

probably the first kiss in dits! i had it planned completely different in the beginning, only for it to take not only WAY TOO MANY CHAPTERS but also to happen in a completely different setting.

11. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

i literally can’t if anyone has suggestions hit me up i’m too tired and there are too many words

12. How did you grow as a writer this year:

i mean. i started this year. i learned how to write. how to make sentences flow. those kinda things. basics

13. How do you hope to grow next year:

I really wanna keep an eye on characterisation and i really really need to broaden my vocabulary

14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

actually, i think all the writers in the club. the fact that we have a community where you can ask the most stupid questions, where you can always ask for advice, even just reading what other people write and ask about. but also just reading their fics in general. meg’s and molly’s cake fics and jess’ were so good they were the last push to get me into fic writing. but also special mention to molly. thanks for always answering my dumb ass questions no matter when or what and helping me w fic ideas <3

15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year:

oh definitely. i was in france!! i was where the magic happens!! but also just personal perceptions of things and preferences, but i won’t specify anything. i cant afford to be perceived even more

16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

write. just write. dont be afraid of ideas going to ‘waste’. dont be afraid of writing things u can’t do. if you dont post it, who will know about it? no one but you. always write it down, no matter how small the idea. u can always edit, but u cant get ideas back.

17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

i have several fics i want to write, but as long as im on dits still, i dont have the brain capacity to work on other longer projects. i would love to write the neighbour fic, or the ballet fic.

18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read.

I’m probably the last rn so if you read this and wanna do this pretend i tagged you!!

[jrueships]

ok so about ur kawhi/pg fic..... spill 😳

WOW IF IT ISNT MY FIRST ANON ASK A N D IT'S ABOUT MY PLANNED PG/KAWHI FIC! WHAT A TOTAL SURPRISE! I AM IN SHOCK.

Jwbdisbdjd OKAY let me just start off with a quick INFO. It's gonna be long I lied. WARNING 18+ TOPICS DISCUSSED

OKAY so the fic is taking SUPER long to write because I am NOT a horny fic writer guy! I usually stick in the G fics! But porn with feelings has me by the THROAT bro it's the way some intimate words can only be spurned through intimate actions... the complex feelings and different opinions and UGHH kawhi is just a BIG words thru actions guy AND SO IS PAUL kinda!! BUT ANYWAYS... HERES THE SFW PLOT EXPLANATION SO FAR. B U T if you want just the NSFW deets... scroll down for the emojis!!! It's very long...

So it's post clippers playoff loss but like POSTPOST and basically Paul finds out Lou Will got traded and pat bev blames Paul being awful during the playoffs for it. The encounter happens while Lou, Pat Bev, Paul, and Mann were all gambling in Vegas. Theres a whole thing where Paul was trying to teach Mann how to gamble by just telling him "do what I do." AKA bet on me. After pat bev yells at Paul and Lou has to calm the situation over, Mann loses the game AKA he betted on Paul and lost.

The whole situation makes Paul feels guilty but he's still too stuck in his zero accountability to admit it. He goes home and just plays video games to take the stress off. He tries to make excuses that try to avoid blaming/acknowledging his performance, 'The kind of Basketball theyre playing isn't just a fun sport. It's a Business. It's not his fault business happened.' So he's just blocking everything out.

But then Kawhi walks in.

They don't say anything. Kawhi just sits on the couch with him while he games. Every now and then, he'd scoot a little closer. Until he's close enough where he sets his hand down in the space between them and waits. Paul finally speaks and it's basically just a bunch of excuses tumbling out until he runs out and ends up on the verge of admitting that He (paul) messed up (the whole time he's talking, as his frustrations rise into actual anger with himself, he's exerting more and more pressure on his gaming controller). When his anger reaches its peak and almost reveals itself, he stops himself by almost breaking his controller. And he starts shaking. So he takes Kawhi's hand.

And that let's Kawhi know it's okay to touch him now. And, gentle as a light breeze, he does. He asks if he can, and when paul nods, he does. It starts as a kiss that gets deeper until paul ends up laid against the couch with kawhi on top of him.

💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

OKAY so. They both want this. But for different reasons and that's gonna clash.

PAUL wants to have sex so they can both let out their frustrations. He THINKS kawhi hates him and can't wait to trade him BECAUSE kawhi gambled on him and LOST so if he let's kawhi vent that anger of losing on him.. MAYBE.. maybe kawhi will stay next season and forgive him. He desperately thinks that MAYBE that's the only way kawhi CAN ever Possibly forgive him. Because Paul can't Say sorry, can't be emotionally vulnerable like that, so he'll just say it with his body and be PHYSICALLY vulnerable FOR kawhi as a twisted form of saying sorry. And a part of Paul WANTS kawhi to vent out all his anger on him during it too. A part of him, that won't ever admit it, internally believes he deserves some sort of punishment for his performance. And what better way than thru hatesex RIGHT??

But KAWHI wants to be gentle. He wants to be slow. He wants to be careful. He doesn't hate Paul because kawhi ALSO blames himself. But he's ALSO too scared to admit it. But he DOES feel bad as well. Paul took most of the backlash from the media. Kawhi Didn't. So kawhi wants to make Paul feel good. Let Paul know that kawhi is someone he can love and trust and that Kawhi is still Strong and dependable, despite his bad season. He wants Paul to say he loves him and that he feels supported and safe.

So there's a big clash between Paul wanting Kawhi to be quick and rough with the sex and Kawhi wanting Paul to slow down and not get hurt. Two stubborn prides trying to both give the other what they THINK they want.

After a kiss, Paul REALLY starts it off by trying to give kawhi a blow job, but A. Paul has never given blowjobs before and B. Kawhi is Big.

So he chokes and gags and still tries to force it down his throat because kawhi DESERVES it. It's the only thing Paul can do for kawhi at this point.

But, kawhi is concerned because OFC HE IS!!! DONT PUSH UR LIMITS WHEN HAVING SEX!!! And he pulls paul off. Paul panics Internally bcus he's like "man not only do I suck at basketball but I also suck at giving head wtf guess stripping is out of my future careers after the nba" and he really REALLY doesn't want to disappoint kawhi anymore than he already did. But paul doesn't SAY that. Doesn't COMMUNICATE that. It's a conflict that they can't solve because they don't know WHATS the problem.

So they cut off the blowjob really quick. Paul is laid out on the couch, on his front because it's the better position for first timers according to kawhis research, and waiting for kawhi to finger him. And kawhi DOES. For a LONG fucking time. It's a good time. Like the BEST. He's very sweet and sensual with it. Wants to make sure nothing hurts paul when he puts It in eventually.

But the whole time paul is kind of fighting that because he keeps thinking "how is kawhi finding any enjoyment in this at All. I mean *I* am but like.. kawhi is the one doing all the work and for what pleasure?? He just has his stupid fingers up my ass?? This is stupid and dumb and not how I thought it was gonna be for him and I don't DESERVE to be the one pleasured."

So he keeps trying to buck back, get his fingers in deeper. And Kawhi has to keep him still, once again making paul worry that he's a horrible partner who's not pleasuring kawhi at all.

Eventually the conflicting actions with unspoken words is too much and they halt the sex and paul cries because he thinks he's awful at it and it was so bad they had to stop because of him. And it's very sad and shit so they finally have a heart to heart where they actually TALK about their feelings. They both soothe each other's worries and exchange praises and EVENTUALLY they end up fucking (face to face, paul IS on his back). Paul cries because it's good and slow but this time he KNOWS it's okay to take it good and slow because kawhi gets pleasure in HIM getting pleasured and YEAH.... it's SOFT SWEET AND SLOW SEX!!!!!! I don't wanna say TOO much about the ending but YEAH man was I waiting to infodump about this shit THANK U anon who I totally did not set up into asking me this 😎👍

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Comparing RWBY and YGO DM: The Handling and Evolution of Themes

Hey! Its been a hot minute since I last posted anything RWBY-related but Im laying in my bed right now and Im sick and bored so I guess we're doing this. Today I will do my best to analyze what I percieve to be the main themes and messages of both of these shows, or more specifically, how theyre handled narratively. Im mostly focusing on that part because, while these series do have similar themes and messaging, they are still a few things in which they are wildly different. And with that, lets start with this essay-post-thing!

1. Theres something we need to adress first

Okay so, before we can really talk about this, theres something I feel the need to clarify here: Neither of these stories was "planned from the beginning".

Now, I dont think a story being planned from the beginning or not nesscessarily makes the story any better or worse by default, however, it is still important to acknowledge because the way the story is planned is going to affect every facet of it. Things are not going to be foreshadowed properly, things are gonna be set up only for nothing to come of it, the story might drastically change directions, characters might act differently, etc, etc.

And, this is bit off-topic but, it's much better to just admit that the story was not planned than trying to pretend that it was. Like, there are a lot of reasons why I tend to be so forgiving towards YGO even though its not very good, but one of them is definitely the fact that, as far as Im aware atleast, the guy who wrote it isnt pretending to have had this big master plan all along and neither is the fandom. With RWBY on the other hand... yeaaaah, its kinda the opposite. From what Ive seen of RWBYs fandom, there seems to be this pretty popular narrative that everything was planned even though it clearly wasnt. Thats pretty bad and honestly lowers my opinion of the writers so much more than if they would just admit to not having a proper plan.

Like, I initially consumed YGO like this: Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, Yu-Gi-Oh (aka Season 0), like, a quarter of the Yu-Gi-Oh manga (I still havent finished it)

In all three of these we have the character of Yami Yuugi, or just Yami. Broadly speaking, he is an ancient egyptian gamer spirit who lives in a magical puzzle that has not been solved for 3000 years until this highschooler named Yuugi Mutou comes along and solves it, thus setting him free and allowing him to possess Yuugi and have access to the vague magical powers of the puzzle.

In Duel Monsters he's perfectly fine most of time, morally speaking. There is an instance of him almost murdering a guy and its a bit unclear what exactly happens to those he mindcrushes but overall he's very much a pretty good guy. In Season 0 most of what he does is set up these games for bad people, where they will go insane no matter what they do. From how I understand this whole Shadow Game, Penalty Game stuff, if you lose a Shadow Game, you get violent and intense hallucinations and you will always cuz yknow, gamer spirit. But if you try to cheat, which most of the bad people do in this show, you get violent and intense hallucinations as a punishment.

Since the two anime are generally considered two different continuities, its perfectly fine that Yamis characterization is wildly different in both of them. But in the manga both of these characterizations appear, basically one after the other with no real arc or consequences, for that matter. Why is that? Simply put, someone thought it was a good idea to try to turn an episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror manga into a more traditional, more plot-driven battle shounen. From what Ive heard, it was apparently largely because of network interference or something, but the point is, it changed directions incredibly drastically with little planning and everyone knows this and I can understand that for the most part.

In RWBY we have the character of Blake Belladonna, who, in the first 3 volumes/seasons atleast, was this aloof, more toned down loner-type character with a pretty strong sense of justice. She's an in-universe marginilized racial minority and she clearly cares about racial injustice. The way its initially framed makes it seem like she had a very hard life and no stable support system, which is what eventually pushed her to join a Civil Rights group/Terrorist organization (good god, the Faunus subplot is so awful, I could write a whole essay about it but Im already de-railing rn so I'll just save that for later).

Then, in volumes 4-5 it turns out her father is actually like, the mayor or chief of this island-place called Menagerie and she grew up in this big mansion with multiple guards/servants. Oh and also, apparently "space is a commodity" on there, so theres that. She still retains large parts of her personality but she's kinda like, worse somehow I think. I cant really describe it in a meaningful way but I hope you get what Im saying anyway. Then in Volume 6 she confronted her emotional abuser Adam (sorry for not mentioning him sooner but yeah, he was like, her abusive boyfriend, which is something that a lot of people disagree with but I wont really say anything about it either way because I dont really feel any specific way) with her friend, Yang, and ended up killing him.

After all that, she pretty much lost the rest of her personality, as well as her arc about all the Faunus stuff. She just kinda became the meek, generically nice, recovering abuse victim. Why? Well, the actual reason is that they didnt plan out shit and are just kinda flying by the seat of their oversized clown-pants and if they and the fandom just admitted it, I would have less of an issue. I still wouldnt be as forgiving towards RWBY as I am towards YGO because the crux of the issue, for me, is just that I dont particulary like RWBY but also like. Do you really expect me to take MKEK seriously as writers after admitting to not have a timeline because iT wOuLd CaUsE pLoThOlEs?

However, since they want us to believe that everything was planned out from the beginning, the explaination would be.... Idk, they deliberately butchered one of their main characters?? Because.. they hate her?? Maybe????

So yeah, that was quite a detour however, I would like you to keep this mind going forward.

2. Themes of the Early Series'

First, what do mean by 'Early Series' for both of these shows respectively? Well, for YGO that would have to be Season 0 or if youre reading the manga, everything pre-Duelist Kingdom. Basically, the part of the series thats a episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror series.

For RWBY that would be the first three Volumes, also known as the Poser-Era. Back then it was just kinda an action series that took place at Anime Warrior Academy (also known as Beacon) with some pretty bare minimum worldbuilding, character-driven plots and developments but now its more of an epic high-fantasy story with more of an emphasis on plot as opposed to just action.

The themes and messages in Early YGO are kinda vague, very confusing to me and if you were to follow any of it literally that would be pretty bad. For now Im just gonna say the main themes are Friendship and Identity and mostly focus on the Identity aspect.

Now, it took me a little while to figure out RWBYs deal but I think the main themes for Volumes 1-3 are also Friendship and Heroism. Once again, I'll mostly focus on Heroism and touch on Friendship more briefly later.

I dont have much more to add to YGOs themes right now, so I'll briefly go over Heroism in RWBY.

In RWBYs setting there are these man-eating monsters called Grimm that have basically infected the planet. In order to deal with that, they have people called huntsmen and huntresses that kill them and protect people. Theyre trained at special academies like Beacon and go on missions there and stuff like that. Our four main characters, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, are training to become huntresses and one day they go on this mission to clean up a grimm infested city block with one of their teachers. Obviously, that takes a long time so they have to camp out in one of the empty houses. Weiss, Blake and Yang cant sleep because theyve been thinking about this question that their teacher asked them when they were fighting grimm: "Why do you want to become a huntress?"

They have a heart to heart and we find out about their motivations; Weiss wants to bring honour back to her family, Blake want to distance herself from the White Fang (that terrorist organization I mentioned earlier) and as an extension from Adam, Yang wants to have a life of adventure. They also talk about why Ruby wants to be a huntress and it turns out that she judt wants to help people. Unlike the others, she has no motivation besides that. We're meant to listen to that and look at her as a sort-of personification of Heroism: kind, but not naive, strong and most of all, selfless. The others on her team are not portayed as bad for not being like Ruby by any means but we are clearly meant to admire her the most out of all of them.

Okay, now comes the part Ive been looking forward to the most:

3. How did these themes evolve in the Modern Series'?

Alright, before we can really delve into the way they evolved in YGO I'll have to give you a brief summary of the character progression. At the start of DM, during the Duelist Kingdom arc, Yami Yuugi is just that; A darker Yuugi. Hes more confident, bolder, his voice is deeper, hes somehow taller, more ruthless, all that good stuff. Notably, he doesnt actually seem more skilled than Yuugi even at the start of this story, but he's still dependent on Yami. Yami on the other hand, has no identity of his own or even hints at one at this point. He's just The Other Yuugi.

Then during the Battle City arc, they find out that Yami was actually a pharao prior to being sealed in the puzzle, he just didnt know because of amnesia, I guess. So now they need to find out his real name and then send him to the afterlife because hes meant to be dead, but not before saving the world from being swallowed by darkness, which is also a thing they have to do now.

Then we finally get to the Memory World arc, where Yami, Yuugi and the rest of the gang astralproject to ancient egypt via puzzle magic. Yami is trying to figure out what the hell is going on and who all these familiar people are, while Yuugi & Co are trying their best to help him. Then some weird shit happens and it turns out that all of that is not just Yamis sealed away memories, but also a giant D&D Shadow Game that will destroy the world if Yami loses. So now theres Pharao!Yami who is still clueless on the metaphorical and literal playing field and Player!Yami, who is kinda controlling himself now? I guess?? Yamis opponent, The Spirit of The Ring, has something similar to that going on where hes both controlling and properly participating in the game. So Player!Yami is now fighting against Player!TSoTR, Pharao!Yami is now fighting against Thief King Bakura (who is like, the human, ancient egyptian version of the Ring Spirit) and Yuugi is now fighting against Yami Bakura (who is like, the human, modern japanese version of the Ring Spirit). Yuugi gets Yamis real name, he and the gang go over to Pharao!Yami and tell him his name, meanwhile Player!Yami is also somehow helping as well and they defeat the Ring Spirit, thus saving the world. Then they travel to modern Egypt, the Ceremonial Duel happens and Yuugi wins, sending Yami to the Afterlife where he can finally rest and that was the series!

I originally wanted to recount the stuff that was going on with the Ring Spirit and his host as well because they parallel eachother, but this summary is already far too long and I think youll get the point without me needing to explain any more.

My point here is, that the story went from being vaguely about Identity, maybe? to being very clearly about Self-Discovery and Learning to Be Independent. I think this is a very good way to evolve the messaging of your story. How does RWBY track on that?

Well, uh... its not great. I will acknowledge that they have tried to introduce new themes and ideas since, even though I wont really be talking about them in this post. But yeah, the whole Heroism thing really regressed.

Like, I didnt explicitly say it when I was explaining grimm earlier, but theyre not going away. The grimm have always been there and people who sign up to become huntsmen and huntresses are effectively signing up for a job that will never truly be done, no matter what they do. Characters like Ruby and even more minor ones like Phyrrah have shown us that that doesnt matter when youre a hero. No life isnt worth saving, no grimm isnt worth killing, no criminal isnt worth arresting. Then, in volume 6 they find out about Salem. Salem is the Big Bad of the show, shes immortal, controls the grimm and is supposed to be very powerful.

What do our heroes do? They give up. Sike! They were just mindcontrolled by monsters or some shit, of course they didnt give up their mission (which is to bring an Important Macguffin to a city called Atlas, sorry I didnt mention it)!

But then they arrive in Atlas (which is llike, a city thats floating over another city called Mantle) and yknow, they do some plot stuff thats not really important right now until the city gets invaded by Salem and this big grimm army she has.

What do our heroes do? Well, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and some side characters are chilling, drinking tea in a mansion and Yang and the B Team were actually trying to do something, but even those efforts seem incredibly minimal.

Oh wait, I also forgot to mention that Ironwood (a fairly minor, vaguely antagonistic character up until now) wanted to lift Atlas even higher to save Atleasian civilians from danger while leaving Mantle vulnerable to Salems invasion.

What would be the most heroic thing to do?

A) Let Ironwood lift Atlas, get as much support as they can down to Mantle and save as many Mantle civilians as they can from the invasion

B) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas but then split up in order to protect both Atlas and Mantle civilians

C) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas and then dont do anything else

Congrats! If you choose C, you think exactly like the writers!

And I just

This is so mindboggling to me, I feel like I shouldnt even have explain how this is bad. And like, it wouldve been so easy to actually make them seem herokc through their actions, to make it seem like they did try but no.

I have never seen a central theme be this botched, how in the world did they do that? Why did they think it was a good idea for Ruby "The Embodiment of Heroism" Rose to sit in a mansion doing nothing, no planning, no organizing just ..... God, how are they this bad? Like, this doesnt even have anything to do with it being planned in any way, this is just straight up incompetence

4. Very briefly touching on friendship

The friendship is awful and its not solely because they all have the same opinions. They barely interact with eachother outside their designated pairs which leads to it all feeling incredibly hollow. Theyre also practically indistingushable from one another now, which is a shame because it wasnt always like that. Like, I dont think the characters were that well-developed in earlier volumes but they were very well-characterized. But now we've gotten to a point where you can literally copy and paste one characters dialogue onto another and literally nothing changes, it really sucks.

5. Some closing words

Damn, this took way longer than I thought it would and now Im pretty exhausted. I have no idea how yall always write these but props to you! I feel like this ended up a bit rambly but overall, Im pretty proud.

Please let me know what you think of the points I brought up! Id also really appreciate some tips on how to get better at these longer posts because I am planning on writing more in the future (not the near future, probably but yknow).

Thats all I have to say for now, thanks for reading!

[tumblunni]

OH FUCK I THINK I FINALLY CRACKED THE CODE OF WHY I ALWAYS LIKE THE VILLAINS BETTER

Like man it always makes me so confused cos i mean im a soft AF person and i always end up having sympathetic redemption headcanons for them so its not like i like VILLAINY ITSELF but what else do all these characters have in common?

Thats it. Thats it, ursula helped me crack it.

I just WANT THOSE TRAITS ON THE HEROES

I really want a nice confident sassy funny chubby trans auntie who promotes body positivity to our young hero and always gets to say the coolest lines and get the best moments and BE LOVED FOR WHO SHE IS

And like usually whenever you get anywhere close to seeing those "villain traits" on a hero they like.. Remove all the good parts. If you have a supportive hero aunt she's always boring and generically supportive instead, and has to look like the most stereotypical boring mess ans have a super small plot role and uuuugh thats IF SHES EVEN THERE i mean seriously aunties and grandmas are weirdly less represented as mentors than grandpas who are already REALLY HARD TO FIND and again OFTEN GENERIC AND UNFUN WHENEVER THEY GET TO APPEAR

And how damn often are we allowed to have a chubby gay aunt!! WHERE IS MY CHUBBY GAY AUNT!! ive met SO MANY chubby gay aunts in real life like 90% of all my psychologists have been either that or like.. The exact same but a straight lgbt ally instead. Sassy plus size aunties are THE BACKBONE OF OUR SOCIETY DAMMIT! I've had so much help thanks to sassy gay aunts!! And like even just looking at any damn crowd scene in a normal city centre youre gonna see so many chubby aunts and long nosed uncles and all those sorts of bullshit "ugly people" that mass media pretends are ugly and relegates to One Minor Role In The Entire Cast despite them being infinately more common than supermodels and NOT UGLY AT ALL GEEZ IT PISSES ME OFF SO MUCH

I cant believe im a fuckin disney villain fan cos of body positivity

Tfw u suck so bad at making hateable people that the fandom universally hugs all your villains and ignores your boring protagonists like fuckin TAKE THAT DIDNEY

God i wanna hug hades sooo bad he just needs a friend aaaaaa

And i mean its not just disney, every damn time ive obsessed over a villain its been because they have some trait thats supposed to be "bad" but its actually good and we dont get to see it on the heroes

Like my thing with science villains in particular is that when i first played ff7 i really liked the idea of an evil minion who's a bad sidekick not just because he's "dumb" or "bumbling" but because he's actually not interested in any of the evil stuff and he works against his own boss and is like.. Friendly to the heroes, i have no particular grudge against you and i wont stop you if im off duty and all. I liked the Turks for the same reason but in the origibal ff7 translation they were kind of stoic and serious and i didnt really become as much of a fan of them til i saw them being more goofy and comic relief in some optional sidequests and then their movie adaptation. But hojo was always being all "lol my boss's plan is so stupid amirite" and had that very memorable scene where he's just sunbathing and tells you everything you need to know to get to the next thing to ruin his boss's plan cos i mean fuck it who even cares im just here to soak up some sun while fully dressed in a turtleneck and labcoat. It sucked so much that he was such a reprehensible bastard with creepy sexual assault vibes and murder and child abuse and experimenting on people and basically just NOT A LOVEABLE VILLAIN but his CONCEPT held so much potential to be filled by a sympathetic character instead...

So yeah then cos of him i kept being obsessed with finding SOME CHARACTER SOMEWHERE that actually lived up tp that potential, and thats why i was instantly interested in charon from pokemon and totally on edge waiting for the slightest chance for him to become That Perfect Sass Gramps Of Legend. And then he was indeed sassy!! And had so little screenyime that there was potential for interpretation of him as potentially redeemable cos i mean the game never said he wasnt, the game barely said anything about him at all, lol. And he was so old and small and frail looking and i just wanted to protect him!! And then that one wifi event that actually hinted at synpatheticness!! Aaaa its a recipe for a Forever Fave~

And i guess maybe it all started with my grandma being awesome and me really missing her? Cos i had shitty abusive parents and she was my ONLY good family member who showed me what love was like. And she was also basically a supervillain. Like every damn supervillain trait except being evil! She was bombastic and confident and sassy and mischievious and loud and passionate about stuff and always had something funny to say and never gave up no matter how many times she failed. And she also used all that great power for the forces of good!

So yeh thats why i love sassy good guys and i hate that often even when a sassy villain gets redeemed they seem to lose all their edge and become more generic now theyre a good guy. Or they get totally sidelined with no screentime anymore, or they ONLY get to be comic relief and dont get the full and complex redemption they deserve. Or just a lot of bads!! Its never the simplest answer of just fuckin.. Keep the character the character. Thats kinda why i didnt feel too much for the maleficent movie even though the concept itself sounded like everything i ever wanted. The character in that movie is a very different person to origibal maleficent, she's more just a stoic tsundere mumsy figure than a hammy badass iconicness. Still a nice villain redemption but it felt like it would have been better as an original story instead of an attempted maleficent. Also i wish they handled it better with the whole "true love's kiss could be from your mum instead" thing cos i get sooooo grossed out whenever i see people shipping movie maleficent and aurora! Like yes sleeping beauty with lesbians would be great but not when one of them is old enough to be her mum and raised her like a mum and changed her goddamn diapers! Also why did they have to ruin the three good fairies just to make maleficent have the mum opportunity? Like just remove them from the story if you wanted maleficent to raise the kid instead. No need to rewrite them into incompetant assholes when they were everyone's fave part of the original! Dont sacrifice the rare and elusive Good Sassy Gay Aunts!! THEYRE LIKE THE ONLY ONES IN DIDNEY!!! (Incodentally merlin is the equivelant of this to hades as the fairies are to ursula)

Also also villains tend to have ACTUAL FLAWS in stories that have a more boring bland protagonist. I wanna see the story behind charon's neuroses and how he struggles with overcoming his temptation to be bad because of greed but ultimately manages to conquer his own negative side because power of friendship and such. Thats a great character arc that provides so much more than he does as a villain where they just wasted him entirely :(

SO BASICALLY IN SUMMARY

* villains are often more complex and well developed characters with flaws while the same wroter might make shitty heroes due to the illogical fear that nobody would root for them if they werent 100% perfect and successful at everything ever

* villains are also often made as negative stereotypes of minorities and other rarely seen traits, which means its easy to reach out to them and reclaim them as a more positive version when theres literally no other options for you to cling to

* the quite common accidental sympathy factor where a villain will seem to be hated more than they deserve for their actions, ir unjustly punished so much that they feel like an underdog, since the writer assumes you'll think theyre "more evil" for being a stereotype and if you dont agree that this thing is bad then it seems like they have way less sins than the story claims they do

* also sass. Sass is good.

But basically the whole root of it is that its stupid and cruel and doesnt goddamn work when you make villains bigoted stereotypes. It just makes me love them! The only person i hate when i see a stereotypical villain is the writer who thought that was a good idea, lol. Just imagine that meme of the samurai holding the cat but its me holding all disney villains!

Also even if a villain isnt outright intentionally meant to be "this minority is bad", it can still make me symoathetic to them if theyre still something thats rare amoung the hero side in the same series. Like charon being the "most unredeemable" villain despite being the most harmless and funny and his plan being so much less world destroying than cyrus, and also he's the only grandpa villain in like.. The whole of all. And he's drawn very much in that way thays supposed to be "ugly" i.e normal grandpa, vs that weird sort of younger than he looks grandpa that hero ones tend to be because blablabla beauty ewuals goodness anti body positivity whatever. Tho actually sinnoh was good with that, they had the best grandpa professor in my opinion cos he got to be sassy too! Rowan always reminds me of auron from ff10. Sinnoh was a good game where i liked a lot of both the heroes and villains even if i still had more villain faves cos i mean pokemon is always biased towards that for me since every game has a voiceless perosnalityless main character and often theyre the one doing most of the heroing with the supporting hero characters having surprisingly little proper screen time. Thats a big part of why i loved hau gladion and lillie in sun and moon! They felt more like a real friend group than any other ones before.

ANYWAY now im just going offtopic into more "i love lots of stuff about every pokemon game" so ill stop typing now

But just basically VILLAINS ARE GOOD COS THEYRE GOOD CHARACTERS and if those stories gavethe same character a good guy role then id still love them just as much, if not more. I dont specifically like villainy, its just that my definition of a good character is often considered a bad character by lazy writers, apparantly?

Also WHERE IS MY SUPPORTIVE GOOD GRAMPS CHARON GAME AND GAY AUNTIE URSULA GIVES YOU FASHION TIPS SMARTPHONE MMO

[chasethesun18]

Name/Nickname: Ryan

Age* (don’t be shy, we’re a fandom of grandmas): 18

Where are you from*: South Carolina

When did you jump aboard the Blindspot train: When the first promo came on and half my shows had just gone off air so I was in need of something new

Other fandoms you’re in/TV shows you watch: oh gosh so many, NCIS and NCIS LA, timeless, designated survivor (me and like 5 other people on this website lol), aos, stranger things, and vampire diaries

Favorite Blindspot characters (main): man all of them! but esp Jane and Reade. Kurt flips between being my problematic fave and just being darn problematic

Favorite Blindspot characters (guest or recurring): Rich forever and always

Favorite ship(s): Jeller (but fun fact I actually didn’t like them right away, i thought kurt looked liked he wanted to DIE in the interrogation room when she touches his face) and currently shipping Reade and Tasha because apparently I lose interest once ships become canon who knew

Favorite episode(s): 1x09, 1x15, 3x01 and 3x08         

Favorite season: 1!!!

Favorite tattoo/case: I have terrible memory so i dont remember which tattoo was which case or which case was which episode..so im gonna be basic and say Kurt Weller FBI              

Favorite whatever you want: favorite (small) Jeller moment honestly is in 1x15 when theyre in that boat and Jane’s been missing all day going after Cade and Weller is trying to break down the door and Reade kinda hits him and points at the window and Jane does her little wave at him      

If you were a Blindspot character, who would you be: probably Tasha but not because I’m kickass, because I make smart comments that are borderline rude lol 

One scene that left you with your jaw on the floor: every episode of this show leaves my jaw on the floor honestly but most recently kurt saying he killed avery. and kurt saying he loved jane shocked me, i thought the slow burn was gonna continue for a lot longer       

One dead character you would bring back: Stuart poor soul and David!    

One guest star (who has appeared in less that three episodes) you want to come back: Anna

One recurring character you’d love to have promoted to regular: is Rich not promoted yet? he makes every episode better        

One actor/actress you would love to have guest star on the show (and what would they play): that is a great question and I have no idea. I saw someone say Stana to play Kate Beckett and the more I think about it the more epic a Castle Blindspot crossover sounds

One forgotten storyline you wish they’d bring back or answer: im sorry but season 2 was so many plot holes I dont even remember what happened so like..all of season 2. and sarah & sawyer?? AND SOMEONE TELL ME IF KURT SLEPT WITH ALLIE WHILE JANE WAS BEING TORTURED OR IF THE WRITERS JUST CANT DO MATH

One country you want Roman to visit this season: somewhere tropical because I think Roman needs a nice long vacation to ya know..chill    

Share a little bit about yourself (don’t be shy)*: yes hello I am currently a freshman at Clemson and hating my life so if you ever want to cry over tv shows and/or real life or have some advice on how to not die your freshman year hit me up