#I'm just rambling but it was interesting thinking abt the reasons we do this

[genderkoolaid]

was thinking about why marginalized people often use slurs in describing oppression. like in the phrase "magical negro", or using the term "cripple" or "tranny" when talking about how people see us. its not reclamation, it's more about specifically forcing the dominant group to face their bias.

bc when it comes to overt forms of bigotry, there isn't really the need to do this. the bigot will very directly tell you why they hate you- because you are a [slur], a stand-in for everything the believe about the group they hate (being unnatural, criminals, dirty, sinful, ugly, a drain on society, etc).

but generally those kinds of overt bigotry are harder to have in polite society, especially when the marginalized group in question has enough visibility and has been loud enough about their treatment that people have to acknowledge it. now, saying you hate black people or trans people or immigrants is a social faux pas, and people acknowledge that hating those groups is Bad.

but anything less than hatred is still looked over, because critically examining how our actions contribute to social patterns is Hard and requires abstract thinking, and it's much easier to just get rid of the most blatant forms of bigotry and wipe your hands of the whole nasty "systemic oppression" issue. overt bigots are bad, ostensibly because of their bigotry, but largely because they just are so gauche about it, you know? it's easy for Good Liberals in the US north to mock the gun-obsessed fat Southern man caricature who doesn't believe in climate change and says slurs, but they often get quiet and awkward if someone brings up the liberal white woman from New York who quickly locks her door when a Black man walks by her car on the sidewalk. She doesn't hate black people, so she can't be racist- there's a world of difference (in her mind) between herself and the Racist. even if, whether it's through gun violence on private property or calling the cops because she feels scared, a Black man gets killed because a white person's racist bias.

getting back to the original point about slurs: using them in this context forces people to recognize that all of that bias is the same. your racism, transphobia, ableism, isn't different just because you use nice words. dominant groups get uncomfortable when marginalized groups use slurs to point out their bigotry (i.e "you want me to be a good tranny") because it draws a direct connection between the blatant, socially unacceptable bigotry and the socially acceptable, low-key bigotry. a lot of times, society reacts to oppressed groups fighting for liberation by addressing the most obvious elements while allowing and encouraging the subtle elements, so that way they calm down and stop causing problems, but society doesn't have to meaningfully change. drawing that connection pulls the cover off of society. no more "but I don't hate immigrants so I'm not xenophobic!", because xenophobia isn't just ICE officers keeping kids in cages, it's also getting annoyed with people who have strong accents because why can't they just learn to speak English better and making every movie set in Eastern Europe have a blue filter so you know it's Foreign and Sad.

basically, slurs are used as a weapon to remind marginalized groups of every stereotype about them, and "put them in their place". but they can also be used to force polite bigots to face their own bigotry, blowing away the smokescreen of "only violent oppression is real oppression". There's a power to be found in bringing your issues into the light when the world would really rather you sit pretty and smile and thank it for doing the bare minimum while still making your life hell.

[pachirobi]

Because I can't stop thinking about Parallel Canon

AKA: An extremely unorganized ramble because I've grown attached to this little masked creature

[Minor Side Order Spoilers]

Ok so we all know at least a part of Agent 4's soul was used to create Parallel Canon. Exactly how much was used is unknown, since Parallel Canon is still there once you clear Agent 4's palette. Hell, it's not even known if they were used to make all of Parallel Canon or just the one front and center.

Which I guess leads to the main reason I even started thinking more about this boss in the first place, and the question I'd like another person's input on. Is Parallel Canon really a mindless puppet, or just a more "orderly" version of Agent 4?

Obviously I'm more inclined to say it's the former. They all have blank faces with red eyes, after all. But those are just masks. That alone wouldn't have set off any bells for me but they also have strangely defined personalities in their opening sequence.

They're still very messed up and Not Really There, but are somehow able to do so in their own little special way. Hell, one of them even manages to look shy and unwilling until another pulls them down into the ink. [As seen here: https://x.com/twin_ramen/status/1761036913363026378?s=46&t=tCaf2A6S1S8tQn4is8LtCQ] Not to mention the fact that they can be heard pinging each other in battle.

[Small tangent but I think the rest of Parallel Canon could be Splatoon 2's promo kids. Please note that there is no basis other than I, personally, believe it would be so fuckin' cool.]

Anyway, this gives me at least some reason to believe Parallel Canon is more than just a husk of a person. It seems more like they're a new one altogether. Though them having semi-free will doesn't change much.

If they really are an 'Orderly' version of Agent 4, I imagine they'd have the exact same unshakable views as the original, this time manifesting as a fierce loyalty to Order [both the concept and the guy himself.] Potentially even being a willing guard of the tower.

Idk. Maybe I'll make another one of these or do some doodles abt it later so I can explain better. I just think flipping the allegiance of the 'Agent of Chaos' without warping the personality underneath could potentially be really interesting.

[spinjitsuburst]

ramble about ur favs i wanna hear abt ur thoughts -zaptrap

HAN’S INFODUMPING ABOUT JAY... START!!!!

so like sgdkdhdkdhd I say Jay and Lloyd are my “favorites” but honestly it’s so hard to pick favorites out of this skittles squad like I love EVERY character for a variety of different reasons. I was going to also infodump about Lloyd but then I started talking about Prime Empire and then this post got. Long. So. it's just Jay I may infodump about Lloyd another day especially since I'm very Conduit Brained Rn but yea yea!

this is long so i'm putting most of it under the cut so y'all don't kill me for making a huge long post

I considered putting Zane and Sora on here as well since I’d also consider them my “favs” but like this is already gonna be. A lot of. Infodumping (also i typed THIS part before I even started and decided not to yell about Lloyd because this already got long enough). Maybe I’ll make a separate post for those two hmm hmm much to consider but for now MY (technically) FAVORITE NINJAGO CHARACTER: JAY WALKER

THE SPARKPLUG WHO INVADED MY BRAIN LIKE A PARASITE

so hey his name is a pun this makes me laugh ridiculously hard every time I remember he is named. After a misdemeanor HSKSHDKFH

Jay is such an interesting case of a character for me because I started out the show not liking him. Which is. Stares at my entire account I think my feelings have changed somewhat

Jay starts out as an asshole I don’t think anyone can disagree with me there (although honestly they’re all assholes in early ninjago they bullied a ten year old and left him dangling several feet off the ground) but over the course of the show you can see him start developing into a much more interesting character. He goes from being so insecure he's faking everything about himself to someone who knows who he is and is so genuine about it

now yea we could argue about whether his character was too uwu-ified post-season 10 but this is the FUN HAN POST SO WE'RE NOT GONNA TALK ABOUT THAT the point is you can SEE the growth that Jay has gone through and I am going to show you that growth through what I call

✨ The Skybound to Prime Empire Effect ✨

I AM SO PASSIONATE ABOUT THE IDEA THAT PRIME EMPIRE WAS WRITTEN TO BE A DIRECT PARALLEL OF SKYBOUND AND WAS CENTERED ON SHOWING HOW THE NINJA ESPECIALLY JAY HAVE GROWN THROUGHOUT THE SEASON

when season 12 rolls around we are at the point in Jay's development where he is CONFIDENT in who he is. He's a fun-loving jokester with the power of lightning and the drive to help people whenever he can. He uses jokes and humor to help alleviate tension and get people through whatever's happening. And when on his own what does he do?

BECOME AN ENTERTAINER BABEY

i like to think jay's club in prime empire was a safe haven for anyone stuck in the game who figured out hey. we Can't Leave and felt freaked about it. Also Jay would generally try and spread the word that hey something ISN'T RIGHT HERE which would lead people to want to stay with him

(totally plugging my friend's fic but this kind of thing is explored in would you like to enter prime empire by @finn-m-corvex y'all should check it out cool cool)

also the prime empire shorts which i watched all of in the midst of typing this video cuz i love them go watch them please please please jay was publically fighting the red visors which I imagine may have raised some red flags for some players

THIS SOMEHOW TURNED INTO PRIME EMPIRE INFODUMPING LMAO ANYWAYS Jay's confident! He becomes an entertainer because it's who he knows he is! And it's something that will get people hyped and having fun, which is very in-character for Jay to do! He uses those kinds of things to mask the Bad Things going on and get people remembering what's good

I've talked about this sort of thing before but that's Jay's whole philosophy as early as season 9! Which is a DIRECT contrast to how he views it in season 6, as Nadakhan puts it scarily accurately

"You make jokes to mask the fact that you're afraid"

(i was gonna grab a screenshot for that like i did with the hunted scene but netflix has bloCKED THE ABILITY TO TAKE SCREENSHOTS THE WAY I USED TO and i don't have them already and i'm too lazy to grab them from elsewhere so alas trust me he says it)

making jokes to hide your fear and using humor to remind yourself of what's good and coping with the bad are two VERY different outlooks on it

so I think this outlook is what drives him to make this glamrock persona in the first place - this is a bad situation, one he's in with other civilians, and what better way to keep him and themself safe until the others get there than throwing a big performance at a safe place!

also it's just so gender okay I want to look like Superstar Rockin' Jay so badly

it's also interesting to see his outlook on his parents change over time! In season six he finds out Ed and Edna aren't his birth parents and feels upset about it, not understanding why his birth parents would've abandoned him. In season twelve, that outlook changing is EXACTLY why Jay's able to get through to Unagami

"I was abandoned by my parents, too!... I never understood why, and I never had the chance to even ask. But I always hoped there was a good reason. What if there's a reason?"

(again curse you netflix i wanted SCREENSHOTS whatever whatever)

It's this scene that gets Unagami to calm down long enough for Milton Dyer to get there, and presumably is what stops him from just. Flattening him and Jay like a pancake.

to piggyback off of this i absolutely adore how Unagami and Jay consider each other adopted brothers in that one book I still haven't read and I hope he's in Dragons Rising at some point Unagami is my favorite "villain" (no longer a villain) in the whole show he deserves more screentime

like this is where i found out about this and it's plagued my mind ever since. i need to read. this book just for them

SO YEA OKAY Prime Empire is "Who is Jay as a Person Post-Skybound" to me also it opens up so many fascinating things about Jay. I rest my case

so backpedaling a little bit. JAY CARES SO MUCH ABOUT HIS PARENTS GUYS IT'S SO SOFT AND I'M sobs

like yea the first episode with Ed and Edna in it has Jay avoiding them like the plague but this gets explained very easily when you remember he was bullied for his home life before he became a ninja. It makes a lot more sense why he wouldn't want them around his new friends, assuming they'd react the same way. Also how was he supposed to know literally all the rest of the groups parents were either dead, presumed dead, or had a toxic relationship with their kid lmao

(Cole calling his mom kills me. Cole's mom is dead. I know they probably just didn't think that far ahead when writing the dialogue but it's so funny mans pretended to call his dead mom to get on Jay for not appreciating his parents iconic behavior)

anyways literally every episode Ed and Edna are central to (except like the one in skybound) Jay stops at nothing to protect his parents and it means the absolute world to me he's so much like them!! They raised an inventive little nerd and he will stop at nothing to make sure they're safe and it's. It's SO IMPORTANT TO ME OKAY

ALSO this is an excuse to clip my favorite piece of dialogue possibly in the entire show. Except Netflix won't let me now. So you just get the text dialogue

Jay's just fallen from the sky with a messed up eye and is incredibly distraught that all his friends are captured. And his dad just. The woRLD IS FALLING APART AND HE'S EATIN' SOUP-

Ed i love you

anyways

anways anyways this just turned into me rambling about prime empire and then Ed and Edna and a lot of disjointed other stuff but thank you for this opportunity i was going to also ramble about lloyd but i put this post in a word count and

yea i think that's enough for a tumblr post anyways! If anyone wants any like. More logically thought out and direct thoughts about characters feel free to send me asks this was fun thank u @zaptrap for this opportunity to scream about jay

[not-5-rats]

It's been a while since I posted Bug questions...here 🤲

1) what's a nickname you have for your Bug?

2) uh oh your Bug is dead, again, is any of their family at their funeral?

3) does your Bug have any disabilities?

4)

a. a song ur Bug likes?

b. a song that makes u think of ur Bug?

(lil note, I know i always say this but...I ramble, alot. The scenarios ain't even that interesting but I'm ranting anyways...so ehmmmmm extreme rambles warning)

5) scenario #1! (new Markins lore characters!?!?! :0000)

Bug had been out to town that day, they needed to collect some more resources and was finally making their way back to the house. They were walking through the forest when they heard two voices arguing, they hid behind a tree to try and listen into what was being said

"I told you we should turn back! I mean think about it, it's been years! He's probably gonna turn us away-"

"Harper! We've been over this, he told us we could always come to him if we needed support"

Bug leaned around the tree, cautiously peering around it. As they did they spotted two people, a taller, more feminine individual with brown and blue hair was stood beside a shorter individual with darker hair and glowing yellow eyes

"Yeah back when Milo was around! Back when we were linked in some way! Now we're just a couple of old strangers, begging for a place to stay!"

"I've told you already, he won't mind. We may not have been as close to him as we were Milo but we were still good friends...Chester wouldn't turn us awa-"

Bug stepped back slightly, trapping a twig under their foot. It snapped, the sound startling the two strangers, they jumped slightly and the taller ones hand seemed to reach into their pocket as though they were preparing for an attack...but when they saw Bug they both calmed slightly

"Holy shi-! Oh- apologies, you startled us-"

The shorter spoke first

"Apologies if we disturbed you, we were on our way to a fr-"

"A walk!" The other interrupted, who still appeared a bit shaken by Bugs arrival "we were out on a walk and we're heading home now, sorry for distrupting your da-"

"Harper! We were looking for a friends house, Chester Markins, you wouldn't happen to know where he's staying would you?"

Do you know him?

6) scenario #2

The garden. When where they not in the garden. For some reason Chester bad been quite...ehm...clingy? recently, he was constantly dragging Bug outside so they could spend time together, chilling with them in the house, tagging along to their training, he just seemed to be around all the fucking time

Bug had mixed feelings on this, sure some company was nice but this? This was too much

They were once again in the garden, Chester rambling abt whatever flower was sat infront of them. Bug couldn't deal with this anymore, sure flowers are cool, sure seeing him so happy was cool but they were tired.

"Why are you doing all this?"

Bug spoke, their vocie was louder than usual and a bit more assertive, Chester seemed slightly suprised, confused even. He glanced back at them, then back at flowers

"All what?"

They sighed, clearly irritated, they explained that they were tired of him acting like an overly attached dog, following them around for no clear reason. They were annoyed that they never got a break. Chester didn't seem upset, he just stared at them as they spoke...and smiled slightly when they finished

"Ah, sorry *Bug* I, didn't mean to be so...ehm, intrusive. I- I'm...gonna go, give you some space"

He stood up, walked away and left Bug in a tense silence. They sat there for a moment...they were happy to finally gave some peace but maybe they could have been a bit less...loud with him. Their mind went black, they zoned out slightly...then a paper airplane landed infront of them. They looked at it, then up to see who threw it. There stood Fran, she pointed to the plane then made a gesture indicating they should open the plane

Inside there was a note, it said

'I no hes anoyeeng annoying but I promise there a reason hes following you, it's the anuversy anniversy aniversary anniversary of Milos deth today. He gets woreed worried when its coming up, he worries somebody he cares about is going to get hurt. It can be difficult but don't be to upset with Chez, please'

(She's tried her best, spelling is hard)

They look back up only to see Fran's dissapeared, they were left alone in the garden with the note

What do they do?

Tags -

@rozeliyawashereyall @willowve01 @asmrbrainrot @kaiamtt @iistxrmyskyii @insignificant-anarchy @aspenm00n @keyaartz @fangsshadow @rustycopper4use @piffany666 @dreamyshape @lunaritychuwolf @littlesiren79 @castbracelet240 @strayharmony943 @proxdragon @tiefling-chaos @threeweekinsomnia @recated @wilderrorcard @diamondzoey @fennaboysenberry @lunnats @lightdragon789 @pinkcocopuff-aqualoid @astralbulldragon13 @ccstiles @puffin-smoke @fruity0salad @takashishihoin @reefhastoomanyaccs

[girltigerclaw]

breaking into ur house rn

top ten characters and bottom ten. reasons are optional

I just finished this chart thing i think i actually stole from your blog a few months ago <3 Slightly edited to my own prefs.

If anyone wants the template check the reblogs, and feel free to add you own. I'd love to see. I'm just rambling under here:

Leafpool: She is more special and sacred than the virgin mary. She has everything. Daughter of the first protagonist, ex boyfriend for me to hate, TONS of wlw situationships<3, a lifetime of tragedy, and some of the most gorgeous canon art to exist.

Crookedstar: Crookedstar is a trans woman to me. Her life is genuinely just so tragic and fucked, I love it. The erins asked: “How much truama, death and misfortune can you fit into a single cat?” and then they wrote Crookedstar’s promise.

Tawnypelt: GIRLS WHO HATE THEIR FATHERS. The erins dont love her like I do.

Tallstar: I love old men… I fucking love seeing older characters and how much they’ve changed from their younger selves. Tallstar is considered one of, if not the most peaceful leader in the clans. But also when he was like 19 he went on a quest to fucking murder a guy :3

Cloudstar: I rlly do not care abt anyone in Skyclan(I like Leafstar but she's not a fav yknow?) Cloudstar... he was based as fuck. Why did Starclan get away with this shit for real??

Scourge: It’s fucking Scourge. He’s awesome

Briarlight: I’m disabled and I love her. She has such a consistent fun, sweet personality and she makes me happy!!<3

RavenBarley: It deserves all the attention and hype it gets. Though I wish mlm ships didn’t overshadow wlw ones in this fandom, RavenBarley is genuinely well written and makes me very emotional even if the publisher didnt allow it to be explicitly canon.

CrookedBlue: TRANS WOMEN CROOKEDSTAR YURI. Two leaders having a forbidden relationship and kits is way more interesting than Oakheart. The angst of Crooked and Blue sitting next to eachother every gathering while the entire forest has their eyes on them. Don’t look for too long, don’t let the mourning slip into your voice. You have to pretend your lover is a stranger. You… have become strangers. You can never be together again. You're enemies now. This is what we wanted, isn’t it? …We’ll never be happy again.

Mothwing: Her novella delving into her relationship with Hawkfrost was so good and heartbreaking.

Heathertail: Daughter of leader, sister of a major villian, and former love interest of a protagonist! Why did she fall off the second po3 ended. She’s shown to be very compassionate and willing to put her own feelings aside for the sake of others. Would’ve honestly prefered her as a mate to Lionblaze or get a pov herself over the nothing we got.

Blackstar: *Murders an elderly woman trying to stop me from kidnapping children. Supports a dictator openly abusing/neglecting children and the elderly. Murders a man for refusing to kill mixed raced children- then tells said man’s sister that she will never be safe.* Man…. i sure do feel bad for abusing and killing all of those people…. Good thing I will face no consequences and proceed to be made leader, where I will have even more power over the wellbeing of others.

I hate. This guy.

The New Prophecy: A classic. My first series was actually tnp! i feel more attached to first arc cats tho, if you couldn't already tell by my list lmao

Johanna Map- Best Tawnypelt content out there

BlueQuince: My personal handcrafted, homemade Yuri. Bluefur feels terrible about Tiny going missing and promises Quince she’ll help her find him. They never did, but they had a very… fleeting but intimate relationship. Quince is grieving and Bluefur feels so overwhelmed by the duties in her clan. They’ve always thought of eachother since but never met again.

Tigerclaw: My name sake<3 The angst of his earlier life is so, so facinating to me. Starclan being straight fucked up and decided killing him is their only option? He was a kid and they saw him as a lost cause from the start. They never tried any other methods, never tried to steer him in the right direction or… even just take it into their own hands and kill him themself, which they have SHOWN they’re capable of.

They watched all the the horrific crimes he commited, entirely aware they were going to happen. Thats. Fucking. Horrifying. Starclan is scary as shit… and his death? FANTASTIC. I only wish he’d gotten lives from cats he killed so that him coming back to life to suffer over and over was an actual curse from Starclan and not blessings. They knew how he would die and they gave him the lives to torture him for his sins…

Flywhisker: Adhd girlies. Painfully relate to that feeling of the constant scolding for never being “good enough” because I prefer to do things a certain way or struggle to focus. So, SO happy for her when she left the clans! You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone! Hope she’s happy and warm indoors with her brother💕

(P.S. I was very suprised to find she actually had an official art piece!)

Bluestar: Get behind me women with mental disorders. I will defend you. Beautifully complex and tragic character, my favorite written in the series. Literally can't think of a single other female character in handled as seriously and with the complexity of Bluestar. (Although her super edition was a bit of an L with how others treated her, it ultimately makes her breakdown even more painful.)

Exile from Shaodwclan: Nightstar my beloved! He's such a great guy. The rightful leader of Shadowclan, always and forever.

Ravenpaw's Farewell: HE DIED IN BARLEY'S ARMS, TELLING HIM HE WILL FIND HIM, NO MATTER WHERE HE IS. FUCK.

Crookedstar art: So beautiful. I genuinely think she's one of the prettiest cats in the series. This along with her official art by Wayne Mcloughlin.

Leopardstar: As a kid I hated her and loved Blackfoot, now I hate Blackfoot and love her. #feminism. But seriously I think she has way more going for her than he ever has. Her father is a medicine cat who hates violence, the DRASTIC change in Riverclan's view of outsiders upon Crookedstar's death and her leadership. Her already having a position of power before proving she's unworthy of it. (Unlike Blackstar who gets rewarded for his racism and violence by being made leader afterwards) and the fact she has to interact with her victims on a daily basis after what she did.

The writings attempts to redeem her are really lame and dismissive of the actually damage she did, but at the very least they TRIED to do something else with her. Personally, I would have loved to see her assassinated by Mistyfoot. Just like her mother Bluestar was almost killed all those moons ago by Tigerclaw... The parallels of violence for power and violence for peace. A victim repeating the actions of the very man who killed her brother to put an end to what he started in Riverclan.... A shadow in Riverclan, if you will. (<-Pretending erin hunter has hired me to rewrite their series)

Windclan: Tunneling as a concept and inviting outsiders into their clan so friendly and casual makes the clan seems so much more diverse than the others. It always stuck out to me!

Andddd there are my current warrior cat options as of 2023! If someone actually read this whole ramble ily<3

[gumbaigumbai]

Ramblings on Modern AU Ogata

Modern AU Ogata has so much potential when it comes to the different ways his mental instability could be displayed, along with his living situation as well.. so I'll write down some thoughts I've had/collected below (& I'm well aware Noda mentioned he'd be a dentist but I wanna explore other possibilities)

^ to preface I've read a couple works on ao3 abt this as well so some ideas are heavily inspired

Work: I think a job as a photographer would translate over his sniper skills very well, links such as steady hands and a good eye, staying still in a required position, "shooting", and freelance of course.. Though I don't think this would pay well enough for him to maintain a decent living, so he would primarily work as a morgue attendant for a couple reasons; respect given when needed, no customer interactions (or if so, very few), most talking is between co-workers which I don't imagine there's plenty of, he wouldn't be opposed to being in the space w. all the corpses, it could worsen his mental state (🤤), to an extent links back to his "canon" modern job via medical field

As for the home life; small apartment, can't imagine him caring about upkeeping the place or getting "fashionable" furniture so most items inside are just necessities. while he was only doing photography he used to sleep on a mattress but after the attendant job he upgraded to a simple bed. Definitely has a computer setup that he saved up for, used for editing/organizing his pictures and doom scrolling. I like to think he has some interest that he researches in his spare time, could be really into the history & different types of guns, or if we want to be less on-the-nose he'd enjoy deep sea creatures - just reading up on them or watching videos, maybe those informational documentaries. Also has a small amount of fondness towards Hello Kitty (bc ofc I have to add this), though it's something he's embarrassed to admit (Usami found this out & never let him hear the end of it)

Relationship w. ppl

I think he'd be pretty good at coming off as collected while working (outside of home) but when he's not required to talk with others he's contrived in public, says the bare minimum and leaves. He'd keep in touch with Usami and Tsukishima - they always have to reach out first but in his better moods sometimes he starts talking w. Usami. He used to have some sort of relationship with Tsurumi (relationship not used in a romantic sense here) but they fell out and he doesn't have contact with him anymore. Yuusaku has his # and tries inviting him over for the holidays but he declines most of the time, another instance where you must catch him while he's prone to social gatherings..

Mental state 😻

Okay this is where I take a lot of liberty so I apologize if ppl don't like this… I think he would definitely be depressed to some extent, falling into episodes where he's more of an active suicide risk, but it's not often enough to become debilitating to carry on normally. He wouldn't reach out for help, and would over time get much worse before he ever gets better (I'd like to think in the modern world he'd have a real chance at reformation though). Usami would unintentionally worsen Ogata's mental state by affirming his negative thoughts, though as an avid Usao shipper I have to give myself a treat and pretend Usami would take care of him during his worst times… And wouldn't make fun of his attempt at getting better if he ever enters therapy (delusion works in mysterious ways). Ogata would engage in self-destructive behavior; taking light drugs at a younger age but as he got older he resorted to sh. The first step towards rehab however would be a holiday dinner with Yuu where he actually showed up, and they entered a genuine conversation over his issues after Yuu grilled him enough about his worries.

Anyway, sorry this was so long & I didn't include many other characters, & if you just don't really see this as plausible for him - I like to play with him like a Lalaloopsy in my head

[lopposting]

I absolutely love your lore theories for LoP! Very new to the fandom :). Stayed up all night reading your posts abt it whahaha please keep making them!

Just wanted to ask what you think, if Camille was the recorded first puppet with an awakened ego and was Carlo's mom... does that mean Geppetto let his wife be experimented on by the alchemists upon her death or???

Another thought, do you think Sophia knew Geppetto's plans? Given that she reached out to P at the very beginning and called him by name ((geppettos puppet)) She knew Simon's plans yeah. But what abt Geppettos?

Thank you so much for your kind ask!!!

I panicked briefly because I thought I lost this ask somewhere. I have a LOT of thoughts surrounding Camille and parts of the game that I struggle to put together really cohesively, so on certain topics, i'm just going to ramble.

So, there is this image from the opening cutscene.

Maybe it isn't literally Camille and Carlo, but it may be alluding to them. [And what are they shown playing here? dundundun]

There is a particular affinity and focus the game has on the Piano as well.

Music is so linked to humanity in this game, i think it's very sweet.

There was also this really interesting post about the blue fairy (in the og collodi novel) that I don't think I can dig up anymore, but I remember it was something like this. It was pointing out that, realistically, the blue fairy really isn't a good parent. She lets a seven year old child be hanged on a tree, she watches by as he is enslaved; she makes him "work" for the right to be a real boy instead of reasonably granting him it, etc. The blue fairy also appears omniscient or goddess-like, appearing as a child, a young woman, a goat, and a mother (in perhaps her most adapted incarnation).

if Sophia's knowledge is endless, couldn't she have warned us about geppetto? wouldn't she know about carlo (someone she knew as a child) being tortured in a box? was it her discretion to let us suffer, because he needs to be able to suffer to be strong? Does that make her a moral or ethical person? Can any personhood with omniscience, who, in a sense, allows evil to happen, be moral or just? Perhaps, herein lies the philosophical, inherent flaw, in any relationship with an omniscient being, but I digress.

However, I think Sophia's endless knowledge that Arlecchino [sadly I write his name wrong every time] refers to is spiritual, or emotional, in a sense: that because she could manipulate time, all of it was at her disposal. When we wake up in the train car, her words are: "There you are, I've been looking all over for you!" She could not have known where we were, if she was searching for us (possibly through the blue butterfly figure we see). Also, I think she could've warned us about Geppetto.. but maybe then we wouldn't have gone to save her, and her goals are to get us to save her from Simon, which I believe she either says or suggests are "selfish" intentions (although I think she is very well within her right to have tbh). I don't think she is all-knowing in the way that Simon's world of truth would be. Maybe it's just a plot hole, perhaps it's just a "flaw" innate in writing any story with an omniscient character, but I don't think she was omniscient in that fashion.

And then coming back to Camille: One of my absolute favourite things about the game is the Saintess of Mercy Statue/Pieta Motif that we see in the Grand Exhibition. And Camille, who is inferred to have been the mother of Carlo, is said to have engineered the statue. She is directly connected to the game's central visual motif of death and rebirth. And then the statue also being diegetically[not a word apparently?] associated with rebirth and renewal ("Bring new life to puppets") in that you are "re-setting" and re-spec your character's stats there??? Equal parts beautiful and spectacular and touching.

[I feel SO sad that apparently, not every gamer got to see the statue. Opening those doors after the phone call riddle and then the camera panning up to the statue is such an amazing and special moment to me, and then the fact that it's also raining (another symbol of birth) too]

I don't know if the Camille puppet was literally the same Camille (who may have been the wife of Giuseppe), though. We know that she seems to have saved a baby from falling, on which afterwards she says "bring me back to my child". Not only is the Camille puppet a devoted mother character, she's also the first puppet to awaken (in other words, being associated with the idea of birth). "Camille" is so tied to the idea of motherhood and birth, that I think the Camille puppet is another connection here, and may not literally be the same Camille who was a technician. Although, I don't put it past Geppetto to be doing nefarious experiments with puppets, even if it were his wife. It might be a little ominous in regards to his attitude to P, that he doesn't see puppets as "people", but he does see people as puppets.

[iniziare]

hello, i know we haven't directly interacted yet but i love your character takes thus far dfsfds.

i'm learning abt yelan and so far i love love love her!! i love what you've written about her and your breakdowns. they feel so... right about her to me (if that makes sense). i have a question myself: do you feel yelan has survivor's guilt? and i'm asking on a deeper level than just for those who passed when they got involved in her line of work. i'm extending that towards situations like people getting hurt—or worse—while she's undercover b/c of her.

forgive me if you've already covered it b/c i couldn't find it whilst reading!

I know I'm numerous days late with this, and I apologize for it, but please know that I smiled the first morning that I saw it. I'm truly quite humbled that my takes seem to resonate at least little, because I think that it's one of the greatest compliments that you can give an RPer, because ultimately we seek to present a realistic portrayal of these characters that are dear to us for one reason or another. Yelan was never supposed to be a muse of mine, as I simply pulled for her because of gameplay reasons, and then she kind of sneaked on me, and now I can't imagine my roster without her. I think that she is a brilliant and quite unusual female character, and it makes me sad that the fandom seems to kind of sleep on her, because she touches on an incredibly human reaction to loss (yes, even the dissociation that it seems to create) and loneliness without roping pity into its fold, and a very interesting approach to a breach of the status quo. I wish that the fandom would see that while Yelan plays into the trope of 'femme fatale', it is not the usual modern-type that they seem to like to push narrative-wise, nor is she fully reminiscent of the original 1940/50s trope, the roots lay in it, but she more so deviates in terms of motivations. If you keep that in mind, and you look into her, your entire perspective of her will change, and things may click differently— I apologize, I always end up rambling, I'm sorry! But I wanted to say thank you for the compliment, and it thrills me that she's growing on you as she had! She truly is an amazing character, so any attention that she gets makes me happy. Now, as for your question, which no, I haven't quite covered yet! So I'm happy to get to it:

Yes, she does. And though you note that you're not referencing her past and those she's lost, it is paramount to keep it in mind when looking at her future as she moves forward; because there's a difference to those who speak of disaster scenarios in hypotheticals, and those who have seen it happen with their own eyes. Now, I assume that you mean people who would be considered innocent bystanders, and even informants? People who have no direct involvement in what she does? (Correct me if wrong!) It would be immense, of course. And it's because those are the people she aims to protect. Let me quote a part of her 4th character story for this:

The results of such work please her greatly, and day after day, she perfects the lists, as crows embellishing their nests with shining trinkets. That said, while both are equally obsessed with collecting, Yelan must sweat and even bleed to secure what she is after, while crows need only flap their wings to achieve their aim. Fortunately, this does not bother her at all, for she believes that the intelligence is worth whatever cost she is going to pay. One day, the information will come in handy — Liyue will never plunge into disaster without any clue of the danger like it once did 500 years ago. She will see to it that Liyue is not caught unprepared.

While some may argue that Yelan has her own personal motivations to heading into the Chasm, yes, she does— it was the fate of her ancestors, but no one is ever fully selfless— and she is no different. But ultimately, Yelan ventures into the Chasm so that no one else has to, because the last time people did, they did die (I know, I'm touching on her old losses, but bear with me here). But those were people who did actively make the decision to work for her, they were aware of potential consequences. But look at the mark that it left on her (and you can see a reaction manifest from it best versus Xiao in Perilous Trail and then this pivotal moment when she reaches out to him), and how firm and strict she can be, and how excruciatingly meticulous that she is in looking at problems from all angles, so that the chance that anything can go wrong is minimal. Yelan is intense in this, exceedingly so, to a point where Ningguang notes in Yelan's vision story: According to Ningguang, the Vision carries a message: "From today onward, leave all matters to the extraordinary Yelan." Where it becomes clear that (since this is a hydro vision, and those, especially since Fontaine, seem intricately tied to devotion and self-sacrifice), that she will take on the serious cases herself, such as the patrolling of the Chasm.

Any way, I'm getting slightly off-topic, but it's all to state that the repercussions of Yelan's past dictate her future very firmly. But all in all, there are differences between those who choose to follow in Yelan's footsteps or walk with her, and if she loses those— the weight is a significant one to bear, so imagine the injury to those who have no involvement in what she's doing, imagine the emotional burden to bear if the unimaginable (though all too imaginable to her) were to happen to those that she literally aims to protect, those that are part of the Liyue that is her home, and what she wants to see stay safe, and never torn asunder like it once was. Imagine if her own investigations caused strife for anyone, I think that she would be caught between— 'I'm unsure whether I'm still fit for this', because to her it means that she would have overlooked something, or... overcompensating by doing too much to try and set it right. But both options, inherently, come with a deep (survivor's) guilt.

[schro4444]

Idk abt pained but that anon's right!! There's just something about the way you draw kaito's smiles that feels like running headfirst into a brick wall - it's great!!

On that note though - I'm absolutely obsessed with the bit "he’s got an expression of scrunched-nose focus on his face that looks, for some reason, incorrect—like it’s not how his face actually looks when he’s concentrating, but the emotion underneath is the same. A mask of a feeling to obscure the same feeling, entirely purposeless"

because like! YES! That's EXACTLY it!! Kaito LOOKS like he's super expressive, emoting with his whole face and body, and then you just - get punched in the face when you realise, OH, he feels like neither him nor anyone could ever get out of the shadow his dad casts, OH, he DOES remember the clock tower meeting, this whole ringmarole was to save it, OH, he was trying to get Aoko to act more natural, OH, he was playing the fool at billiards (I GENUINELY doubted for a moment whether he Actually sucked at billiards or just cheated for the poetic justice)

It's a bit sad, to be honest, that Kaito can never put his masks down no matter what face he's wearing - even if it is his own. He said he's a fan of Lupin but imho he'd do well to reread the first book - there is a line there about disguises and ceasing to know yourself Kaito would do well to remember, bc I very much he's taking the time to rest, eat and become himself again between disguise and disguise.

THANK YOU!!! genuinely that’s such a huge compliment ajfjdhd

THANK YOU! AGAIN!! AND YES YES OKAY—I was going to say I have an essay on this, but I think ditto IS my essay, lol

BUT IM GONNA TALK ABOUT IT MORE ANYWAY!!! I won’t get into all of it now but Gosh I think so much about expressions. kaito appears to be an extremely expressive character, and it’s not that he Isn’t, but more that it’s Very intentional, like you’re saying—he’s a magician, he lives for misdirection, he’s always misdirecting and deflecting and reflecting.

moments like these Haunt Me!! he’s very clearly Being Kaito, enough that everyone around him believes him, but he’s also just… totally lying, in every single image. I really really want to capture the energy of these panels in writing and art, lol

LIKE. how good of an acting job did he do here that he managed to convince aoko that he didn’t want to see a magic show. lol.

THE POOL CHAPTER I think about that all the time. what an establishing moment for kaito. first of all because of what it reveals about how he is

(thank you toichi)

and second of all because I was also!!! bamboozled!!

the way he is portrayed when he starts winning in this chapter is Very interesting, because I feel like it comes across as kaito more,,, like,,, settling into the role. he’s not really actively trying to do anything, he’s following what he most naturally wants to do, which is somewhere between “be silly so that people don’t look too closely” and “I’d really like to see the people around me laugh and be happy.” once he starts being able to Perform, he succeeds. and yet we as the audience are still left doubting what really happened!!! kaito misdirects the audience just as much as any of the mk characters!

oooo I really need to read the arsene lupin books. but like YEAH! EXACTLY! kaito never really made space for himself to Not be acting. the closest he gets is with Jii, and maybe his mom. relevant to my OTHER ramble about how, in deciding to become kid, kaito ended up creating a character out of himself, a character that he Has To Be most of the time. and it’s WILD, because it’s a version of himself that’s fundamentally missing a lot of who he is, but nothing that anyone would actually know to miss.

[sillywormz]

thinking about hollow today. I wonder if they were confused by kamen literally begging them to take him. I wonder if that species ever mind controlled something so big and complex. I wonder if they were impressed by the tools kamen used, or curious, or uncaring. also why did they hate technology so much?????? I just rewatched and they tore apart so much tech. my wild thought for that is hollow is like "I don't want my weird depressed pet to leave so I'm gonna destroy the ships" (and they broke levi bc levi reminded kamen of Fiona when they were singing and hollow was like ROBOT HURT MY PET'S FEELINGS). funnier idea is they're just like I HATE METAL AHHHHGHHHH stompstkmpstomp

ALL OF THIS IS SO REAL hollow is so mysterious there's still so much we don't know about them.........

PUTTING THIS BELOW THE CUT BC I WENT ON A HUGE RAMBLE LOL. hollow autism be upon ye

i do find it interesting how when kamen asked hollow to "take the pain away" (paraphrasing), they didn't rlly seem confused and knew what to do straight away. it could be bc the telepathic link between them and kamen was that strong, but also the fact that they jumped to "absorption" so fast and seem to have internal anatomy designed for it, makes me wonder if this is a common trajectory for their species? maybe even part of their reproductive cycle? like maybe their species go round absorbing the little green guys too idk. there are some interesting implications there

in regards to hollow mind controlling bigger and more complex animals, my personal theory is that hollow's species usually don't mind control larger animals because most of the large animals on vesta have developed a kind of "resistance" to their telepathy. i think there's something kind of parasitic about how their species behaves, and although they seem to have formed a mutualistic symbiosis with the little green tripod guys, there might be evolutionary reasons why other species wouldn't benefit from being controlled by them, leading to selection pressures making them evolve to be able to resist the mind control. hollow's species, or at least hollow itself, seem pretty opportunistic and intelligent, but we only ever rlly see them controlling the little green guys and kamen. this could be because 1) the little green guys benefit (getting to eat goop?) from the relationship so have co-evolved with the hollow's species instead of evolving defenses against them as other species may have and 2) because humans aren't native to vesta, they never had a chance to evolve "immunity" against the hollow's mind control

you mentioning hollow's feelings abt kamen's tool use etc brings up a general thing for me, which is the question of how intelligent hollow actually is. i like how the show leaves this very vague. you could read them as being anything from a simple animal to more intelligent than a human being is. one things for sure though, i think they definitely recognised kamen as a valuable asset and understood from early-on that he could provide for them more than any of the little green creatures could. it's interesting that hollow, a single individual, was the only one to show interest in kamen. perhaps they were driven to it out of desperation, after all, they seem to be low on the social hierarchy in their population and were probably going hungry before meeting him.

but i also think (and this ties into the destruction of technology thing) that hollow very much has an emotional/sentimental connection to kamen, which becomes stronger and more associated with aggression and possessiveness as the show progresses. like, i think a lot of their behaviour makes more sense when you view their actions as being fueled by emotions, as much as by logic or instinct. like yeah, kamen making a spear and killing stuff for them did help them to a degree, but at times he was a straight up liability to them, and their decision to absorb him has basically no clear benefit for hollow itself. i think they did that because they genuinely cared about him, and felt emotionally attached to him. perhaps out of pity, like how someone might nurse a mangy dog back to health? idk. there are some things it does that are clearly sentimentally/emotionally motivated imo, like how it lies down next to fiona's corpse in such a position so that kamen is next to her inside its belly. that very much read as a thoughtful, emotional action to me. it's probably unrealistic and self indulgent but i like the idea that hollow sees kamen as being like its little pet that it's taking care of lol

the tech destruction seemed like mostly a possessiveness thing to me. hollow seems actively antagonistic towards humans that aren't kamen, trying to kill them in pretty much every encounter that it has with them. my guess would be that both humans and technology made it feel concerned that kamen was going to be "taken away" from it, and that motivated the aggression. or, if this is part of their mating cycle, maybe hollow was in a certain part of it where their aggression levels were high? given that they kill/get kamen to kill a lot of other animals too, it seems like the bigger they get the more aggressive and violent they get in general. but i think you're right that it was probably related to them not wanting kamen to leave. and that their destruction of levi was probably because levi's voice was stirring up painful memories in kamen, and hollow interpreted that as levi being a source of pain for kamen, so destroyed them to try and eliminate that.

the theory that they just rlly hate tech/metal is also fun though. if you do headcanon them as being a relatively simple animal, maybe there's just something about metal for them that's like a red flag to a bull. it would be kinda hilarious if that was the case but i have my doubts lol

ANYWAYS SORRY THIS GOT SUPER LONG SO I'M CUTTING IT SHORT HERE i just love hollow so much good lird

[raytorosaurus]

I have seen maybe half a season of TUA and didn’t read the comics so let me tell you seeing those panels where Vanya is yelling “We belong on that stage” (and in reference to herself and her taller blonde bass-playing brother) drawn in profile with literally Gerard’s haircut and outfit was a big shock to the system. I never even considered that he’d inserted elements of himself and his bandmates into TUA except for a bunch of weird edits people made comparing how much Aiden Gallagher looks like Frank but now I feel like I really need to read it.

im really looking forward to rereading all of the comics after this semester's over because i haven't done that since volume 3's run ended and i'll definitely make more coherent posts about it then but like. it's really really interesting to compare to all of gerard's other art because he is just...so distinctively him, even across different mediums and genres. tua and mcr and hesitant alien and kjna and his visual art etc etc etc like his artistic fingerprint is stamped so boldly and unapologetically all over them and that's something i really love about him. like his art, love it or hate it, is sooooo genuine always. even when he's purposely imitating other artists, he's very consciously doing it in his own voice, putting his own spin on it.

when i say tua and mcr are completely separate projects i mean it - i don't think one should only ever be discussed in relation to/in the context of the other - and, above all, tua is certainly not like...autobiographical, or a direct representation of real people/events. it's led by gerard but it has a different creative team than mcr does and that really shows as well - i definitely wanna talk ant this when i have more time but part of the reason im not sold on conweap as an album is because it's too umbrella academy - it's really evident that gerard was working on both of them at the same time, and letting one influence the other too directly. mcr's a band, not a Gerard Project, and umbrella academy is largely a duo (w gabriel bá), so they can't just be transplanted onto each other yk.

anyway I'm rambling but all this to say - tua isn't meant to be "about" mcr any more than bullets is "about" 9/11. but gerard's life was changed and shaped by his experiences in the music scene throughout his life, by dropping everything and living as a penniless artist, by becoming suddenly (in)famous, and that really shines through in tua. he says he drew inspiration from touring band life to write a dysfunctional family, and the dehumanising effects of fame and attention, and of being categorised and scrutinised on a private or public level, are huge themes - as is addiction, mental health, complicated grief.

like...i actually got into mcr through the tua comics lmaooo. i read volume 1 because of wonderful @blackmoldmp3 talking about it and immediately said oh. i need more from this dude's brain right now. and i was soooo not disappointed haha. i really am obsessed with quite a lot of the things gerard is also obsessed with as an artist. the particular themes and imagery and scenarios he's fixated on are really very consistent throughout everything he does - only the way they're discussed or portrayed does change over time. i don't rly subscribe to the idea of gleaning specifics abt artists' personal lives from their works because, beside all else, it just does them a huge disservice (that's my number one gripe with the popular talking pounts around hes alien and frank's solo work in particular; however "confessional" you wanna read art as, it's still art that was created with skill and intent.)

anyway that's way off topic dkfnfj. what i do love about this kind of thing is looking at distinct creations in the context of the rest of an artist's body of work. like...yeah, gerard's said there's a lot of mikey in klaus. has dressed similarly to vanya and the kraken and the seance at times etc etc. has compared himself to the rumor, because she's the one he relates to most. puts a lot of his familiar ideology surrounding music and performance into vanya. puts angry teenage vanya in a shitty punk band with her disillusioned teenage brother on bass, and puts a classical music prodigy in a punk band as an excellent guitarist, writing songs about killing the president etc etc. i could go on! because these things are just scattered everywhere through the comic, just like all of gerard thematic and aesthetic and ideologic fingerprints.

so what's reallyyy interesting to me is looking at umbrella academy as something gerard wrote on the road with mcr across multiple years. volume one was released while the tbp world tour was ongoing, and volume two only a few months after. the progression of parade -> tua -> conweap -> danger days is SOOOO fascinating to me, especially because one of the things that really works about danger days imo is the way it kind of shakes off some of the tua-style gritty cynicism and returns to mcr's defiant, extravagant theatricality. if you go through tua with a fine-tooth comb you'll definitely find the most direct comparisons to conweap, in terms of mcr. the way dd approaches the themes it has in common with tua is just.....so different, and so so mcr. and then you can see the at times self-referential development on those things in hesitant alien - AND THEN VOLUME 3 COMES AROUND AND LIKE. AUUUGGGGHHHHH the change and growth there is SO apparent. btw i don't mean "growth" "progression" etc in this post to mean "improving" - i just mean change and development in a neutral sense, bc it's so interesting to see it laid out there in an artist's body of work. but like. man it makes me crazeeee actually the way gerard picked tua back up....almost certainly around the same time mcr started discussing a potential reunion. and the way that foundations revisits and reconceptualises mcr's existing catalogue is paralleled in the way vol 3 of tua is, like...........like there's so much life lived there, between those things. gerard's even said he's changed his plan for the ending (if we ever see it 🥲) because he has more compassion for his own characters now and doesn't want to see them broken down for good. he says he's gotten better at listening to other people - for starters, he's a lot more conscious of his own subconscious racism/whiteness that came through at times in the original run and has expressed regret for that (namely, the entire main cast being white, with a couple of side characters being uncomfortably stereotyped).

but just like. augh. im not gonna lie man i have no idea what i've just typed im sorry it's probably so rambly bc I'm so dizzy rn and definitely am not gonna proofread it or whatever skdjfj but. I LOVE ART! I LOVE ARTISTS! I LOVE DIVING DEEP INTO AN ARTIST'S BODY OF WORK AND WATCHING THEM REINVENT THEMSELF AND/OR DOUBLE DOWN ON THEMSELF (SOMETIMES FOR BETTER, SOMETIMES FOR WORSE). obvs this fandom genuinely does have a big issue with invasive/un-self-aware parasocial behaviour but there's a difference between that and like. getting obsessed with a particular artist. that's so normal and in fact necessary to life imo. i think every artist literally has to have ppl like that i can't imagine any other way to live it's just a specific type of human connection at a distance baby. don't get me wrong tho i also wanna chew on his thigh. anyway.

my god. how did i get here what even was your question. tua. yes it's crazy. it's not for everyone for sure but it has enough of the shit that makes me crazzzzyyyyy that it got me into mcr which made me crazierrrr so. yes i can recommend. especially if ur like me and lovvvve stories that are a little bit fractured by design. that dance around big parts of the story, where there's as much significance in an absence or in a tiny background detail than there is in any dialogue or action scene. most of the criticism i see of tua is about the pacing but like. to my tastes it's a really great use of the comic medium yk? lmk if you want content warnings or something there are plenty skdjfj.

[shkika]

ABSOLUTELY do ponder on early moon like literally anything yu wanna ramble about

Like... I wonder like the ceremonies n stuff would there be different kinds??? Would they have stuff like Christmas?? would they rope iterators into it too?? [Would probably depend on the ancients the iterator is around but pffshsh] How would the ancients have reacted if idk the solution was found when they were still around how are iterators built THEYRE silly questions I think

Completely random one too I wonder how pebbles got into his like interests originally like why did he decide to think abt idk poetry n history. What a silly guy

Early Moon would be so fun to explore. I heavily doubt she would be prickly or anything, but I do think she'd be more work oriented and sciency and less interested in peoples feelings. She was a little more like Pebbles. Strict and disciplined and not here to waste your time or to let you waste hers.

And!

It'd be lovely if her endless patience and kindness came from the experience of being so old. She's talked to and helped so many other iterators (outside her local group too), she started being considered a teacher you can rely on. And I think that's very sweet. What time is there really to waste? So many cycles have passed and she has many more to endure.

When she was very very young it'd be fun to imagine if she had genuine respect and even admiration for her parents.

Then as time goes on it sours. More and more until we reach Saint campaign times where she genuinely despises them with all she's got. IT almost feels like Moon blames them for her collapse more than she blames Pebbles (at that current time). Truly great.

Moon misc I'd like to share is that the queen is petty to me <3

I just think it's funny and it's vaguely based off the fact that it's SUPER easy to get her to NOT want to talk to you AT ALL in game. Even call you little tormentor and be passive aggressive every way that she can. It's sad, but also funny. The queen is just petty!!

'How would the ancients have reacted if idk the solution was found when they were still around."- Sliver did that! It was catastrophic and awful <3

I cannot speak for ancients' traditions, I imagine that colonies often had different ones depending on region! They can have a different government structures so I don't see why having different celebrations would be off the list.

And lastly as for why Pebbles got into art and history? Maybe that's just me, but some interests just click with you! I'm not sure why I love birds so much for example either. Perhaps there is a reason, like he does REALLY wish he lived through older time periods like Moon did. So he makes up with learning all about them instead. Either way the lil Pebs brain just clicked with those subjects I imagine and ?? good for him.

[diabolik-lovers-things]

⋆⭒˚｡⋆ FIRST POST ⋆⭒˚｡⋆

⋆⭒˚｡⋆

hello !! i'm a long time lurker here at tumblr, but it's been a while since i posted/made any new sideblogs. you can call me anna ! i'm a girl obv, and also a minor [16-18] so pls don't be creepy !!

i recently got into diabolik lovers and watched the first season of the anime as well as gameplay of haunted dark bridal. if it's not obvious, my favourite character is kanato !! i haven't been very involved with the fandom yet but i see a lot of hate for him which is sad :(

more about this blog -- my main fandom is diabolik lovers !! i'm no artist and barely a writer, but i can make memes, headcanons, quotes and things like that !! as well as rambles and stuff about the series. i'm not interested in any characters other than yui and the sakamaki brothers, so if you expect content for anyone else from me i'm sorry to let you down.

i'll add some more stuff abt me below :}

fandoms ::

-- diabolik lovers [obv]

-- danganronpa

-- hetalia

-- doki doki literature club

-- yandere simulator

-- future diary

-- omori

-- higurashi when they cry

-- mystic messenger

-- shiki [second best vampire anime after DL imo]

hobbies ::

-- writing [kinda? procrastination is my worst enemy hhhhhhh]

-- cycling

-- learning abt history//geography

-- listening to music [brb js gonna look for a kanato playlist]

-- making fun of americans

-- baking

my fav music artists/bands ::

-- marina (and the diamonds)

-- melanie martinez

-- mitski

-- kikuo

-- lana del rey

-- abba

my fav authors ::

-- agatha christie

-- donna tartt

-- fyodor dostoevsky

my ranking of DL boys ::

-- kanato is obv number one, i rly love his more feminine design and i believe we need more characters that look like him in media. maybe bc my type is more feminine boys but idk. i love his personality asw he's batshit insane and needs immediate professional help. underrated

-- subaru is a surprising one for me, as i often forgot he existed while watching the anime but his route in hdb was rly cute and he's such a tsun tsun which is adorable

-- a few yrs ago reiji was EXACTLY my type and i still appreciate his character archetype quite a lot. he's also one of the meanest of the brothers i love that abt him (i would cry on the spot if he scolded me)

-- shu is pretty cute and i rly like his personality as well. he also has his weird moments like everyone else but i think he had the closest thing to a healthy relationship w yui so that's cool. he's also super relatable

-- laito was actually my second favourite before hdb, but holy fucking shit is his route messed up. the anime did NOT do a good job portraying how deranged this man is. i still like him but his constant horniness and raging misogyny [more so than the others] are huge turnoffs

-- ayato was always pretty low on the list, and after seeing his route my opinion didn't change much. i don't dislike anything in particular abt him, he's just not the type of character i usually like. i don't rly like him with yui either for that reason, so yeah

other ::

-- i rly wanna travel to a lot of places

-- i'm a huge planner when it comes to things, but when the time comes i never follow the plan i spent so much time on,,,

-- i love cats !!

-- i think i'm aroace but i might be biromantic

-- my fav type of weather is cold//rainy//snowy weather

-- my fav food is schnitzel and my fav dessert is crêpes [also my fav fruit is apples]

-- i love making ocs

DNI list ::

-- racists//xenophobes

-- misogynists

-- homophobes

-- pedos//other weirdos of that type

-- furries

-- incels

-- yandev supporters//apologists

-- kanato haters//yui haters

-- people younger than 13//older than 30

-- rhythm game fans

-- 4chan users

-- twitter users

that's it for now !! ty for reading this far <3

[ccrisntok]

Ace ship ramblings

LMAOOO IGNORE THE WOMEN HES GAY 💀💀💀💀 HELP

So, I have like. An art post planned soon. But until then uhh.

My (and kinda @greyzanticz a little) personal opinion on Ace's romantic compatibility with every other drdt character (I'm bored and sad so we gotta over compensate with complete insanity). I won't have much to say abt most of these, and I'm pretty sure no one ships a good majority of them, I just used every character for shits and gigs

Also idk if Ace ship discord is a thing but if it is please don't flame me if I don't like ur otp. Send me ur ship art instead. Try and change my mind. Dm me a paragraph explaining how Ace and character are soulmates. Also spoilers.

I'm also gonna give them number ratings bc. I can.

Let's start with the classic:

Ace + Levi

• I genuinely think this would be my otp or something if they hadn't fallen out in the 1st trial. After that the idea of these two in a romantic setting just. Doesn't work for me. There's to much genuine distrust and fighting. Them as besties is awesome though! They will be best friends again let me be delusional. So basically, ship it chapter 1, chapter 2 I'd rather eat glass (but no beef to Acevi shippers I completely understand). In a fix it au, it's prob a fav. 7/10.

Ace + David

• I didn't really. Clock this as thing. I think it makes more sense with pre-breakdown David? Like mediator x instigator? I don't really get it but I can understand the basic vibe and it's not... Horrible. 4/10

Ace + Nico

• Yeah if Levi and Ace fighting killed their ship potential for me, this was made to be my no-tp. Maybe in a fix it au, I could stand it. In cannon, nah 2/10.

Ace + Veronika

• Now, I love Veronika. And I love Ace. But oh God I can feel the dysfunction radiating. The basic dynamic is okay though, just don't feel like Veronika could and would do better (find a more interesting case study to date). Obviously as the Halloween trio Ace and Veronika are so besties but romantically, no 💕 4/10

--

Ace + Arturo

•Jesus this would be toxic as hell. I don't really see it, honestly, but I get where. It came from. That's the thing with rare pairs, sometimes they personally hit, sometimes they don't. I could probably like this one if I read a really good fic or something. 5/10

--

(Bonus) The Halloween Trio (Veronika, Arturo, and Ace) as a polecule.

•i think I like this one more because it's banking on Verturo which is prob the biggest drdt ship I have, but idk. Them as a bestie unit is by far my preferred Halloween (or Horror, as I've been calling it 💀) Trio, but them as a polecule is. Okay too. 6.5/10

--

Ace + Xander

•I don't hate this one as much as chapter 2 Acevi, or Nico x Ace, even though Xander and Ace had heavy beef. I think it's bc it wasn't as. Serious as his later beefs. I think I could be convinced to enjoy and enemy to lovers fic with these two, but it's not something I'd actively look for. Also Xander died before Ace went into his "actually being a total dick instead of funny comical relief" era and I think if he'd survived to see it, Ace wouldn't have survived to live it, yk? 6/10

--

(I think these are where the pairings are completely random LMAO)

Ace + Rose

• Okay. So. I don't hate it. But I definitely don't like it either. I feel like Rose would NOT have the energy for Ace in any capacity, and she doesn't like ppl being loud, so. But also the idea of Rose's chill vibes calming Ace down Is cute... 5/10

Ace + Charles

• I don't think this would work. There is like, no chemistry (hahaha) here at all imo? Just doesn't call out to me for any reason. 2/10

Ace + Hu

• I really don't like this. I can't comprehend it. Like when I imagine what this is ship would be like it weirds me out. 0/10. Sorry any Hu x Ace shippers.

Ace + J

• I feel like J has a very real and reasonable distaste for Ace in cannon and I can't think of an instance where they interact otherwise. Their dynamic in my head is just "Crazy bitch and bitch who doesn't like them bc they are crazy" and I can't really think past that. Their dynamic romantically doesnt catch my eye for any reason 💀 1/10

Ace + Eden

• I genuinely think Eden is a lesbian but if we move past that... I still can't see these guys as anything but friends. Like I want them to be besties bc their dynamic is perfect (Angry asshole & the nicest human ever created) but as a couple, I just don't see it. I'll give it a decent rating though, since I understand how their dynamics would be interesting romantically. 5/10. Eden is a lesbian though she told me

Ace + Teruko

• nah Teruko would kill him 💀 the only reason i would want this is bc we would see tons more Ace since Teruko's our protag. But fr I don't really think they would work (take a shot every time I say that). They could probably relate to eachother to some extent though, maybe decent friends if Ace ever mellowed out. I think I read a chat fic once where Ace, Charles, and Teruko were all traumatized besties and I hold faith in my heart that'll be cannon. 4/10

• side note their ship name thing could be 'Lucky Horseshoe' 🤯🤯

Ace + Min

• Min does not have the patience for this mf lets me fr. I don't even think these two ever interacted before the trial 💀💀. Again not much to say, this doesn't stand out to me at all. I don't like it for some reason. 1/10

Ace + Arei

• Ehhhh I feel like they could be really good friends. Like their hateful energies used together could be a force to be reckoned with. And they could probably relate to eachother to a decent extent. But I don't think they would ever date (def not bc I think Arei's a lesbian too... Definitely not...) 3/10

Ace + Whit

•... Okay hear me out. Hear me out. Their dynamics bounce off of eachother pretty well. Silly goofy guy x Menace. Whit has shown he can deal with people who are assholes. I mean ik Whit and Charles are the otp and I'll stand by that forever but like. I could so see Whit trying to give Ace a lil redemption arch. Maybe actually succeeding a little. I like this one a lot. Still, you've kinda gotta squint at it a little for it to work.... 7 or 8/10.

I didn't include Mai bc idk who she is. Could be Ace's cousin for all we know

So, in conclusion, Ace is statically very undatable and he will be alone forever. Have a good day.

This was such a dumb post 💀💀💀💀

[faiell]

hello, nice to meet you!

i'm back at the top after rambeling about how i got into drarry, and so here is the fic rec: "genesis (you don't know what it means to win)" by crossourbridges on ao3. you don't have to read the rest if you don't want to.

i also got into drarry 20 years late, but let me tell you another secret: i've never read a page of a harry potter book in my life.

all my knowledge about it is from a friend that i like to listen to her obseasions and pick the ones i wanna get into (while i still enjoy hearing about the ones i don't). one time though she sat me down and we watched the movies, like 1-5 and i got bored at some point so we left it, but one thing that stayed with me was the character of draco.

i saw a sad, hhhhorney loser who just craves attention from EVERYONE, every gender, every house, the poor dude just needs to get layed, but without knowing the canon i'm pretty sure he never will.

that was a couple of years ago, and recently i suddenly remembered him bc i noticed i enjoy ships that are "a harmless prick loser and the misfourtunate everyman that the prick fell in love with, who is actually just insane enough himself to slowly but surly love the prick back".

and so i was like "i'm sure draco and harry are a ship. i wonder what their fanfics are like" and now for weeks i've been in this rabbithole of PROFOUND SHIT THAT MADE ME BELIEVE IN LOVE FOR A HOT SECOND, so yea. this is the reason i'm reccomending you this one. it's one of those stories that are the perfect length and much too short at the same time.

i hope you enjoy :)

first off, thank you so much for the fic rec! i will definitely check it out.

the journey of you becoming a drarry fan is a hilarious read, i'm so happy you shared it with me! hats off to you for being that friend who enjoys hearing about others' obsessions. we need more like you in the world. it's amazing that you absorbed just enough from her all those years ago to have the instinct to say AHA!! i bet people love making these two losers kiss! and u were right.

my turn! let me ramble (for even longer than you did) abt how i happened to the same drarry pit of "profound shit that made me believe in love for a hot second" with you. so on the contrary, i've always been a big HP fan, in the sense that i grew up with the book series and watched the movies. the books are why i became a big reader when i was a kid. i've always been a shipper, i always knew drarry existed, and many of my close friends were obsessed with it throughout the years--like losing weight because they were reading so much fic in bed their muscles atrophied kind of obsessiveness. for some reason, i never engaged. i was like yeah, obviously there's good stuff there, but i'm just not going to dip in.

then one day a few months ago (oct 2023 to be exact), i was bored at work and saw a thread on my home page titled something along the lines of 'absolute favourite fic regardless of fandom'. i was curious and maybe just itching for something fun to read so i clicked in and a highly upvoted reply caught my eye. the user's fav fic was the HP rewrite Mirror of Ecidyrue series by starbrigid. i was honestly really bored, and a draco POV retelling sounded fun, so i dove straight in.

i loved it, and holy shit it was long. i think the entire fic is longer than the og books? but yeah basically i rly enjoyed it, and i read it fast, finishing in only a week or so. i think ever since the transphobia bs happened i distanced myself from everything related to the franchise--i used to reread the books every few years, and i had stopped doing that. reading that fic made me realize how much i missed the world and characters, and how i could have it all again without shame by reading fic! i mean, starbrigid had basically rewritten the entire series and added their own interesting lore and worldbuilding, and that was even better than going back to reread the books like i used to. i also really enjoyed draco pov… i knew i definitely wanted more of that.

and so i went into the ao3 drarry tag to find more content, because i'd heard years ago from my obsessed friends that there was a goldmine of good HP fic there, and i never resurfaced lol. i feel like once u go in u can't ever get out cause it's a good ship and the writers are so talented, and there's YEARS, decades of content to catch up on. i remember also thinking that i'd be satisfied just reading and eating it all up (whereas i'm usually pretty active in making fanart when i join a fandom), but um, a few weeks ago i was like kinda like hmm i wanna see what MY brand of drarry looks like. so now im here posting art of it!

they are thankfully super fun to draw. i'm just having fun here, but i do have a small goal - i wanna draw fic fanart to sort of… give back some joy and show gratitude towards my fav writers. other than that, i'm here to chill and look at pictures and words of them making out.

[lingy910y]

Gallavich Questionnaire

Thank you @energievie for tagging me to do this! I get too unhinged when talking about these two boys, so warning for very elaborate ramblings 🙏

1. What’s a fic you’ve read more than once?

This fic is the prime example of why you should write a fic even if you think nobody’s going to read it, because it’s my favorite gallavich fic even though most people don’t want to read about them getting a divorce. But I do, okay, because a normal break-up doesn’t cut it (especially since we already see those in canon, but post-canon is up to our interpretation) and it’s just more serious. I think they will work out their issues before it gets too far in canon but it just hurts so fucking good. The reason for their divorce is so realistic too, in fact it’s not one but a lot of problems piled on top of each other. They think it’s only going to hurt everyone involved including their children, which is arguably true in context, but they can’t resist each other and it’s this back and forth push. There’s parallels to canon, the writing is so good without being drawn out, and there’s so much nuance, emotion, and subtly hinting at something beneath the surface. The pining is just delicious because it’s not “I don’t know if you feel this way about me” or “I’m not allowed to be with you,” it’s “I want to be with you so badly but I’m trying to resist that because it’s going to hurt everyone.” Then the trying so hard not to care because “we’re over, but you’re in trouble and I’m trying to move on and I’m never going to love someone else like I love you” 😭😭😭 anyway I actually had to stop myself from rereading too often for comfort because it was too much LOL

the author said they were going to update it January of this year so I’ll be patiently waiting 😔

3. What's a headcanon you can't stop thinking about?

You know that post abt how when you're sleepy you imagine your favs sleepy? I keep imagining Ian wrapping their comforter around Mickey like a cocoon when he has a nightmare and cuddling him, it's cute

4. What's a fanart you love looking at?

The first image of this by @gallavichonly JUST GETS ME SO FERAL. THEIR FUCKING EXPRESSIONS.

5. What’s an idea you’d love to create if you had the time/inspiration?

I want to draw a character concept art sheet for their outfits/weapons/mechanics for kinda a zombie apocalypse AU. Designing that sounds fun but I need to research more

6. What’s something you’ve discovered since entering this fandom? A new trope you love? A different analysis of the show? Something else?

The jealousy trope, especially jealous Mickey. I guess in other fandoms, people write jealousy in a really possessive, cringy way. Not saying gallavich aren't possessive as fuck but at least they earned it, you know? There's too many ships where one of them is breathing down the other person's love interest's neck but they don't even know you exist, like calm down 😭 Meanwhile gallavich tease and try to get each other to admit it first, and Mickey is biting his tongue trying not to say anything and then "Fucking cheat on me, Ian?!", "Whatcha doin' here then?" AND THEIR EXPRESSIONS WHEN THEY EACH SAY "WHEN YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW" ARUGHHHHHH I'M SO GONE

7. What’s an underrated trope or concept you’d like to see more of?

Touched on this earlier but basically the more tragic/gritty ones—a huge argument, break-ups, unrequited love, falling out of love, hanahaki, amnesia, MCD...

10. What scene or moment do you feel isn’t discussed enough?

Eh I think we've dissected the shit out of every scene lmao, but probably their s4 reunion? The lap dance?

11. What line/dialogue/description from something else (a poem, a book, a tv show, a movie, or something else) do you feel describes Ian and Mickey’s relationship?

Obviously "I'll take care of you. / It's rotten work. / Not to me. Not if it's you."

12. What do you think is next for Ian and Mickey post-finale?

I want Ian to go back to being an EMT no matter what :( but their current security gig fits Mickey a lot. Ian also gets really into gardening, he'll be so good to the point where he'll be known in the neighborhood. And Mickey has a little hobby for drawing. They'll adopt a pitbull because Mickey was actually enthusiastic about that idea, which meets Ian halfway by still giving him something to take care of. Now for the elephant in the room: I think it's okay if Mickey never wants a kid, and there's a lot of issues ingrained in them that unless they go to therapy for a couple of years, hinder them from becoming perfect parents tbh. Now I'm not saying they'll be bad, but will their best be enough? Will they be content? Idk, I don't have any experience and I see them with more issues/flaws than the majority of the fandom? Honestly I just don't see that future for them (but I do enjoy kid AUs because who doesn't.) They'll stay on the West Side because I want them to get out but not stray too far from their family. I also can't think about them getting old or I'll sob, but I wrote a fic about how they'll retire and just live comfortably because it's what they deserve, and they'll take tons of vacations when they save up enough money.

oh my god that was way too much but in my defense i rarely get to rant abt them ok!! anyway now that I went through the whole spectrum of emotions, i'm tagging @michellemisfit, @lupeloto, @jademickian & @softmick 🚶‍♀️