#- together a cohesive backstory and such. i want him to feel like. a person. a very fucked up person. not just this cartoonish villain

[fowlblue]

//‘The Angriest Dog In The World’- David Lynch//‘Salvage’- Hedgie Choi//

It would take a very long time to break down the intricate little man I’ve made of Jon Spiro in the back of my mind and how I characterize him (henceforth why I wish to explore it in fic form), but I can say with absolute certainty that these two works had a massive influence on said characterization.

[ekingston]

Apart from show canon, at which point did u think it was too late for lena's immediate forgiveness to kara's identity reveal

oh boy. anon, here is where i come clean about my shoddy recollection of canon’s chronology. i’ve done so many fragmented rewatches and skipping back and forth—there’s a reason i rarely dabble with canon-adjacent stuff! and that even when i do, i create worlds where Lena figures it out herself! 

second road bump to answering this question is that i have a LOT of feelings about how things played out on the show, and most of them are incongruent with the tone of sgcw. i understand their narrative reasons for keeping the secret from Lena for so long! but the execution is so, so terrible! ignoring large swathes of canon and replacing them with my own is the only way i’m able to enjoy at least the last tiny handful of seasons!

here is where i spend an hour procrastinating from my WIPs, while not successfully answering your question at all:

to be perfectly clear: i adore most parts of canon Kara. and i think i may be hard on her in ways i wouldn't be if i didn’t relate to her so much. i think her backstory is extremely compelling and i admire her ability to hold on to her kindness and hope and joy even after losing everything that was important to her, even when she’s tired and lonely and mad. 

BUT. a healthy Lena—one who we were made to believe was finally freeing herself from Lex and Lillian, rising above the coping mechanisms she’d developed as an unwanted and emotionally neglected child? i don’t think that Lena would (should?) have forgiven canon Kara at all.

after the rift, canon Kara flitted between telling Lena she’d lied to her ‘to protect you’ to ‘one person who sees me only as Kara’ to ‘your last name’ to ‘didn’t want to lose you’ until she literally told Lena she was on her own, and she’d treat her like any other villain until Lena repented, even rejecting her apology at first, as if Kara’s own decisions had played no part in Lena’s downward spiral at all.

the Kara Lena would have forgiven is the much more cohesive and coherent Kara brought to us by our talented fix-it writers: a Kara who is willing to let herself be vulnerable and to second-guess her motivations, one who is able to put together a proper apology and actually listen to Lena's own. 

but, okay, lets table all of that. this is me trying really, really hard to entertain canon:

Kara and Lena’s friendship became painfully lopsided by season 3. i think that was, if i recall correctly, when the super-friends decided to trust Lena enough to regularly ask her for assistance—but not enough to let her be part of their in-group; it’s where they left Lena in the dark about the fact that her best friend had come close to plunging to her death right in front of Lena's eyes, and was actively still fighting for her life; where they tricked Lena into having an extremely personal conversation with J’onn, while he was wearing Kara’s features, only to make belly-laughing fun of her about it later. 

and even then, honestly, it might already have been too late. what about the aftermath of Jack’s death? was that season 2? Jack was Lena’s ex-everything, someone who genuinely loved her, who saw her through the fallout of Lex’s arrest. he was one of her last remaining friends, and Lena pressed the button to let him die in order to save Supergirl’s life. how would Lena knowing that Kara went through that with her, knowing Lena had chosen to save the life of her favorite person in addition to National City’s hero, have changed the way she felt about that horrible situation? that’s where that extremely wonderful heart-to-heart on the L-Corp couch happened, right? Kara swore she’d always be Lena’s friend—while keeping silent about the fact that she was there when Jack drew his last breath, that she had witnessed their final moments.

so—i really can’t tell you anon, i’m so sorry. the 100th episode already fabricated reasons why Kara couldn’t possibly come clean to Lena back when she made the conscious decision to be her friend (and not in a ‘keep your enemies close’ kind of way!), and i’m beginning to think that was the only moment Kara could have told Lena that would have kept her conscience completely clear. Kara should have made it part of her decision—either she was going to be Lena’s friend and give her the same trust Lena was giving her, or she would keep things professional, and keep her identity a secret from her. 

Kara tried to do both, and if i really think about it, i don’t believe that was ever fair.

[thyandrawrites]

I just read your Fuyumi character analysis and it made me see her in a totally different light. I was one of the people that thought she was easily forgiving her father and forcing her siblings to do the same but after reading your analysis I realized that was wrong. I see now that she isn’t selfish as I first thought. I can see that her actions are more of defense and self preservation than forgiveness and it made me feel some sort of appreciation for her struggles and her love for her siblings.

So I wanted to ask if you had a Rei character analysis because I would love to read it. Your analysis are awesome.

Hi! Thank you for taking the time to read my Fuyumi post. I’m pleased to hear you found it an interesting read, and I can only be glad if it gave you some food for thought on a character I love so much :’) 

To answer your question, I haven’t written anything extensive on Rei yet, and certainly not anything solely focused on her. Because of how little screen time she gets, I find it much harder to get a cohesive read of her goals and motivations. Her lack of backstory and internal narration leave a lot of unanswered questions. But I wanted to thank you for asking about her anyway, because your ask gave me a push to try and get something together. It won’t be as thorough as my other todofam meta, and it will contain a lot of guessing, but I’m putting it out there anyway. Maybe I’ll add more to it later on, if we ever get some more info on her. 

On Rei, and the double-edged sword of Choices

As the title prefaces, Rei puts a lot of importance on making your own choices. Despite the fact that she’s often depicted as having little agency, a core belief of hers seems to be that even when your options are limited, you can make the most of them and find happiness by confidently choosing your path forward, and sticking to it through the end. 

[more under the cut]

It’s because of this mindset that she’s able to see marrying Enji as her own informed choice. From her perspective, she didn’t agree to it because of external pressure from her family, but rather because Rei wanted this for the Himuras’ sake. Now, whether this is entirely true or not, and she was “sold off” for money and prestige like Touya says, we don’t know for sure. But for the purpose of this speculation, it's not really important to determine whose choice the arranged marriage really was; what matters is that Rei thinks she walked into it by her free will. 

What she says to Shouto here (read right to left) gives us a little more insight. This is her response to Shouto's fear that his circumstances (=being trained by a cruel person) will dictate the outcome of his actions. 

Essentially, Shouto's scared of going along with Enji's will, because he doesn't want Enji to make him into the type of hero who hurts others. And Rei steps in and tells him, "it's okay, you wouldn't end up like that, because being a hero is something you want for yourself, not just to crown Enji's aspirations. You wouldn’t be a puppet in his hands that does what he wants, but your own person pursuing your own goals. Keep your eyes firmly set on the man you want to become, and you will get there." 

Envisioning the future you want to achieve is the crucial part here. When the proposal of an arranged marriage was on the table, Rei tells us she didn't have many options in front of her. In that sense, she too was limited by her circumstances and by her blood. But she agreed to it, and I quote, "hoping, if nothing else, that [she] would keep smiling." In other words, Rei might not have wanted to marry Enji, per se, but maybe she wasn't as opposed to the idea of making a family of her own. A part of her thought she'd still find happiness (maybe even fulfillment) as a wife and a mother. 

And at least at the beginning, I think she might've been, too. Happy, that is. At the very least, she loved her children. Back then, Enji was still an… okay father. He planned to live vicariously through his children, and that's not the ideal mindset behind having a child, but he had yet to act on it; the family dynamics weren't as tense and toxic as they become the longer he went without achieving his ambitions. Fuyumi's birth wasn't planned as a replacement like her younger siblings, a demand from a man obsessed with his goals. It was Rei’s idea to conceive her, to give little Touya a sibling close in age so that they could support each other. 

What this tells us is that even if Rei knew she was expected to bear Enji’s children, up to that point, she still had a vision of a future where her kids were healthy and fulfilled, and Rei too, with them. Thus, she actively took the initiative to make the family a happy nest despite the not so happy circumstances behind the union itself. 

Then Enji starts growing more and more obsessed with an heir, and Rei starts properly fearing her husband.

This is where things get complicated, and also when Rei betrays her beliefs. As I went over, she puts a lot of weight into making your own choices, but when Enji’s temper gets worse and worse and he stops asking, Rei begins surrendering to his will. This, despite knowing how Touya will see right through the intent behind Natsuo’s conception, and realize they are finally replacing him. 

To her credit, Rei does attempt to protest, to stand her ground. She’s not unkind, and she doesn’t want to cause unjust suffering to her kid. She's aware that being replaced will crush him, and that knowing so and persisting anyway is cruel of them. But for someone who values choices so much, she chooses to stay. She could’ve walked away with the kids and gotten out of dodge. That wouldn’t have stopped Enji, of course, he could’ve gotten married again, but she wouldn’t have been an accomplice. 

I want to make clear that this is not me condemning her for being too scared to oppose Enji in any substantial way. It’s the story itself that draws attention to this. Touya spells out her complicity, and it’s something we are asked to take notice of. Despite trying her best, Rei is depicted as a flawed mother who made mistakes as well, particularly in raising Touya. 

It’s subtle, but it’s there, and this line here is particularly telling. We know that Touya pushes back against the idea that Rei had the option to say no to marrying Enji. Since she was poor, and her family needed it, Touya states that she only had the illusion of a choice. Agreeing to it was an inevitability. Like training until he can be stronger than All Might was inevitable for him, too. 

Now, Touya thinks of it that way because has a sharply different mindset than her. From his perspective, both him and his mother have no other options than to perform the role they’re thrown into. While Rei thinks she’s responsible for her decisions, Touya reckons there was only ever one path in front of her (and him), aka that of bearing the burden of one's legacy. By being born into an impoverished family that used to have prestige and power, Rei’s destiny was already written for her. Just like how, by being born as Endvr’s son, Touya’s fate was already decided as well. This fits into his idea of predestination, of the straight or warped tracks he mentions to Shouto. 

So Touya frames Rei as someone lacking agency, someone who cannot change the tracks of her life. He does it to make a point about himself, to state that doesn’t have any alternatives, either. But his word choice happens to be… brutally ironic. 

When he says “you had no choice” in the panel above, in Japanese he’s echoing his dad. 

Specifically, he’s echoing Enji when he said he “had no choice but” to have more children. Nominally, to make Touya stop training in secret. In truth, to have a more suitable heir who could beat All Might. 

I'm not sure if Touya's wording itself is intended as a callback, but the fact that he accuses Rei of "being guilty too" in that same scene makes me think we're supposed to think of it anyway. 

We know that somewhere after Touya snapped at Rei here, she had just as much of a hard time facing him as her husband did. The given reason is that she sees Enji in her children, and her fear paralyzes her and makes her slip away a little more every day, until her eventual breaking point. But I think that there was another component at play here: guilt. 

If we assume that in that moment Rei was thinking of Enji's stubbornness—as it's hinted at by her equating their narrowed, angry eyes—then Touya's words might've hit a nerve there. 

Mind you, this is very much unconfirmed, so I could be completely wrong about it. But notice how it's only after Enji mentions All Might that she drops all protests. Before, the topic was Touya's wellbeing, and the morality of inflicting this onto an innocent child who just wanted his father's attention. But the second Rei is abruptly reminded of the reason behind this contract between her and Enji, the goal of producing a fitting heir who will beat his rival, we see her expression shift. She's no longer frantic, she's stricken. A bead of sweat rolls down her face, like she's digesting this. Realizing what it means, what will happen. 

Of course, we could attribute this to fear; she could be seeing Enji's true colors for the first time, or realizing that nothing she can say will ever stop him. That has been my interpretation so far. But what if there was more? 

What if she felt pressured, similarly to how she might've felt pressured by the Himuras' circumstances, and ended up folding and defaulting to do what was expected of her as a result? And then calling it her decision, despite how it’s clearly not what she wanted? 

Psychologically, it would make sense. It's not too hard to make the jump from "I walked into this myself. It was my choice" to "I chose this life. It is on me. I can't pretend I didn't know what my role in it would be, and I have to play it."

If Rei fell for that kind of reasoning, maybe even subconsciously, it could help make sense of why, despite witnessing the worsening of the abuse and of her own mental state, she clings to her hope of eventual happiness for years. Or why, despite having been complicit in punishing Touya with two more replacements, she still doubles down on her belief about the importance of choices, enough so that she passes it down to Shouto. Like allowing Touya to be hurt like that wasn't also a deliberate act; she took part in it knowing the harm that would follow, so ethically speaking, she can't hide behind a lack of better alternatives. She can't deny ownership of her actions by claiming she was blinded by foolishness, like Enji later does. That, too, was a choice, but since Rei cannot bear this weight, I think she coped with it by telling herself it was part of her duty, of her role, and thus accepted it as an inevitability, too. Something that she surrendered to because her "options were limited" to quote her rationalizing of things. It would be a defense mechanism of sorts.  

If a part of her justifies what they did as part of her marital contract, then she can frame it as something she had to endure for the sake of her family, too. In the process, she can avoid the guilt attached. 

But when Touya calls this out, she cracks, face stricken in fear, and she cannot say anything to defend herself. He sees through her, and she cowers from it. His self-awareness makes it impossible for her to soothe him with easy words like she later does with Shouto. She has no legs to stand on. Her words ring empty, and she knows it. A lie to keep up the pretense of being in control.

Though Rei had entered this situation hoping she would find happiness somehow, the truth is that she hasn't been happy in years. She's exhausted, jaded, wrung out. The family she had pictured doesn't match the broken one she can't keep together despite her best efforts. So, what use was walking into this of her own accord, with her own agenda (however simple), if she couldn't make the most of it, and instead ended up succumbing under the impossible weight of her role? 

By then, Enji had given up on even pretending to be involved in Touya's life. He was similarly neglectful to his other children as well. And by giving in to his demands for more kids, Rei co-signed the destruction of whatever normalcy they could've ever hoped to achieve, because Touya knew exactly what they'd done and why, and it made him restless. By the time a fitting replacement came around, the family was as good as gone, and with it, Rei's aspirations. 

But acknowledging this means acknowledging her agency in it. And she can't. She can't look Touya in the eyes and insist again about how many other paths are available to him aside from becoming a hero. Not when Touya pointed out that she had paths, too, and still walked the one written in the tracks of her life. 

In this light, her avoidance of Touya from then on mirrors Enji’s. She's running away from facing things about herself she doesn't want to confront, things that Touya brings to the forefront of her mind by being their unfortunate victim and byproduct. 

Interestingly, though, Rei later shows a bit more of a willingness to face the past. 

Shouto's influence helps her in that sense. When he finds the courage to reconnect with her, despite how he should've hated her, she gets a taste of what actually sticking with your choices means. And it spurs her onto action herself. 

As a child, Shouto told her that he didn't want to become the kind of person who would hurt her. He already believed in kindness, and aspired to be a hero who rescued others, like All Might was shown doing in that TV interview Shouto was watching with Rei. But then Rei was hospitalized, and she spent ten-ish years away from Shouto, thinking the entire time that he resented her for having burnt him. 

In truth, Shouto was simply afraid of meeting her. Since he saw himself as the cause of her mental break, he feared that his visit would be unwelcome, or maybe that she would get worse because of him. But in the end, he pushed through those fears and went to the hospital, and then kept coming back and writing letters with the purpose of reconnecting. Shouto could've easily kept things as they were, but he decided to confront her, to seek a conversation, to seek healing. He didn't want to leave those loose ends unaddressed, or to hide behind his insecurities, his anxieties. Shouto was obviously afraid of rejection, of facing her and finding out she still saw his father in him. He was trembling when he arrived at the hospital that first time. But that didn't deter him. Like his mother told him to do all those years ago, he firmly set his eyes on the man he wanted to become, and that man was someone who had a relationship with his mother again. 

When Rei witnesses that unshaking resolve, that determination to stay true to himself and his choices, she becomes stronger as a result. 

She finally faces Enji, despite admitting to still being afraid of him not too long before. 

And when the topic of Shouto's scar comes up, she owns up to it. Her expression is serious, unflinching. She's not feeling sorry for herself the way she looked away from Touya, eyes downcast and expression laced with visible guilt. 

That's a step towards healing for her. Burning Shouto wasn't a conscious action on her part (it was a fight or flight response to fear), but the fact that she is willing to look head on at the past instead of avoiding it is a nod in the right direction. 

Before, she let that vision of a happy future slip away from her. She let herself be swept by her circumstances, and lost sight of herself in the process. 

Losing sight of yourself because of said circumstances is an idea that gets explored through Shouto as well, by the way. To further underline it. Shouto, too, temporarily let his family situation cloud his vision and push him off his original path. For a handful of years, he was too angry, too bitter and resentful to remember that the things that had motivated him to become a hero was kindness and compassion. He almost nearly becomes cruel like Enji. But remembering himself, setting his eyes on the kind of man he originally wanted to become, puts him back on track. Thanks to that, he's able to successfully rescue Iida from Stain. 

Similarly, Rei's misstep is letting her fear get the best of her, and letting herself forget that happiness was still within her reach. Because of that, her challenge is to fix that and face Touya again. In that sense, she can prove she has a choice. She isn't there just to provide the ice genes to make the perfect kid. She still has the power to create a family that isn't dysfunctional, if she commits to the idea that choices were never about making the most of limited options and adverse fate, but rather sticking to your guns and making your future happen despite those adverse circumstances. 

Her challenge, then, is to make a family that will be happy for real. With Touya as an integral part of it, this time. 

[asukaskerian]

no judging people who do like her but i don't get the bambietta hype at ALL. the most interesting she is to me is after she gets zombiefied. because THEN we have conflict, we have pathos, we have... idk.

she's introduced : invites a random low ranked hot dude to fuck, immediately cuts him in two looking bored. ok so she's a psychopath using her body as a bait. oh wait she gets all serious and says she's worried for the future of their wandenreich, ok so she's the patriotic visionary type PSYCH this trait will never show up again. now she's part of a group of mean girls who bicker like they're in a high school cafeteria and murdering their fucks is on par with stealing another girl's crush. are we supposed to go "lol how random" or "gap moe" or something?

she's the group leader oh WAIT all her "friends" ditch her the second they can, laugh about it, and don't give a fuck when she gets mortally wounded and shoved straight at a fate worse than death by another of their "friends".

she dies and from there she serves as an object, to showcase how monstruous giselle is. she loses her agency, her dignity, her brain (what there was of it)... and i mean, giselle as a character is a fucked up problematic concept but in a manga that contains kurotsuchi mayuri, that tracks. :/

???

is she really just a dumb-but-hot psychopathic bitch that even her friends hate? that's it? she's not even psycho in an INTERESTING way, it really just feels like kubo wanting a slut character but also wanting it to do double duty as a showcase that the last arc quincies have zero depth and history and are just evil because... because evil idk.

i don't get how she's apparently known for pulling that praying mantis move and yet the rank and file still jumps on the chance to sleep with her. and i REALLY don't like how it's been zero explored why the femritters even hang out together, what their past is, nothing. you've got backstory for xerox paper depth loyd and royd and not for the girls?? hnghgh.

tbh it's a problem for the whole lot of the sternritters. they have been living together in hiding for like, centuries, and yet have less cohesion and social interaction than the arrancar, and the arrancar were half-feral cannibals shoved together in a box by a stronger guy so them offing each other the second aizen's back was turned was understandable. the sternritter are supposed to be an army and yet apart from bazz b and askin and jugram it feels like ywhach fished them out of arkham and told them only the last ten survivors were coming to his new world with him.

every single other femritter is honestly more interesting. ok, not meninas who's around just to round out the group, but MAN. liltotto's =_= personality, no-nonsense attitude and smarts make her basically the one who should be a leader. candice is the second hotblooded bitch of the group, ok, but she seems more socially awkward and honestly caring toward select people instead of bambietta's catty queen bee bullshit. giselle is... creepiness layered on top of creepiness but that's still dynamic as fuck re: making the plot move. (... was bambietta's story arc just there to give giselle a fun necrophilia toy?? is that why it's so flat?????)

i don't even knwo where i'm going with that, i just. bambietta was always designed to become giselle's fun toy and i GUESS kubo needed to make sure it seemed at least partly deserved, but he never did seem to give her shitty actions any of the weight they deserved and always depicted them with "haha lol these catty little girls" energy, so for me it never landed.

and yeah, her fight with komamura was just... not worth the hype. after all this "ehhh" she wasn't even an amazing fighter? tch.

[blueskittlesart]

In defense of the original, while I do agree the episodic vibes were a bit much at times, and it was something I kinda had to work my way through slowly rather than binging all in one...

I do kinda prefer the more gradual approach to laying out the information; getting to know both the setting and who Vash is as a person and the different facets of both, before getting the context that lets it all click into place. Plus the main quartet having ample time to grow together so that later developments have stronger emotional weight.

I will agree that Knives definitely suffered in focus, and I am interested in how Stampede handles him, but admittedly he wasn't really what I watched Trigun for in the first place. ^^;

yeah my gripe is less with the way the setting and characters were handled and more with the way the. actual plot was handled. it honest to god felt to me like they realized about halfway through their run that they didnt have enough episodes left to get the backstory in in a cohesive way so they just shoved it all into one episode and pretended that that explanation didn't create more questions than it answered. you spend 20 episodes teasing your audience like "ooooh what is vash?? clearly hes not human!! clearly there's something going on!!! don't you want to know whats going on?? keep watching and you'll totally understand whats going on!!" and then your big reveal is that. He Is Not Human. which is something that any idiot who has watched the last 20 episodes has already figured out. the question the audience ACTUALLY has at that point in the runtime is what, EXACTLY, is vash, and what the context is behind the conflict he and knives are in. the backstory episode explains that Knives Is Here, and it gives context to the setting and everything, but it pissed me off that it STILL didn't answer the actual mysteries i cared about, i.e. vash's real identity and the thing with the gun and his fucking arm and knives's motivations and everything. maybe that gets answered in the last episode that i neglected to watch but personally I prefer a story where i UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON by the time the final confrontation hits. with trigun it got to a point where vash was going out for the final battle with knives and i STILL didn't know who vash was, who knives was, where they came from, or what the hell their motivations were. that just made that final confrontation seem so wholly uninteresting to me that i didn't even feel like watching it. it was like "hey look vash is fighting a cardboard cutout that he is Afraid Of. Why? lmao idk man. probably has something to do with that weird spaceship that shows up in one whole episode before this point. not going to tell you how tho." I think some writers have this tendency to think that mystery = good writing and that not revealing anything to your audience will consistently draw them in for more, but that only works for so long. after 20 episodes of virtually net 0 information it got to feel like I was being strung along and like my questions were never going to be answered, so I gave up on the show in the final hour. Again, i'm not saying it was BAD necessarily and i understand the context in terms of writing and production that led to the show being produced that way but i think it really noticeably suffers due to the fact that it refuses to give the audience ANYTHING but crumbs of information for about 80% of it's runtime. that being said. i did genuinely like a lot of it. it has its moments. im not trying to discourage anyone from watching it or anything lol i just think stampede is a little more successful in keeping the viewer engaged in the story throughout by constantly feeding you bits of information and actually answering your questions as they become plot-relevant.

[spectralstitions]

PROGRESS! AGAIN! Lordy I hate looking at the 2020 era of my art haha. Jesper's original design was created in August of 2020, although iirc I got the idea for his design a few months prior while I was going through my Will Wood phase. He's come a long way!

He's changed a little bit in personality thanks to the influence of the one and only Giovanni Potage - originally he straight up did not have empathy and he filled more of an actual villain role. Now he's a lot more fun and oftentimes he functions as an antagonist but he's really only a bad guy in the way Giovanni is a bad guy lmao.

It took a long time for me to add another color to his palette because I was really set on his original "blood moon" aesthetic, but honestly... not only does the addition look nicer, it's just so much more in character for him to wear 578390 colors. Anything to stand out as much as possible! Even so, I only convinced myself to finally do it once I decided to make Jaks (his crime partner) part rooster. I realized that adding any green/blue to Jaks would make him stand out way too much against Jes. Besides the green addition, I also lightened his entire color palette considerably because I was really inspired by red and gold theatrey colors. Funnily enough his gold/red palette that he had for a while was inspired by scenes of him I imagined to Black Parade songs, somehow.

I think the big thing that finally made him feel right (besides his nose and hair type of course) was the addition of the folk inspired elements. Now I could just be missing out on some niche design community here but it occurred to me that I've never really seen someone take tropes and elements of folk costumes and just... apply them to other things? So I was like, okay, critterkin are folk inspired, let's make Jesper a folk parody of a pirate/ringmaster thing. And it was so much fun! And I realized I could just continue to parody normal outfits with folk inspiration for his entire species' dress preferences. (And faefolk, since they take a lot of inspo from critterkin for lore reasons. For example Mikolaj is basically an Indiana Jones folk parody lmao).

I simplified Jesper's folk patterns down as much as I thought was reasonable for the ref, and it's still a lot, but for Jesper anything less than A Lot would be out of character haha. And I think honestly I did a really fantastic job not only making him look both circusy and piratey but blending both elements together in a cohesive way.

When I made the decision to animalify my ocs, Jesper was probably the hardest sell for me because I thought It meant I'd have to get rid of his long ears. That was until I searched up "long eared rodents", was reminded that jerboa existed, and became increasingly amused as I realized just how much they were actually made for each other. The long legs, the tail, the ears, the hunched over evil villain posture, the silliness, the meme potential. The fact they're so skittish and shy helped me finalize his backstory, too!

With every iteration he becomes increasingly Jespery. I want him to explode

[majormeilani]

What are your thoughts on the DLCs and Mafia Town? I know that you also think that Battle of the Birds is the best chapter and that you're not too fond of Alpine Skyline.

hattytime thoughts.... okay.

on mafia town:

i think it's an alright chapter? i mean, i think it's full of a lot of character and environmental storytelling that helps you put everything together about what happened on the island. it also leaves you to wonder a lot about it too. the only thing that kind of disappoints me about it is that we don't really learn that much about mafia boss and his intentions are left extremely vague as well. i also kinda wish the acts had a more cohesive purpose to being there and didn't seem all over the place and random. like the race one is just there for no reason it seems like lmao okay? i know that was probably a leftover from cut content tho (riding a rocket)

i know a lot of people think that mafia town is an 'ugly' level but personally i think it's rather nice looking and i think its kind of 'gummy' look really adds to the degradation of the island.

i do really kind of wish that we got more out of it or some resolution that was properly set for mu as well because i feel like there's so much more we need to know about her.

one underrated part of the level that is probably my favorite is heating up mafia town. not only is the concept really funny but it's actually a nice and light little challenge for the early-midpoint of the game. i love what it tells us about mu and her knowledge of the island as well, so again some rather nice environmental storytelling. i also thought the little feast that the mafia goons had made for her was kinda sweet, even if they were assholes to her and what they did to mu sucks 😔 but the statues that are there and them calling hat kid their "hero" really makes me think......................... like augh.

on the arctic cruise:

i liked this chapter but i wouldn't say it was one of my favorites. i wish it were a little bit longer but tbh i don't know what else i would have personally expected from it in terms of gameplay. it was rather challenging to do ship shape and i remember having such a hard time playing it the first time. i played that level for like over an hour before i got it. i think part of it is really nailing the layout of the level and knowing all of the shortcuts, which is really hard to do in your first time around.

i liked rock the boat however, even if that one was also really challenging. i mostly liked it though for what it told us about hat kid and her character. that instead of just abandoning everyone for how rotten that they treated her, she makes the effort to save everyone. and you could tell that hat kid really regret her decision and felt remorse like idk i love that a lot. esp bc some people took hat kid to be the type to not care about any of them but it goes to show that she did, at least a little bit.

i think walrus captain does deserve some more attention too but it's kind of sad that he doesn't play all that big of a role in the dlc. but he seems like a good guy just very depressed to the point that he can't really find the energy to be more involved in things. also his little backstory is really tragic and you can tell he used to care deeply about everything until he experienced loss. i think grief is one of the most interesting things to have a character endure and i'm kind of thankful that they had a character in ahit going through it. it's also really sad to me that he wanted to go down with his ship, like he didn't have anything else to live for at that point but hat kid still pulled him out of it and carried him to safety. even if that part is played off like a joke kind of, like everything else serious in the game really, it's still very. sad.

there's also the deep sea rift that was like the worst fucking thing ever, at least first time i tried to figure it out. that level genuienely made me turn on assist mode for the first time ever playing ahit it was that bad for me LMAOOOOOO. like aesthetically it's very pretty but augh. very unforgiving level for sure. HOWEVER i will say that i've gotten much better at that level and the trick for those who are struggling: collect as many pons as you can on the first levels and you should have enough to skip one of the really difficult ones.

deathwish itself since it's a part of the dlc i have many thoughts on it. i'm probably in the minority in that i actually think a lot of the deathwishes were lots of fun! my favorites were wound up windmill and killing two birds. wound-up windmill is just a lot of fun for how fast paced it is and i've always really liked a lot of the platforming for the windmill. and for killing two birds, y'know as a dead bird studio enthusiast that's kind of a given. but more because that deathwish actually makes me laugh hysterically to play, especially since dj grooves and conductor can actually damage each other with their attacks. and that deathwish is prone to the funniest glitches i've ever seen. i don't even mind dying a thousand times because i'm just laughing my ass off. also both of those deathwishes have the best osts too like i can unironically listen to both of those for hours.

though in general i think all the deathwishes are really cool. i like the bonus storybooks too they mean a lot to me tbh. the only deathwish i cannot for the life of me beat is the 'no jumps' candle for trainrush like i've tried so many times and i don't think i'll ever get that one...

we also can't forget that deathwish also brought us the peace and tranquility smug dance which is iconic LOLLL

on nyakuza metro:

ABSOLUTELY ADORE THIS DLC. i think it's genuinely gfb's best work on ahit thus far. i think the animations are gorgeous, especially empress' animation like holy fuck? i love love love the environment design and i think they applied the concept they intended with the free exploration well and in a creative way, much better and less confusing than what they did with alpine. i just think everything about the environment and level designs were so good! and the ambience and character of the npcs also added so much life to the level. it's just. there's so much to praise.

i also love that the finale level instead of being a face off against empress is you escaping the metro with her chasing you. it broke away from the mold but in a good way to where it actually. it told you a lot about empress as a character too in that she usually has others handle her dirty work instead of acting on it herself and that when she has to she's rather ruthless about it, though even a little reckless because she ends up having some fallout to her own detriment in the end. empress also seems to know the metro like the back of her paw as well, seeing as she beats you to the elevator and confronts you which makes her really intimidating.

i also looooovvveeeee all the outfits and hat flairs that you can get from the metro cats and the buying food mechanic was cute and unique, i love the little voice acting with it too. i also love the stickers and the charm they add and how fun they are to collect. the badges are also lots of fun ever though they're cosmetic mostly. also it kind of gave end game players a way to spend their pons, which i think is really awesome because you always end up with so many of those lmao.

in regards to the storybook for the dlc i'm a little bit disappointed we don't learn all that much about empress or any of her background from it. but that timerift was really unique and fun to explore. i like to believe that the rift taking place in a rumbi factory tells us that empress used to work in one as a mechanic but that's just me.

by far my favorite dlc though!

on vanessa's curse:

this one was one i was very excited for when they made an announcement for it. it kind of was a little less story than i was expecting to come from it but it think despite that it was really impressive for a creator dlc.

when it first released it was so cool to explore all the corners of the manor and figure out the mechanics of it. even though it still can be glitchy at times, it does run rather well despite that and i play on a laptop LOL.

i think what they tried to do with it was a cool concept as well. it took the collect-a-thon aspect and built off the multiplayer concept that was implemented in an earlier addition to the game and made those work in a real time environment for challenging collaborative play.

i think that the level design is very pretty and well thought-out too, even though i often still get a little lost sometimes. i've especially a fan of the interior design and decor.

i think my favorite thing about the dlc though was all the cosmetics. i loveee how there's hat flairs that actually did unique things with hat kid's powers. like how the ice hats give you a different ice sculpture and the brewing flairs add unique splatter and explosion effects. i think my favorite flairs have to be the dweller mask glasses, the crown, the donut and the lampshade. the dyes were also really pretty and i loved that we got another unique weapon variant. i'm a sucker for the cosmetics they make me happy. ALSO i love hat kid's little pigtails for the punk dye. it's about time that she got another unique hairstyle.

overall i think vanessa's curse is fun but idk. sometimes i wish there were a little more? but i suppose what we have is good too.

thanks for asking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[shiningstages]

okay i can't get it out of my mind - tini dump about kate cinderella girls, and my dreams for both international girls and the producer ( aka developing oc man )

the international / foreign girls in imas: cinderella girls (as far as i'm aware) are Frederica Miyamoto (french-japanese, voiced), Yao Fueifuei (hong kong, unvoiced), Clarice (vague european (personally french or dutch inspo), unvoiced), Anastasia (russian-japanese, voiced), Layla (Dubai / UAE, voiced), Kate (London / England, unvoiced), Helen (vague european / american (personally italian / mexican inspo), unvoiced), Natalia (Rio de Janeiro / Brazil, voiced), Eve Santaclaus (Greenland, voiced), Cathy Graham (american-japanese (born in new york but has lived in japan) unvoiced), and Mary Cochran (San Francisco / America, unvoiced). I don't include Shiki here because, although she studied in American, she's Japanese and isn't from anywhere over there. I also don't include the three Korean-exclusive deresute characters since they're discontinued after that server shut down (but also shoutout to them I love them too). However they are all side characters, just not a part of the project.

Kate is my favorite unvoiced girl, specifically because our names are similar, as well as slight backstory stuff (her love for her parents; "She's an exceedingly friendly and social person, often greeting everyone she passes by. She's also very touchy in comparison to other idols, enjoying giving others hugs or kisses to show her affection." from her wiki page / events, very me coded). So, in my International Girls imas cingirls idea, Kate is the true protagonist, with Natalia being the leader of the group and acts like a dual protagonist. While she's not the first of the international girls to be voiced (that order being Anya > Freddy > Natalia way later > Layla > Eve most recently as of literally Christmas; congrats to her cingirl first place), I wanna give Natalia bunches of love and more spotlight to get fleshed out as a character as well, as well as her and Kate becoming besties. The International Girls story would just be them forming into a unit, learning to appreciate their differences as well as come to feel like a cohesive unit despite them, and ultimately proving themselves as idols on the stage.

The Producer for that idea, in my mind, is Lotus Juice (LotusP, if you will), since he's proven himself in his own field, is from New Jersey and fluent in both english and japanese, and is also in a duo unit with TakeP aka Takeuchi Shunsuke aka the producer for cinderella girls, so it all just make sense in my mind. Story-wise - LotusP gets invited to the job after TakeP offers it to him as a friendly favor, since they both went to college together and / or went up in the ranks together before TakeP started raising idols / doing his cinderella girls "power of smile" project. Inspired by him, and not wanting to look a gifted horse in the mouth, the rougher and older man accepts, with TakeP being his occasional talking partner for advice. LotusP, in my mind, is suddenly named Austin in my mind (don't ask why idk). And he just kinda acts like Lotus Juice (chill older guy who seems kinda gruff, but is really mature), yet also has like a rough tsun thing going as he's not at all good with taking compliment, and gets dragged into scenarios and forced to play the straight man for gags. It's almost like he doesn't want to be a producer, but he needs a job and wants to stay in the music biz, but he ultimately takes his job (taking care of all the girls' and their schedules, as well as personally helping with some of their songs' production) very seriously.

Another thing I wanted to look into for a bit of drama is idol v school life, specifically as Kate is an international study abroad uni student that becomes an idol. In the end, like in her stories, she proves to her dad that she can be an idol and go to school, and at the very end she graduates and becomes an idol full time. Freddy is also in college for design; she can graduate too as a treat. It also makes me want to make Kate/Nat/Freddy triple protags, as it fills out the kind of NewGen-esque protags the original cingirls had, as well as I think they'd make good friends.

(Also, if anyone asks, Layla's backstory of running away from a planned marriage to Japan with the support of her mother but keeping the father in the dark...I literally just learned that TODAY, which was WILD, and yes in my plotline idk if I wanna explore that or just ignore that so! Hmm!!!!)

Also the eleven full group's unit song would be titled "Universal Parade", after the unit in the mobage game (which originally consists of CathyNatKateMaryFreYao), and their outfits would be similar to the unit "Your Friends" (NatKateMary) outfit set in the original mobage as well (without the fluffy bit or with the fluffy bit reincorporated somehow).

Also the actual outfits for NatLayla's unit "Sol Qamar" is very cool.

[missingn000]

Such a great chapter!✨️

Kenjaku is such a sore loser, like he acts so high and mighty but his plans got foiled by the wettest saddest guy in history. So embarassing for him. I can't imagine living for however long he lived and just staying in the same flop era with same flop goals. So cringe of him...😔

I am placing bets on Yuki vs Choso because I want those two to interact and because I think it would be funny if he betrays Kenjaku the second that fight ends. That man deserved more L's than the world is willing to give him (and the world is already willing to give him a lot of L's).

I love Mahito's dynamic with Hajime!✨️Like two stray cats that should only be adopted together. That car chase was iconic! It's honestly great to see Hajime slowly start to realize that there are things beyond strength. I can't believe Mahito hit a pedestrian...😔 Like, imagine the last thing you see being a green lambo with no driver and a person with cyan hair screaming in the other seat. I would never recover (neither will the random pedestrian).

“Haven’t you ever gone the opposite way on an escalator? Isn't it a fun challenge?”

This fool. “Fuck you! You know I’m scared of escalators!”

“That sounds like a you problem!”

“Of course it is, it’s my fear! That’s a me problem by definition!”

This made me laugh so hard, poor Hajime... being afraid of escalators...

I can't believe they gossiped about Nanami in a treehouse. Like, it's definetly something both of them would do, but I can't imagine Nanami's reaction if he ever finds out about this.

“Well, look what just happened with Sukuna and Suguru-kun,” Mahito says calmly, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the Nanami residence. “Kenjaku’s been scheming for over a thousand years, yet his meticulous goals were thrown off-course by the most depressed man in the universe! Isn’t that so totally hilarious?” 

I love Mahito!✨️ He is so real for this one. Truer words have never been spoken.

“Whatever his plans are, nothing’s gonna go according to them. I wanna be there to watch that” Me too bestie, me too.

I did not expect the emotional conversation but I am so here for it. Sukuna's whole backstory is so in our face, but also not? It feels like watching one of those 1000 pieces puzzles. I know that they all form a cohesive picture, one that he loves to hint at all the time (he really needs some friends to talk to), but I also find it quite difficult to form that picture. Maybe I will make a list of all of the dramatic prejecting his issues on others he does to find it easier.

Mahito cried about Kashimo! I an way too emotionally invested in that interaction, but it was so cute!✨️

Sukuna's high emotional intelligence combined with 0 social skills is so fun to witness. Like, unlike Kenjaku's mysterious ass he is here infodumping about his trauma for free all the tine. King of never shutting up and never keeping things private.

"Water is best as ice" I see you, Sukuna, I see you—

Gojo really did not sign up for getting emotionally damaged by some theatre kid with 1000+ years worth of trauma.

Surprisingly, Sukuna seems genuinely offended. “I am not,” he shoots back. “Anyone who thinks gender correlates to strength deserves to be eaten alive by the gender they think is the weakest.” Progressive king!✨️

Gojo and Suguru are so cute this chapter.💖 Suguru really got a lot of character development (even if he had to lose an arm for it) and I am so happy for him!✨️

Tsumiki is getting a character arc! 🎉

Her argument with Megumi was sad, but also somewhat necessary for her? Like, it's good that she finally expressed her feelings, she needs to do that from time to time, even if yelling at Megumi wasn't realky the best way (even if Megumi was acting a bit like a jerk). At the same time, poor Megumi. He is really going through it right now. Also poor Gojo, it's clear that Sukuna's words affected him.

I'll write more, but I really need to go to sleep. Happy 2 years of writing TPG! 🎊 This fic is honestly one of the best I have ever read!💖

ooh i'm so happy you liked the chapter!! both scenes were really fun to write.

omg you're so right, kenjaku really is a sore loser. deserved. i fucking snorted at "his plans got foiled by the wettest saddest guy in history." so true, getou really fucked everything up for him through depression and character development. GOOD FOR HIM. "same flop era with the same flop goals" i dfghjkl. as for your theory on yuki vs choso...hm...interesting...

you described pfpk SO well, "two stray cats that should only be adopted together." real and accurate. they're so attached, they're like cats who constantly fight but meow like crazy if they're separated (my sister's cat is visiting for the summer, and that's how he is with my cat....) rip the pedestrian, and anyone who saw a car driving itself

i love mahito too! i wanted to give him interesting motives for going along with kjk's plans, since we never really found out in canon. i don't think he bought into the whole curses replacing humans thing, so why did he stay? i think him wanting to watch and study humanity as kenjaku tries to dismantle it fits with his personality.

their emotional convo was fun to write, especially their allusions to sukuna. that's exactly what i'm going for: all the puzzle pieces for sukuna's backstory are there, but missing a few key pieces for it all to make sense. slowly, we'll put things together, but not before making things way more confusing first

SUKUNAAAA MY OVERSHARING BELOVED we stan one zero social skills king. he's so vague but so expressive, and it's so funny and paradoxical of him. he never shuts up, but what he says never has substance.

"Gojo really did not sign up for getting emotionally damaged by some theatre kid with 1000+ years worth of trauma" PLEASE YOU'RE REALLY POPPING OFF WITH THIS MESSAGE gojo did get hit hard by sukuna's scarily accurate depictions of what it's like to be The Strongest. gojo is unsettled by sukuna, but the opposite is also true, which will only worsen as sukuna and gojo learn more about each other.

yeahhh tsumiki!! she deserves a character arc of her own, dammit. i'm so excited to write it! her argument with megumi was so gutting, but she needed to get her feelings out in the open so they can both begin to process and heal. but uh, not before some trauma first.

thank you so much for your kind words and for all your support!!! <333

[chasmbreach]

you made my cracks sweeter

YIPPEE!!!!! I WROTE OC BACKSTORY THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING!!!! One day I'll like, write something more cohesive about their relationship and powers or whatever, but this is how they meet uehehehehe.

(i will combust if you actually read this because good god. don't read this. i hate this backstory so much /j. i wrote this in a fit of crazy and not wanting to work on my research paper)

words: 1798 ao3 edition

---

what they look like btw, bc oc moment lol!!!! Fragment is nakey and Nectar isn't decked out in nice clothes, she's completely dark n goopy bc she doesn't know how to control it her goop well, and it completely takes over her clothes as well.

He awoke with a gasp. 

He couldn’t see anything in front of him. Quite literally. 

Everything was pitch black. 

He felt so tired… and he couldn’t feel anything in his surroundings either. He blinked his sockets to make sure his magic was flowing. He tried to move his body, but his magic didn’t seem like it was going to work and cooperate with him.

Wait… that didn’t make sense. Magic was connected to a monster’s soul. So why was he referring to it as if it were a separate entity?

He supposed he could wait while his body was trying to reboot itself. 

---

The darkness was starting to get to him. 

He had been laying still, immobile because of his own incapabilities. He could still feel himself blinking, but it was getting monotonous. Why open his sockets if he couldn’t see anything? How did he know he was seeing anything in the first place? It looked the same if he wasn’t moving his sockets either way.

His body still wasn’t responding, and he still couldn’t feel. 

How long had it been since he awoke? It didn’t feel like much time had passed, but then again, in a void like this, who knew how fast time could fly? 

He had been trying to recall any details before finding himself in this darkness, any information to grasp on to try and piece together a reason. There was nothing in his memory that he could obtain to make sense of anything. 

Did he even exist? Was he just in limbo? 

Was he dead?

Surely not? Though he couldn’t exactly feel anything with his body, he knew that there was some kind of ground below him. If he were dead, he probably wouldn’t be able to feel anything. Maybe? He didn’t know anymore. 

---

He heard a soft hic in the distance. He didn’t know how long he had been staring at nothing anymore. He still couldn’t feel anything in his body. He had long given up attempting to do anything. 

“Oh! I- apologies, I didn’t really mean to intrude on anything you were doing. This universe just seemed empty from first glance and I really just wanted to escape as soon as possible, so I just hopped in without double checking if there were actually anyone here left, and I was getting desperate to leave and oh, sorry I’m rambling again, apologies I’ll just um.” The soft voice quieted down. From the voice alone, he thought the voice was feminine, but he didn’t want to assume. 

Something moved around the darkness. The figure was barely visible in front of the absolute black, save for the bright star shaped eye now looking down at him. 

He tried to vocalize, to be able to show that he was capable of being responsive. He should be relieved right? To finally see some other existence other than his own? But he wasn’t really feeling much emotions right now. He just wanted to inform this other person that he was aware, he was listening. 

The star came closer, and he could see it twitching from one place to another, as if it were looking around. “Your body… are you… how long have you been here?” What of my body? He didn’t know what the figure was talking about. Were they referring to the fact that they couldn’t really feel their body? But how would’ve they known? Perhaps there was some physical indicator.

“Here let me help you up, you must be in so much pain.” Pain? He blinked owlishly at the star as he watched more ripples flow in the darkness before he could feel his body being sat up, head spinning slightly from the change in gravity. He looked down and was finally able to see his white skeletal boned body littered with cracks. Ah, so that’s why. He didn’t feel the pain though, likely because he still couldn’t physically feel his body. Maybe his soul had cut off his connection to the body so he wouldn’t feel the pain? He didn’t know. 

His gaze slowly wandered back to the star. The darkness kept shifting around him, but he didn’t know what for. The next moment, his arms were enveloped by that darkness, before a soft green glow was emitting from the coil, “I’m not sure if my magic can fully heal all of your cracks, but I want to at least try and clear up the bigger ones. You must be in so much anguish and so magic deficient, your magic hasn’t responded to any of my attempts at summoning any sparks at all.” He could only blankly stare as the darkness slowly moved away from the arms and moved onto his ribs. He looked over his newly healed, yet still limp arms. His magic was still cutting off his access to his body.

His voice still wasn’t returning, but he wanted to at least respond to the person helping him. He huffed as hard as he could, making a noise with his breath. 

“Ah! Please refrain from doing that! Your ribs are fragile, and I cannot guarantee my magic will hold you long. I do try, but I can’t be sure it will be as effective compared to other monsters who actually specialize in healing spells. I’m afraid of any damage you may incidentally do to yourself if you huff like that again. Even if I heal the cracks, your magic needs to be able to support itself to make sure they heal with enough strength. Skeletons naturally need more magic to function, due to our segmented nature, but the ley lines are very sensitive. 

“Oh,” the star disappeared for a moment before he heard a soft, hollow clink, “you’re a skeleton yourself, why did I find the need to explain skeleton anatomy to you. I’m rambling again, so so sorry about myself. I just constantly feel- ,” they cut themselves off again, “I- I’ll stop now, apologies.”

He didn’t understand what the apology was for, but he listened to the suggestion and didn’t exhale roughly again. He watched quietly as the darkness eventually moved down to his legs and healed those up too. With the constant movement, he was eventually able to make out hand shapes moving up and down his arms, probably to check his bones. 

He was finally starting to feel sensation in his newly corrected arms. A bit tingly at first, given his magic had been cutting off access to his own body, but physically he could feel the cool temperatures of the hands moving and checking his bones. 

As the presence moved away from his legs, he was able to slowly lift his arms to test out the movement. He could physically feel his chest moving alongside his breathing, and he could feel something supporting his entire back. They waited in silence as his magic worked to allow him to feel again.

He hissed and winced as he felt a pinching sensation around his pelvis. He looked towards the star in helplessness, silently asking a question.

Blue spread across the darkness as they stammered, “I- I didn’t want to be impolite. It’s um. Pelvic region?” They didn’t say anything after that. He felt out the cold that was lingering around his legs and gripped it, moving it over. He wanted it healed. 

The blue color spread and glowed brighter. He could see a faint outline of the nose… wait no, that looked like a nasal aperture that a skeleton had. Were they a skeleton? 

“I, ah, I’m really not, I don’t, this is a bit, um,” He gripped the darkness tighter, “O-oh, ok, um, I’m just… going to turn…” The star moved away, the blue color also disappeared, but he could feel the cool balm of the darkness envelop his pelvis and the soft green light returned. The pain was receding minutely, and he started to regain feeling in his legs as well. 

When the darkness moved away again, he poked his healed pelvis to see the now smooth bone, no cracks to be seen. He touched it again, this time feeling for any traces of the damage that rendered him immobile what felt like hours ago. There were slight indents in the bone, but it was hardly noticeable. 

He looked up. The star wasn’t back. He could still feel the presence though, so he knew they hadn’t left. 

He felt around himself, settling his hands on the ground and pushing his body towards the general direction of the darkness. He grunted as he collided with them closer than he thought. So they didn’t move away. He wrapped his arm around the cold darkness, still struggling to support his weight again. 

The coolness that was supporting his back earlier came back to wrap around his entire body, righting him up, “Oh, wait, wait there, I just sealed all of your cracks, but that doesn’t mean your body is correctly and fully healed. Usually intensive full body injuries require a lot of maintenance and time to heal due to the nature of magic flow needing to heal so much damage in the first place. Food is usually the better option, since the amount of healing within a condensed item is much more potent, but I unfortunately don’t have any on me. You shouldn’t be moving so quickly after that, especially considering your magic deficiency. Healing magic doesn’t give you any magic, it merely speeds up a being’s magic to heal any wounds, but the fact that you were able to regain mobility so quickly must mean that your SOUL was just trying to preserve itself and survive with the little amount of energy it had left to sustain a conscious. It must be incredibly tiring to have healed all your cracks like that. I did have to support some of your healing by supplying a bit of my own magic, since your injuries were just so much to handle, but I do think that getting some proper magic back into your system will be so much better and can aid in making your bones heal better and not so brittle. I should probably… ”

He blinked at the voice continuing to hum their strange little words but the darkness supporting his weakening body was a comfort he didn’t realize he needed. His body ached in a tired manner, probably because like the voice said, he didn’t have much magic to sustain himself, and could feel himself drifting a bit. 

He was very grateful for the aid. He lightly tested his voice with a hum to see if he could speak, delight filling his chest as he found out he could. “Thank you,” He whispered. He doesn’t know if the voice heard him or not as he closed his sockets and lost consciousness.

[feelyourno1z]

My Personal Ratings of Paradox Live Characters

I can imagine that not all my takes are going to be like by everyone, but oh well. These are all just my opinions, feel free to disagree, but any harassment over them will just get you blocked, I don't have the energy to deal with toxic fandom BS.

Also yeah, if you're new to Paradox Live, be careful, cause there are definitely gonna be spoilers in here.

Allen Sugasano - 8/10 I would've scored him higher when I first got into ParaLive, but over time and as more backstory was given on other characters as well, I couldn't really help but not feel that much pity for him. He unfortunately suffers a bit from Main Male Lead syndrome, but he's still lovable, I just wish he'd stop overworking himself so much. His voice and lines are great and have nice flow, and he's eager to dabble into any sound as well which is great for growing his talent.

Hajun Yeon - 5/10 This is a generously high score, considering when Paradox Live started I couldn't stand this guy. He still gets on my nerves a lot. His personality really just isn't for me. But at the same time, I can understand why he's like that and I do feel bad for what he's gone through. I do like his verses, he's got good flow and has a talent for eloquency (probably due to his upbringing). Even though he still puts up his front of I'm-Better-Than-You-Rich-Kid a lot, ever since the end of Phase One, I have a better appreciation for it and understand it's just a mask, though one that still annoys me. He's growing on me though.

Anne Faulkner - 10/10 I'm so glad Anne is as loved as she is, they truly deserve it! I'm honestly such a big fan of Anne for so many reasons, but most of all I'm so happy for a well-represented trans/enby character. I could go on for hours about how much I care about her and how proud of her for how far she's come, but I'll leave that to a different post. Their lines are always so fun and her voice is so smooth and adds a nice contrast to Allen's rougher voice (while Hajun's voice acts as a middle ground between the two). I wish her all the best and I hope we get to see more gender affirmation for her in the source too so she can start feeling more confident and proud of her identity and work past her traumas.

Naokira Saimon - 9/10 Don't get me wrong, I love this man almost just as much as Anne, but he gets a point docked because I'm not entirely a fan of how he was written to be so passive even though they were putting immense stress on him, both past and present. Even just showing us one small snippet of him being upset and not fully calm about the situation in private or with just Yohei would've been enough for me to consider him more well written, but it feels like the writing team just wanted him to be a Positive Push Forward Source, which isn't bad but leaves very little room for depth of character. No man ever has his shit together to be calm all the time, let alone present to be that way. Though it's no fault of his, I still wanna see more depth out of him that doesn't revolve around the loss of his wife. His voice is so pleasing to me, and his word choices and delivery in the songs adds a nice quality to everything, kind of like his voice is the grounding mechanism to make sure everything stays cohesive and doesn't get too overzealous.

Yohei Kanbayashi - 10/10 What they didn't give to Naokira with character depth, they definitely gave to Yohei. We tend to mostly see TCW through the lens of Yohei in the drama tracks too, which I personally love because you see how dysfunctional of a "family" they all are together, but you get to feel that feeling that Yohei, depsite all his grumping about and at Ryuu, cares for them all and wouldn't trade them for anything. And getting to know his past too, and that he used to be rougher than he is now due to being danna with Iori, gives so much depth into everything he's been through too, and shows just how much he's turned himself around now. I just have a lot of appreciation for the depth we're given for him and how much he's so obviously pulled himself through. His voice is definitely on the rougher side, but he hypes up the songs TCW sings so well (looking specifically at the "make it clap" lines in Life Is Beautiful and the "ready go" lines in One Shot One Kill for proof of that). It really shows his more rowdy side from his youth with the energy he brings into the group, but where he flows so well with Saimon and Shiki, who tend to sing/rap slower than him and Ryuu, it also shows how he's been able to settle into a slower paced life as well.

Ryuu Natsume - 9.5/10 I love this funky little guy, and I love how mysterious his background has been from the get go (even though we have more of a clue as to what it is now). He has absolutely insane energy, both literally and metaphorically, and even though he can be a bit much at times, you do tend to miss it when he's been gone for too long. He may show it in odd ways too, but he truly cares for those around him and wants the best for them and genuinely feels bad for their trap reactions. I cannot wait to find out why he doesn't get trap reactions himself and whether that's tied to his amnesia or not. His verses and voice inflections are my favorite in this whole music project. There's not a thing he's done in a single song so far that doesn't itch my brain in just the right way and make me want to mimic it exactly myself. It's so fun, it's whacky just like him, and lines like his "bibidee bopidee boo" in My Sweetest Love always bring a smile to my face. Just please stop trying to stick an octopus on Shiki sir ;;

Shiki Ando - 8/10 This boy has been through more than enough and I hope they start working more on healing his trauma because hoo boy does he need it. While they still gave us more depth on him from his past with Nayuta, we still don't get to garner much more about him and how even before that he was traumatized and that affected his ability to socialize properly. I'm so proud of him and how much more confident he sounds now (in Shooting Arrows) compared to the beginning when you could practically hear his voice shaking. He's shown so much more growth, and becoming part of the Bar 4/7 family has helped him so much and I cannot wait for him to sound as confident as Saimon in his verses someday.

Kanata Yatanokami - 8/10 I have so many feelings about Kanata, I don't know where to even begin. He's truly been through so much, and yet he still came out on the very top. He didn't let himself lose, he wouldn't accept second place as good enough, he truly has the spirit of someone who is going to end up a winner, and while I may not be the biggest fan of all of cozmez's music, it's very clear to me why they won Phase One and I feel they really deserved to win the most. Considering all the work Kanata put into surviving and making music, I'm glad he came out on top the way he did. He still has severe emotional walls up, put the times you get to see through the cracks of those walls show that he doesn't really want to be as alone as he says he does. His lyrics can often be aggressive, as would be expected from someone surviving on the streets and trying to become the top dog, and it really adds an extra depth to the beats he puts to their songs. I just hope we get to see more personal growth out of him as Phase Two continues and that we see him let his walls down a little more and make a friend.

Nayuta Yatanokami - 7/10 I feel really bad for rating him as low as I have, but if there's any character I'm more upset about the poor writing for than Naokira, it's Nayuta. They did him so dirty in my opinion. They led up the reveal of his "death" to an amazing climax, I actually sobbed over it, but then the reveal of him returning was so. Lackluster? He just Appeared. And then explained where he had been. There could've been more drama to it, hell there should've been more drama to it considering the build up he was given. And then when he got back his writing was very stiff. His reaction to Shiki was very off-putting, making it seem like they hadn't actually been friends in the first place but that he had been tolerating Shiki's presence even though we know that isn't true. They've gotten better about writing him to be easing back into socialization since then, but man oh man was that rough and awkward at a point where it was most crucial for it to not be that. Overall, I love his verses more now that it's actually him singing and not a Phantom of him singing, you can tell there's more life and inflection to his verses and more personal emotion behind them as well. I can't wait to see wht they do next considering the latest thing they've put out (Hit Em Up) blew my socks off and into the next country, they may not yet be at BURAIKAN's level yet, but they're definitely headed there.

Iori Suiseki -8.5/10 This man. I care so much about this man I don't even have words to describe everything I wanna say. AKYR hits me right square in the Found Family (my favorite trope ever) feels and it's all thanks to him. Even though his morals are often gray and questionable, and reasoning can be dubious, it's very clear that all his actions are to protect his family, the one he created out of AKYR, and that he will do anything necessary to keep them all safe. There's a depth to his character that you don't even need to know his full backstory to feel, and honestly I hope we never get a good look into all the ties and dealings he has because having all these unknown things about him and letting him be a Swing Factor for things is so much fun and adds an element of shock to the story too. His voice inflections and verses are my second favorite, right under Ryuu, for similar reasons. There's so many lines that I can't help but want to mimic and they hit the brain just right to make you feel that sense of cocky and nonchalant prowess that he has. There's really no voice like his.

Zen Gaho - 8/10 Zen is the very definition of what you get when you cross a gym rat and a Mom Friend in the best way possible. I know it's partly because he's Iori's right hand man, but it's also clear that he protects everyone in AKYR because he genuinely cares for them too. You see him uplift everyone he can, even if they're not part of AKYR and even if he doesn't know what they're talking about, he supports them in their passions. While his voice may not be unique, his verses are still fun and AKYR would never be the same without him.

Hokusai Masaki - 9/10 I am holding him gently, he deserves only happiness and good things. I'm so sad they don't really give us much on Hokusai at all, and I really hope they give us more because I just know there's a lot more to unpack about him, especially since the drama track of him just disappearing for a while in the middle of playing games with Reo, Ryuu, and Shiki. Where did he go? What's he hiding? I need to know more. But he and all his cat friends and his way of viewing those he holds close as animal friends as well makes me happy, and I'm just so glad for him that he finally has a place to call home and people who treat him properly like family. I love how toned down he is from everyone else too, and how his voice tends to be more monotone and doesn't go above more than a normal talking volume at most, it really adds to the air of mystery and "tiger hiding in the shadows" that they've given to him. Also, with all his verses of how far he'd go to make sure his family is safe and no one messes with him? I think out of everyone in AKYR he's the most dangerous to mess with, it don't think he's fucking around or joking when he says that shit. They are yakuza after all.

Reo Maruyama - 8/10 When I first got into Paradox Live, I thought I was going to be endlessly annoyed by yet another pink gremlin in a music project but I got pleasantly surprised and now I too would commit crimes to defend Reo. He's been through the ringer more times than anyone should be put through anything tbh, and I'm glad that he can find happiness and a sense of stability within AKYR. He's cute, he knows it, and everyone should acknowledge it. While we aren't given a whole lot on him either, what we are given shows just how much he actually does need that confirmation that he's loved and valued. His voice is just as cutesy as he is, but with violent lyrics befitting of someone who is in the yakuza and who has done the things he's done. I think it brings a little humor with having someone so cutesy also be a gangster, and his verses are really good too, he has amazing flow and is good with rhymes that would normally trip people up too.

Satsuki Ito - 10/10 I'm not gonna lie, I didn't expect to enjoy him half as much as I really do at the beginning. The description they give him in his original bio doesn't do him justice. He puts on the air of a gangster punk really well, but the loyalty and care he shows others shows through more than he can cover up. He does hold a lot of anger, and he really deserves to as well. I'm honestly nervous to see what comes of the drama tracks for the RAGE album and how everything between him and Ryoga is going to be tackled, because while Satsuki isn't one to refuse to listen to reasoning, he still will jump the gun and act in a reactive manner before he does. He still looks out for AKYR, and even shows he cares outside of his found family as well when he was helping Kanata look for Nayuta, even though he acts like he doesn't (likely because he doesn't want to get hurt again). His voice is so fun, definitely my third favorite in the music project. Just like Iori, his voice is unique and truly his, the inflections showing just how rambunctious he gets and his faster flow and aggressive delivery gives an intimidating impression, just the mask he aims to show. Also I cannot wait to see things develop more between him and Anne. I genuinely do not think he'll react poorly to learning than Anne is trans/enby, he knows what it's like to be given up on and turned on, that's literally his biggest trauma, I don't think he'd do that to Anne, especially not with all the time and energy he's put into her already. Not to mention they have what is essentially a mutual pining song together too, it would just be awkward of him to all of a sudden lose interest after that.

Chisei Kuzuryu - 10/10 I know that we don't actually know shit about him other than the snippets we learn from Haruomi talking to him (or "him" since we aren't sure what's going on there), but he's still one of my absolute favorites. His lyrics hold his ego, and it's a big one, but seeing as he was one of the pioneers to Phantometal being used and is still considered one of the best there was (the other obviously being Haruomi), he deserves to have such a huge ego. I'm curious about where the story is going to go in regards to him and I'm hoping they don't pull a Nayuta with him and his reveal and I am not ready to cry over him when it comes but I know I will. There's so much you can infer about his dynamic with Haruomi, even from what little we're given about them, but even just knowing he's who picked up Haruomi from his rock bottom and made this whole story possible? That's enough for me to have him as one of my favorites. His flow is incredible: fast and smooth and unwavering, just befitting of the king of hip-hop

Haruomi Shingu - 10/10 I think my bias for BURAIKAN is showing here but they aren't the number one legends for nothing. I love how Haruomi has been there, even without us knowing, from the beginning. From the first description we were given of him, and how above everyone he saw himself due to his genius with making music, it's hard to see what changed to make him content to just be the owner of a ramen shop, but I suppose that's something we'll find out as the story progresses. I really enjoy his character though, the air of mystery of why he's doing all this, on top of that stoicism and aloof personality still showing through, it's so intriguing to me. I want to see him interact more personally with Kanata at some point, seeing as it seems they're mirroring each other a bit, I wanna see what advice he'd give Kanata and if that would give any clues as to what's really going on. I'm a sucker for Haruomi's voice, I love deep voices so much, and his delivery, while on the slower side, still has it's own clear cut punch to it as every word seems to be said with a bite. He and Chisei's voices compliment each other perfectly, especially when dinging choruses together, and it's so clear why they're still the top dogs of the game even after all these years.

Shogo Yamato - 7.5/10 I may not have as much to say about Phase Two characters due to how new they are, but I truly do like Shogo, he's pretty both in looks and voice. I hope we get to see him grow his confidence in being a group leader, and also I wanna hear more about the weird gummies he finds, I think that's super fun.

Toma Hikage - 8.5/10 I'm usually not one for characters who are obsessed with their looks but there's just something about Toma that makes me wanna give him a hug and reassure him he's just as pretty as a sunset. You can see how caring he is already from how quick he was to go check on Shogo after the livestream, and I'm really curious to see more into him. His voice is amazing too, I don't have the words to describe what it is about it that hits my brain just right, but it does and I live for his verses.

Aoi Kureha - 10/10 I'm so glad they added in another enby, I love Aoi so much and I will join them (and Satsuki) in the AnZ fanclub. Their voice is so pretty and I hope if they ever do shuffle teams again they get to have a duo with Anne.

Kantaro Misuji - 6.5/10 I want to like him. I really do. I don't dislike him. But he's exactly what I feared they were going to do to Reo. Maybe as things progress I'll like him more, but as of right now? He's the Pink Gremlin of Paradox Live.

Dongha Yeon - 0/10 This little shit is the reason I actually started liking Hajun. I cannot stand entitled and stuck up little brat characters. I'm so sorry if you like him but first of all, I want to shoot him out of a canon and second of all: why??? He's just an abusive little asshole who thinks he's entitled to be the best. I understand that he doesn't comes from a good background seeing as what happened to his older brother, but he's already getting the whole family fortune over Hajun, and now he wants to take away the possible win Hajun could get of earning a name in hip-hop? I'm sorry to AmpRule likers, but I hope they lose miserably so this little pipsqueak can get a reality check.

Chungsung Baek - 0/10 The only thing saving this man from being in the negatives is his voice and character design being good. Other than that, I don't want him breathing on the same planet as me. Disgusting creep butler who gets off to being abused by the 14-year-old devilspawn mentioned above is NOT what we need in this music project, fandom, or world. Please eradicate him at your earliest convenience thank you. I'm sorry if you like him, but I'm judging you for it because what in the fuck.

Kei Miyama - 8.5/10 I truly do not understand why all the fans think he's up to something shady, the boy is just autistic coded, settle down. While yes, he knows more than he lets on, his intentions aren't evil. All we know is he wants to shut down the use of Phantometal, and considering he was being tested on for it and considering the dangers it can pose, as seen with Hajun and Nayuta, I can't blame him for it. He doesn't want that same harm to come to Rokuta, Itsuki, and I'm sure his old bandmates. Everyone just seems to be looking for someone to point at and call shady and everyone landed on him just because we know he has some sort of plan. At least get some more info on what's happening before trying to call him evil, sheesh.

Itsuki - 7/10 I love his character design and his verses are so fucking good, oh my god. I hope they give us more insight into him, I wanna know more about him, you can tell he's interesting just from his character design, please don't dangle him in front of us and then do nothing with him.

Rokuta - 9/10 Baby boy baby skrunkly boy, I love you so much, please have all the karaage you want. I would give anything for Rokuta, I hope he gets to hang out with Ryuu more and they get to play together, they have such similar energy and I wanna see Yohei do a double take upon seeing that there's Another One.

Yuto Inukai - 3/10 Don't get me wrong, I do like Inukai. His voice and lyrics go so hard and bring a lot of life to GokuLUCK's songs. But holy fuck did they do a shit job of representing DID/OSDD with him. I can't even begin to explain it, especially since I'm a singlet, but from what I know, they might as well have just said "yeah our only research was watching an episode of a western cop drama from the early 2000s where the killer had DID/OSDD" when they put out his bio. There's nothing wrong with liking Inukai, like I've said, I enjoy him too. Just please, for the love of god, remain critical of how they use him to portray DID/OSDD, do your own research, and acknowledge how shit they've done him.

Ryoga Tosa - 8/10 I am actually so curious about Ryoga and how everything has played out, especially since in his bio, his trauma seemingly comes whatever happened between him and Satsuki and how he was apparently framed. I can't wait to find out what happened, and I hope they're both able to find some closure, because it honestly seems like all that Ryoga wants is to be friends with Satsuki again and that he never wished to cause any harm.

Shion Kaida - 6/10 His lines in Stronger were so catchy, his voice is so alluring and definitely fits his personality. I hope he grows on me as time goes on, because I do think he's an interesting character, however currently they are dancing on a slippery slope with portraying him and how he interacts with others (especially Kenta)

Kenta Mikoshiba - 7.5/10 I want to rate him higher, I really do, because I love me a rowdy little gremlin who isn't afraid to say "fuck you" and is also a hacker, however he does have a tendency to go too far with his insults sometimes and need to learn how to calm down. He's going through his edgy teenager phase and I love that for him, just someone please teach him to stop being a 4chan troll for the love of god. I love how fast he raps though, and his little laugh in the background in Stronger as well.

[jays---wing]

Okk so lifty x splendid are like my favorite pair . This’ll be a lot of unorganized, long, insane rambling so be warned lol. !!! I start one thought and then go after another…

I’m thinking like, I have this idea where splendid saves lifty from a fucking uh, house fire or something and visits him at the hospital and it just progresses from there. Splendid just kinda feels bad Lul

I’m still working on my own like backstories for lifty and shifty (they are my faves okay), but I personally headcanon that they had like a rough home life, grew up in poverty, and cause of his kleptomania lifty unintentionally got himself into trouble as a child and ended up losing a lot of opportunities (some of which because of shifty). he tried real hard to get jobs but his criminal history didn’t exactly help. Shifty eggs him on and he just ends up working with him. Bank robbing and petty theft weren’t what he was expecting to do with his life, but shifty dragged him into it and he can’t get a job, so oh well. And MAYBE he kinda enjoys it..

So I’m thinking, that after they hang out a lot and stuff splendid offers to help lifty get a job since he has some connections cause of his reporter job (also he’s a fucking superhero, so!) lifty is incredibly grateful , nobody has done something this nice for him before.

I’d imagine splendid would be the one to form feelings first, maybe once he starts visiting lifty. Lifty on the other hand takes longer to warm up to splendid, cause yknow, dude beats him up every other week and throws him in jail. Once they get to know each other though he gets more comfortable with him . Splendid specifically starts to sympathize with lifty after learning about him more. And they get these feelings and they’re both like “oh no I’m in love with him” and they’re conflicted cause like … well he’s a superhero and he’s a criminal. But it works out tee hee

I now have this vision, of where like they’re up on a building just looking over the city or stargazing or something, hanging out , i feel like that’d be a common thing where splendid just takes him somewhere high up and private where they can hang out. And they’re already been friends for a while and feelings are there and they confess. Who first…? Idk doesn’t matter rn.

Shifty probably wouldn’t know at first I think. Lifty would just stop coming with him on heists and whatnot. He’d only really get suspicious once lifty gets that job like “that’s weird.” Lifty doesn’t disclose it since he’s just a little ashamed cause, I’ll say it again, bro literally gets them arrested. Which I’ll mention that now, is one of the reasons it takes lifty a while to start liking splendid. Anyways, he feels like shifty is keeping him back, and they do everything together, so he’s trying to try and live the life HE actually wants. Shifty may be fine just scamming and robbing people blind, but he want to do something different. And despite splendid previously being a pain in the ass, he’s a friend, and is genuinely interested in helping him out in getting his life on track.

Shifty is a bit peeved that lifty is spending more time with splendid and distancing himself from him at first but eventually learns to accept it. He’s his little brother after all. Lifty would probably go live on his own/with splendid… he’s little worried since him and shifty have done everything together for the longest time but he’s a big boy now he can do it.

And that’s all for now , maybe some other time I’ll put this more cohesively once I think on it more 😭

[tiffanylamps]

SO, i was on spotify right? and “ways to be wicked” (descendants 2) came on and for a sec i envisioned tdj but fantasy/supernatural au but! BUT! spell casters and sorcerers and mythical creatures are like a thing of past? or very /very/ rare (cuz they got hunted and stuff, y’know as humans tend to do and fits perfectly with the dystopian theme) AND

I just wanted Gaon to be this magic user/spell caster and i imagined his spells to be green (most likely also be cuz of descendents) and i just want this thing where every time yohan is like even mild threatening, gaon has to like reel in his powers to not accidentally lash out or reveal himself

AND

What if in a situation, Yohan is in danger and something attacks him (maybe another magic user in the opposite side or someone who can recognise magic idk) and they attack him and a shield (a green one, it has to be green) pops up and protects him and the opposite side’s like “tf? you have someone protecting you?” even better if yohan has zero fucking clues, + points if gaon and yohan are at odds each other again

anyways. yep i’m late to class now KWKDKKEKS

HEY!!! This is some big-brain thinking!

I got to be honest, I don't know what Descendents 2 is but I listened to the song you mentioned and it got 21st-century musical vibes to it.

Okay, a magic TDJ au is actually such a wonderful idea! I feel like this storyline is really like the BBC's Merlin! Which I just LOVE because Merlin is one of my first loves. But yes, the tension of a magical person hiding their powers within a society that mistreats magic/may kill them??? That's juicy! Also, magic = queerness is one of my favourite fantasy tropes.

What if Yohan works for the institution that puts people with magic on a register/detains them/hunts them down? Gaon thinks he does it because he hates people with magic but actually because he wants to stop the oppressive system??? (Perhaps his brother had magical abilities and was murdered bc of them).

AND AND AND we can bring in Gaon's naughty backstory into play by making him do something minor(-ish) against the law and so, as a part of "community service", he has to become Yohan's assistant. This is actual HELL for him because of his abilities, his attraction for Yohan, and because he can't stand the guy. But they work together, slowly suss each other out and soon, (after a lot of angsty sex) they work together to destroy the system that has hurt them both immensely but is also destroying the cohesive fragments of society!

(i haven't seen the ep this gif is from BUT OH MY GOODNESS! HOW SWEET!!)

But yes, I love the vision! This is wonderful. If you're the writing kind, I fully encourage you to write it! Also, I hope you had a great day in your classes!! Thanks for sending me this : )

[direful]

Lol wait I JUST scrolled down and saw your con, my bad! Please share more info though if you'd like 👀

lol no worries! & yes of course I do, I love the Decepticons. They are so interesting to me in every version... I have a couple con ocs in the works, but none are ready to share just yet except for Cautery.

Cautery is the one I've worked the most on, I think because I had a clear mental image of how I wanted his altmode to look & so could really get specific when designing him. He's also just fun to me because... well... he sucks!

I'm currently piecing together his backstory in greater detail, it's based in the IDW 2005 comicverse but I do plan to make my own continuity eventually for no reason other than I'm getting real sick of constantly having to reference the wiki for every tiny detail.

He came about a couple years ago as I was considering the concept of a medic/surgeon being subjected to empurata, and how utterly destroying to someone that would be in the IDW-verse where so much emphasis is placed on the hands. I've reworked his personality a couple of times since then and I'm still not totally happy with it, but he feels the most cohesive he's ever been so I must be doing something right!

Some more info about him... hmmm.

Cautery was forged near the end of the Golden Age, so he's quite old. He's got one of those reedy old man voices that's a bit scratchy.

He was considered a prodigy, but how much of that is genuine natural talent and how much is due to his rare altmode affording him opportunities others wouldn't get is up for debate. He denies any Functionist sympathies, but does think he's more naturally skilled than his colleagues regardless of origin, even without his original hands.

He's not a fighter. He's just not built for it - he lacks inbuilt weaponry, his root mode tends to overbalance because of poor weight distribution, and his altmode's fastest speed is a slow crawl. He's perfectly capable of defending himself (after all, he knows very well how to take people apart, and he enjoys it), but he's at a strong disadvantage when up against more than one or two opponents.

He's a spiteful, vindictive, selfish person. He's always been selfish - pre-war, he was deliberately naive about anything that didn't directly affect him, and regularly left messes for others to clean up once he no longer felt like being involved - but he's really taken to being a Decepticon as an excuse to be the worst version of himself. It's a far cry from the person he used to be.

(Possibly) He and Whirl have met. They had a brief moment of self-recognition through the other and then immediately turned to violence so they wouldn't have to think too much about it.

I feel like I should have more things to say about him... his lore is in progress! I want to draw him again soon 💜

[blserieshub]

3 Will be Free Review

(Not BL but with BL plot points)

Thailand

10 Episodes

Available on Youtube

Starring: Tay Tawan, Joss Way-ar, Mild Lapassalan

In the world of clubs and nightlife, Neo (Joss Way-ar) works as a stripper neighboring a gogo bar run by Miw (Mild Lapassalan). After being caught in an affair with the wife of a scarily powerful loan shark, he starts to make a run for it. Through strange circumstances, he ends up with Miw and Sin (Tay Tawan), a gay boy who he has a past with, and the three of them end up making their situation worse ending with all three of them becoming enemies of the gang. The three of them end up on the run desperate for a solution to their situation while hitmen follow them hot on their tracks.

Review:

(All reviews, no matter how objective I may try to be, will always be biased with my personal preference, please keep this in mind while reading) 

Characters:

All three main characters have very distinct traits from each which causes lots of internal conflicts that push the plot. Neo is quite naive but very sweet and open-hearted, Miw is very strong-minded and doesn't have time for empathy, and Sin is shy and insecure. These characters toe the line between over-the-top and realistic very carefully, they are slightly exaggerated people in a (maybe more than slightly) over-the-top situation so it feels cohesive. However, the slight over-the-topness doesn't deter from the emotional weight of these characters' experiences. The characters all learn and change quite a lot throughout the series, especially in learning how to accept each other and work together.

Acting:

This series is Joss’s first main role so his acting does feel a lot more amateur compared to his more recent works, although he is still uniquely charming. Tay and Mild however do an amazing job in this as well as the supporting cast. Jennie Panhan is a standout among the supporting cast for me as I have only ever seen her play comedy roles and here she is in a lot more serious and emotional of a role and she does it beautifully. (Although no matter how sexy Joss is that boy cannot dance at all, can we please stop making him sexy dance in series it makes my eyes bleed)

Writing:

Honestly, the writing of this series confused me. I can't tell if the series takes itself seriously or not. It consists of lots of over-the-top themes and characters and situations but also is very grounded and emotional. I genuinely cannot explain it but I love it. It's like taking a story that could easily become a campy, over-the-top comedy drama but making it an emotional and grounded character study about growth and survival and love and drama. It creates a very unique tone I haven't been able to really find anywhere else. 

Plot:

One of my favourite plot points that make me love this series comes towards the end and I feel it is way more impactful when it comes as a surprise. All of the characters have a backstory that we get to learn throughout the story and connect with each of them, as well as a subplot that is extremely well fleshed out and emotionally dense so that, even though the two groups of people are working against each other, you find yourself rooting for both of them simultaneously. The plot flows well, with a good balance between emotional beats and story beats.

Final thoughts:

I went into this series not expecting much at all, (I honestly just wanted to watch something with Tay Tawan in it) however this series pleasantly surprised me by how much I enjoyed it and how unique of a plot it has that I haven't been able to find elsewhere. Even though this story isn't sold as a queer story, queer audiences will most definitely love it.

[doctorguilty]

tome 13 spoilers

(once again assuming the leak is legit but jfdsg)

like another thing about the ghostface tome lore is that I can heavily tell none of this story was realized when they first debuted the character in 2019. and like that's fine that after the years have gone by they wanted to expand from what they originally had, but at the same time it feels so like.. written in a vacuum? like it doesn't take into much consideration what his og lore was and like, his add ons??? that could have been included some way in the lore ie the matchbook, stolen police items, his fav camera, like none of that is mentioned so it just feels a little bit more like a fanfic in that sense?

and like I said before it's disappointing they don't really explore the ghostface AS an alter ego which like clearly has a different personality than him, and thats where the playful aspect comes in, the devs really clung to the sadboy story and thats not surprising considering they just. feel compelled to make every killer sympathetic even if its forced .

it just couldve been more cohesive to the character as a whole like instead of just writing a fanfic-esque backstory, look at everything you have and like string the pieces together like okay what can we do with his entire inventory of items what story can they tell?

though again I dont hate it and I'm not complaining since like. my worst fear is that they would massacre my boy so im like, walking away with my meager casino winnings thankful i didnt lose the house, yknow. I'll take it. it could be much worse.

but sahfksdf still. the pstd ghostface is a little Strange, but the weirdest thing is, the vicarious trauma aspect is written PRETTY well and accurate like pleasantly surprised, it does have my approval as a ptsd haver but again its like.. ghostface? hm ..