#I just have TOO much lore for these characters

[hotvintagepoll]

Welcome to the HOT AND VINTAGE MOVIE STARS poll blog! The Hot & Vintage Men Tournament and The Hot & Vintage Movie Women Tournament are now wrapped—congrats to Toshiro Mifune and Eartha Kitt! If you are here for the Dracula Daily polls, those will be posted regularly following the progress of the Substack newsletters.

All polls—including ongoing polls, previous rounds, old tournaments, the various shadow brackets, the Dracula Daily polls, and fun mini polls—can be found in the #hotvintagepoll tag.

FAQs:

"What is the next tournament?" We'll either do the scrungly little guys contest or the Ultimate Hotties tournament.

"When is the next tournament?" Sometime later this summer. I need to take a break, but then I'll be back.

"I want to find my favorite hottie!" Try a tag search for them (ie, use a hashtag in my search bar to find every post I've tagged them in). If you still haven't found your hottie, they either did not fit the criteria of being a movie star from 1910-1970 or they did not make it past the prelims.

“Can I start submitting for the future tournaments? I have guys! I have propaganda!” Please wait for me to post a submission form or otherwise formally announce a tournament before submitting anything.

The views expressed in the propaganda are not my own. I don’t submit my own propaganda, and I don’t change what’s submitted beyond fixing obvious spelling mistakes. If you hate a poll bio or a pic, let me know and send me something I can use instead.

I don’t post or boost negative propaganda about any of the hotties. If you really hate that someone is winning, send me positive propaganda for their hot opponent instead. A lot of these hotties were flawed or problematic in some way—or straight up garbage—but for reasons I go into here, I don't boost anti-propaganda.

If I see repetitive, trolling, and/or bigoted remarks in the comments, I may block you from this bracket. If you want to point out a competitor's problems in the replies, that's fine, but if I see consistent bad-faith trolling or targeted harassment of anyone, you will be blocked.

"Tel me again who won the major tournaments?" Eartha Kitt was crowned the hottest Hot & Vintage Movie Woman, and Toshiro Mifune won the Hot & Vintage Movie Man Tournament.

"Tell me more about this shadow realm?" There is too much lore.

“My FAQ isn’t on here :(” send me an ask! I love hearing from you guys—just please check these basics first.

Tournament schedule post-hiatus:

Ongoing: Dracula Daily casting polls

Possibly next: Scrungly Little Guys contest (gender neutral)

Possibly next: Ultimate Hottie Tournament (top brackets of the hot men & hot women competing together)

TBD: Horror Hotties (Frankensteins, Draculas, Brides, etc.)

TBD: Dandy Detectives (Marples, Sherlocks, Nancy Drews, etc.)

fun mini polls that pit sets of characters from the same movie together, like the Philadelphia Story or Seven Brides for Seven Brothers ones (these can be found in the #minis tag)

Thank you for being here! Enjoy the polls.

[genericpuff]

Since you made a post about lore Olympus’ fashion,could you tell us what kind of fashion characters in rekindled usually wear?

For the most part, considering it's a modernized retelling just like LO, I try to focus on the character's personality first and then refine from there.

Currently where Kore is in her character arc, she's very cottage-core in her outfit choices, favoring light springtime colors that compliment her skin tone. She also often wears dresses and skirts both because she thinks they're pretty, and also because it gives her a lot more range of motion, she doesn't like being constricted or too revealing. Even when she wears dresses and skirts that are on the shorter side, she'll still usually be wearing leggings and/or shorts underneath. That said, her fashion choices will change and develop as her character does throughout the story, she has a few different phases that she goes through that start to go outside of her comfort zone, so keep an eye out for that ;)

On the flipside, Hades is often wearing pressed suits and has grown used to wearing the same wardrobe often as, like the rest of his life, he's fallen into a very standardized routine. That said, he also wears his Mortal Realm garb when he's doing his job addressing the mortals, as it's standard protocol to keep all modern amenities away from them (including expensive suits lol) That said, when we see him in more casual settings such as the Olive Branch restaurant, he and his brothers are usually wearing more modern Mediterranean outfits, including colorful button-ups and sandals (though Hades often still sticks to his darker color schemes as it's, again, what he's accustomed to). Like Kore, Hades will also be going through some fashion developments as the story goes on and as he learns to step outside of his own comfort zone. I've got some future suit ideas planned for when the story moves on, I wanna give him some more flair than his default settings from LO 😆 (trust me, that moment when Persephone teased him for wearing nothing but black suits is gonna come back into play eventually LOL)

Artemis and Hermes are both really athletic so their clothing often reflects that, they both like tracksuits and sportswear, though Artemis is seen a few times throughout the series so far wearing Mortal Realm garb because she's someone who's often working in the Mortal Realm.

Hecate is a lot of fun because not only is she a lot more androgynous, but I also get to come up with fun outfits that reflect the witch side of her.

Apollo is a very "slap it on and get on with the day" kinda guy (especially considering he works long shifts with lots of early mornings) so a lot of what he wears are hoodies, t-shirts, cargo shorts, sandals, etc. He doesn't need much to get by and considering he works with Helios, he never really needs to bundle up too much LMAO

Demeter is one of the only gods who's always drawn in Mortal Realm attire as that's where she mainly resides. This largely includes Mycenaean-style garb, such as the chiton and peplos.

I've found this particular site very helpful for providing both inspiration and context to specific outfits where Ancient Greek standards come into play. As for the modern outfits, it's really just about having fun meshing the characters' personalities in with modern fashion styles of Greek fashion. It makes for a lot of outfits that are made up of flowing fabrics with lots of color and movement accessibility.

Just wait until we get to Aphrodite and Ares though. Whooo I have plans for them LOL

[krystal-kade]

You know,the worldbuilding for hazbin and helluva are interesting but at the same time,I feel a bit bored by it. Sorry,it's just it has potential and all of that but hell is just like a nighttown that you can go there and suffered no consequences. And I know helluva is a spinoff to hazbin hotel except it's just destroys the both meanings of it. Especially since hazbin is about redeeming sinners while helluva boss is just don't get mad at me but just soap opera between an elitist with a peasant. I thought helluva boss is gonna be us seeing the IMP doing their missions and encountered many different challenges on navigating a business not seeing a dramatic retelling yaoi festizhization love story of stolas and blitzo. And with hazbin,it's just I wanna see hazbin having different customers and guests and how they interact with the hotel not a literal fight with heaven of all things. What's next? Do I need to get into getting myself info a lore Livestream of Viv telling us? No,I want subtle storytelling not an Italian soap opera,ah man. Ah,now because of this I have to entertain myself with fans making fanmade comics of both helluva and hazbin hotel and I'm not complaining because let's face it,fans does it better than the creator Viv does.

Vivziepop so quickly strays from her original concepts, and it makes both shows difficult to watch. The last Helluva Boss episode that includes I.M.P. going to Earth on a mission to kill someone is episode 5, ‘Unhappy Campers,’ and that was only Millie and Moxxie. The last time the whole team went was episode 4 of season 1! Helluva Boss is now just a show about Viv’s twinks and kinks. I genuinely think I’ve seen enough of Stolas for a lifetime. There’s so much potential with a show like this, and I would have loved to see Helluva Boss explore both Hell and the Human World, but it does neither. There are so many ways this show could be executed to explore the worlds and character dynamics, but we barely even know anything about how these characters interact with each other.

Hazbin Hotel does the same thing. We have the possibility to explore Hell and Heaven, but we don’t. Hazbin Hotel is also supposed to be more about the women characters, but we know very little about Charlie, Vaggie, Niffty, or any of the other women; we instead get episodes about Husk, Alastor, Lucifer, Angel, Vox, and Val. Hazbin was supposed to be about new people coming to the hotel to learn about redemption. The only person we actually get is Sir Pentious, who doesn’t even change or learn anything about virtue and redemption. We also kind of get Cherri, but she isn’t even part of the hotel. 8 whole episodes for two official people in the hotel. I’d rather we see people coming to the hotel and learning about redemption for an entire season instead of the drama we see go down with Adam and Heaven.

Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss just move WAY too quickly. I think it’s even difficult for fans to write fanfics and comics about these characters because they have nothing to go off of. Almost none of the characters have personalities, and we don’t know how they interact with each other. However, I do think that Viv’s Hell is an interesting world. I just wish it was explored more. We’ve only see a few of the rings, met a few of the sins, and seen very little of Hell at all. I have no hope that Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss will be better shows, the only hope I have is that in 30 years, someone reboots these shows, and actually makes them good.

[kelpie-mare]

It has come to my attention that my appalachian/southern prhases are not common everywhere, so here are some of my favorites:

You couldn't poor piss out of a boot if the instructions were on the heel - literally you fucked up so bad you broke the laws of physics with your dumbassary OR the tools are there and you're too stubborn or ignorant to use them

You wouldn't know what to do if you were holding a pail of water and your ass was on fire - you have the tools. Whether or not you're too stupid to use them is another question. (You can lead a horse to water)

The devil's beating his wife - something that's so out of ordinary/character that it seems wrong. USUALLY it's the "reason" sunshowers happen. (The devil is basically Gomez Adams to his wife in our lore, so him beating her means something impossible is happening)

I'm more nervous than a long-tail cat in a rocking chair factory. - i'm so incredibly anxious.

This's louder than two skeletons fucking on a tin roof (in a thunderstorm) - that shit's loud. Extra loudness requires adding the thunderstorm.

This/that/you're as useful as tits on a boarhog. Boarhog is slang for male hog.

I'm sweating like a whore in church - it's so hot/humid i feel like a sex worker in a judgy baptist pew - OR, i'm in the hotseat pew myself for something besides sex work stigma

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear OR you can put lipstick on a hog, but it's still a hog - dress it up all you like, the situation's still ugly

You sure made a cow's ass outta that - a cow's ass is when you hammer a nail too hard, and the hammer leaves 2 half moon marks that look like a cow's ass. It's not worth it to pull the nail, sand the wood and try again: you CANNOT undo or fix it.

In this way: you hammered too hard and fucked the situation up permenantly.

Slap yo momma / slap your momma / slap your grandma - something is so surprising it shocks you into doing the unthinkable of bitch slapping a respected older woman. Often "the food my mom made is SO good i slapped her" is a context.

Slap yo mamma is separate bc there is a seasoning mix called "so good you'll slap yo mamma" or slap yo mamma for short. This is specifically from Black southern culture (it's cajun based seasoning for reference) and it's important for me not to lump in "yo" as just another word for "you" bc it is an AAE word, not a synonym. Slap yo/your granny has the influence that most non-Black folks i know don't use Granny as much as like...grandma, meemaw, etc. But these terms overlap.

You're just the south end of a north-bound bull - i call bullshit

We had a come to Jesus - more recently it has moved to people, but it has always been in the context of training a shitstain animal (usually a green colt)

Basically: we're gonna fight, and you're gonna lose. (No this is not abusive bc the animal is never beaten or frightened into behaving. It's just that trainers will encourage or prod a horse to get all his explosive anger out...and when he's calm, the trainer rewards him with space and softness. Let him fight it all out first kinda thing)

And my favorite, which is more Texas and less West Virginia:

Bless your heart - you stupid, bitchy, need a comeuppence motherfucker.

A lot of these might sound similar to Irish colloquilisms to you. The reason for this is that folk/mountain (what most people call hillbilly) culture was a huge part of eastern southern culture. See also: irish fiddle to folk fiddle pipeline.

I have not sanitized these phrases, and i will not. Sometimes, words are offensive, but that does not mean that silencing culture and history is the answer.

Some of these words or phrases can trigger people or be harmful. That is fact. However, the intent was NEVER to harm marginalzied communities. Remember, my family is white, so we don't experience racism, but we were poor, dirty, cousin-fucking hillbillies. It's reclaiming uncouth language to empower our clmmunity.

These phrases are to build community, not to make someone feel bad cause they said "whore" and not "sex worker."

PLEASE reblog/comment with ones you knew or were supprised by. If u also have cultural sayings u wanna share, i welcome it!!

Discussion of the validity/bias/intellegence of these phrases will get u blocked.

@shinylyni i know u will find this cool!

[coraniaid]

A random ask if you're up for it: what's a terrible take about the Buffyverse you've seen on tumblr but have not yet publicly kvetched about?

I'll be honest: this question prompted a moment of minor panic on my part because my very first instinct was to say something like "hmm, no, I don't think I've ever seen a bad take about Buffy on here I've not immediately complained about". Which is an admission that, were it accurate, should probably prompt rather more introspection on my part than I'd enjoy.

Thinking about it though, I don't think that is really true. In fact, I probably don't say anything negative about most of the bad Buffy takes I see, either because they're not particularly widespread (I try not to publicly disagree with other people's headcanons or even argue against popular posts if it would be obvious who I was responding to) or because they're about characters who I just don't talk about on here at all (either because I don't find them interesting or because my understanding of them is so at odds with the wider fandom's we'd be talking at cross-purposes).

(Or, sometimes, I don't say anything negative because I'm too busy enthusiastically reblogging the post in question, if we're being brutally honest about what counts as a "bad take".)

One concrete example I don't think falls under those headings and which I don't remember complaining about before is the way people talk about Buffy's speech in Selfless. Now, I'll be honest: I don't really like Selfless that much. It's in the top half of Season 7 episodes for me, possibly even the top third, but that's a pretty low bar. But what I do like a lot are Buffy/Faith parallels, and this episode has a big one in Buffy's speech towards the end of the episode:

At some point someone has to draw the line and that is always going to be me. You get down at me for cutting myself off, but in the end the Slayer is always cut off. There's no mystical guidebook; no all-knowing council. Human rules don't apply. There's only me. I am the law.

Obviously this reminds the audience of Faith's similar speeches in Season 3's Consequences, when she tells Buffy that the two of them are "better" than ordinary humans and then later that "you know I'm right. You know in your gut we don't need the law. We are the law."

We obviously aren't meant to agree with Faith in Consequences. (The fact that she follows this speech up by almost immediately defecting to work for the Mayor, commiting at least one cold-blooded murder, having a sobbing emotional breakdown where she begs somebody to kill her and then turning herself in to be judged and punished by the very human laws she sneered at earlier is something of a clue.)

A lot of people point out the parallel but then try to explain that what Buffy is saying is actually substantially different from Faith, and that Buffy is right while Faith was wrong. in Myth, Metaphor and Morality Mark Field (who I don't think is actually on Tumblr, technically, but who I'm referencing to avoid talking directly about the many people on Tumblr who agree with him) ties this in to the wider themes of Season 7, and describes the difference between Buffy and Faith as being that Faith is trying to avoid responsibility (for accidentally killing Allan Finch) while Buffy is taking responsibility (for doing what has to be done and killing Anyanka).

And yes, Buffy is doing something different to Faith here. She is not trying to say that she doesn't have to be accountable. She is not making excuses for her own mistakes or bad behaviour. She is trying to do (what she perceives as being) the right thing.

But Buffy is wrong as well. She is proved wrong within this episode. She doesn't have to kill Anya: in fact, she fails to kill Anya (indeed, given what we see of vengeance demons in The WIsh and in Older and Far Away I don't believe Buffy could possibly have killed Anya, but I know that vengeance demon lore is even less rigorous than vampire soul lore). The problem of Anya being a vengeance demon is resolved, not by Buffy, but by the people she was giving her speech to. The people who she was arguing didn't have a say.

Buffy is wrong, too, within the show's established lore. There is a mystical guidebook (even if her Watcher didn't have her read it), and there is a Council (even if they're far from all-knowing, Buffy could have been making use of their resources ever since she asserted her importance to them in Checkpoint, but she chose not to do this). And Buffy isn't alone. (At least Faith got the number of Slayers right in her speech!)

And Buffy is also wrong in terms of the wider season arc. Season 7 is not about Buffy saving the day by heroically taking all the world's burdens on to herself and making all the decisions. Her attempts to beat the First this way end disastrously; cutting herself off from her friends and her family and the very the Potentials she's trying to protect.

(Yes, the climatic scene in Empty Places is poorly written, but the season does very deliberately have Buffy fail to establish any sort of rapport or connection with the Potentials and spend less and less time with her friends. Buffy isn't blameless for those relationships falling apart, even if having her friends and sister kick her out of her own house is absurd.)

Instead of being the lone voice of judgment, Buffy beats the First and saves the world by not isolating herself. By working with her friends; by realizing they can do things she can't; by sharing her power with the Potentials (because "my power should be our power"); by reconnecting with Faith; by accepting help from Angel and from Spike; and by realizing that the people who "made up the rules" for Slaying thousands of years ago made a mistake.

The whole point of Chosen is that it is a refutation of the vision of being a Slayer that Buffy outlines in this episode.

Quoting it uncritically as if it sums up who Buffy is as a person is like, well, using Andrew's speech about "the Dark Slayer" to describe Faith. (Which ... oh, yeah, people also do.)

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.208 thoughts

[Beat Cute]

(Content: first impressions - Fuuko's parents, character analysis - Sean, lore - reincarnation mechanics, predictions - arc participants, thematic analysis - death and loss)

Okay, so I was right about the Union needing to replace members of Kaede's band, but I was NOT expecting it to be because Kaede hospitalized all of her friends!

With how ludicrously clumsy she is, I thought for a moment there that Kaede might have been a previous Unluck holder, but we know that can't be the case because Fuuko got it before Kaede died and Kaede wasn't present among the past Unlucks. Instead, I think it's more likely that Kaede was the reason that Fuuko was chosen as the next Unluck - she may have already been pretty good at dealing with and reacting to unlucky events, so the other holders might have thought she'd be able to handle whatever Unluck threw at her. They just didn't anticipate a plane blowing up

I'm really enjoying Kaede as a character pretty much right off the bat, there's a lot more flavor here than I was expecting. I kind of figured she'd be shy and quiet, and that's what would prevent her from performing, but instead she's bright and bubbly, always willing to throw herself into anything with a smile despite the fates clearly telling her not to. That little thumbs up she gives Fuuko's dad after accidentally choreographing a Jackie Chan fight scene was insanely endearing, this guy's got great taste

Fuuko's dad predicting and reacting to Kaede's antics gives us a solid impression of the kind of guy he is, too. He seems like the fastidious type, planning things out in advance to be prepared for anything, while also having the fortitude to press on even when he finds he was unprepared. I suppose one would need both of those traits to marry a woman who might accidentally send you to the hospital just walking forward to greet you

Beyond our new characters, this was a really good chapter for Sean, too, or at least seems to be setting up something really good for him. I like that his insecurity about his importance to the team hasn't just vanished after a few contributions, it's still a core part of his character to want to stand out and matter. Having his points redistributed over the rest of the team's, especially hearing that they're better to have on call for an emergency, is a great way for the narrative to revisit this concept. It probably doesn't help that Rip would actually have been the next reasonable option to drop, since previously Fuuko was dropping members from the top and had literally just booted Chikara and Enjin to bring in Top and Haruka, then dropped them to bring in Nico and Ichico. Though they have no beef this loop, Sean in L100 definitely hated Rip, and likely feels some kind of jealousy towards him here since he guy has two wives and he doesn't have a single girl that he knows of (rootin' for ya, buddy)

Of course, revisiting the roots of Sean's character flaws doesn't need to define his involvement in this arc, it just gave an extra layer to his presence this time around. By giving him a reason to be downtrodden, Tozuka necessitated a way to get him invested in this storyline, and fittingly that touches on his other root: the loss of his father. Julia thought that Sean was excited to help out because it might help him meet cute girls, but that's definitely just a cover. Sean knows exactly what it's like to lose your parents and only be able to reconnect with them via memories, so knowing that Fuuko not only lost her parents but has the chance to reconnect for real, it's natural that he'd want her to take advantage of it. In fact, in L101, he's the only member of the Union who understands what Fuuko's going through

Chikara's parents were saved, Tatiana's not a Negator yet and her parents will almost certainly be saved, Enjin got to cook for his mom like he always wanted, Phil didn't lose his mom...the loss of Sean's dad was completely unrelated to his tragedy, it was just something that happened in his life, and while I'm sure Fuuko would have liked to have prevented it, she likely just didn't have the information to do so. Narratively, this at least provides that point of connection between him and Fuuko, and I'm so glad we get to capitalize on it

Sure, Gina still lost her grandma, Void was still a street urchin, Shen was still an orphan, but they all have their own circumstances that make that a little bit different, and Gina's off helping with Tatiana in Russia, so Sean's easily the best choice to be present here

Julia's presence is to be expected since she hasn't awakened Unjustice yet and she needs as much screentime as possible to establish parallels and distinctions from Juiz. I also think this will be a good time to help us understand the difference between her circumstances, Juiz's and Fuuko's, since Juiz never had parents, Julia was retroactively assigned to parents, and Fuuko is retroactively parentless

Not only will that establish narrative connections, but it's looking like we're going to get a deeper understanding of the mechanics as well. By all logic, Sean's supposition that this is a New Game+ rather than literal time travel should preclude the need for Kaede and Mr. Izumo to procreate, and yet Fuuko's is Back-to-the-Futuring somehow. I have no idea what Tozuka's logic is here, but my best guess is that it's tied to either the Rule of Soul or Parents. Juiz, Victor and Andy would obviously be exempt from this, but Fuuko's soul may be tied to the world on the assumption that her parents will one day provide a vessel for that soul

In the event that the current Fuuko dies, she could well be reincarnated as herself within the same loop since her soul would be available, but perhaps by the mechanics of the Rule in question, there is an almost contractual obligation for her parents to at least be together in the first place? Or, since Fuuko is worried about time paradoxes, it's not that the Rule is endangering her, but her interpretation of it. She thinks that her parents not getting together could erase her, so while mechanically that makes no sense, it seems to make sense to her, and thus affects her regardless. I'm sure Tozuka will explain it, but for now I'm sticking with the theory that Fuuko's doing it to herself

As for the backing band Fuuko's going to throw together, I expect that this will go similar to the space mission where we're going to dedicate a chapter to picking three members rather than having the whole group participate. I say three because when Kaede discusses her band being hospitalized, we see three beds; what looks to be a male guitarist, a male drummer, and another female member, presumably a backup singer or dancer

As far as I'm aware, the only Union members we know have musical experience are Tella (who can't sing thanks to Untell) and Rip, who can play piano. I don't believe we know if anyone on the team is gifted in guitar or drums, though if I had to guess, Enjin strikes me as someone who might be able to do a mean drum solo

I think Julia's a must, since like I said she needs more screentime to get acquainted with the cast and audience, so to that I think it would be extremely funny if she was on guitar and said something to the effect of "it's like a violin you play with your fingers, right?"

I'm on the fence about whether Fuuko will be the third member, since she's near identical to Kaede and wouldn't want to distract from her performance, but it's also such a good opportunity for them to bond and I wouldn't want Tozuka to drop it. Maybe she'd use Nico's memory machine to hypnotize people to think they're the original backup band? Whatever the lineup ends up looking like, I'm sure I'll be able to write a whole post dedicated to it

The final thing I want to touch on is a line that Sean says that I think is meant to be the thesis statement for this arc, and arguably one of the series' greatest overarching themes: "You never know when or where will be the last time you see [someone]."

[TRIGGER WARNING: DEATH]

I think it's pretty self-explanatory how that relates to the theme of enjoying life, that you should spend time with the people you care about while you can and make the most of that time. It's so self-explanatory that I debated whether or not I should talk about it here, but...it's relevant to me right now

A friend of mine died this week. It wasn't exactly sudden, but it was also looking like it was going to be okay for a minute there, so I got a little complacent, I suppose. Reading this line immediately rang true with me. I'll never see that friend again, and I can't even remember what the last thing I said to him was. Did I make him feel like a friend, or was he worried that I was just humoring him? I'm sure at the end I wasn't even on his mind, I'm pretty sure we weren't close enough for that and he was more concerned with his wife, but still, I worry whether or not I treated him right in the time that I knew him

While we weren't super close, my family and his had a lot of plans for spending time together, and now they're just...gone. No more games, no more dinners...nothing. Even if we weren't close, we were trying to be, and however close we could have become, now we'll never be. It doesn't feel like a tremendous loss of what we had, but certainly of what could have been

I take solace in knowing that I did things to the best of my ability. I went out of my way to spend time with them when I could. I tried to make the most of my friendship with them with the time I had, it just got cut short by circumstances outside of anyone's control. I don't know what's going to happen next, but I feel like if nothing else Tozuka and the Union would be proud of me for how I tried to enjoy my time with my friend

Maybe that's a stupid thing to say. Maybe I'm being silly. But I've always believed that art is meant to be a way to explore our relationship with the world, and I really don't think any series I've experienced has done so much to prepare me to deal with loss. One Piece is close, of course, but I've gone on and on about parallels between UU and OP a thousand times by now

Anyway...I haven't really gotten the chance to talk about any of this out loud, and I don't think I've really gotten to process my feelings on it. I'm sorry to dump it on you folks who read this far, but also thank you to anyone who did

And to anyone else experiencing loss or grief right now, I hope that me talking about my experiences or reading Undead Unluck helps you process it too. Even if it's just me or a manga, I hope you can find peace through other people. That's certainly what Tozuka wants for us

Until next time, let's enjoy life

[vigilskeep]

First of all, Hello. How are you doing and how is your week?

Secondly I apologize if this has been asked before, but what was your opinion if any in the multiplayer of Dragon Age Inquisition? Mostly the characters and maps that were available? Additionally what were things you wished were more active or presented more in the three games? Features, areas creatures, text/lore? What ever drew interest.

Thank you for your time, and have a nice day.

hi!! extremely polite ask thank u muchly. i am doing alright!

i’m afraid i’ve never used the dai multiplayer, i don’t even know how it functions... and tbh i read some info on the characters from it in world of thedas and they made me Wildly Uncomfortable! lmao. i probably picked a couple of bad ones but like... this is a Nice Dalish whose clan loves to share information with the human scholars and all the other dalish were sooo mean to them because of it! here’s a mage who was disillusioned because the nasty rebels were Too Violent. here’s a heretic who the inquisition forced into service or death because of her beliefs which we’ll never discuss at all. blah blah blah. i just scrolled through them on the wiki and some of the others sound interesting mostly the dwarves but it’s all uh very inquisition (derogatory)

as for what i wish was explored more in the games, hmmmm. dwarves dwarves dwarves, of course. both they and the city elves of the alienages have really been neglected since origins, only represented by companions without any personal connection to their communities and never otherwise relevant to the plot, and it’s such a shame. otherwise, i don’t know, there’s so much i want more of! i do love this world. assuming dreadwolf exists and has a fade level i hope it’s fucked up this time. we just haven’t gotten into personalised nightmares for every companion lately like we used to! also when will they hand over the vampires.

[whereismymonsterlover]

I really really like black butler and have since I was like 8. I've returned after like 7 years to this series and I love love love it. I love the clothes, the aesthetic, Yana's insane research into Victorian England and the liberties she takes with aesthetics and gorgeous clothes. Sebastian Michaelis hits differently, that's for sure. I love demon lore, the supernatural and I adore Ciel Phantomhive. I love the dark gothic themes and feel so much compassion for this underdog mastermind with a trump card in stilettos. I'm obsessed with their relationship.

Ciel is only small and could easily frighten if Sebastian told him too much about his true nature but he doesn't and he's able to twist any question's answer to satisfy his master and maintain his trust. Ciel is so dastardly cunning and so so traumatised that he signs with the devil and makes sure to not feel regret in any of his actions. He wants revenge and he'll use any play to win the game.

Sebastian saw the despair in this boy's soul and his stomach rumbled. Now he lives a very 'novel' life (said himself) as the boys butler, tutor, executioner, and father, taking on a form similar to vincent enough to give Ciel that false sense of security. While he does deliver on Ciel's every whim, he also disciplines the boy to commit to his duties as an earl and guard dog of the Queen, shaping Ciel into a functioning human and even smarter villain so he may claim his revenge in due time to feed Sebastian at the very end. Although, what I love is how ambiguous Sebastian's character is and love theorising how deep his humanity (if any) truly goes, especially when it comes to how much he really cares for Ciel.

I really like this series nsnsndnd it's all I can think about. I want to make separate posts on a lot of particular topics cus I just adore these characters.

[riptidesblog]

If I rewrote/fixed plot holes in Ninjago Pilots:

They're actually not that bad for a beginning,but I would change a few things:

-I'll not question blacksmith being a career that could provide for two teens,but the fact that Kai seems to be a bad one does not sit right with me.Especially since the issue with the curled sword was not his impatience but the size of the water bucket used(I think)

-Wu being "I told you so,useless" to Kai after Nya is captured.Replace that with sympathy maybe? It would make sense as Wu knows what it's like to lose a family member and is wise enough to understand that Kai is distraught

-Give better reasoning for trusting the map to Ray than Wu fearing his death bc knowing the lore we have now,Wu is likely to outlive him.It could be that monastery was obviously a bad choice and Wu didn't want the weapons lost forever bc they're needed for the prophecy and with most of the past generation of ems either gone or not entirely trustworthy(earth em before Lilly was a traitor during the serpentine wars,then rejoined the alliance,damaging Wu's trust in him and Lilly herself was young and going out on adventures making her unavailable; Libber is missing,Ice em is either dead or missing to Wu's knowledge and etc)

-Personal hc for where Cole,Jay and Zane were during Kai's training is that on the journey to monastery Wu messaged them without Kai noticing,sending them away with a task.Once Kai mastered the course he called the 3 back without warning them about Kai

-Jay's "We're saving a girl?Is she hot?" line.The first part along with their reaction to Kai implies the 3 didn't know anything about Smith-Jiang siblings.Including age.On the one hand,that's creepy.Jay is just lucky that Nya's not too much younger.On the other,it might be in character for Jay to say something without thinking.If we're keeping it then have Jay say it later when there is a possibility that Kai or Wu informed them of the situation and the details.

-Show Kai warming up to the team more and more

-Establish the disastrous consequences of Tornado of Creation bc the only bad thing to happen from that in all the show was Lloyd being taken out by a door and that was just a coincidence.Not only will it give more detail,but also explain why ninja don't use it all the time

-Nya quoting Ray despite not remembering much about her parents.Let's assume Kai told her about it

-Wu's plan.What was the point of taking the sword to the Underworld if the other three weapons would be brought to the same place? That moment needs to be thought through

-Wu's 'death'.He was not a fallen warrior bitter with defeat,so there's no reason for him to go to the Underworld with the sword of fire and he did not turn into a skulkin.To fix this and previous point,let's say he got trapped on the other side of the volcano with the entrance to the Underworld and sword of fire has been with him bc he obtained it during the battle.He did not die yet

-Flame.Other 3 dragons didn't need to be woken up to protect their weapons(Rocky took some time tho).My personal hc is that the other 3 woke up immediately bc they sensed the humans and the skulkin.Flame however living so close to Underworld has his senses for the skulkin and similar dark forces(like Garmadon's Oni heritage) muted and the only others present in the Fire Temple were Kai,Nya and Wu,who all have dragon heritage

-Dragon saddles should not exist at this point in the show(I know it's to sell toys,but still)

-Jaya hug and Ignacians enthusiasm/cheering. Just don't include it at all,Jay and Nya are strangers at this point and Ignacians have no idea what's going on.Instead show them being confused and afraid of dragons and Jay maybe introducing himself to Nya

-Garmadon and Wu need to refer to each-other by smth other than just brother.It's repetitive and kinda unrealistic(no matter how old,siblings are siblings).This goes for the whole show

[ravelqueen]

One thing that is actually super interesting - character wise is how stark the difference between Angel and Angelus is when compared to Spike and be-souled Spike.

Angelus and Angel might as well be two completely different people - the way they act, react and conceptualise the world around them is honestly completely opposite.

Meanwhile, besouled Spike is a lot more aware of his past actions and isn't interested in killing humans for sport etc, but in the way he interacts with the world around him, he's actually still very similar - he's snarky and sarcastic, romantic yet cynical etc.

It's extra funny when you consider that probably this was never supposed to be a Deep Philosophical Ponderance Of The Nature Of A Soul

In my opinion this came out of happenstance: a writing choice forced on the Buffy team, based on when in the narrative it happened.

Angelus was always set up to be this enormous threat, this absolute monster tormenting Buffy, while Angel was supposed to be this fairytale first romance of a wonderful older boyfriend - the dichotomy was probably decided upon before /in season 1.

Spike on the other hand was never planned to get a soul - he wasn't even supposed to stick around longer than the 2nd season! However, the ensoulment made sense with the progression of the story/character if the writers wanted to adhere to the rules of the universe they set up namely:

Vampires are Evil Demons, inhabiting the body of the human before them, and most importantly they are irredeemable and incapable of true human affection. This is extremely important lore in that universe, because Buffy kills a lot of vampires - in the later seasons they aren't even really a major threat and more background ash. If you suddenly introduce the idea that Actually vampires can be fully redeemed, your main characters has been just murdering Possibly Good People willy-nilly for several seasons

Unfortunately, at this point in the narrative, Spike might as well have been ensouled already - he was acting altruistically, out of love (self-reported) and was mostly just helping our heroes, with motivations unrelated to villainous impulses

So really the writers had to give him a motivation to go and get his soul (the writing choices on how he gets there Being Bad notwithstanding).

HOWEVER, they really really couldn't pull the same move with Spike that they did with Angel re: his 180 degree personality switch simply because the audience liked non-soul Spike. They enjoyed the personality and character that had been crafted for the last 5 seasons, so changing him too much would have with almost complete certainty been met with negative reactions .

Which is why I assume they decided to simply soften parts of his personality, make him stop wanting to kill humans and called it a day on his other less-than-cuddly personality traits.

Which leads us to question on why two people in the same circumstances turned out so wildly different ESPECIALLY since William seemed Basically Alright when he's human.

Does that mean that Angel is fundamentally a worse person, only held back by the morality of his soul? Or that he was fundamentally a much more virtuous man and therefore the loss of his goodness had a larger impact, as removing those parts took away more of what he used to be?

That William was a lot more acerbic and mean deep down and therefore not too different? Or that actually William lost way less of his morality/capacity for empathy when he turned because Something and that led him to doing less awful things that would lead to a personality change??

Those are such interesting questions that somehow the show never addresses (as far as I know? comics people?) aside from Angel Being Mad that Spike got over his angst so quickly and it's just hilarious to me that if I'm right this basically was never meant to be that deep and simply just a byproduct of What The Fuck To Do With Spike

[inquisimer]

mer's arlathan eXchange works

Creators for the 2024 @arlathanxchange have been revealed and I'm excited to share the pieces I wrote! I was absolutely inspired by the wealth of amazing prompts and had a lot of fun creating all of these.

Check out the entire collection here for more amazing works! Thank you to everyone who created lovely gifts for me💜

a sky full of stars - gift for @about2dance | Rated G, Alistair/Female Surana, 2512 words

what has been forgotten - treat for @kiastirling-fanfic | Rated G, Avexis & Cassandra Pentaghast, 2523 words

show me your thorns - treat for @amarmeme & @kiastirling-fanfic | Rated T, Alistair/Avexis, 2059 words

what time does with us - treat for @kiastirling-fanfic | Rated T, Fiona & Female Surana, 1672 words

gatekeeper of an endless war - treat for the collection | Rated T, Garahel (Solo), 1145 words

I still use velvet gloves - treat for the collection | Rated T, Alistair & Female Surana, 3324 words

summaries and more below the cut!⬇️

a sky full of stars - gift for @about2dance

Rated G | Alistair/Female Surana | 2512 words | No Archive Warnings Summary: On their way to Haven, Alistair and An'da share a moment under the stars. An'da is about2dance's OC and she has SO many layers!! It was an absolute joy to dig into her lore and craft this bit of fluff for her and Alistair. Dorks in Love, my beloved😌

what has been forgotten - treat for @kiastirling-fanfic

Rated G | Avexis & Cassandra Pentaghast | 2523 words | No Archive Warnings Summary: Cassandra seeks an alternative means for the Inquisition to fight the red lyrium dragon. Kia rolled in with SO MANY good Avexis prompts and this one snatched me up right away, I just had to write the Dawn of the Seeker reunion that we never got.

show me your thorns - treat for @amarmeme & @kiastirling-fanfic

Rated T | Alistair/Avexis | 2059 words | No Archive Warnings Summary: Over a cup of tea, Avexis confronts Alistair about his intentions—and finds common ground she wasn't expecting. The Alistair/Avexis ship was another genius idea of Kia's and it was so fun to play in that sandbox! And to see other people there as well :3 I loved the idea of Avexis getting to have some of the first crush/love emotions she lost to Tranquility, and in the process found a link between post-Tranquility Avexis and formerly-Drunk Alistair that just clicked.

what time does with us - treat for @kiastirling-fanfic

Rated T | Fiona & Female Surana | 1672 words | No Archive Warnings Summary: At Leliana's behest, Surana makes a detour through Skyhold before heading West in her search to cure the Calling. Two elven Circle mages-turned-Wardens, one who was somehow Cured of the Blight and the other in search of a Cure? Yeah, this was just another pairing too juicy to pass up. They're so similar!! And Fiona is right there, and Leliana definitely can contact Surana, and you can see how I ended up here. I haven't thought much about Surana as a Warden, since my Surana is not, so this was a fun one to dive into!

gatekeeper of an endless war - treat for the collection

Rated T | Garahel (Solo) | 1145 words | Major Character Death Summary: The Wardens sent him and Isseya to the Anderfels. Garahel would not forget. Even though this didn't quite fit anyone's specific requests, I've been all up in my Last Flight feels since reading the novel a couple months ago and couldn't resist. Garahel, the city elf Warden hero, his legacy of lifting up and protecting the lowest in society lost to a history that didn't want to remember his ears. I broke my own heart a bit exploring how his knowledge of that legacy might have worn him down by the end ;-; (also check out the quote that I used to title this fic because DAMN if it isn't Grey Wardens to a T, especially elven and/or mage wardens)

I still use velvet gloves - treat for the collection

Rated T | Alistair & Female Surana | 3324 words | No Archive Warnings Summary: The Landsmeet wounded Alistair and Catrin Surana in ways only time can heal. This piece was inspired by some of the prompts in this year's exchange, and even though it ended up not quite fitting anyone's requests specifically, I'm still quite please with it! An exploration of the broken friendship between King Alistair & Warden Commander Surana after she spares Loghain, and how they come back together over the years. Not gonna lie, I did not have a Warden Surana OC before I dove into this fic but. uh. now I do 😂 it was a lot of fun to look at this friendship dynamic from a more turbulent angle!

DAFF Tag List: @warpedlegacy | @rakshadow | @rosella-writes | @effelants | @bluewren

@breninarthur | @ar-lath-ma-cully | @dreadfutures | @theluckywizard | @nirikeehan

@oxygenforthewicked | @exalted-dawn-drabbles | @melisusthewee | @blarrghe | @agentkatie

@delicatefade | @leggywillow | @plisuu

[merakiui]

Hey Mera!! I have been reading your work for about 3-4 years, I think around 2021-2022? The first time I read your work was the Genshin one then I slowly started to develop an adoration for your story. Especially your choice of words, your vocab knowledge is vast I learned a lot as a non-native. I always wait for your newest update. Also, I really love the DRU series, it made me love Jade even more haha 😆 thank you so much for your hard work!

Anyway, I just want to tell you that Sunday is an interesting character. I think he's your type of character, you would be feasting with his lore and personality! The reason why he’s a control freak and manipulative will be told in Penacony's story, I hope you'll finish it very soon and maybe you'll write something about him too (jk, unless?… 👀) tho I won’t push you, but it'll be so so sooo great if my favorite writer makes a story about my fav character! If you are interested in him, do tell us your opinion about him! Also, here’s a cookie for you 🍪 have a nice week!

Hiii, anon!!! ( ∩´͈ ᐜ `͈∩) I'm so happy you enjoy DRU and my other works, but 3-4 YEARS?!?!?! :O omg,,, allow me to offer a BIG thank you for being here for so long!!! <3 and I'm also very flattered that my works can introduce you to many wonderful words!! 💖

I have been watching Sunday edits nonstop....... I know I really shouldn't because the possibility of spoilers is high, but he's just so !!!!!!! I adore his character design and the small bits of information I know are already enough to have the gears in my head turning. The religious references.......... and he's supposedly crazy-insane and very controlling and and and........ I've been wanting to write a story that takes inspiration from the myth of Icarus. Perhaps the idea might fit Sunday!!!! >w<

But I definitely hope to play through Penacony first before writing anything. It's very likely I'll write something deranged for Mr. Sunday. <3 I'm already feasting on him and I've hardly breached the surface of his character!!

Thank you again for such lovely words!!! Please have lots of cookies and a fantastic week as well~~ 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

[chrollohearttags]

so I have a lil idea I wanna do…not sure how it’ll go though!!

[egophiliac]

Please elaborate on your twst Pokémon headcannons I’m very interested

I had planned on drawing everyone for this (I made a LIST!) but it. hasn't been going well. 💀 soooo here's what I have so far!

Riddle - Roserade (I was going with 'no legendaries', otherwise I would've given him a Shaymin) (and I don't think Togedemaru is actually a hedgehog or I would've given him one of those too) (...they kind of do fit though. hmm.)

Trey - Alcremie (clover/mint cream + strawberry/ruby cream)

Cater - DITTO SQUAD! DITTO SQUAD! DITTO SQUAD!

Ace - Impidimp (I feel like there's probably a better one for him, but I can't think of it)

Deuce - Scraggy (meanwhile I KNOW deep in my heart that this is true)

Leona - Pyroar (but like. a nasty Pyroar. just a grizzly old Pyroar with the shittiest attitude imaginable. they pretend to hate each other but secretly they are a bonded pair, do not separate)

[wyvernity]

been thinking about the sinnohtrio lately......plus misc other stuff

also, casual ko-fi drop!! get something in this sketchy style starting at $10 woop woop

[gabelew]

sidon but awkward lanky teenager

still not yet grown into his head fin and big adult teef. he'll get there eventually