#Because I was wildly uncomfortable

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Thank you for the advice! On the topic of the Miracle Box and character bloat, I do struggle with the latter as I'm quite fond of the Miracuclass and have already attach myself to them. I do want to give them character developments since the show never did, but I am aware that having a massive cast will be difficult to write. For now my source of inspiration is Young Justice since they have a huge cast of heroes as well.

As for the Miracle Box and the shows rep on Chinese representation, I'm curious to hear your thoughts and what you would have done about it. I am Chinese-Indonesian and we celebrate Chinese New Year so I'm pretty familiar with the Chinese Zodiac. There is a story that about the origin of the Chinese Zodiac, the emperor held a contest to decide the animals that will be included in the calendar. The first is the rat and the last being the pig. Interestingly enough a cat originally wanted to join the contest only for its spot to be stolen by the rat.

The massive cast could have worked if they got ride of Marinette being the source of everything wrong in the universe and just had each episode deal with a conflict caused by one classmate or another, so I don't think you have to abandon them if you're going to match canon's monster-of-the-week format. Just be aware that it's downright impossible to write 18 characters (all the teens) or 36 characters (teens + kwamis - Nooroo) in a single scene and have the audience be able to follow what's going on. I'd strongly encourage you to scrap making most of them heroes and just keep them normal teens, but it is ultimately your call as you're the one who knows what story you want to tell.

I absolutely get the temptation to use the whole class because I personally love Rose and Juleka, but I ultimately chose to keep them as minor background characters because that's what was best for the story and I live by the code of kill your darlings since my goal as a writer is telling good stories.

I'm familiar with the Zodiac myth because of the anime Fruits Basket, but I am not Chinese* nor am I an expert in Chinese symbology and beliefs*. Please keep that in mind as I discuss this next section. If I get something wrong, then anyone is welcome to chime in and correct me or to give further context as this stuff is really hard to research if you don't read the Chinese language and/or if you don't have a background in this stuff to help set off your BS detector. A random blog could have good info or it could be written by a person making stuff up and I don't have the background to tell, so I'm skeptical of all of them which is why we're just going to talk about what's on Wikipedia here since that's usually at least mostly accurate and it gives us enough info for me to explain why I took one look at the zodiac stuff and went, "Hell no!"

My rewrite came about long before we knew all of the powers of the zodiac miraculous, so one of the first things that I had to do was figure out what to do about that because I wasn't going to just make up powers. I was going to base my stuff on the actual zodiac since I do try to be respectful to other cultures. This lead to me researching the Chinese zodiac*.

I very quickly realized how complicated this thing was. Every animal in the zodiac is associated with personality traits, two of the other animals, one of the five elements, and either yin or yang as well as several other things. I'll also note that Western representation of the zodiac has simplified it as there's more than just the 12 animals of the years. There are also animal signs assigned to the month (called "inner animals"), day (called "true animals"), and hour (called "secret animals") of your birth.

In other words, there's a lot of depth to the Chinese zodiac* and it has real cultural significance in China.

I was immediately wildly uncomfortable trying to come up with random powers that somehow respected that depth and significance. I also realized that the show didn't seem to be using the real zodiac to guide the powers it had assigned or the way the kwamis were being written, which also made me uncomfortable! I had previously assumed that they must have a cultural consultant to guide the cultural elements, but that does not seem to be the case for any element of the lore or Marinette's writing. Like to point out a big one, as best I can tell, a miracle box based on Chinese lore would not use a ladybug for good luck and it definitely wouldn't use a black cat for bad luck.

In other words, the miracle box seems to be about as Chinese as fortune cookies.

Between all of that, the character bloat, and the fact that the team is fighting one villain (meaning that you really don't need 17 powers), I decided to completely scrap the idea of the miracle box being tied to a specific culture and came up with my own lore that I won't go into here.

If I had the money to hire a cultural consultant or personal knowledge of Chinese* beliefs, then I would have considered redesigning all of the zodiac miraculous to be based on Chinese* beliefs and changed them into powerups to replace the colored macarons and cheese that have basically been forgotten about. (We are never seeing what the last three colors are for. Never!) I think that would have made more sense than the potions and it would have been more fun/limiting. It's basically how the show is using the zodiac anyway. The temp heroes are defined by their powers and little else since Ladybug is the only team member who is allowed to have a meaningful role on the team.

Basically, the Zodiac animals have a ton of potential to be something really cool that teaches us about Chinese* beliefs and I would love, love, love to see someone take that on. I mean, why have a main character who is half-Chinese and a box based on Chinese lore* if you're not going to capitalize on that?

*I bet you were wondering about all the red asterixis up there, weren't you? Well, buckle in because it gets worse.

I am not going to touch on this further because I am wildly unequipped to do so, but I would be remiss to not acknowledge the fact that the miracle box is said to be Chinese, but the miraculous monks are explicitly stated to be Tibetan, which is yet another "hell no!" There is a massive conflict over the fact that China claims that Tibet is not a country, but a part of China while Tibet claims to be its own nation. Some brief research on my part indicates that Tibet may even have its own beliefs around the zodiac and no. Just no. No, no, no! I'm not touching that minefield for a million dollars! Idk what the writers were thinking combining the two cultures like that, but that does seem to be what they're doing otherwise it would be the Tibetan miracle box or the monks would be in China. Writers, what are you doing?

Once again, I am not a part of any of the above cultures and I am not claiming to be an expert on them. I am just giving you my logic for why I took one look at the miracle box and went running for the hills. Aka why redesigned it to not be a mine field for my personal ethical code what which can be summed up as "research and represent all cultures to the best of my ability as cultures are not aesthetic. If I don't want to do the research (or can't for some reason), don't tie the setting/lore/whatever to a real culture." I'm not claiming to be perfect about that, but I do try and I like to think I know when I'm wildly out of my depth which was 100% the case here. No. Just no. No, no, no.

[m1zisua]

I think that in this scene, Till is just feeling pure euphoria and adrenaline. Finally, being able to almost taste freedom. Experiencing a rush of seeing something so new and cool and open.

That is until the reality of the situation comes crashing down on him, and in turn, he lets go of ivans hand, the previous joy completely gone. He knows it's too late to go back to how it was moments before .. knows that whatever choice he makes has already had its impact.

Hastedly, he has to make the choice between two very life altering decisions .. although I think subconsciously he knew what he would do, but I digress .....

Go back to the place that has the person who he holds most dear to him, the person who gives him a reason to live. The place that he has also unfortunately been accustomed to? Or wrecklessly escape with Ivan and live a life that potentially has so much more to offer, something that sounds like a mere fantasy.

Regardless, Till makes his choice. To go back. To stick with what he knows. The more "grounding" option. He couldn't leave Mizi, his hope, behind like that.

In one last fleeting moment, he desperately looks to Ivan, guilt written on his face. Maybe a last goodbye, an expression to convey to Ivan that he cares and that he's sorry for leaving. A dire attempt for Ivan to understand.

All of which goes unnoticed before Till has to turn back before it's too late and someone notices them missing.

So he goes. Horrifyingly enough, he sees Ivan there the next day. I imagine that his guilt only continues to grow each time Ivan interacts with him like nothing happened.

[alluralater]

someone pulling me closer by my clothing makes me want to scream for some reason but like not in a hot way. maybe it’s the neurospiciness but i just fucking hate that. like i’d rather they grab me by my body or something. the feeling of being detached from my clothes, being pulled but they’re also pulling me?? hate that. it gives me such god damn ick i can’t stand it. you can pull me closer with parts of my body though, that’s sexy

[quietwingsinthesky]

alternatively, more fucked up version where Cas sticks around the Bunker, has already been dating/is crushing on Sam/being crushed on by Sam so hard Gadreel thinks they’re dating, and then in playing the part of Sam, he gets caught up doing couple shit with Cas.

[sharkneto]

Why don’t you want five in school?

Oh, I've ranted about it before in the tags of THIS POST but in general it makes me wildly uncomfortable. As an adult, the thought of hypothetically being forced back to high school is the fucking pits, you could not pay me enough to do it - and I even had a good time in high school! Five is almost 60 years old and they're going to force him to go to classes and hang out with teens? That feels bad from every angle! It forces Five to act in a way he'd only do under great duress and fucks his agency and autonomy as an adult so badly. There are better, more interesting ways to play with the consequences of his physical vs actual age than sending him to goddamn high school. There's other, less dominating options for the "he looks like a kid and never actually graduated" problem.

You do you if that's your jam, don't let a random dude on the internet yuck your yum, but Five in high school is a squick for me.

[zmbienoir]

lowkey nervous to post rn cause someone i have blocked FOR SURE has access to this account and has relayed information to my ex.

[reflectionsofgalaxies]

i have thought of 1 (one) pro to this whole housing situation and i’m clinging onto it for dear life

[bunnypansy]

as a gay guy, I love the obey me bros and I love ur writing, but idk I just feel so upset reading m!mc x lucifer works because he's like totally my type, but for some reason I feel as though he would never be attracted to another guy. it just makes me so depressed while reading amazing writing like yours that provide content for amab, trans and masc presenting people . Like ill read the work that include him with a female or woman mc and he just seems so in-character, like he truly loves her, but with a guy mc (or even Diavolo!) he feels so out of character and that he'll be homophobic like those typical traditional masculine men. I I feel as though he'll tell me he's not into men if i ever tried to flirt with him and idk beat me up (jkjk) like there's this inner part of me that knows 'Lucifer would never set his eyes on another man', 'he's only gentlemanly to females', and it's only reinforced by the sheer amount of lucifer works that contain fem!mc x lucifer content, as if even those authors know deep down that Lucifer is straight. Sorry for venting, i just want to know that your work in the fandom is appreciated and that i can overcome such internalized hate…

...I appreciate the compliments, but don't send me asks like this, please.

[centrifugalforc3]

these guys scared of hugs or smth

also bonus

[elizabethrobertajones]

sewing scrunchies today.... I had to torment the baby in the process...

[basementxdweller]

thinking about that time i was asked "who molested you for you to turn out this way" on here. something something that action had consequences

[from-beyond]

I hate that post that periodically goes around that’s like. “I can’t be friends with people unless we trauma dump to each other within the first ten minutes 🤪”. I hate it so much. For your own safety AND the emotional boundaries of others, telling your deepest darkest traumas to a stranger isn’t a good thing.

[skyward-floored]

NAME THE WIDELY ACCEPTED FANON THINGS. if its okay with you of course. im just interested :D

Mmmm not really sure I want to share all of them, but... I think a lot of generally accepted characterization of Wind is just... off?

Hear me out. This is a kid who was raised almost solely by his grandmother, who has a baby sister who he also helped raise. He’s one of the only young adults on the island he grew up on, and is obviously responsible, dependable, and cares deeply for his family and friends, both old and new. But he still keeps his childlike aspects! He’s a happy guy despite the crap he’s been through, and is upbeat and generally positive through it all.

And I just rarely see a lot of those traits of his in fandom?

It feels like a lot of the time he’s relegated to as just “the kid who desperately wants to be seen as an adult” (who cusses and drinks to make up for it of course). Which he isn’t! Wind isn’t an adult and he’s okay with that. What he wants is respect, and to not be treated like he’s helpless, like just another civilian who can’t handle himself. These things are different.

Anyway, this is just my opinion, so don’t take this too seriously. And it’s not that it’s widely accepted exactly? Well except for the cussing. But eh.

[killanyone4you]

@partsindifferntplaces tagged me to do a mood board! rules are easy: go to pinterest, search "your name + core," post six pictures, tag six people

thanks for the tag 🥰

[drivemysoul]

guess who handed in his 2 weeks notice today

[authenticaussie]

I think the reason I'm enjoying writing core4 so much is it's just, a bunch of only-child children with non-traditional family dynamics who are so sibling coded/we're roommates and have been for the past 63,136 years. DELIGHTFUL to me. They're all so goddamn stupid. I have decided Kon says traumatic things about Cadmus and Cassie/Tim/Bart turn to each other and play rock-paper-scissors for who gets to be angry about it this time.