#I worry more that my blorbos will be 'stuck in the past'

[desultory-novice]

A-ahem. Starting over again...

@newthinkerer found THS post and said to me: "I'm sure the Kirby fandom has done something to grind your gears."

Which, in truth, the answer is not lately / not really no. ^^; But it wasn't hard to reach in and find some "comical outrage" style gear-grindy answers for those who find such rants entertaining! So, here those are for everyone's (hopeful) enjoyment

[Original Response Below] Ohhh? Did you want "Salty" Dess? XD Let's go down the list...!

Marx / Reduced to one single trait

Look, I know the games don't give people much to go on, but a lot of people (1) seem ha~ppy to come up with pages and pages of backstory for all the other characters - but Marx? Nope. Marx is the one character who people seem almost allergic to rounding out when he is RIPE with mystery and potential. "But the game doesn't tell us anything about him so maybe he isn't that big of a deal, Dess?" Tsk! The game tells us just as little about Meta Knight! The only difference is the number of appearances! Use your imagination, people!

It's like some folks are trying to invoke the Smash Bros conspiracy theory that Kumazaki and Sakurai have a rivalry (they don't) and just like Sakurai would NEVER put a Kumazaki-era character in Smash (...he already did in the form of the trophies) no one is allowed to characterize Marx cause he's from the Sakurai-era of Kirby where characters just didn't have personalities and lore! Pah, I say!

Oh yeah, if you want to see me destroy something, say "He was just hungry!" : ) in my presence. Do it. I dare youuuuuu...! 

:holds Magolor over a wood chipper:

Susie / They stole (...some planetary resources and MK's autonomy...) and fandom labeled them a hard criminal

You all knew this one was coming, right? ^^ But if I start up the Susie debate again, I'm going to regret it so, uh, let's move on...

Kirby / Popular headcanon so off-base it hurts. 

I fear the Metadad people have their hands over the block button right now. But it's not that MetaDad is necessarily wrong! MK can act protective, sure. It's "Baby Kirby" that is wrong! He lives on his ownnnnnn with a houseeee he does not need babyinnnng.....!!

Magolor / Constant (eh, semi-frequent??) misinterpretation

...I want to be as gentle as possible when I say this because I GET IT. Please believe me when I say I understand so, so much and as far as AU versions/alternate HC goes, it's fine! This isn't a call out!

But... Magolor being a shy, reserved kitty boy who just wants...f-friends... Look, Magolor may not have EVERY disease, but he does have a lot of them. However awkward he may be though, the form his awkwardness takes is very clearly extroverted! Again, it's super okay though because I get seeing yourself or an aspect of yourself you're dealing with in a character and wanting to make them more like you! Dess supports comfort characters! (Plus, my own version of Magolor is a little laser-sighted on his frustrated side)

...But he runs a shop and a theme park. He actually LIKES talking to/dealing with people! He gets along with Marx because he LIKES tricking people. He likes to get under people's skin! He doesn't fear it! Magolor is/has been sad and probably has some deep trauma, yeah. But he also deserves to be more than :gif of a sad cat:

DMK / The worst takes.... 

I'm not going to start up The Debate here, same as with Susie, but... The unabashed glowing adoration the fandom has for Meta Knight and you take away ONE good trait and enhance ONE bad trait and now he is Satan?!? Some of you people hate him more than HYNESS (:spoken by a Hyness fan:) and I don't know why?!

Maybe add on "He would never say that" for the people who do the opposite and make him exactly like MK but he says the F word

Daroach / ...Ignored

Like, the real crime (haha, get it? crime?) about Daroach is that he IS used occasionally. More than like, I dunno, Chew Kawasaki? But when he does show up, it's with his crew being "The Leader of the Squeaks" (showcasing that Dad Energy(tm)) or DMK's husband. (The thief and the murderer are boyfriends! Diversity win!) And...that's it?

Daroach has so much potential to interact with literally everyone?! He roasts Dedede IN GAME?! Why are people not running with this energy more?! (Also, shipping Darkroach because of that one picture is fine. I do too. Shipping Darkroach because you don't want to break up MetaDede and so you relent to "giving" him MK's mirror clone like buying a grieving kid a new puppy is...kinda weird? Just me?)

Adeleine / Reduced to one single trait (part two)

...This might sound like THE most hypocritical thing coming from the creator of "Apologies" aka, "Sad Siblings in Snow" but Adeleine potentially being from Shiver Star (potentially!) equating her to "The Little Match Girl." Now I love all kinds of Adeleine origin headcanons! And I also love Sad Adeleine on Shiver Star stories! I don't want to put an end to them or suggest they are bad thing! Never!

But... I worry e~very now and then THAT  is the thing people find most interesting about her. That she would/should be a sad girl when she's really not. Since writing "Apologies," I've gotten a handful of asks about how Adeleine must be really sad about Noir's death or asking if she will ever be able to smile again and... like...um...

...S-she is? Already smiling, that is. ^^; "Apologies" was crafted in a way to PROTECT Adeleine's innocence so that she can be happy and relatively close to the canon Adeleine! Adeleine being able to move on with her life and smile and make friends is exactly the thing Noir died for - so that Adeleine wouldn't have the life he did!

So, again, kinda hypocritical of me because I actually really like sad Adeleine art and "Adeleine the Human" HC, but I sometimes fear it might become all that she is.  :spoke by a contributor to this trend:

...TLDR, continue to write and draw Adeleine angst because it allows me to ignore the option I almost considered just for a second which was sexualiza...Nope. We're going to go back to forgetting about all that unfortunate Pixiv content right.this.minute!

-

(1) So, despite my tone and the things I said, I'm not actually upset at anyone for anything they'd done! I'm really happy that people are creating at all - whether you're writing sad Magolor or itty bitty Kirby or lol random Marx or PTSD Adeleine or trophy husband Daroach!

I don't even see a lot of the things I'm ostensibly complaining about anymore, honestly. Thus my reasons for posting less and less salt on this account! Outside of a few fandom kerfluffles in the last month (alas...) I would say we're actually in an era of peace as far as good content about the characters goes! People are thinking and inventing. People are having fun. People are being measured with their takes and anything "gear grindy" is really going to be remembered stuff from the past, not present flaws!

...plz don't block me...

[purlturtle]

Romance Tropes Bracket, Semi-Finals!

The Battle of the Quadrant Winners!

I'm gonna go into some more detail on the winners (and losers) again, so again I'll put it under the readmore.

Left-hand side

I've said it before, but none of the tropes in the red quadrant really did it for me - and this carries through to the bracket between Second Chances and Holiday Romance.

Holiday Romance is absolutely great and good for what it is, and stories that revolve around it/use it as a basis can be the perfect read I reach for when I feel like it. It can carry familial conflict, for queer stories additionally coming-out-to-your-family dynamics, it allows for interesting exploration of culture and traditions especially if the story is about a cross-cultural couple. And since it's often set in Northern hemisphere wintertime, there are winter wonderland themes that I also truly enjoy. It is fitting that it should advance to the semi-finals - but it is also okay that this is where its run ends.

Second Chances, though. It's not quite enemies to lovers - it's people who have hurt each other in the past, and need to deal with that to find happiness in the now. Or maybe two (or, hell, more!) people weren't the right people back then, but they are the right people now. (This pertains, for example, to my oldest of all ships, Deanna Troi and Will Riker. Mutual annoyance to lovers to ex-lovers to co-workers to friends to lovers? FUCK ME it's so good.) It's about being honest about what you did and how that hurt them, the why's of what you did and the ways you've changed since then, the hope that the other person (or persons) might acknowledge that and forgive you, the work you need to do to forgive yourself - the tentative hope that there might be a happy ending possible after all that? the despair that it might not? Oh it is delicious (and also a big part of my all-time favorite ship, Bering and Wells. They have Second Chances written all over them in big capital italicized letters.)

So, yeah, Second Chances it is.

Right-hand side

This was an even stronger fight: Forced Proximity vs. Friends to Lovers?! How dare this bracket make me choose!!

I'll start with the defeated trope again: Friends to Lovers. I love it. I really, really, really love it. It has so much: mutual trust and affection, the realization that there is something more (and how deliciously long that sometimes take, when the protagonist(s) are just too dense to figure it out, or too scared to even acknowledge it to themselves!), the worry that it might not be mutual, the agonizing about "Do I tell them and risk destroying what we have if they don't feel the same?". And the shining brightness and happiness of "I can have it *all*? I can have friendship AND love? With *them*??!" And if the story continues on, also the way that some dynamics change and some stay the same, the negotiation which the couple (or polycule) wants to change or not, the way that how others see them might change - so much potential, so many things to love. It's both gentle and nerve-wracking, it's such a good trope - and then there's Forced Proximity.

I mean ideally the two go hand-in-hand, right? Have your friends-to-lovers protagonists, still at that "I don't know if they love me back aaaaahhhh I can't risk it!!" stage, and toss them into forced proximity until they *have* to come clean. But, one must win. Only one can move forward! 😭 And I couldn't resist the strength of the impulse to bang my blorbos together and make them kiss (eventually). To put them in scenario after scenario in which they are stuck with each other and nothing else to do but Talk About Their Feelings - Or Make Out. @performativezippers you mentioned that specific queer situation of having confusing feelings for your same-gender friend in your write-up for friends-to-lovers; I agree - and I often find that a Forced Proximity moment can help with that and also can lead to confessing or acting on one's feelings, and *that* part of it, I find so very compelling. The resolution, for which forced proximity is such a good catalyst!

It wins out by the skin of its teeth, by that very virtue of being the catalyst and moment of resolution rather than all that's gone before. Honestly though? Run this bracket again in three weeks and it might win out. They are both that strong.

[beevean]

(Silver in IDW-anon again! ^^) So Duo (aka concealed Mimic) is on the cover of issue 67... Not to be pessimistic, but any and all worries I had about Silver not being taken seriously by the Diamond Cutters just got a tenfold worse. Of course, covers always lie and what-not, but I cannot recall any prominent instances that IDW actively lied with their covers about what characters would be in a story. Can't wait for Silver to get mocked and sent away because how dare he accuse the newest well-meaning member of their team of any evil-doing, probably with a smug "It's no use😏" from Duo thrown in there (at least one "It's no use" in either issue 63 or 64. I am calling it, so hard.), presumably also after completely blowing their training by getting all in Whisper's face despite being far more powerful than she could ever hope to be with a Wispon, and with some fake apology to follow up on it all that paints Silver as the bad guy for not talking constructively about his misgivings or whatever.

Yay.

(hello! nice to see you again :D)

Lmao they already wasted their "It's no use" quota in 60, from Shadow. Will they use it again so sof course they will.

But yeah, didn't the blurbs of #63 and #64 already spoil that Silver will make a total fool of himself?

Stuck in the past with no clear directive, Silver decides to spend some time with the Diamond Cutters and their new member. But he’s too busy being star-struck over Whisper to notice that he’s interrupting their training! Elsewhere, Sonic takes Blaze sightseeing so she can enjoy her vacation.

This issue is all about Silver the Hedgehog! First, he's incredibly suspicious of the Diamond Cutters' new member and he jumps to a conclusion that leads him to some hasty accusations. Awkwardness ensues. Then, Blaze comforts Silver as they bond over being away from home and in Sonic's world.

(love the advertising. Yay, it's all about your favorite blorbo Silver! 🥰 Being used as a vehicle for cringe comedy! 🥰 literally, "awkwardness ensues" please my soul is already leaving my body at the thought)

#65 will be about Knuckles and the Babylon Rogues, we still don't know anything about #66, so I wonder how they're going to stretch the Duo arc for so long. I'm inclined to believe that yes, we'll get a whole issue of Silver being seen as a paranoid idiot and being sent off, then Mimic will do his Mimic thing while Surge and Kit try to complete their character arc. Then Silver will have his emotional moment, a Silvaze ship tease moment will ensue, and the day will be saved.

I'm betting money. Who's with me?

[thelreads]

Hello! Hope everything is going well? I am sending this small message to you this day because you seem like a knowledgeable person. I am in the proccess of writing backinformation for first serious try in writing, and I am getting stuck on certain aspects (such as if this fantasy world should have a hard or soft power system but that is something I will figure out soon enough) What my question is I guess is more among the lines of, do you have any tips and tricks for how to not constantly have what you wish to write on your mind? I can barely go to sleep at night because I am thinking of different aspects of the world building and such(not that this helps with the writing because all that is gone when I go to write but once more that is something I will have to figure out) Sorry for this long message, Hope this message is not to annoying to read.

Oh friend don't worry, I'm always glad to get asks!

Also, sorry about it, but I'm afraid you have writers disease. Yeah, sorry, the only way to keep it at bay is writing. Yeah, double sorry.

Jokes aside, I'm also constantly plagued by ideas and visions of my blorbos 24/7, it's maddening, but one thing I found out helped was to keep a file where I would just jot down any idea and thought about them. And I do mean everything. There's me wondering about the philosophical implications of a character's action just to stop that and write down that I think merpeople would be lactose intolerant, then an idea about what kind of among us players the characters would be before I finish the first thought.

In my case, this file is already 78k words long, and it's just a lot of bullet points.

This also helps you keep track of your own plans even if you're not the planning type, but I think the biggest plus is that it helps you brainstorm new things you never imagined. Creativity is like a dammed river, you need to control the release of it otherwise it will overflow and break you.

I use a notepad app for that, and occasionally share it to inflict psychic damage into anyone that asks me about my writing process those past few years, but you can use a physical notepad as well, anything that helps. And don't be scared to ask for anything you need help with, you can send me a message as well if that's easier.

[greens-multiverse]

[hi! i’m mitzi, and i can’t draw, so instead of making mads or animatics or whatever when i get a blorbo song stuck in my head i write really pretentious songfic. this particular one is something i’ve had cooking in the back of my head for years, about the end of tpp anniversary crystal, and azure chasing OLDEN through the depths of reality. around - the end of last year, criminy, life’s really been happening a lot lately - i started rambling about the fossil gods on the tpp lorecord, which segued into rambling about amber, which segued into rambling about OLDEN, which segued into this. i’ve been working on this post since march, bird jesus save us all. check my ‘mitzi writing’ tag for the previous rambles, but they shouldn’t be strictly necessary to understand this]

[our story starts at the end of anniversary crystal, itself the end (and also the beginning, it’s complicated) of the long battle against OLDEN. the REALITY-DEVOURING GODMONSTER has been defeated (though IT isn’t quite dead yet), the voices are getting ready to leave evan, the world is slowly falling apart, but don’t worry, that’s supposed to happen, and at the tomb of the voices on top of mt silver, a meeting takes place]

[our song being ficced tonight is cosmo’s ‘the ai girl and the deep heart sea’ - specifically, the first fifty seconds of it. it’s a long way to the bottom of the ocean of reality, and this is just the first step]

you ever hear that story about the shadows on the cave wall? like, some people were locked up underground, chained in place, unable to even move, for their entire lives. in front of them was a blank cave wall, and behind them was a blazing fire. between them and the fire, sometimes, would pass... things. people, animals, objects, moving behind the prisoners where they couldn't be seen all the prisoners could see were the shadows projected on the wall in front of them. that was all they knew of reality it's a metaphor, like. just as the prisoners see only the shadows and not the objects that cast them, so the world we know is just a distorted reflection of the true reality beneath. beyond this transient, illusory physical world, the philosophers say, lie the forms and concepts that create it, abstract and eternal. reality as we perceive it is just a flimsy crust over the true nature of the universe now, that's not entirely true. just because our world is a product of the deeper structures of reality doesn't make any less real. every part of the universe, from the most distant depths of the substructure to the soaring peaks of the noos, exists just as much as every other part. still, the philosophers do have the right idea. beneath our reality lies concepts, and beneath those concepts lie mathematics, and beneath that... well, it gets hard to describe the substructure in human language past that point. but it continues down, for many, many more layers. if the shadows on the wall are cast by objects, then those objects are themselves shadows, as are the things they are shadows of in turn. really, the allegory of the cave breaks down too quickly to be that useful. a better metaphor might be... the world we know is just the surface of an endless black sea

0. the surface a short conversation beneath a black sky

at the top of the mountain, among the ruins of the tomb, she sits. once upon a time the icy biting wind might have bothered her, but she's weathered far worse. she tosses snowflakes between her gloved fingers, and waits

above her, the phantom stars are slowly fading away. next will be the sky, and after that -

"hey!"

he strides through the rubble, limbs passing straight through solid stone. in his eyes is a light from beyond the world, but around them is still a lenseless pair of glasses. he talks as he walks, Voice perfectly pitched to catch her attention. "i've been looking for you everywhere! what're you up to?"

she glances at him, and then back to the sky. "waiting for the end"

he sighs, a little wistfully. "yeah. it'll all be over soon." he finds his own spot to sit in the ruins, and for a moment, they watch the stars blink out together. then he hrmmms. "actually"

it always has to be business with him, doesn't it. "what do you want now," she groans, more tired than anything else

"oh, nothing, if you don't want to get involved!" he shakes his head so hard his neck almost twists. "I just thought you might be interested, and you could -"

she groans again, more irritably. "get to the point already"

"right, right." he exhales, adjusts his empty glasses. "OLDEN"

he stands up and starts pacing in a circle, hands flying through gestures she doesn't even try to interpret. "see, IT's not - the Voices injured IT pretty badly, but IT's still existing. IT's fled into..." he slows down, furrowing his brow. "...I'm just going to call it the substructure of reality for now, we really don't have time for the full explanation. the fossil gods are going to chase IT down and finish IT off, once and for all. I’m coming along, as..." another furrow. "sort of a focus? anyway"

he stops and turns to face her again. "we wanted to know if you were coming too"

she - pauses, just for a second. then she narrows her eyes. "why would I?"

neither of them so much as glances at the back of her right hand. what point would there be in alluding to things they're both all too familiar with?

instead, he starts gesticulating even more wildly. "because you could help, most of all! you're better at navigating the haze than I ever was, you must know a thousand shortcuts we can use to catch up with IT. it'd be a good idea to have someone who isn't plugged into the heart of the universe along in general, just in case IT throws up an anti-reality barrier or an outsider-sifting net or something like that. and..."

he trails off. then he nods his head, just once, and looks her right in the eyes. "and there's a chance - just a chance, I don't even know how we'd do it - that we could save him." he shuts his eyes. "it's probably the last one we'll ever get"

the words hang in the air. he is silent, she is silent, the stars vanish, one by one. finally, she lets out a long, slow breath. "alright"

"all..." his face lights up again. "yes! great! cool! thank you, Azure"

there's maybe a slightly fond twist to her mouth. "let's just get going, Abe"

"yeah, we probably should. if you just..." he tilts his head like he's listening to something, and then nods. "just take my hand"

he holds out his. it's already tinted purple, its borders beginning to fuzz into incoherence like every other object around them - except the clear, sharp outline of the one she extends to grasp it. their palms touch and their fingers lock -

and they plunge beneath the surface of reality

deep, deep down in a sea of possibility

in blackness so far down no hint of form ever pierces it

a single IDEA coalesced in bright white

the world blocked out by the haze of ITs tears

[always-andromeda]

hello beloved (platonic) can i pls get a caramel delight with a dano? i love that man and all his little guys.

a things about me! i’m a barista at coffee store, my favorite color is either any shade of green or muted orange but not together bc it looks muddy. i am autism. i have shortish dark hair that i dye to be darker so i look more like my iranian side of my family. i speak three languages and am learning many more. i’m obsessed with philosophy bc when i was a kid i watched cloud atlas and it was. formative. and then i watched the good place later on and got formed even more. i don’t have a favorite music bc i think choosing one would be unfair to all the ones i don’t pick. i also tend to fall for people who will never love me back.

thanks for allowing me to ramble about myself ily and your writing i followed you a full year ago about Paul Franklin Dano and i stuck around to this day despite not knowing anything much about your other blorbos. Take care of yourself this night and all others. :)

Goodness gracious, thank you so much for your support over the past year? Pretty early on I started to recognize your username in my notifications and it always makes me super happy whenever I see it! That being said, I think I would pair you up with Hank Thompson! Let me explain my vision here!

Hank would be endlessly enamored with you and your interest in philosophy and learning languages. It takes a very dedicated and intelligent person to really dive deep into the world around him the way you do. It's an interest in humanity that he himself has buried away inside of him and I guarantee he would admire that within you as well.

I could see you two having the most random conversations ever. Sometimes it may be about the world and philosophy. And other times I could see the conversation being so light that it's almost silly. Like he'd playfully tease you about not having a favorite genre of music but he'd get it; there's a little bit of good and bad in everything, even with something as small as taste in music.

And with Hank, I don't think you'd ever have to worry about unrequited love. He's felt that too. Oh, goodness, has he felt that. Sometimes he has a tendency to build people up in his mind until they could never quite live up to his expectations. People will always leave sooner or later, he figures. But your sense of love and loyalty would mean the absolute world to him.

[pirate-with-internet-connection]

re this:

DON'T BE SORRY LA VAGUELETTE SLAPS!!! genshin rlly makes some good shit!!! i was doing dishes jamming to the chasm's inevitable conflict ost so that genshin's ost can mayhaps make me think this small task is for a grand adventure i need to prepare myself for <33

also bg3!! have you finished a playthrough? i haven't done evil runs yet or my durge run, but im looking forward to the redemption arcs...!!

(also i see that you wrote tot i hope you can scroll past the posts when i'm being a big hater about the writing sjdhsjdhdjjt. but i'd like to know who's your blorbo of choice!)

((sorry this is long its physically impossible for me to write short things))

AAA EXACTLYY, genshin has some really good music! i was into it since the zhonglis trailer song like- dayum

shamefully though, i have to admit i have NOT finished even ONE full playthrough in bg3 T.T i always get stuck at wanting to remake my character T.T n then im like "its fine i can get where i was in like 2 hours" N THEN I CANT?! like what a surprise duh T.T

I did however see a bunch of spoilers lol

ALSO DONT WORRY OMG imma be honest i dont really like the writing in tot either LOL but i play it for my favorite husband ofc marius lol, even tho imma be honest i pulled for his latest card in global n... i was cringing at the story like 3/4 of the time? and the event (enduring light) for it wasnt even that much fun for me tbh T.T just skipped through it basically n im GLAD ITS OVER.

sorry if u liked it T.T

Ngl I regret spending my s-chips on those cards T.T hurts even more cuz im a f2p player so it took me months to collect that shi T.T

AND ITS OK PLS DONT APOLOGIZE ❤️

[dasagoo]

Beckett headcannons? I got the Becky boy brain rot

oooh I got quite a few! You're feeding my Beckett delirium. This will likely be long because I don't get to spew this shit often. putting it with a read more to keep the beckett deniers tame :3

I like to think Beckett has a few tattoos. A few eagles and probably a few really sloppy ones he gave himself or that others gave him (probably when drunk). He isn't covered with them but has quite a few, mainly around his arms, chest, back, and one or two on his thigh.

Beckett would also be chunky. Lots to love. Plushy man boobs. You know! Pillows on his front. Beer gut. Tall and big! I like to think around 6'1. I also like to think Beckett's appearance is a little terrifying and he still looks like he is a raider who could kick your ass when he probably could not nowadays.

He would use "love" or "my love" as petnames. He also finds PDA a little awkward. He is just an awkward guy in general around romance things. His charisma is high. He is a lovable guy and loves to interact with strangers at his bar. When it comes to love... he's a goof.

He is very bisexual and has had flings with both men and women when he was still in gangs. Nothing romantic. Sexual (while likely high and drunk). I know he is bi in canon too, but thats just Bethesda not writing sexuality so it doesn't count lmao.

Beckett is actually his last name, (again, also canon to an extent). His first name would probably be something stupid or embarrassing and that he preferred his last name over his first name, so it stuck. Only his brother would know his dead name.

Beckett isn't trusted by a lot of people - especially within Foundation and Crater. There are those who still see him as a Blood Eagle, so visiting Foundation or Crater is a gamble. The people who visit his bar are either oblivious to his past or dismissive over his history. Being a Blood Eagle is a blemish he can't exactly scrub off.

Beckett would snore 😴 ....loudly likely.

Goofy smile. GOOFY SMILE. CUTE GOOFY SMILE. BEAR HUGS. PICK ME UP!!!!!!!!

I like to think he doesn't just sell drinks at his bar but also items the Vaultie finds that are valuable. He also worries sick about them while theyre gone on their trips. It's like the spongebob episode that says "I dunno, what do you normally do while I'm gone?" "Wait for you to get back!"

alright lmao thats enough for now. Funny enough tho I have a private passworded tumblr where I keep headcanons for my blorbos. A lot is... uh... deeper *wink* than this surface level if you catch my drift. Also a lot that goes with my Vaultie and how he is with them. maybe I'll give it out one day. maybe lmao