#was sorting my characters and got this idea

[julessuretries]

Seeing people call Ragatha an "abuser" post episode 5 is actually insane to me because for me, episode 5 singlehandedly sold me on her character, whereas before I was kind of apathetic.

She's not "toxically positive" - she's just got some sort of fawn response given her mommy issues and feels like she needs to be "well-behaved and proper" in order for people to like her.

One of my closest friends from college was exactly like this and it was hard to see them go through the recurring issue of being unable to break past surface-level acquaintanceships with people precisely because they were "too nice". Like, do you know how uncomfortable it is to have to explain to someone they'd probably have an easier time connecting with people if they, just, stopped being overly helpful? It's a really weird conversation to have: like, am I actually encouraging this person to be worse? I kid you not at one point I think I actually said "you'd be better of if you were meaner", but, like, no one else was willing to say it and he was desperate so I guess I had to.

But unfortunately the only person who'd ever be bold enough to do that in the show is Jax (because he's literally already done it) but it's hard for Ragatha, or anyone, for that matter, to take any advice he gives sincerely even if he's kind of right because he's already such a jerk (and might be projecting some of his own mommy issues if we're being honest).

Looking back at the pilot, Ragatha's behavior towards Pomni seems all the more depressing. She literally pounced on the opportunity to befriend Pomni from minute one because newcomers are rare and I imagine she's been lonely for a very long time. Which is why seeing Jax do a better job bonding with Pomni gets under her skin because from her perspective she's put in way more effort and therefore deserves her friendship more. That's obviously a very transactional and problematic way of viewing relationships, but isn't surprising given what we've learned about her upbringing. She's likely been taught that love is something that can be earned with enough effort and is now reaching her limit having to come to terms with that not being the case.

The best things in life come free. Genuine connections have to form naturally. While I'm not totally convinced that Jax is being fully honest in his attempts to befriend Pomni, I do think he understands something that Ragatha doesn't. People want to be friends with people they can relate to and trust. And even if Pomni isn't a jerk like Jax, she at the least can rest assured she's seen the worst of him, whereas Ragatha could reveal her "real self" at any time. It's about taking a calculated risk - even if Ragatha deep down is still a nice person (which I personally think she is), there's no way for anyone else to know that for sure. It's less risky to be friends with people who are more open about their flaws than with someone who feels like they could crack at any moment and you'd have no idea what would spill out.

Ragatha is a really tragic character but also so incredibly real. Unfortunately even if she did decide to be more "genuine" with who she was as a person she'd still have a long journey ahead of her, since I'm not very convinced she even knows who she is.

Wow this episode was good.

“We need more complex female characters”

YALL COULDNT HANDLE HER

It’s crazy that her character flaw is thinking that if she ever expresses a negative emotion everyone will dislike her and yall immediately proved her right. Goddamn.

[dailypj]

(Assuming that you’ve already put some thought into characterizing PJ, tho feel free to ignore this if not! I’m just trying to scope out how to potentially write PaperJam’s character into a fic, since him being sort of a skeptic could mean that he wins the idgaf war too well and has no impact on the central plot yknow)

Do you have ideas for any fun internal conflicts or character arcs for PJ? If there’s a multiverse-threatening conflict unfolding, what would PJ be doing about it, if anything? What mcguffins or circumstances could be triggered that would quickly pique PJ’s interest enough to get involved?

As always my first piece of advice for writing anything pj is to go through the resources provided by his creator, @7goodangel (@-ing in case you wanna put in ur 2 cents, he is ur guy)

Here are the links for:

Pj’s bio

Pj info tag

Pj faq page (bit of a shortcut for the info tag since it holds answers to a lot of previously asked questions, tho not all of them)

now for an actual answer, there's a long ramble under the cut, enjoy

first thing that ik for sure is canon, pj would step in if it's necessary to protect his family (I believe it was a comment somewhere by 7 that stated that pj would go as far as suffocating someone for threatening his kid's life)

if the multiverse being in danger has the capacity to hurt his loved ones I'm sure he'd do something about it, but I think the lengths he's willing to go will vary depending on what/who is causing it and which other characters are joining the fight

Ink for example is definitely an interesting ally considering their past. a conflict between them is pretty much inevitable, especially if you take from canon and had them separated years prior

Now if pj’s loved ones aren't present here, that’s where my guesses on how she’d act get fuzzy. In the past, pj took it upon herself to judge whether certain aus should stay alive or be erased. She believed that what error did was wrong not because it was a massacre of innocents, but because he did it too indiscriminately

(I’d say it was pretty easy to gain a dehumanizing view of others when the 2 biggest influences she had referred to the masses as just fictional characters or anomalies…)

Now, she does indeed spare aus she deems acceptable, but I’m not sure how much she’s willing to risk for them. Cuz like, part of her self-given job is motivated by the want to prove she isn’t a mistake to the man who wants every universe to die

Basically she’s got some pretty dark grey morals and it’s fun to deconstruct them (or make them worse if you wanna go the antagonist pj route, equally fun imo)

now a more headcanon-y idea (aka the trait I tend to exaggerate in nearly every pj varient I've made thus far for angst purposes) is leaning into the whole "I have to be useful to be worthy of anyone's care" thing, and just strongly wanting to disprove bad assumptions/expectations about herself (especially the mistake thing) which couldd lead to her going down a phase of believing she should follow in ink's protector footsteps to try and become more of a priority in his eyes (with the added bonus of keeping fears other characters may have about her "becoming like error" at bay)

does it work? idk but maybe if she just obsesses over it even more the identity crisis will be worth it Slash J

so ya that's my 2 cents on a potential conflict based on canon stuff, absolutely feel free to go ham on whatever direction you feel like taking pj I'm just a big advocate for "learn the rules before you break them" 👍✨

[bogwaterparasite]

Character Building!! (Saja boys edition)

Characters: Saja Boys (except Jinu)

A/N: Am I milking the fact that my HC’s seemed to be doing well? Yes. I’m also taking advantage of the fact that these characters don’t really have a storyline or anything of their own to sorta create their own personalities to use when I write fanfiction! Sue me, I love them.

Just fyi. I’m currently working on requests! So don’t fret, I haven’t forgotten about you

Previous post!! - SAJA HC’s

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Baby saja (Eun-young)

✮⋆˙ I’ve decided the name based off of the meaning that can be given to it. Eun-young can translate to both graceful flower or silver petal. I think it’s kinda fitting considering his soft boy sort of aesthetic, yet it serves as a good contrast to the personality given to him.

✮⋆˙ I believe that he got recruited by Jinu due to his musical talent. He’s a rapper, and a very good one at that, but unlike jinu? It isn’t something he’s been practicing ever since he was a human

✮⋆˙ Matter of fact, I don’t believe he was ever human. Despite Jinu saying that Gwi-Ma controlled the demons by the guilt they possessed, there is a possibility for some demons to just be summoned or created with the sole purpose of getting souls/defeating the demon hunters.

✮⋆˙ Eun-young’s talent developed from curiosity. He had always had a fascination for technology and the way things worked in the human world given that Gwa-Mi’s realm seems to be nothing but a void, and all of their entertainment is given by none other than Gwa-Mi himself. During the beginnings of the creation of cellphones, he most definitely stole one in order to take it back. While this action is suspicious on itself, he can always use the pretext of wanting to be connected in order to deceive the humans and collect souls with more efficiency.

✮⋆˙ While indulging in human media, he found himself drawn towards music, but not ALL music, rap specifically. He’d do most of his practicing down in earth, using it as a way to get closer with certain humans (and singers which I assume have more powerful souls) and developing his skills while still accomplishing the task given to him by Gwa-Mi.

✮⋆˙ Despite his gravelly voice, he was never truly into the stereotypical rapper appearance. The soft boy look seemed to be what called to him more than anything else, comfortable and colorful outfits that contrast the traditional dark appearance he holds in his demon form. It creates a sort of trustworthy character for humans, specially women, which he takes advantage of to the fullest.

✮⋆˙ Given that he is a made demon, he is rather devoid of emotion. Hes not a hateful person, but just holds little interest for things that he hasn’t developed an interest for, which is why he’s so willing to do pretty much anything. Even then, he will always go back to what he’s used to, which is doing nothing while scrolling through media.

✮⋆˙ He lacks taste buds, so his preferences of food come from the texture and feeling that they create. Colder things tend to have a thicker consistency than he finds rather enjoyable, which eventually developed into a liking of squishy and chewy foods rather than crunchy.

✮⋆˙ Even though he’s rather devoid of emotion, his vast interactions with humans and the human world caused him to develop more of a consciousness than other demons. This is what allows for Gwa-Mi to filter the voices into his mind, which although rare, still bother him just as much as the rest of the demons.

Abs Saja (Ho-Seok)

✮⋆˙ I’m not quite sure what the full name stands for, however, the translation for Seok is put as stone or rock. I think this kinda makes sense since I see abs as being sort of a reliable person? Idk how that makes sense considering he’s a demon, but yk.

✮⋆˙ I’m not too sure if All demons have formed pacts with Gwa-Mi or just Jinu? I’m running with the idea that not all of them were human, or have had to make a pact with him in order to become demons, but in this case? Abs did.

✮⋆˙ Born during the Joeson dynasty, about 80% of the families participated in agricultural farming(including his own), making it an incredibly competitive market. Due to increasing tariffs and environmental struggles, his family wasn’t the most wealthy. Unable to hire more workers, they used their 4 children to help around the farm, their pay being the fact that they got to survive another day. Ho-Seok was the oldest and strongest, which meant that majority of the tasks were handed to him in order for the farm to stay afloat. Although this was somewhat unfair, he did get a portion of the profits (although not much) which kept him quiet for the most part.

✮⋆˙ As he grew up, he became unsatisfied by the life he was living. Due to old age, his father wasn’t able to work anymore, which now meant that all the responsibilities (whether it was about the farm or the family) fell on him. This caused him to grow resentful of his family, the inability to provide for him and their children, while also having to deal with 3 children all at once began to take a toll on him.

✮⋆˙ There was one thing that he looked forward to however, a girl he had been crushing on for quite sometime. She frequented the farm for supplies, and she always served as a balm for his worries (even though she wasn’t aware of it).

✮⋆˙ In the end, all of these problems and responsibilities were what led him to create a pact with Gwa-Mi, becoming a demon in order to finally be able to live comfortably. He left his family to fend for themselves, slowly elevating his status by working with other members and eventually ending up as a chef in the palace. Despite him not thinking that he had any guilt about what he’d done, the marks were slowly consuming him.

✮⋆˙ What drove him to be at Gwa-Mi’s control for eternity was a simple mistake, at least he says it was a mistake. With his newfound status, he was going to confess his love to his beloved.. however, he was soon to find out she was betrothed to another.

✮⋆˙ This enraged him, as for now, even if he had gained more than what he wished to accomplish, he had lost everything that once made him who he was. In an attempt to salvage whatever there was left, he tried to consume the soul of her beloved, only to end up consuming hers by accident.

✮⋆˙ This served as a catalyst for his full transformation to becoming a demon, all his guilt consuming him whole and casting him into the life of eternal suffering.

✮⋆˙ He was scouted out by Jinu due to him being one of the strongest demons, he had no musical experience beforehand, so training him was sorta… difficult, but in the end it worked.

Romance Saja (Min-Joon)

✮⋆˙ Much like the other names, Minjoon can have a LOT of interpretations. Min can mean; quick, clever or sharp, and sometimes it can also be gentle or affable depending on the hanja characters used. While Joon means talented, handsome, or outstanding, which in my opinion? Is very fitting to him.

✮⋆˙ Unlike Eunyoung or Hoseok, Minjoon was a human up until recently, but he didn’t make a pact with Gwa-Mi, but rather made a deal with Jinu in exchange for his soul.

✮⋆˙ When Minjoon was young, his father left him and his mother to peruse a “better life” with his affair partner, leaving them to fend for themselves. His mother tried to make this transition as easy as possible for Minjoon, taking more hours in order to keep their income coming and still provide extra cash for whatever he might want, yet, this left little to no time to spend with her son.

✮⋆˙ He didn’t really resent his mother for this, quite the opposite really. Seeing her so driven to provide comfort to their lives despite their losses made him want to do better, to someday be able to provide for her the same way she was providing for him. In his search for ways to get rich, he came across the idol world. It wasn’t just the money that attracted him to it, but rather the musical aspect of it. They all seemed to have so much fun, doing something they enjoyed while inspiring others to do the same, didn’t that sound like the dream?

✮⋆˙ What drew him in more than anything were the choreographies, there was something about the way they moved along with every beat, every move perfectly aligned with the lyrics, it just felt right, something he wanted to do.

✮⋆˙ It was during highschool that he started to act upon this, creating a social media account and beginning to train himself to dance and create his own style. Despite what influencers might make you think, gaining a following was quite hard, not getting many interactions often left him disillusioned, but it didn’t stop him. The more he practiced, the better he got, and slowly his confidence and following grew.

✮⋆˙ He usually kept his interest quiet from everyone at school, but once, while practicing in an empty classroom, he managed to find someone who shared a similar dream to him.

✮⋆˙ The two of them grew closer, and they slowly began working to get their dreams come true. Eunseong was a composer, and combining this with the dances Minjoon was able to create along those lyrics, they seemed like the perfect match. However, both of them lacked in the aspect of singing, something that set them back by a long shot in the world of idols and k-pop groups.

✮⋆˙ Even as they grew, and they were able to get a following from their creations, the dream of becoming big was still far from them. In an attempt to better their voices, they went to Dr. Ramune for his “amazing” tonics, but as we all know, it didn’t work. And that’s where Jinu came into play.

✮⋆˙ One unfortunate night, both met Jinu outside of a shop. He offered them what they desired the most, a group to succeed, the voices they so desired, all of their dreams granted, just for the price of their soul. Who would be able to pass up on that offer?

✮⋆˙ And that’s how things came to be. Now with a group, a fame so vast they got everything they wanted, what else was there for him to want? Well, it seemed that he had forgotten a tiny detail.. the mother which he had worked so hard for, who never heard from him again.

Mystery Saja (Eun-Seong)

✮⋆˙ once again with the names and the meanings, hopefully you aren’t getting too tired of them lmfao. Eunseong can be roughly translated to many great;abundant, flourishing. Eun meaning kindness, mercy, or silver. It can also refer to grace, favor, or gratitude. And Seong meaning success, accomplishment, or flourishing. It can also be interpreted as sincere, honest, or true. All of these names are just things I believe are fitting to their character.

✮⋆˙ Alike Minjoon, Eunseong was also a human up until recently, matter of fact, he knew Minjoon personally, as he was his only friend throughout school.

✮⋆˙ He was born into a wealthy family, a very detached one at that. Family dinners were usually spent silent, or talking about the successes/faults of their family or company. This type of family style caused him to grow rather quiet, he hated big crowds, as they were nothing other than means to gain status, so he didn’t really socialize much with others in school. Most of his thoughts and feelings were written down on notebooks, and those words slowly developed into poems, poems that eventually turned into lyrics.

✮⋆˙ As his love for music grew, so did his feeling of isolation. He knew he couldn’t talk about this with his family, as a career as an idol was seen as taboo. He had so many ways to earn a living and get rich, and he decided to do that? His father would never allow it. Not only that, but the kids at his school who said they wanted to follow such dreams were just.. idiots. None of them cared for anything other than singing already made songs, doing the same as every other group out there did, they wanted fame and money without working hard for it.

✮⋆˙ That was up until he met Minjoon. It was by accident really, he just heard a song coming out from one of the classrooms and he decided to snoop, only to find him dancing in there. From then on, their relationship grew.

✮⋆˙ Minjoon was unlike anyone he had met before, he didn’t mind his quiet nature, matter of fact, he sort of loved it. While Eunseong stayed quiet and wrote, he would yap his ear off, even offering some advice about the lyrics while beginning to create his own choreography to it. He was.. odd, but he didn’t mind, after all, when was the last time he had this much fun with someone else?

✮⋆˙ Eventually, as they grew up, he opened up about his wishes to become an idol to his family, and just as expected, they didn’t react well to the news. Considering they were well out of high school, his father kicked him out of their home, putting the ultimatum to not come back unless he rethinks his life choices.

✮⋆˙ This wasn’t much of a problem, as he had saved up enough of his allowance to get an apartment, and after telling Minjoon after the whole ordeal, they both worked together to rent a place of their own, beginning to work hard to accomplish their goals.

✮⋆˙ Despite all the effort they put into their videos, it seemed to not be amounting to anything. They had a few debuts, and a small following of fans, but no matter what they did, they weren’t accomplishing what they truly wanted. This made him slowly start to loose hope, seriously reconsidering his fathers offer, however, Minjoo wasn’t giving up so easily.

✮⋆˙ Tonics, some sort of witchcraft, doing crazy dares, whatever crazy idea his partner came up with, he would follow. Did he truly think they would work? No, but seeing him so determined to not let their dream die out made him share the sentiment. That was up until they found this.. guy?.

✮⋆˙ Jinu, a self proclaimed demon who told them he would make their dreams come true all in exchange of his soul. It seemed shady as hell, and he was highly against the idea of handing whoever the hell he was anything valuable of theirs, he was going to decline, tell this man to fuck off, yet, seeing the desperation in Minjoon’s face, he couldn’t bring himself to. In the end, they both agreed.

✮⋆˙ And that’s how things came to be. They succeeded in their dreams, gaining the title of idols, their hard work finally paying off, yet, in the process, they seemingly lost themselves.

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I had a lot of fun with these, AND ONCE AGAIN, these are all up for interpretation! The Saja boys have no canon names or personalities really, so I’m just making it up on vibes and whimsy. Besides, I will be using these if/when I write about them, so feel free to do so as well!! And if you do, please @ me or lmk because I would love to see what you guys create with them :>

Reblogs are appreciated!

[novasillies]

okay. wifi sorted. squid game i hate you i will try and keep this organised. spoilers upon spoilers beneath the cut, this might be a long one. i had an 8 hour journey to watch the whole show in one go and then ruminate on it for two hours of driving. so. yeah.

As many issues as I have with this season, I will say some things were pretty interesting. So let's start with the few positives I have.

One, the commentary on democracy and the idea of a democratic vote. The fact that the players were forced into making this choice, either threatened or manipulated into voting one way or the other, and treated differently by the group depending on which way they voted was very interesting and something I am not at all smart enough to dissect beyond surface level. the whole "through your democratic vote, you have all chosen to continue the games" thing made me go hrrhrhrhrr every time because, yeah, democracy is far from fair and two-party systems with one final choice cannot accurately represent the wants of an entire group. love it speak on it.

Two, I didn't mind In-ho's story this season (or, what little story he had). The fact that he's tried to save Gi-hun's life at every turn, and the man has been too stubborn to listen, rightfully so, if the writers had decided that optimism was something we deserved in this day and age. He begged him to get on that plane, to stop looking for the games, to kill the other players and just take the money. In-ho wanted Gi-hun to live. And he didn't. And In-ho delivered, in person, his jacket and money to his daughter. He never called him a friend. He blew up the island. I'm assuming he left it all behind now that the coast guard got involved. God knows. Actually, never mind, his story was lazy and nonexistent. The contrast between him and Gi-hun when given that chance to kill them all and take the win was interesting, though.

Three, i cant think of another thing i liked. which is troubling. Oh, I do love a tragedy done right, so Gi-hun's death did satisfy me in the way that it was horrible. I still think he should not have died. But the fact that it was like that. I don't despise it. Not happy about it. but it could be worse.

I'm gonna just get right into my main issue with this season (and season 2 now that it's over and I can be sure of it), which is: THIS WAS NOT NECESSARY.

The entire two-part story (ridiculous) of seasons 2&3 was literally, in the end, for nothing.

Nobody's characters developed and they all died. Jun-ho didn't get anything out of finding the island because they blew it up and he was only there for 25 minutes. He saw In-ho again, said like 8 words to him, got nothing back, and then left again. Pointless. So many hours of television that were for nothing. He didn't grow as a person, he didn't learn anything new, he didn't even realise Gi-hun (WHO HE WAS MEANT TO BE LOOKING FOR) was dead however many feet below him. All he got was that fuckass CGI baby and 45.6 billion won of blood money.

Gi-hun went back just to stop the games, then killed himself to let a two-day-old newborn become a multi-billionaire for the hope of that innocent little FUGLY FREAK being a better person than him. He said maybe 20 lines the entire season. He spent the whole time silently plotting dae-ho's death, then killing dae-ho, then trying to kill himself until he finally did. His entire story was just a playbook on how to give up.

They watered Jun-hee and Geum-ja and No-eul down to just Mothers with nothing else to show for themselves. Two out of three of them killed themselves for their children and one of them tried. No-euls entire storyline felt just as pointless as the rest of them, with its weird maybe-your-daughter's-alive-maybe-she's-not open ending of her flying to China. It didn't help that we've spent this whole two-season storyline waiting for Gi-hun to have some magical moment where he figures out how to save them, only for all of them to die slowly and pointlessly one by one. Geum-ja's suicide was the only death this season that upset me, purely because I only realised what had happened just as the coffin got carried in, and her big monologue to Gi-hun finally made sense and became far more sad. It was really only thanks to her actress' performance that Yong-sik's death made me feel anything, too. Everyone else had nothing. Just cheap SFX and two seconds of shock value.

What the fuck was Hyun-ju's death. Like. Excuse me?? Myung-gi had no reason to still be killing people, let alone hunting them like animals. Why the FUCK did he kill her??? And why did Jun-hee's water break and her baby was born within five minutes???? I don't think there was a single woman in the writer's room for season 3 honest to god. I wasn't even sad about Hyun-ju's death I was just so so sooo confused. It made no sense. And then I was like uhgggh she shouldve gone through the door but no she was right to go back but wtf myung-gi why did you do that you useless piece of human garbage. and maybe it was a little bit poignant because they were so close to all surviving together. but they could've. very easily. Hyun-ju's death was just as unneccessary as the rest of this story.

Don't even get me started on myung-gi. I didn't like him last season on the principle of what he did to Jun-hee, but there was always the justification of him trying to protect her from the people who were after him but. god. I was so right to hate him. Even then, he was somewhat likeable. He did nice things sometimes. He acted like a normal human being. Who the HELL was that this season?? trying to throw his own newborn daughter off that tower for THE MONEY??????????? I thought Gi-hun would hand over the kid, myung-gi would be all sweet and sad and sorry and kiss his daughter on the head (WHICH GI-HUN THEN DID AND MADE ME GO !!!!!) before he pressed the start button and threw himself off. A nobel sacrifice for the kid, just like her mother had done, or whatever the fuck. but no. nooooo nonono of COURSE not. that wouldve been HEARTFELT and SWEET and would've let OUR HERO survive. can't have that can we?!?!?!?!??!?!?!? i need to calm down.

Side note, what the hell was kate blanchett doing there?? we do NOT need an american squid game spinoff with kate fucking blanchett as the recruiter and in-ho going full gi-hun and trying to infiltrate it and take it down in his memory or some bullshit STOP IT.

Another side note, why did they spend more time on min-su's grief over se-mi than like... any other character feeling anything?? i didn't give a shit about those two personally so every drawn-out drug-induced hallucination about it just felt like watching paint dry.

Also the games sucked. Sorry. They were all dissorientating in the most midly inconvenient way and the direction of this season was all over the place. whoever was director of photography for s3 needs to have a long think about things. And the sound design??? was it always that weird?? no, right? there wasn't always the freakish distorted music and stuff? and that weird prowler sound whenever gi-hun was staring at dae-ho and wanting to kill him?? I felt like i was going crazy it was either too silent or too loud but whatever.

And the CGI baby. Come on now. Terrible!!! There was an egregious amount of CGI in this season and it was very clearly rushed. you're on a Netflix budget with one of its most popular titles and you still managed to come out with cheap, uncanny special effects??? I would be happy about the use of CGI because yeah newborn babies look like that not like 4-month-olds and yeah that's a big rope swing u cant be throwing those at real people in real life without some serious waivers signed and some serious injuries nonetheless but you had the money to make it good. you should've taken the time, too. I have an inkling that the six-month gap between seasons instead of a few years had a small role to play in that, even if it was all shot at once. Maybe if you hadn't stretched out your nothing burger of a second season into two of them, we wouldn't be having these problems. It's just so confusing how season 3 felt so much lazier and just worse than season 2 when they should've been written, filmed, and begun post-production right alongside each other. so so sooo weird. The subpar performances of the actors i think didn't help. i just felt like i was watching actors act instead of watching people exist within a story and that always irks me. to be fair, with a cast that big, you really can't expect the greatest performances from all the nameless side characters. but like. still. lock in for me guys plz. and maybe stop throwing babies from extreme heights (Gi-hun is just a man)

The thing is, season 1 was neat and tidy and concise and heartwrenching and purposeful. It had a true meaning. A moral. It was a representation of the horrors of capitalism. The characters changed - gi-hun became an entirely new person due to the trauma of it all, sang-woo became colder and so desperate he was unrecognisable, sae-byeok's end was so tragic but before it happened, she learned to trust, jun-ho actually learned new things about his brother and the games and uncovered secrets as the viewers did and it was interesting - and the story was written with clear intention. This storyline, stretched over two seasons to get more fucking money from continuous streaming and renewal of interest, shocker, anti-capitalist my ass, was literally nothing more than a cash-grab. It was heartless. They somehow brought back queerbaiting for a second there. Nobody (at least I hope) believed it, but they tried. And that is just so so disappointing. Because they knew this story wouldn't stand on its own. They knew they had not written it for any real reason. It was all for the money. And how ironic is that?

This story could have been so good. All of the pieces were in place for them to craft something insanely relevant, a story about goodness, community, honesty, and hope beating the 1%. A story about redemption. A story about equality.

Instead, Squid Game season 3, and the overarching story of season 2, teach nothing more than there being only one thing we all can have and deserve to have: death.

Sacrifice yourself, give up, because the rich are just gonna keep getting richer. And you will never win. But, hey. There's always the next generation. Here's to hoping.

[tasty-soda-pop]

Everyone theorizing that "Oh gangle will abstract" "Oh ragatha will abstract" You're saying that cause those are the eps we've gotten. You're forgetting who the next episode is supposed to center on. Ep6 is supposedly Jax's episode, and if ep5 was really the silly before the storm, that means next episode is THE STORM, or the start of it at least and I know for a fact that it landing on Jax's ep not after means something. Jax is the storm, and I've known since the beginning that something huge would happen with Jax, because he's the one character kept ENTIRELY SECRET, and I get it that being cagey is just sort of his personality, but it's not just that, glitch and gooseworx have always been cagey ABOUT JAX, even what small info we did get before now goose has said could just be a lie. I've always thought they had to be keeping him such a massive secret for a reason, its because someone massive will happen with him and telling us literally anything before now would destroy that surprise punch the story is gonna deliver. We just finnaly got something on him sure, but that still feels like breadcrumbs, we dont get the full story, not even close. So now with all of that, what if it's Jax who abstracts? Or nobody abstracts because might I remind you we're still not close to the final episode? But what if Jax breaks as we've been seeing a trend of characters breaking in their own ways during their episodes? And what if Jax has to be as secret as possible cause he'll break in bigger way than what we've seen? I think its entirely possible, and honestly I think we've been seeing him crack ever so slightly since ep4 ironically. Those are just my thoughts based on how narratives sorta go, like dont reveal your hand too soon type.

And before you bring up the cake and bowling ball thing I have no clue where y'all got the idea that either of those meant anything crazy symbolic like that, I get this show adds details that get reveals in later episodes but that felt very random to pull from, like you're looking at the wrong frames. Plus killing off a main character before the finale doesn't really make much sense, but lots of theories don't make sense looking back.

[ancientnapdragon]

Thinking of the "shen yuan transmigrates into airplane's OP middle school OC" au again. Because it's too hot for me to turn my PC on and write.

So here is how I think this would go. Also this is jiuyuan again because I'm just obsessed with him not sorry.

Ignore typos cause phone please

SO sy wakes up in his funky System Void. But before he can really get explained anything he just sees a bunch of flashing red ERROR screens. Then he wakes up, again, and is inside of your typical xianxia appropriate bedroom. Like all by himself.

After a bit of poking around he's in this big manor. Very nice but completely empty of other people. A bit later he realizes that the whole area outside of the manor's walls is just this flat expanse of water as far as the eye can see. The sky is faintly pink and the sun has been in the same spot, like it's setting, for hours now. He's basically trapped inside this manor with no way to get out since the water looks really deep and he knows he can't swim that well.

He ends up finding a small library after a while of searching. They're all about instruments, Cultivation techniques, or qiang mastery. So, he's probably transmigrated, right? But he has no idea where he is. The last thing he read was Proud Immortal Demons Way and that had been a shitshow but he doesn't recognize any of this.

SY stays there a few days and gets familiar with his new body. The sun never goes down and the breeze never blows. He finds out he actually has a qiang as a spiritual weapon! And his body has some foundational cultivation techniques, though notes written in the margins of his books tell him not to "finish his core" until he's older. He's retained a lot of his body's skills and he's kind of OP with his weapon! He's also a master of the pipa and dizi and a really good singer, which is pretty cool! Less cool is that he seems to be a child.

Just when sy has ran out of books to read he hears a chime in his head. The SYSTEM has just come back online and slams him with info.

His SYSTEM is thankful he is still in the house! Apprently he got stuck in the body of the main character of some story called "Venegeful Son's Immortal Destiny"! SY has no idea what that is. The System explains that, for some reason, it was booted into offline mode and it only just got restarted. It also can't connect to the main cloud and something seems to be corrupting the story!

Since normal functions are offline, the best it can do is try to guide SY forward and keep him alive until the system can get fixed. Without spoiling TOO much for it, it briefly recounts that the protagonist was left in a secret realm by his father to keep him safe. His father in this world was a powerful rogue cultivator with a lot of hidden techniques, so a bunch of other jealous sects rose up against him to attack and take his precious secrets. His dad, whom he traveled with, hid him here with all his books and also his spiritual weapon.

What was SUPPOSED to happen was that the dad, bloody and dying, was supposed to burst back into the secret realm and start the son on the oath of revenge. This was a very vicious dog blood novel with lots of twists and turns! The system had been excited to FINALLY guide someone through it!

But since the dad never showed up sy is kinda trapped here. He and the system end up devising sort of a plan to get out; since he has a protagonist halo and all, the system figures they can use that to their advantage. It's still very slow going, though, and sy ends up talking to the system a lot! They kind of become friends!

This system, since it's not connected to the main cloud and kinda lost, is a lot more relaxed than the one in canon. SY ends up getting from the system that the story he's in wasn't a GOOD story, narrative wise, but it was still one of the system's favorites! The author put a lot of heart into it and really treasured the characters, which as a whole helped him through a really hard time in his life. The system explains that the job of things like itself is to help "fix" stories like this, which is part of why the system was so excited! A transmigrator like sy is just the vehicle for that!

They end up talking about books they both know (the system has never heard of PIDW though, sadly) and get along pretty well! They both prefer "bad" stories over good ones, though where SY prefers to rag on what went wrong, the System prefers to focus on what went right and how small changes could have made the stories shine.

As they bond, they enact the plan to escape. Except, they're not the only things that notice this. On the other side of the hidden realm, at the entrance, activity has alerted some rogue cultivators that something is up. While Sy and system have been trying to get out, they've been trying to get in.

It comes to a head when, suddenly, the front door crashes open and the hidden realms entrance is forced to connect to the actual world. Rogue cultivators flood inside, hoping to steal secrets before the great sects find out and wipe the place clean. Demonic cultivators follow, hoping for similar- but also the chance to catch a few unsuspecting rogues out and kill them.

SY, with all his father's important information stored away in storage rings, ends up narrowly getting out and escaping from the realm. It's the middle of the night in the "real" world and he's deep in a thick forest. SY runs, with some help from the system, until he thinks he's not being followed any longer. Panting, he ends up going to a small stream to wash the sweat off himself and cool down.

Across the stream, frozen stiff, is a boy that looks about his age, maybe a little older, with dark hair and sharp, calculating eyes. SY thinks he would be pretty if not for the scowl marring his features. The boy had been washing his hands off in the stream, which SY can tell seem sort of hurt like burns.

The System suddenly activates and tells SY to talk to him! The system can't tell exactly what, but the boy has some sort of Halo, so he's important! And maybe if they can figure out what happened they can get rid of the corruption so the system can connect again!

SY is awkward, and the boy is like a sissy and angry cat, but SY eventually introduces himself and gets a name from the boy: Shen Jiu. SJ is there with his teacher though he seems a little dodgy talking about that. Using his body's OP luck and the system's help, SY finds some herbs nearby and gives them to SJ to help with his burns. The System manages to successfully "link" them together, too!

SJ convinces SY to leave before anyone "unsavory" might find him so he does. The System, when they're alone, explains that since they're "linked" that SY will be more likely to randomly find the boy and connect with him! And, since he has a Halo, he'll eventually be around other characters, too! They'll solve this mystery together!

With System as a guide, SY ends up meeting up and endearing himself to a group of traveling performers. Apparently something similar happened in the actual story but the system doesn't recognize any of these people as the same characters. Still, SY is charming with his protag halo and his skills with music get him pretty much adopted.

SY, free, now has some goals: find out what happened to his dad and help the system clear up the corruption! As a personal goal he'd also like to finish his cultivation, but he agreed with whoever wrote those notes in the manuals to wait till he's older to do certain things; he doesn't want to be stuck as a 12 year old forever.

SY ends up traving around with the performers. As promised, every few months he happens to run into SJ! It's always a fun surprise when it happens, too! Usually it's in a town when it happens. SY will be picking up some supplies or enjoying a festival before he has to perform and he'll happen to bump onto SJ. SJ is always hissy with him but SY can recognize the tsundere trope when he sees it! SJ is never around his teacher and SY eventually gets the feeling that maybe his teacher isn't nice to SJ. But SY is just a kid and can't do much, so he has SJ hang out with him or his new adopted family while he can! SY doesn't have very much but he'll share some treats or fun gossip he's picked up on his travels. Sometimes the System even helps him find neat things that SJ can look into! It's very slow and SJ seems to fight him every step of the way, but they do form something of a small friendship.

About three years after SY escaped from the realm, he is secretly a fine little cultivator. A big conference of some sort is coming up that the big sects are sponsoring. SY has been very careful to avoid any sects since he doesn't know which ones attacked his father... but his group is going to a nearby town to perform. All the cultivators makes the surrounding towns very busy so it's a good time to earn some cash! And they're lucky enough to get a performance spot!

As per usual, this is when SY hits a lucky shot and meets up with SJ. It's the day before everything and SY and SJ end up hanging out. SY thinks that SJ is competing and wishes him luck. He makes SJ promise to come back after it's over and SY says that he'll treat him to a nice dinner with his savings for doing a good job! SJ is more dodgy than usual. In the end, SJ never comes back like he promised and SY is forced to leave town a few days later. He wonders what happened to his friend.

It's not until about four months later that he sees SJ again, which is the longest he ever went without seeing him. SJ is in some new clothes that look nicer than his older ones. SY can't help himself and throws himself at SJ to give him a hug with a cry of "Jiu-ge!". He almost gets his block knocked off for this until SJ realizes WHO SY is. SY ends up squeezing him and admitting that he thought that SJ died when he didn't come back. SJ is sort of uncomfortable and eventually gets SY pried off himself and placated.

SY then notices a couple other people around their age who are giving SY weird looks. One is named Mu Feng and the other is Wei Li. SJ explains that he got "taken in" by a cultivation sect but he is as dodgy on answering questions as always. SY introduces himself to them and explains that SJ is his friend. It turns out the three of them are on this town because there were rumors of some strange happenings. SY has heard that! So he tells them all he knows and wishes SJ luck! SJ still owes joining him for a nice dinner and he WILL collect at some point!

The System pipes up when they're gone that the two people with SJ has some sort of plot significance! Weaker auras of it, but that meant the plan was working! Hooray!

Things go like this for a while, with SJ now occasionally meeting SY on missions with his sect. He ends up meeting quite a few people with lesser plot connection but none stronger than SJ's own Halo. People who know SJ are always kinda weirded out by SY being his friend which is really strange! Because SJ is kinda prickly but he's not a bad guy or anything! (Ha) SY even sort of makes friends with the Mu and Wei guys since he seems to see them the most.

I'll continue this later cause my phone is dying. But it's very funny to imagine SY somehow missing all the PIDW clues because he's so focused on other stuff. SY can be so obtuse and that's super fun to play with! I also think that, like, SY has NOT met specifically YQY, SQH, and LQG. But he has met like every other future Peak Lord and probably like 2 of the current ones (but not the Qing Jing one). Like no one other than SY realizes he is a cultivator, too, because he is doing his best to keep that shit on lockdown. So not even SJ knows even tho SY would 100% say that SJ is his best friend in this world lmao.

I think that since SY doesn't have to put on a poser act in this world he'd be slightly more of a sassy little gremlin. He'd also be sort of cocky since he knows he has a protag halo. SY would 100% put himself in situations thinking he can get out of them!

Anyway I'll write more on this later I'm going to get dinner now yahoo

[soundop-central]

RE: your post about rebranding to megasound-central. I've always thought the best flavour of megop has soundwave squeezed in the middle, and the best flavour of wavewave has megatron off to the side only half in frame. Which is to say megasound too also is only improved by optimus being in there somewhere. I understand you.

AJDBWIXBWIZWH

megasoundop is the only brand of megop that i can tolerate, not even going to lie.

i just think that both of them need a sort of buffer there. soundwave fundamentally understands megatron (imo), and has a knack for coming to deep and accurate conclusions about others. meaning that if he spent enough time with optimus, he'd probably end up liking him.

ive always shipped megasound, like how ive always shipped wavewave and optiratch. there is so many of my favourite dynamic tropes wrapped up in this ship (i.e.: knight/lord, guard dog/leash holder, devotee/idol, etc.). i've always liked ships that have subtle power dynamics wrapped up in a morally grey (or straight up evil) bow. megasound has always been "universe's worst enabler/universe's worst warlord" to me.

i havent always shipped soundop. i actually pavlov'd myself into shipping it just because i came up with a really funny crack au that accidentally sent soundop careening from "silly nonsense" to "oh god, they're actually really good". soundop isn't as cut and dry to me as megasound- there arent a lot of dynamic tropes that actually fit them, so it's hard to quantify in simple terms what their relationship would be like. but its based on agreements, a mutual acknowledgment of the past and the future, respect and understanding. it's a lot of work, but it's rewarding.

i love both megatron and optimus as characters, and i totally recognize why the fandom ships them (ESP the idw and tfo side) (though, side note, i do actually like dpax; my opinion on megop is very nuanced and continuity dependent.) either way, i just dont see it working after literal millions of years of war without someone to act as a sort of mediator. whether that be in a romantic or platonic position, its up to whoever is doing the interpreting; but here's my take.

so we've got this guy (soundwave) who's basically sworn to this other guy (megatron), and the depth of his oath has become pretty muddy to both of them, even teetering on blasphemous if one looks hard enough. their (now ex-) enemy is an all around pretty Okay dude (optimus). while he's definitely tried to destroy everything they've done, they have also tried to do the exact same thing to him. and now that it's all done and over with...

well hey, why not? optimus seems amicable. he's definitely still sympathetic to them; remembering their time together before the degeneration that the war had become. maybe it would be worth it to try and test the waters.

i see it as an enemies to friends to lovers deal on all sides. everyone has to want it, has to work towards it, has to put in that effort.

soundwave is very suspicious of optimus at first, and frustrated that megatron would simply welcome him in so easily. optimus has to earn soundwave's trust. soundwave is protective of megatron- it's hard to undo 4 million years of protecting him from the very person he's now let in their home.

optimus is, understandably, a bit intimidated by how... intense... the vibe is. he feels like he's constantly in hostile territory. but he also knows that he's the odd man out. he resents having to earn his place, but also understands that if they want to have any hope at success, he needs to have soundwave's trust.

megatron is... both delighted and cautious. he's probably the one who's walking the thinnest line. it was his idea, he's the one who kept touch with optimus, he's the one who wanted to at least try. he convinced soundwave, no easy feat, and optimus, only slightly easier. he has the trust of two people that he cares very much about on the line.

it's definitely stressful.

both optimus and megatron are stubborn mechs. megatron has a temper and optimus has a no nonsense attitude. both of them can bicker back and fourth for hours, and to anyone on the outside, it would look like a normal conversation. yet, it is bickering, and despite how much both of them try to deny their own internal feelings, it does leave them a bit more hollow each time.

megatron never wants to apologize; he can only admit fault if he's given irrefutable proof of wrong doing. it's like pulling teeth.

meanwhile optimus is trying so hard to be reasonable, but also firm in his stances. he wishes to help both soundwave and megatron adjust to a life without war- while he can barely do that himself.

but soundwave, at first, would be doing this for megatron. as always, he's the self-sacrificer, the one who will do whatever is asked in order to further their goals. that much hasn't changed, even if the rhetoric has. yet, as time goes on, he slowly begins to enjoy this arrangement. which is something he never expected.

soundwave is adaptable and level headed; able to parse out fact and fiction within a blink of an eye. as he slowly grows more confident in his identity beyond just being megatron's most trusted, he finds himself growing more and more satisfied by finding another ship in the sea that is loving megatron.

anyway, tl;dr - they're gay. painfully so. theyre also traumatized and like not having a good time usually. but they're trying to fix that and make it work. and if that isn't real love idk what is.

[tzigone]

I really enjoyed the Dick/Tim dynamic in the 90s. To my mind, they were always much more emotionally close than Tim and Bruce (Tim talked Dick, Alfred, and Barbara about personal stuff in a way he didn't with Bruce). Dick and Damian are close, but in just a totally different way.

I like the Batfamily more "segmented" and less all-together. So Dick is close with Barbara, but Jason and Damian aren't. Tim and Cass close with Steph, but Dick and Jason not. I do think there are too many of them to all work well together, but I like so many of them.

Hated Steph ever being Batgirl - I liked her better as an independent who forged her own path, defied Batman, and didn't have a boss. But she got a watered-down version of the Jason treatment, and got handed an idiot-ball and death and then a character/personality rewrite (far from the only bat-character to get her personality changed) when the death was revealed fake. I'd have to have seen her grow as Spoiler back in those days to the point where she told the Bats she didn't need their approval or validation (and it actually be true). Cass never respected her abilities, of course, despite their affection. Sadly, Tim's respect varied, and somehow her having a Bat on her chest - having validation by his seniors - was treated as the greatest marker of her deserving respect. Not a fan of legacies in that regard - I understand the reasons from a business/IP perspective, but I like young heroes making their names just a great.

I'd be much more interested in seeing more a dynamic with Tim and Jason than Damian and Jason (I know they have the League associations, but Jason big ball of projection calling Tim "replacement" is so interesting to me). Mind you, while young Jason got totally trash-talked and victim-blamed and made into a "bad seed" by DC in ways that infuriate me, I'm not into anti-heroes and the sort of character Jason came back as. So Tim interacting with him and helping him change to the degree that he actually could be accepted by Bruce as part of his family would be interesting. Though that's more AU for him shortly after he returned, and I can understand the idea that he shouldn't have to change, that that could be treated as backwards character progression. But I can't buy Bruce or Dick being okay with him over for family dinners with how he kills at certain times in the comics.

Dick and Tim are amazing together.

Not doing another long post yet because that’s a lot of work, but I finished the third collection of Nightwing 1996 and I’m starting to realize just how close Dick and Tim are.

There’s an issue just called “The Boys”, and it’s where they go train surfing and Tim tells Dick that Stephanie is pregnant. They banter the whole issue. There are so many heartwarming interactions. I love it.

Besides the Robin-centric issue, Tim pops in and out all the time, and every interaction they have is so full of warmth on either end.

It makes me sad that brother interactions in fanon are essentially contained to Jason and Damian. I think the latter in particular makes sense; Damian is more recent, so his character is fresher and people are more recently reminded of Damian. Meanwhile, Tim is kind of non-existent in more recent comics and ESPECIALLY alternative media compared to his previous presence. So newer fans just aren’t familiar with their relationship.

(Admittedly I’m more “meh” on Jason post-resurrection but I totally get his character’s appeal. I’m just not a huge fan of his archetype.)

Still, Dick and Tim’s relationship is priceless. They’re my favorite inter-character interactions thus far. Dick is so patient and silly when showing Tim the ropes of being Robin, but he’s also kind of a little shit at times in the way any dorky older brother is. Tim is so open and self-conscious about his struggles, like with his family and his feelings about being Robin (both whether he’s good enough and whether he even wants to be a vigilante), and Dick is there every step of the way to assure him that he’s doing incredible. It’s such a healthy dynamic.

Anyways, more love to Dick and Tim. It almost makes me wish there was more content nowadays that’s pre-Damian and pre-Jason. Not that I dislike either character — I LOVE Damian in the Dick Grayson Batman and Robin run so much it’s not even funny — but I wish there was more of both I guess.

[feathermouth]

[EDITED WITH MORE INFO!]

do we still fw pressure OCs?

i have not decided on a name for them yet. im gonna try to pick something thats typically feminine, but i dont want it to be boring, so suggestions are absolutely encouraged!

this fellas name is lamis! its an arabic name that means "soft to the touch."

they are african-american (i still need to determine the specifics, this is a super rough concept so far)

lamis is egyptian ethnically, so, around north africa. lamis was born in america. US citizenship.

im probably gonna end up choosing a dif. set of pronouns for them once ive got the rest of their identity solidified

lamis is definitely a lady. but shes the type of person to not really gaf what people refer to her as.

i also feel like the design is a little cluttered, but i do not gaf. this is very self-indulgent at the moment. plus its pretty.

^ this still holds true. i dont wanna change the design, so im trying to think of ways to justify it. im considering the idea that she was engineered predominantly for aesthetics and was sorta just ... forgotten about.

their current design consists of a black dragonfish and a yellow stingray. i originally wanted to put a poison dart frog in there, but im not sure if an amphibian would fit too well in the rest of the pressure setting. their design is crazy, yes, but it will be LORE APPROPRIATE

^ still the same! if i go with my new idea, maybe they wouldve taken some liberties and used an amphibian. maybe.

they have eyes by the way. i just felt like drawing it closed. their eyes are a similar yellow. im considering changing the eyes to black instead.

her eyes are gonna be iridescent, similar to a black dragonfish. sometimes theyll look black, sometimes yellow, sometimes white—all depends on the angle and lighting.

they are bioluminescent (result of the black dragonfish dna) but their yellow patterns ONLY glow in low-light environments. they aint shining all the time. thatd be so annoying

^ still the same! except im gonna move around the areas that glow. i want them to look more "biological," like, less like a royal engraving, so i mostly need to clean up her chest and stomach. the markings will be less sharp next time i draw her.

their face looks kinda peeled back/smooth intentionally, its not just my art style. the animals they were mixed with are Very Smooth. aerodynamic or something. they had more defined features before they were mutated.

lamis' face is thinned out because of the taught skin of the animals shes mixed with. fish tend to have very smooth faces. before being experimented on, lamis had a meatier nose, deep-set eyes, and rounder cheeks.

im still unsure of what i want their role to be, if any. i dont want anything too special, i dont really like making 'main-character' characters as OCs. i dont have any ideas as to what i could do.

yeah i still dont wanna make a "special" character. i dont like when OCs disrupt canon. lamis is Very Much So an outside addition.

i know that theyre swift, quiet, and glow in the dark, so maybe some sort of rare encounter for the player? like a guide in a particularly dark set of rooms, or a mini-encounter similar to the bottomfeeder? (im aware that those ideas show two very different moral alignments, i havent fleshed out their personality yet.)

well, lamis was forgotten about after her experiments concluded, so i imagine she would be bitter. she'll probably try to force players into dim-lit areas so that she can get near them. i dont think lamis is the type of person to kill outright, but rather maim. definitely lurks in darker places and doesnt enjoy coming out into the light, so shed be a specific-situation encounter, if nothing else.

this is the only pressure oc im currently willing to make public, because my others are ENTIRELY self-serving, and you couldnt WATERBOARD my writing out of me.

anyway! suggestions are encouraged! i need feedback. please .....

[twilightofthesandwiches]

I've generally resolved to avoid thinking too much about Deltarune AUs until the game is properly finished, since, y'know, every new Chapter gives us tons of new information that can totally shift the ways the AU work. (For example, after Chapters 3 and 4, I think if you're doing a Roleswap AU, rather than the seemingly obvious 'Jevil and King = Spamton and Queen', IMO it makes just as much if not more sense to do 'Jevil and King = Spamton and Tenna'. But also it's just as possible I'd change my mind again when the remaining Chapters come out!) But… also I've still got the idea of a Deltarune Snow Queen AU with Carol as the Snow Queen rattling around in my mind.

Like, with the sort of antagonistic-but-not-exactly-the-main-flatly-evil-villain the Snow Queen has in the original story, I feel like it could easily be tweaked depending on where exactly on the Evil Scale Carol lends at the end of Deltarune to fit her (and obviously the Vibes of the Snow Queen seem to fit her perfectly). With everyone else… again, it's SUPER hard to make decisions before the story is concluded, but I think any possible variations I have for Gerda and Kai among the main character is So Extremely Good Holy Shit. And the more episodic adventures can be a good place to put in various Darkner characters like Tenna or Queen… This feels like it has some real potential, I just hope I remember it when Chapter 7 comes out….

[le01zk00l]

Leo’s Namgyu yap

[This contains spoilers about Squid game season 3]

[TW : This yap contains mentions of Overdosing / General death!!]

I honestly didn’t like Namgyu’s death… I feel like we could’ve done more with it! I feel like it’s sort of important to mention that even the squid games creator never wanted to make the show this long, but due to Netflix requesting more seasons he had to make more. He even talked about how he lost 2 more teeth while making season 3, I feel like that’s why the writing [so far up to episode 4] sucks so much, due to stress

but anyway, back to Namgyu, I have a thing for characters that die in important or significant ways, reasons why deaths like these who had great opportunities and end up so wasted makes me so disappointed I gotta talk bout it…

Namgyu, in the starting episodes of season 3 had such a huge build up, it was obvious he was going crazy, his singing the way he moved and carried himself. This would’ve been a great little plot point between Myung Gi and Namgyu, OR EVEN WITH MIN SU!!! And we had it but in a really quick way.

Namgyu dying by being betrayed by Minsu could’ve been a good idea, but the way it was so quick and we immediately passed by it as the episode went was pretty infuriating for me honestly…

If you told me Namgyu died before watching season 3, I would’ve guessed he maybe overdosed with Thanos’s pills, or fought against someone and thanks to the pills or being so unfocused by rage he ended up slipping up and dying on someone’s hands. But dying the way he did, so desperate for pills and just fell off the bridge was so painfully overlooked and simple, it had no significance to his characters or those surrounding him [for me at least!!]

and I know Namgyu wouldn’t have a huge impact cuz the show isnt about him at all, or he obviously isnt the main big bad antagonist like Thanos seemed to be in season 2, but I still feel that season 2 left so many speculations about Namgyu and season 3 gave us NOTHING!!’

Like, comparing him to Thanos for a second :

Thanos was also not the main antagonist, he shouldn’t had that much impact, but he had even if he wasn’t that important to the show! We got a reason why he was there, his passions, how he was found by the recruiter guy, and died anyway but at least left a mark on the viewer making it obvious that even if Thanos wasn’t that big of an antagonist, HE HAD A REASON TO BE THERE AND WHY HE WAS THERE!!!

Namgyu in the other hand, we know he was a club promoter for club pentagon… he knew Thanos before the games, Knew Myung Gi before the games and got scammed by his crypto currency scam….. aaand.. that’s it. Season 3 could’ve been a great chance to show a bit more of Namgyu’s character when he was by himself, and most of his dialogue revolved around Thanos, how he betrayed him, how he hated him so much, and nothing more.

And when he wasn’t talking about Thanos, most of his dialogue was just either singing to annoy Myung Gi [I loved that singing btw!] Insulting or yapping to Minsu, or copying Thanos [again!]

of course a character DOESNT need to have significance to everything they do 24/7, but for someone like Namgyu who had such a build up, I feel like he could’ve had more…

I love Namgyu, hes my favorite character in the show and I adore him with a passion, but he simply wasn’t written perfectly this season, his death was quick and a little boring [of course it was heartbreaking for da Namgyu fans out there AND FOR ME!] and… thats it

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

More interesting engineering! I'm tucking all this in my back pocket for a new fic idea I've been prepping —

Like I know it's rumored that his builder had a grudge against Gresley but surely they didn't build exactly one locomotive and immediately go out of business. There had to have been other cursed bootleg engines produced.

This is a really good point that I've had cause to wonder about. I am not sure who would have bought them but I tend to think that there were others who simply died before 1945. Henry was lucky to be on Sodor. Others served the war effort as scrap metal, if they even got so far as that.

I mean I guess they could have been a relatively competent maker of industrial shunters or something but it'd be hilarious if they pulled stunts like this repeatedly.

See, this reminds me of the workshop where Hatt found Percy, in all his Frankenstein gloriousness. Like it doesn't really make sense character-wise since Hatt is supposed to have been so spittingly furious about the Henry swindle. But that place feels like the sort of place that might produce and/or procure weird, inventive, makeshift engineering and along the way they're an obvious distributor for something like OG Henry.

I've just had a realization about Henry Mk1, the fictional sodor locomotive that was rumored to be built to stolen plans by an engineer jealous of Sir Nigel Gresley, but who stole the wrong plans. The engine was so flawed when built that they unloaded it to the first desperate buyer--Mr. Topham Hatt--who "wanted an Atlantic, but that ----- ------ ------ sent me that!"

So Henry I is said to have an undersized firebox, but he's also said to look like Gordon, and most of the best guesses for Henry's basis is that it was a modified Ivatt Atlantic stretched into either a ten wheeler or a Pacific. He also looks to have as wide a firebox as Gordon's in the illustrations and in the classic show.

an Ivatt Atlantic.

The A0 prototype--also thought to be Gordon as built, though he would have been heavily modified until he was mechanically identical to the A1s. (i.e., Flying Scotsman, Great Northern, etc)

Suppose Gresley's first thought was to stretch an Atlantic into a ten wheeler, and not a Pacific. With no room for the driving wheels, he'd have had to cut into the firebox, changing it into a narrow "keyhole" shape like Edward's. He would have done some calculations on the firebox's heating rate versus the power output of the engine, and determined that the loco wouldn't work, and then tossed the plans--right into the thief's hands.

My theory is that Henry I had the boiler barrel of a Large Boiler Atlantic, and he was built with larger cylinders (comparable to Gordon's, rather than the original Atlantic's). Maybe even three or four cylinders, maybe intended to be a compound like some of the Ivatt Atlantics iirc, but built by the thieves incorrectly as a simple-expansion engine. But he had a thin 'keyhole' style firebox squeezed between the rear drivers.

So Henry was lugging around Gordon-type weight, held a Gordon amount of steam and water, and had just as much tractive effort as Gordon... but with a firebox barely larger than Edward's. He'd take ages to build pressure, and when he did, he'd exhaust it faster than he could build up more.

He looks like he had a wide firebox like Gordon because in order to mask this obvious oversight, Henry's builders built the boiler jacket, the smooth painted outer hull, to be the same shape as an Ivatt Large Boiler Atlantic's boiler jacket, but most of it was just hollow.

Combine that with generally poor build quality--valve gear out of time, low factor of adhesion despite the extra driver due to oversized cylinders, leaky fittings and cylinders--and you got yourself a "deplorable" locomotive, but one that is ultimately recoverable if he's given the care he deserves.

Plus I like Henry being a ten wheeler pre- and post- rebuild.

[dragi-and-dodge]

DnD Character Challenge 1 "Gender and Love":

Number of all created Characters: 11

Male Characters: 5

Female Characters: 5

Diverse Characters: 1

Straight Characters: 5

Ace Characters: 1

Gay Characters: 3

Bi Characters: 2

Not decided: 0

Reblog or Comment to show your world of DnD.

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

???

Both WWX and LWJ are highly ideal characters, so there wouldn’t be too much dispute on their moral standing. They’re perfect as the protagonists.  - MXTX's end notes (chapter 113.5), EXR translation

I'm not one to say word of the author is word of god – I definitely lean more towards Death of the Author in that regard. But an important part of that is that you look at what happens in the novel – and, from WWX's actions in the novel, it's pretty clear that this is supposed to be the case. Even if you don't agree with that statement, there's no doubt that acting on his morals is something extremely important to him, and those morals lean heavily towards doing the "right thing" in his perception. That is not "neutral".

Examples of this: WWX was not killed for being the only person to do the right thing and defend the Wen remnants for people to say he's chaotic neutral. He didn't risk his life alongside LWJ to protect both innocents and people who participated in the first Siege, during the second. He didn't go to save Su She from the Waterborne Abyss (at no personal gain), defend Mianmian (at no personal gain), join LWJ in going wherever the chaos is post-canon when they night hunt (despite preferring more difficult, exiting ones – though of course, spending time with LWJ plays a very large role in here too!), etc and do so many other things in the novel, for people to say he's chaotic neutral. He doesn't say this for no reason:

"But, let the self judge the right and the wrong, let others decide to praise or to blame, let gains and losses remain uncommented on." - Chapter 75, EXR

He says it because it's an important part of his philosophy (it fits with his actions, and, from a writing standpoint, would you include that with no indication of a lie otherwise?)! Because judging the right thing, and doing the right thing, is important to him! That's not chaotic neutral!

"He does whatever he wants pretty consistently" well... yes? That is how decisions work? Morality isn't determined by whether you act independently or adhere to other rules – that's where chaotic and lawful come in, but not evil or good. If you do what you want to do, and what you want to do is help people, that's not neutral! It's good!

There's more to the tags, but I won't go into that right now since it's a different point. I would like to say that are multiple posts talking about how WWX doesn't just act disrespectfully/arrogantly for no reason (he knew he'd have to "keep his status in mind" if he wanted to run wild, he was hardly the only person being rowdy and breaking rules in Gusu yet nobody says the same about people like NHS or JC who did that too, post-SSC he was playing up these traits so nobody would look deeper into his reasons for things, ie not having his GC, etc. He enjoys running wild, yes, but it doesn't mean he does it mindlessly!), such as the one I just reblogged, because that's a point that needs adressing here as well. Please don't try to search up these tags and harrass anybody, as it only leads to harm – I just really, really disagree with this take. The WWX of MDZS is neither stupid nor chaotic neutral...

[pjowasmy1stfandom]

I tricked myself into starting to write an original story and I don't know whether to be mad at myself or proud

[vithcy]

Te hehe