#I don’t actually mean he genuinely is incompetent or something

[anonymous-tals]

Harry has presented himself thus far as being incredibly smart and capable of being able to take on any challenge, no matter how great; it’s just inherent to who he is. His people are highly, highly intelligent, and they’ve guided and helped the humans for thousands of years. But in season three, we start to see things aren't exactly as one might have assumed. We learn he was not chosen to do this mission cause he was outstanding in some way, he wasn't even chosen at all. He volunteered. And later that season, we find out that, although he is way smarter than most humans, on his planet, he was "a C student at best".

Furthering his inadequacy, back in season two, he fears rejection from the other alien for having become "too human". And then, akin to how we see him act towards humans in regards to their comparable lack of intelligence, he rejects this alien when he finds out they're likely more "human" than he is. Sure, he may have some emotions or whatever, but he's not THAT human. Uhhh, weirdo, amirite, guys? We should all reject him instead.

He projects his insecurity by putting down others who are less smart, special, unemotional than him to make himself feel better about his own failure to live up to expectations, to prove himself worthy of praise, worthy period. And I don't know how this would've manifested before he started feeling emotions and stuff, cause, like...I'm not sure exactly what that looks like, but at least now, he's starting to feel the weight of these things that make him different, and not the good kind of different; he's not "special". He's...average...at best.

[staryuee]

Hii friend <3

I dont know really know if requests are still open but i wanted to ask if you could do any genshin characters with a rude s/o?

If not you're always aloud to delete the request :)

HOW YOU MAD AT ME, ‘CUZ I’M CUNT, BITCH?

꒰warnings꒱ cursing…obviously LOL

⠀꒲ ` synopsis . . . you wouldn’t call yourself rude just…”free-spirited” and liberal in your word choices~! ^_−☆

⠀꒲ ` characters . . . eula, xiao, thoma, ei, furina, navia, wriothesley

⠀꒲ ` notes . . . if i had a victorian era shilling for the amount of times my friend has called me rude after i’ve made a comment about something i would be the next ebenezer scrooge (⊙_⊙)

EULA — 优菈

now while eula would normally abhor at the foul language and insults that so easily spew from your precious lips, she actually can’t help but be oddly bemused.

i mean her expectations for linguistics are awfully high, one mustn’t speak with little eloquence but your brashness was oddly…charming, and refreshing in a way. you weren’t afraid to offend people, and simply enjoyed the motto of “i won’t apologise for what i said, i’ll apologise for how it made you feel.”

eula is of course someone who’s treated like the poster-woman for the concept of rudeness given her past and current feigned ego, so honestly you sort of make her feel better about herself — not in a negative way, in the way that she just simply doesn’t feel that lonely anymore.

if anyone has so much as a word to speak against you due to something you’ve said, they can speak to her first. the entirety of teyvat is allowed to shudder if she so much as so breathes, but when it comes to you? vengeance will be severed with a side of wine.

XIAO — 魈

stop. please. xiao is already overwhelmed enough by the varieties of his duties, all his patrolling — and now he has to make sure his lover isn’t in an argument with someone or being threatened to literal death.

he frankly doesn’t really care about the way you speak, sure it’s surprising at first since the majority of people in liyue hold themselves in a way that seems a bit more…calm, but then again sometimes that within itself can be seen as a rude attempt at pacification of genuine feelings.

you’ve never been mean or rude to him, directly at least, so he literally doesn’t care how brutal or venomous your words are, so long as you don’t get yourself in too much trouble. people haven’t seen the yaksha so an edge whenever a person opens their mouth since, well, ever.

he’s never brought up your attitude or personality; he loves you wholly, even if some parts of you are a bit more prickly than rosy.

THOMA — 托马

“haha, they were just joking!” you ticked off another five on your little notepad with a careful swoosh of your pen.

thoma has had to repeat that very phrase so much to the point you’ve been keeping a safe tally on a notepad of whenever he says it. to be honest, you don’t even believe five can be multiplied this many times…

your rudeness and foul language comes as an innate package, and thoma has no problem in neatly tying that package up with a little bow to placate whoever you managed to horribly offend that day. you fear that one day, if thoma isn’t there, you’ll find yourself being interrogated by kujo sara, maybe in a more lucky scenario heizou, herself.

“thoma can you do this f—“

“no.”

“i— wasn’t asking you??”

“you didn’t need to, now fuck off (๑･̑◡･̑๑). don’t be incompetent and you wouldn’t have to ask someone else to constantly do shit for you.”

RAIDEN EI — 影

if not directed to herself directly, she finds you absolutely amusing. she literally cannot be a spokesperson against rudeness after her uhum many self-made and self-fulfilled tragedies, plus she herself can be rather verbally off putting therefore, she has little problems with how you address others.

she does, however, keep a very keen eye on you to make sure you don’t stir up trouble with the wrong crowd.

but, hey! the great thing about dating a highly revered archon is the fact literally no-one will speak out against you.

“[name] told me to kill myself when i said hi in the morning…” and guess what? all of a sudden they have a long voyage to the fiery volcanoes of natlan planned out. criticism is only allowed if it’s aimed at her, not you — you’re basically an extension of her, if anyone so much so demeans you because of your attitude, it’s almost like they’re disrespecting the electro archon herself.

that’s a crime the citizens of inazuma have long learned the lesson of.

FURINA — 芙宁娜

she loves you purely for the theatrics and dramatics you always managed to find yourself in. it always seems like drama follows you wherever you simply step — and hey, she’s an actress, it’s no wonder she’s so easily charmed and swayed with the way your voice rings out blunt responses like it were second nature.

and to be fair, she’s a massive instigator of conflict. on the sidelines of course. so when you perhaps “accidentally” rub someone the wrong way, she can’t help but use sarcasm to throw fuel into the fire and watch the hellish flames burn as she kicks back with a cup of tea and a slice of cake (you know, like a true mirror to marie antoinette)

i think your duo would be even funnier and more undoubtedly chaotic if you have british humour and or slang equipped because let’s be so real if this was modern furina would force neuvillette to act like her roadman guard-dog while she sold 50p sweets during break time to the year 8s. throw in a little “yute” or “op” and she has heart eyes all over you (i promise this is all for the sake of comedy…)

NAVIA — 娜维娅

the best part of being in a relationship is being able to chat shit about anyone and everything, because well, you’re each-other’s everything already, why rely on the kindness of strangers for validation?

you and navia do the thing where you’ll subconsciously glance at each-other from the corners of your eyes when someone (or people) say some dumb silly shit. the problem being, neither of you can keep quiet and immediately will begin giggling and will make it inevitably worse by whispering to one another “stop!” and “don’t laugh—“ while holding your mouths to stifle yourselves.

this leads to people being rather nervous to speak to navia when you’re around. usually, navia is very friendly and softly spoken; often she’ll be a rather happy-go-lucky and caring girl who smiles no matter what — of course this doesn’t mean she’ll allow people to walk all over her, but hey she believes in second chances — but when you’re around…people will loiter around creepily before gathering the courage to ask for help or whatever they need.

navia is at heart however, a very loving and respectful person so she will remind you of when you’ve stepped out of line. sometimes rudeness is just an innate quality that people have and it’s sometimes not intended out of malice; even petty things like lateness or speaking out of turn counts as “rudeness”, and navia is here to either make excuses up for you or to defend you from criticism ☆〜（ゝ。∂）

WRIOTHESLEY — 莱欧斯利

oh he absolutely eats this shit up. every argument, insult, fight etcetera you’ve ever had is kept in a personal file somewhere in his cabinet just for memories sake. wriothesley’s life is already quite dramatic and hectic as it can be, the fortress of meropide could honestly sometimes be described as a form of circus within itself especially if you’re involved, but he revels in your antics nonetheless.

you’re literally so fucking hilarious, each time he hears those heavy doors heave open beneath him he just KNOWS shit has gone down and you’re about to dramatise it for him live.

you best believe he’s an instigator the same way furina is; whispering to you and then giggling when you use his encouragement as some sort of reference while you practically spit venom at the person who’s unfortunately become your centre of focus.

he won’t allow you to stir up too much trouble in the fortress of meropide but being his partner you get the perk of not getting into nearly as much trouble as you would if you were one of the criminals down in the fortress (unless you are then…well you’re special so it doesn’t matter!)

©STARYUEE do not copy, steal or repost ♡ ᴜsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ɪʜᴇᴀʀᴛɢᴀɴʏᴜ

[maybeiwasjustjade]

The High King theory truly makes me ill.

And knowing SJM and her obsession with making certain characters superior and/or have some kind of divine right to rule, I know she’ll try to make it happen at the expense of literally everyone else.

Moreover, I don’t see how it can happen without a major war. They just got out of 50 years under Amarantha, I doubt the courts are itching for another incompetent warlords’ attempt at HK/HQ.

Who exactly would bow to Feyre and Rhysand? The High Lords meeting showed that barely anyone tolerated them, nor did they have any actual allies that wasn’t Helion. And I doubt Helion would be so forgiving when he finds out about Lucien. Tamlin and Eris would never, so they’d have to die. Neither would Tarquin or Kallias agree, so that’s a given war with the Seasonal Courts. Dawn would stay neutral, or end up the rebel court. It really is the only toss up.

And even with Gwydion (which rightfully belongs to Nesta alongside the Trove) as some kind of divine symbol, feysand genuinely sucks at ruling. Conquer Prythian—yes, conquer because the other HL would never submit if they asked nicely—when they can’t even rule or play nice with their own people. Enough with the HK dreams, Amren; Rhysand would be lucky if Illyria and Hewn City don’t band together soon to stage a massive uprising.

(Y’know I’m not surprised nobody in the IC can empathize with the CoN citizens. They were all trapped in Velaris for fifty years, where they were free and the sun still rose. Imagine if they’d been UtM with everyone else; maybe then they’d get it. That life where even the sun and trees and anything worth living is out of reach at the whims of a dictator is no life at all.)

And I’ve seen theories floating around that the HK plot is set up for Nyx instead, because he’s destined to inherit all seven powers of the court. Yeah, that’s equally terrible. Divine right to rule and conquer is bullshit. Balance is something that should exist but doesn’t in Acotar. If it did, Feyre wouldn’t be as powerful as she is. 7 drops is not a lot of magic; so tiny and miniscule that each HL didn’t even really notice they lost it. It doesn’t make sense that she could go toe to toe with them with just a singular drop.

Which is baffling when the same author wrote ToG. Everything that was given was scraped together and fought for miserably, and even in all that power, they had to sacrifice so much. Aelin Settled and got her kingdom back, but at the price of losing almost all her fire and getting to keep one drop of water. Dorian still has most of his magic, but at the price of being made a demon slave, committing fratricide, and having the sole responsibility of redeeming his kingdom ala Zuko. Manon fulfilled the prophecy and united her people, allowing them the chance to return home for the first time in 500 years. All it took was losing the Thirteen, who would never see that dream come to life.

Nothing came without cost.

And while yes, Feyre deserved to be remade after her death saving Prythian, the amount of magic she wields is the issue. Nesta having so much magic made sense given she stole most of it; we have yet to really see how much is left. But where’s the balance if Feysand does end up HK/HQ, or Nyx does. What have they given up that makes them more worthy to rule the entirety of Prythian than literally any other character? Because I can argue that they’ve lost a lot lesser. Whatever rights feysand believes they have is no more than a lot of other characters.

And the bloodline of Theia? Yeah, I’m pretty sure the important ones are her female descendants, like Bryce. And Bryce gave Gwydion to Nesta for a reason. If SJM wanted me to believe Feysand was the best choice, she should’ve made Nyx be born full Illyrian. Or better yet, mostly High Fae but with no magic. That would’ve been a much more interesting story to follow, given that Nyx might not be the next inheritor of the Night Court. And what it would mean for the Hewn City. She’ll never do it of course, but it would be fun.

[localtelephonebooth]

Thoughts on Kieran’s relationship with Ogerpon as a previously obsessive teenager:

(I did not proof read this. I just woke up, had the urge, and now it’s here.)

Kieran, to me, is a very relatable character. He is a shy, and quiet teenager in a small town. He lacks friendships and possibly meaningful connections with those who do spend time with him. He’s probably isolated due to the fact that he lacks a phone. Any friends he does make are likely school based only. So, Kieran latches on to anything he can to feel less alone in life. And of course he latches onto Ogerpon. Ogerpon is just like him. A sad “monster” all isolated and alone in the mountains. I’m certain that Kieran has fantasized about meeting Ogerpon and getting into wild adventures with her. I did the same thing with characters I enjoyed.

Princess Luna, for example (sorry to whiplash anyone with that), was a character I heavily related to. She was alone and isolated due to her previous actions. She struggled with fitting in and having a healthy relationship with her sister for awhile. To say I didn’t form an obsession with a character who understood my feelings would be a lie. I think Kieran is the same.

He became obsessed with Ogerpon. He become obsessed with the ideas he crafted of him and Ogerpon. In a way, that fantasy was VERY real to him. So when we come around and lie about meeting Ogerpon, and inevitably become friends with her behind his back, of course he freaks out! We stole his fantasy of him and Ogerpon! And that’s the key point here that people tend to not realize. We didn’t steal Ogerpon from Kieran, we just stole his fantasy and made it our reality.

With my obsession with princess Luna (again, whiplash), if anyone said they loved princess Luna it was a fucking attack on me. Princess Luna was my best friend, and she could only love me! Everyone else was just a jealous thief.

As an adult looking back on this mindset, it’s horribly embarrassing. It’s a mindset I carried into my real life, when I actually started making friends, that ruined so much for me. I lost friends because I was so angry that my fantasies were not reciprocated. I really do think Kieran does the same. He grows sad and frustrated over what happened with Ogerpon. His fantasy is just a fantasy, and that’s fucking with him. So naturally, he finds a new fantasy to, hopefully in his mind, make a reality. And so he chose battling and winning against you. The thing we used to “steal” Ogerpon away from him (Even though Kieran technically suggested battling for Ogerpon, I don’t doubt he used it to rationalize why she didn’t want to come with him). To him, being the best battler will solve everything. Kieran will get his revenge, he’ll finally be recognized, everyone can’t lie to him because they fear or admire him, and he’ll prove to Ogerpon he was the right choice.

.

Now, I want to say something about Kieran. A detail that, for whatever reason, people don’t like to acknowledge: He’s just a kid.

I’m not saying “He’s a widdle baby. He can do no harm!” No, Kieran’s an asshole. He became a bully. I can have empathy for his emotions, but not excuse his actions. He’s a dumb and entitled teenager with issues. And, quite obviously, he doesn’t really have a way to deal with his issues in a healthy manner (seriously, his school is based solely on battling. Anyone who’s going or gone to a specialized school can understand how toxic people can get in that type of environment. And don’t even get me started on the incompetence of the adults in Kieran’s school).

Kieran is a teenage boy growing up right now. He’s got a lot to work through, and a lot of people he’s gotta confront about his behavior. He was an asshole, a bully, and genuinely a bad person for minute. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t growing past that. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve recognition for his growth. You can recognize someone has changed and not forgive them.

Kieran is a really intriguing character and holds a valuable lesson in obsession. And I really wish people would recognize that he’s not just an irredeemable prick or an innocent little guy. He’s a kid learning. He’s going to make really stupid and bad mistakes. Just like how I, and probably you reading this, did.

Anyways, hopefully we see him interact with the Area Zero buddies. I think those three have amazing lessons that Kieran can learn from. Maybe Kieran can teach them a few things too!

[thedovesaredying]

Little Chicken | Cowboy!Nikto x F!Reader | Oneshot

Figured out a cute little nickname for Nikto's reader in the Cowboy AU originally created by @ghouljams as always! I thought it was fitting since "chicken" or "chook" is an affectionate term where I live and I think it's an adorable petname.

Nikto has complicated feelings about watching his girl doing her job. She's by no means weak or incompetent at it, but he can only hold his nerve for so long.

Call of Duty Masterlist

“Цыплёнок,” Nikto huffs, trying in vain to call you back while he watches you continue to wade through the knee-deep water of the river. He normally trusts your ability to handle yourself with large and dangerous animals; this is your job and you’ve been doing it for years. But this? This is too far even for him.  

“Nikto! Come look!” you excitedly call to him, looking back to grin at him with that blindingly bright smile that shows off your dimples. In any other situation, seeing such a loving, genuine smile aimed his way would give him that warm feeling in his gut. Instead, it just concerns him even more that you’re paying attention to him and not the animal at your feet.  

“нет, we can see fine from here,” he keeps his eyes glued to the huge creature floating in place only a few feet from you.  

“Aww, c’mon Nikto! He’s only a little fella, can’t be more than seven or eight feet,” you look back to the alligator sitting on the riverbed. You hum to yourself, tilting your head this way and that as you observe the animal, “he’s got a nice thick snout, so it’s definitely a male.” While you continue to list different facts about the species, Nikto can only watch as the alligator in question starts drifting closer.

“-and look, because of all the sensory nerves along the top of the head, tapping the water’s surface like this will cause him to-” you reach down toward the water and- Before you can do... whatever it is you’re planning on doing, he takes a couple of long strides into the water and reaches down, hauling you bodily from the river.  

“нет, абсолютно нет, не происходит, нет,” He throws you over one shoulder and carries you back to dry land, regardless of your protests.  

“Nikto, Nikto put me down,” he ignores you, “I know what I’m doing, I wouldn’t have let him actually bite me.” You grumble when he continues all the way back to the truck the two of you arrived in, corralling you into the front seat with his broad body blocking you from attempting to escape.  

You hop up into the seat, turning your body so that you’re sitting facing out the open truck door. The truck is high enough that you can look him in the eye without craning your neck, and the pout you subject him to is admittedly rather endearing. “You will be the death of us, Цыплёнок,” he sighs, gently knocking his forehead against yours.  

Your brows furrow slightly, “I’ve never heard that one before, what does it mean?” you ask quietly, refusing to break this soft moment.  

“It means chicken,” he replies, and tries not to grin when you giggle, “you are like a little chicken, yes?” 

“Are you saying I’m a coward?” you pretend to clutch your pearls, but the dramatic reaction is ruined by your bright grin.  

“No, of course not,” he reassures you, “you’re stupid.”  

He receives a slap to the chest as you gasp, “Nikto!” You glare at him, poking his chest with a single finger, “I guess that makes you a donkey, then, because you’re a complete ass.” 

The cackle that bursts out of him is entirely genuine, but he can’t help it, not when you come out with something so unexpected. You quickly join him in laughter, and the two of you must be a strange sight, sitting in a truck beside the river, giggling like a couple of teenagers.  

“You’re lucky, Цыплёнок, no one else would be allowed to get away with being so rude.” Perhaps he’ll keep the name, it suits you, to be a sweet little chicken, and you don’t seem to be too put off by it given the way you plant a soft kiss against his clothed lips.

-

Translations:

"Цыплёнок" - Little Chicken - An affectionate term for a partner.

"нет" - No

“нет, абсолютно нет, не происходит, нет” - No, absolutely not, not happening, no/nope.

[that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction]

I wrote a random fic thing (beginning and overview summary) on my phone when I had a spare half hour in work.

I don’t know if this will actually become something, I’m focusing on rewriting the next chapter of the Leon’s knowing and knowing treason fic before I properly start anything else, but I got bored and had an idea I didn’t want to forget.

Arthur takes Merlin not flirting with him after the sigil thing as a rejection. Merlin doesn’t know what a sigil means until Gwaine sees his, Arthur is embarrassed until Merlin claps him around the head and drags him out to yell about explaining what the hell sigils mean. Merlin gives Arthur half of a coin that his mother gave him (originally a gift from his father) and tells him he’s going to ask more about courting traditions, Arthur laughs and tells him that giving a sigil back completes the union and is basically an agreement to get married. Merlin kisses Arthur’s hand and tells him that of course he’ll marry him, but after he gets a chance to do the whole courting thing because Arthur deserves it. Possibly Hanahaki thrown in there too because I don’t think I’ve ever written that but I’m not sure yet.

— preview —

Arthur has loved Merlin as long as he’s known him. It started harmlessly enough, a childish crush on the insufferable peasant boy with a lack of respect for authority and a self assured ability to get himself too deep into trouble.

At first, Arthur was simply curious. Merlin hadn’t realised he was a prince for their first interaction, so it made sense that he felt confident enough to mouth off. Their second interaction however, had Arthur’s heart beating a little faster. Merlin had completely disregarded Arthur’s royal status in a way no one else ever had, and the drop in his voice, lilting with a slight Essetir accent, as he completely defaced the way Arthur would hear “My Lord” forever. That night at dinner with his Father, Arthur had choked on his wine when a servant had used his title! As though that wasn’t bad enough, Merlin had Arthur beat in their fight, though he’d never admit it. Arthur had no idea how the country boy managed to best him but the humiliating truth was that up until Merlin got distracted, Arthur was loosing.

And then Merlin saved his life, being rewarded a position as his manservant. Arthur tried to hate him, it seemed easy enough with the stuttering in his heart whenever Merlin came near him. Any attraction Arthur had felt as a result of Merlin’s fighting ability left him as soon as he saw the incompetence Merlin displayed when he forgot to hand Arthur his sword and fumbled through every piece of armour he had.

It came back full force when Merlin was suddenly well adept at polishing, sorting and handling his armour, but that was neither here nor there. Merlin had stopped his mindless prattle about nerves and whatever else too, simply wishing Arthur “Good luck” before his tournament. Arthur felt his heart melt a little in his chest.

And then Merlin had warned him about the snakes in Valiant’s shield in low fire light that cast an ethereal glow over his face and lit up his eyes almost golden. There was so much sincerity in his voice and Arthur couldn’t believe someone was capable of speaking so genuinely. Not to a Prince when there would always be a chance for some ulterior motive.

But not with Merlin.

So the long slow descent from harmless crush to falling in love began, and seven years later Arthur was absolutely smitten though only in secret. Merlin had made it perfectly clear that he didn’t care for Arthur in the same way Arthur cared for him, anyway.

———

So thoughts? :)

[urdreamgirls-dreamgirl]

Controversial take but follow up to that Steve post reblog: I also genuinely dislike the way the fandom writes abt Steve bullying Eddie in fanfiction (it’s become so ubiquitous that you kinda have to just suck it up and deal w it at this point). There’s NO canon evidence that Steve has ever bullied Eddie. Besides Jason, almost everyone basically ignores Eddie when he’s giving his antagonistic speech in the cafeteria and when Chrissy meets with him in the woods, she implies she thinks he’ll be “mean and scary” which doesn’t equate to someone who’s actively being bullied at school if people genuinely think that abt him. Yes, there’s the Satanic panic undertones from DND that he’s making fun of when he’s introduced, but we don’t really see any of that play out on screen prior to Chrissy going to the trailer (by which I mean, there’s also no evidence that Eddie’s being harassed at school outside of his antagonistic lunch rants, which we know are the norm from the way Mike and Dustin talk abt Eddie before we’re introduced to him). We see that people seem to be more irritated by him and afraid of him then actually bullying him before the events of Spring Break.

Even when Eddie and Steve have their conversation in the Upside Down, there’s absolutely no indication that they’ve ever had a bad interaction or even that Eddie has ever had an altercation with Tommy (if we consider the fact that Eddie seems to be the resident drug dealer of Hawkins High and we assume Tommy and Steve were getting high, it’s a dumb idea to fuck with your dealer). Eddie very clearly says “rich parents, popular, chicks love him, not a douche? No way, man” which indicates that he’s making an assumption based on stereotypes, not that he’s ever actually had an interpersonal interaction with Steve.

The worst thing we see Steve do on screen to Eddie is call him a freak to Dustin on the phone when Dustin is annoying him at work and asking Steve to give up a date to do something he’s never shown an interest in doing literally ever and then also not necessarily believing Eddie’s innocent/not wanting to get involved in a murder investigation until they talk to Eddie in the boat house, which. Idk. Doesn’t seem THAT bad to me when you consider the fact that a girl died in his trailer after going there with him (presumably for drugs—we know it’s drugs but Steve and co. do not, I guess… they can only assume lol) (except for saying the cops should handle it because he already knows how incompetent the Hawkins PD is but anyway).

[thrawns-backrest]

Prompted by this post and the related interview, reason 15467352 why I think Dave Felony isn’t up to the task of writing live action Star Wars.

I was going to harp about how this proves Filoni hasn’t read the books but this interview is from before the canon trilogies were out so touché on that. And yet this just proves to me why Filoni isn’t the guy for the job of writing Thrawn. Or any live action imperials for that matter.

I’ll start by saying that one thing I will concede is that the notion of the Imperial military being plagued by incompetent officers is not entirely unrealistic. Given that it’s a stratocracy, you can expect to find people who used politics to climb the ranks rather than actual military competence - it’s a kind of French Revolution situation kind of thing. Historically it’s been known to happen in our world.

Combine that with the fact that the Empire is racist, elitist and (kind of) sexist as all hell and you have a limited pool of people to pick from when filling its ranks, pushing some genuine talent to the fringes or excluding it altogether.

The thing I’m entirely tired of seeing though is the implication that it’s the majority of Imperial leadership that’s like this and by this I mean incompetent. The overwhelming majority at that. But more on the Empire’s moronicity later, let’s talk about Thrawn.

“He’s not ambitious in the way where he needs to see himself promoted, or a governor one day. He purely wants to dissect them; that’s what he enjoys!” This. This grinds my gears so much. For starters it proves that Filoni sees Thrawn as this ‘quirky baddie’ where Zahn treats him as an actual person. There’s something almost condescending in taking a neurodivergent coded character and being like ‘aww, look at them, they’re so happy doing their little thing they don’t have any other goals and ambitions whatsoever :)’.

To get things straight, Thrawn has always been annoyed by the limitations placed on him by an inferior rank. You could argue it’s for the simple reason that a higher rank gives him more freedom to act and pursue his goals but that’s just what that is, a simplification.

And that’s where Filoni’s problem lies:

Filoni is good at writing cartoons. And before people raise their pitchforks, I don’t mean this in a negative way. Writing cartoons forces you to squish complex ideas into a digestible format, the genre needs simplification and caricature to work and doing that well is a talent all by itself.

You’re meant to put in some extra effort to suspend your disbelief in order to enjoy the deeper complexities of the story. Where that stops working though is when you step out of the genre and move into live action and our good buddy Dave doesn’t seem to realize that.

It may admittedly sound like I’m being unnecessarily harsh on him and I probably am but I do realize the guy is just doing what he does best. I doubt he has any real beef with neurodivergents or has no actual clue that militaries need a base level of competence in order to function and thrive.

Neither is he the only one guilty of implying the Empire’s competent staff can be counted on the fingers of one hand. “It’s just so different for them to have a bad guy that’s, you know, actually smart with how he uses the Imperial war machine!” Okay, Dave. Sure Dave. “[…] with the exception of Tarkin – Tarkin’s strategically intelligent” Oh so there’s two of them! (okay okay, I’ll stop here)

My point is, you can’t get away with making the antagonists so stupid in a realistic setting. I recently saw someone compare Kenobi and Andor in terms of portraying your antagonists correctly and I have to agree that Andor is the only star wars live action media in recent memory that gets it right. (Though even Andor is guilty of injecting some stupid into its plot in order to enable implausible events to happen. I’m looking at you, Maarva’s speech.)

Because the thing is, the more bumbling and idiotic you make your antagonists, the more it detracts from the efforts and skills of your protagonists when defeating them. The Empire is sprawling and all powerful, so much so that it takes several force users pulling deus ex machinas out of their ass to bring it down. In conjunction with the extreme dedicated efforts of the Rebellion mind you.

It took a timely coincidence of hubris, political corruption and flawed strategy working together to allow it to happen. Give me media that explores why the Empire endured for so long, the mechanisms in place that made ordinary people turn into cogs of the machine, the selective process behind constructing an absolutely ruthless, dangerous leadership, media that looks at how these same conditions can come about in our world rather than the unrealistic explanation of ‘people bad because bad’.

Zahn, Gilroy, Luceno and many others are examples of writers that do this justice. Pass the baton on to Filoni and you end up with an antagonist who’s smart as an exception because ‘he’s just so quirky’ while still bearing all the hallmarks of a cartoon villain, the ominous gloating speeches and sadistic behaviour and whatnot.

I’d be hella remiss to say it hasn’t left its mark on the fandom either. The amount of times I’ve seen characters like Tarkin, Krennic, Palpatine, etc. be moronified (while Thrawn inevitably gets his victim treatment) while completely ignoring the fact that defeating them was no small feat and their having weaknesses to exploit isn’t something that detracts from just how dangerous and scary these motherfuckers were.

The Clone Wars was a good show. Rebels was a good show. But by god is Filoni bad at transferring his skills to live action and no one can convince me that Thrawn isn’t the best example of that.

[stardustizuku]

So, I’m not gonna tag this. Mostly because I don’t want to blow this more out of proportion than it was.

For starters and some context, I am Latina. I am not considered white by the standards of the country I’m living in. But I am considered white in the country I’m from. So I am acutely aware of how racism diverts itself from culture to culture. What you consider the “other” varies from the culture you are speaking from.

I have stated, I am not Asian. The context of what I know, entails as racism in Japan and how it presents its extremely limited. I have read books, watched documentaries, done research but it’s not empirical and that’s something that drastically changes the quality of information I could give.

We have three ways of framing any given analysis of racism - one, using my cultural context of dissecting the “other” (which would consider religious background, skin color and class). Two, the cultural context of the author’s background, in this case Japan’s (which would consider skin color and nationality). And three and my least favorite, American cultural context, which places an uncomfortable amount of emphasis on skin color.

The reason I don’t like talking about a piece of media through the lenses of American Cultural Context is because that on itself is a form of American Imperialism (from my humble point of view as a Latina who suffered from American Imperialism).

It’s a way for Americans to position their own racism problems in the center of the conversation. Forcing everyone to comply to what their idea of “white” and “black” means.

And unfortunately, for everyone here involved, that’s the lense through which half this site uses as a default.

So you would understand my exasperation, when I see someone: not explain the cultural context through which they’re analyzing racism, explain little to nothing abt said cultural context, and ranting off more about the morality of the text than actually discuss any of these points with any nuance.

In my mind, I have my own cultural background at the forefront. Unfortunately, I have the American cultural background jammed in the back of my mind too. And suddenly you insert the Japanese cultural background handfisted in with the grace of a red eyed bull in a glass shop.

I get fed up, I don’t understand what’s going on, I make an untagged post criticizing the PERSON’s analysis skills (which I’m sorry if I’m mean, but it sorta is bad).

I never said or implied “this work of fiction doesn’t contain problems”, I just said I wished the people who criticized it had the skills to properly explain their point.

Which, by the way, part of that writing skills needed is understanding that your interpretation is not gospel.

Cause like, I had a COMPLETELY different interpretation on Lanzenave. And the country to me, has never come across as a villain.

Like, let’s look for a second MY cultural context, and you’ll understand why I was very confused by the original post.

I genuinely 100% thought Lanzanavians were being portrayed as the GOOD guys.

For starters, the “dark-skinned” comment comes in Part 5 Volume 5 where it comes from being compared to royalty - which may I remind you WE HATE. Like at this point the Royals have been portrayed as incompetent buffoons who have done nothing more than fuck up their country.

To me, this was less of an indicator of racial profiling, and more of “they are different from the awful royals”.

Which, in my mind, made them better.

A way to say, whatever crimes the royal family has committed, it bears nothing of the actual intentions and wants of Lanzenavians.

Thing that is sorta supported by the rest of the narrative.

Lanzenave was once a country with no King. Then a King came from a magical place across the sea. But as he became more and more useless, they decided to send him back.

It looked, to me, like Lanzenave was a colonized country, that used their King’s greed to get rid of him. It’s stated that many people who came from Lanzenave weren’t just ‘natives’, but nobles.

In my country we have a term “malinche” which refers to anyone who thinks “first world countries” are better than your homeland. A cheap attempt to replicate it and discard your country for the sake of false status - is considered a laughing stock.

Which makes obvious why, the way I interpret it, people who wanted to leave Lanzenave for Yurgenschmidt never registered as actual Lanzenavians. To me they were malinches. Actual Lanzenavians were those who stayed in their country, those who embraced technology and rejected mana and feystones.

In my eyes, Lanzenavians were always smart, hardworking people being exploited and colonized. Who managed to expel the poison. The closing of the gate to Yurgenschmidt wasn’t a punishment. It was freedom. A guarantee that their colonizers wouldn’t return.

The people who invaded, were always that. Colonizers. Nobles. Rich people who think they’re better than poor people.

To me this was Latinoamerican culture in a nutshell. A place where, where you consider yourself to be from, carries way more meaning than skin color or appearance. If you say you’re Mexican, you are Mexican. It doesn’t matter what you look like. But if you renounce your heritage and call yourself “American”, you get mockery and contempt. Cause Americans won’t take you in, they don’t think you are part of them. But you’d rather not be a part of them, than be a part of us? Then follow their rules, and whatever punishment follows - it’s rightfully deserved.

So you would imagine my surprise, when I see someone with a different perspective. Noting something true that I hadn’t realized - this is a Japanese story. Applying the lenses of your own cultural context isn’t how the story is meant to be interpreted.

But instead of anything productive to be had in a conversation, I’m met with…well. People picking a fight.

They genuinely don’t consider or want, to be honest, any sort of different perspective. What they want is to complaint.

They’re Angry that some of us enjoy the story. That we have different things to enjoy out of a story. That we aren’t focusing enough on the problematic aspects of the text. Reading untagged posts and forming a convoluted opinion off two or three sentences I make. Going into huge tangents that completely miss the point.

I think it’s important, if you wanna actually talk instead of throwing buzzwords around, to lay groundwork of what want.

Again, I’m not criticizing wanting to discuss the issues of racism and xenophobia that exist - but I am sorta criticizing your ability to convey a message.

I’m not saying AoB is particularly progressive. But the books do criticize royalty, generational power, the patriarchy and systems that oppress women, the Sakoku Period, inequality in education, restriction of information and censorship…which are issues that I very rarely see tackled in this G E N R E (bcs obv if you switch to other genres and books you will find it. But shoujo isekais that talk abt royalty are rarely ballsy enough to directly criticize the power fantasy they’re writing for young women).

This is honestly a very toxic mentality. I made this for the few ppl who might be following this thing - to me Lanzenavians were always very cool.

[themattress]

A lookback at “Enter the Florpus”

It still kind of amazes me that this movie pulled off the dual accomplishments of providing pay-off to a set-up from 18 years earlier (see also: Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie, which did the same for a 15 year old set-up) and providing genuine depth and meaning to both itself and the series it’s a finale to in spite of the absurdist “Lol, random!” seeming surface level.

In “The Nightmare Begins”, we see the Almighty Tallest have their eyes set on expanding the Irken Empire, but don’t want Zim to take part of it because they hate him, which leads them to send him on what they believe to be a fool’s errand to the farthest edges of the universe. But of course, Zim ended up persevering and continuing to annoy the Tallest with his belief that he’s a legitimate Invader in Operation Impending Doom II. “Enter the Florpus” gives us the ultimate breaking point, where the Tallest actually end up destroying their entire operation and empire because they are consumed by their hatred of Zim and desire to flat-out kill him.

In “The Nightmare Begins”, the fool’s errand Zim is sent on is to conquer a planet the Almighty Tallest don’t even believe to exist...which, of course, it does: it’s Earth. The following series is all about Zim’s trying and failing to conquer Earth for the Irken Empire’s sake, and in “Enter the Florpus” Zim finally realizes the futility of his efforts when he learns the Tallest have no interest in coming to Earth (although he believes it to be the direct result of all his failures rather than it being the way the Tallest have always felt) and sinks into a depression. 

In “The Nightmare Begins”, Zim is firmly established as an incompetent buffoon who will inevitably screw up his plans for conquering Earth. But after shaking off his depression in “Enter the Florpus”, Zim actually becomes so laser-focused on the goal he now sees finally within his reach that he becomes a successful threat. Of course, even at his most competent Zim is still a screw-up, as carrying out his plan ends up creating a Florpus that threatens to destroy Earth, which would leave the Tallest with no planet to conquer even if they wanted to.

In “The Nightmare Begins”, there is a climactic chase, with Dib in pursuit of Zim. Here, your sympathies are with Zim, who has just gotten to Earth and is at a disadvantage, not to mention Dib is motivated purely by his ego. The climax of “Enter the Florpus” also features Dib chasing Zim, but now the sympathies are reversed: Dib, fresh off seemingly losing his father, is motivated by the genuine desire to save Earth, while Zim holds the advantage.

In “The Nightmare Begins”, Gaz is established through swearing her older brother Dib will pay for drinking the last soda, showing that she has a fairly contentious relationship with him. In “Enter the Florpus”, Gaz ends up being the one to encourage Dib when he’s at his lowest point, expressing that no matter how much he annoys her and how often they clash, he’s still her brother whom she cares for (much needed after Season 2 flanderized her so badly).

In “The Nightmare Begins”, Professor Membrane is established by not listening to what Dib has to say since he’s busy with something, flat-out dismissing him when he tries. He keeps this up throughout the series, naturally giving Dib the impression that his father isn’t proud of his weirdo son and that exposing Zim will rectify that. In “Enter the Florpus”, in a dramatic moment Professor Membrane reveals that Dib doesn’t have to prove anything because he’s always proud of him - he genuinely never considered that his dismissiveness when busy would give Dib the impression it did because he took it as a given that his children knew he loved them and was proud of them. Now that he realizes his mistake, he showcases his development by spending the rest of the movie more attentive and openly caring toward Dib.

Speaking of Professor Membrane’s development, I feel this moment in the climax deserves more attention. Professor Membrane spends the movie thinking the whole fantastical scenario he’s in is just a dream, since everything going on is so unscientific and he can’t grasp that it could possibly be real. However, when it comes time to save Earth through a literal Yes or No selection, we see him hesitate and almost press No before then pressing Yes. So much said here without any dialogue: Professor Membrane realizes that if he presses Yes, then he’s lending this whole crisis legitimacy...he’s practically admitting that it’s not a dream and is really happening. Pressing No to not save Earth since, hey, it’s all a dream anyway...that’s more in line with what he wishes to believe. However, he still presses Yes. Why? Because even if it is a dream, he couldn’t bring himself to let his children perish. If it’s a dream and he has total control, then there’s no excuse for him to condemn even dream versions of his children to their doom along with the rest of the planet. When it mattered most, the man’s love for his kids overcame his rational scientific mind. And that’s just beautiful.

I also want to mention how wonderfully the movie solidified Dib and Zim as foils of one another. Both of them are the same but different. They are the same in that their egomania and desire to protect or conquer Earth conceals a fragile core: deep down they are insecure losers who just want to receive validation from someone they look up to - for Dib, his father, and for Zim, the Almighty Tallest. It’s what leads to Dib empathizing with Zim, and trying to help him even though it backfires horribly. But they are different in that not only does Dib start to evolve past his delusions while Zim only sinks further into them, but also their efforts are proven futile for entirely opposite reasons. Dib can never make his father proud of him because his father loves him and is already proud of him...he doesn’t need to accomplish any grand feat to prove himself to him. Zim, on the other hand, can never make the Tallest proud of him because the Tallest hate him and anything he does, even successfully, will only piss them off more as they just want to be rid of him. It really is two sides of a single coin.

Finally, the ending of the movie - and series - is just perfect, with the “lol, random!” veneer concluding the main characters in a random religious allegory. The Membrane family are left off in a state of Heaven: they love each other and are happily seated at the table for dinner. They even have a new member in Clembrane, whose existence confirms the prior ordeal to have not been a dream but Professor Membrane hilariously sticks to that story anyway because he’ll be damned if he ever admits something so unscientific out loud. The Almighty Tallest are left off in a state of Hell, literally trapped in a fiery inferno within the Florpus (and for added karma, they’re puppets now). And Zim, with GIR and Minimoose still at his side, is left off in a state of Purgatory. Never the model of sanity to begin with, Zim’s biggest and most competently executed plan failing and dooming the Irken Empire in the process has caused him to fully retreat from reality - he now claims stealing a clown doll from Dib’s house was the plan all along, makes outrageous false statements like “Zim always wins!”, and takes the Tallest’s screaming as they dance in the Florpus’ flames as a “yes” when asking if they are pleased with him as an Invader. He’s never going to stop making screwball plans to conquer Earth for the Irken Empire even when there is no more Irken Empire. The good news is that Dib will doubtlessly be all too willing to humor him, so it is kind of a happy ending for him too.

Invader ZIM: Enter the Florpus - it truly is one of the smartest dumbest movies ever.

[absolute-weirdo-inc]

UltraVerse Lore

Nightmare

-Nightmare is the main character

-Nightmare was found as a child (post-apple incident) and adopted him

-Nightmare is a genuinely good guy

-Dream basically abandoned him for the love of the villagers

-He is the same person as passive but was controlled ages 6-8 by an evil spirit (basically canon nightmare but a kid) so is now viewed as a villain since the spirit took his body on a joyride throughout the multiverse destroying 7 separate universes along the way

-Nightmare has bad trauma bcus of the villagers abuse

The MTT

-Basically act as one person since they are #codependentasfuck

-Chaos incarnate

-Nightmares precious babys (though NM wont admit it to anyone)

-The fight constantly

-Same lore as canon (No fanon horror ty bbg) ((We stan canon horror))

-Non canon ages (same with everyone else (ages shown further down))

Cross

-A bad guy

-Same canon as usual (obviously underverse isnt a thing but the events of Xtale still happened (this is important for his and ink’s relationship))

-Little brother vibes

-Hates annoying NM but it sometimes happens regardless

-Nightmares favourite child nonetheless

-The most idiotic of the bad guys but trys to act like hes a genius

Error

-Sometimes works with NM bug mainly on game night in the castle not on actual Multiverse shit (bcus ill be dambed if the baddies don’t get to kick each others asses in dumb games of charades (Nightmare kicks the most ass in scrabble bcus hes a fucking nerd and dust is surprisingly good at draw and killer guessing in picturnary))

-BBFs with Swap regardless

-Canon error all the way 0 exceptions (unless its for feather boas)

-Makes dolls for an orphanage in the omega timeline and donates the anonymously 😭

-Hates ink because he thinks he thinks hes a freak (no one on one rivalry bcus he prefers to put his time to good use and not use it on “a dumb looking, emo wannabe who sucks at everything and has the brain of a fucking sloth”… his words not mine bbg”

Dream

-A bit of an ass

-Truly believes he the hero (has no clue he’s fucking up the multiverse with all the positivity he spreads

-His anthem is literally SUI

-Overworks Swap without realising

-Was convinced by the village that NM is evil

-Drinks wine like everyone’s favourite english teacher who has had it up to here because of their incompetent husband (by incompetent husband i mean ink)

-I Stan him fr

Ink

-… underverse except hes dumb and is a dream simp lol

-BUT HES ALSO SO BBG

-hes just a combo of canon and fanon ink with a sprinkle of 💅

Swap

-ERROR BESTIE FOR LIFE AND AFTER (aka he has a childish crush on him and “FINDS HIS EVER SHIFTING FIGURE ALLURING”

-simp

-Left his home because he found out Alphys never planned on letting him join the royal guard and not only felt betrayed bcus everyone in his universe who matters knew but he also wanted to prove himself (in his words “WHATS BETTER THEN PROTECTING ONE UNDERGROUND” Error-“wH4T?”

“ALL OF THEM!!!!!!!” Error- “…’5uCS M3 wh4t?!”)

-Has met his fanon version… blueberry became jam

-Made some official armour

-Lost a bunch of weight after joining, he went from chubby to too skinny even for a skeleton

-Also has insomnia and nothing will help (not me projecting.. not at all

Ccino (yes Ccino is part of this multiverse)

-Basically the same as usual

-Him and Nightmare are best friends (no toxic shit bcus this ISNT FLUFFYMARE

yet)

-Would literally drop everything to have a conversation with one of his cats

-Is close with all the baddies and something joins them for game night (⚠️WARNING⚠️- Dont let this man play Monopoly, he is so cold hearted and will make you go bankrupt IRL, yes he is so good he made Horror cough up 100 gold after Horror landed on two of his maxed out properties in a row (he owns the whole fucking board))

-His brother is still alive and His name is Spresso (IDK where i found this idea for his name but ill hunt it down)

-Spresso is glad Ccino made lots of friends even if they are insane murders

Ships

I dont want to add a bunch of ships but like…

-Fluffymare

-Minor Drink

-Crepic

-Bloodycrop

and maybe more later. Im sorry my pubescent teenage brain wont let me write shit thats not gay as fuck.

Other shit

-There will be other characters like Lust and Reaper (obviously bcus of NMs lore) but i haven’t finished all my lore on their characters

-There is mentioned toxic swadmare bcus i can’t resist the angst

-Like mentioned Nightmare is the main character and since i tend to project he may not act canon (neither will anyone else tbh BUT I WILL TRY)

-this whole thing will be cringe because im a depressed teen who is still doing her GCSEs

-Also the updates will mostly be on my tumblr but i’ll post most of the writing on my ao3 https://archiveofourown.org/works/52174081

-Please dont hate me :3

[Love you all besties, thanks for your time]

[gnomeniche]

it’s dhmis week day 4 which means i get to talk about dhmis s1e4 friendship and how interesting it is

so a lot of people’s analytical opinion about friendship has been “it’s funny but i don’t know if it really has that much to dig into, lore-wise or thematically”. i disagree. if you will indulge me, i will present the reasons that i find this episode persistently interesting in an easily digestible numbered list.

warren’s incompetence reveals more blatantly that the world’s reality can be and is manipulated by the teachers. we had hints of this before, but the shifts in reality were well-hidden with elements like the jobs song, which established a “teleporting” stylization to drop them into the factory, or the trip to the family house being built into the episode’s storyline. you could plausibly argue that maybe their world is just like this and nobody’s actually manipulating anything. however, warren dispenses with any kind of subtlety and straight-up pauses the show. because he’s bad at what he does! this is the episode that comes immediately before the two final episodes, which make the manipulation of the world explicit, so you could take this as setup for the idea’s full reveal.

the question of what the other two actually said to yellow guy: did they insult him? the bleeping happens immediately before warren starts his spiel. since the episode is riffing on the after-school bullying special, that is the kind of moment that would be built into a storyline as a segue for that kind of moral, and the recurring element of traditional kids’ show storylines with nice, pat morals being forced on the characters leads toward the bleeping possibly being a mislead. combined with the blatant world manipulation i discussed, the bleeping could have been added by warren to imply something harsher than they actually said. even the lead-in of “it’s not your fault. you’re just a—“ could plausibly set up a non-insulting phrase; part of the humor of the sudden bleep is derived from the expectation that it would be some kind of reassurance. still, they COULD have genuinely insulted him, but they just as possibly could have not. this ambiguity is compounded by…

the way the “being a good friend” message slips away to reveal a message of “insecurities can ruin your relationships” and how neither of them seems fully accurate: what is even up with the message? it starts with warren’s poorly delivered anti-bullying program, but it slowly transforms into being about how insecurities can get the better of you. warren styles himself as a teacher, but at some point, he becomes an embodiment of and metaphor for insecurity. with this in mind, if warren’s influence caused the bleeping, it becomes even more plausible that the other two did not necessarily insult yellow guy. was his impression that they insulted him really just a “worm in his brain,” an insecurity that he thinks his friends hate him manifested literally in the episode plot? HOWEVER. IT IS STILL MORE COMPLICATED, EVIDENCED BY…

the fact that his friends ACTUALLY do not respect him: there is repeated evidence in the rest of the show that his friends DON’T see him as an equal! i do believe that they genuinely do not hate him, but they certainly do not always treat him well either. red guy and duck don’t always respect each other, but both of them seem to see yellow guy as being on a slightly lower level than the two of them, and they treat him accordingly. he may have had a worm in his brain, but in the plot of the episode, they were the ones who encouraged warren to get into his brain, and they had to fix their fuckup. they may or may not have insulted him in the bleeped instance, but either way, they do not think about the behavior that could have led him to believe they would. the ending message of “your friends love you; don’t let your insecurities get the better of you” is then misleading; they are making it all about his insecurities and not about their behavior. sure, they love him. sure, insecurities can ruin your relationships. but neither of those facts negates that even when both are true, there can still be genuine problems within a friendship that need resolving. and boy do these guys have friendship problems.

the ending fight: peak television. funniest moment in the show. but also it adds to the weird ambiguity of it all. what DOES friendship even mean here? in a world like this, where nothing is ever really true and the enforced narrative is you and not you at the same time? can you ever really understand each other? or maybe it just means that sometimes you do need to call your friend on being a dick for no reason instead of trying to be the bigger person. and sometimes that means hitting him with a glass bottle and a katana and a gatling gun and also a chainsaw. who even knows

anyway that’s all the reasons i find dhmis s1e4 friendship interesting. and also it’s just really funny? the jokes do not stop coming and there’s a bunch of really subtle tiny gags that are just delightful. dhmis is always making you feel several levels of weird complicated emotions at once and this episode really does that to me. all of the lessons it gives have Something within them or in the surrounding context that complicates them or throws them into question. friendship is not the most emotionally devastating episode by a LONG shot (the one-two punch of transport and electricity kills me instantly every time i rewatch), but it is the one with the most weird shit that i keep trying to puzzle out.

[meeks-just-wants-to-scroll]

For the ask game:

Micah: 12, 22

John: 6, 8

Oh boy!!

Micah

12- What's a headcanon you have for this character?:

Far too many. I have the bad habit of only giving interesting headcanons to my comfort characters.

A half baked headcanon I have in mind is that Micah doesn’t like dogs because his father would use the threat of being eaten by dogs to whip Micah and Amos into obedience, especially if the kids ever tired on long stretches of walking and fell behind. If Micah Bell Jr ever found a guard dog, he would shove Micah precariously close to the dog, maybe even walk Micah to the perimeter of where the dog’s leash ends so the dog will be barking and snarling a foot away from the kid.

Micah stomachs most of his fear of dogs, coming off as him being an asshole and not liking dogs to look aloof. He will yelp and get away if a dog suddenly gets in his space or barks.

22- If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?:

Woof this is a tough one. I am pretty happy with any fan fic with Micah. I have yet to read a LOT a lot of fan fics on ao3. I’ve read a few on Tumblr (the yn x Micah kind of fics).

I really like when writers accept / lean into Micah being an imperfect, unsexy, sexy man. @amrass is really good at nailing what I mean. He is a bad man! He is fat! He is unhygienic! He is old for the era! He is contradictory and sly! He is somehow a sex god yet also shy as incompetent as a virgin when it comes to genuine flirting! He slouches! I love him for all his flaws and love it when writers find a way to incorporate them instead of brushing them under the rug to make him more conventionally attractive.

John

6- What's something you have in common with this character?

!!!! Hm. I suppose it is being the “middle sibling” , having a parent who loses your trust, and “golden child” feeling.

John and Arthur have always been compared to one another (no matter how much Dutch or Hosea would deny it). Arthur will always be more accomplished because he is older. That is how I feel with my older sibling. I used to be the eldest sibling and I used to be the accomplished golden child (I still am. I still get all A’s) but with me being an adult, I am now expected to reach all these milestone and suddenly have my shit together. John is much the same, being in his 20’s and being forced to be a family man and a pillar of his gang. him disappearing from the gang was bad and foolish, but some days wish I could do the same thing. John gradually becoming disillusioned with Dutch too. This might be more fitting of Arthur, but I was raised so much by my biological mother that I struggled to see her without rose tinted glasses. It was only after she was in the hospital / died that I was able to live without her in my life and unpack what she did. It helped me realize how neglectful and emotionally abusive she was to me and my sibling. Me and John, I think we both had a realization during our long absences.

8- What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

I don’t know. I haven’t been around the fandom (rdr1 and 2) long enough to get an idea of the ins and outs of how characters are treated. From what I can tell, John is treated like a troubled rascal of a man. I feel most interpretations are faithful to the material and have value.

If I had to grab at sticks and pick something to say “this. This is what I dislike,” then I’ll say it is when John is infantalizing in Morston media. Infantilizing characters is my biggest pet peeve in fandoms. John is an adult and much of his story is about maturing. I especially hate when it is used in Morston media because it presses on a bruise when it comes to the fetishization of gay men. Strong dom / sub gay stuff where one guy is treated like an incompetent shy virgin while the other is a buff sexy sex machine makes me frown. It’s mainly just boring to interact with.

Very very few things actually go as extreme as I make it out to be. Most Morston media is fine (I assume). I’m making a strawman loosely inspired by read stuff I’ve interacted with in the past.

[jackienautism]

I’m kinda surprised that you don’t like Dylan? He seems to be such the fan fav I don’t think I ever actually seen anyone rank him so low on their list- what’s your opinions on his character?

yeaah i just didnt really vibe with him when i played, plus i got pretty annoyed seeing him everywhere before getting into the game (travis too but thats a whole nother thing). like good for all you guys for having fun but i just cant get into it

im gonna be honest about my opinions on him so if you reeaaaaally like dylan i recommend not reading. and i mean that genuinely

1.ive just. i immediately saw dylan as one of those like male characters that get super popular in a fandom bc he: is white.is a guy. is a brunette. is associated w/ a gay ship. and is fit under a "bad boy / mentally ill / misunderstood" trope. i truly and honestly dont care if someone likes these types of characters. as long as you're not a fucking freak, i dont give a shit what you do. its just such a prominent trend that should make you go HMMMMM fandom hates women and people of color! and basically im just sick of that trend! so seeing dylan also fit into it turned me super off lmao

2. in relation to his character, i think its fine, i guess, its nothing revolutionary. especially in regards to other supermassive characters.... i thought about this during work one day and like. emily has a similar character to dylan LOL and ive had this thought before but. dylan and emma are also very similar character wise! in terms of like. compensating ina very negative way due to insecurity! but you know whch characters get the most flack for being dicks? for being bitches? for being the worst? and you know who doesnt?

3. i also particularly hated the thing he did to abi during the camp fire scene. like. i dont care if you compensate by making jokes and shit, you're still an asshole. and so is emma. and so is emily. i dont understnad why dylan should get ANY different treatment. but anyway, that dare was absolutely targeted towards abi and nothing will change my mind on the matter. abi is very clearly on the outside of the group. hell, the entire time everyone (mainly kaitlyn and emma) makes comments about how incompetent abi is when it comes to dating anf shit. and so for dylan to ask what he did? it put her on the fucking spot and humiliated her. i dont care if he "saves" it if you dont interrupt as ryan, there's absolutely no way hes unaware of abi's standing social wise in the group. him asking HER that of all people is just shitty. he fucking knows what abi's answer is gonna be. and even though she never answers the question, the damage is already done.

and before anyone says anything, i know nick also was targeted in diff ways for being "incompetent" in this specific sense. which is another conversation im willing to have. but even so, rthe comment ryan still makes bout not letting that "prep aesthetic fool you"? and the way he kisses emma? he clearly has got some "game" or whatever the fuck. whereas abi doesn't really have any of those moments (except for kissing nick first, which is something kaitlyn ryan and dylan said she wouldnt do LOL). and speaking of kaitlyn? and in association, emma? what they did to abi is one of the things i hate most about them and what happens in game. its actually what made me begin to DISLIKE both of them when it happened. basically what im saying is, kaitlyn and emma arent exempt from this criticism just because i dont like dylan. and i also dont care if thats the "point" of truth or dare. it still makes all the characters involved fucking dicks. they know how abi is like, emma especially, so seeing them all pull this shit is just disheartening and sad.

and 4. i like being hastag different

[theweirdhybrid]

As much as I love and adore the writing and angst potential there is of having F!Leo direct his own anger and resentment of himself for causing the apocalypse on Little Leo, I genuinely don’t think he hated himself anymore at the end. Do I think he hated himself for a really long time? Yes, absolutely. But, the thing is, he was in the apocalypse for 26 years. That’s a lot of time to think.

And here’s the thing, when the apocalypse started he was 14. He thought he and his brothers were untouchable, that nothing wrong could ever happen to them because they beat The Shredder, the seemingly unbeatable enemy. He was still a kid. He wasn’t acting overconfident to play up his incompetence as a leader to get Raph to take the title back, he was like that because he truly thought he was invincible.

And that overconfidence caused the world to end.

And there is no way his brothers let him hang onto that self-hatred for 26 years. (And apologies in advance, I’m gonna use my own experience with self-hate to help get my point across here.)

Now, here’s the thing. I completely understand what it means to hate a younger version of yourself, because for a long time I despised young me. I thought I was the scum of the Earth, deserving of every bad thing that ever happened to me.

And then my therapist got me to take a step back and actually look at 11 year old me.

And I realized how alone I was. How small I was. Tiny, scared, alone, and hurting. Little me was going through hell and here I was blaming them for something out of their control entirely. And when I realized that, I’d never wanted to hold and apologize to someone as much as I did in that moment.

F!Leo is 39 when he and F!Mikey send Casey back in time. I can’t imagine he would spend 26 years hating himself and blaming everything on a 14 year old kid just to say “It’s not about me” with a smile at the end. He forgave himself a long time ago.

Now that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be fighting the urge to body little him for being the most annoying motherfucker this side of New York. There just wouldn’t be any genuine hate or animosity. He’d tell little him to stfu and then a stranger would say the same thing and he’d immediately threaten the stranger with his katana for saying that.

I’m all for him having the realization he doesn’t hate Little Leo while interacting with him but I just personally think he realized that in canon a very long time ago.

… that and Mikey would never let him hate himself for very long.

[madamsugarskull]

For the Elite AU; considering that Red and Purple become the Tallest in the future, does that mean Min becomes a Tallest too?

Oh gosh, that’s a difficult question because I think this AU would be far more complicated than the main story. And I really only thought it up for interactions between characters that we would never see. Like with min with miyuki and spork. But the issue is Min would have a MUCH harder time in this au than in the main story. It would be like ‘HARD MODE.’ For one primary reason. Miyuki and Spork don’t fall for any of Min’s manipulations. And Min would be forced to grow up and have mental mind games with people far stronger and smarter than her. (Mostly Miyuki.)

With Miyuki, I can see her being INSTANTLY interested and attached to Min because she sees her as basically the perfect legacy in her. Miyuki strikes me as someone who cares deeply for the things she adores. So she’s basically like the mother to the empire and wants to see its growth and development into something greater. But she’s also like a rose. Pretty and lovely from a distance, but hurts anyone who gets close. So anyone she has a personal relationship with her ends up with an extremely negative experience with her. Even those she treats with 100% genuine affection. Like Min. Who she would let get away with a lot of stuff and obviously favor. But also push until her breaking point and traumatize for the sake of using her as her own personal y legacy to the empire. She doesn’t care that Min is human, but that certainly can be fixed if she WANTS that.

With spork, I imagine while Min and him would find common ground on hating miyuki. He’s far too narcissistic to ever truly connect with anyone on a personal level. The exact opposite of miyuki. He would do small things, like let Min get away with stuff most tallest would get people executed for. And maybe even put Min somewhere comfortable but out of sight when miyuki dies. But he would also constantly contemplate killing miyuki’s ‘ugly’ little double. And Min, who I imagine would pity and empathize with him- also knows Miyuki’s assessment about spork is correct. He’s an incompetent leader who regresses the empire severely the moment he’s in power. And is a nasty little backstabber. So while there would be a little common ground when miyuki is around. The gloves are off when she dies.

So in the end, I can see the story having a bittersweet ending. Possibly with Min escaping the empire with Red and Purple becoming tallest who might actually make a difference. Though you don’t know if it’s for better or for worse since Min would make them competent leaders who would have mixed feelings about their relationship with her by the end. Love her deeply, but also resent her leaving.