#NO REALLY. i feel like so many characters in fiction are antagonistic for a bit and then become friends n have no personality ever again.

[necromycologist]

gotta say i love the sheer bitchiness of everybody in lockwood n co. im SERIOUS.

[longagoitwastuesday]

I keep thinking of that reply in my Odysseus/Agamemnon post about how I regard differently Odysseus' and Agamemnon's actions, while acknowledging that at times Agamemnon is written as a sweet man and Odysseus is always straight up shitty, and how it was taken as some sort of defense for Agamemnon and as a form of pointing out the double standard; and that wasn't at all what the post was about for me, even though I can see where they were coming from. To be honest, given I didn't imagine it would spread anywhere other than my own blog, I didn't explain myself very well (or at all).

The fact is that when I talked about Odysseus not caring about hurting someone else's child to start and end a war I was indeed comparing his actions to Agamemnon's, but my words about supporting Odysseus' wrongs and cheering him in his terrible actions, while in a joking tone, weren't entirely a joke. I do think that Odysseus does some very shitty acts, and some quite terrible ones depending on the sources. That's a fact, that he does is at the core of his characterisation and it's what makes him so much fun; but not even when he is at his most cruel does he harm his family, his own son. Agamemnon, while sweet and loving at times in some texts, at his worst is willing to sacrifice Iphigenia. When readers regard with more sympathy Odysseus over Agamemnon despite both being responsible for children dying, I don't think there's a double standard in this aspect at all considering it's never his own kid Odysseus harms. And that's the key, I think.

Odysseus and Agamemnon have very different priorities, a very different view on loyalty and duty. It could be said that Agamemnon acts out of selfishness, but it could also be read in a kinder light, saying that Agamemnon is ruled by the gods first, and by his role as head of the achaeans; Agamemnon is not entirely himself. In opposition we see Odysseus acting perhaps mainly for himself and his own family and men; yes, he is a king, but he has not the role Agamemnon has. As a consequence, Agamemnon submits his family's wellbeing to the war, to the gods, while Odysseus stops the plow before hurting Telemachus but is (depending on the source) the cause of Iphigenia's sacrifice and Astyanax's death.

Both Odysseus and Agamemnon have reasons to support their actions, and both can be sympathised with; it's fiction after all. When it comes to fiction, at the end of the day which character a reader is drawn to or sympathises with is mainly an issue of personal taste, but I suppose it also implies a certain level of one's own views or preferences on morals, what makes us find certain actions more justifiable, or tasteful (perhaps that's a more accurate word), than others. Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter, no matter how sympathetic or understandable the reason, generally sits worse on people than Odysseus doing the same with someone else's kids, because they're someone else's. This different emotional reaction they provoke has place not just metanarratively, but also inside the very story; it is narratively significant, given it determines how their arrival home plays out, how their wives react to them, and thus their futures. Ultimately it determines whether they live or die.

I think both terrible acts go in line wonderfully with each characterisation, showcasing the role they hold in their world, what they value, what they care for, what they're willing to sacrifice for themselves and the others, how much of their own they're willing to give and bend. While looking at the wider picture it could perhaps be drawn that Agamemnon is the better person out of the two, but Odysseus' selfish actions are perhaps easier to empathise with, especially from a modern viewpoint. Odysseus is treacherous and prone to betrayal, but not against his own; Agamemnon follows the rules of the gods. How fitting in that context that Odysseus doesn't die at the end of his story, that he cheats the death heroes so often are fated to, almost as if cheating the narrative itself, bending the rules of the world he is ascribed to; how fitting in the context of those texts that point towards Sisyphus being his father. But that's another topic, and I've already talked a lot.

[kanonavi]

Spoilers for Simulanka Day 3

There's a conversation that I've had with friends from time to time about the fact that the world of Teyvat is, at its core, incredibly kind. Shockingly so, even for most fictional stories that aren't directed towards children. Even though the traveler has faced many antagonists on their journey, the people around them have always banded together to overcome those challenges. Even when people are hurt it's very rare for anyone to die, and many of the antagonists in question aren't pure evil and have their own reasons for taking the actions they take. They may not always operate on the same morality as the traveler or the player, and they might not be "good people", but they still believe that what they have to do is right, or at the very least necessary.

To put it more simply, Genshin is filled with characters that are made to be liked. Not every player will like every character, but very few of them are actively trying to work against you, and even when they do there's still something there to like. Except for like, Il Dottore, but he's likable for how unlikable he is (I have to say that or my Dottore enjoying friend will be sad lmao).

I got to thinking about this when playing the last part of Simulanka because it was a reminder of how, despite the kindness that they've been shown by Teyvat for the past three and a half years, the traveler's morality is still shockingly black and white in many situations.

We see this the most in how they interact with the Fatui. The Fatui, particularly the Harbingers, have cause a lot of damage in the past, but a lot of the grunts are just ordinary people following orders. the commission line in Mondstadt with Viktor, Golden Apple Archipelago 2 and The Chasm come to mind for times when we've interacted with Fatui grunts in a way that really humanizes them and shows that a lot of them really are just people doing a job. Some of them have just been surveyors or low-level guards, but the traveler and Paimon treat them like they're cartoon villains until proven otherwise (and sometimes even after proven otherwise).

The way that they acted towards Simulanka Durin before the party gave him their blessings also seemed to reflect this, especially in comparison to the other party members. Wanderer was obviously the most sympathetic to Durin, since his memories were like looking into a mirror for him, but Nilou, Navia, and Kirara all stepped forward to give Durin their support while the traveler was still showing doubts. They were thinking about how the residents of Simulanka might not forgive Durin, or how his form was too big and scary to coexist with everyone, which was an incredibly unsympathetic outlook even though they were ultimately able to change Durin's form.

It honestly reminds me a lot of how the traveler treated Scaramouche/Wanderer in Inversion of Genesis, like he was a person to be kept the company of only out of necessity as a means to keep him under control, even after Nahida said that she trusted him. Even though something did go wrong at the time, it still showed that the traveler's suspicion and distrust of Scaramouche was strong enough to outweigh their trust of Nahida, despite Nahida having proved herself many times to be wise and worthy of trust in the past. That mistrust and even disdain for him even carried over into when he reappeared with no memories, as the traveler was forcefully adamant that he needed to reclaim his memories and atone, to the point that it seemed like they were being a little bit mean about it.

It's arguable that Scaramouche deserved that treatment, since he was kind of a little shithead who caused a lot of harm in the past, but the traveler was also witness to how deeply he was hurt and manipulated in the past, and therefore would have some kind of understanding of why he turned out the way that he did.

Despite the traveler's usual helpfulness in Simulanka, Nilou, Navia, and Kirara all feel like contrasts to them. Nilou's whimsical outlook and positive mindset allowed her to grasp the magic of creation and even gave her the initiative to try and change Durin's form with magic in the first place. Navia is used to taking care of "the little guy", as it were, through the Spina, and was therefore willing to listen and empathize with the toy people who didn't want to undo the power of prophecy. (With those guys also being called "conservatives" or a "conservative radical" in English, that doesn't really have a good connotation depending on your political leaning, but Navia listened to them anyway). And with Kirara, while I haven't played her little sidequest yet, the description of her outfit described how the little cat burglar stole and returned the emotions of the cats that they hadn't been given when they were created, casting her in the role of someone who can understand the balance that anger, sadness, and pain bring to happiness.

The three of them, as well as the Wanderer, all carry Teyvat's fundamental kindness with them, and it was then coaxed out of the traveler only when all of them had already stepped forward.

It made me wonder if this is some kind of lesson that the traveler has to learn before reuniting with their sibling, that they need to be more willing to put their trust in people, or at least be more understanding of others. While the abyss twin hasn't divulged too much of what they've learned yet, they've made it clear that there are lessons that the traveler needs to learn about the world before they reunite. While that likely has a lot to do with various truths about Celestia and the sky being fake and all that, perhaps they're hoping for their sibling to learn that at least in Teyvat, sometimes people who cause harm to others are simply trying (or have tried and failed and lost hope) to find a path towards co-existing with others.

Since the abyss twin is supposedly born of Teyvat as well, perhaps they've already understood that part of this world from the very beginning and are waiting for their sibling to catch up.

[nyarlathotep-thecrawlingchaos]

I have a little bit of an interesting question! I know you stated you like writing horror and NSFW, or at least you do not mind dabbling in them, so I'm curious to your opinion:

(Please, very important onto this, keep in mind that, when I ask about 'Yandere', while yes, I mean this lovesick, obsessed character who goes to kidnapping/harming others/threatening/killing etc extremes to get the object of their affection/obsession, there's many yandere types. I PERSONALLY like only a handful of them because I am very careful with TW (I do not like toxic relationships where the 'darling' is deprived of privacy, is mistreated, forced to do things, has hands laid on them, has their emotional well being messed up by demeaning words, etc, and I do not enjoy abuse depictions of the trope either, so I cherry-pick a lot (due to personal trauma). Yanderes are often portrayed as straight up abusive when they needn't be, there's delusional ones, lucid ones who do not want to feel the way they do, others who rather give themselves to the object of obsession/affection and would rather hurt themselves than ever upset them, others who lean more towards manipulation, etc.). I say this because TW are important and while this is 'just a question in a blog' I want to inform you that there is NO EXPECTATION for you to write abuse, toxicity or anything of the sort. While being WELL AWARE that yandere relationships WILL be unhealthy in nature, it is that kind of 'unhealthy possessive' vibe you can enjoy IN FICTION, and should NEVER allow in real life. Take care of yourselves ❤️)

Obviously, none of the characters are canonically yandere, but do you have any opinions on who could fit the bill? And how/what way/what category they'd fit into?

Please ignore this if it makes you uncomfortable in any way and even if you simply respond without any headcanons/just a little ramble, remember to put TW so people who blacklist yandere stuff or feel trigger by any of it continue having a safe space here! Love your blog and what you do! Keep up the amazing work, and congratulations on such endless artistic talent!!

I haven't done a whole lot with the Yandere trope. I have one unpublished fan fiction for another fandom entirely that involves a yandere character in an antagonistic role. I don't tend to romanticize it because of how problematic it can be.

So needless to say, ⚠️ trigger warnings ⚠️ ahead for this topic, some more than others (lookin' at you, Doffy).

I feel like Sanji could fit the bill of being the lucid, regretful yandere. He knows that his obsession with you could be problematic, but he just can't help it. He gets insecure and jealous easily, and may be inclined to threaten any other men that happen to get to close to his beloved, platonically or romantically. He wants you completely to himself. Would be apologetic about his behavior and feel sincerely guilty for it, but just unable to keep himself from doing so. He also feels his behavior is protecting you in a way from being taken advantage of, and that's the only justification he can make for it—even to himself.

Mihawk, while his confidence and ego mean he's not really the jealous type, would still be a worthy candidate. He wants you aware that you are his in every sense of the word. You, your love, your mind, your body, all belong to him. No one else. He may very well be violent about it, though not toward you—just toward anyone who dares challenge his ownership over you. Toward his lover, he would be particularly doting and gentle, treating you like a fragile and priceless work of art. He would be incredibly disinclined to allow you to go anywhere without him; and if he finds out anyone else is attempting to court your affections or, heaven forbid, hurt you, then their days are going to be numbered.

Next would be Crocodile. Getting more ⚠️triggery⚠️ here. Prime candidate for a possessive yandere. Even if he doesn't have much time for you, you're still his property. He'll expect you to have time for him, to adhere to his schedule and his whims. He'll have a list of rules that you have to follow—no speaking with other men without him present, no going out in public without him or a guard that he has personally assigned to you; this is as much for the sake of keeping you safe as it is to ensure that you don't do anything he would disapprove of. In exchange, he'll shower you with lavish gifts, and treat you like a princess when he is with you...but if you break the rules, there will be consequences.

And lastly, and by far the most triggery, Doflamingo. Congratulations, you've caught the attention of an absolutely sadistic and manipulative yandere! He values total control over all aspects of your life. But he's going to make you think you have some freedom at first. He'll pout a little if you want to go somewhere without him, but he'll allow it...on the surface, at least. Then he'll hire some thug or other criminal deviant to scare you right back into his arms, whether with idle threats or physical force. He'll make you feel like he's your only source of safety and comfort. Make you defend him to your concerned friends and family of your own volition, until you have absolutely no one left but him to turn to. He'll justify it by saying it absolutely is for your own safety, and he sincerely believes that to be true; even if he wasn't hiring people to frighten you, there's still every chance that you could be hurt or enticed to leave if you stray too far from his side, and he can't allow that. Whether he views you as a lover or just a plaything, no one else is allowed to touch you but him.

[brightstar2000]

Can you rate all TSAMS characters based on your personal opinions?

Well, I'll start with my favorites, i suppose. This list is from my favorites to least favorites, then my opinions on each one underneath

Eclipse (v3/4), Solar, Eclipse (v1/2), Old Moon (reborn vers), New Moon (before Nexus), Sun, Lunar, Jack, Earth, KC, Ruin, Molten, Old Moon (og vers), Dark Sun, Blood Moon, Nexus.

I'll leave characters like Gemini, the Astrals, Lord Eclipse, Servant Sun, Dazzle and Monty off for now since they aren't really part of SAMS itself or are too minor of characters to form a whole opinion on.

Eclipse v3/4: Definitely my favorite iteration of Eclipse. It was so nice to watch as he grew and changed to become better. As someone who had wanted an Eclipse redemption arc ever since I made my first SAMS AU, Aka: the Regretful Eclipse AU. I'm so glad he got a redemption like i was hoping for. I'm also very touched by his actions as of late. Even if he won't admit it himself, or tries brushing it off as some regular Eclipse trait, he cares. Especially about Earth. The fact he also pushed through what Dark Sun was doing to him in order to try reviving Solar, and even cared enough to try getting Nexus help before he lost it. I was very touched by that too. He also sacrificed himself so Solar could continue to exist, and I have high respect for that. Self sacrifice is one of the highest respectable things someone can do in my opinion. He's also staying behind to try helping with the negative star power stuff despite how badly he wants to leave to ensure their dimension is at least safe or the negative power is dealt with. Best native Eclipse so far.

Solar: He's been a favorite of mine ever since Moon first sent Lunar to meet him. It was so nice seeing a version of Eclipse who is nice. Him also comforting Lunar, and telling him that he was not a mistake. I was so happy when they had him come live with the main cast. I miss him dearly. In all honesty, I had a real genuine grief response after he died. Even though he is fictional and i knew they were probably going to bring him back like they did with Lunar, i still genuinely grieved for him for a bit.

Eclipse v1/2: Honestly, at first, i really hated Eclipse. I wanted him dead and gone. I could appreciate him as a villain though. He was a well put together antagonist in my opinion. Hated the character, but respected him as a villain. I started liking him after I made my Regretful Eclipse AU. Even though I knew he would be nothing like the Eclipse i turned him into in that au, i still started liking him. He used to be my least favorite, but then became one of my favorites. His second iteration was kind of an embarrassment, i'll be real. He did the og dirty when he became aimless and just didn't know what to do with himself after he got the star. I still do appreciate him though, and the fact he somewhat tried to warn them about the astrals before he was blown to bits. I still don't agree with everything he did though and will not defend him in that regard.

Old Moon (reborn): I really like this version of Moon. While i do think his change to be better was pretty fast, i also see it as him being very serious about being a better brother to Sun. I think that ties into how he was feeling before he died. He had a lot of regrets, and wished he was better for him. That is what he was hoping Nexus would be, and for a while, he was, i will not deny that. I like that he is involving Sun a lot more in what he's doing as well. And they have better communication now than they used to. God, i hope that stays... poor communication caused so many problems for them before. Actually.. it caused all their problems-

New Moon: I really liked him at first. I was so happy to see him being better to Sun, and doing things with him that og Moon didn't, like hugging him and comforting him. Then Solar came along, and he started distancing himself from Sun, and sidelining him. Sure, he was still acting better than og Moon, but he wasn't really talking to Sun much anymore and confided in Solar more and more. At that time my biggest gripe with him was how much he was excluding Sun. Then Solar died and he started to spiral. Despite his family offering to help and support him through it, he started lying to them about his feelings and working more secretly. He wouldn't open up about his actual feelings. It took Eclipse telling Earth about what was going on with him to get him to drop the act, and he immediately hurts them for confronting him about it when they just wanted to help. I know people give Earth trouble for "abandoning" him then, but i think they forgot that Earth was also hurting, or just disregarded how she was feeling.. Solar's death affected all of them, and Earth was close with Solar too. She was in a vulnerable mental state too, and he used her insecurities against her in that moment. Then he ran off and hid again, still working in secret to try reviving Solar. And they can't help someone who they don't know the location of, and he made the excuse of them not knowing how to help him to stay away. If he had stuck around instead and let them try to help him, they could have learned what he needed through some trial and error. He didn't give them the chance to learn that. Which is also why i get mad at the people who keep saying that his family should have done more to help him. I feel like they think the family should have known how to help him from the get-go? He didn't exactly make it easy for them either... he fell down my favorites list very fast, especially when he tried to kill Earth. This placement is for when he was still good. Which is also why i have him and Nexus in seperate places here.

Sun: Honestly i don't have a lot of opinions on him. I do admire his persistence despite everything he's been through. He still is nice and caring when he has pretty much every right to be more cynical by now. He still powers through it and upholds his kinder nature. He's a lot stronger than he gives himself credit for. I am glad this current arc is giving him more plot importance than the last couple had, but at the same time, i am also afraid of what it possibly entails down the line with how things are going.

Lunar: Yea, I'll admit, i went crazy about him when he was first introduced like so many fans did. Precious bean, must protect, and all that stuff. Even to the point where i joined one of the monthly events they hosted in the discord. The comic one, where we were supposed to draw things that we thought could happen in the future. My comic was even one of the ones shown in the reaction video they did on the event, the one that had Lunar in it helping Eclipse find the star. (And tbh, i think my comic had a big impact on the plot, since my comic was the only one that had Lunar in it shown in the video, and then shortly after that, it was brought up in a lore video. Quote: Sun: "Lunar! That's his name, he told me his name.... IS THAT WHAT THE FANART IS?!" Moon: "Did they know?!" Sun: "Why didn't they tell us!?" Yea... if i didn't make that comic, i'm not sure if that would have happened, and it may be what helped them find Lunar so fast, but that is all purely speculation) As time went on, he started going down my favorites. I think mainly because i miss how he used to be. I don't hate him, i'm just not head over heels for him anymore.

Jack: I find him adorable, a lot like Lunar was to me at first. He's silly and i love his friendship with Dazzle. I am glad he has grown some as a person too, since he wasn't initially made to be as sentient as the others. I hope he continues to grow as an individual too.

Earth: She was never really a favorite of mine. I'm more neutral about her. I don't hate her. I admire her want to help others even in times where she isn't exactly in the right mindset to do it. She deserves a break though. Her friendship with Eclipse is also very sweet and i love watching it grow.

KC: Also a character I didn't like at first who grew on me after his store visit with Glamrock Freddy that changed him. I admired his want to help people, going against the very code he is named for. I was disappointed when he just let Blood Moon murder him. Made Moon's sacrifice for him almost worthless.

Ruin: Ruin's a Rollercoaster for me. Hated him, kinda liked him, got suspicious of him, questioned myself about him but stayed suspicious, hated him again, now i'm more neutral but worried about him. At least he wasn't trying to cause too much more damage than he has. (Before he was captured by Dark Sun and Nexus..)

Molten: Also kinda a mixed bag. At first, i was almost all for him getting Ruin, but that was also when Nexus wanted to use Ruin as a sacrifice for Solar. And at the time, i was still grieving in a sense. Was mad at him for killing Solar, of course, and was all for sacrificing him for him (grew out of that as time went on), and wanted Nexus to stop Molten so he could use Ruin for Solar. Currently, since Molten is willing to change, i am starting to like him and wish him the best when they finally clear all that crap the creators put into him.

OG Moon: When i first started watching the show, Moon was my favorite general fnaf sb character, so Show Moon quickly became a favorite of mine too. Though he was explosive and abusive to Sun, and i was not a fan of that, yet he stayed my favorite until Lunar came along. I do agree with Nexus when he said that og Moon was a real asshole. I know he somewhat tried to be better, but he fell back on older habits and hurt Sun. I'm so glad he is how he is now, which, again, i think stemmed from his many regrets that he finally came to truly realize when he was set to die. That realization finally put him on the right path.

Dark Sun: I knew from that first episode he appeared in that he was going to become a problem down the line. Or, i at least knew that was not the last we'd see of him. I knew he'd become relevant and lo and behold, i was right. He's honestly confusing. Like, he helps the people he's against. I know it's for his own benefit, it's all part of his plan. Yet, he has said many times before that he just wanted to be left alone. I'm very certain that none of our crew would have sought him out again after that first meeting, so i don't know why he's deciding to meddle in their lives like he is. He's part of the reason Nexus went crazy. He may be the best villain the show has come up with since Eclipse v1. I still don't like him. He also lied about killing his Moon and left the guy to suffer in a cell, all broken. I think Dark Sun's base dimension was a swapped dimension, where he is like Moon, and his Moon was more like Sun. A Sun with Dark Sun's tendencies is honestly very scary to me, so Dark Sun scares me.

Blood Moon: Was never a big fan of them. I kinda see the appeal of them, but it's not my kind of appeal. I liked the first twins better than the clone twins though.

Nexus: I hate him. He used to want to keep his family safe at any cost, but he nearly killed Earth, calling her just "collateral damage" in the situation at the time, and has expressed ill intent towards Lunar, the Astrals, and the others in his ex family. He threatened to hurt Jack who was the last thing Solar made. One would think he'd not want to hurt Jack because Solar made him. Nearly everything that happened with him while he spiraled was his own doing. He lied, he hid, he hurt, and he disowned his family. In the episodes, both Sun and even Earth said they still cared about Nexus despite it all. They didn't disown him, and i don't blame Earth for stepping away when he hurled her insecurities and insults at her, which, she also said she was going to consider forgiving him for before he tried to kill her, which is a reasonable place to draw the line. If not for Puppet, Earth would be dead. I really hope that Nexus just has some sort of virus or corruption making him like he is, and he can be recovered, but i am not seeing this happening anytime soon, if at all. I will not defend him though. He does not deserve it at this point. At first, i could write off his behavior as him grieving, but as he just got worse and worse, it got harder to see it that way. Grief may still have played some factor but it was no longer the main factor after a bit, and then it no longer was. He made his choices and it led him to becoming how he is now. There is no excuse for him anymore. He has no kill code to blame this on. It's himself, and also influence from Dark Sun. I do hope he can still be saved, but i don't see that happening soon.

Apologies for the long rants..

[daydreaming-scheming-demon]

i know undertale is like, almost a decade old at this point, even older if you count the kickstarter’s age, but i still cant get over how flowey/asriel is literally such a cool fucking character. he’s like a player that plays a game too many times and stops being able to see the characters as people as their brain sees them acting the same and doing the same things on each replay and how he loses his sympathy bc of that. and this makes him come across as a typical pure evil antagonist at first, but then you learn his backstory, and it’s all just, aghhhhhhhh. and then you learn in the genocide route that he helped people at first, he used to be kind, but he got bored, and how that contrasts the player on the genocide route with flowey, the genocide route where the player is now in the role of the pure evil villain, just like flowey was.

and also i love how the guy is literally just an edgy kid. like, he comes across as an adult at first, but the guy’s just like one of those cynical little kids who only wants to see the worst in everything. and how that’s portrayed in the true pacifist route where he gives himself this edgy name and transformation sequence that feels like something a kid would come up with. tho the idea that he’s a kid does kinda come into question when you consider all the resets he’s been on, but even still he never got to grow up.

i wanna hug this lil dude so badly, even in flower form, he deserves a hug.

i fucking love this dude, he’s kinda like a pure evil antagonist, but actually has a backstory that makes you feel sorry for him and make his actions feel understandable, even if he can feel like some insane cartoon supervillain, his actions still feel reasonable with his backstory in mind. it’s like taking the idea of an unrealistically evil villain and asking yourself what couldve possibly made them that way

and his whole life as asriel with chara as a sibling. aghhhhhhhh, i love it.

and how in the beginning of the game he probably hasnt even realized his powers are missing yet, and that may just be a small thing but i find it a fun small recontextualization. that in this moment where you seem like you’re falling into his trap, he doesnt even realize that you have far more power over him than he thinks. and something i never even really thought about for a while is how he probably had a bit of a mental breakdown realizing his powers are missing sometime between your first and second time meeting him, and how he probably had to get himself all ready to talk with you again and come across as confident and threatening. like, there’s no way he just brushed off the fact that his powers are missing so easily, his plan to use you to retrieve the souls probably helped him feel better, but there’s no way this dude just brushed off losing the powers he’s been relying on for who knows how long so easily. he definitely got all angry and scared at his missing powers sometime between your first and second meeting, for at least a little while.

honestly, i feel like undertale didnt have enough of him. he deserved more screentime imo. which is why i was really happy to see his characterizationin done so well in undertale yellow, i fucking loved how that game built on his character. and his whole boss fight in that game somehow outdoing his boss fights in the original game. and how a lot of his attacks involve self harm in some way. and how he acts as the save points for the game so you get to hear a lot more from him throughout the game. i feel like undertale yellow gave me some characterization for him that i really fucking needed.

genuinely one of my favourite characters in all of fiction. would love to have a conversation with this lil guy.

[sciderman]

Omfg he IS Daffy. Like. If we want to get into specifics…Wade’s entire life is that episode where Daffy keeps trying to play out the scene and the “animator” keeps drawing new ways to fuck up the scene. And after you’re certain Daffy has lost the tiny semblance of the sanity he had left, you pan out and it’s just Bugs in the animation studio closing the book on Daffy.

Oh man that tracks on so many levels. Especially the power exchange when Peter takes on the Daffy role and Wade gets to be Bugs. Even down to how Bugs dresses in drag, typically leaving Daffy to fend for himself in terms of the antagonist. When Wade dresses in drag or even simply wears a dress, even when Peter enjoys it he’s usually left to fend for himself against his biggest foe: his gender and sexuality.

Now I have to know…do you think Peter can get to a point where he’s taking up the Bugs role from time to time, or is he an eternal Daffy?

P.S.: Daffy is my FAVORITE.

i LOVE daffy, he's one of my favourite characters in fiction ever. and i've always said it, wade is very daffy duck coded.

wise guy ✅ funny way of talkin' ✅ ability to break the fourth wall ✅ tortured by the narrator ✅ mad about it ✅

even the kind of performative humour that's signature to looney tunes is hardwired into wade. the way he talks in early comics - even his debut series every issue is themed to ducks. i think it's all very intentional he's always meant to have been a looney tunes-esque figure, and that's the way he chooses to perform.

i was a looney tunes girlie growing up (my favourite) and watched looney tunes cartoons religiously and so SO much of my humour came from those cartoons and feeds into how i write wade (daffy and bugs are both like, the biggest inspirations for the way i write wade, no doubt. no doubt. i don't even know if i can point to any other characters as inspiration, save for wade himself.)

i'll squeeze in a clip from duck amuck (my favourite piece of media like, ever created ever.) please seek out the whole cartoon if you haven't - i really think it's one of the greatest cartoons ever made.

bugs and daffy's dynamic (especially in later content of them, where they're cosier and more self-aware) is a huge inspiration too - an odd couple that kind of hates each other because they're always, always diametrically opposed but kind of know each other so well and know each other's BIT so well that when they have each other's interests at heart and work together they are The Ultimate Duo with like, the most fire chemistry you've ever seen. the most unstoppable banter you've ever seen. when they're in a room together, absolutely no one else can get a word in. obsessed with that dynamic.

wade and peter are very bugs and daffy coded but it's dealers choice who gets to be bugs and who gets to be daffy. they're switches. i think it's all about who has the upper hand in the scenario - bugs usually has a confidence in a situation that comes from him knowing something daffy doesn't - (ergo, wade is usually the bugs. because he usually knows something peter doesn't.)

but... buuuuut, it's not always the case - and wade doesn't always have the upper hand when it comes to his dynamic with peter - particularly when he's feeling emotionally vulnerable. peter can handle those situations better than wade does. those moments, regrettably - happen more often in the fics than on the blog, because it usually happens when their clothes are off. (oops.)

wade's daffy moments happen when he's Not the smartest guy in the room, or things don't work out in his favour or he's not in control of the situation and he's being dramatic about it.

in those moments, peter gets to be the bugs. the level-headed guy who's in charge of the situation. i hope he gets more moments like that. because it's kind of insane that wade's usually the sane one here. and he needs to be dethroned.

peter needs more bugs bunny moments - and though i'm not sure when - olive and anita's warring divas dynamic fits the bugs and daffy model with so much more ferocity. they will be dropping pianos on each other. and you can guess who gets to be the bugs.

[crimeronan]

wait say more about how u use tarot to make ur OCs

oh sure!!

you can basically customize whatever spread you want to whatever project you're working on. i also sometimes use tarot for solving plot tangles or inspiring new plot points.

essentially you make a tarot spread like you're asking introspective questions or questions about the future -- but you're asking questions about a character instead.

then you can write down the results and interpret them based on the card's various potential meanings. tarot is all about using vague concepts to clarify your internal thoughts and feelings, it translates REALLY WELL to writing fiction.

i just pulled out my novel planning notebook and am thrilled to report that i have Pages And Pages of tarot spreads & interpretations in here. not just sol ruby devin and nova's original spreads, but also spreads about their relationships to each other, the environment surrounding them, etc

i'm not gonna transcribe my entire reading and interpretation for all four of the main quartet. i Will say that i pulled nova's cards first, said "these are all so well-adjusted and boring," and then rafi said "but what if she's the antagonist," and...... the rest is history.

this is the spread i used:

core self (one card to return to for their personality or archetype)

childhood (what most impacted how they grew up)

parents (relationship with parents)

education (background in school, study, etc)

friendships (either an important friend or generally how this person does friendships)

sex/sexuality (their relationship to sex and romance, if any)

goal (their overarching narrative goal)

fatal flaw (what will be their downfall)

work (career, attitude toward work, etc)

mental health (is it bad)

how far they'll go (what will they do to achieve the goal in #7)

fear (their biggest fears & how they manifest)

strength (a core character strength of theirs)

the core cards for each member of the quartet are

nova - the star

sol - queen of pentacles

ruby - queen of cups

devin - strength

and again, not gonna post the whole spreads, but. if you do something this involved, you'll find that certain bits will stick out Much more than others. i did these spreads in 2019 and would say a solid 80% of the cards are STILL relevant four years later in 2023. even as the project itself has undergone multiple scrapped drafts and revisions and plot changes.

some example highlights would be:

nova is my main antagonist. her spread is littered with stability, growth, reward, responsibility, opportunities, wishes, potential, dreams, whatever. her fatal flaw is the ace of wands, the fire card, a sign of creativity and passion. her parents are represented by the tower, the most chaotic and destructive card in the deck.

so here we have a woman born and groomed into enormous power by incredibly questionable forces, who has been raised not to care about the destruction surrounding her, and who has lived an Extremely Charmed life. uh oh!

sol's childhood is the seven of swords - betrayal, deception, loss. her friendships are the three of swords - disappointment, heartbreak. her strength is the five of swords - conflict, dishonesty, intimidation, lack of reflection. her fear is the magician - resourcefulness, willpower, desire, manifestation.

and. well. that's my antihero bitch. she sucks so bad. god bless

ruby's spread is much kinder by comparison. a calm childhood with happy parents, friendships and sexual relationships that are focused on partnership. her goal is justice. self-explanatory. her mental health is the four of swords - the exhaustion card. her fatal flaw is the two of wands - plans, anticipation, restlessness, lack of contentment.

so here's this woman who loves so much and so deeply and cares so much about so many things..... and has trapped herself inside a life that makes her fundamentally unhappy. because she can't walk away

devin's fear is the five of pentacles, a card that represents loss. often called The Breakup Card. it can also mean a loss of faith. their mental health is the ten of wands - burdens, responsibility, obligation, burnout. their goal is the knight of swords - ambition, battle, assertion, big changes.

so here you have an exhausted chronically ill mess who's standing alone because they're the only person who can do so, fatally loyal to their loved ones & burning with quiet rage n a desire to rip down the entire system.

like i said, you can customize any spread for any character or relationship. you just wanna ask broad questions about what that character or relationship looks like, and then interpret the cards in whatever way is most inspiring to you! i consider tarot a tool for creativity rather than an end-all be-all of fiction plotting.... take what you like, leave what you don't.

[flower-boi16]

How I would fix Helluva Boss

I've been getting the passion to talk about (and criticize) this show lately, and I'm planning to make a giant post about season 2 covering each of the episodes (and my issues with each of them), so that post will come soon (though it might take awhile since I need to rewatch each episode). We all know that Helluva Boss has become kind of a mess, so how could we fix this show and make it good? With all the writing issues it has how could we fix it all?

It's actually quite simple, really. In my last post talking about this show I pointed out how it barely actually revolves around its main premise and how only 3-4 out of 15 episodes are related to it. So the way to fix Helluva Boss is to make it revolve more around its premise.

Since we're revolving the show more around its core premise, it's best to get rid of every single plotline that isn't tied to it (The stolitz stuff, Moxxie's abusive dad, Stolas' drama, Blitz trauma, his feuds with Verosika and Fizzarolli, etc), and only relove the show around the core premise. This would fix the problem of the show barely revolving around its actual premise and would also make it feel more focused since now there are fewer plotlines to focus on (one of the show's major problems is that it's waaaaay too unfocused).

Basically, just remove a majority of the show's plotlines to make it more focused on the I.M.Ps going to the human world to kill people for clients (like the actual premise). The exceptions here are the Cherub and Dhorks plotlines, since those are tied to the show's premise, they can stay, and maybe make both groups recurring antagonists that get in the way of our main characters doing their jobs.

Just make the show a fun episodic adult comedy show about a group of assassins going to the human world to kill people...ya know, like how it was advertised before Viv decided to make the show into a drama with fan fiction-level writing.

Other things would include developing some of the characters more (please for the love of god give Millie and Loona more than one or two character traits), and of course, with these changes, this would also mean that we would have to remove all the episodes that aren't tied to the show's premise...which is most of them. So we're just gonna delete every single episode EXCEPT for Murder Family, Cherub's, Truth Seekers, and Unhappy Campers. We would also need to change the ladder two episodes a bit by removing any connections they have to the plotlines we just removed, the first two can stay the same.

And...that's it really. Now we have a fun episodic dark comedy show that's more focused and wouldn't have a majority of the writing issues that the show we have right now does. In all honesty, Helluva Boss would have been better off as a semi-episodic show because I think it's clear that Viv does not know how to write a serialized show with an overarching story and character development, which is due to a combination of poor planning and incompetent writing.

Helluva Boss does not feel like it was planned at all, and if it was it was planned very poorly, and looking at the writing it clearly shows. Plotlines so far have gotten rushed and underwhelming or straight-up insulting resolutions and the show keeps throwing so many ideas at a wall it quickly becomes very unfocused. Like I said the show suffers from there being too many plotlines and the writers not knowing how to write them.

That's why I decided to gut all of the darker and more complex plotlines that weren't tied to the show's premise, because it's clear the writers don't know how to write a lot of these plotlines and again, the show has too many of them and removing them makes it far more focused. And I left the Cherubs and Dhorks plot lines because those ones actually tie into the main premise. And trying to fix every single plotline would be almost extremely hard to near impossible so it's best to just gut most of them.

Helluva Boss should have been what is initially promised to be; a fun episodic show featuring some assassins going to the human world to kill people for their clients, not this poorly written unfocused mess we have now.

TL;DR: Revolve the show more around its actual premise and gut a majority of the plotlines so it could feel more focused.

Soooo...ya, that's how I would fix Helluva Boss. See ya.

[ashkgray]

Fan-fiction Requests [ OPEN! ]

Hello! I'm Gray, a writer and comic artist with a couple published works. Right now, I'm opening fan-fiction requests! Read the rules below the cut, drop your request in my inbox and I might write it and post it on AO3. Hate it? Welp, no money lost there. Love it? Great! Consider tipping me through Ko-fi! That's all!

An ever-changing list of the media I'm willing to write fics for can be found here.

I'm most likely to write for whatever's in bold. If you don't see a fandom in there but still want to see me write a fic for it, feel free to inbox me asking if I've seen it before sending a request in! Same goes for ships. I've too many things on there to list my ship preferences, so feel free to inquire about those too.

What I WON'T write:

Outright smut. Trust me, I won't do it right. SLIGHT foreplay and fade-to-blacks work fine though.

Pedophilia and Adult/Minor ships, incest, non-con, dub-con and other such bullshit.

Fics for media I'm unfamiliar with.

Anything I'm uncomfortable with.

Mulit-chap fics. ( Unless I feel like it )

What I WILL write:

Shipfics, even for ships I'm not into.

Platonic, familial, antagonistic, queerplatonic relationships and whatever else.

Fics where a character develops in one way or the other.

Fics where a character devolves.

Fix-its. ( Especially for BBC Merlin. )

First and third-person fics ( but third person is preferred ).

Here's a sample of my writing in the form of a quick mini-fic.

She was an Opera Singer. Shoddy but blessed with the luck of a thousand clovers. He was an architect. Top of the line. Designed the very site of their demise. I met them both on the same day. They didn’t seem to know one another and yet the glint in her eyes was so in-tune with his that I first pegged them for lovers.  I’m here to assure you they were certainly not. She had a husband that wasn’t him, and he had a wife that wasn’t her. It just so happened that they were in a similar predicament. Coincidentally. Otherwise there’s no way they would’ve come to me.  I took care of it at a fair price: a couple of dollars and two lifelong friendships. Lifelong for them, that is. My life's still ongoing.  It was throughout the span of that friendship with me that something not particularly favourable had blossomed betwixt them. A ponderable passion. It was nothing sensual or emotional, but maybe spiritual– it was like they were both part of something the rest of the world wasn’t in on.  You know– one day she came up to me and she said something to the effect of... “I wish we’d both just disappear together”  But also without one another.  Her eyes told me the latter bit.  I didn’t expect them to go out like that, though. Definitely not. I didn’t even know she could sew! Oh and with that joint will, too, no less! How ironic.  Somehow, they look happier this way.  But, what do I know, right?  I’m nothing but a humble apothecary, really, nothing more.  That’s all I can tell you — because it’s all I know. So won’t you go on with that marvel of a will now? It’s getting late. 

I'd recommend only tipping after you see the fic just to make sure you didn't send money out for something you don't like. This is also because I reserve the right not to fulfill every single request. So the only way to be sure it'll come through is to wait 'till the fic is up!

[hephanna]

not tagging this b/c I'm not trying to press anyone's buttons in these trying times but in my loose rewatch of Dead Boy Detectives (tryna get those ratings back up, yeah?) I feel like... I could've been a bigger fan of the Cat King and a potential Catwin fling if the general fan interpretation of the Cat King, and the Catwin relationship, didn't like... woobify (am I using that term correctly?) the Cat King to high heaven. Like he's meant to be an antagonist - let him be antagonistic? Let Edwin be attracted to him, but also simultaneously turned off by some of his behavior and let that be a challenge to their relationship? I find the idea of Edwin just immediately giving into the Cat King b/c he finds him hot (and b/c the watcher of the show/writer of the fic also finds him hot) to just be so boring... like all the potential conflict and tension has been removed. I just feel that there's this desire to portray the Cat King as a good person when he's legitimately kind of an ass (which is find, Edwin can also be a bit of an ass, they could actually feed into each other in very funny ways) but I wonder if b/c too many people were like "I don't like Catwin b/c the Cat King's a bit of a creepy cunt" - and so many people were like "but it's fictional it's okay his behaviour doesn't have to follow real life rules!!" but then also instead of sticking to liking him BECAUSE he's a bit of a creepy cunt... just retroactively decided to remove that aspect of him and make him into a typical "good guy." Who has non-selfish and sympathetic motivations - even though his canonical motivations are selfish and petty. Which is fine!! Cunty characters are in fact good & interesting characters. also, maybe influencing my perspective is that I also don't agree with slut!era Edwin - I just think it's a bit too OOC for how I've perceived him (and how George Rexstrew has spoken about Edwin - that he's highly uncomfortable with touch, would've been put off if the Cat King had actually kissed him). It's just not a character I interpret at being keen on casual sex immediate hook-ups. George has also described Edwin's journey with Charles as that of love, realizing that's he capable of being in love with another man, etc., more than just sexual desire - although I'm sure desire's part of it. However, I find that aspect of Edwin so interesting, especially because I feel like there's a tendency to portray men - straight and gay men - as hypersexual. So I find Edwin as a romantic, someone more interested in love than sex, who's primarily interested in having sex with someone he loves to be just so compelling. Especially because touch is so difficult for Edwin (he canonically only really enjoys touching Charles, and according to George finds even hugging Crystal uncomfortable). Obviously, in fic, that could be explored with Catwin - but it just hasn't been explored really in a way yet that I find compelling - because I think there's too strong of a desire to have Catwin bang without the necessary foundations, and because they just seem so out of character - either sanitized in the case of the Cat King, or made too sexual in the case of Edwin. Anyway big ramble, not tagged b/c I just wanted to get my thoughts out so they stop circling in my head like an angry wolf.

[itsclydebitches]

I’ve recently joined the Twitter RWBY fandom(a horrible choice, really) and a lot of them hold this regard that Ironwood being a Military Man aswell as Atlas Academy being a pipeline to the Military being foreshadowing and, I can’t really understand that? No where in the show is any of that implied as bad. I was thinking about it a little bit and came to the inclusion that despite Remnant’s worldbuilding calling for a positive outlook on the military, because this is an American anime mostly 1/2

I've thought the same for awhile now, anon. RWBY, for all its many pitfalls, is trying to be a progressive show and that includes taking a hard, critical stance against military might—an argument that, yes, is very much born of America's history. I'm not going to turn this ask into a history lesson (one I'm by no means an expert on anyway), but suffice to say there's indeed a lot to criticize and thus it's no surprise that the queer friendly, unity-focused, American show about an individual "simple soul" would want to paint militarism in a negative light.

Personally, I've got no problem with that thesis. That's actually a show that I would love to watch. Thus, the problem is not RWBY taking a hard stance against a fictional military, it's—as you say—its failure to convey why Remnant's military is worthy of criticism. The work is simply not there. I could write you a novel-length meta on all the ways RWBY dropped the ball in that regard, starting with the world building question of, "Why is a military seen as oppressive when they exist to fight souless monsters instead of other people?" through "Not a single detail in RWBY implies that people are coerced, manipulated, or left behind once they align themselves with the military," circling around, "You spent six Volumes writing Ironwood as a flawed hero, gave us a few episodes as a misguided antagonist, and then a few hours in-world as a villain," straight on through to, "The group coming upon Atlas' battleships is meant to exist as a stand-alone argument of evilness—look at what Ironwood has done in the name of safety!—which is a problem all on its own, but the same image of battleships hovering over Vacuo is meant to exist as a stand-alone argument of celebratory unity and do you see how that doesn't work?"

RWBY wanted to write an anti-military story. They did not write an anti-military story until Volume 8, by which time it was WAY too late to undermine all the positive implications and unanswered questions we'd gotten. However, many viewers—particularly American viewers—picked up on those not-so-subtle hints (hi there, cartoon Ironwood) and ran backwards with the argument, ignoring everything that didn't support it in previous Volumes, or, in a few extreme cases, outright lying about what happened in the show until portions of the fandom heard it often enough that they started misremembering things. Then they passed those simplistic, inaccurate readings on, all of which is exacerbated by many viewers' real feelings towards the military and the knee-jerk assumptions they have if others appear to be promoting it. Even if "promoting it" just means saying something like, "This fictional character in this radically different fantasy world maybe isn't pure evil because the show forgot to establish why creating the means to destroy the literal non-metaphorical monsters is a bad thing."

Which is why it's so difficult to discuss RWBY's failure in this regard because the fan at the other end of the conversation has to acknowledge the nuance of, "Yes, I personally agree with this thesis, but it's a thesis that doesn't exist in RWBY. I'm not arguing that dictators are good, actually, I'm arguing that Ironwood never was one." The moment you talk about anything related to Atlas, Ironwood, their military, etc. and by extension start discussing the ways in which the show canonically wrote those all these as positives in Volumes 1-7, or at the worst flawed necessities, many fans simply jump to, "Oh, so you're okay with Ironwood shooting minorities? Got it." Most in RWDE (that I've come across, anyway) are discussing the depiction of the military within the show—what actually wound up on screen, regardless of the writers' intentions and regardless of our own, irl politics. In contrast, most non-RWDE fans are discussing what the military is meant to represent irl, despite the fact that this representation fails on nearly every level and, as a result, doesn't really exist. That's a huge disconnect that I doubt the fandom will ever get past, especially when these subjects hit close to home for so many and, frankly, it's far easier to toss out accusations that imply a real-life failing than it is to acknowledge that a favorite show is not only badly written, but thoroughly bungled a subject you deeply care about. (Insert the same problem with RWBY's queer rep here.)

[dynamic-k]

oki doki I have returned with another question >:D

I'm obsessed help-

Okay, you don't have to answer this question if you don't want to/don't know, so:

Is Madame Pop-Up going to stay a villain? Is she going to annoy Ballista like she said?

Is she even sorry about Chosen's trauma?

I swear to God if it's a no I will strangle her-

Will Primal becoming a hero change her mind? Or will Madame Pop-Up take it as betrayal and then become the antagonist of a whole Arc-

I feel like she wouldn't be one to do that though. She's more like jokey about it, if that makes sense.

Unless... Does she have any trauma? Does she really just like being the villain for fun? Are the villains actually even bad?

Have a great day! :D

-R

Finally done with this one. = w=’ Speediest answered ask in history, yep yep.

[LONG LONG RAMBLE BELOW~!!!] [shorter than the other one tho]

So. I got asked about one of my minor OC’s for Super Sticks. That is a first. A daunting first, but a challenge to respond I will not deny.

Typically, I try not to focus on my OCs, it just seems awkward sometimes. Unless, I guess, I happen to have put a lot of particular thought into the character and am happy with it. The more built the OC is, the longer that character has been created, the more comfortable I am with writing said character more frequently and offering the OC more chances to shine.

Yes, I would say that I prefer to write the main cast more than I do OCs. I feel like I know our dear and beloved sticks better than I do my own characters, which is strange to say because I technically know my own OCs better than everyone else- 

I don’t remember where I was going with this. Maybe just insight on how I think or something- I’ve forgotten-

Anyway. Madame Pop-Up, or Poppy. 

Welp, you better get your strangling hands ready then- XD She, uh. She is not very sorry and doesn’t feel bad. There was some mild sympathy and wince of genuine “Oooh, owch” when the building fell on Chosen, but- Other than that little moment there, she is generally uncaring to what she does. 

But hey! You know what could fix that? A LENGTHY CHARACTER ARC- [*is cut off*]

Uhhh, I actually didn’t know how to answer this for the longest time, and I had to think on it for a few days. As I mentioned prior, I have a habit of not including OCs into very many scenes, and sometimes they are all harder to write than the main cast!! XD

There are a few OC exceptions, in which I can write them very well. 

Jade, for example, from A Second’s Tale. He’s shown up enough times, I have enough plans for his story, it’s good.

Dune is pretty easy, as he’s a quiet stick. XD 

I also, of course, have other fandom original characters, and additionally zero fandom original Scarlett works with original characters. [Aside from “The Last Veracion”, most are unposted because I deem them really terrible in composition, or they are incompletely written. WHEN YOU HAVE THE ENTIRE STORY IN YOUR BRAIN BUT THE WORDS DON’T WANNA WORD-]

Poppy is an eccentric figure. The crazy aunt, you might say. She can be a little bit of a sadist... and, uh, not in the silly “whump angst torture suffer on this fictional character” way, that I am. 

Which does make for a good villain character! I needed that.

Poppy and Primal were really only friends because of Ballista, originally. Ballista and Poppy had known each other first, having met some time before Agent’s leg incident. Just around the time Ballista was caught and arrested for trying to fulfill Vic’s order, and Agent had already left Rocket with Hazard, Primal ended up meeting Poppy officially when the advertisement-wielding stick came wondering where her enthusiastic mini friend had gone off to.

They, Poppy and Ballista, probably had made plans for that day or something, I don’t know. I never needed to think on this too much, since it wasn’t relevant to the major plot.

Will she stay as a villain? Uhm. I... Maybe??

You know what? I do not know yet. It is definitely one of the things about Arc Two that is not fleshed out just yet, that I really should get to thinking and deliberating on soon so that I can ominously hint at it- XD

For fun of course. And also, I love it when the audience suffers from lack of information- /silly

Madame Pop-Up will definitely annoy Ballista, if a nice opportunity comes along. [I have some scenes planned already] As the plotline may have suggested, she is quite the cautious individual, an opportunist that seizes the right moment when it comes and shys away from things that hold too much risk. 

A more covert villain than most. She doesn’t have too much an interest in pillaging and robbery anyway, just... teasing. She’s more of a bully villain than a grabby one.

NOW. Primal finally embracing heroism, and going on the climax of her redemption that I haven’t finished fully planning yet- THAT. THAT is definitely the sort of thing that would affect Madame Pop-Up, as the two are much closer now than previously, having bonded during Ballista’s imprisonment.

This is exactly the thing that could help along and switch the tides over for Madame’s own character arc, whether it be a full redemption, or at least an acceptance of what her friends’, Ballista’s and Primal’s both, chosen [*COUGH-LAUGH*] paths are. 

Much of this planning still needs to be done, and some of it will inevitably end up being a spoiler, so I shouldn’t outloud plan too much on this Ask here. I SHALT PLAN IN A PRIVATE DOCUMENT THOUGH, I SHALT PLAN THE THINGS AND ALL OF THE THINGS- And maybe with my sister, or a close friend of mine, eehehehe.

Taking Primal’s decision as a betrayal, giving Madame Pop-Up the opposite of a redemption and instead, a full on RAMPAGE of villainy and anger and betraayyaaal, is also an epic idea. I may actually save that in my brain cogs for Arc Three as an emergency, uh,  I-need-a-force-against-the-protags option? [And I’ll obviously mention the idea came from you hehehe] 

:3 Currently, I have no antagonist for Arc Three, as Arc Two is going to be brought to a neat conclusion. [albeit with a big cliffhangery scene- *cough*]

[stop it, Scarlett, stop talking about Arc Three-]

But for now, yes. Arc Two is gonna tie a lot of things up at the very end, even with as chaotic and all-over-the-place as the journey may be initially, leaving us with an ending containing no extra or hidden main big-bads running amok. Sure, there will be small-time ones, of course, but not enough to be the cause of enough trouble that in turn would merit a big journey of entertainment whump-

Now, the reason Madame would not be the antagonist of Arc Two, is literally because there is a big bad(s) already. I just... haven’t yet... gotten far enough along for that to show very much. 

[IT’S THe GoVeRnMEnT- *gets cut off again*] 

...Ignore that “s”. Ignore it. There definitely is only the government and nobody else. Nothing. Shhh. I said nothing. SHHHH. Nope. Nothing. Don’t you dare look over at King, he’s not here. Sh. SHHHH. /silly

Technically, none of the villains I have made right now, are TOTALLY bad. Nobody here is like RedMenace!Dark. No one is COMPLETELY pure evil in Super Sticks. [yet-]

Rum I could ramble about. SuperSticks!Jade I could ramble about. The Alcoholic twins I could also ramble about. Mudd might be a little closer to evil than them, though- Not totally, but significantly closer-

Madame Pop-Up having trauma?? Now that’s a thought. Now that is a thought. O O

And I don’t have an answer. If I tried to answer, it might be a spoiler- Q w Q

Ehehehhehehehehe

OH I JUST NOTICED YOU SENT ME A NEW ASK!! AJHKJEHWQ

Just at the end of answering this one- XD Niceeeeee

Igoworkonthatnow, okaybye

[lulu2992]

It really sucks that the sheriff's dept (Whitehorse, Pratt, Hudson) dont get credit for anything. It sure feels that way at least. It feels like people forget their contributions.

Whitehorse protected and led the Cougars from the Hope County Jail. Provided guidance to those people and took control of the situation as best he could.

Staci and Joey both survived torture and just general horrible treatment under their respective heralds. But Staci freed the Rookie Deputy at what he assumed would be the cost of his own life. And Joey freed herself and killed multiple cultists in a final stand. Not only that, but freeing the other prisoners was HER idea!

"There were other people down here with me... We are gonna get them out. And then we are gonna burn this whole fucking place down. Help me, or stay out of my way."

Whitehorse gives you missions and a place of refuge, Staci gives you your life back, and Joey literally walks you through what to do in John's Gate to free all the prisoners there. But none of them get credit for it. The game doesnt and neither does the community. I think it's a shame that theyre overshadowed by the Seeds, who hurt them each so reprehensibly

I understand your frustration because, as people, Whitehorse, Hudson, and Pratt are indeed better than the Seed family, and they undeniably do and go through many things in the game. They’re survivors, fought hard, and helped numerous people, so they have a lot of merit and deserve recognition.

But one of the reasons I think many fans seem to care more about Joseph and his Heralds, aside from the fact people love fictional villains in general, is that, as characters, they’re more developed and layered. It’s clear the devs spent a great deal of time and effort on the Seeds, so they’re complex and interesting to analyze. Also, Far Cry 5 humanizes its antagonists a lot by having them talk about their pasts in story cutscenes that every player will see, but if you want information on the Sheriff’s Department, you have to go find its members to talk to them and—maybe, if you get the right lines of dialog—learn a bit more about their lives and feelings. In a way, caring about the Seeds is “easier”.

But even though more light is shed on Joseph, Jacob, John, and Faith, in Far Cry 5 itself or other official content, I wouldn’t say Earl, Joey, and Staci were completely forgotten by the community. I’ve seen many posts about them here and I know they have fans too, so don’t worry, a lot of people love them and appreciate their contributions :)

[sacrificialsam]

Can I ask what drew you to Sam as a character? You’re analysis of him is some of my favorite, and I’d love to hear what you find appealing about him as a character. :)

thank you! i thought about this ask for a while because it's a bit difficult for me to put into words why i like something, and for picking favorite characters especially it always feels more subconscious rather than an active choice i make.

but i think what initially drew me to sam as a character was the fact that he had a lot of vulnerability. compared to dean he felt a bit more earnest since he didn't have the same joking facade to shield himself, and honestly i'm glad for it because i get bored of that pretty fast. from the pilot i also had a lot of sympathy for sam because of mary's and jess' deaths and him losing his home twice, he is a character that i think is very easy to feel protective of and latch onto early on. this is definitely enhanced by the fact that he is the little brother, which always works on me because i'm an older sibling, and that he frequently gets victimized or kidnapped by monsters and antagonists. i never had a whump blog or anything, but i am partial to those kinds of characters and dynamics. overall i feel like i started caring about sam almost immediately, and it just stayed that way.

and now i really love how he is such a balanced character, i think like he has a lot of sides to him. how he is independent and wants his own life, but also vulnerable and needs saving; how he's intelligent and confident because of it, but a bit awkward and imperfect when talking; how he keeps his distance and can put up a front but can be deeply caring and cries in sympathy. those contradictions keep things fresh, and it's also why i find his faith and optimism to be so interesting; he wants to believe in something greater and the good in things even though his entire life is dominated by violence and disappointment. and honestly after seeing so many brooding anti heroes as protagonists that was really endearing to me. the psychic kids & azazel storyline also remains one of my favorites in the show, and sam's psychic powers and relation to monsterhood are some of his most appealing traits. his visions and exorcism powers are also very fascinating to me, though i never felt jealous of them like i did with other fictional powers. which i honestly think is a very interesting choice for a protagonist, sam is powerful but watching him doesn't necessarily feel like a power trip because monsters or other psychics still tend to be stronger than him. i think sam has a very interesting balance of being powerful and powerless which i love.

i was rambling a bit, but hope that explains at least some of the things i like about sam & his character.

[kaiartz]

@coolprofessorbagelwinner replied to your post “some recent ninjago arts first one is the skulkin...”:

Whoa!! Tell me about your bikers

OK so i don't know where the idea came from here, i just wanted a biker gang, and i don't have as many lady characters as i do dudes-i hyper focus in on fictional men way too easily its a problem-so i figured i should make em all ladies(or woman adjacent) to combat that problem.

Then i designed Vlatka and fell in love LOL

So Vlatka(the long haired one) is the gangs leader, she has no special powers, shes a complete normie. But she knows the criminal underworld of Ninjago City well, and has been a thief and enforcer for years. The gang comes about as a result of her needing to pay off some debt, and a bunch of ladies she's worked with in the past-who all love her-join her to help out.

Then they get a taste for it, and keep going, then they get into a lot of trouble with a true big bad. They arent necessarily "villains" but they start off antagonistic-the ninja don't understand how a biker gang is giving them so much trouble its kind of embarrassing lol

The lady with short hair and the eyepatch is Rory, who is Vlatka's longtime girlfriend :3

She likes guns and wears a mask on the job that allows her one useable eye infrared or x-ray vision-depending on the setting. Vlatka carries a small grappling hook to get around when not on her bike, and relies on seat of her pants decisions when fighting up close.

The other members either only have an initial lego art done, or no art yet as im still working on that ;u;

Next up is Eda

Eda is a bit younger then the others-and on top of that has a very young face, and short build. She serves as the groups main Muscle-because. well. she has a huge battle arm. Eda's entire idea was "BIG ARM GO SLAM" and i think thats rather fun. You're going to notice that i have not put time yet into fleshing out all these characters oops

I feel like Eda would be fun as someone with a bodyguard dad who she hero worshipped and decided "well i can do that job too" and just. replaced an arm to make her more formidable. like a freak.

Lyn is a singer at her employers bar, her playful outside is complimented by a vicious streak of tearing other people down to make sure she keeps this job(gaslight gatekeep girlboss). The microphone trinket around her neck heightens and amplifies her voice to allow sonic screams that tear through walls and shred peoples eardrums.

Janet is where the lady adjacent part comes in, she's nonbirary and prefers she/they pronouns. They serve as the teams "guy in the chair" of sorts, staying behind to monitor Maps and how the team is handling it's missions. Her prosthetic eye allows them gps locating and searching right from in her head! They're a little no nonsense, being a corporate person herself who's actively a higher up in a tech company.

Briona, or Bri as she prefers is the expert on Breaking and Entering, Scaling buildings, and really just getting in and out of tricky spots. She wanted to be an archaeologist in her youth but wanted to keep everything she dug up and took to crime instead. She's eternally miffed to some degree and will swear up and down that she's only in this gang because she "owes" Vlatka. She's a big softy who loves all her teammates underneath.

​The last biker is Torelei, an honest to god Elemental Master from an influential family. It's her uncle the team gets into hot water with. She feels responsible and pulls away emotionally from the others in response. She's the Elemental Master of Reflection. She chooses to take this literally as a Mirror Reflection(and not the other ways it could be interpreted that she's also totally capable of), and it's because of her that the girlies are able to avoid pursuit so easily. She fights with a metal fan.

(thank you for the compliment in the other reply <3)